The Capital Crushers descended on The Avenue Cafe on March 28 to kick off the eighteenth – you read that right – season of the Lansing Pinball League. It was our best-attended night in a long time as 25 people played, necessitating the addition of a second bank. This was mainly due to a sudden influx of enthusiastic new players who brought great energy with them: Ethan, Cyndi, Jon, Adam, Ann-Marie, Grant, Randall, Ro, and Ted. We did our usual drawing from a hat but fortunately avoided having a group entirely made up of new players (barely, since Joseph ended up steering a group of three newcomers). We also had the reappearance of a couple of off-and-on regulars who weren’t able to make it last season, Jason “Mags,” Shylia, and Brian K.
I was in a group with Cyndi, who is very new to pinball, and after making sure she was OK with receiving advice, I showed her how to make the Tower skill shot on Lord of the Rings and then immediately shoot the ring to start a mode. I was thrilled and proud when she proceeded to execute both elements perfectly on her first try, because at heart I’m a teacher even when I’m not at school. Cyndi, Linda, Josh, and I made for a fun and collegial group.
Our Tuesday Night Smackdown on Indiana Jones had the most players I can remember, possibly a record turnout, meaning that not everyone qualified to play finals. Several people near the bubble hung around watching anxiously as the last games were played. The final game as I rung the bell to end qualifying ended up catapulting both Cyndi and Linda into qualifying and sadly sending Jason and Jon home.
I have a button maker now, and finally got around to making a template for giving out buttons to Smackdown winners which they can wear for bragging rights. Tim put theirs on right away and Joseph… well, for some unaccountable reason he decided to do something silly with his. Who would have guessed?
I hope to see you all shortly at our second league night (and don’t forget about the ladies’ Lightning Flippers event next week)!
