Beer and trophies: that’s what it’s all about in the Lansing League.
Season 5 of the Lansing League came to an end on November 10 with the final playoff tournament. Starting in Season 4, final standings have been determined by a double elimination tournament with best-of-three matches. Chris trailed Alex by 1 point going into the playoffs, making him the #2 seed, but battled his way back to a victory against Alex in the finals. It was a long, hard fight, which at one point saw the competitors taking dueling tours of the Mansion on The Addams Family. As the night ended, Chris was heard saying to Alex, “You can have everything else, but the Lansing League is mine!”
All for one, and one for all!
Meanwhile, in B division, Russell spent quite some time in a misunderstanding, thinking that if he got through enough of the bracket he would somehow work his way into A division, which sadly is not how it works. Finally he asked someone, “I don’t understand. How do I get from this sheet [the B division bracket] to that sheet [the A bracket]?” The news was broken to him that he wouldn’t. What he would do, however, is come through the “second chance” bracket to go up against me in the finals, and then win four straight games in a row to take home the B division trophy.
Chris and Alex with their trophies. Third place Mike had already gone home.B division winners Russell (1st), Heather (2nd), and Sam (3rd).
The season is over now, save for the traditional post-season Zen (split flipper) tournament, which will be held tomorrow. I hope to see you all there! In the meantime, enjoy some more playoff photos. (There are even more in the gallery.)
“Is this all you got?” Mike gets his 3rd place trophy from Matt.Would you buy a used car from this man?It’s all fun and games in the Lansing League.“Alex… how the hell did you let this happen again?”
The final playoff tournament for Season 5 was held November 10. The top eight qualifiers who attended played in A division, and everyone else who attended played in B division. Only players who had attended at least four league meetings were eligible. Players who did not compete in the tournament are ranked below tournament competitors.
The first Silver Balls in the City charity tournament will be held on December 29 at 7 p.m. in The Avenue Cafe, 2021 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing (the league’s normal venue). The entry fee will be $10, plus coin drop. All entry fees (excluding coin drop) will be donated to the Capital Area Humane Society. All are welcome.
The format will be four strikes knockout. You will play randomly selected matches against competitors until you lose four games. This is a great format for people new to tournament play, so don’t be shy if you’re a novice. There will also be a side tournament with best game qualifying on one game. The entry fee registers you for both tournaments.
Please take the time to peruse the general rules that will be used in case of malfunction or player error, so you know what to expect.
Yes, there is a doctor in the house! Dr. Tabbak, to be precise.
I decided to run a costume contest for League Night #8 as it was the closest night to Halloween and I love any chance to dress up and get others to dress up. I had hoped to create an entirely new costume, but I got busy and ended up using one I already have, my Stitch kigurumi. I did make new gloves for it by sculpting claws from Sculpey, painting them, and gluing them to a pair of blue gloves. I even wore them during all my league games. Joseph wore a similar costume, technically a red panda kigurumi but he promoted it as a coati because he likes them better. He took the additional step of painting his face with whiskers and an eye-mask, which was adorable, if I do say so myself. I set off to the Avenue with the costume contest trophies in hand, worried that Joseph and I would be the only ones to dress up.
Joseph plays a coati playing pinball.
But no! The league rose to the challenge and quite a few people were in costume. The winner, though, was obvious as soon as everyone saw him: Matt dressed as Chris, with a lab coat, stuffed turtle, and a trophy around his neck on a cord… plus a strategically shaved head. Jake also came as Chris, and had the one thing Matt forgot: socks pulled way up. Chris came as Chris also. (He did get one vote in the contest.)
Also receiving a lot of attention were Summer and Allyson as the twins from the film The Shining. Sadly Danny was not in attendance on this night, so they couldn’t ask him to come play with them.
Other costumes in no particular order included Alex as a golfer (“any golfer you want,” he said), Sarah as Sandy from Grease (specifically the bad-girl version of Sandy from the end), Mike as a mad scientist with a singing Gizmo that lived in his pocket, and Sam as an Indian bridegroom (real wedding attire he bought on a trip to India). Aaron claimed to be MCA and to prove it he held up a picture of MCA next to himself. There was, admittedly, a resemblance.
Sarah and Alex as Sandy (from Grease) and a golfer.
A vote for best costume was open to league members, with each person casting a single vote for best costume. The winner was Matt by a landslide. Second place went to Allyson and Summer, who were given a joint award, and third place went to me.
Oh yes, and there was also a league night, the last of the regular season, so the final results are now available. These results will determine the seeding for the playoffs. For the second season in a row, Alex narrowly edged out Chris for top seed. Chris had been steadily catching up for a few weeks, but despite a last sprint he was only able to narrow the gap to one point.
Here are some more photos of the night! Enjoy! Even more are available in the photo gallery.
Mike as a mad scientist.Three Chrises in a row. Photo by Joseph.Sam the Indian bridegroom.Come play with us!The winners: 2nd place Summer and Allyson, 3rd place Heather, and 1st place Matt. Photo by Joseph.
