Tonight’s the night: the fifth meeting of the fourth season of the incomparable Lansing Pinball League! Aaron is going to be running things again this time, as Matt is traveling during his Spring Break. As for me, well, the saying among professors is that Spring Break is neither in spring nor a break. In my case it is definitely not a break from pinball; instead it’s an opportunity to play pinball when I’m not utterly wrung out from a long day at work.
Aaron’s stewardship of the league in Matt’s absence last week was received with mixed reviews. Some were relieved by the paucity of hugs, others were unsettled by his unorthodox methods (such as rotating through games counterclockwise). Rumors that his broken nose was caused by a scuffle over the slam tilt rule are unfounded; I have it on good authority that it resulted from losing a fight with a sidewalk. Like any pinball player, he had the good sense to protect his hands from injury by taking the fall with his face.
We will also be down a Mike, specifically Mike S., who went early to PAPA with Todd. This should bring our Mike levels back within recommended allowances.
The games for today will (probably) be as follows:
Monster Bash
Tales of the Arabian Nights (warning: last I knew, skill shots were not working)
Junk Yard
Please not The Simpsons Pinball Party, anything but that
Attack from Mars is the contingency game, used if more than 16 people play, but that doesn’t look likely.
On Tuesday, the fourth season of the Lansing Pinball League reached its halfway point, the fourth meeting of eight. Despite my pessimistic predictions of Getaway failure, every game chosen for this week – Getaway, Indiana Jones, The Walking Dead, and World Cup Soccer – did in fact get played. Tales of the Arabian Nights was on standby in case more than 16 people showed up, but that did not come to pass. In fact, attendance was on the low side this week, relative to the highs we have been reaching recently, though in the old days it would still have been considered quite a crowd.
Chris and Mike enjoy a well-lit pinball alcove for a split second as my flash goes off. Sadly, they were plunged back into darkness immediately afterward.
Aaron was in charge this week since Matt had to study for a midterm the next day. I reminded Aaron of my warning that being Matt would mean having to give out hugs, then teased him a bit about his belief that “touching people is disgusting.” He said that of course he didn’t mean any of us, it’s just proximity to strangers that appalls him. This got him on the subject of how he would never want to go on a cruise. I replied that I had never had any interest in going on a cruise until the other day when I read about The 80’s Cruise. I attempted to explain the appeal of this (“they have all kinds of actual 80’s bands and costume parties and stuff!”) and Aaron said, “I’m sure it’s a wonderful time for anyone who has ever wanted to have norovirus while wearing fluorescent charteuse.”
Aaron, ever the iconoclast, then sent everyone rotating counterclockwise through the games instead of the Matt-standard clockwise. I ended up in a group with Alex and Greg, which later also added Russell when he arrived late. Alex played several outstanding games, most notably a game of The Walking Dead that saw him putting initials on the high score board. I, on the other hand, was punished for bragging about my recent Walking Dead scores by barely breaking 10 million. Ouch. I made up for it later by having an excellent game of Getaway that set a personal high score for me. (I keep records of all my best scores in a little app. Yeah, I’m that kind of person.)
As I sat nearby watching Alex play The Walking Dead (I had a lot of time to sit around with the epic game he was having), he launched a crossbow shot and hit… a bunny. I gasped in dismay, which caused Chris to erupt into peals of laughter. “I always go for the left ramp,” he said, “but I’m shooting the right from now on just because of that.” Yeah, well, my rabbit Stephen has a message he wants me to give you…
Stephen disapproves. Of everything.
Chris had other reasons to be in a good mood, since according to Joseph, he put up high score entries on both Getaway and Indiana Jones. Together with Alex’s TWD score, that makes at least three high scores that got entered during league play.
After league finished, a smaller crowd than usual went over to Theio’s for a bite to eat. I think the group was just me, Joseph, Greg, Mike S., Jake, and Sam, this time. We invited the New Mike, but somehow he wasn’t sufficiently enticed by prospects of hash browns and our erudite company. We will have to try harder next time.
I did get a chance to talk with the New Mike, though, and that just leaves the New Matt as the league member I have not yet met. He didn’t come to this meeting (maybe he misunderstood and thought there was a Matt ban this week?) but I will make sure to catch him next time.
Be vewwy, vewwy quiet…
Speaking of next time, I hope to see you all then! It will be March 10, same time, same place. As usual, I have the results posted in a sortable table and have put a few photos in the gallery (not very many this time, I’m sorry to say).
In just a few hours it will be time for the fourth meeting of Season 4, the halfway point of the season. Last meeting saw an unprecedented number of players which led us to play five games instead of our usual four. Matt has lined up four games for us to play with a fifth contingent on there being more than 16 players. The games are:
The Walking Dead
World Cup Soccer
Getaway
Indiana Jones
Tales of the Arabian Nights (if more than 16 players)
Joseph asked which game I thought would break this time. After some consideration (World Cup was also a contender) I decided to throw my vote to Getaway. Joseph agreed. Mike S. has threatened to use his gremlin powers against Indiana Jones, which he is not a fan of, but since that one has been treating me a little bit better recently, I asked if he couldn’t target Getaway instead.
