Tag: season 24

We had our final qualifying night for Season 24, which would determine who would get the top seed (and thus guaranteed extra game choices all night in playoffs) and who would make the cut for A. It was a well-attended night, including a couple of guest players. Unfortunately, it is in a less jovial than usual mode that I am writing this report. Our very longtime league member Mike Stewart is currently in the hospital in very serious condition. Mike has been a member of the league since Season 3, making him the third longest-tenured member after me and Joseph. He has made friends of virtually everyone he has met in the pinball world over the years, and we are all fervently hoping for his recovery. I hope to report better news in our next update. But I admit I am writing this report without a lot of enthusiasm, so it will be rather short.

This night finished our rotation of banks 7 and 8. Tim had an insanely big game on Rush of about 1.6 billion, which was spectacular but did cause their group and the night to run a bit long. Despite this, Brian K. took first on bank 7. Danny won bank 8, thanks in part to a 1.3 billion game of Godzilla.

With Season 1 qualifying in the books, Brian has taken the top seed position, Danny is in second, and Tim is in third. Devon managed to keep himself above the cutline and take the number 8 seed in A division, leaving Chris to be the top seed for the B playoffs.

We also had a Tuesday Night Smackdown tournament, with the A division playing on Jurassic Park and the B division on Game of Thrones. Tim took the Smackdown championship, and Peter got the undercard win.

I’ll be seeing you all very shortly at the final playoffs. Be there by 7 pm or be disqualified!

Our last league night saw us embarking on a rotation of our last two banks, known according to my whim as “Locke” and “Leibniz.” Despite the alliteration, as far as Enlightenment philosophy goes, you probably can’t get more opposite than Locke’s representative realism and Leibniz’s… whatever the hell the deal with the monads was. The important thing for our league is that this marked the beginning of the end of Season 24.

We had a new guest player join us, Eric’s father Dean, who expects to join the league as a regular player next season. We rigged the drawing to put him into a group with Eric for his starter LPL experience, and I just have to hope that their third player, Devon, behaved himself. (Maybe it’s just me that brings out his trash talk.) One of our previous guest players, Kathy, also returned, and says she is likely to continue in the league next season.

Our Tuesday Night Smackdown game was randomly drawn on Jaws, with the B division assigned randomly from among the nearby games as usual, this time falling on Game of Thrones. Danny won the championship on Jaws, and Joseph won the undercard.

The winner of the night on Bank 7 (Locke) was Danny, with standout games on The Simpsons and King Kong, although remember that this is only against half the league so far. On Bank 8 (Leibniz) Brian has the top spot so far, with an amazing 592 million on Indiana Jones. At our next league night tomorrow (or, technically, later tonight) we will finish banks 7 and 8 and therefore the qualifying season. Everyone is waiting eagerly to find out will get the higher seeds (and therefore more game choices) and who will make A division in this increasingly competitive league.

We finished up our rotation of banks 5 and 6 at the last league night. The banks are named Berkeley and Hume. Berkeley is Bishop George Berkeley, is an underrated (in your league director’s view) 18th century empiricist known best for his claim that esse est percipi, “to be is to be perceived.” There is a famous pair of limericks by Ronald Knox about Berkeley’s subjective idealism:

There once was a man who said “God 
Must think it exceedingly odd 
If he finds that this tree 
Continues to be 
When there’s no one about in the Quad.”

“Dear Sir,
Your astonishment’s odd.
I am always about in the Quad.
And that’s why the tree
Will continue to be
Since observed by
Yours faithfully,
God”

There, don’t you feel more erudite just from having read that? Hume, meanwhile, is David Hume, the 18th century skeptical empiricist, about whom I do not know of any limericks. They make a good pairing; actually, they are considered part of the classic empiricist trio along with John Locke, but that’s bank 7.

Sorry, were you hoping to read about pinball? All right then. We had a pair of guest players join us, Kathy and Cody. (At this point in the season we only allow new players to join as guests, since they don’t have a possibility of qualifying for finals.) Cody ended up playing in the Tuesday Night Smackdown tournament on Attack from Mars and made it to finals, taking third.

At the end of the night we were now three-quarters of the way through the season. Top honors on Bank 5 (Berkeley) went to Brian, and the champion of Bank 6 (Hume) was Danny. In the overall standings, Brian is now on top, 12 points ahead of second place Danny. Peter has been having a great season, especially the last few weeks, and is now in third. The rest of the people currently swimming above the cutline are Tim, Joseph, me (!!), Derik, and Devon. Joseph only has two lousy points on me, I feel obliged to point out. Top of the B division is Chris. With two nights left a lot can still change, especially with some of the tight jockeying around the fourth-through-sixth and seventh-eighth positions.

