Category: Women’s Pinball

Women’s Fall League Nights

Women of all ages in the Houston area are invited to join the Belles of Space City during our fall league nights. We will play at the home of one of our members on her private collection.

The women’s league season will consist of six weeks of matchplay qualifying. Each week players will compete in groups of four on six different games. Players will be awarded points based on finishing position. Points will accumulate across the season to determine overall league standing. The best 4 weeks will be used, so players can safely drop two weeks. The top players will be eligible for a finals, which will use a group elimination format (aka PAPA style). $20 entry for season. Season: Wednesdays at 7pm, October 16-November 20. Finals December 4.

Space Camp – Women’s Weekend at Wormhole

Space Camp, Women’s Weekend at Wormhole was a BLAST! Congratulations to all the ladies who earned trophies and mission patches! Thanks to Wormhole and our tech, Brian for the amazing games. Thanks also to our camp counselors for organizing and party planning: Elizabeth, Liz, Christina and Lauren. We also appreciate the balloon decorating crew and the snack and drink crew!

Belles and Chimes Reunion

Time to party! The Belles of Space City invite current and past members to join us for a reunion at Wormhole on April 13, 2024! RSVP here. We have also added new B&C shirts to our league store in a variety of colors.

Belles & Chimes is an international network of women’s pinball leagues. The Houston chapter was founded in 2018 with a goal of providing a fun, safe, and supportive environment for women and girls to socialize and play pinball together.

Beginner and novice players of any age are encouraged to join. Playing with others is a fantastic way to improve your pinball skills!  For the more experienced players, Belles & Chimes tournaments offer a unique opportunity to earn IFPA points available specifically for women’s-only competitions.  

The Belles kick off summer with Space Camp! A Women’s Weekend at the Wormhole. We invite women from the Houston area and BEYOND to join us for this WPPRtunity! 

Houston Women’s IFPA events are qualifying events for the IFPA Women’s North American Championship Series. For details regarding qualifying in Texas, please visit the Championship Series page. 

In addition to local tournaments, the Belles of Space City are proud to direct the women’s tournaments at major events including the Texas Takedown at the Texas Pinball Festival and the Interstellar Showdown at the Houston Arcade Expo.

Houston Arcade Expo Recap

Space City Pinball League, The Premier Pinball League of Texas
Space City Open: 1st Wesley Johnson, 2nd Preston Moncla, 3rd Mark Meserve, 4th Garrett Shahan
Interstellar Showdown: 1st Alice Young, 2nd Melody Zisman, 3rd Rachel Morris, 4th Kelli Raisler
Interstellar Showdown Semifinalists: Miette Dronet, Jessica Thaxton, Summer Ellington, Hope Love

Holy smokes, y’all! That was awesome! As a tournament director, I could not have asked for a better event. All the games arrived in excellent condition. There were so many volunteers willing to help with set up. Even when games went down, our techs, Jesse Bodell and Mike Flanagan, got them back up and operational in short order. The players were respectful and jovial. The rounds started and ended on time. There were very few malfunctions or complicated rulings. And the finals…my goodness the finals. I’ve been on the tournament scene for over 10 years. That was, without a doubt, the most fun and electric finals I’ve ever witnessed. Legendary!

While I would love to take credit, the reality is none of that could have happened without there being such an amazing pinball community here in H-town and Texas. The positive energy this past weekend was truly special. I could not be more proud of what this scene has matured into. We’ve really come a long way.

Big congratulations to Wesley Johnson for taking the crown — the first Space City pinball player to do so! That final shot on Fish Tales was so clutch! Congrats also to Alice Young for earning the rhinestone hat in the Interstellar Showdown after a tough battle on Tron. Well played!

Thanks to Keith and the Houston Arcade Expo for trusting me to run the tournament all these years. Shout out to my assistant TDs: David Pollock, Marc Gammons, David and Elizabeth Dronet, Leslie Speights, Lee Balusek, Matt Quantz. Thanks to Jim Mueller for bringing the spare parts. I think we used most of them! Thanks to Jamie Burchell, Erin Anthony and Wormhole for streaming the tournaments! Finally, thanks to everyone else who brought games and helped with set up and tear down.

-Phil and the Space City Team

Space City Open & Interstellar Showdown

The Space City Pinball League and the Belles of Space City will once again host tournaments at the Houston Arcade Expo on November 10-12, 2023. Mark your calendars to preregister for these events. The SCO registration will open on September 3 at 11am and the Women’s Interstellar Showdown will open on October 7 at noon. Click the images for details.

Space Camp! Women’s Wormhole Weekend

BECAUSE SOMEDAY, YOU’RE GOIN’ UP!

The Belles of Space City invite women of all ages and skills to join us for a weekend of tournaments at the Wormhole, a private pinball club in Houston. At Space Camp, ladies will drill their skills to prepare for the ultimate pinball mission. Over Memorial Day weekend, May 26-28, 2023, the Belles will host four women’s tournaments, with the main matchplay event estimated to be worth 200%. Read all about it here.

Houston Arcade Expo Recap

Well, another legendary Week of WPPRS culminating with the Space City Open and Women’s Interstellar Showdown is officially on the books!

Congratulations to our open winners:
1. Colin MacAlpine, 2. Jim Mueller, 3. Tim Sexton, and 4. Mark Meserve

Belle’s Interstellar Showdown Champions:
1. Tracy Abrahams, 2. Lee Ann Scardina, 3. Elizabeth Savoie Dronet, 4. Emily Hoffman

It can’t be understated how much a team effort it is putting together a week of tournaments like this. It’s so awesome to see our community come together, help each other out, and put on a kick ass show! PREMIERE!
Long, but totally warranted list of thank you’s below!
Thanks to everyone who donated games to the tournament and SCPL booth, those who helped fix and repair games, and to everyone who stuck around to help set up and tear down the games, tournament room and booth. Thanks to Wormhole Pinball and Jamie Burchell for providing excellent streaming coverage of the finals! Thanks to Jim Mueller for donating flipper rebuild kits! Thanks to Quasar’s Arcade for the $500 prize pool donation! Thanks to Kalieda Fest Wear and 8 Bit Arcade for the fantastic women’s prizes! And lastly, thanks to Keith Christensen and the Arcade Expo for trusting us to run the tournaments.