The league night of 8/25 was the fourth meeting of Season 5, putting us halfway through the season. League Night #4 also had the most players of any meeting yet this season (and, I think, any meeting for quite a while), 19, though some of those people were absent from the actual meeting and did makeup games. That brings us to 21 total players on the roster this season. The games of the week were Lord of the Rings, Iron Man, Tales of the Arabian Nights, and Junk Yard. Fortunately, no one slam tilted Junk Yard during league play this time, though I believe Mike S. did it during a practice game and then somehow acted surprised.
Bumper pool: the love child of pinball and pool.
Some recent rearranging in The Avenue has resulted in the bumper pool table, formerly located on the mezzanine, being moved into the downstairs pinball alcove. Conversations around the bumper pool table usually go something like this: “What’s that?” “It’s called bumper pool.” “Oh. How do you play it?” “I have no idea.” This time, however, Jimmy offered to explain how to play, and started setting up a game to demonstrate. This was quickly quashed by Matt cracking the whip and telling all of us to get to our league games already. (The next time we came to The Avenue, Joseph printed out some instructions he got from the Internet and left them sitting on the bumper pool table. I hope that helped someone.)
Mike G. made a surprise reappearance. Despite being one of the original members of the League and the source of a previous tagline of this blog (“The same thing as in every game: shoot the farthest target and every ramp three times,” the all-purpose strategy advice he once gave me), Mike had not made it to a league meeting in quite some time due to his work schedule, and it was great to see him again. For some reason he seems to have decided not to play any official league games. I think he may have decided he’d started drinking too early, but that doesn’t make sense. After all, it never stopped Aaron.
Mike G., Aaron, and Jimmy gather around the cocktail table – I mean, bumper pool table.
The other surprise appearance of the night was Evan, whom I know from The Arcade League in Brighton and the tournament he ran at Pinball Pete’s in Ann Arbor. This was his first visit to the Lansing Pinball League; he said he was just dropping in for the night. I hope he’ll be open to coming back sometime.
Chris repeats his mantra: “Don’t slam tilt… don’t slam tilt…”
The results for the night included a surprising three-way tie between Chris, Greg, and Mike S., for ninth place. Speaking of Chris, at the halfway mark of the season he is in fourth place after Alex, Mike S., and Joseph. Longtime members of the league may recall the days when Chris was an unstoppable force, nearly always taking an early runaway lead and staying at the top all season. Those days are certainly over as the reigning champ now has serious competition, both from newer members of the league and longtime members who have leveled up their games. It’s certainly going to be exciting to see how the rest of the season plays out. Since we now (as of last season) settle the final rankings with a tournament, the biggest battle in the second half of the season is really going to be who will make the cutoff for A division. If the same rules used last season apply, the top eight players will play in A and everyone else will play in B. Right now, Matt is ranked unusually low at eighth place, but has a healthy lead (17 points) over Jake in ninth.
Mike gives me and my camera the the hairy eyeball. Or, as it’s called in his case, the ginger eyeball.
After league play finished, Jake, Sam, Mike S., Joseph, and I had our after-party at Theio’s. It had been quite some time since our last visit, since at the two previous meetings folks had gone once each to the two Chinese restaurants on the block. If the Theio’s staff were offended by our infidelity, they didn’t show it. After we ate I tried unsuccessfully to convince people to come back to The Avenue for more pinball. I just wasn’t ready to give up my last league night before the start of school. Now that school has begun, I will arrive later (no more pre-league games of Betrayal at House on the Hill with Mike S. and Joseph) and leave tireder. Alas.
The next meeting is coming up very soon (Tuesday). In the meantime, you can have a look at the results from meeting #4 and some more photos.
I was not present for the league meeting of August 11. Instead, I was just wrapping up an amusement park tour of New England, with visits to six parks in Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. At the end of the trip we drove to New Jersey in order to visit a couple of our old familiar haunts before I flew home and Joseph stayed behind for another week to call in at his workplace in Trenton (he has worked from home since moving to Michigan). So on the very evening league night was happening back home in Lansing, we were at the Silverball Museum in Asbury Park, New Jersey. We even played make-believe league games on all but one of the night’s chosen games. (We could not do a dry run on The Walking Dead, as the Silverball Museum doesn’t have that one. In fact, they have only two Stern games: The Simpsons Pinball Party and The Sopranos.)
