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.
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We started our final bank rotation on 4/9 and mercifully, this time people voted for the wild card games to be stuff upstairs rather than in the alcove. The talk before league started centered on the previous day’s total solar eclipse. Joseph and I had gone to Cedar Point to watch it. Ethan wanted us to know that he was definitely not envious of this because while he had seen it in Muncie, it lasted 20 more seconds for him.
The usual suspects.
Danny wasn’t present during roll call and I felt sure he would probably show up in time, so I commented, “That’s all right, when he comes I’ll just put him in a group with Derik and Dan.” Danny did come midway through the first game and I flipped a coin to determine what bank he’d be in. Then I asked which of the three groups he wanted to be in. He said he really didn’t care, so, being the imp that I am, I sent him over to the closest group which indeed had Derik and Dan (and Curtis) in it. When I walked up, Derik was player 3 and in the middle of a multiball on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was hoping to still put in a fourth player and saw that Derik had both balls trapped so I said “Hey Derik” and just then he started flipping again and I said “Nevermind, I was going to ask you something while you were trapped. ” He tried to trap again and lost one of the balls in the process, which I apologized profusely for, but he was nonchalant about it. I fed quarters into the game while he trapped his remaining ball so we could hit the start button and put Danny in.
Tim poses after winning on Jaws! Unfortunately there are no prizes at the moment as my button maker is out of commission.
Our Smackdown game was finally on Jaws! Not too many people played, so we ended up with a two-person group (Mark and Cyndi) on Scared Stiff in the B division. Tim apparently brought a big enough boat to Jaws, and Mark won on Scared Stiff.
Our next meeting (in a couple of hours) is our last qualifying meeting of the season. This will determine who makes A division and what seeds everyone gets for finals. See you shortly!
Our last league night was three weeks ago now, a longer gap than usual due to the bar unexpectedly closing Monday and Tuesday last week. Between that, the mountain of grading I’m buried under (students are going to riot soon if I don’t get some old grades back), and the fact that I’m still shaken up from seeing the total eclipse yesterday, my memories of last league night are pretty fuzzy. It was our last night with banks 5 and 6, meaning that tonight we’ll embark on the final bank rotation between 7 and 8.
A typical league night crowd: Derik, Curtis, Brian, Ted, Devon, and Adam.
One notable event I do remember is that we were joined by former league player Jake VanKempen, playing as a guest player. Jake goes back to the early days of the league, or as we like to call them, the Theio’s days (IYKYK). Jake was a little miffed to learn that the new league rules mean that anyone playing after the midseason has to play as a guest player, meaning their scores do not count. He said that if he was going to come all the way out to play for no points I should at least put him in “a good group, like one with Dan.” He also mentioned a couple of other names but I honestly don’t remember who they were. As it happens, when I drew for him (he was running late) I did draw him into a group with Dan N., AKA half of Double Dan-ger. The other half ended up in another group for a change.
Devon watches with admiration as Curtis tears up Godzilla.
Now that banks 5 and 6 are both finished, we can take a look at the standings at the end of the night. Tim won Argo Navis (Bank 5) with solid to great games on everything. Derik took honors in Bank 5 (Cetus) with a mediocre game on Medieval Madness but great games on everything else, including a huge 942 million on Godzilla. That was not, however, the biggest score on Godzilla; that distinction goes to Curtis, who did around 1.3 billion.
A rare photo of me for the league report, taken by Joseph. I am starting the Smackdown game on Indiana Jones.
We were still unable to use Jaws due to its placement in Bank 5 (Argo Navis), so our Smackdown game was the random selection of Indiana Jones. For the second time in a row, Joseph won the Smackdown and I got second. The B division was on Star Trek and in that arena Dan prevailed. Unfortuantely I had no buttons to give out because my button press is out of commission. It’s not pressing correctly and I can’t figure out why, but I hope to get that fixed eventually and give everyone the back buttons they are owed.
The champs: Smackdown winner Single Dan-ger and undercard winner Joseph.
Tonight will start our final rotation, including the wild card games that the league voted to include in Bank 8. See you all very soon!
Derik does some quick work on Deadpool to get it running for league.
