Season 6, meeting #6 of 8
Games played: Junk Yard, Attack from Mars, The Walking Dead, Theatre of Magic, World Cup Soccer
Sometimes I think my chicken purse is more popular than I am.
The night opened with Matt delayed by school obligations, leaving Aaron to get things organized. Initially it appeared that this would be the first night in quite a while that we would not exceed 16 people, which would mean we would play only four games. Then someone asked: did Aaron remember to count himself? No, he didn’t. But that still only got us to 16 exactly. Did Aaron remember to count Matt, who was on the way? He forgot that too, and so happily (for those of us who prefer longer league nights, anyway) we were bumped back up to a five game night.
Matt, present and accounted for.
I mentioned to Russell that he had played a prominent role in the last league night update. He hadn’t read it, so I filled him in about my mysterious note to myself: “Everyone gave Russell a hard time about everything.” Someone else asked, “What was everyone giving you s— about, Russell?” He replied that, as usual, it was about his sliding games. He asked plaintively why he gets so much grief about that when lots of other people move the games just as much. I have no answer to that question, but I am sure his reputation for making “Russell Grooves” was bestowed affectionately.
Speaking of sliding, my group failed to warn Steve in time about the particular quirks of Junk Yard. I saw him go to give it a shove and I thought, “I should probably tell him –” but by the time I my mouth caught up with my brain, he had already slam tilted. We had to break the news that this meant he would be getting a zero, but he took it with surprising equanimity.
Adam and Greg, working hard down in the points mine.
I was playing The Walking Dead when the news made it upstairs: we would not be playing World Cup Soccer. Was the ramp awarding goals again? No, that wasn’t the problem this time. Instead, a lightbulb had come loose and was rattling around the playfield. WCS was out, Indiana Jones was in. Ten minutes later, another emissary came bearing news from downstairs: we would be playing World Cup Soccer after all. If I have it right, Chris and Sarah spent some time whacking the ball at the lightbulb until it worked its way into a spot where it couldn’t do any damage.
Uncle Stewart wants YOU to join the Lansing Pinball League!
I made my last pitch for people to come to the March Hare Madness tournament (more on that soon), though perhaps I shouldn’t have. When the morning of tournament rolled around so many people had marked themselves as “attending” on Facebook that Chris split into four Chrises and ran in the cardinal directions. But that’s another story for another recap.
Our next league night is Tuesday (April 12), which marks one of the unusual occasions in which we have to suffer for three weeks between league nights. There are only two meetings left this season, so the heat is really on, especially with very slim margins of points between many of the positions, and quite a few people teetering on the border between A and B divisions. The results from this league night, and the current standings, can be viewed here.