A street in Belmar, New Jersey. Joseph and I had just eaten dinner near here and were about to travel to Asbury Park to spend the rest of the evening at the Silverball Museum.
So all of that is just an explanation for the lack of a League Night Update for meeting #3. I wasn’t there, and probably shouldn’t do another attempt at writing a recap of a meeting I didn’t attend. It was apparently a rather small crowd. I know that at least Alex, Sarah, Aaron, Joseph, and I were all missing. (Joseph and I did makeup games after Joseph got home.) And the standings show a shakeup in the upper echelon. Chris, though the week’s highest point earner, is still wounded from his slam tilt of Junk Yard during the league season opener, and Alex was set back by the missed week. As a result, Mike S. is number one in the overall standings for the first time ever, with a 13 point lead over Chris. Joseph is currently third, trailing Chris by 10 points. The season isn’t half over yet (though it will be by the end of the night), so there is still a lot of possibility for further position swapping at the top.
The selected games for the second meeting of Season 5 were Fish Tales (new at the Avenue), World Cup Soccer, Medieval Madness, and Getaway. Chris was so excited about the prospect of playing Fish Tales’ video mode that he kept saying “I want to shoot waterskiers!” in, for some reason, a Marvin the Martian voice. I asked him, “Why are you Marvin the Martian?” and he replied, in the same voice, “I don’t know.” If he doesn’t know I certainly don’t. It will have to remain one of the mysteries of League Night #2, alongside why I’ve forgotten how to shoot the castle and whether anyone has ever successfully used the Magna-Save in World Cup Soccer. (Joseph did in fact try to use it, which is more than I have ever done. Aaron once again asserted that he only ever uses it ironically.)
“Come hither, WCS, and I’ll whisper to you just what I think of you.”
Greg was absent this week, due to having moved from the area. Word on the street is that he will be coming to league meetings irregularly from here on out. I ended up running into him when he made up his league games the following week. (No, not literally, even if sabotaging his scores would have helped my awful performance. I swear, I wasn’t even tempted.) Mark, on the other hand, made a reappearance after missing the season opener.
After my rage-tilting during last League Night, I had pledged to show better sportsmanship henceforth. It took exactly one ball of Getaway to break that resolution. My group had begun with Getaway. I stepped up as Player 3 to play my first ball, and had an amazing ball by my standards, including a multiball jackpot and several consecutive upper loops. I thought I was on top of the world. When I drained I turned to my group, about to remark on my good fortune… to be told, “You realize you just played the third ball of a single player game, right?” Apparently, the first player accidentally started a single game, and no one (including the second player, and me) noticed until I was midway through my ball, at which time everyone was afraid to interrupt me to break the news. I was so crushed by this revelation that I shouted “What?” and then turned around and began shaking Getaway. Marrying Joseph certainly did not grant me any share of his stoicism, to my regret.
There’s never a dull moment at the Lansing Pinball League.
The last game of the night for my group was Medieval Madness. We had to wait a while for the prior group to finish. Eventually they were down to their last ball and the final player, Jake, was nowhere to be found. Someone looked around for him and eventually found him hanging around out back with a crowd of folks whose games had finished. It turns out he had pulled a Mike S., thinking his game was over when he actually had a ball left.
Chris had a strong first place finish this week, despite being cheated out of a ball of Fish Tales by a mechanical failure, but he still has a long way to go to make up the ground lost by slam tilting Junk Yard during the first meeting. Aaron and Mike S. tied for second, with Mark at fourth and Alex and Joseph tying for fifth. In the overall season standings, Alex is still on top, but with Mike S. only four points behind. Joseph has narrowly pulled into third, one point ahead of Sarah at fourth. The reigning league champion, Chris, has his work cut out for him at seventh.
Would you buy a used car from these men?
Instead of the traditional Theio’s visit, Jake and Mike S. wanted to go to the Chinese restaurant next door to the Avenue, so that’s where they ended the night, alongside Joseph, Sam, and me. There was some concern expressed that the Theio’s staff might have hurt feelings over our absence, but somehow I suspect they weathered any disappointment with grace.
