| Player | Points this week | Season-to-date |
|---|---|---|
| Chris | 61 | 392 |
| Danny | 53 | 284 |
| Adam | 59 | 359 |
| Matt | 49 | 301 |
| Joseph | 47 | 357 |
| Mike S. | 40 | 342 |
| Heather | 36 | 252 |
| Jimmy | 33 | 243 |
| Parker | 33 | 253 |
| Russell | 29 | 178 |
| Kristen | 26 | 152 |
| Jake | 24 | 183 |
| Mike B. | 23 | 142 |
| Aaron | 0 | 51 |
| Alex | 0 | 299 |
| Dan | 22 | 190 |
| Sam | 0 | 88 |
| Tim | 0 | 246 |
Results may change due to makeup games.
League night #7 of 8
Games played: Jack-Bot, Indiana Jones, The Addams Family, Fish Tales, Austin Powers.
Russell endures a game of Austin Powers.
The penultimate league night was the first one since a Stern Star Trek LE appeared at the Avenue (adding to, rather than replacing any of, the current games), but we were not able to play it for this league night. I don’t actually know why; I just know that by the time I came running in breathlessly after my mad rush from work, it had already been stricken and replaced with, er, Austin Powers. Ghostbusters was also on the originally-announced game list, but it’s still suffering from Wandering Lockdown Bar Syndrome not to mention wonky flipper action (whoops, I did mention it, didn’t I?).
This league night seemed somewhat better attended than a lot of them have been this season.
I did my usual lousy play that I’ve done all season. I blame work. Thanks, work! Screw you and your paychecks… that keep me in pinball quarters… erm. Anyway, since I came late I once again played with fellow latecomer Russell and otherwise was a bit out of the loop about the night’s activities which has left me without much to report on. Mike’s birthday had been the previous night so Joseph and I brought him a card and some flavored popcorn from Horrocks (ranch flavor; credit Joseph with that brilliant idea, since the Theio’s crowd all knows that Mike is obsessed with ranch).
Poor Russell, all alone with Austin Powers.
Also speaking of the Theio’s crowd, Mike used his birthday leverage to insist that we go to the Fleetwood Diner instead this time. Joseph and I had previously taken him to the Fleetwood and he decided it totally blew away Theio’s in terms of menu choices, so he really wanted a repeat visit. Adam and Jake were fine with the change to our routine so we all went over Cedar Street for our midnight breakfast, minus former Theio’s regular Sam, who has been conspicuously absent from recent league nights. Come back, Sam!
We’re just two and a half hours from our final league night of the season as I write this. I know that I’m currently in B division range but within range of making A, so the pressure is really on. I’m sure others are in a similar position. That will be settled tonight. The question of whether we will eat at Theio’s or the Fleetwood from now on may remain unsettled, since there is some talk about going to The Grid (the new barcade in Old Town) after league night instead of having a diner visit. That will probably be my vote, since despite living two miles away I somehow still haven’t gotten out there to check out their oddball game selection.
| Player | Points this week | Season-to-date |
|---|---|---|
| Parker | 58 | 219 |
| Chris | 53 | 330 |
| Tim | 52 | 246 |
| Mike S. | 51 | 301 |
| Joseph | 48 | 309 |
| Adam | 46 | 309 |
| Russell | 37 | 148 |
| Danny | 35 | 229 |
| Jimmy | 32 | 210 |
| Dan | 31 | 167 |
| Matt | 30 | 251 |
| Kristen | 29 | 125 |
| Jake | 23 | 158 |
| Heather | 18 | 215 |
| Aaron | 0 | 51 |
| Alex | 0 | 299 |
| Mike B. | 0 | 119 |
| Sam | 0 | 88 |
Results may change due to makeup games.
League night #6 of 8
Games played: Iron Man, Metallica, Lord of the Rings, Medieval Madness, Monster Bash
Your intrepid blogger is, as always, reliable in her lateness. It has been a good while since our last update, since we had one of those months that resulted in two off weeks instead of one. During that time we also had the March Hare Madness charity tournament, so I will update you on both at once.
