Games played: Indiana Jones, Attack from Mars, The Addams Family, Lord of the Rings, Getaway.
Not sure what everyone’s reacting to – an unfair tilt, maybe?
League Night #3 is notable in that it was the first league night I went to this season, and that goes for Joseph too. For the first night we were up north, and for the second night we were at Kings Island before heading on to Pinburgh. This, then, is the first league night that I was actually present at and can write an update on! So I should have a lot to say, right?
Uh, not really. It was one of my worst league nights ever (whereas my makeup night for #2 the previous evening was one of my best nights ever), so I have endeavored to wipe it from my memory.
Russell in a rare moment of not sliding the game.
OK, OK, I can tell you a few things. First off, it was probably the best attended league night so far from what I’ve heard. Joseph and I were back, and so was the league’s champion Chris, who was rumored to possibly be ducking out this season in order to cheat on us with the new One Well League. I still have my eye on you, mister. I mean Doctor. Second, we were once again scheduled to play Demolition Man and were once again not able to. I don’t remember what the reason was this time; maybe it was eating quarters. As far as I can remember, we have not played Demolition Man for league once, because every time it is on the docket it ends up breaking.
Matt holds court while Tim plays Getaway.
Tonight will be my last league night arriving on time for quite a while. I’m sad to say that I was once again unable to return to having an earlier schedule at work. Once classes start next week, I will be unable to get to league any earlier than 7:30 or 8 pm. What’s worse is that this time I also have an earlier start, so it’s the worst of both worlds; I’ll be tired and dragging and arriving late, so I doubt I am going to finish this season in top form. It also means I’ll probably not be getting as many photos of league, so enjoy them while you can.
I’ll be seeing you soon (I hope) as I’m about to head to the Avenue for tonight’s league, where I will no doubt get razzed again for my habit of doing my league update shortly before the next league. Yeah, I love you guys too.
Games Played: Indiana Jones, Attack from Mars, Terminator 3, Jack-Bot, Fish Tales
Once again I missed league night, this time because I was at Kings Island riding the legendary wooden coaster The Beast, as part of a whirlwind trip with fellow league members Joseph and Mike S. We drove to the Cincinnati-area amusement park before heading east to Pittsburgh to attend Pinburgh, the world’s largest pinball tournament (the largest it’s ever been, with 800 participants this year). Then after Pinburgh, we stuck around Pittsburgh one more day to visit possibly my favorite amusement park, Kennywood. Although I’m sorry to miss two league sessions in a row (the most I’ve ever missed in a season), it was a great trip and one I will remember for a long time.
Lansing Pinball League was represented by several current and past league members, including me, Joseph, Mike, Jake, Christine, Adam, and Rodney. Joseph and I were the only ones to officially register LPL as our league affiliation for Pinburgh results, despite my attempts to cajole others. Joseph notably represented the league by earning the top qualifier spot in D division and going on to win 2nd in the division after a nailbiting, high-scoring tiebreaker on the EM game Jungle Queen. He won $100 for being top qualifier and $750 for his second place finish.
Joseph (far right) with the other final four players in D division at Pinburgh. The other medal he is wearing was for having a perfect round the previous day, winning all four games in a match.Mike, Christine, and Jake playing the Bowler Roller game at Kennywood. After several attempts, Mike won a prize.
Jake and Christine came along with me, Joseph, and Mike, to Kennywood this year, which made for a very merry group. I am always delighted to show people around my favorite amusement parks (as that is my other big hobby besides pinball), as it gives me an opportunity to see them through new eyes. The highlights of the day included cramming all five of us into a car on the Turtle (a vintage tumblebug ride, one of only two of its kind remaining in the world), and all of us minus Mike (who didn’t want to get wet) riding the log flume together. I could hear Jake laugh hysterically behind me as I, the front passenger, took a big old wave to the face at the bottom of the big hill.
In just a couple of hours it will be time for this week’s league night, the third of the season but the first for me! Although I don’t have a league night report from last time due to my absence, I did finally catch up on entering the results from the first two nights. Matt has announced that tonight’s games will be Iron Man, Attack from Mars, Demolition Man, and The Addams Family, with Lord of the Rings and Getaway as backup games. I hope to see you soon.
Chris watches Mike play Ghostbusters in the final match.
The final tournament for Season 8 of the Lansing Pinball League, held May 9 at The Avenue Café, ended with another win for Chris. Chris has won the league all 8 seasons, and once again did so without losing a single match in the double-elimination tournament. The final match was between Chris and the ultimate second place finisher, Mike S. Rounding out the top three was Adam, who forfeited his first match due to a late arrival but battled through the second-chance bracket to take home the third place trophy.
Mike plays Ghostbusters in the final match.
In past seasons, A division has been the top eight qualifiers, but due to the low attendance at finals, Matt put the top six qualifiers who attended into A and the rest in B. Kristen, who returned to the league this season after a long absence, won B division, with Russell in second and Dan in third. Kristen looked very happy and said that this was her first pinball trophy.
