Episode 421: Markus Stix
As IFPA 20 comes to Austria this week, they'll see one of the best players ever from that country. Markus Stix talks about the world coming to Austria twice in the span of a month (EPC & IFPA 20)...
Highlights
- Marcus Stix won his first tournament at age 17 in 1992 (Terminator 2 tournament in Graz) and still owns the machine he won
- The Austrian Pinball Open has been running since 2014 and will be hosted at the same venue as the 2025 IFPA World Championship
- Abe Flips has been playing pinball for only three to four years but is producing 'Mastering Pinball,' a professional instructional video featuring 17 minutes on nudging and collaboration with Johannes Ostermeyer
- The European Pinball Championship (won by Paul Englert in 2025) broke a streak of North American winners at major pinball championships
- Austria is hosting both the European Pinball Championship and IFPA World Championship in the same year (2025) for the first time
- Flip Arena, a pinball club in Vöcklerbrook run by Stefan Riedler, has approximately 16 machines and hosts tournaments and leagues every two to three weeks
- Abe Flips came from Innsbruck, Tyrol, and created instructional pinball videos because existing tutorials online were insufficient for his learning needs
- The first IFPA World Championship was won by Rick Stetta in 1991, same year as the first PAPA event
- Markus Ramsner is described as one of Austria's best players, reaching top 16 at EPC and still competing in high-score tournaments
- The 'Mastering Pinball' video filming is complete and in production with voice work and sound effects pending
Notable quotes
“Yeah, a great game, but a nice reminder. Hey, look at me. I was on top at 17. Yeah. A whiz kid.”
“This is the biggest tournament I'll go to all year and it's also one of the best”
“we are very proud to make two major championships in one year the first time in austria”
“I think we're all excited about his mastering pinball. Looking very forward, yeah.”
“He just was fascinated watching it. And he hasn't been playing that long.”
“It's going to be a game changer. It's going to be a real improvement to a lot of people's pinball.”
“And competitive pinball is important to see as a sport. And it is sport, in my opinion.”
“Do it for your country. Do it for Austria.”
Entities
- RS Pinball· company
- Austrian Pinball Open· event
- European Pinball Championship 2025· event
- IFPA World Championship 2025· event
- Terminator 2· game
- Baden-Dorf· location
- Flip Arena· organization
- Pinball Profile· organization
- Abe Flips· person
- Arno Neuber· person
- Jeff Teolis· person
- Johannes Ostermeyer· person
- Marcus Stix· person
- Markus Ramsner· person
- Michael Trepp· person
- Paul Englert· person
- Rick Stetta· person
- Stefan Riedler· person
- Mastering Pinball· product
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