Tag: recap

League night #5 of 8

Games played: Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, The Simpsons, Getaway, The Addams Family

This league night took place during my spring break, which meant that I could be on time for once this season.  I also got more photos than usual thanks to being less rushed.  We were originally scheduled to play South Park among others (we have not yet played South Park for league, not that anyone’s crying over it), but when we arrived several of them malfunctioned or started eating quarters, so Mike S. asked Matt on Facebook if we could reshuffle the games and perhaps consider playing something we hadn’t done yet this season, such as Indiana Jones.  Matt rather testily told Mike he should go ahead and just tell us what we’re going to play.  Then Matt showed up in person carrying the league’s lightbulbs (yes, we are a BYOB league: bring your own bulbs).  Mike gave him a bit of a ribbing about how he had forgotten to take one of them home after league last time.  Matt responded by staring at Mike and dropping the bag of bulbs on the floor where he stood, causing a tell-tale glass tinkling noise, before walking away to get a drink.  Casualties: one of the two remaining league-owned LED bulbs, and Matt’s patience.

Prior to league play beginning, Danny was putting in some serious work on one of his favorite games, Getaway.  He had a parade of extra balls and got very nearly to the grand champion score before having a couple of virtual house balls.  Still, he was looking good for playing Getaway in league.  Thus we were all surprised by the turn of fate: Danny slam tilted Getaway.  This puts him in an elite group of people who have slam tilted games in the league and I think it’s the first slam of the season.  We were all surprised, because although he gave it a pretty hard shove, it didn’t seem hard enough to warrant a slam.  Unfortunately, the league’s rules on it are clear, so Danny went from the pinnacle to the pit on Getaway in the space of an hour.

With Addams Family on the slate, we once again saw Chris using his shoes to block the strobe lights.  I guess that works well for him and I’m wondering if we’re going to start seeing more of it.

League members Joseph, Adam, and I – plus Sarah who has often played in the league in the past – all competed in one or more of the tournaments held by the IFPA in Dallas over the weekend (Sarah and I in the Women’s World Championship, Adam in the Nationals as the Michigan state champion, and Adam, Joseph, and I in the Pin-Masters pingolf tournament).  Adam did especially well, finishing in the top eight of both tournaments, so be sure to congratulate him on his excellent representation of Michigan when you come to league tonight.  As for the rest of us, well, at least I’ll have some stories to tell.

League night #4 of 8

Games played: Terminator 3, Tales of the Arabian Nights, Jack-Bot, Monster Bash, Fish Tales.

This is going to be a rather scrawny update, which is because it was a very scrawny league night.  None of the Grand Rapids players attended.  Stalwart Chris and new member Parker (AKA “East Side Rodney”) were missing.  Russell was present but not playing; he was just there to sit at a table with his laptop working.  When I arrived (late, as usual for this season), Joseph told me that play hadn’t started yet; Matt decided to wait for me.  I felt bad that I had held people up, though it was not my intention.  Joseph also told me about the low attendance, and I responded plaintively that this would be a disappointing league night.

“There’s something upstairs that’s going to make you very happy,” he said.

My eyes immediately sought out the mezzanine.  I knew it was unlikely, but my thoughts went straight to it nonetheless: “Is there a FunHouse up there?”

“No, no… but do you hear the sound of slightly inebriated, droll sarcasm?”

I gasped.  “Aaron is here!”

That’s right, Aaron H. made his first appearance this season.  He’s one of the first friends I made in the league when I joined back in 2013 and he always brings so much cheer to league nights, so I have missed his presence since his work schedule started preventing him from getting to league.

Speaking of Aaron: later in the evening I was playing Fish Tales and had been trying and repeatedly failing to get video mode going.  When I finally made the necessary shots and the animation started, I leapt back to commence my “I did a thing” dance (which involves hopping from foot to foot and swinging my arms).  Unfortunately, someone was walking behind me and I felt my hand fly out and clobber them.  I couldn’t see who it was and couldn’t turn around before I had to start shooting water skiers, but the exaggerated yell of pain let me know it was Aaron.  (He should save the theatrics for World Cup Soccer.)