There is one bit of unfinished business left in Season 8: the traditional post-season Zen (split flipper) tournament, Super-Ball VIII, taking place at The Avenue on Tuesday, May 23, at 7 p.m. The dates for Season 9 are yet to be determined, but will be posted at lansingpinleague.com when they are announced.
Mike, Chris, and Adam with their A division hardware. Mike is, in his words, “always a bridesmaid, never a bride.”B division winners Kristen (1st) and Dan (3rd). Russell (2nd) ran off before I could get a photo.
Games played: Star Trek, Tales of the Arabian Nights, Junk Yard, Theatre of Magic, Getaway
Russell looks rather disheartened at the prospect of playing Star Trek.
This was the last league night of the regular season, so the results after this would determine seeding for the final playoff tournament, and (of special interest to me) who made A division playoffs. I was in ninth place going in, only one point behind Parker, so I needed to do better than he did to finish eighth and qualify for A division. Alas, I didn’t do quite enough; I ended up with one more point than Parker for the night (because he had a bad night, not because I had a good one) and so tied rather than passing him as I’d hoped. (It turns out he isn’t going to make it to finals tonight, so I’m safe after all. This is some very good luck for me, as I’d not looked forward to a tiebreaker game against him.)
I think we were originally going to have Demo Man in the lineup, but in typical Lansing fashion, it went out of commission just prior to league play starting. This was our first league night using the new Star Trek LE, but it still wasn’t on its best behavior. It would sometimes auto-launch before players got to choose a mode, and at least in my frustrating experience, tended to reject lock shots to the center fairly often.
Notable in his absence was Adam, who apparently decided that since he was qualified for A no matter what, he didn’t need to come. Jake was somewhat grumpy about having to solo drive from Grand Rapids (Sam has more or less dropped out, at least for the rest of this season).
Mike at the league field trip to The Grid.
The big event of the night was a trip to the new barcade, The Grid, in Old Town. Several of us went there after league finished up. The biggest appeal of the place for several of us is that the games they have are very uncommon, and they have several EMs and early solid states, eras that are almost totally unrepresented in metro Lansing. One of the first things I did was play a game on Big Guns, a game I’ve played only a few times ever, and put the #1 high score on it. I shrieked “I’m the Grand Champion!” at an embarrassing volume (the place sure does echo) and got a high five from the owner. I talked to him a bit and he asked me to get in contact about starting a league there, which I have subsequently done and looks like it is probably going to be a thing. Stay tuned for more information on that as it develops.
After we left The Grid, Mike S. decided to head back home, so that left Jake, Joseph, and me to go to Theio’s together. It wasn’t strictly the smallest Theio’s crowd ever (since Joseph, Mike, and I have occasionally been the only people there) but it was the only time we’ve had that particular configuration of people.
Tonight – in just a few hours – we will be having the final tournament, which will determine how everyone finishes for the season. Will Chris remain undefeated? Will we see a new champion crowned at last? Will Star Trek break, saving me from having to play Chris on it? Will we have more people playing in B division than trophies? Come at 7 p.m. and find out.
Games played: Jack-Bot, Indiana Jones, The Addams Family, Fish Tales, Austin Powers.
Russell endures a game of Austin Powers.
The penultimate league night was the first one since a Stern Star Trek LE appeared at the Avenue (adding to, rather than replacing any of, the current games), but we were not able to play it for this league night. I don’t actually know why; I just know that by the time I came running in breathlessly after my mad rush from work, it had already been stricken and replaced with, er, Austin Powers. Ghostbusters was also on the originally-announced game list, but it’s still suffering from Wandering Lockdown Bar Syndrome not to mention wonky flipper action (whoops, I did mention it, didn’t I?).
This league night seemed somewhat better attended than a lot of them have been this season.
I did my usual lousy play that I’ve done all season. I blame work. Thanks, work! Screw you and your paychecks… that keep me in pinball quarters… erm. Anyway, since I came late I once again played with fellow latecomer Russell and otherwise was a bit out of the loop about the night’s activities which has left me without much to report on. Mike’s birthday had been the previous night so Joseph and I brought him a card and some flavored popcorn from Horrocks (ranch flavor; credit Joseph with that brilliant idea, since the Theio’s crowd all knows that Mike is obsessed with ranch).
Poor Russell, all alone with Austin Powers.
Also speaking of the Theio’s crowd, Mike used his birthday leverage to insist that we go to the Fleetwood Diner instead this time. Joseph and I had previously taken him to the Fleetwood and he decided it totally blew away Theio’s in terms of menu choices, so he really wanted a repeat visit. Adam and Jake were fine with the change to our routine so we all went over Cedar Street for our midnight breakfast, minus former Theio’s regular Sam, who has been conspicuously absent from recent league nights. Come back, Sam!
We’re just two and a half hours from our final league night of the season as I write this. I know that I’m currently in B division range but within range of making A, so the pressure is really on. I’m sure others are in a similar position. That will be settled tonight. The question of whether we will eat at Theio’s or the Fleetwood from now on may remain unsettled, since there is some talk about going to The Grid (the new barcade in Old Town) after league night instead of having a diner visit. That will probably be my vote, since despite living two miles away I somehow still haven’t gotten out there to check out their oddball game selection.