Our Tuesday Night Smackdown, as previously mentioned, was on Attack from Mars. The champion was Tim, and the B division champion on Venom was me.

After an unusually long break due to the calendar this month we will be returning to league in just a couple of hours. I hope to see everyone soon!

Our last league night started the second half of the season with a rotation of banks 5 and 6, named for Bishop George Berkeley, the underrated and often misunderstood empiricist-idealist; and David Hume, the probably-correctly-rated and mostly-understood empiricist-skeptic. This is also the last night a player can still officially join the league this season, because it’s the last time it is still possible to make the minimum number of league nights to qualify for playoffs. From this point forward, we welcome guest players but don’t charge them any dues, and their games do not affect the final season standings.

We did get several new players, all Grand Rapids-scene players of my acquaintance: Clyde B., Jaysin W., and Alex H. I should also mention that in my last league update I failed to mention another new player, Mike C. This was caused by Joseph mistakenly classifying him as a guest player, which caused me to overlook his name when writing the update. Sorry, Mike! Anyway, the result of this influx of new players is that this was the largest ever league night in the history of the league. We made use of the rarely-seen “A2” and “B2” group designations. Could this be a sign that the league is growing again? Only time will tell. The last time we had a big surge of players (which is when we began splitting into two banks by necessity) it proved temporary, and the league shrank back to its typical size the next season. Maybe this time it will be more permanent.

At our league meeting I was excited to announce that we had finally gotten T-shirts organized and that I had talked with the T-shirt printers and they had confirmed that we can have everyone choose their own color shirts as it will not affect our volume discount. League members can use this Google form to order a shirt to be paid for by Pinball Pete’s. Non-members should contact me (Heather) if they would like to order a shirt (payment will be required).

Since we are only halfway through each of the two banks, it’s a little premature to rank everyone. Still, I would be remiss not to mention that Peter had a huge night on Bank 5 and is currently leading the half-of-the-pack by a comfortable margin. On Bank 6, Danny is currently leading with an even bigger night. The problem for Danny is that no one is surprised when he does numbers like that. It’s a dog-bites-man situation.

Our Tuesday Night Smackdown was on Rush and continuing his stellar night, the winner was Peter. (For a moment I actually thought I might win, surprising since Rush isn’t a particularly strong game for me, but it wasn’t to be.) Joseph won the B division on Pulp Fiction.

I’ll see you tonight for our next league meeting!

We finished up the first half of the season at our last league night. We had a couple of new players, Eric and Sarah, although Sarah has previously played in some tournaments, just not league. Eric kept being confused every time I called out “Derik” in the megaphone because between the amplification and my mask the consonants get a little imprecise. Greg, who briefly played in a past league season, also returned (not the Greg who was one of the original league members back in the 2010s, in case anyone is wondering, but Greg K.). Edit: I totally forgot to also mention Mike C.! Who is also not the Mike who used to play in the early days of the league, or the other Mike who plays off and on in the league.

We were supposed to have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for our Smackdown game, but it started getting confused about locking balls and had to be substituted for Metallica, unfortunately after Joseph had a really big game on it. Devon commented, “Well, at least TMNT managed to last through one league rotation.” I had previously put TMNT On Notice and I think this means it’s now officially on the Dead To Me board.

This turned out to be an especially long-running league night, in part because Elvira’s House of Horrors had an issue and had to be taken out after one group had already played it, and in part because of some long-playing groups. After TMNT got switched out, I didn’t have a chance to play Metallica before league started and my group was the last to finish, so I sneaked out after my last game was over just to put a quick qualifying attempt in. Somehow – probably due to the deadline pressure phenomenon – I blew up Metallica the biggest I’ve ever done, finishing with a score around 350M. The game just kept going on and on, giving me that “can’t lose the ball” feeling. I was actually kind of mortified because I knew league was already running late and everyone was waiting for me to finish to play Smackdown finals. At one point I successfully shot the scoop for extra ball and said “Oh no, damn it.”

