The long-predicted new champion of the Lansing Pinball League finally emerged on December 17 as Tim dethroned season 20 champion Brian K. in a two-round final playoff match. Many in the league had been predicting “the season of Tim” for a few seasons now, but in Season 20 Tim was defeated by Brian K. in a similarly hard-fought match. Both times Tim came up through the second-chance bracket.
This final round took place immediately before Super-Ball XXI, popularly known as the Zen Tournament. After the dust of the final battle on Godzilla settled, the attendees finished making up their pairings for the tournament. As neither Tim nor Brian had arranged a partner, the tournament director (this reporter) suggested that they should get together and form a champions’ team, and they did. Christy, who as yet had not participated in league activities but had often visited the league, decided to play and paired with Nathan. Past league participant Orneal also stopped by, offering to play only if someone was needed to even up the teams, but we ended up with an even number this time. It was a festive tournament, being so close to the holidays, and Christy also brought candy sleighs and Christmas cards for everyone.
Ultimately, the Dream Team of Derik and Danny defeated the Champs Team of Tim and Brian in a final match that ended up Black Knight: Sword of Rage. This is the second consecutive win by the Derik-Danny combo.
Derik and Danny battled it out with Jason and Josh in a late-night final match to become the Super-Ball XVIII champions. The previous champions, Joseph and Heather (this writer), failed to defend their title, losing to Derik and Danny in the winner bracket and Jason and Josh in the second-chance bracket. The traditional post-season split flipper tournament ran nearly as long as the season finals, in part because the final match went to two rounds. Jason and Josh had come up out of the second-chance bracket and managed a first-round win against Danny and Derik, but were unable to prevail a second time.
Derik and Danny show off their coverted Zen trophies in front of the final game of the tournament, The Munsters.
The tournament had a surprise entry as Brian K., who had not played in league this season, asked to join and ended up paired with league member Mark C. Although they received the lowest seed due to Brian having no league points, they made a good showing and ultimately received third place. Brian’s appearance was welcomed not just because everyone likes having him around, but also because it meant that we had an even number of people for a change. It seems as though we have had a disproportionate number of Super-Balls with odd numbers of competitors, resulting in someone having to play on two teams, which gets awkward and can hold the tournament up.
Mark and Brian K. play AC/DC in the Zen tournament.
This was one of the league’s best-attended Super-Balls, as often the turnout for them has been low in the past. Due to the unusually high number of teams – ten – Joseph realized he did not have the correct double-elimination bracket printed out and ran home in order to get one. Fortunately he made it back only a short time after Heather finished giving rules and announcements.
Josh and Jason play James Bond in the Zen tournament. Jason seemed to prefer taking this low angle on the game for split flipper.
There was also a Tuesday Night Smackdown side tournament on Star Trek, which Brian won with a blowup game. The Undercard (B division) was originally going to be on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, simply because that is the game that was randomly drawn from those in the vicinity. Joseph had written on the rules sheet, “top 4 players don’t have to play the Ninja Turtles Undercard!” and showed this smugly when I announced the random selection. As things got organized, Danny started a game on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so rather than kick him off or wait I just drew a new game. Ted was the winner on the substitute game, Rush.
Derik and Danny play Batman ’66 in the Zen tournament finals.
And with that, Season 18 has truly been put to bed. Season 19 starts tonight at 7 pm with a new set of banks and some new rules, most notably dropping the two lowest nights instead of one. It remains to be seen whether the recent growth of the league will continue this season.
Smackdown Champ Brian K. and undercard winner Ted with their buttons.
Results for Super-Ball XVIII
Danny C. and Derik
Jason and Josh
Brian K. and Mark C.
Donny and Shylia
Heather and Joseph
Dan N. and Bryan J.
Pat and Tim
Ethan and Ted
Jimmy and Ro
Linda and Cyndi
Linda plays Rush in the undercard of Tuesday Night Smackdown.
