Panhandle Pinettes

Panhandle Pinettes A women’s pinball series in the Panhandle built around community, learning the game, friendly competi

08/28/2026

**EDIT: We got a little ahead of ourselves on the September schedule! Our next Panhandle Pinettes tournaments are September 12 and September 26 — not September 5 as originally posted. We’re so sorry for the mix-up! ❤️‍🩹**

Happy Friday! We may be off this weekend, but it’s been a pretty exciting week for the Panhandle Pinettes. 💕

We were featured in The Journal, Martinsburg, WV, welcomed a whole bunch of new faces to our page, and had some really fun conversations happening here along the way.

And apparently, we weren’t kidding when we said we might be leveling up a little… 😉

We’re VERY excited to finally share that the Panhandle Pinettes are now part of the ! ⭐️

Being part of the also means we’ll have some special Stern Pinball goodies and giveaways making their way into upcoming tournaments. 👀🎁

What started as an idea to give women in our area another place to play pinball, compete, and find community just keeps becoming something a little bigger — and we are having an absolute blast watching it happen.

Thank you to everyone who has played, followed, shared, commented, cheered us on, or helped spread the word. You’re the reason this has been so much fun.

Enjoy the weekend off, Pinettes — we’ll be back at it on Saturday, September 12! 💪💕

What a way to wrap up our Panhandle Pinettes Summer Series! 💕Nine women joined us today, including two first-time Pinett...
08/22/2026

What a way to wrap up our Panhandle Pinettes Summer Series! 💕

Nine women joined us today, including two first-time Pinettes — Jaclyn and Melinda! Welcome to the group, ladies! 💗

And while we didn’t quite top our 10-player turnout from last time, here’s a number we’re pretty proud of:

✨ 13 different women have played with the Panhandle Pinettes since this brand-new little group started this summer. ✨

THIRTEEN! 🥹

We’re also getting to watch some pretty awesome things happen along the way. Debra joined us for her third tournament today, played some fantastic games, and picked up her first match win! 🙌 And Mariah continues to work her way up the standings tournament after tournament. We LOVE seeing it.

Of course, we have to congratulate today’s Top 3:

🥇 Alex Brackett
🥈 Cindy Brackett
🥉 Angela Pecora

And as if all of that wasn’t enough excitement for one afternoon, we had a visitor! A journalist from the Martinsburg Journal stopped by to learn more about the Panhandle Pinettes and talk with us about what we’ve been building. How cool is THAT?! 💕

When we started this little summer series, we really didn’t know what to expect. We just wanted to create a fun, welcoming place for women to play pinball, meet some new people, compete a little, and hopefully keep coming back.

Well... you kept coming back. 😁

So, you asked for it...

The Summer Series may be over, but the Panhandle Pinettes aren't going anywhere. 💗

📅 Next tournament: Saturday, September 5th

More details coming soon — but go ahead and save the date.

Apparently we're just getting started. 😉💕

Our summer series may be wrapping up this Saturday… but Panhandle Pinettes isn’t done yet. 👀💗We’re excited to officially...
08/20/2026

Our summer series may be wrapping up this Saturday… but Panhandle Pinettes isn’t done yet. 👀💗

We’re excited to officially announce that we’ll be continuing into September, still meeting every other Saturday at MVP Arena!

But first — we have one more summer tournament, and we have a goal.

Our biggest turnout so far has been 10 women. Can we beat it this Saturday? 👀

If you’ve been thinking about joining us, this is the perfect weekend to come out. Whether you’re a tournament regular, brand new to competitive pinball, or just curious about what Panhandle Pinettes is all about, we’d love to have you help us set a new attendance record. 💗

And because apparently we enjoy keeping a little mystery around here… there may be one more pretty exciting surprise coming for Panhandle Pinettes soon.

We can’t tell you quite yet.

But just like we had a little glow up… let’s just say Panhandle Pinettes might be leveling up a little too. 😉⭐

Join us this Saturday for another afternoon of pinball, laughs, friendly competition, and the community that has made this summer series way more fun than we ever expected.

🌸 Registration: 1:30 PM
🌸 Tournament starts: 2:00 PM
🌸 MVP Arena at Mountaineer Meat Smokers
🌸 3-Strike Knockout
🌸 $11 entry ($10 prize pool + $1 IFPA)

Let’s see if we can get 11+ Pinettes in the room Saturday! 💗🎯

Apparently Panhandle Pinettes has expanded into competitive hula hooping. 😂🌺This wasn’t a tournament weekend. No strikes...
08/16/2026

Apparently Panhandle Pinettes has expanded into competitive hula hooping. 😂🌺

This wasn’t a tournament weekend. No strikes. No IFPA points.

And yet somehow, a whole bunch of us still ended up back at MVP Arena together for their luau — Pinettes, friends, family, and some of the guys who are always there supporting us.

And THAT might be one of my favorite things about what this little community is becoming.

There was a hula hoop contest. There were questionable athletic decisions. There were Hawaiian outfits. There was a suspiciously competitive amount of practicing.

Alex Slamder casually hula hooped for 13+ minutes before they finally just declared her the winner. Tyler Luksis discovered that apparently neck hula hooping counts, went 11+ minutes, and took second. Cindy Sweeney Brackett practiced enough to be dangerous and then wisely decided she had seen enough. 😂

Mariah Shoemaker and Adria Spikes absolutely understood the luau assignment, Jeff Martin got in on the fun, Tracey Heine Sinclair handled cheerleader duties (and Ken Kalbaugh - with the ever trusty bucket o beer), and the rest of us did what we do best — laughed, encouraged terrible ideas, and had an absurdly good time together.

Panhandle Pinettes started as a women’s pinball tournament.

Turns out we’re building something a little bigger than that. ❤️

Pinball brought us together.

Apparently "Tyler's mom" aka Melissa Hienkle's Macarena moves to ho**ey tonk badonkadonk and hula hoops are keeping us there. 🌺😂

What a day for the Panhandle Pinettes! 💗🎉Our third Summer Series tournament brought out 10 women — our biggest turnout y...
08/08/2026

What a day for the Panhandle Pinettes! 💗🎉

Our third Summer Series tournament brought out 10 women — our biggest turnout yet! We had a great mix of familiar faces, newer players, competitive games, plenty of laughs, and a whole lot of pinball.

Congratulations to today’s top three:
🥇 Melissa Hienkle
🥈 Cindy Brackett
🥉 Alex Brackett

A huge thank-you to everyone who came out to play and helped make this our largest event so far. Watching this little community continue to grow has been pretty special.

We’ll see you at the next one! 💕🎯

🎉 This Saturday, the Panhandle Pinettes Summer Series rolls on with Tournament #3!Whether you’ve played with us before ...
08/07/2026

🎉 This Saturday, the Panhandle Pinettes Summer Series rolls on with Tournament #3!

Whether you’ve played with us before or have been thinking about giving tournament pinball a try, come join us for a fun, friendly and just-competitive-enough afternoon. No tournament experience necessary — just show up ready to flip, laugh and maybe surprise yourself. 💗

📅 Saturday, August 8
🕜 Registration: 1:30 PM
🕑 Tournament starts: 2:00 PM
📍 MVP Arena at Mountaineer Meat Smokers in Martinsburg, WV
💵 $11 entry — exact change is always appreciated!
⚡ 3-Strike Knockout

Come play, connect and help us keep building this amazing community of women in pinball.

See you Saturday! 🎯

The results are in from Panhandle Pinettes Summer Series Event #2! 🎉🕹️Seven ladies joined us today for a three-strike b...
07/25/2026

The results are in from Panhandle Pinettes Summer Series Event #2! 🎉🕹️

Seven ladies joined us today for a three-strike battle that came right down to the end! Melissa and Alex were the final two standing, but our reigning West Virginia Women’s State Champion, Alex Brackett, held on to take the win! 👑

🥇 Alex Brackett
🥈 Melissa Hienkle
🥉 Adria Spikes

Adria claimed another top-three finish after placing at our first event, and we were so happy to welcome Debra Scott for her very first tournament! Debra also helped capture some fantastic photos of the ladies throughout the afternoon. 💜

Thank you to every woman who came out to play, laugh, cheer one another on and help us continue building this little pinball community. Whether you’re a seasoned competitor or have never played in a tournament before, there is absolutely a place for you with the Pinettes.

Our next summer-series event is Saturday, August 8—come flip with us! 💪✨

Round two is coming this Saturday! 💕🎯Our very first Panhandle Pinettes tournament brought out 8 women for an afternoon o...
07/21/2026

Round two is coming this Saturday! 💕🎯

Our very first Panhandle Pinettes tournament brought out 8 women for an afternoon of competition, encouragement, laughter…and apparently a little mechanical bull riding afterward. 😂

We also loved having friends, family, and a few very supportive pinball guys come out to cheer everyone on!

Now we’re ready to do it again:
📍 Mountaineer Meat Smokers — Martinsburg, WV
🗓️ Saturday, July 25
⏰ Registration at 1:30 PM | Tournament starts at 2:00 PM
💵 $11 entry — exact change appreciated
🎯 IFPA-sanctioned 3-strike knockout

Whether you play regularly, have only played a few times, or have never entered a tournament before, you are absolutely welcome. Come play, meet some great women, and see where the afternoon takes us. 🤠

Who’s flipping with us this Saturday?

Our first Panhandle Pinettes tournament was a success! 🥰🎉We had 8 ladies come out to play, and it was so much fun seeing...
07/11/2026

Our first Panhandle Pinettes tournament was a success! 🥰🎉

We had 8 ladies come out to play, and it was so much fun seeing everyone compete, cheer each other on, and enjoy an afternoon of pinball together.

Congratulations to our top finishers:
🏆 1st Place: Cindy
🥈 2nd Place: Sara
🥉 3rd Place: Adria

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make our first event such a great one. We’re already looking forward to the next tournament!

The Panhandle Pinettes are officially off and flipping! 💕🎯

🎉 Tomorrow is the day! 🎉We’re so excited to welcome everyone to the very first Panhandle Pinettes women’s pinball tourna...
07/10/2026

🎉 Tomorrow is the day! 🎉

We’re so excited to welcome everyone to the very first Panhandle Pinettes women’s pinball tournament Mountaineer Meat Smokers & MVP Arena ‼️

🕜 Registration begins at 1:30 p.m.
🕑 Tournament starts at 2:00 p.m.

Whether you’re an experienced player, brand-new to pinball, or simply curious about what we’re building, we’d love to see you. No tournament experience is necessary—we’ll help explain how everything works, and the focus is on having fun, meeting other women, and growing our local pinball community.

Not ready to play yet? Come cheer everyone on, meet the Pinettes, and check it out!

📍 Mountain Meat Smoker
📅 Saturday, July 11

Who’s excited?! 💕🎯

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Coming Soon
Martinsburg, WV
25401

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