Lansing Pinball League

Author: Heather

  • League Night Preview: 10/7/14

    Tomorrow is the night we all look forward to, League Night!  The competition starts at 7 p.m.  Our beloved organizer Matt has announced that the games for this time will be Lord of the Rings, World Cup Soccer, Indiana Jones and Junk Yard.  This is, as always, dependent on the machines behaving.  Junk Yard, particularly, has developed a bad habit of loading two balls (the reason we had to abandon playing it last time) and if this is still going on we will have to pick something else.  If so, I am hoping for anything but Simpsons or Getaway, both of which are unkind to me.

    My highly inexpert game selection analysis: 

    • Lord of the Rings tends to be popular all around, so I don’t anticipate a lot of crying about that one.  Well, except for the lack of a ball save on it, but we’ve all been crying about that so long that the tears have run dry.  Russell needs to make his reappearance so he can show the rest of us how to make grooves in the floor with it.
    • World Cup Soccer is a friendly game, treating most people pretty well.  I anticipate a lot of high scoring games on this one (even adjusted for pinflation).
    • Indiana Jones has its fans and its detractors in the league.  You can count me among the latter.  If you can’t manage to hit the mode start (which loves to just skip the ball right over the back on a dead aim shot) you get nothing.  Having said that, though, I have seen people just go for the multiball before and do fine that way.  That’s a harder way to get points (versus a fast grab on the video modes) but it can be done.  Just, well, not by me.
    • Junk Yard is generally well liked, or at least I don’t hear a lot of complaining about it (but that may be because we haven’t used it for league play in a while).  But beware!  Beware the right ball recycle!  It does not recycle your ball but whisks it to a landfill never to be seen again.  (Will this ever get fixed?)  Prepare for some gnashing of teeth over unjustly lost balls.

    Update: Matt has announced that, should Junk Yard still be running its ball loading two-for-one special, we will be playing Tales of the Arabian Nights.

  • Amateur Tips #2: What They Say, What They Mean

    Welcome to part 2 in my continuing series of tips by a novice, for novices.  An important thing to understand when you first join a pinball league is that what pinball players say and what they mean are two different things.  I have prepared this handy table to help you quickly interpret the remarks you will hear at league night.

    [table id=2 /]

    (I owe the last one to Mike G., who once replied thusly to my asking him the goals of a game with which I was unfamiliar.)

  • League Night Recap for 9/23/14

    League Night Recap for 9/23/14

    Tuesday was the third meeting (of eight) for Season 3 of the League. After the last meeting, dubbed Demolition Derby Night by Joseph, everyone was concerned about the state of the games, but they all got some TLC after that and all were working as league night began. I was hoping we would play Attack from Mars now that Pinball Pete’s has moved the outlane posts halfway back in (they had previously been as far out as they could be) and dialed back the tilt sensitivity — but Matt’s random number generator selected Junk Yard, Monster Bash, Addams Family, and Austin Powers.

    Chris playing Austin Powers while Terry and Mike watch.
    Chris playing Austin Powers while Terry, Mike, and Greg watch.

    Chris made a show of elaborately snubbing me tonight, greeting Joseph but passing me with a cold “excuse me, ma’am.” I suppose this might have something to do with an exchange on the Grand Rapids League Facebook. In response to Chris’s complaining about someone double-flippering in a video, I innocently suggested that he was just envious because he couldn’t handle two flippers at once. Apparently I touched a nerve.

    Everything seemed to be going well until Junk Yard decided to start serving up two balls instead of one. As exciting as nonstop multiball action with single ball scoring rules would be, it was decided that we would instead play Getaway. I blame Mike (MWS) since he was in the group playing Junk Yard when it broke and his first time with the League was during the Demolition Derby Night. He has admitted that crazy malfunctions have hit him at other leagues before, so I am afraid he might in fact be some sort of pinball gremlin.

    It was apparently Family Night this time as I got sorted into a group with my own dear pinball partner Joseph as well as Mark and his daughter, Samantha, who joined the League for the first time. Sam was too polite to blow her own horn but that’s what Dad is for: he told us that she previously placed highly in a youth tournament. I was not taken up on my suggestion that we should play in teams as a sort of Family Feud.

