Lansing Pinball League

Tag: super-ball

League Night Non-Recap for 7/11/17 (plus Super-Ball VIII)

League Night #1 of 8, Season 9

Games played: Austin Powers, Junk Yard, Medieval Madness, Star Trek, Theatre of Magic

To my dismay, I missed the season opener for Season 9, held on July 11. I was on a long-planned trip up north with my parents, brother, and Joseph. I heard that only six players made it there in the flesh. This season there is going to be an attendance bonus (10 points, if memory serves) to discourage makeups. I fully endorse this change even though it’s hurting me this season, as I think a league should mean getting together in person to play as much as possible, but I also think that a flat zero for a missed night here and there is too harsh for a casual league.

Matt and Kristen, the Team of Destiny.

Since I can’t report on the night I missed, I will instead say a few words about Super-Ball VIII, AKA the Zen Tournament, held back on May 23. It was the first league meeting of new player Tim T., who ended up paired with Chris in what we swear was not intended to be hazing. It must not have been too bad, as Tim has gone on to become a regular league member. Chris, however, still has not gotten his coveted Zen trophy. The final match was between Mike B. and Mike S. (a repeat pairing), and Matt and Kristen. Matt and Kristen, AKA the Team of Destiny, won the final game on Star Trek, inducting Matt into the prestigious circle of two-time Zen tournament winners. No one has yet won three times.

The next league night will be this Tuesday, July 25. It’s not too late to join for the season, and you still have time to do makeup games before then (since Matt asks that makeup games be played prior to the next league meeting).

Team Mike makes a show of beating up the Team of Destiny.

July 21, 2017
Pinball Holidays

It’s been a long while since my last update (just about two months, in fact). Does that mean everyone in the Lansing area took a break from pinball? Ha ha ha ha ha… yeah, right.

Mike plunges while partner Dan stands ready at the left flipper.

Zen winners Dan and Mike, with photobomb by Matt.

First of all, we had the traditional end of season “just for fun” tournament for the Lansing Pinball League, Super-Ball VII, better known as the Zen Tourney. Chris (partnered with non-league-member Steve, not to be confused with the Steve who does sometimes play with league) once again saw the elusive Zen trophy slip from his grasp as Mike and Dan coordinated their way to victory. Mike also joins the elite ranks of those who have won two Zen trophies (ahem). No one has yet won three…

Second, after a year of trying out quarterly Avenue charity tournaments, we had our first repeat: the second annual Silver Balls in the City on December 27. Once again the tournament’s entry fees were all donated to the Capital Area Humane Society. This year, based on the number of people who attended, we used a three-strikes rather than four-strikes format. We also started a half hour earlier. As a result, we did not end up running quite so long as last year. Yes, I can learn from mistakes: where’s my gold star?

This year’s Silver Balls trophies. Most of the glitter even stayed on them.

Mike S. came up with the idea of having a just-for-fun side tournament for $1 per entry. The side tournament was a “closest to the pin” contest on Medieval Madness. The winner would be the person who got closest to 15 million without going over or tilting. Bill L. ended up winning and I still need to get him his prize (a $10 Coldstone Creamery gift certificate donated by Mike).

In an odd coincidence, the main tournament finished on the same game as last year: Junk Yard. Fortunately the overactive slam tilt has been repaired since then. Spectators who held out until the very end were treated to the spectacle of Aaron G. starting the video mode on Junk Yard no fewer than 15 times in the final game against Adam, and in this manner, climbing his way to victory on top of a mountain of toast. Third place went to Jared A.

Rodney and Karen try out the side tournament.

Between the main and side tournaments, Silver Balls earned $217 for the Capital Area Humane Society. As most league members know, my beloved pet rabbit Stephen died on December 22 at the age of 10 and half. Joseph and I were still very shaken up and grieving when the tournament came around, but it gave us some consolation to know that the donations people made for the tournament would help other wonderful animals receive care.

Aaron and Adam with first and second place trophies, respectively.

The next Avenue tournament will be the second annual March Hare Madness amazing race tournament. The date is to be announced, but it will probably be in the last few days of March. Stay tuned here or to the Lansing Pinball League Facebook group for more information.

January 23, 2017
Sam and Sarah Win Super-Ball V

Hailey dreams of the day she will get to play in the Zen Tournament.

It’s time for the tournament report you’ve all been waiting for. Silver what? No, I’m talking about the Zen Tournament, also known as the Super-Ball, the traditional end-of-season party for the league. Yes, there was a split-flipper tournament again for the fifth season, held back on December 8th… in other words, just as the end-of-term crunch started, which then blended into the holiday crunch. That’s my excuse, anyway.

The format for the tournament changed for the first time, so that competitors would choose games instead of playing on three pre-designated machines. This allowed things to move more quickly and introduced an additional element of strategy.

Vince gets his instructions from Matt.

As happened last season, we had an odd number of people. This was resolved last time by having Mike S. play on two teams, including both teams in the finals. I volunteered to double this time, but Chris objected, saying that it would cause unnecessary waits, as I would not be able to be in two places at once. The suggested alternative was to recruit someone from the bar, so Matt went off to find someone. I told Chris, “You realize this means your partner is going to be some random person, right?” His reaction suggested he had not considered this possibility. But that’s how Matt decreed it would go, so Chris was assigned our new acquaintance Vince to be his partner for the night. Despite his inexperience with tournament play, Vince proved to be a good shot and with some coaching on rules from Chris, he did a great job. Everyone tried to talk him into playing in the league next season.

Vince: “Hey, there’s another little flipper here on the side.” Chris: “Don’t touch that.”