Joseph and I won our first Super-Ball split-flipper “Zen” tournament as a team since Season 2 during Super-Ball XVII on Tuesday, March 21. Although we have played as a team more often than not subsequently, our only previous victory was at Super-Ball II. This was also the first pinball tournament either of us had ever won and because of that, the trophies still have pride of place on our mantel, along with Super-Ball trophies each of us have won with other partners. Originally, the teams were dictated by seeds, with the top seed partnering with the bottom seed, then the second seed with the second-to-bottom, and so on, in an attempt to equalize the teams. It was only by luck that Joseph and I got paired during Super-Ball II. (In Super-Ball I, since I was the most novice player in the league, my partner was Chris Tabaka, which I remember Matt Pries apologizing to me for.) This proved unpopular as people wanted to play with their friends or significant others, so in recent years people have been allowed to choose their own partners.
Biff and Pat play Star Trek.
Our two most frequent Super-Ball champs, Josh and Mike, both missed the event this year, leaving a relatively open field of competition. As happens more often than not (somehow), we had an odd number of people attend. In the old days this would mean the lowest seed would play on two teams, but it turned out that some people, especially newer players didn’t want to do that, so usually we take volunteers now. This time everyone wanted to do it so I did a lottery for it, and the gods of randomness chose Mark, who was playing in his first Super-Ball. Our teams were Dan and Derik, Biff and Pat, Joseph and I, Linda and Mark, and Mark and Tim. Unfortunately, Linda and Mark had a first-round match with Mark and Tim, thus causing the most awkward situation to happen straight off the bat. (Mark and Tim beat Linda and Mark.)
Derik and Dan confer on strategy for Elvira’s House of Horrors.
Finals were between top-seeded Dan and Derik in the winner bracket and Joseph and I in the second-chance bracket. In the first round, Joseph and I won 2-0 on Dan and Derik’s picks. In the second round, we went 1-1 on Dan and Derik’s picks (The Munsters and Tron) and got to choose the third game. We had already used up all our favorites (since a game could only be chosen once) and I was at a loss and feeling doomed, but Joseph suggested Cactus Canyon. We managed to narrowly triumph on it in an exciting finish to an exciting match.
Runners-up Dan and Derik and winners me and Joseph, a photo taken by a darts player whose name I didn’t get.
The final positions were as follows:
Heather and Joseph
Dan and Derik
Biff and Pat
Mark and Tim
Linda and Mark
That truly concludes Season 17 and we’re moving immediately into Season 18 to get back on schedule after our delay last month. See you all soon!
First, thanks to Heather for letting me fill in on the tradition of writing league reports.
Season XVI of the Lansing Pinball League ended with the traditional split-flipper Super-Ball Tournament. And the tournament kept up the tradition of finding an odd number of players there. Thus we kept up the tradition of finding someone to play on two split-flipper teams. And this gave me my first taste of playing on two teams, one with Heather and one with Tim. I’ve been fortunate enough to win the split-flipper tournaments with both players before, so felt good about my chances. Being on two of the five teams seems like a great start.
Josh and Jason celebrating their win. Josh complained that we had smaller trophies this season, which I think was a misunderstanding between me and the trophy shop.
This was the first split-flipper tournament where we used the rule that a team could pick a game only once per night. The rule had been used at Finals for this season, and people enjoyed the elements of strategy and game diversity it brought. Somehow I still ended up playing Star Trek a lot, and discovered I’m better at Star Trek when I control only one flipper. I don’t get it either.
Making their debut as a team were newlyweds Bryan and Jenny. Bryan’s a fixture, and his father an always welcome sometimes-participant. But this was the first time to my recollection that Jenny’s come to a league event. Here’s hoping that more of the Johnson clan can join us.
Jason and Josh competing against me and Joseph, with Tim visiting a favorite game in the meantime.
What I somehow failed to anticipate was having to play against myself, and quite so much. Heather and I played me and Tim in the first round, where I felt like I was letting Tim down by winning with Heather. And then again in the second-chance bracket, when I thought I’d redeemed myself in Tim’s eyes by playing well against the team of Pat and Biff. Also, somehow, both of these pairs turn out to be pretty good at split-flipper Lord of the Rings.