I had a good game of Fish Tales and a very fun game of Jack-Bot (Casino Run FTW!  I love the thrill of gambling with points).  Too bad I had a truly awful game of Monster Bash in which it was pulling all kinds of TBS such as shooting the ball down the middle from the scoop (yes, that again) and catching Drac’s foot as it came from the right orbit and being diverted down the middle.

Fortunately, South Park was stealing quarters or something like that, so we didn’t follow our usual practice of playing the newest game.  I don’t think anyone is all that excited to see it, even though it is nice that they keep adding games.  I remember when we had only four games.

Tonight at 7 is our next league night.  We have four down and four to go.  And the good news for me is that I’m on Spring Break and can come early for once.  I will see you all there… I hope.

League night #3 of 8

Games played: Metallica, Attack from Mars, The Simpsons Pinball Party, Addams Family, World Cup Soccer.

As usual for this season and my unfortunate new schedule, I rushed to league as soon as I could after work but still arrived after most people had started.  Sam was waiting for me, though, since Matt had assigned him to be my partner.  Actually, it’s a little more complicated than that.  Matt gave the Grand Rapids Three (Jake, Sam, and Adam) a choice of playing together or splitting one person off to wait for me.  Jake decided to make that choice on Sam’s behalf while Sam was at the bar getting a drink.  I’m glad I had someone to play with, in any case.

We were originally supposed to play Demolition Man instead of World Cup Soccer, but by the time I showed up, Demo Man had broken and WCS had been switched in.  I’m pretty sure a lot of people wished The Addams Family had broken instead.  The new LEDs are blinding.  When the lights start strobing (during multiball, for instance) it is so dazzling that it can be almost impossible to follow the ball.  If the game were in a well lit area, it would be tolerable, though probably still annoying.  In the gloom upstairs, though, it’s madness.  Some people (following Adam’s lead) have been setting dollar bills over the two strobe lights.  Then there’s what Chris did when he and Kristen (who is rejoining the league after a long hiatus) dropped by the following week to do makeup games…

On the other hand, I had an unusually good league game of Addams, the best of any of the scores I saw, so maybe I should hope the light stays!

After league I went to Theio’s with Sam, Adam, Jake, Mike, and Joseph, and while we were there I realized that once again I had failed to take any photos of league night.  Sam decided to help by posing.  Posing as what, I’m not too sure, but here you go.  There are a few more in the photo gallery.

My update from last league night serves, as usual, of a warning that the next league night is coming.  Tomorrow (Tuesday) is our next league night, so I hope I will see you… well, not at 7, because I won’t be able to get there on time.  You should come at 7. I will come as soon as I can, depending on how fast I can escape from work.

League Night #1, Season 8

Games played: Iron Man, Terminator 3, Theatre of Magic, Metallica, Lord of the Rings

The league started its eighth season on January 10 and, unfortunately, this season marks a change back to my old work schedule, which means I will not be able to come until 7:30 or 8 p.m.  I had to do this for the first one or two seasons, but then I was able to get my work schedule changed so I could make it back to Lansing for league on Tuesdays.  This January it changed back, and it looks like my late arrivals will be a recurring disappointment for at least a year.  Due to my late arrival and the fact that by the time I finished many people had dispersed, I was not able to get nearly as many photos as I usually do.  I will try to work around that in the future.

We had a rather small group on this night, just ten people, and with the games increasingly distributed across several locations in the bar, I went quite a while without seeing anyone besides fellow latecomer (and league partner for the night) Russell.  I know Sam was ill and I expect he’ll be returning for tomorrow’s league night.  I hope some of the other past participants will also be playing this season (paging Aaron H.!).  And, of course, if you are reading this and have been on the fence or shy about coming to league… the season is still early.  We’d love to see you at our meeting tomorrow!

Despite the small turnout, some of us did have the usual run to Theio’s afterward.  Everyone is always welcome to come along with us on a Theio’s run.  Come for the hashbrowns: stay for the pinball gossip.

As in the last few seasons, after each meeting I will be mirroring the league standings here for those who are not connected with us on Facebook.  I have streamlined the table a little bit, but it can still be sorted by either points for the night or total points for the season.  I will also be continuing to send my photos to the photo gallery, but as I said, I didn’t have too many for this particular night.  (Sorry about that.)