My partner this time was Matt and we made it to 3rd place. It was a great run that included hitting replays on at least two games. The final match was between Mike S./Greg and Sarah/Sam, with the win going to Team S. Sarah looked happy but Sam looked overjoyed at taking home the coveted Zen trophy.

That brought Season 5 to another fun conclusion. Season 6 starts next week. I hope you’ll join us. As for a certain other recent tournament, rest assured that a report is forthcoming.

Here are a couple of photos of the happy winners… and you can find more in the photo gallery.

Sam-Sarah synergy.

Sam is so happy he can’t keep still for a photo.

January 4, 2016
Heather and Mike S. Win Super-Ball IV

Regular readers know I am a strong believer in the adage “better late than never.” So with the new season beginning in just a few hours, what better time to report on May’s post-season Zen (split flipper) tournament? Look, I went to Europe almost right afterward on important philosopher business. And then the rest of June I… er… nevermind, let’s talk about the tournament.

A row of Zen hopefuls.

Super-Ball is a tradition that goes back to the first season of the Lansing Pinball League: a post-season, just-for-fun, tournament in which people are partnered up and each take one flipper. Since attendance was low, Mike S. suggested a round robin tournament instead of the previous double elimination bracket, followed by a final best-of-three playoff between the teams with the best record. Teams were formed by pairing the top seed with the low seed, the second-highest with second-lowest, and so on.

An odd number of participants left us with a problem which Mike S. resolved by suggesting that the lowest seed could be on two teams. The lowest seed, Greg, didn’t want to be on two teams, fearing he would have to stay too late. Matt made an executive decision: since it was Mike’s idea, Mike would be on two teams. Mike S. ended up paired with both me and Mike B.

Zen tournaments are as fun to watch as to play in.

Naturally this ended up with the most ridiculous possible situation. Both Mike S. teams ended up playing each other in the finals. Mike S. promised he would not favor either team but would play his best in each case, and he played the same flipper with each person. As a result the “Mike factor” was equalized as much as possible and it pitted me against Mike B. in a sort of grudge match, since Mike B. was the one to knock me out of the end-of-season playoffs in B division. Mike S. and I ended up narrowly edging out Mike S. and Mike B. to take home the trophies.

Chris calculates what went wrong for his team while others watch Mike B. and Mike S. playing one of the final games.

The trophies this time were topped with pseudo-Grecian athletes holding laurel wreaths. I have named mine “Alcibiades.”

Afterward there was a Theio’s after-party, which Chris failed to show up at despite promising he would get to Theio’s at least once this season. We’ll have to get him in Season 5.

Mike S. and Mike B. challenging Mike S. and me for the trophy.

Nothing beats the wonderful feeling of accomplishment you get from ending a ball!

As usual, you can find more photos in the photo gallery. See you next season!

July 7, 2015
Super-Ball III Recap

Super-Ball III, the post-season tourney for Season 3, happened December 16. Shortly afterward I got broadsided by the holidays and failed to write a recap. I’m a firm believer in “better late than never” but this is about as late as it gets, with Season 4 starting tomorrow!

Danny and Aaron, teamed up on Attack from Mars.

As in previous seasons, the competition took the form of a “Zen” tourney, with two players per team, each playing one flipper. This is a very fun format that evens out the skill levels and really challenges players to concentrate and anticipate partners’ moves. Communication is key, as players need to agree on a strategy ahead of time and constantly negotiate with each other during play.

The bracket was double elimination, and each round was best two of three. The assigned games were Attack from Mars, Monster Bash, and (as the tie-breaker) Medieval Madness.

Although it briefly looked like I was to be paired with Joseph again (just like last season, when we won the tourney undefeated together), a latecomer ended up changing the team pairings and I instead got paired with Mike “The Gremlin” S., while Joseph ended up with Greg. Mike and I have played a lot of pinball together over the last six months, so I think it was my next best pairing after Joseph.

When we beat the Chris and James team, Mike and I agreed (after some goading by others) to both walk up to Chris and say “In your face!” I resolved to do it, and walked toward him with my finger jabbing the air… at the exact moment I noticed that he had stuck his hand out to shake. It was too late to stop the insult from coming out of my mouth, and he stood there with his hand out and a rather startled look on his face. I’m not going to lie: I felt like a heel. “I was trying to show some professionalism,” came Chris’s reply. Oops.

(The pangs of guilt didn’t stop me from rolling down the car window and yelling “In your face!” at Chris again as we pulled up at the tournament in Fremont two weeks later.)

We did quite well, and got to the semi-final round to be knocked out by Joseph and Greg, who were tearing through the competition despite being the low seed. They went on to victory, after having to beat the formidable team of Aaron and Danny twice in a row in order to knock them out of the tournament. Joseph and Greg won four straight games in a row against them to finish the night and take the Zen trophies.

Joseph and Greg with their Zen trophies. Not pictured: Chris with his Season 3 trophy.

We also received new T-shirts for the season, designed by Sarah S., and Chris got his Season 3 championship trophy. The trophy was, once again, a very nice silver cup attached to a marble base. I remarked on how heavy it was and suggested to Chris that if a burglar ever breaks into his house, he could grab it to use as a weapon. He replied, “I’m confused. I’ve only got two hands, how will I grab all three of them?” Unfortunately I failed to get a picture of Chris with his trophy, but I’ve got two other photos like it, so that’s fine.

That’s it for Season 3! You can find all the photos from the Zen tourney and the rest of Season 3 in the Photo Gallery. See you tomorrow at the opener of Season 4!

January 12, 2015