The team that did end up dominating my-and-Heather’s night would be the dream team of Josh and Jason, whom we ended up playing three times. They knocked me and Heather into the Second Chance bracket, but we came right back to give them their first loss. And that was on their picks of Willy Wonka and The Mandalorian, games I didn’t know you could play split-flipper worth anything. And then, just as we were feeling good about our chances, Josh and Jason knocked us dead on Munsters and Getaway, the two games we thought our best bets. But this let me extend the tradition of trying my hardest to look like a good sport after losing in finals, so that’s nice.
Josh and Jason getting things started on Metallica.
Afterwards, we respected yet another league tradition. We saw Dan C playing Godzilla, as is his custom, and gave him the third-place A Division trophy he had left Finals without collecting. He had not realized that he had won a trophy. It is not always the case that we have something we missed giving to Dan before he left last session, but it happens more than you’d think.
Season XVII is set to begin tonight the 11th, at 7 pm, using the same banks as last season. Will Mike four-peat as League Champion? Will we have so many players we need to split them across two banks? Will we be able to return to everyone playing the same games? Who will win the Smackdown game of Attack From Mars? Or the Undercard game of Junkyard? What’s going on with the Smackdown medals? Have you seen The Avenue’s new frontage? How are we going to know it’s The Avenue when there’s a big, clear, unmistakable sign out front saying it’s The Avenue? The only way to know is to see Heather’s league report in two weeks. Also to step outside The Avenue after the sun sets. Not all of these questions are hard.
Mike looks less than thrilled to be playing The Simpsons, somehow.
Season 15 of the league finished up on April 12 with our traditional post-season split flipper tournament, Super-Ball XV, also known as the Zen Tournament. We had an even number turn up this time, so no one got to (or had to) play on two teams. Tim, who missed most of the second half of Season 15, happily reappeared for the event, teaming up with Jason. Mike (who has been on the most winning teams in the history of the tournament) usually tries to defend his Zen wins with the same partner, but his partner from last year, Josh, was out sick. Instead he teamed up with Joe P. The other teams were Derik and Allen, Brian and Bryan (AKA “Team Bry/ian”), and of course me and Joseph.
Jason and Tim play Star Wars as Brian watches.
I thought the Dream Team was going to be Tim and Jason, though their seeding undervalued them due to Tim’s being out for much of Season 15. Instead they took third and the finals were between Derik/Allen and Mike/Joe. Joseph and I managed to barely survive one round in the loser bracket, trading extremely close games with Team Bry/ian (they won by about 15,000 points on The Beatles and we won by about a million on The Addams Family; I forget what our third game was on).
Jason and Tim conferring about strategy.
Mike and Joe unfortunately failed to defend the title on behalf of Josh. Derik and Allen decided to take a sassy photo with the trophies, and then took a “real one.” Derik told me, “use whichever one you want.” I’ll use both.
The gracious winners?
That’s more like it.
Super-Ball XV was a bit low on attendance, but as usual it was big on fun. The tradition goes back to the first league season and was originated by the league’s original director, Matt. It will be back next season as always, and many seasons to come, I hope! Speaking of seasons, Season 16 will be starting tomorrow after a short delay due to the bar being closed for a few days during our intended starting week. This is a great time to join or rejoin the league. We have a new bank theme this season, “The Olympian Gods,” continuing the Greek mythology theme that I have used for several seasons.
Mike and Josh, Season XIII Super-Ball Zen Champsions, successfully defended their title in the Super-Ball XIV championship Tuesday night. Around 11:30 we wrapped up after a second round between me and Joseph (coming up from the second chance bracket) and Mike and Josh (defeated once after coming through the winner bracket). The last round started with Mike/Josh’s choice GoT. Joseph and I managed to get from about 30 million to the mid-500 millions on ball 3, but Josh and Mike were in the high 500 millions. It was a truly high-powered game for split flipper. Then again on our choice, The Beatles, we were only at about 1 million to their 5+ million going into Ball 3 but managed to catch up to about 3.5 million before draining to end the game, match, and tournament.