We passed the halfway mark of the season with our last meeting, at which we played banks 5 and 6, Argo Navis (the ship Argo) and Cetus (the sea monster). These were very appropriate banks for our first night with our shiny new Jaws LE game. Jaws was conveniently slotted into Argo Navis to replace the game that left to make room for it, Guns and Roses. This did mean we had to break our tradition of using the newest game for Tuesday Night Smackdown. Instead, Metallica got drawn for that honor.
It looked like we might have to replace Deadpool as it was suddenly not registering the scoop right before league was going to start. But Derik went and got his equipment and did some quick soldering, allowing us to start with the bank intact and just a few minutes late.
Mark plays The Mandalorian in Bank 6.
For some reason, it was a night with light attendance, and the number of people in attendance meant that some people were in two-player groups. I ended up playing with Ted and we both felt like we had solid nights. I had one embarrassingly bad game, but otherwise always felt like I was playing at least mediocre, and consistently mediocre is often enough to do pretty well. Everyone finished pretty early, and we started the Smackdown well before our average start time of 10 pm. So far, Derik is the champion of bank 5; appropriately, his Jaws score was huge. Tim has the lead in Bank 6 with big scores on just about everything in the bank.
Joseph plays in the Smackdown.
In the Smackdown, Tim won B division, which is well known to be the Best division, and Joseph was the overall champion on Metallica.
The following Tuesday was the Stephen T. Kendrick Memorial March Hare Madness Charity Pinball Tournament, named in honor of a very special rabbit. We had 15 people attend, which is around average for this particular tournament. In recent years it has been a Critical Hit tournament, using the original Critical Hit Matchplay Edition deck. This continues to be a popular format – well, except among who keep getting bad card draws. A standout moment was when Ethan played the most powerful card in the deck, one that forces another player to trade games with you after Ball 2. Danny was then compelled to give up two high scoring balls on Tales of the Arabian Nights to play Ball 3 starting from about a million points. Ethan was so delighted by this that he came over to tell me before returning to his game. A while later he reappeared and, while laughing so hard he was wheezing, eventually managed to get out that Danny had come back and won anyway.
B division winner Tim and Smackdown champ Joseph showing off their buttons.
Things ran fairly late as always, and a few people ended up dropping out before the end, including Derik who would have made finals but decided to leave without playing. That bumped me up into finals. Unfortunately, Brian started the round by making everyone discard a random card, and that cost me the card I had been saving, one that forces someone to stop playing immediately. I was left with only a card I drew at the beginning, which makes everyone in the group play an entire game with the display covered. The game I deployed it on was Willy Wonka, so we had the ridiculous situation of having to cover just about the entire backbox of the game with newspaper. I don’t think it could have really helped me at that point, but as I said at the time, “I just want to watch the world burn.”
Joseph, to his surprise, ended up winning March Hare Madness, with Tim in second, and Brian in third. I ended up with fourth. And that’s another March Hare Madness in the books. We made $256 for the Rabbit and Small Animal Rescue, thanks in considerable part to a $100 donation from Pinball Pete’s, as well as all the players.
Our last league night was the fourth of the season, so we finished up our rotation of banks 3 and 4, Corvus (the crow) and Perseus (the guy named Perseus). My notes don’t include mention of any particular shenanigans this week, but that’s probably just because I wasn’t looking. I’m sure they happened; it’s Lansing League, after all.
Curtis checks the score sheet as Tim plays.
The most notable thing about the night is probably that it marked the end of the first half of our season. Brian K. and Tim are tied for the lead, with Danny trailing them by 10 points. Tim also took the night’s lead in both banks 3 and 4. Assuming enough people qualify this season for a 12-person finals, which looks likely, the bubble for making A division is currently around Curtis in 12th and Biff in 13th, with Curtis 7 points ahead of Biff.
The Tuesday Night Smackdown game was on Black Knight: Sword of Raaaaaaage! according to the score sheet Joseph wrote out, and yes, I counted the A’s. I had made cool buttons with colored pencils depicting fierce horses surrounded by flames, and then the button maker misfired on both of them and I was out of time to remake them, so the champs just got flames instead. Sorry about that. That’s the problem with hand making them. Devon won in the main fight and Joseph triumphed in the undercard on Godzilla.
Undercard winner Joseph and Smackdown champ Devon.