    Joseph says this is a picture of him getting some bad news about his taxes. Actually he's playing Austin Powers while Samantha and Mark watch.
    Joseph says this is a picture of him getting some bad news about his taxes. Actually he’s playing Austin Powers while Samantha and Mark watch.

    The elusive Terry showed up for the first time this season just to make sure everyone knows he can still put (most of) us in our places. When the dust had settled, Terry had narrowly edged out Aaron to take second for this week, graciously leaving the top spot for Chris. Speaking of Chris, a reliable source tells me that he was seen playing his multiball on Monster Bash one-handed. I hardly need to point out that this only strengthens the claim that Chris has trouble using two flippers at once.

    Poor Matt ended up tied with yours truly, a rare confluence of an especially rough night for Matt and an especially good night for me. Maybe he’s been learning some of my Useless Pinball Moves. When his League games were over, Matt said, “It’s time for me to emerge from the chrysalis of league play and become the butterfly that I am.” I can certainly sympathize with the feeling that league play too often fails to capture us at our best.

    St. Matt
    Matt offers his blessings to Greg and Rodney. He’s a Priest without a cross — but with a halo!

    The next league night, meeting #4 of 8, will be on October 7. Will anyone be able to catch Chris? No, scratch that. Will anyone be able to catch Rodney? The gap between first and second (Chris and Rodney) is immense, but the gap between second and third (Joseph) is almost as big. Matt and Aaron are both within easy reach of third at this point, and others are coming up quickly. I am excited to see how the Race for Second and Third develops as we approach the season’s midpoint.

    You can check out the complete results for 9/23 in a sortable table format.  There are also more photos in the photo gallery.

  • Results for League Night 9/23/14

    [table id=1 /]

  • Amateur Tips #1: Useless Pinball Moves

    For my inaugural post on The Capital Combo I decided to start a series of “amateur tips” – advice from a novice.  I am ready to share with you the accumulated wisdom of almost one year of league play.  Today’s installment:

    Useless Pinball Moves

    These are moves that have absolutely no effect, but which I have somehow instinctively picked up.  They do nothing, but I feel like I’m doing something, and that’s what’s important.

    1. The Almost Nudge.  This was the first UPM I caught myself doing.  It involves tapping the sides of the table too lightly for the table to actually notice you’re doing anything.  This is an excellent move because you will never tilt doing it.
    2. The Lean.  This is an advanced version of the Almost Nudge.  Think about the principle of steering a bicycle by leaning, and then attempt to project this psionically to the pinball.  This is achieved by leaning side to side as the ball pings between the slingshots.
    3. The Fist Shake.  When on the receiving end of Total Bullshit, shake your fist at the machine.  Add a threat or a curse to make it even more useless!

      A pie chart explaining pinball loss.
      A pie chart explaining pinball loss.
    4. The Futile Flipper Slap.  After the ball is lost forever, slap the flippers a few times, the harder the better.  Ideally, your expression should be affronted or disgusted while you execute this move.
    5. The Supplication Stroke.  Before beginning a ball, particularly after the table has been offended in some way (possibly because someone executed the Fist Shake or Futile Flipper Slap on a previous ball), gently pat or stroke the lockdown bar while saying soothing things.  I learned this one from Joseph, the Pinball Whisperer.
    6. The Flag of Surrender.  This is an instinctive display of harmlessness to avoid further provoking an agitated machine.  After an unsuccessful save attempt causes double dangers, throw your hands up into the air where the table can see them and take one or two steps backward while silently praying it will not tilt.  I’m not alone in doing this.  I’ve seen some highly skilled players do it, too, so I am starting to wonder if it’s not a Useless Pinball Move after all…

  • The Capital Combo

    Welcome to the Capital Combo, a blog of the Lansing Pinball League.  Anything posted here can be blamed solely on the post’s author – usually Heather.  It does not represent the official position (or sense of humor) of the League.

  • Setting up the site

    I’m in the process of setting up this Web site.  In the meantime, check out our Facebook page!