First, league night. For a change of pace, all of the games chosen by Matt for league were in fact used. I must say I was not exactly pleased with how Monster Bash was playing (it was back to shooting down the middle out of the scoop, so some people were just plain avoiding the scoop) but I suppose it technically worked. I had a really bad night actually, having one acceptable game and the rest awful (I did something like a 4 million Medieval Madness, if that gives you an idea of how bad I mean by “bad”), so I admit I’ve wiped most of this league night out of my memory banks. If someone remembers something notable about the night please feel free to throw it in the comments because I’ve got nothin’. (I forgot to take any notes, in other words… or any photos, for that matter.)
Matt S. shows off the removable lockdown bar from Ghostbusters at March Hare Madness.
Another development of note is that Pete’s has delivered a Stern Star Trek LE to the Avenue, which is now in the downstairs alcove. It seemed to have some odd behavior at first, according to Matt (auto-plunging Player 2 before he/she could choose a mode), but it wasn’t happening by the time I played it. Other than that it seems to play fine. Unfortunately, last time I was over there, Ghostbusters was in bad shape, with the lockdown bar becoming more of a “hold down bar” and a noticeable delay between releasing the flippers and having them drop. As a result we did use Star Trek in the March Hare Madness tournament, but did not use Ghostbusters.
The March Hare Madness finalists. (Danny had to leave before it was over, so he is not pictured.)
So I guess that brings me to March Hare Madness. This was the second annual MHM, held around the same time as last year, and with the same “amazing race” format. This is a format in which everyone plays a set of games in order and the lowest scoring player on each game is eliminated. Last year Aaron G. suffered the agony of being knocked out first; this time it was me. That may have been for the best as it allowed me to put my full attention into running things. Come to think of it, I didn’t have to make a single ruling or deal with a single major malfunction during the whole tournament, which I think is a first for my tournaments.
Mike with his trophies for the main and side tournaments.
March Hare Madness officially became the Stephen Memorial Tournament this year (and will probably continue to be so named in future years), so the proceeds went to the Rabbit and Small Animal Rescue of Westland (where I adopted Stephen). Although attendance was noticeably lower than last year, I did run a “closest to the pin” side tournament on three games (Tales of the Arabian Nights, Attack from Mars, and Indiana Jones) for 50 cents per try, and that helped make up some of the difference in fundraising. Mike S. won on all three games, and took home all three prizes (two Klassic Arcade passes and one $5 Schuler Books gift card). I got some stick from Chris for accidentally putting the target score for TotAN at 75,000,000. “If I may make a suggestion,” he said, “this seems a little high.” It was, of course, an error; I had accidentally carried over the target score from Indiana Jones. The target score for TotAN was actually 3,500,000, and the target score for AfM was 1,000,000,000. Mike’s winning scores were Indiana Jones, 74,753,920; TotAN, 3,484,660; and AfM, 992,248,050.
Meanwhile, in the main tournament, the final four ended up being (in order of finish) Chris, Joseph, Mike, and Danny. Joseph and Mike ended up having a playoff for 2nd and 3rd, and Joseph won the randomly chosen playoff game on Medieval Madness. This was the first time either Joseph or I have taken home a trophy at one of our own tournaments (not counting Fear and Trembling, where everyone who attended took one home).
In total the tournament earned $161 for RASA Rescue. Thank you to all participants for helping me memorialize Stephen. Thanks also to the prize donors. My friend Alesia Tom donated a pair of earrings and a bunch of movie posters for prizes, one of which (La La Land) was highly coveted by Adam, resulting in some bargaining between him and the finalists. Adam also donated a Game of Thrones translite for one of the finalist prizes.
Tonight, after a long dry spell, league is back in action, so I will see you all at 7 p.m. Actually, you’ll see each other at 7 p.m. and I’ll see you whenever I manage to get out of the philosophy mines.
| Player | Points this week | Season-to-date |
|---|---|---|
| Joseph | 63 | 261 |
| Adam | 61 | 263 |
| Alex | 58 | 299 |
| Parker | 56 | 161 |
| Chris | 54 | 277 |
| Russell | 48 | 111 |
| Heather | 43 | 197 |
| Matt | 38 | 221 |
| Mike S. | 38 | 250 |
| Mike B. | 37 | 119 |
| Kristen | 33 | 96 |
| Dan | 31 | 136 |
| Tim | 31 | 194 |
| Jimmy | 30 | 178 |
| Jake | 29 | 135 |
| Aaron | 0 | 51 |
| Danny | 0 | 194 |
| Sam | 0 | 88 |
Results may change due to makeup games.
League night #5 of 8
Games played: Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, The Simpsons, Getaway, The Addams Family
I can get away with taking pictures like this only because Joseph is not bothered at all by me being in his peripheral (or is it periphe-real?) vision.
This league night took place during my spring break, which meant that I could be on time for once this season. I also got more photos than usual thanks to being less rushed. We were originally scheduled to play South Park among others (we have not yet played South Park for league, not that anyone’s crying over it), but when we arrived several of them malfunctioned or started eating quarters, so Mike S. asked Matt on Facebook if we could reshuffle the games and perhaps consider playing something we hadn’t done yet this season, such as Indiana Jones. Matt rather testily told Mike he should go ahead and just tell us what we’re going to play. Then Matt showed up in person carrying the league’s lightbulbs (yes, we are a BYOB league: bring your own bulbs). Mike gave him a bit of a ribbing about how he had forgotten to take one of them home after league last time. Matt responded by staring at Mike and dropping the bag of bulbs on the floor where he stood, causing a tell-tale glass tinkling noise, before walking away to get a drink. Casualties: one of the two remaining league-owned LED bulbs, and Matt’s patience.
Everyone’s two favorite things are in this picture, am I right? (I mean hats, and stairs.)
Prior to league play beginning, Danny was putting in some serious work on one of his favorite games, Getaway. He had a parade of extra balls and got very nearly to the grand champion score before having a couple of virtual house balls. Still, he was looking good for playing Getaway in league. Thus we were all surprised by the turn of fate: Danny slam tilted Getaway. This puts him in an elite group of people who have slam tilted games in the league and I think it’s the first slam of the season. We were all surprised, because although he gave it a pretty hard shove, it didn’t seem hard enough to warrant a slam. Unfortunately, the league’s rules on it are clear, so Danny went from the pinnacle to the pit on Getaway in the space of an hour.
The only good thing I can say about the new placement of games by the pool tables is that it allows for new photo angles.
With Addams Family on the slate, we once again saw Chris using his shoes to block the strobe lights. I guess that works well for him and I’m wondering if we’re going to start seeing more of it.
League members Joseph, Adam, and I – plus Sarah who has often played in the league in the past – all competed in one or more of the tournaments held by the IFPA in Dallas over the weekend (Sarah and I in the Women’s World Championship, Adam in the Nationals as the Michigan state champion, and Adam, Joseph, and I in the Pin-Masters pingolf tournament). Adam did especially well, finishing in the top eight of both tournaments, so be sure to congratulate him on his excellent representation of Michigan when you come to league tonight. As for the rest of us, well, at least I’ll have some stories to tell.
| Player | Points this week | Season-to-date |
|---|---|---|
| Alex | 65 | 240 |
| Mike S. | 64 | 211 |
| Parker | 60 | 105 |
| Tim | 58 | 162 |
| Chris | 55 | 222 |
| Heather | 55 | 153 |
| Joseph | 55 | 205 |
| Aaron | 51 | 51 |
| Matt | 51 | 182 |
| Adam | 49 | 201 |
| Jimmy | 45 | 147 |
| Sam | 41 | 88 |
| Mike B. | 34 | 81 |
| Danny | 31 | 166 |
| Kristen | 28 | 62 |
| Jake | 22 | 105 |
| Dan | 14 | 104 |
| Russell | 0 | 62 |
Results may change due to make-up games.
I failed to take any pictures of league night. So here, have a picture I took in 2008.
League night #4 of 8
Games played: Terminator 3, Tales of the Arabian Nights, Jack-Bot, Monster Bash, Fish Tales.
This is going to be a rather scrawny update, which is because it was a very scrawny league night. None of the Grand Rapids players attended. Stalwart Chris and new member Parker (AKA “East Side Rodney”) were missing. Russell was present but not playing; he was just there to sit at a table with his laptop working. When I arrived (late, as usual for this season), Joseph told me that play hadn’t started yet; Matt decided to wait for me. I felt bad that I had held people up, though it was not my intention. Joseph also told me about the low attendance, and I responded plaintively that this would be a disappointing league night.