The other big recent event was our launch party for the new Jaws LE, which Danny won in against Mike Stewart in a finals that wrapped up closer to midnight than I would have liked. The very warm day had changed to thunderstorms by then, and when Joseph and I opened the back door to leave The Avenue, a dramatic flood of water came cascading in until one of the staff ran over and closed it again. It seems appropriate, even if it meant we had to go out the front door and walk around to the parking lot in the rain.
Mike and Danny at the end of the Jaws launch party.
Last league night was our third of the season, so it started a rotation between banks 3 and 4 (“Corvus” and “Perseus”). The night’s winner on Corvus – so far, as this is only with half the league having played it – was Tim, which included a stunning 108M game on The Munsters. The winner so far on Perseus was dark horse Biff. A lot of league members don’t even know Biff as he often arrives to play his games after others have finished for the night.
Ethan gets ready to go on a Space Gem quest on The Avengers.
I was going to play my second game of the night when I heard a timid voice say, “Is it too late to join the Lansing Pinball League?” I turned to see who this newcomer was, and it was actually longtime league member Mike! Mike took last season off and had missed the first two nights of this season, so I was very happy to see him again.
I was in a group with Ethan, Devon, and Adam, and there was a good deal of jollity going on. There was a lot of trash talking going on, mostly between Ethan and Devon, but Adam got in a great line too. At one point he responded to someone griping about his achievements with the classic line, delivered with sassy confidence, “It’s called luck. Deal with it.” (I can’t quite remember now what he was responding to, but it might have been Devon observing that he’d beaten Adam on every game except one.)
Linda and Mark play in the Smackdown while Curtis watches.
I mentioned to Devon that although I enjoy the atmosphere of women’s tournaments in a lot of ways, one thing I do miss is the trash talking. In my experience, you just don’t get it at women’s tournaments. One of the things I immediately loved when I first set foot in the Lansing Pinball League was watching players collegially insult each other. It was one of the things that let me know I was going to love pinball league. Devon apparently made a mental note that it was OK to trash talk me. Later in the evening I was playing really bad on Elvira’s House of Horrors, and afterward Devon approached me as though he wanted to talk to me about something confidential. In a very serious voice he said, “Is everything all right?” I thought I must be giving off some vibes of someone going through a personal crisis, and my mind began racing as I tried to figure out what might be causing me to look that way. But before I could respond, he followed up with, “Because you’re playing terrible.” I nearly doubled over laughing.
Ethan remembers what shirt he’s wearing.
Our Tuesday Night Smackdown side tournament game was on Jurassic Park, with the B division playing off on Ghostbusters. Danny won the Jurassic Park game (no surprises there) and Ethan won Ghostbusters, prompting someone to remind him that he was wearing a Ghostbusters shirt under his hoodie, which he had completely forgotten about.
Ethan and Danny with their amazing Smackdown trophies.
That’s all for this week’s recap, but we’re meeting tonight to finish up the bank rotation, so I’m hoping to see everyone soon.
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January 23 was the second night of the season and so we finished out the rotation of the first two banks, known (to me) as Ophiuchus and Lepus. We added a new member, Curtis. Curtis played in my group and told me that he and Derik are longtime rivals on the games over at The Royal Scot bowling alley. I hadn’t realized that The Royal Scot was back to having pinball machines. Years ago we used to have a selfie league that used the games there as well as some at The Avenue and some at Pinball Pete’s, but at one point most or all of the games were removed. Curtis told me they have several there right now, so I might need to go check it out for a change of pace.
Curtis watches his rival Derik play Black Knight: Sword of Rage.
As this meeting was just a couple of days after the big IFPA Michigan State Finals weekend, I got some congratulations for my recent win in the Women’s tournament. Devon greeted me by asking if it was forbidden to meet my gaze now that I was a champion. Then, I had been planning to mention to Ethan that I had seen him on the news (for his epic sled crash at the annual Cardboard Classic sled race) but he got the jump on me by first saying he had seen me on the news. I was interviewed for Kalamazoo station WWMT during the state finals and Ethan said it just randomly showed up in his regular news feed.
Brian locks a ball in the couch on The Simpsons Pinball Party.