A couple of old-time but rarely-playing regulars made appearances. Chris and Maribeth showed up to play as a team, although they are not making any promises to play in the league the rest of the season because of family commitments. We ended up with an odd number of people and so were able to convince Russell (who usually doesn’t like to play tournaments) to team up with Derik. Jimmy, who played in the league a few years back, also played, paired with Eldritch.
Normally we have the Super-Ball at the end of the season as a kind of post-season party, but I figured to do it mid-season during July to use those dates on something the IFPA didn’t have to sanction (since the IFPA would be resuming sanctioning again in August). Unfortunately, the Avenue had to close unexpectedly on the intended Tuesday so it got postponed until Tuesday, August 3, which would have otherwise been an off week for the league. We will resume the regular season tonight, August 10.
This is an important announcement. The Avenue is going to be closed for two days due to giving the staff bereavement time related to the death of someone close to many of them. Thus Super-Ball XIV “The Zen Tournament” will be RESCHEDULED for August 3 at 7 pm. We will still resume the normal Season 14 session on 8/10 (second Tuesday) as scheduled.
We’re about to come back after over a month off league, with a new theme for our banks (the Labors of Hercules) and a new game (Stranger Things). By the time of the Zen tournament we had an exciting development: The Beatles was back! And other games too, but mainly The Beatles, that’s the important thing. This was made possible by the fact that our pinballing was so awesome and powerful that it blew down a wall at The Avenue. Or maybe someone just knocked that wall down but it was definitely a consequence of the league wanting more room for pinball, so that’s close enough.
Zen champions Josh and Mike, by the game they won on. (Edited: apparently they did not win on this game but did play it well. I guess we just shot the photo there for the great lighting in the alcove.)
During the break we had the Zen Night, AKA Super-Ball XIII, with the traditional “give me the cheesiest thing you have” trophies, a tradition started by our former director Matt. I still just call them up and say “give me the same things again” and they give us a different winged victory/Olympian athlete/star/whatever they have lying around. I paired with Joseph again, which despite the fact that Matt once claimed it was unfair for me to pair with Joseph since we have intuitive couple communication, did not pay off once again. We won our first Zen tournament playing together and never since.
Pat and Biff check on something (a stuck ball?) during a Zen game.
Despite the powerhouse pairing of Derik and Danny, Mike took home his fourth (I think?) Zen trophy (edited: he tells me it’s his fifth and that he really wants to make sure Chris knows it), this time with partner Josh. Mike is the most common Zen champion in the league.
Derik and Danny on Getaway.
We also had a Tuesday Night Smackdown on The Simpsons, though it had low participation due to some people still playing in the Zen tournament. I threw a last minute game on just because Joseph thought I should do that to lick my wounds after being tossed out of the Zen tournament, and surprisingly I ended up with a really good score. Tim, however, won the tournament (I got 2nd).
Tim celebrates his victory on The Simpsons Pinball Party.
We also had the fifth annual Silver Balls in the City charity tournament, which was well attended and took in over $200 for the Capital Area Humane Society. It was my first Saturday tournament, and though the Avenue was not able to let us start early (unlike at Stewie’s Strikes tournament), it still worked out, despite the late news that an album release party would be playing that night. We ended with a win for Mike Stewart and a three-way tie for second place between Jared, Derik, and Caleb, who along with Lupe was in town for the holidays. I hadn’t thought of the fact that a tie would be possible in a strikes tournament so I gave them the option of playing it off or just deciding how to split up the trophies and they chose the latter, which had the side benefit of allowing us to get done before the bands started playing.
I hope to see you tonight at 7 for the league opener!
The new Zen Champion team, Dan and Tim, in front of the final game of the tournament, Junk Yard.
Josh and Pat playing split flipper.
