Lansing Pinball League

League night #5 of 8

Games played: Fish Tales, The Addams Family, Jack-Bot, Tales of the Arabian Nights

Well folks, we have passed the halfway point for Season 9 as of last league night, so the competition should really start to heat up.  In theory, anyway.  In practice, I arrived (late as always this season due to my class schedule) to last league night in time to see my group-to-be in the midst of a game of Tales of the Arabian Nights, and Kristen looking quite glum at her Ball 1 score that was somewhere around 30K points.  (This prompted some discussion of whether it is possible to get a score lower than that.  It turns out it is: Joseph – intentionally, I think – did a single ball score around 10K after league.)

Mike B. playing TotAN.

Fortunately(?) for Kristen, she did not actually win the award for worst single ball score.  That honor goes to Chris, who scored 0 (zero) on his first ball of Jack-Bot.  He gets no sympathy from me.  He knew the risk!  By now, everyone in the Lansing Pinball League knows that short-plunging Jack-Bot is living dangerously.  The gate likes to stick, and when the ball gets hung up in it, there is no way to get it free except by banging the game hard enough to tilt.  That is exactly what happened, leading to Chris tilting out before scoring a single point.

(In case you are wondering why people are so tempted to short plunge: if you plunge softly enough to avoid hitting any switches before you get the ball on the right flipper, the playfield won’t be validated.  Validating the playfield means the game now considers the ball “in play” and starts the ball saver timer, if any.  So not only can you get ball on flipper and in control without losing your ball saver, there are actually a couple of targets that you can hit without validating the playfield, meaning you can shoot them in safety, drain, and still get your ball back.  This is especially useful in multiball, since a couple of jackpots, sorry, Jackbots can be cashed in before validating the playfield.  And that was your Amateur Tip of the Day.  Your Pro Tip, on the other hand, is this: don’t short plunge Jack-Bot at the Avenue unless you want a zero point ball.)

I don’t have much else to say about last league night because now that I wander in close to 8 p.m., it feels like it’s over as soon as it starts.  Regarding tonight’s league night, starting in just about an hour, I will say this: happy birthday, Joseph!  Tear it up!  And save a piece of cake for me.

League night #4 of 8

Games played: Ghostbusters, Tales of the Arabian Nights, Revenge from Mars, Monster Bash, Simpsons Pinball Party

We had one of those odd three-week intervals between league meetings to start off this month, so of course with all that extra time, I have once again waited until nearly the start of our next league meeting (which is tonight at 7) to write the recap of the last meeting.  There, I gave myself grief about it so you all don’t have to.  Now that that’s out of the way, on with the recap.

Mike shows Chris and Greg where he got a ball stuck on Monster Bash.

Our original slated games include South Park, which we have never yet played at league, just like we have never yet played Demolition Man.  And just like last week, when it looked like we might finally play Demo Man and then it got switched out, South Park started doing something wrong besides just being South Park (eating quarters, I think?  I don’t know, I was downstairs when it happened) and got removed from the schedule.  I don’t think anyone shed a tear over it and I assume it removed part of the reason that Chris had replied to the game announcement on Facebook by saying it was like going to the dentist.  (I suspect Revenge and Ghostbusters were other parts of the reason.)  Instead, they shed all their tears over Revenge from Mars, which was savage to many people.  Most people in my group got scores around 12-15 million, and that easily beat everyone in the group playing ahead of us.

Mike’s stuck ball, wedged behind the pop bumper on Monster Bash. Sadly, this was after league, so it didn’t save me from my bad game of MB.

I continued my sad performance this season, not as bad as last session which was my worst in probably a couple of years, but still nothing that’s going to let me claw back up into A division range.  Now that there is a 10 point attendance bonus, missing a couple of sessions really hurt me.  (OK, OK, “failed to benefit” rather than hurt me, but that’s a matter of perspective.)  It doesn’t help that Monster Bash, a game that most people normally love, is playing like heck.  The scoop is very unpredictable, which includes shooting down the middle now and then, and orbit shots still sometimes hit Drac’s foot and divert toward the center.  I ended up on Ball 3 of Monster Bash with nothing going on whatsoever and 3 million points tops, and the scoop gave me a pity Frank multiball that I didn’t realize it would do.  I managed to milk enough points out of it to get to around 12 million or so, and, oh yeah, Frank was also not registering hits, so that was all from shooting other shots.

Also sadly for me, this was my last night of league before the start of the semester, and from here to the end of the season I will be having to come to league late again due to having class until 6:15 and then an hour-plus commute.  I’ll persevere, though, so you can all expect to see me tonight at some point, probably before 8 p.m.

Season 9, League Night #3 of 7

Games played: Indiana Jones, Attack from Mars, The Addams Family, Lord of the Rings, Getaway.

Not sure what everyone’s reacting to – an unfair tilt, maybe?

League Night #3 is notable in that it was the first league night I went to this season, and that goes for Joseph too.  For the first night we were up north, and for the second night we were at Kings Island before heading on to Pinburgh.  This, then, is the first league night that I was actually present at and can write an update on!  So I should have a lot to say, right?

Uh, not really.  It was one of my worst league nights ever (whereas my makeup night for #2 the previous evening was one of my best nights ever), so I have endeavored to wipe it from my memory.

Russell in a rare moment of not sliding the game.

OK, OK, I can tell you a few things.  First off, it was probably the best attended league night so far from what I’ve heard.  Joseph and I were back, and so was the league’s champion Chris, who was rumored to possibly be ducking out this season in order to cheat on us with the new One Well League.  I still have my eye on you, mister.  I mean Doctor.  Second, we were once again scheduled to play Demolition Man and were once again not able to.  I don’t remember what the reason was this time; maybe it was eating quarters.  As far as I can remember, we have not played Demolition Man for league once, because every time it is on the docket it ends up breaking.

Matt holds court while Tim plays Getaway.

Tonight will be my last league night arriving on time for quite a while.  I’m sad to say that I was once again unable to return to having an earlier schedule at work.  Once classes start next week, I will be unable to get to league any earlier than 7:30 or 8 pm.  What’s worse is that this time I also have an earlier start, so it’s the worst of both worlds; I’ll be tired and dragging and arriving late, so I doubt I am going to finish this season in top form.  It also means I’ll probably not be getting as many photos of league, so enjoy them while you can.

I’ll be seeing you soon (I hope) as I’m about to head to the Avenue for tonight’s league, where I will no doubt get razzed again for my habit of doing my league update shortly before the next league.  Yeah, I love you guys too.