The complete results from the meeting are up, as are some more photos. Mark your calendars: due to the new semi-monthly format, the next league meeting isn’t until August 11.
July 7 was opening night for Season 5. It’s amazing to think we are starting a fifth season already! In addition to most of the usual suspects, we had a new joiner, the Avenue’s own Jimmy, and the return of one of the original League stalwarts, Amanda, who had temporarily dropped out in favor of volleyball. What’s so great about volleyball, anyway? All you do is hit a ball around and try to stop it from falling. I don’t see the point.
Matt P. introduces Jimmy to the League. “Behold, these are my people!”
Mike S., Joseph, and I arrived early so that we could play a board game, Betrayal at House on the Hill. I had mentioned it to Mike at one point upon hearing that he is a horror movie fan, since the game pays homage to a lot of classic horror movies and novels. We brought it to play at the Arcade in Brighton once and since then Mike’s been hooked on it. Fine by me; I love playing it and don’t get to often as it requires more than just two people to play. The game’s plot is different each time, and this time I ended up being a mad professor who tried to summon an Elder God. Somehow, Joseph and Mike managed to seal the portal I’d opened and win the game. Admittedly none of this has anything to do with pinball, but it was a lot of fun. We got done in time for half an hour or so of warming up.
Our games for the night included the newly-installed Iron Man as well as Austin Powers, Tales of the Arabian Nights, and Junk Yard. Joseph and I helpfully powered TotAN up and down several times until we triumphantly got the sound working again. Later, when Matt P. arrived, he cried out in disappointment upon hearing the sound was back, as it turns out he prefers it silent. Well, tough. It’s not a game of TotAN unless I hear a crazed genie crowing about how she loves lightning.
I think someone noticed my camera. I have no idea how my wedding photographer got so many candids.
My partners for the night were Chris, Amanda, and Jimmy. Chris was having a rather disappointing night by his standards and things weren’t going very well for me either, outside of a decent start on Iron Man. Jimmy was mostly soaking things up on his first night and getting advice about rules, especially from Joseph, who has a deft touch for explaining strategy in a non-overwhelming way to beginners.
Whatever just happened in Greg’s game, it somehow offended Joseph even more than it offended Greg.
Our last game of the night was to be Junk Yard, but we had to wait for Mike S.’s group to finish. Mike S. had disappeared after ball two, leaving his group wondering where he was when it came around to his turn again. It was suggested that he must be in the bathroom, but then someone spotted him upstairs and went to ask him what he was doing. He came down and admitted that he had forgotten he had a ball left. His first two balls went so badly that, thinking his game was over, he went upstairs to sulk. Once he realized he had another ball, he managed to finish very strong after all.
I was keeping score for my group and had already written down the names and player positions for each game, rotating everyone so that people took turns going first. I had Chris down as player two, so when player two was up I said, “It’s you, Chris.” He just stood there. I thought he hadn’t heard me so I said again that it was his turn. He said, “No, I’m going to go upstairs and play Austin Powers.” I looked at him with confusion, unsure how to respond. He said, “That was my Mike Stewart impression.” He then proceeded to slam tilt during his first ball. I didn’t ask whether that was also part of his Mike Stewart impression.
Thanks to Chris’s slam tilt, the rest of us had to start a new game, and Chris, according to league rules, took a 0, which unfortunately got him off to his worst start ever this season. He’s going to really have his work cut out for him catching up with Alex, who had a stellar opening night.
I had three very bad balls of Junk Yard and in the end was so frustrated that I did something I ended up being rather ashamed of, which is that I rage tilted. It started as an attempt to save a ball, but then after it was clear I lost the ball, I just started shaking it out of spite, and when it looked like it wasn’t going to tilt before my bonus counted, I grabbed it and gave it one more hard shake just to make sure I lost my bonus, then said, “There.” It felt good for about 10 seconds to do it, then I realized I had acted like a jerk in front of our new member, Jimmy. I’ve resolved to show better sportsmanship in future. If I can’t play like a professional, I can still act like one!
Beer’s gone, time to leave.
Aaron had to work late and so didn’t arrive until around the time everyone was leaving to go eat at Theio’s. I asked him where he worked (a certain restaurant with a typically older, sedate clientele), and that came around to some discussion of Aaron’s workplace. Jake suggested we should all show up there sometime for carousing. Aaron replied that he doesn’t even think they have shot glasses.