Matt has some serious studying to do tonight due to a midterm tomorrow, so he won’t be running the meeting tonight. In all seriousness, I admire his diligence as a student. As for my academic diligence… well, I stayed home from class today. Aaron will be serving as Matt’s stand-in, which will of course require him to do a lot more hugging than usual.
Last week’s League Night (the third of Season 4) found us at peak attendance. I remember well the days when we played three games every league night; now we usually have to play four to accommodate the number of players. This time, though, the crowd was 18 strong and we had to go up to five games! We had three new players: Craig, Matt W., and Mike B. I met Craig but somehow failed to get introduced to Matt and Mike, which is just as well as I might have tried to send them away for putting us over our quota for Matts and Mikes. Especially Mikes. We may as well rename this the Mikes’ League.
A member of the Mike Mob.
As noted in my preview, since I have been keeping this blog, we have had a perfect streak of never playing all the games we were scheduled to play. At least one has always broken down or caused some problem that removed it from consideration at the last minute. This time we did play all the games Matt P. had chosen (Austin Powers, World Cup Soccer, Junk Yard, and Medieval Madness). We also played one additional game to accommodate the high turnout, Theatre of Magic. This led to a disagreement afterward over whether the streak had been broken. I held that we did not play exactly the games listed in the preview because we played one extra game, so the streak continued. Matt P. and others insisted that all that was needed to break the streak is that all the games included in the preview actually get played.
One of the amusing incidents of the night concerned a theory I have recently arrived at regarding Chris’s pinball skill. The previous weekend, Mike S. had reported to me that he witnessed Chris play a 400 million point game of The Simpsons Pinball Party at the Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids, and drained his last three balls because he got tired of playing. Given the brutality with which The Simpsons treats most of us in the Lansing League, I told Mike that Chris had clearly sold his soul at the crossroads for pinball prowess. Chris is now aware of my theory, and I note that he has neither confirmed nor denied it. So, then: at league night, I heard someone joke, “I call him Dr. Tabbak.” I replied, “I call him Dr. Faust,” which immediately got a rejoinder from Chris (“I heard that, Dr. Kendrick!”) despite the fact that he was quite some distance away playing Junk Yard.
“I didn’t think he could hear me!” I said.
“I hear everything,” came the reply.
“That really doesn’t help disprove my theory.”
This doesn’t help either. Good luck sleeping tonight.
We hadn’t gotten to play Medieval Madness in quite some time. Its return was received with mixed emotions. Some people (including me) love it. Some, not so much. Joseph informs me that sometime during Ball 2 of Medieval Madness, Chris cried out in anguish, “This game is so boring!” He then intentionally drained his ball in a fit of ennui. There were a lot of high scores on this one. In my group, I was quite pleased with my 25 million… until Russell did something around 69 million.
After league play wrapped up, a group went over to Theio’s for what is now becoming the traditional after-party. This was the largest Theio’s group yet, including Jake (the instigator), Sam, Matt P., Aaron, Mike S., Greg, Sarah, Alex, Joseph, and me. Things got pretty raucous, though Aaron said that they would probably be delighted if we were the worst group they ever got there. Jake continues to be intrigued by my other hobby, roller coasters, and I attempted to chat with Sarah a little bit about it too as she is also a roller coaster fan; unfortunately the fact that we were on the opposite ends of a really long table meant the conversation didn’t get very far.
Half the league converging at Theio’s and being a mild nuisance.
Our next league night, which will bring us to the midpoint of the season, will be February 24. The heat is on: the distance between first and second places (Chris and Alex, respectively) is far smaller than it was in previous seasons after this many meetings. The results are posted, so you can see for yourself. I also loaded a batch of photos from the night into the photo gallery. See you next week!
In honor of Valentine’s Day, allow me to share a letter I am sending to someone who has a very special place in my heart…
Cute and cuddly! …though the down side of cuddling him is getting the lipstick out of your clothes.
Dear Mr. Mechanical-Man,
May I call you Rudy? I hope this letter finds you feeling like a million. I have never written a fan letter before, except for the ones to Peter Falk, Stephen Colbert, and the lead singer of the Buggles, but I just had to write to you. I’m your biggest fan and I am always ready to defend you against the philistines in my pinball league who don’t appreciate your unique charm. Some of them say you can’t be real because they have seen Rudys at lots of other arcades, but I know those other Rudys are just your helpers.