In the Smackdown finals, no one was doing very much including me, and I figured I was going to pull one of my typical moves of having a great qualifying game and then completely, uh, messing the bed during finals. Then I did manage to get a decent multiball going on my third ball, rallying me enough to take the lead, even if it wasn’t exactly a stellar game. Still, the night left me with the feeling that maybe Metallica is one of my strong games. I proceeded to get beaten on Metallica Remastered by a child at a tournament in Grand Rapids this past weekend. The B division played on X-Men, and I didn’t get much of a chance to watch that match, so all I can tell you is that Derik won.

With the first half of the season now behind us, Danny leads the league with a mere 3 point lead over Tim. Peter has a strong third place. The rest of the people currently above the cutline are Tim in fourth, Joseph in fifth, Devon and I tied for sixth, and Derik surprisingly down in 8th.

I’m writing this perilously close to our next meeting in a few hours so I’ll be seeing you all soon!

At our last league night, we embarked on the second set of banks, known as “Hobbes” (Bank 3) and “Spinoza” (Bank 4). Thomas Hobbes was a 17th century English philosopher known for his social contract theory, particularly its basis in his conception of the state of nature as “nasty, brutish, and short,” which very well describes almost every game I had playing on this bank. Sadly, no social contract could save me from one of my worst league nights in ages and I can only draw some solace from the existence of drop nights. “Spinoza” sounds like the name that Gottlieb would have trademarked for some ill-considered spinner gizmo in 1992, but it is actually Baruch Spinoza, a 17th century Portuguese-Dutch rationalist.

The night was enhanced by returning visitors and a new player. My friend Jake, who played in some of the earliest league seasons, made a guest appearance. I knew he was coming but had been made to promise not to tell Joseph so Jake would be able to surprise him. Later I heard the sound of Christy’s voice coming from downstairs so I went down to demand to know why she wasn’t playing in league. She reminded me (to my embarrassment) that she had already told me she would not be able to play this season but hopes to return in the fall.

The new player was Abby D., whom I know well from Belles and Chimes Grand Rapids. She has played in some tournaments at The Avenue, but had not played in the league before. In fact, she told me she had never played in any multi-week league before. I’m a big fan of the league format and hope she will enjoy it too.

Only half of the results for each bank are currently in, but right now Brian K. has the lead on Hobbes, with Danny in second and Tim in third. On Spinoza, Devon has the top spot, and there is a tie between Jason and Derik for second and third.

Our Tuesday Night Smackdown game was on Iron Maiden, which returned to the Avenue after a long absence, replacing Willy Wonka (sorry Joseph). Derik won the Smackdown championship and Joseph won the B division on The Mandalorian.

I’ll be seeing everyone very soon at our next league night, when we’ll finish up banks 3 and 4!

Our league night on January 27 wrapped up the first bank rotation, consisting of the banks named “Kant” and “Descartes,” the two philosophers who ended and started the Early Modern period, respectively. Stephanie asked, given I have made reference to owning a “Kant Touch This” T-shirt, why I didn’t wear it. I had thought of it that day, and then realized I already played Kant during the first league night and would be playing Descartes now, so it wouldn’t match. I probably should have done it anyway.

We had a couple of new players join this time. One was Karrah, who previously played in a Lightning Flippers tournament. She did not realize league was going on but Stephanie spotted her and asked her to join, which she did by joining in on the last game with that group and then finishing the rest of the bank on her own. Greg, who previously played in part of a league season a couple years back, also made a return. Greg was very enthusiastically talking up Danny’s abilities to me – as though I needed a reminder! The last time I played A division in LPL, Danny is the one who took me out when I brought a knife to an H-bomb fight on Rush.

At one point I wandered over to Derik and asked what I thought of the new league logo I had commissioned from a graphic designer. He said “pretty sweet” but obviously knew that I was leading up to asking about T-shirts. We are currently planning to get shirts done soon and just need to work out acquiring some art assets from Pinball Pete’s so we can include their sponsorship.

Now that the two banks are complete, we can declare the winners on them. Joseph held on to his top position on Bank 1 “Kant” (and I kept my #2, because Joseph always has to one-up me). Danny took top honors on Bank 2, “Descartes,” ahead of Brian K. Right now there is still no way to declare an overall frontrunner because everyone drops two nights, so we’re all tied for first. Get your screenshot in now!

Our Tuesday Night Smackdown game was Godzilla, and the random number generator chose TMNT as the B division game, because of course it did. Anytime it can pick TMNT, it does. Tim was our Smackdown Champion and Joseph won the B division.

I’ll be seeing everyone very soon for our next rotation, in which we will be playing Banks 3 and 4, known (to me and maybe Joseph and no one else) as “Hobbes” and “Spinoza.”