Rather than make up his games that night, Aaron decided to come back and do it another day, and we convinced him to come to Theio’s with us. The discussion at Theio’s ended up being especially raucous and I had to cover my face a few times because I was so embarrassed by the stuff people were coming up with. Sam also told us the story of how his mother got his sister to stop pleading with her to buy Wonder Bread by telling her it was made out of toilet paper. (This story was still so funny to him that he had trouble getting it out for laughing.) So, in other words, it was a good night.
As I write this I am about to get ready to gather up Betrayal and head over to the Avenue to meet Mike S. ahead of league play. I’m sorry my updates have been coming late recently, but my motto for blogging/journaling has always been “better late than never.” As always, I have the results for you and some more photos in the gallery. See you all soon!
Regular readers know I am a strong believer in the adage “better late than never.” So with the new season beginning in just a few hours, what better time to report on May’s post-season Zen (split flipper) tournament? Look, I went to Europe almost right afterward on important philosopher business. And then the rest of June I… er… nevermind, let’s talk about the tournament.
A row of Zen hopefuls.
Super-Ball is a tradition that goes back to the first season of the Lansing Pinball League: a post-season, just-for-fun, tournament in which people are partnered up and each take one flipper. Since attendance was low, Mike S. suggested a round robin tournament instead of the previous double elimination bracket, followed by a final best-of-three playoff between the teams with the best record. Teams were formed by pairing the top seed with the low seed, the second-highest with second-lowest, and so on.
An odd number of participants left us with a problem which Mike S. resolved by suggesting that the lowest seed could be on two teams. The lowest seed, Greg, didn’t want to be on two teams, fearing he would have to stay too late. Matt made an executive decision: since it was Mike’s idea, Mike would be on two teams. Mike S. ended up paired with both me and Mike B.
Zen tournaments are as fun to watch as to play in.
Naturally this ended up with the most ridiculous possible situation. Both Mike S. teams ended up playing each other in the finals. Mike S. promised he would not favor either team but would play his best in each case, and he played the same flipper with each person. As a result the “Mike factor” was equalized as much as possible and it pitted me against Mike B. in a sort of grudge match, since Mike B. was the one to knock me out of the end-of-season playoffs in B division. Mike S. and I ended up narrowly edging out Mike S. and Mike B. to take home the trophies.
Chris calculates what went wrong for his team while others watch Mike B. and Mike S. playing one of the final games.
The trophies this time were topped with pseudo-Grecian athletes holding laurel wreaths. I have named mine “Alcibiades.”
Afterward there was a Theio’s after-party, which Chris failed to show up at despite promising he would get to Theio’s at least once this season. We’ll have to get him in Season 5.
Mike S. and Mike B. challenging Mike S. and me for the trophy.Nothing beats the wonderful feeling of accomplishment you get from ending a ball!
As usual, you can find more photos in the photo gallery. See you next season!
Season 4 came to an exciting conclusion on May 5, as Chris narrowly edged out Alex to continue as the league’s undefeated champion. Aaron, who kept merrily declaring that he did not care how he finished, nevertheless took third.
You’d be bored too if you were playing Austin Powers. Good thing Chris can play it in his sleep.
This was the first time the Lansing Pinball League has determined final standings with a tournament. Previously, ranks were assigned based on total points earned by the end of the regular season. This time, points determined seeding for the playoffs instead. The top 8 seeds played in A division and everyone else in B, with trophies given out for the top three in each division. A similar format to the one used in the Arcade and Marvin’s leagues was used: best two of three, double elimination. The rules for game choice differed a bit from those other leagues. Matt P. decided that the higher seed would choose game or order, the loser of the first game would choose second game or order, and the higher seed would again choose the last game/order if necessary. This resulted in some cases in the same person choosing all three games. There also was no rule against choosing the same game twice.
Russell looks intense as always, but refrains from punching Austin Powers.