Tomorrow night at 7 p.m. is the final night of Season 8, in which final standings are determined by a double elimination tournament. The top 8 seeds, based on total points for the season, will play in A division, and the rest will play in B. Each match will be best two of three. The higher seed gets first pick: either machine or order of play. The loser of the first game gets next pick: either machine or order of play; the same goes if a third game is necessary. The same machine may not be used more than once per set of 3 games per opponent. You may wait on a machine to use only if the current players are on ball 3, otherwise you must choose an unoccupied machine.
Players must have attended at least four meetings this season to play. Based on a review of the past league results, it looks like the following people are eligible (in order of seeding):
Alex
Chris
Mike S.
Aaron
Matt
Joseph
Sarah
Jake
Sam
Heather
Mike B.
Jimmy
Danny
Terry
Russell
Greg
James
Start deciding your game picks now! Good luck to everyone!
These are the final results for the regular season and will be used to seed the playoffs on November 10. The top eight will play in A division and everyone else will play in B. Players must have attended at least four meetings to play.
Tomorrow, October 27, will be the eighth meeting of Season 5, and will be the last chance to earn points for seeding for the final tournament. The game lineup for the night is to be determined. It will also be the league costume contest, and there will be trophies given for first, second, and third place costumes, determined by a vote of present league members. Hope to see you all at 7 p.m. at the Avenue!
October 13 was the seventh meeting of eight for the season, leaving players with little time left to improve their seeding for the final playoffs. We were supposed to play Getaway, but Chris managed to break it (or, perhaps I should say, failed to talk it out of breaking) during a practice game, so Indiana Jones got moved into the rotation in its place. Then Todd managed to get a ball wedged irretrievably in Fish Tales. An attempt was made to turn Fish Tales completely on its side to get the ball loose, but Avenue staff put the kibosh on this endeavor. So it was out with FT and in with Monster Bash, joining Tales of the Arabian Nights and Lord of the Rings for the night’s lineup.
Damnit, Chris, we wanted to play that!
This was a night of homecomings, as Greg, Chris, and Todd all returned after absences. On the other hand, Alex and Sarah were both absent as the previous day was Sarah’s 21st birthday and they apparently needed some recovery time. Alex has missed (and made up) so many meetings this season (partly due to organizing tournaments elsewhere) that it led Jake to tell him, “You should try joining the league. It’s fun.”
The league also had a new player: Ally’s friend Summer. Summer had previously been a spectator and naturally anyone who watches the fun we have is going to want to join for real. She played in my group and I did my best to share my strategy tips with her. (“Shoot the castle!”)
Mmmm, fries. It’s all about the Nomad Sauce.
Aaron’s nickname for Joseph is “The Zen Master” due to Joseph’s typically stoic attitude toward pinball, but he risked losing that reputation this time. While my group played Fish Tales, I looked over just in time to see Joseph react to an unfair scoop shot in Monster Bash by running down the row of unoccupied machines and hitting all the lockdown bars like conga drums. Unfortunately, Monster Bash’s fondness for straight-down-the-middle kickouts has only risen since then and I suspect it may end up out of the rotation until that improves.
Someone else didn’t need to play the congas.
Lord of the Rings, according to reports, refused to let Todd destroy the ring. I heard that he made several shots right through it without it registering, so I think that switch might be bad. This wouldn’t be so bad — destroying the ring isn’t even worth that much — except that the mode can’t be timed out, so the only option at that point is to drain.
I had a night consisting of three bad games and one good one (on TotAN). As a result I am surely out of the running for playing in A division once again this season and that ambition will have to resume next season. Well, this way I can avoid peaking too soon.
League results aren’t in yet, presumably due to makeups still being played. (UPDATE: the results are now in, minus makeup games from Alex and Sarah.) I didn’t take quite as many photos as usual, but there are a few more in the gallery. Tomorrow is the last day of the regular season, and after that the total points for each player will be used to seed people for the final tournament. Tomorrow is also the league costume night, so wear something crazy that you don’t mind playing pinball in!
After three long weeks, it’s finally time for another meeting of the Lansing Pinball League – the seventh of this season. The list of games keeps changing as games keep breaking down. Attack from Mars has a bad flipper. Addams Family is still unpredictable in regard to swamp kickouts. Austin Powers eats quarters. The Simpsons breaks kneecaps. Well, not really, but it’s out of the rotation due to general cruelty. And World Cup Soccer’s ramp diverter is screwed up, causing balls to get rejected intermittently from the ramp. Matt held a poll regarding whether we should go ahead and play WCS as planned and the prevailing opinion was “no.” Although the usual philosophy is “we all play on the same imperfect tables,” many thought that this situation is unfair in a way that other malfunctions aren’t: one player could shoot the ramp fine, then leave the diverter in the “wrong” state for the next player. As things have currently shaken out, we are scheduled to play the following games:
