We started another two-bank rotation on June 14, which was the third night of Season 16. The banks for this one are named Poseidon for the god of the sea (and, oddly, also horses) and Hermes for the messenger of the gods. Most of the game choices in Poseidon are pretty self-explanatory. Hermes’ bank is a bit more mercurial (get it?) but it helps to know that in addition to being fast, he carried the caduceus, a staff entwined with serpents. I kind of had to stretch for some of the banks because the most important thing was balancing the game locations.
Joseph and I arrived early in order to play a makeup game of Lord of the Rings, which had unfortunately been down during League Night #2. Tim was the other early bird and he played with us. I am not normally very strong on LotR, which is evidenced by the fact that it’s been at the Avenue as long as I’ve been playing pinball there and yet I’ve never completed Destroy the Ring mode. I’ve started it a bunch of times, but I always get nervous with Frodo yelling at me and end up draining. It was the first wizard mode I ever saw, actually. My first ever league night I arrived to see a bunch of people clustered around watching a guy (it was Chris T., but I didn’t know him yet) destroy the ring. So even though it’s objectively not that hard to start and not that hard to complete, it still has this legendary status in my mind. Anyway, during my league makeup game, I somehow not only started it but actually finished it, despite getting so nervous for the last couple shots that I got the shaky hands.
I ended up grouped with Joseph (for the first time in quite a long time) and Donny for this week’s league games. Donny had his own moment of glory when he totally blew up Batman ’66 on ball 1. He then also blew up the first of the two extra balls he earned on ball 1, then sadly had to plunge off the second one, per league rules. The rest of his game didn’t measure up to that first ball, but who cares, when your first ball is that good?
Tuesday Night Smackdown was on Avengers: Infinity Quest, which actually should have been the Smackdown our first league night since it was the newest game then, but I forgot. We had a special guest appearance by Biff, who played in the league prior to the hiatus but had not returned since. He told me that he is too busy with family now. He did play in our Tuesday Night Smackdown and I finally got to tell him that I won a blue ribbon at the 2021 Calhoun County Fair with a photo of him at league that I took in 2019.
The Smackdown Champion was Jason, who set up the fun pose for his winners’ photo. Tim won the Undercard on The Munsters.
Finally, I want to extend a league welcome to our newest member, Kayl, whom I unfortunately seem not to have gotten any pictures of this time. Kayl is familiar to many due to being on the staff of The Avenue, and previously played in the March Hare Madness charity tournament.