This season resulted in the closest race for first that has ever happened in this league. Chris broke his regular season winning streak by finishing second to Alex by a few points, but the new tournament format allowed him to fight his way back to victory. After fighting his way out of the swamp (the second chance bracket), Chris had to battle Alex over and over for the title. At one point, Alex almost but not quite pulled off a third ball miracle against Chris on Lord of the Rings. At the very end, it came down to a deciding game on The Walking Dead. The winner would get first, the loser second. Alex went first and at the end of his Ball 3, he had 80-some million against Chris’s 18. I really thought it was over. Then Chris stepped up and, in the most amazing third ball recovery I have ever seen, came from behind to win. By the time it was clear that he had won and he let it drain, I believe he had crested 100 million. It was an extremely exciting finale to the season. Congratulations to both Alex and Chris for their wins and thanks for putting on such a great show for us spectators.
Yeah, baby! Actually, I take that back. No, baby, no, please make the Austin Powers stop.
B division came to a tense conclusion by a different route. After I got knocked out by Mike “the New Mike” B., letting me take home third, Danny and Mike had to battle it out for first and second. The double elimination bracket resulted in them having to play each other (if I understand things correctly) in three best-of-three rounds, the first one when Danny knocked Mike into the swamp, the second when Mike got back out of the swamp to once again play the undefeated Danny, and the third when Danny, with one loss now to Mike, got to immediately play Mike again for his second chance. The exact same sequence happened to me at Marvin’s League’s B division finals, so I know how crazy it gets. Unfortunately, they somehow lost track of how many games they had played and their recollections did not match. When the disagreement became irresolvable, Matt made a ruling that they were to play one more best-of-three on a single game he would choose at random, and which turned out to be Getaway. Danny won the final match and was crowned the B division champion, with Mike B. taking home second.
Chris with his first place trophy and Alex with his second. Aaron had already gone home.Heather, Mike B., and Danny, the B division third, second, and first place winners, respectively. (Photo by Joseph.)
The new style trophies – classy glass arcs with the league logo inscribed on them – were well received, and since they cost less than the previous seasons’ marble-based silver championship cup, Matt P. was able to get three for each division instead of just the one as in last seasons. And, so no one would feel left out, Matt brought out a box of ribbons for everyone else…
Good job, everyone!
I have the complete results for you too, and lots more photos. See you at the Zen Tourney tonight!
April 21 was the eighth and final regular season meeting for Season 4. As Addams Family had been repaired, and in keeping with the tradition of always playing games that are new (or in this case, newly returned) to the Avenue, it was selected to be one of the league games for the night. World Cup Soccer did not repeat the mid-game resetting issue that had hit Joseph and me three times in a row during our previous night’s practice, so it made the cut too. Indiana Jones, on the other hand, was now resetting instead (I blame the gremlin), so it got turned off and removed from the night’s lineup. Also in the mix for the night were Getaway and Medieval Madness.
Greg wants you to know he is definitely not up to no good.
We had not played Medieval Madness in a while and I was glad, but nervous. Although it had once been my best game, in recent times I have been in something of a slump. I decided to play a practice game on it. This broke my superstitious rule against playing a game in practice that I’m going to play in league (a good game in practice seems to predict a bad game in league), but I decided it was worth it to check on how the ball was hitting the flippers today. Then my game started going on a while. Then I hit a replay. Then I was on the fifth castle. “Joseph,” I yelled with genuine dismay, “my game is going too well.” Afterward, Mike S. reminded me that I had broken the rule against practicing games before league play. I tried to brush it off with a show of optimism.
Mark surprised me, Matt, and Joseph with some gifts from his pinball memorabilia collection. He had promotional plastics from The Machine: Bride of Pin-Bot and Fish Tales, and gave Matt first choice, with the suggestion that he could use it as a prize for the Zen Tournament. Matt chose Fish Tales, so Mark presented me with the Bride. I was delighted to have it, as I quite like that game, and touched by Mark’s generosity. He was apologetic because he had once offered to give me the plastic Rudy head that he knew he had somewhere, but ultimately was not able to find it. I told him it was just as well, because my brother had given me that very Rudy for Christmas. (It now sits on a shelf in my office, where it provides silent backup and moral support. My officemate has not yet complained of nightmares.)
“Um, Alex, I think Chris was just messing with you when he told you about the secret upper flipper buttons.”
Mark also had a small gift for Joseph: his very own pinball. Unfortunately, he has not figured out any way to add it to The Simpsons to make his own multiball.