Now that two banks have been completed, the true results for the nights can be assessed. Brian took the lead on Bank 1 (Ophiuchus) and Pat triumphed in Bank 2 (Lepus). Since everyone gets to drop the two lowest nights, though, the overall standings are as yet meaningless, with everyone listed as tied for first. After tonight’s third meeting, things will get interesting.
Ethan plays in the Undercard match on Metallica shortly before crashing it sideways into the snow.
Our Smackdown game was on The Munsters, and Tim was the night’s champ. Devon was the Undercard winner on Metallica.
Smackdown winner Tim and undercard winner Devon show off their amazing trophies.
Tonight we will start the rotation between banks 3 (Corvus) and 4 (Perseus). I hope to see you soon!
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The annual Stephen T. Kendrick Memorial March Hare Madness tournament, a charity tournament benefiting the Rabbit and Small Animal Rescue of Westland, returns to The Avenue Cafe on March 12, 2024. This will be a timed group matchplay tournament using the Critical Hit deck. If you haven’t played a Critical Hit tournament before, you’re in for a treat! Every player is dealt cards that allow them to “cast spells” during the tournament. You could force someone to play a game without viewing the display, shake the game to give someone tilt warnings, or even trade scores. It’s a wild time fitting for the name March Hare Madness! Plus, rabbits and magic… it’s a whole thing.
The tournament kicks off at 6 pm and we will play rounds until 10 pm at which point the top four players will play a three-game finals match. The entry fee is $10 which goes 90% to RASA Rescue and 10% to the Sharpe cartel.
We’ll be having a launch party for Jaws on February 27 at 7:00 pm. This will be a 4-strikes head-to-head tournament with one match each round played on Jaws. The winner will get a plaque and translite and there will be another random translite giveaway. This tournament is open to everyone! The Lightning Flippers will have their women-only party on 3/9 at 4:30 pm, with the same format. Contact Heather for more information.
We began our 20th season with Ethan wishing everyone he saw “Happy new year!” I reminded everyone that we were now starting season “Double X.” My joke was that we were not quite bad enough yet to be “Triple X.” Joseph’s joke was that next season would be “Double Sever.” Two new players joined this season. One of them, Jack, had previously played in the Fear and Trembling Charity Pingolf Tournament, but is new to league. He recently moved to Lansing from the Cincinnati area. Devon brought along the other new player, his friend Rob.
The banks this season are roughly the same as last, with a few adjustments made due to the game lineup changing. The bank theme is still “Constellations, or, The Starry Skies Above,” although my attempt to mildly theme each night’s bank has already been mocked by fate. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles went down before the night started (at least no one had played it yet) and I chose a game from our designated bank for pulling substitutes from. I wanted to avoid something in the alcove as we were already playing several games down there, so I switched in The Simpsons Pinball Party. That means TMNT has been moved to Bank 7, “Canis Minor.”
Hey!!
When we arrived, we discovered that our usual practice of standing behind the upstairs bar to make announcements and sort groups had been rudely denied. The Avenue had put up a rope across the bar entrance! Surely this wasn’t targeted toward us… was it?
The first two weeks we are rotating players between Banks 1 and 2, known (to me) as “Ophiuchus (the Snake Bearer)” and “Lepus (the Hare).” I got sorted into Lepus along with new player Jack and Ethan, from an adjacent group, began telling Jack how good I was at The Beatles and how he shouldn’t feel bad because I was about to blow it up. I nervously told Ethan that he was jinxing me by saying that, but in fact I did have quite a good Beatles game. It was the best one of the half of the league that played it that night, but I’m sure I will be dethroned when the other half of the league plays tonight.
Linda and Joseph watching the Smackdown games.
The winner for the night on bank Ophiuchus was Danny (surprise?) followed by Joseph and then Dan. The Lepus winner was a tie between me (thanks Beatles) and Derik, with Ethan coming in third.
Smackdown champ Danny and undercard winner Ethan.
We also played a Tuesday Night Smackdown on James Bond. Danny kicked off the Smackdown season with a win, and Ethan won the B division on Medieval Madness.
That wraps up the league report for the first night of our 20th season. The weather may keep some people away tonight but I am hoping to see most of you in a few hours!
Joseph requested a photo of him creeping on Ethan after losing the Smackdown undercard to him.
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