Lansing Pinball League

Tag: news

  • The madness returns!

    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 7, 2023. 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.

  • The return of Fear and Trembling

    Quarterly charity tournaments will return to The Avenue Cafe with Fear and Trembling, the annual Halloweelection pingolf tournament, on November 2. The course may be started anytime after 4 pm, and the last entries will be permitted at 7. The early start time is to ensure the tournament can finish at a semi-reasonable time. The fee for the first entry is $10, and subsequent cards can be bought for an additional $5 provided they are started by 7 pm. All proceeds minus IFPA fees go to the Capital Area Humane Society. In addition to trophies for the top four finishers, there will also be random prize drawings.

    This will be a nine-hole, objective-based course. Competitors will choose one of two objectives on each game and have to stick with the one they chose. Players get a stroke for each ball it takes to reach the objective, up to four strokes for not completing the objective at all in three balls. The lowest four scores on the course will move on to a three-game final match (with non-pingolf 4/2/1/0 scoring).

    This is our first charity tournament since the pandemic started. Please come and, as Kierkegaard said, make your choices “in fear and trembling.”

  • Announcing “Stars War: The Mandalorian Launch Party”

    The Lansing Pinball League will be hosting a launch party for The Mandalorian. Note: the finals have been rescheduled to May 3. This tournament is free except for coin drop and open to all. It will use a “selfie” qualifying method requiring a photo of your scores (but it does not have to include your face). Qualifying score photos may be posted to the Lansing Pinball League Facebook group or emailed to heather@lansingpinleague.com. Qualifying scores should be submitted within 24 hours.

    Qualifying will be on a bank of 5 games and use 100,99,98… scoring. The best 3 of each player’s games (max one per game) will count toward their score. The game bank is:

    The Mandalorian
    Star Wars
    Star Trek
    Star Trek: The Next Generation
    Attack from Mars

    If any of the above games (except The Mandalorian) has to be removed from the tournament for any reason, the substitute game will be Junk Yard. (Players may record scores on Junk Yard just in case, but they will only count if the game ends up getting used.)

    The qualifying will begin immediately and end at 7 pm on May 3. At this time there will be a match play finals using slaughter seeding, three games per round with 4,2,1,0 scoring, two people moving on from each group. Top seed will choose game or position, then 2nd seed, then 3rd seed.

    “Significant ties” will be broken by a game of The Flip Side, except for a tie for first place, which will be broken by a game on The Mandalorian. “Insignificant ties” will be broken by highest qualifying score, then second highest qualifying score, and so on.

  • Banks for Season 14

    I’m proud to announce this season’s tentative banks. New year, new theme! Some of the banks have a tighter theme than others but I swear I have a rationale for every single game’s placement. And now without further ado, behold…

    Season 14: THE LABORS OF HERCULES

    Nemean Lion (1/14): The Simpsons Pinball Party, Deadpool, Theatre of Magic, Batman ’66, Kiss

    Lernaean Hydra (1/28): The Munsters, Metallica, Monster Bash, Scared Stiff, Black Knight: Sword of Rage

    Ceryneian Hind (2/11): Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Getaway, Star Trek, Iron Man, Road Show

    Girdle of Hippolyta (2/25): Tales of the Arabian Nights, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Addams Family, Lord of the Rings, Terminator 3

    Stymphalian Birds (3/10): Attack from Mars, Elvira’s House of Horrors, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Iron Maiden

    Apples of the Hesperides (3/24): The Beatles, Willy Wonka, Medieval Madness, Indiana Jones, Game of Thrones

    Cerberus (4/14): Ghostbusters, AC/DC, Stranger Things, Junk Yard, 5th game TBD

    On 4/28, we will play any games that have not yet been played plus games from a randomly selected bank to be announced after 4/14. 5/12 is finals night and 5/26 is Super-Ball XIV: Zen Night.

  • Silver Balls in the City to Return Dec. 27

    The fourth annual Silver Balls in the City charity pinball tournament will be held at 6:30 pm on Dec. 27 at the Avenue Café in Lansing.  The tournament will once again support the Capital Area Humane Society, but this year there will be a new twist.  We will be holding a 10-strike progressive strikes tournament.  In this format, you receive a number of strikes according to how many people finished ahead of you in a four-player group.  If you come in first, you receive no strikes; second, one strike; third, two strikes; fourth, three strikes.

    The top three finishers will receive holiday-themed trophies.  Additional festivities will also be in store, including a random translite giveaway.  The cost to enter is $10 plus coin drop, with $9 of each entry going to CAHS and the other $1 going to the IFPA for our sanctioning fee.  Everyone who plays in this tournament will become a world ranked pinball player!

    For more information and the latest updates, please join our Facebook event page.

  • All Good Things

    As you might have heard, our beloved league president Matt has decided he needs to focus on running the home stretch to his degree this coming semester, and after that, may be leaving town to pursue his career. As a result, he is going to hand off league-running duties to me.

    I want to express my sincere gratitude that Matt started this league. I have been a member since the third meeting of Season 1, after Joseph and I saw a flyer for it at Pinball Pete’s in Ann Arbor (oddly enough). Originally, pinball was Joseph’s thing, which he got me casually interested in, but neither of us had ever played in an organized competition before. League really ignited a fire in both of us, resulting in something I would not have predicted at the time: competitive pinball is now a major part of our life together. Moreover, I have the whole Michigan pinball community as friends and associates, and having such a fun crowd to hang with really feels like being back in the days of my youth again. As the song says, “these are the good times.”

    Matt’s goal in creating the league was to encourage Pinball Pete’s to keep their games at the Avenue and maybe, just maybe, add a few more. My understanding is that the league formed when there were only three games at the Avenue, though by the time I attended my first meeting there were four. We now have well over twenty. Truly, pinball at the Avenue is “the house that Matt built” and as long as the league goes on I hope it will be remembered that way.

    I consider it a great privilege to take over from Matt, one that I will carry out to the best of my abilities. I will need to get the league’s 10th season approved by the IFPA and on the calendar shortly, but before I do that, I wanted to make sure that there are no objections to continuing on the schedule we currently use, which is two Tuesdays a month in alternate weeks to the Grand Rapids Pinball League. If I don’t hear any concerns about that, I will go ahead and submit that to the calendar, which will mean our next season will begin on January 9.

  • Silver Balls in the City Charity Tournament

    Silver Balls in the City posterThe 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.

    Join our Facebook event page!

     

     

  • Happy Birthday to Us!

    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.)