The last issue of Skill Shot got off to a rough start, with staff and printer meltdowns, a
cancelled Folding Party and a last minute rush to have some issues ready for Gordon’s Birthday Party on April 4th. It was stressful and exhausting, but it all came together like magic, culminating in our Biggest Loser Pinball Tournament! It was a confusing, drunken good time with prizes won by just about everyone who stuck it out to the end, including IOU’s for new Skill Shot T-shirts! Big thanks to Jeff Groper, Jawn and everyone for the best birthday ever. Fun!
The April Seattle Pinball League (SPL) Tournament was held at Todd Mac’s house on Bainbridge Island and had a members-only restriction to keep the number of participants under control. The format was Pin Golf and the winner was Cayle George (we believe it was his first ever SPL tourney win). As always, Todd is an awesome host with a great pinball and arcade collection. Cathy and Steve deserve praise for once again supplying a ride to those without cars. Thanks, Cartoons!
Another April birthday was Claire’s and of course there was a pinball tournament in her 
and Headley’s Game Room. The Highest Score contest on Paragon was quickly dominated by Jawn, but the Biggest Loser Tournament on Future Spa caused the biggest ruckus. That was until Winston the party-pooping dog took a big dump in the middle of the floor! Happy Birthday Mommy!
The first ever 420 Greenwood Pinball Open happened on April 20th and had a start time of 4:20PM. The qualifying rounds had pins at Liberty House and Andrew’s basement, with the final matches at Add Motor Works in Fremont. It was a good turnout despite the $20 entry fee, and all for a tie-dyed t-shirt and a chance at the grand prize: a Bally Future Spa! The pins were set up to be challenging and rounds moved quickly until Lord of the Rings, which many of the contestants had long games on. The playfield glass on Stars was broken, the new SPL T-shirts debuted, the Cartoon Party Bus gave rides, and Cayle won. Far out!
For various reasons we missed a few tournaments: The Tiger Lounge EM Tournament on 4/23 (we should all support this place more since they have a lot of pins!); The Ballard
Pinball Tournament on 4/25 (which was very crowded and is branching out to different locations next time); and the May SPL Tournament at James and Janice’s (everybody loves to go there!). We did make it to the First Sunday Brunch and Tournament at Shorty’s on May 1st and that was a lot of fun as always. Daryl and Jolie from Tacoma made their first trip up and ELF (freshly back from tour with Black Breath) won. Pizza for breakfast!
The Powder Puff Tournament at Shorty’s on May 15th had women coming from all over
the Pacific Northwest to compete. We made special Powder Puff Skill Shot t-shirts for the event, worn by a team of our friends! There were a lot of new faces and it was a lot of fun, even though Cathy left in a huff. While no one on Team Skill Shot made it to the final four, it was still an exciting finish with CFF’s Zoe “Legs” Varbel winning the first place prize, a custom made backglass. Cheese Boat won the most coveted prize, a PBR toaster. Hot!
As mentioned above, we had to cancel the Skill Shot Folding Party because of printing issues, so we were especially grateful to those who showed up to the rescheduled folding party at The Lookout one week later. The Lookout wants to switch out both of their pins (Frankenstein and The Simpsons) and is considering starting a Tuesday free pinball night! Lots of pins have moved around lately, especially as Space Age Amusement’s Mark O’farrell has taken a behind-the-scenes role and Darryl is now in charge of the day-to-day operations. So far, the Redwood got No Good Gophers, the Highline got Medieval Madness and The Grizzled Wizard is expecting a switch-out for the Black Knight 2000. Hmmm…
In other Skill Shot News: The One To Beat on Batman at Shorty’s almost had a new champion when 4th Place Andy got Grand Champ, but Maka noticed and got over a billion 
points on a free credit! 4th Place wrote an article on Batman scoring in Skill Shot 17, so chances are that he hasn’t given up. Speaking of issue 17, have you seen our new t-shirts yet? They feature a modified version of #17’s cover (Silverball Mania) and are pretty sweet, if you ask us. Ordering info can be found on The Seattle Pinball List page of this issue. Awesome!
Pinball Tidbits: A new Full Tilt Ice Cream will be opening up this summer in Ballard and will reportedly have over 20 pins • The Seattle Pinball Museum will soon be opening their Upper Playfield to the public. They will also have a Beer and Snack Bar too • Tacoma Underground Pinball Society is sponsoring an Evel Knievel contest at Dorky’s throughout the summer. Ask for details next time you are there • Stern’s newest pin TRON is going to have 3 separate Launch Parties in the area: Dorky’s, SPM, and Seattle Waterfront Arcade • One Capitol Hill bar is considering a switch of vendors and adding more pins • SUPPORT LOCAL PINBALL!