The second annual March Hare Madness is coming! It will be a memorial tournament for my beloved rabbit Stephen, who died in December, and this time all entry fees (not including coin drop) will go directly to the Rabbit and Small Animal Rescue of Westland, where I adopted Stephen. I hope you will come and help me memorialize Stephen with your donation. The entry fee is $10 and you will also be responsible for coin drop on the games.
This will be an Amazing Race format tournament. If you’re not familiar with that format, it’s simple and fun: a number of games (as many as we can use) will be designated as the race course. Everyone starts at the first game. The person with the lowest score drops out of the race, and everyone else moves on to the next game. (Depending on how many people come, we may drop out 2 or 3 people per round for the first few rounds, so that the race won’t last all night.) This repeats until four people are left, at which time we will have a three-game final match.
Stephen under Tri Zone.
This tournament is open to novice and expert players and everyone in between. The top three will receive trophies, and everyone will receive World Pinball Player Ranking points! If you haven’t played in an organized pinball tournament before, this is your chance to meet a friendly group of people and enjoy the fun of getting internationally ranked in pinball! (It’s addictive… trust me.)
So that no one comes and gets knocked out of the tournament immediately, we will probably allow for a “second chance” on the first few games for an additional donation. We will also have some kind of “just for fun” (non-IFPA endorsed) consolation tournament.
It’s been a long while since my last update (just about two months, in fact). Does that mean everyone in the Lansing area took a break from pinball? Ha ha ha ha ha… yeah, right.
Mike plunges while partner Dan stands ready at the left flipper.Zen winners Dan and Mike, with photobomb by Matt.
First of all, we had the traditional end of season “just for fun” tournament for the Lansing Pinball League, Super-Ball VII, better known as the Zen Tourney. Chris (partnered with non-league-member Steve, not to be confused with the Steve who does sometimes play with league) once again saw the elusive Zen trophy slip from his grasp as Mike and Dan coordinated their way to victory. Mike also joins the elite ranks of those who have won two Zen trophies (ahem). No one has yet won three…
Second, after a year of trying out quarterly Avenue charity tournaments, we had our first repeat: the second annual Silver Balls in the City on December 27. Once again the tournament’s entry fees were all donated to the Capital Area Humane Society. This year, based on the number of people who attended, we used a three-strikes rather than four-strikes format. We also started a half hour earlier. As a result, we did not end up running quite so long as last year. Yes, I can learn from mistakes: where’s my gold star?
This year’s Silver Balls trophies. Most of the glitter even stayed on them.
Mike S. came up with the idea of having a just-for-fun side tournament for $1 per entry. The side tournament was a “closest to the pin” contest on Medieval Madness. The winner would be the person who got closest to 15 million without going over or tilting. Bill L. ended up winning and I still need to get him his prize (a $10 Coldstone Creamery gift certificate donated by Mike).
In an odd coincidence, the main tournament finished on the same game as last year: Junk Yard. Fortunately the overactive slam tilt has been repaired since then. Spectators who held out until the very end were treated to the spectacle of Aaron G. starting the video mode on Junk Yard no fewer than 15 times in the final game against Adam, and in this manner, climbing his way to victory on top of a mountain of toast. Third place went to Jared A.
Rodney and Karen try out the side tournament.
Between the main and side tournaments, Silver Balls earned $217 for the Capital Area Humane Society. As most league members know, my beloved pet rabbit Stephen died on December 22 at the age of 10 and half. Joseph and I were still very shaken up and grieving when the tournament came around, but it gave us some consolation to know that the donations people made for the tournament would help other wonderful animals receive care.
Aaron and Adam with first and second place trophies, respectively.
The next Avenue tournament will be the second annual March Hare Madness amazing race tournament. The date is to be announced, but it will probably be in the last few days of March. Stay tuned here or to the Lansing Pinball League Facebook group for more information.
Announcing the 2nd annual Silver Balls in the City charity pinball tournament, supporting the Capital Area Humane Society! The tournament will be held at the Avenue Cafe in Lansing at 6:30 on Tuesday, December 27. It will be a four, three, or two strikes tournament depending on turnout (probably three). The entry fee will be $10, which will go toward CAHS, and players will also be responsible for coin drop. Trophies will be given for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, and it will also be eligible for WPPR points from the IFPA! This will probably be the penultimate tournament of the year in Michigan, so get your last points in before the state championship is locked in.