Medieval Madness, or as I called it afterward, “Medieval Sadness,” proved to be cruel to a lot of people. Before I stepped up to play, Joseph tried to calm my nerves by pointing out that Chris had managed a score of around 11 million. Lucky Chris. I managed to get a score of about four and a half million – just about exactly a tenth of the score I had done during my practice game. I try not to be so superstitious, but circumstances keep encouraging me like that. I was so dismayed to end my night and my season on such a disappointing game that I almost went home without going to Theio’s, but Joseph convinced me I should go anyway and after a short time of chatting with the rest of the Theio’s regulars (minus Mike S., who had to leave early) I felt back to my old self.
Russell fueling up.
The regular season ended with Alex taking first place back, Chris knocked to second, and Matt P. in third. This is the first time the season has ever finished without Chris in first place, but this is also the first time final rankings will be determined by playoffs. In the first three seasons, the final rankings were based entirely on the number of points earned during the eight regular meetings. The end-of-season “Zen” (split flipper) tournament was just for fun. This time around, prompted by a suggestion from Mike S., we will instead have a double elimination tournament. Seeds will be based on points earned during the regular season; the tie for fifth will be resolved by a one-ball tiebreaker between Joseph and Aaron prior to the start of play. A division will be the top eight seeds, and everyone else will play in B division.
Will Chris manage to battle back to first place, and continue his undefeated reign over the Lansing Pinball League? Or will he have to hand his pinball crown to Alex? There is going to be a crown, right? Does B division get a tiara instead? Find out the answer to these questions and many others on Tuesday at the first ever Lansing Pinball League final tournament! You can view the seeds for the final tournament by checking the most recent results and sorting by overall standing.
For the sixth meeting of Season 4, we were slated to play Austin Powers, Getaway, Indiana Jones, and Lord of the Rings, with Attack from Mars as the contingency game for a turnout over 16. I knew this was almost certainly not going to happen because Austin Powers had still been unplayable when I visited the Avenue the night before. For weeks now, a ball has been stuck in the bonus lanes due to a bit of debris lodged there. All it would take to fix would be for someone to open the glass and clear the lane, so I can’t understand why it hadn’t been fixed yet (and still hasn’t, as of Friday night). Meanwhile, Addams Family was back, but could not be played either due to intermittently failing to load balls even after a ball search. Since exactly 16 people showed up (a close enough call that people kept re-counting), we only needed to play four games, so Attack from Mars ended up replacing Austin Powers. No one wept.
“Huh. So the key is to slide the game ten inches, then swear a lot. I have so much to learn.”
I got put into a group with Joseph, Matt P., and Greg, which brought back memories of Season 1, when we were all regulars in a smaller league. I hadn’t been grouped with Joseph in quite some time. The highlight of our group’s play for the night was Matt destroying the Ring, which managed to overshadow my own game of Lord of the Rings which, while not up to wizard standards, was very good by my own lights. I need to learn not to talk while I play, though. I almost always lose concentration, followed by my ball. At one point I had a Gollum multiball going and was tearing things up, then decided it would be funny to reply to one of Gollum’s utterances with “Shut up, Gollum, I’m trying to concentrate!” I was well aware of the irony when my blathering distracted me just enough to cause a double drain.
Our group’s night ended with an unfortunate incident on Getaway wherein we had to replay the game due to a slam tilt. This one was decreed to be no one’s fault; the ball got stuck in the lock during Greg’s game, and the slam tilt happened when Matt tried to dislodge it for him. We replayed without incident, but a little while later, another bit of bad luck happened as Indiana Jones decided to break at the end of Chris’s game. The idol rotor lock decided it wanted to keep all the balls for itself and could not be coaxed to spit any out. The game has, unfortunately, been broken ever since, which has stopped James from being able to do a makeup for his missed league game.
