Joseph playing Star Wars in the Smackdown tournament while the other finalists watch.
Our league night of 8/21 brought us through the halfway mark of Season 11. It also was a bittersweet night for me, as it marked the end of my freewheeling, early-to-league days. By the time we met again, I would have started my semester and would be back to racing in at the last minute fresh off an hour drive from Mt. Pleasant and still dressed for work. (In fact, that will be me on Tuesday.)
It was a night with unusually low attendance for this season. Two of our power players, Chris and Danny, were both absent. That allowed me to finish second for the night, possibly my best ever. I got a first place on two games, certainly the most I’ve ever done, and the most anyone did that night. Unfortunately some of my others weren’t as hot, so Derik ended up beating me by four points to be the top finisher for the night.
Lupe playing AC/DC in the Undercard tournament.
Since we only had 12 people, the night went quickly. Even Medieval Madness could not slow us down. It treated everyone pretty bad and the highest score of the night was Karen’s 48 million – respectable, certainly, but not the blowout we used to get with our old MM before it got replaced with the much harsher remake edition.
I collected the last few stragglers’ T-shirt orders and got them all turned in to Derik, who is coordinating things with Michigan Shirt Works. Last I talked to Derik, he was not sure when MSW would be finishing the shirts.
The Tuesday Night Smackdown game this time was Star Wars and the Undercard (B division) played AC/DC (chosen randomly from among the games in the area near Star Wars). Terry won the Smackdown and seemed quite pleased about it (he had me take a picture of him and his medal with his phone); Dan was the Undercard winner.
Dan checks to see what his medal is made out of. Yep, it’s real plastic!
Tuesday is the first night of the second half of the league season. This is the last chance to join the league and still qualify to play in finals, since finals are limited to those who have played at least four nights. Since Iron Maiden is scheduled to be a league game, we will also be officially recording scores for the Stern “Up the Irons” tournament on Tuesday. This is a worldwide leader board for Iron Maiden that is running through the end of the calendar year. The top ten scores at any given time appear (with your photo) on the leader board, and at the end of the year the overall top scores win prizes. You may only submit scores from the game you actually played in league, not from practice or just-for-fun games. Right now, you must beat a score of 265,754,990 to get in 10th place on the board.
The Smackdown finalists: Terry, Mike, Tim, and Joseph.
I’m looking forward to seeing you all again (after this extra-long three week break) at 7:30 on Tuesday at the Avenue.