I’m proud to announce the debut of a new pinball tournament: Fear and Trembling, to be held November 9 at 6 pm (though late starts will be permitted) at The Avenue Café in Lansing (2021 E. Michigan Avenue). Why “Fear and Trembling”? Is it because I was going to hold a Halloween tournament and then realized I was too busy in October? No! It’s named for the classic existentialist work Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard. The nature of the human condition is that we are terrifyingly free, faced with the inescapable responsibility of making choices. Thus I present to you the first existentialist pinball tournament in which you must choose your path… in fear and trembling.
Participants will play a bank of games and will be scored, “pingolf” style, according to how quickly they reach the target score. There is, of course, a catch. Players will choose from a list of special conditions, and will not be able to choose the same one more than once. The conditions will include playing with a blinder over the flippers, playing one-handed, using sticks to press the flipper buttons, playing cross-handed, and others to be announced. You get to choose, but all of the choices are bad. Hey, sometimes life is like that.
The entry fee will be $5, but players will also be responsible for coin drop on the games. Trophies for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd will be awarded, but this tournament (for obvious reasons) will not be eligible for IFPA/WPPR points. All entry fees will be donated to the Capital Area Humane Society.
Because of the unusual format, this really could be anyone’s game. If you’ve considered coming to a tournament but felt a little intimidated, this would be a great icebreaker for you. The pro players are going to be just as mixed up as the novices, maybe even worse! With no ranking points or prize money at stake it will be very low pressure and just for fun.
Holiday-themed trophies I made for the main and side tournament. This is why the tournament was so popular, right?
You may have heard rumors about a tournament held Dec. 29 at the Avenue — no, who am I kidding? You were there. Everyone was there.
Well, maybe not everyone. But including the tournament director, yours truly, there were 26 entrants, a number beyond my wildest dreams and most feverish nightmares. “The only way anything could really go wrong,” I said to myself, “is if more than 20 people show up. And what are the odds of that?”
I’m getting ahead of myself, so let me start from the top. Silver Balls in the City (a name suggested by Joseph, playing on both the name of a holiday event in Lansing and the time I was endlessly teased by certain persons for missing the Arcade League to go to said event) was the first tournament hosted by the Lansing Pinball League at our home base of The Avenue Café. It was my first time trying my hand at being a tournament director and I was awfully nervous. But as long as we had enough machines working for everyone to play at once in the four strikes tournament, it would be OK… and we should have more than enough.
Joseph has everything under control at Brackelope Master Command.
My first sign that things might not go as hoped was when I walked into the Avenue and saw the entire upper floor dark, with all the games turned off. It turned out they had suffered a leak as the icy roof melted, and were trying to dry the floor before anyone was allowed upstairs. Eventually we were told we could turn all but one of the games back on.
But with 26 people, and the occasional game having to be taken out of service for malfunctions (Austin Powers first, then Fish Tales, then World Cup Soccer), we ended up with quite a lot of stacking. Plus there was the fact that most of the state’s luminaries were in attendance, people who can play a 45 minute game of Lord of the Rings. Everyone can thank Andy for the mysterious disappearance of LotR from the randomizer for the rest of the evening.
As I began to worry about whether we would beat last call, the tournament that I hoped would be over by midnight finally came to a close around quarter to 2, and after I instructed Joseph to remove all but the three fastest-playing games from the lineup for the last couple of rounds.
Andy and Aaron and lots of other folks mingling. It was the biggest crowd we’ve yet seen crammed into our little pinball alcove.
Aside from the malfunctions (expected) and the late night (less expected), the tournament did go pretty well. It drew many people who had never been to The Avenue to play before, and resulted in historic first meetings between longtime Lansing League regulars and other players from around the state. It also ended with a really suspenseful final match between home-court hero Matt P. and east Michigan powerhouse Aaron G. All the work and stress was made worthwhile for me by the moment when Matt, having blown up the mothership in Junk Yard’s Attack from Mars video mode, turned around, threw his hands in the air, and yelled, “I saved the earth, m*****f*****s!” Sadly, the game ended prematurely shortly afterward as Matt went to slide the notoriously too-touchy game, hit a crack in the floor, and slam tilted.