“Maybe I’d better read over the rules one more time… hmmm…”
Earlier in the night, Jake had told me that he would have to bow out of Theio’s this time, as he and Sam had tickets for a punk show at Mac’s Bar. Eventually he talked Mike S. into going too. By the time my league games were over, the two of them were already long gone. Joseph and I stuck around playing games with Greg until I got a call from Mike. The show was over and he and Jake were at Theio’s; did we want to meet them there? We finished up a game of Theatre of Magic, Greg bowed out, and Joseph and I headed to Theio’s. When we arrived, we found the trio looking rather worse for wear. Jake informed me that he could barely hear anything I was saying over the ringing in his ears. Mike’s face was bright red and he was acting a bit addled. Sam was mostly quiet and seemed worn out, though seemed the best off of the bunch, perhaps indicating he went a bit less crazy at the show. Evidently it was rather exciting. According to Jake, Mike had managed to get up front and stay there through the entire show, hanging onto a lighting rig or something to keep himself from being swept back by the crowd. Mike showed off some spectacular bruises from the adventure, in between eagerly shoveling Eggs Louie (which he kept calling an “omelet” even as Jake insisted that it was certainly not an omelet) into his face.
It’s PBR time.
Eventually, after quite a bit of lingering over midnight brunch, we all went our separate ways, and that was the end of another fun-filled league night. Although Matt P. had an impressive first place finish two weeks in a row, Chris did well enough to regain his top spot in the season rankings and knock Alex down to second. As always, you can see the complete results here (pending James’s makeup game on Indiana Jones) and I have a few more photos up in the gallery too. Though I usually end by saying “see you next time,” I’m very sorry to say I can’t do that this time. Joseph and I will be missing Tuesday’s meeting to go see Walk the Moon in Detroit – my first absence since joining the league. So I’ll end with this instead. Hey Walk the Moon: you had better play a damn good show, because I am missing pinball for you. I expect to hear “Anna Sun” at least three times.
March 10th was the fifth meeting of Season 4, and it seemed as though a lot of people were feeling a bit off their games and disappointed with their own performance. The absence once again of our beloved leader Matt P. (on a trip to visit family during Spring Break) as well as other regulars including the everpresent Mike S. (gone early to PAPA) may have contributed to an atmosphere that was rather subdued. Perhaps PAPA nerves were shadowing others; Alex and Chris were in attendance but getting ready to leave for PAPA in a few days. We did have a couple of new players (Corey and Tim) to help fill in the gaps and bring some energy to things.
Alex and Sarah warm up on Getaway, and Chris practices his slam tilt Junk Yard.
The show must go on, however, and Aaron reprised his duties as Matt’s second, getting things organized and underway. Instead of the famous Sorting Hat or the newer computerized method of drawing groups for the night, Aaron hit on the clever idea of having everyone draw playing cards, and afterward announcing which cards went with which machine. Aaron once again sent people to move counterclockwise through the games, but this was quickly sent awry by at least one group thinking we were to move clockwise; for the rest of the night people ended up jumping on whatever table was free at the moment.
We had been scheduled to play Monster Bash, Junk Yard, The Simpsons Pinball Party, and Tales of the Arabian Nights. Prior to the start of play, I decided to practice starting Mosh Pit Multiball on Monster Bash and see how often I was successful. This was prompted by having it as a goal at a pingolf tourney, and realizing that it wasn’t as hard as I’d thought, especially if I focused all my efforts on it. It turned out that in several practice games at the Avenue prior to league play, I only failed to start it once, so I resolved to try that as a new strategy. Later I saw Chris trying out Monster Bash too and I told him, “I have a new strategy for this one: shoot up the middle.” He said, “Thanks, Heather, I can always rely on you.” If his voice had been any more laden with sarcasm, the words would have fallen and crashed through the glass.
During his practice game, Chris determined that the scoop was shooting down the middle all too often. He convinced Aaron that Monster Bash should be removed from the rotation. I was none too pleased by this and began, well, wailing might overstate it. I’d spent all my warmup time practicing that Mosh Pit Multiball! Alas, but Aaron’s word was law for the night and so the switch was made, Monster Bash for Attack from Mars.
No witticisms here: just some folks warming up for league play.
I ended up in a group with Sam and Chris, starting out with Tales of the Arabian Nights. Chris urged us to hurry so we could get our game started while there was still light in the pinball alcove. This was definitely sage advice, since TotAN is the worst game to play when the room is dark. It makes you want to get out the glow sticks, as Matt P. once said. I had a really good ball one in which I got quite a lot of lamp spinning going and had a multiball with two jackpots, to the tune of eight-odd million. Sadly my next two balls only totaled about one million points between them and that was almost all my held bonus. Still, I started out the night with a bit of confidence, which was quickly dampened by a mediocre-to-bad Attack from Mars.