I remember the first time I saw you. I was immediately intrigued by your ability to keep your eyebrows fixed in such a quirky position. I could tell you liked me, too, since your eyes followed me around the room, even when you were supposed to be asleep. It wasn’t long before you were calling me endearing pet names like “Bucko” and “Chuckie” and my heart was fluttering every time you said “Great shot!”
To other people, it sometimes looks like we get angry at each other, but you and I know it’s all meant affectionately. When you say “I’m not happy with you now,” you really mean “I am in awe of your skill.” And when I say “Damn you, Rudy, that was unacceptable! F–Aaaaaaaaaaaargh,” I really mean “Thank you for the challenge, my dear friend!”
I hope you will answer a question for me. What exactly is in the funhouse? You’re always saying “You don’t know what’s in there!”, and that’s the truth, since it seems like all I ever get to do is play on the steps outside.
I am enclosing a self-addressed, stamped envelope so that you can send back an autographed picture. Please inscribe it, “To Heather, I always save the biggest points for you! Fond regards, Rudy.”
Tonight is the third meeting of our fourth season. Some members of the league have barely recovered from the IFPA state championship in Grand Rapids on Saturday, but last meeting’s shakeups mean that no one can relax! Matt’s random number generator managed to choose the exact same games this time as last (one of our league mathematicians, Joseph, tells me the odds of this happening are 1 in 715); he threatened to make us all play 4 games of Simpsons instead, so we could go home early. I assume he must have changed his mind and rerolled, since this is the slate he has posted:
Austin Powers, which we were supposed to play last time but kept eating quarters.
World Cup Soccer, which we were also supposed to play last time but the right flipper was not working.
Junk Yard, which has no serious issues to the best of my knowledge.
Medieval Madness. Aw yeah, Medieval Madness! Shoot the castle! Shoot the castle! Shoot the castle!! Or be a rebel and go for multiball. It’s your funeral.
I will be mighty surprised if we actually play all those games. Remember, my streak of writing previews with games we did not actually play has been unbroken since I started this blog in the fall. But we shall see soon enough.
Last week’s league night – the second meeting of Season 4 – was a night of shakeups. Sarah ruled the night, leaving Alex and Chris in her dust in second place. Two of last season’s Battlers for Third, Joseph and Mike S., landed near the bottom of the pile. And Austin Powers found an entirely new way to break.
Greg gets ready to play TotAN while Danny plays a side game of Getaway.
Joseph had a lot to live up to, because of his recent spectacular game of The Walking Dead. Chris said to me, “I asked your husband what he did to get that score. He was less than helpful.” “What did he say?” I asked. “He said ‘keep the ball in play.’”
We had been scheduled to play The Walking Dead, Theatre of Magic, Tales of the Arabian Nights, and World Cup Soccer. As I predicted, WCS was still down. I was dismayed to learn that we would be playing Austin “Ugly and Talks Too Much” Powers instead. Before I could even ask Mike to break it for me, it turned out that Austin Powers was broken too. Greg had previously broken a piece off its plunger which had subsequently fallen into the ball return mechanism. Thanks, Greg!
Unfortunately, the substitute that we did eventually play was The Simpsons, renowned as the most brutal game at the Avenue. Mike’s bad showing this week was due in large part to an abysmal Simpsons game that saw him get his ball returned to him twice. If The Simpsons pities you enough to give you a second chance, you know it’s bad. Unfortunately his second chances didn’t score much better. He redeemed his pride by setting a high score with his league game on The Walking Dead.
Joseph glares at the camera with the look he usually reserves for a game that has offended him. OK, so I didn’t get any good pictures this week.
Joseph can blame his disappointing night, in part, on a catastrophic (289K) game of TotAN. Just as he predicted, he also utterly failed to live up to the legacy of his epic Walking Dead grand champion game. Instead, he seems to have passed his luck on to me: I earned about 53M, a personal best by a good margin, on my league game of TWD. I was feeling pretty darned good about this when, a little while later, I happened to look over and see Sarah taking the game apart. She was in the high 60 millions and counting. I didn’t see what score she finished with, but it was certainly a good one. I was not surprised to see her first place finish this week.
As on the previous league night, Jake suggested – no, insisted – that we go to Theio’s afterward. Joseph, Alex, Sarah, Aaron, Jake, Mike, Sam, and I headed over to Theio’s, where they pushed tables together for us. Greg ducked out on us at the last moment but promised to come next time. It was a bit earlier this time (Jake had promised Sam that they wouldn’t stay in Lansing until 1 a.m. again) so once things broke up Joseph and I actually headed back to the Avenue, where we played some games with Aaron before finally calling it a night sometime after midnight.
The standings after the second meeting have shifted considerably. Alex is now in second, just one point behind Chris, and Sarah has moved up to third. The season is still much too early to make predictions. It will be very interesting to see how things develop at our next meeting on February 10.