Tim and Dan became the new Zen Champions at Super-Ball XII, the league’s traditional post-season split flipper tournament, on May 28. The champs came out of the “loser’s” bracket to defeat the winner’s bracket finalists, Joseph and me, in four straight games. It was a revenge match, since we were the ones who put them into the loser second chance bracket. This year’s Team of Destiny came about through serendipity. We had an odd number of participants until the last minute when Dan made his usual fashionably-late appearance. He ended up paired with Tim, who was at that point the only person who had yet to lock in a partner. This was a lucky break for them but also for me, because it saved me from having to figure out how to deal with an odd number as happens more often than not (or so it seems, anyway). It was also a lucky break for the league as a whole, since an odd number means a longer tournament. We end up with someone having to double up on teams, which causes more waiting.
Despite Mike and Bryan teaming up again to attempt to defend their title from Super-Ball XI, the erstwhile Zen Champions bowed out in semi-finals after an upset against the top-seeded Dream Team of Derik and Danny.
Mike and Bryan playing against me and Joseph on Ghostbusters. Guess who picked that game.
The trophies, as with league finals, were supplied once again by Prime Time Awards in Frandor. Back in Season I, Matt asked them to “just give us the cheesiest generic trophy you have” for the Zen tournament. They have supplied something to fill that role each season, though the exact topper has varied. I have just been calling them up and saying “we want all the same trophies with the new season on them” each season since I have taken over the league. This season’s Zen trophy was the nicest one yet, as they took the trouble to put the league’s logo on it at no additional cost and without being asked for it specifically. I have had very good experiences with Prime Time Awards in terms of both cost and service.
We also had a Tuesday Night Smackdown tournament on Star Trek and an Undercard bout on Metallica Indiana Jones. Mike had his consolation by winning the Smackdown medal and I won the Undercard after putting up something like 150M on ball 1, which effectively iced the rest of the players. coming from behind, causing Derik to yell “uncle!” when I passed his score. (Joseph pointed out that I had mixed up two different Undercard wins when I thought of Metallica.)
Mike and Heather showing their medals for winning the Smackdown and the Undercard, respectively. Photo by Joseph.
Season XIII of the venerable Lansing Pinball League (the third-oldest league in Michigan) will begin on Tuesday at 7. We may need to switch back to 7:30 beginning at the end of August, but I will make an announcement about that when it gets closer to that date. We will continue to play the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month, but we will be having a hiatus in July (during which the Rocket Robin charity tournament will take place on July 9).
We’re hours away from the start of season 11, so naturally there’s no better time to give a recap of Super-Ball X, AKA the Zen Tournament, which took place on May 22. Sadly, our turnout for the traditional split flipper tournament was very low. We ended up doing a round robin with the idea that the top two teams would go on to finals. Unfortunately, we ended up with a three way tie between three of the four teams (Derik and I were the unlucky fourth team), a tie which was played off on a randomly chosen game. That game? Game of Thrones. Danny and Karen’s team got eliminated, leaving the Joseph and Tim team and the Mike S. and Bryan team to go to finals.
Mike measures out his Addams Family skill shot while Bryan observes.
Although Derik and I lost the war, we won some very good battles, including a game of The Addams Family in which crazy shots that shouldn’t have worked kept happening. “That’s one way to do it,” Derik said after we somehow managed to shoot the vault with the upper flipper. “That’s another way to do it,” he said after a ricochet from a lower flipper shot somehow hit the jackpot. Crazy luck like that kept on happening until Derik eventually said, “Turns out there are many ways to do things.”
Joseph and Tim won Super-Ball X, making Joseph the second-ever three-time Super-Ball champion (Mike S. is the other).
Joseph and Tim display their classy, luxurious Zen trophies.
Meanwhile, we did have our last Smackdown tournament of the season, on Attack from Mars, which was complicated by the fact that teams that played in the Super-Ball finals couldn’t participate. We didn’t have a Rookie final this time because all the available Rookies were playing in A division. Ultimately I gave the Rookie medal to the highest Rookie finisher, which was Karen. Danny won the main Smackdown medal.
Despite the low turnout, the mood was festive and I think everyone had a good time. We will continue the tradition of the Super-Ball tournament after season 11. It’s never too early to start practicing your split flipper game!
