The twelfth season of the Lansing Pinball League ended with Mike successfully defending his title as LPL champion. Mike became the second-ever LPL champion at the end of Season XI, dethroning 10-season champ Chris (though without actually playing him). Jason and Danny took second and third, respectively. Lupe is the new B division champ, Tyler took second, and league newcomer Jon brought home third.
The night began with the naming of the coveted Most Improved and Worst Score awards. Most Improved uses a metric devised by Joseph and appears on the league spreadsheet, so careful observers already knew it had been won (and, everyone agreed, earned) by Josh. Worst Score was a secret until then, as Joseph and I had to decide how to award it to something other than a slam tilt for the first time. We decided on the person whose score was the greatest number of standard deviations below the mean score on a specific game for the night. This turned out to be new player Jon. I hoped he would take this in the spirit it’s intended, a joking tradition, but since he was new to the league I was a little worried.
Unfortunately, Jon was nowhere in sight as the tournament began, so I was unable to give him the ribbon for his dubious accomplishment. Luckily someone had his number and texted him. It turned out he had just gotten home from grocery shopping and had completely forgotten it was league night. Since we were all waiting for a play-in to be resolved in the B division anyway, I put him into the bracket so he could play when he arrived. By the time I saw him, someone had already let him know of his Worst Score win, but I gave him the ribbon. I was relieved that he seemed amused. I said, “Hey, you’re taking home hardware your first season in the league!” Of course, I got to revisit that remark later when Jon won the third place trophy in B division.
I finished in fifth, which required winning a match against Joseph (never a fun time) with a third ball rally on his choice, Scared Stiff. That makes my highest ever finish in the league. I have Pat to thank, in part, because the difference between fifth and sixth in the bracket is just a tiebreaker based on initial seed. As the seventh seed, I was much more likely to go out in the same round as someone whose seed would beat mine. As it happened, Pat and I went out in the same round and he was the ninth seed. He would have been playing in B as the tenth seed had Russell not been absent, so he significantly improved his season finish in the tournament.
Once I was done playing I thought I would relax by getting a beer. It’s a common misconception that I don’t drink. I just don’t usually feel like drinking with pinball, plus I am always fighting with my weight and part of that is a rule against drinking calories (creaming my coffee is an exception). In the early days of the league I would usually have a couple of PBRs during the night, so I wanted to have one for old times’ sake. When I tried to order one the bartender pointed out that pitchers were the night’s special and thus only about $2 more than a glass. I said “Well… OK, I’m sure someone will share it with me.” I walked back to the alcove carrying my pitcher and that made around three different people take turns overreacting to the sight of me holding that much beer. Luckily I had brought several cups with me and poured a couple of cups and topped up other people’s cups. I offered one to Joseph, while emphasizing that he didn’t have to have any. He hesitated for a moment and then said “Sure, I’ll give it a try.” It’s also a common misconception that Joseph is a strict nondrinker. He just, as he puts it, “never got in the habit of drinking.” I also think he just doesn’t enjoy the taste. He does have a glass of wine or beer once in a while if he’s with me and I’m drinking.
Shortly afterward, Lupe came into the alcove and remarked about my beer pitcher, so to deflect the teasing I pointed out Joseph’s glass of beer. She exclaimed, with feeling, “What in tarnation is going on over here by the Tekken machine?”
Lupe was having a good night herself, of course, with her first B division championship. Later on I heard her and Jon discussing their match, both still excited by what was apparently a pretty hard-fought match. I heard Jon say something like, “Then I took you to Smash Town…” Lupe said, “That sounds very inappropriate.” I said, “What the heck is Smash Town?” Jon stammered around trying to think of the name of the game he had in mind and fortunately Lupe was able to fill in “Junk Yard.” Still, I’m really hoping that “taking someone to Smash Town” becomes a new league expression.
The night ran long as always, though it could have been worse. It wrapped up at 1 am with Mike winning from the winners’ bracket. Had he lost to Jason, it would have gone into another round, which might have seen us closing the bar out. Instead, he came from behind with a big third ball rally on Game of Thrones. Mike was Player 1, and Jason actually went to shake his hand before playing his own last ball. Mike pointed out that the game wasn’t over. When Jason failed to reach Mike’s score, Mike said, “Now you can shake my hand.”
The SmackDown tournaments by then had long since finished. Derik won the main division (on Scared Stiff) and I won the B division on Metallica. I hadn’t played Metallica since last playing it in league, yet somehow I had a runaway Ball 1 to the tune of well over 100 million that pretty well disheartened the rest of the competitors. I played a Crank It Up on that ball and had it lit again Ball 3 when I drained. That’s a far above normal game for me.
See you all very shortly at the Zen (split flipper) tournament, beginning at 7 sharp! First person to comment on my late recap has to play single flipper without a partner.