Chris playing Iron Maiden in the finals… and valiantly concentrating despite the person walking by in his peripheral vision.
The league’s tenth season, and the first of the post-Matt era, ended Tuesday night with another victory for the undefeated defending champion. Chris made his way through the winners’ bracket of the A division playoffs, ending with a 2-0 win against Danny on Iron Maiden (which had just arrived at the bar that day) and The Walking Dead. Third place went to Tim.
Danny playing Iron Maiden in the finals while Joseph and Derik watch.
In the B division, I defended my top seeded position and paralleled Chris by finishing in the winner’s bracket with a 2-0 final match. I had to face league newcomer Lupe in the finals after knocking her into the second-chance bracket with a hard-fought 2-1 victory in the third round. The third place finisher in B, Chad, was also new to the LPL this season.
We did also have Smackdown and Rookie Challenge tournaments, though several of the would-be qualifiers were still playing in the main tournament and had to forgo finals. Joseph was the Smackdown champion, while the Rookie champ was Caleb.
A division winners Chris (1st), Tim (3rd), and Danny (2nd).
B division winners me (1st), Lupe (2nd), and Chad (3rd). Lupe is also wearing her “most improved” ribbon. Photo by Joseph.
I attempted to start a new tradition this season by giving out a pair of recognition ribbons for specific accomplishments. I asked Joseph to plot a graph of scores and use it to choose the person who had the best claim on being “most improved” over the course of the season. His calculations pointed to Lupe, whom I bestowed the ribbon on as we began the evening. She said she couldn’t wait to show it to her students, and wore it on her shirt for the rest of the evening. I also had long been planning to give a ribbon for the most catastrophically bad single game score of the season, but late in the season, Chris unintentionally went and stole the award by slam tilting Indiana Jones for an official score of 0. Fortunately he took the award in good humor (as did the rest of the crowd when I announced it). Derik surprised us with six T-shirts donated by Pinball Pete’s, which I did a random drawing to give away.
I was very nervous prior to running my first finals, but everything went very smoothly, helped considerably by the good sportsmanship of all the competitors. The only confusing ruling I had to make was about a glitch on Game of Thrones that resulted in Player 1 not being able to choose a house, but that was solved by plunging off Player 1 and having the opponents play as Players 2 and 3.
Dan and Lupe take time out from their match to mug for the camera.
Sadly, Matt was not able to attend finals, since he has already moved to the Kalamazoo area for his new job and didn’t want to make the drive. I am hoping that with a little cajoling we may still be able to get him to come out for Super-Ball X, the Zen Tournament. What’s that, you might ask? It’s our traditional post-season, just-for-fun tournament! We play as pairs, with each partner taking one flipper. It’s a rare chance to enjoy the camaraderie of team play in pinball, and it’s invariably very entertaining. There will be trophies for the top pair. I still cherish my first Zen trophy because it was the first pinball trophy I ever won.
Thank you to everyone in the league for a successful and fun season. I will see you all (I hope) on May 22 for Super-Ball X. All league members for this season, including those who did not meet the requirements to play in the finals, are welcome to play.
P.S.: Don’t forget to check out all the photos I have taken Tuesday night and all season! There are a lot more in the gallery than are posted in my recaps.
A fun read. Enjoyed the pics, too. And congratulations to you for 1st in B.