Tomorrow, January 24, is our second league night, beginning as usual at 7 p.m.  Our league president, Matt, has announced the tentative game list as follows: Medieval Madness (yay!  Shoot the castle!), Junk Yard (shoot the dog!), Jack-Bot (shoot the visor!), The Walking Dead (shoot the walker!), and Austin Powers (shoot it in the head!).  Iron Man (shoot the … oh, you can figure it out) is the contingency game if one of the other games has to be taken out.

League night #6 of 8.  Games played: Ghostbusters, Lord of the Rings, Fish Tales, Attack from Mars, Junk Yard.

The big news for last league night was the arrival of a Ghostbusters LE at the Avenue, taking the former spot of World Cup Soccer, which has moved upstairs.  While everyone loves seeing a new game go in, it does feel a bit too ironic that we have gotten such a fancy new machine while several other games remain unplayable for league.  On this occasion, Jack-Bot’s right eye saucer was not registering.  Demolition Man and Austin Powers continue to steal quarters at an alarming rate.  Terminator 3’s right ramp does not register (or doesn’t register reliably; there’s some disagreement about this point).  Monster Bash has long been excluded from league play due to a straight-down-the-middle scoop kickout.  As a result, we have been playing many of the same games (the more reliable ones) repeatedly.  I joined the league when there were only 5 games present, period, so it doesn’t bother me quite as much; still, with all the variety we now have available (in theory), it would be nice to be able to change out games more often.

Ghostbusters gets mixed reviews from the league.  Some people like it, some people want to like it, others are quite vocal in their dislike.  I don’t mind the Pro that I play elsewhere so much, but the LE at the Avenue makes very unpleasant use of the so-called “magnetic slings.”  During my league game, I was in the process of getting the ball in hand for a jackpot shot when it suddenly froze dead center between the flippers and then dropped right down the middle.  It isn’t just me, either; others reported the same phenomenon.  I’m not a fan of magnets on the playfield in general and this is a particularly bad example.

Strangely, a refrigerator has appeared where Joust and Dig Dug briefly stood (it was empty yet turned on), and the video games have been moved out to the area near the back door.  At one point Sam outright insisted that I get inside the refrigerator for a photo, which he borrowed my camera to take.  I couldn’t get both of my legs in safely so he fortunately could not shut the door on me (but he tried).  Afterward he ran around with my camera for a few minutes and took some of the best shots of the night.  The reason his photos are so good is that he completely ignored etiquette and took shots of people playing up close (to be fair, they weren’t playing league games), which I am too timid or too polite (your choice) to do.  He also shot from the hip, not literally but close to it, so he got some of those great serendipitous shots that are made possible by not trying too hard.  All the photos in this entry were taken by Sam.

One of the surprises of the night was the return of Danny after at least a season’s absence.  We did have some advance notice that he’d been around by the fact that Ghostbusters already had DMCs all over the high score table.  Danny was in my group, and one of the stranger events of the night that I witnessed involved his game of Lord of the Rings.  On ball 3, he drained with a pretty low score (especially by his standards).  I went to take down the score and found that it wasn’t ending his ball.  After some confusion, we discovered that his ball was back in the shooter lane.  He confirmed that his ball definitely drained between the flippers.  It wasn’t an extra ball, either; everything was acting as though his ball was still in progress.  The rest of us told him to go ahead and play it.  After all, the game said his ball was in play.  He shrugged, went back to work, and put up a monster score.  (I’ve had that happen to me at least one other time on LotR, though not on a league game.  I don’t know what causes it.)

Tonight we’re going to be playing our seventh meeting of the season (out of eight).  Some of the positions have really narrowed a lot (see the standings for more details).  I know my 7th place is in danger and I need to keep my nose above the 8th place water mark to ensure playing in A division again.  I’ll see you soon – I hope!

P.S. Don’t forget to check the photo gallery for more photos (I took quite a few this time, as well as Sam), and to save the date for the Nov. 9 post-election hangover tourney, Fear and Trembling.

League Night #5 of 8, Season 7

Games played: Junk Yard, Metallica, Iron Man, The Walking Dead, Lord of the Rings.