So the night ended with a victory for Aaron G. in the main four strikes tournament (and for Andy R. in the side tournament on Iron Man). More importantly, it ended with $260 having been raised for my favorite local charity, the Capital Area Humane Society. Although I said I’d be crazy to do it again, the truth is that I’m kind of crazy, so you can probably expect another charity tournament at the Avenue in 2016.
Aaron #2, Andy #1, Andrew #3, in the side tournament, with their tiny snowman trophies.Chris, excited that he can now take his 3rd place trophy and go home.The second and first place main tournament winners, Matt and Aaron. You wouldn’t have known they had just met, for all the horsing around and playful trash talking they did.
Thanks to everyone who attended, and particularly to Joseph for handling all the organizational work of pairing off matches during the tournament, Chris for staying up past his bedtime (and his waking time too, probably) to be my backup tournament official, and Alex for providing advice during the planning stages. The official results of the tournaments follow.
Main Tournament Results
1. Aaron Grabowski
2. Matt Pries
3. Chris Tabaka
4. Todd Seaver
5. Alex Harmon
6. Andrew Rosa II
7. Dustin Frigy
7. Ahna Rosa
9. Mike Stewart Jr.
11. Aaron Holmes
11. Jarid August
11. Andy Rosa
14. Sarah Schudel
14. Greg Spahlinger
14. Amanda Grabowski
14. Bill Lembesis
18. Matthew Stacks
18. Joseph Nebus
18. Mike Schudel
21. Ryan Wood
21. Heather Kendrick
21. Scott August
24. Robert Wolverton
24. J.P. Jackson
24. Aaron Mike Brown
24. Evan Williams
Side Tournament Results
1. Andy Rosa
2. Aaron Grabowski
3. Andrew Rosa II
4. Evan Williams
5. Mike Stewart Jr.
6. Todd Seaver
7. Chris Tabaka
8. Bill Lembesis
9. Jarid August
10. Sarah Schudel
11. Scott August
12. Amanda Grabowski
13. Matthew Stacks
14. Alex Harmony
15. Aaron Mike Brown
16. Heather Kendrick
17. Mike Schudel
18. Dustin Frigy
19. Aaron Holmes
20. Joseph Nebus
21. Greg Spahlinger
22. Matt Pries
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.
Season 5 of the Lansing Pinball League is set to begin on July 7. This season is the first with a new semi-monthly format, as opposed to our previous biweekly schedule. This change has been made so that we will not meet the same weeks as the semi-monthly Grand Rapids League. This season’s meetings are as follows: July 7, July 21, August 11, August 25, September 8, September 22, October 13, and October 27. In addition, we will continue having final playoffs as we started doing last season, and they will be held on November 10.
Presumably there will also be a Zen (split flipper) tourney at the end of the season, but the date for it will be determined later.
If you have been considering joining us, the start of a new season is a great opportunity! I hope to see you there. Feel free to send e-mail if you have any questions about the league.
The final standings for season 3 are in! Congratulations to Chris for winning the third season in a row, to Rodney for a runaway 2nd place finish, and to Joseph for taking the hotly contested 3rd place.
Final Standings
Chris
Rodney
Joseph
Matt
Mike St.
Danny
Aaron
Sarah
Jake
Mark
Heather
Christine
Alex
Mike G.
Greg
Terry
Shila
Todd
Amanda
James
Samantha
Russell
Jamie
Sam
For more detail, look at the results for the final league night. It’s been a great season thanks to all the great players in the league. See you at the Zen Tournament!
The Lansing Pinball League began on October 26, 2013, so we are now a year old! Thank you to organizer Matt Pries and the rest of the Capital City pinball crew for a year’s worth of good times. (My own anniversary with the league is a little bit later as I joined during the third meeting.)
The second annual March Hare Madness is coming! It will be a memorial tournament for my beloved rabbit Stephen, who died in December, and this time all entry fees (not including coin drop) will go directly to the Rabbit and Small Animal Rescue of Westland, where I adopted Stephen. I hope you will come and help me memorialize Stephen with your donation. The entry fee is $10 and you will also be responsible for coin drop on the games.
