Fairfield, Iowa - April 28, 2006 -- For the first time in its 52-year history, Guinness World Records(tm) will be publishing pinball scores.

As part of a partnership with the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard, the world authority on electronic gaming records, the Guinness World Records 2007(tm) Book will include a table of pinball high scores that show the highest score on each of ten different games, researched and verified by Walter Day of Twin Galaxies.

The Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, opened in February, 2006 to commemorate the history of pinball, will be the official site of the event. The Pinball Hall of Fame, organized by Tim Arnold and other members of the Las Vegas Pinball Collector's Club, enjoys a non-profit charter and is the world's only museum created solely to document the history of Pinball.

To bring organization to the process of gathering scores in time for the May 1st publishing deadline of the Guinness World Records 2007 Book, Twin Galaxies has resurrected its most famous contest: the Video Game & Pinball Masters Tournament, which hasn't been conducted since 1997. This year's edition of the contest -- as well as the 1997 Video Game & Pinball Masters Tournament -- are both descended from the Video Game Masters Tournament, which was the original contest Twin Galaxies created in the 1980s to gather scores for the 1984-1987 U.S. editions of the record book, which was then called the Guinness Book of World Records.  The contest was conducted on more than 100 video game titles in dozens of locations throughout North America. At that time, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., publisher of the U.S. edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, designated Walter Day an Assistant Editor, and put him in charge of verifying all video game records for the annual volume.

The  games selected for the 2006 event represent many eras of pinball history, from the the electro-mechanical games of the 1960s to software-driven titles of the modern era. The contest games include Kings & Queens (Gottlieb, 1965), Lawman (Gottlieb, 1971), Wizard (Bally, 1975), Captain Fantastic (Bally, 1977), Taxi (Williams, 1988), The Addams Family (Midway, 1992), Creature from the Black Lagoon (Midway, 1992),  Twilight Zone (Midway, 1993), Scared Stiff (Midway, 1996), and South Park (Sega, 1999).  A small number of video games will also be included; the titles will be announced at the beginning of the contest.

Though Twin Galaxies already has thousands of pinball scores in its database collected from dozens of past contests, it was deemed necessary to gather "new" high scores resulting from gameplay on machines only in perfect condition, played under uniform settings. Day says: "We could not present the scores from past contests to Guinness World Records because the machines in those past contests could have been played on widely-varying settings, with outlane posts, tilts, bumpers and flippers set slightly differently from one machine to the next. Also wear and tear on the machines make them play differently -- an undesirable side-effect because any defect in a machine can influence the score."

The tendency for the aging process to effect the game play of pinball machines is a major concern for Day, who says: "No two pinball machines are exactly alike. Because of the large number of moving parts involved, games can have minor differences even when they are fresh off the assembly line. And after they accumulate wear and tear from being played for a while, they become even more different from each other, making it difficult to compare scores from one machine to the next."

So, Twin Galaxies has chosen The Pinball Hall of Fame as the contest site for this event, simply because the games in the Hall are kept in perfect condition and will always be available for future contests. "Since players have to play on the exact same machines," explains Day, "it was necessary to find a location that was able to make available the same machines year-after-year, while maintaining them in perfect condition. And, to inspire the public to participate in what may become an annual event, the serial numbers for each contest machine will be posted in the Hall of Fame, inspiring the public to practice on these machines during the months between future tournaments."

The event will be a high-score contest. That means a contestant can enter the competition at any time they want and play for as long as they wish. There are no heats, no brackets, no eliminations; just play again and again in order to attain the highest score possible on each of the ten game titles. Though all the scores will be submitted to the Guinness World Records 2007 Book, the editors have announced plans to consider only the highest score on each game for publication in the record book. However, the editors of the Guinness World Records 2007 Book retain the right to publish only the contest results that meet with their editorial needs.

For more information on this event, go to: www.twingalaxies.com or contact Walter Day at walter@twingalaxies.com

Contest Details:
Friday -- 1:00 PM to 12:00 AM Midnight
Saturday -- 1:00 PM to 12:00 AM Midnight
Sunday -- 1:00 PM to 9:00 PM, followed by awards ceremony

Registration Fee For Entire Weekend:
$10 Registration Fee Donated to Las Vegas Salvation Army. Plus, players pay for all their contest games with quarters.

Hotel Accomodations:
For more hotel information, go to http://www.vegas.com/
The worlds largest Motel 6 is at Tropicana and Koval, 25 blocks away from Pinball Hall of Fame.
Motel 6 Inc -  195 E Tropicana Ave, Las Vegas, 89109 - (702) 798-0728
Motel 6 Inc -  5085 Dean Martin Dr, Las Vegas, 89118 - (702) 739-6747
Motel 6 Inc -  4125 Boulder Hwy, Las Vegas, 89121 - (702) 457-8051
Terrible's Hotel & Casino - 4.3 miles S - 4100 Paradise Rd, Las Vegas, 89109 - (702) 733-7000
Wild Wild West Gambling Hall -  3330 W Tropicana Ave, Las Vegas, 89103 - (702) 740-0000
Sunset Station  1-(888) SUNSET9
Boulder Station  -- Hwy at Us 93, Las Vegas, 89101 - (702) 432-7777
Sam's Town   -- Hwy at F, Las Vegas, 89101 - (702)454-8020

The Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame can be found at: