MINI-ELIMINATOR HISTORY

The Mini-Eliminator was started as a side event to the High Roller. The High Roller was the first megabuck event to go to Las Vegas. With their famous match play format bowlers would only get to bowl 1 game a day and had a lot of down time. The Minis were created to offer High Roller bowlers waiting for their next match, or eliminated early in the tournament, additional action.

The Mini-Eliminator's first event was at Sam's Town Bowling Center in Las Vegas in July, 1993. The event was actually called the "Firecracker Classic" and was sponsored by Storm Products, Heddon Bowling Corporation and Grip-Rite. The top prize was $10,000 and the event attracted 808 entries and was won by John Fine of Texas.

The name was changed to The Mini-Eliminator (the new name was coined by Heddon Bowling VP Dorman Spencer) because it was a smaller event compared to Sam's Town International Eliminator. The International Eliminator ran in January and The Minis continued in July.

The Minis continued an amazing growth for many years. By 1996 it was obvious Sam's Town was too small and the tournament moved to the larger and brand new Orleans Bowling Center. The tournament thrived at The Orleans and a second event was added in 2002 when The International Eliminator no longer ran. The February version of The Mini was hosted by The Gold Coast- a sister property of The Orleans. The Super Bowl Mini-Eliminator soon became the largest event in Las Vegas and attracted over 4,500 paid entries.

The Mini-Eliminators continued its run at The Orleans until 2007 when the property was sold to The Boyd Group. The event had a 1 year run at Texas Station and then moved to The South Point Hotel and Casino. After a successful two year run at South Point the Minis moved to Sunset Station Hotel & Casino beginning in July, 2011.

In 2010 a new chapter in Mini-Eliminator history was written as a handicap version of the Mini-Eliminator was held and attracted a great crowd of 330 entries. In February, 2011 The Handicap Mini-Eliminator expanded to offer two divisions and a guaranteed top prize of $10,000. This event attracted over 500 entries.

Beginning with the July, 2011 at Sunset Station Strike Zone the Minis will be combining the scratch and handicap events into one big event. The tournament format will be revised to include a daily finals, $1,000 guaranteed to all Grand Finalists, and all division champions will earn a minimum of $10,000.