The Lansing Pinball League saw its first media visit, as a reporter and from the State News (MSU’s student newspaper) spent several hours interviewing and league members for a profile of the league.  She brought along a photographer, too, which is more than the Detroit Free Press writer did when he came to the Avenue to write a profile of a “pinball wizard” (read: Chris) earlier this year; he just made do with cell phone pictures.  So in the matter of Avenue pinball articles, I’m going with State News 1, Free Press 0.  Real press deserves real cameras!

The timing of their visit was somewhat unfortunate, as the Grand Rapids crew (Adam, Jake, and Sam) were all absent, and this was generally a very low-attendance night.  On the plus side, we had a new member, Derienne, who got to spend part of her first-ever league night being interviewed.  She ended up being quoted in the article, probably because she was one of the only MSU students present.  Many of the rest of the league are alumni (this writer included), and Russell is a professor at MSU, but of the people present that night, I believe only Matt and Derienne are current students.

Two other bits of attendance-related news concern Aaron and Jason.  Aaron was present for the first time this season due to his work schedule, but told me that he will probably be able to come more often in the future.  Jason, on the other hand, will be unable to attend for the rest of the season due to a change in his work schedule, and will be playing all his games as makeups from here on out.  He does expect to be able to attend finals.

Junk Yard behaved itself and continued not slam tilting, so that is evidently not going to be a problem anymore thanks to Derrick finally fixing the slam tilt switch.  It gave us no trouble for a change, but, sadly, I cannot say the same for Lord of the Rings, which has a problem with the ring-destroying switch.  If someone starts Destroy the Ring, it cannot be finished, and no more points can be scored until the ball drains.  Strangely, the switch that destroys the ring has no other function in the game (a different sensor starts modes when the ball is hit into the ring), but when it stops working, it really messes things up for those unfortunate enough to encounter it.

The Avenue has received a new game, Ghostbusters LE, replacing World Cup Soccer.  (We are hoping WCS ’94 is going to be shopped and returned, because Derrick had mentioned trying to obtain a new ramp for it.)  It’s the usual league custom to play a new game at the next league night, and indeed, Matt has said we will be playing Ghostbusters at the next league night (Tuesday, September 27, at 7 p.m.).  New members are always welcome, so if you have been too shy to come to the league, please don’t be.  We would love to have you!

Our last league night (the fourth of the season) had somewhat light attendance, though we did have a rare visit from long-timer Greg and were joined by a new member, John, who works at The Avenue.  But the most notable appearance of the night was Derrick, the pinball technician who services Pinball Pete’s games at The Avenue.  I had heard his name for years, ever since I joined in 2013, but had never actually seen him before, so he was a semi-mythic figure to me.  But there he was, with a game open and Chris peering into it alongside him.

Mike S., Chris, Joseph, and I proceeded to run around pointing at all the most bothersome problems in the games, while Derrick obligingly tried to troubleshoot them.  Finally, Mike wanted him to look at “just one more thing”… the infamous Junk Yard slam tilt problem.  Derrick said that he had received our notes complaining about the touchy slam switch, but he was perplexed.  He opened the coin door to show us: the switch was bent as far apart as it could go.  He couldn’t see how it could possibly be slam tilting.

Due to a tragedy at Pinburgh involving a questionable slam tilt, Mike knew exactly how it might be happening: games can have more than one slam tilt switch.  He suspected that it might be on the left side, since hitting the left of the game is more likely to trigger it.  He and Derrick together looked around and – eureka!  They found a switch in the left side of the cabinet that was so close together that just touching it would cause a “slam tilt stuck closed” message.  Derrick bent it apart for us and afterward we tested the game.  Joy of joys, for the first time since we got it, it no longer has a slam tilt problem!  Junk Yard is once again tournament ready!  … More or less.

Due to a combination of the late start and some long games, league night ran quite late, at least for some groups.  Half of my group actually left before I finished the final ball of the final game (and the one person who did stay was, well, Joseph).  Some of us did still go to Theio’s afterward for our usual midnight “breakfast,” but it was a small group.

We are now halfway through the league season, so the heat is going to start turning up.  To see where you (and others) stand, check out the results page.  Our next meeting is tomorrow at 7, and we will be joined by a reporter from The State News who is working on a story about the league.  So put on your favorite pinball shirt, slick your hair back, and get over to the Avenue for League Night #5!