Our penultimate meeting of the regular season happened on October 9. We were all surprised not to see Lupe and Caleb. Just as league was starting I got a worried message from Lupe: she had misunderstood and thought league night was the following week, and would not be able to make it on short notice. Fortunately, I was able to reassure her that if she made our final regular meeting she would still qualify to play in finals. So let this serve as a reminder and warning: you must play at least four meetings in the regular season to qualify for finals. There is only one meeting left, #8, and it will be tomorrow, October 23. The meeting after that, November 13, will be finals. (Note that there is a three week gap between our next meeting and finals.)
The Tuesday Night Smackdown finalists.
The Undercard finalists.
The most notable event of our last meeting was not during league but rather the Smackdown finals. The league had voted, narrowly, to do Attack from Mars rather than Iron Maiden again (I offered the option for the sake of giving more chances at the Stern “Up the Irons” tournament). Danny blew a raspberry as I announced that we would not be doing Iron Maiden. It didn’t stop him from trying Attack from Mars, but despite throwing in several extra attempts and paying the tax for that, he still ended up at around a billion, which put him into the Undercard (B) division. As the main Smackdown tournament proceeded on Attack from Mars, the Undercard played off on Monster Bash. Thanks mainly to Danny’s 700-plus-million score, the B division – which included Oscar in his first Smackdown appearance – ended up wrapping up at almost exactly the same time as the A division.
The Attack from Mars final scores.
And oh, was it ever a Smackdown in the A division. Chris usually goes home before the Smackdown happens but this time he was determined to win it. He finished Ball 3 at nearly 10 billion, causing Jason to work very hard on his last ball, stacking up billion after billion himself, but draining at around 8 billion. It was very exciting for the last few spectators to watch. (Everyone else had gone home as the hour had gotten exceedingly late.) I said to Chris, “enjoy your plastic medal and 0.8 WPPRs.” When I saw him the next week at Grand Rapids Pinball League, I mentioned that I had been wrong; it ended up at over a full point. He yelled, “YES! ONE POINT!” with an Oscar-worthy level of enthusiasm.
Tomorrow, as I said, we will have our last regular meeting at 7:30. I want to remind everyone that on Wednesday we will be having our annual Fear and Trembling charity pinball tournament. It benefits the Capital Area Humane Society and has a unique (as far as I know) format. It’s pingolf, but on each hole you choose between two objectives, and have to stick with the one you chose even if you get the other one by accident. The cost is $10 plus coin drop. It’s IFPA sanctioned and there will be custom spooky trophies (I’m finishing them up right now and I am very pleased with them). If you love Halloween or pingolf (and that’s what we logicians call “inclusive or”), you will love this tournament. Please come if you can.