While we were playing Attack from Mars, a new player, Tim, arrived. He had come late to the league meeting but had been added to my group. While Chris and Sam played, I tried to show Tim the basics of pinball with a credit someone had left on The Walking Dead. Tim had just about never touched a pinball machine before and didn’t know the first things to do. Situations like that really trigger my teacher reflexes and I probably start over-helping sometimes. I just love giving people the guidance Joseph gave me when I was new, that helped me gradually understand the basic structure of pinball. Tim joined us when we got to The Simpsons Painful Party and didn’t do much worse than anyone else.
Tim thinks, “What have I gotten myself into?”
My group’s last game of the night was Junk Yard. I hadn’t played my first ball yet when suddenly I looked back from a conversation I was having with Joseph and saw that the game appeared to have reset. I asked what happened and was told Chris slam tilted it. The league rule for slam tilting is that the culprit takes 0 and everyone else replays the round. Chris walked off, and the remaining players along with a few bystanders discussed the unfairness of it.
I didn’t see it happen but I was told that he had certainly earned a tilt but it really should not have been a slam tilt. Jake suggested we should just pretend it didn’t happen and I said I would be fine with that, but Chris reappeared with quarters he had presumably acquired from Aaron, dropped them into my hand, and said, “Have fun.” (UPDATE: Chris tells me that they were actually his own quarters, acquired from the change machine.) He then went upstairs to practice The Walking Dead (which he would be playing at PAPA that weekend). Presumably Chris will have to stop teasing Mike for slam tilting Junk Yard on a past league night (resulting in a new nickname for Mike, “King Kong”). Chris later said that although Junk Yard’s slam tilt is too sensitive, he also knows better and had earned his penalty. Now that is what my father would call “the sportsman’s way.”1
After league play was over, I dithered about whether I would go to the “after party” (the newly traditional visit to Theio’s) as I still wanted to play. It was relatively early, so Jake suggested we could go eat and still come back to play more. He had me at “play more pinball.” It was only a small group that assembled at Theio’s, perhaps our smallest yet. Jake, Sam, Mike, Greg, Joseph, and I made for a relatively sedate crowd this time. Afterward we returned to the Avenue and played a bit more before things broke up for the night.
Jake is in the pinball vortex!
That didn’t actually end League Night, though. Matt P. and Mike S. elected to play makeup games, and so they came back to the Avenue the following Tuesday. So did Aaron, Greg, Joseph, and I, though our own games were just for fun, as much as I would have liked to substitute my even better game of TotAN (11 million and a replay!). Joseph and I played with Mike, and Aaron and Greg played with Matt. Mike had some good games, but apparently Matt did even better. We were on different floors from him for most of it so I didn’t see what he did, but whatever it was, it earned him the top score for this league meeting. As Matt is frequently plagued by below-average games during league play, perhaps he’s hit on a new method: play his games when no one is looking.
Before he headed back home, Mike suggested we should play The Lord of the Rings, since the high score table had apparently been reset. During our game, I finished ball two somewhere in the 30 millions, and Mike remarked that I must be getting close to the high score table. Then I started to sweat. I started Return of the King multiball at the start of ball three, but hit only two jackpots. Then Destroy the Ring was lit. I have only gotten to the Destroy the Ring mode once (and didn’t last long in it). I knew that if I started it, I would be on track to get on the high score table. I shot at the ring… and I missed. Game over. The bonus counted up and I had fallen 1.5 million short of the 40 million needed for the #4 high score, and about half a million short of hitting a personal best. I was crushed… but it was getting late and glory would have to wait for another night. We said farewell to Mike (who was leaving) and the others (who were still playing) and headed home, concluding Bonus League Night.
That’s it for my epic League Night Update, just in time for a new league night in two days. I would be remiss to conclude, however, without commenting on an unprecedented event in league history. To the best of my knowledge and recollection, this is the first time in the history of the Lansing Pinball League that Chris has not been at the #1 position in the current rankings. Thanks in large part to his “slam tap,” Chris has relinquished his place to Alex, at least for now.
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).