“There’s something upstairs that’s going to make you very happy,” he said.
My eyes immediately sought out the mezzanine. I knew it was unlikely, but my thoughts went straight to it nonetheless: “Is there a FunHouse up there?”
“No, no… but do you hear the sound of slightly inebriated, droll sarcasm?”
I gasped. “Aaron is here!”
That’s right, Aaron H. made his first appearance this season. He’s one of the first friends I made in the league when I joined back in 2013 and he always brings so much cheer to league nights, so I have missed his presence since his work schedule started preventing him from getting to league.
Speaking of Aaron: later in the evening I was playing Fish Tales and had been trying and repeatedly failing to get video mode going. When I finally made the necessary shots and the animation started, I leapt back to commence my “I did a thing” dance (which involves hopping from foot to foot and swinging my arms). Unfortunately, someone was walking behind me and I felt my hand fly out and clobber them. I couldn’t see who it was and couldn’t turn around before I had to start shooting water skiers, but the exaggerated yell of pain let me know it was Aaron. (He should save the theatrics for World Cup Soccer.)
I had a good game of Fish Tales and a very fun game of Jack-Bot (Casino Run FTW! I love the thrill of gambling with points). Too bad I had a truly awful game of Monster Bash in which it was pulling all kinds of TBS such as shooting the ball down the middle from the scoop (yes, that again) and catching Drac’s foot as it came from the right orbit and being diverted down the middle.
Fortunately, South Park was stealing quarters or something like that, so we didn’t follow our usual practice of playing the newest game. I don’t think anyone is all that excited to see it, even though it is nice that they keep adding games. I remember when we had only four games.
Tonight at 7 is our next league night. We have four down and four to go. And the good news for me is that I’m on Spring Break and can come early for once. I will see you all there… I hope.
| Player | Points this week | Season-to-date |
|---|---|---|
| Chris | 68 | 167 |
| Joseph | 61 | 150 |
| Danny | 59 | 133 |
| Alex | 53 | 175 |
| Tim | 53 | 104 |
| Adam | 45 | 152 |
| Mike S. | 45 | 147 |
| Parker | 44 | 45 |
| Jimmy | 39 | 102 |
| Heather | 37 | 98 |
| Matt | 37 | 131 |
| Jake | 35 | 83 |
| Kristen | 34 | 34 |
| Dan | 32 | 90 |
| Sam | 22 | 47 |
| Mike B. | 16 | 47 |
| Russell | 0 | 62 |
Results and standings may change due to makeup games.
The second annual March Hare Madness is coming! It will be a memorial tournament for my beloved rabbit Stephen, who died in December, and this time all entry fees (not including coin drop) will go directly to the Rabbit and Small Animal Rescue of Westland, where I adopted Stephen. I hope you will come and help me memorialize Stephen with your donation. The entry fee is $10 and you will also be responsible for coin drop on the games.
This will be an Amazing Race format tournament. If you’re not familiar with that format, it’s simple and fun: a number of games (as many as we can use) will be designated as the race course. Everyone starts at the first game. The person with the lowest score drops out of the race, and everyone else moves on to the next game. (Depending on how many people come, we may drop out 2 or 3 people per round for the first few rounds, so that the race won’t last all night.) This repeats until four people are left, at which time we will have a three-game final match.
Stephen under Tri Zone.
This tournament is open to novice and expert players and everyone in between. The top three will receive trophies, and everyone will receive World Pinball Player Ranking points! If you haven’t played in an organized pinball tournament before, this is your chance to meet a friendly group of people and enjoy the fun of getting internationally ranked in pinball! (It’s addictive… trust me.)
So that no one comes and gets knocked out of the tournament immediately, we will probably allow for a “second chance” on the first few games for an additional donation. We will also have some kind of “just for fun” (non-IFPA endorsed) consolation tournament.
For more information, email heather@lansingpinleague.com or join our event page on Facebook.
Stephen cutting loose.