Games played: Iron Man, Metallica, Lord of the Rings, Medieval Madness, Monster Bash
Your intrepid blogger is, as always, reliable in her lateness. It has been a good while since our last update, since we had one of those months that resulted in two off weeks instead of one. During that time we also had the March Hare Madness charity tournament, so I will update you on both at once.
First, league night. For a change of pace, all of the games chosen by Matt for league were in fact used. I must say I was not exactly pleased with how Monster Bash was playing (it was back to shooting down the middle out of the scoop, so some people were just plain avoiding the scoop) but I suppose it technically worked. I had a really bad night actually, having one acceptable game and the rest awful (I did something like a 4 million Medieval Madness, if that gives you an idea of how bad I mean by “bad”), so I admit I’ve wiped most of this league night out of my memory banks. If someone remembers something notable about the night please feel free to throw it in the comments because I’ve got nothin’. (I forgot to take any notes, in other words… or any photos, for that matter.)
Matt S. shows off the removable lockdown bar from Ghostbusters at March Hare Madness.
Another development of note is that Pete’s has delivered a Stern Star Trek LE to the Avenue, which is now in the downstairs alcove. It seemed to have some odd behavior at first, according to Matt (auto-plunging Player 2 before he/she could choose a mode), but it wasn’t happening by the time I played it. Other than that it seems to play fine. Unfortunately, last time I was over there, Ghostbusters was in bad shape, with the lockdown bar becoming more of a “hold down bar” and a noticeable delay between releasing the flippers and having them drop. As a result we did use Star Trek in the March Hare Madness tournament, but did not use Ghostbusters.
The March Hare Madness finalists. (Danny had to leave before it was over, so he is not pictured.)
So I guess that brings me to March Hare Madness. This was the second annual MHM, held around the same time as last year, and with the same “amazing race” format. This is a format in which everyone plays a set of games in order and the lowest scoring player on each game is eliminated. Last year Aaron G. suffered the agony of being knocked out first; this time it was me. That may have been for the best as it allowed me to put my full attention into running things. Come to think of it, I didn’t have to make a single ruling or deal with a single major malfunction during the whole tournament, which I think is a first for my tournaments.
Mike with his trophies for the main and side tournaments.
March Hare Madness officially became the Stephen Memorial Tournament this year (and will probably continue to be so named in future years), so the proceeds went to the Rabbit and Small Animal Rescue of Westland (where I adopted Stephen). Although attendance was noticeably lower than last year, I did run a “closest to the pin” side tournament on three games (Tales of the Arabian Nights, Attack from Mars, and Indiana Jones) for 50 cents per try, and that helped make up some of the difference in fundraising. Mike S. won on all three games, and took home all three prizes (two Klassic Arcade passes and one $5 Schuler Books gift card). I got some stick from Chris for accidentally putting the target score for TotAN at 75,000,000. “If I may make a suggestion,” he said, “this seems a little high.” It was, of course, an error; I had accidentally carried over the target score from Indiana Jones. The target score for TotAN was actually 3,500,000, and the target score for AfM was 1,000,000,000. Mike’s winning scores were Indiana Jones, 74,753,920; TotAN, 3,484,660; and AfM, 992,248,050.
Meanwhile, in the main tournament, the final four ended up being (in order of finish) Chris, Joseph, Mike, and Danny. Joseph and Mike ended up having a playoff for 2nd and 3rd, and Joseph won the randomly chosen playoff game on Medieval Madness. This was the first time either Joseph or I have taken home a trophy at one of our own tournaments (not counting Fear and Trembling, where everyone who attended took one home).
In total the tournament earned $161 for RASA Rescue. Thank you to all participants for helping me memorialize Stephen. Thanks also to the prize donors. My friend Alesia Tom donated a pair of earrings and a bunch of movie posters for prizes, one of which (La La Land) was highly coveted by Adam, resulting in some bargaining between him and the finalists. Adam also donated a Game of Thrones translite for one of the finalist prizes.
Tonight, after a long dry spell, league is back in action, so I will see you all at 7 p.m. Actually, you’ll see each other at 7 p.m. and I’ll see you whenever I manage to get out of the philosophy mines.
Games played: Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, The Simpsons, Getaway, The Addams Family
I can get away with taking pictures like this only because Joseph is not bothered at all by me being in his peripheral (or is it periphe-real?) vision.
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.
Everyone’s two favorite things are in this picture, am I right? (I mean hats, and stairs.)
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.
The only good thing I can say about the new placement of games by the pool tables is that it allows for new photo angles.
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.
I failed to take any pictures of league night. So here, have a picture I took in 2008.
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.
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.
Chris solves the Addams Family strobe light problem.
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…
Chris’s shoes.
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.
Sam shows his muscles at Theio’s. He thought it would make a good league update photo for some reason.
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.
Games played: Iron Man, Terminator 3, Theatre of Magic, Metallica, Lord of the Rings
Dan and Russell. Theatre of Magic was just savage to a lot of people tonight. My 63M game on it beat Joseph’s 63M game by 15K points.
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.
