Category: news & gossip

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news & gossip reviews

100 Pinball Game Equation

An Interview with Math Professor Luke

BB:   X = a player. Z = the number of games played. Y = the number of games needed to win. Can you write this out in math? Basically, for the best two out of three, three out of five, etc.  This is for a two player pinball tournament article in Skill Shot.

Luke:   Hey skipper! I can do my best. Let’s see here. You want to play an odd number of games, so things can’t end in a tie, so for some number n, Z = 2n+1. (That is, we can let n be any whole number we want, and then Z will be the n-th odd number; if n=1 we get Z=3games, if n=2 we get Z=5 games, and so on.) So then it’ll takeY=n+1 games to win. I introduced n as a convenience, but we can easily remove it now. As we see, Z = 2Y-1, or equivalently, Y = (Z+1)/2.  Does that help?

BB:  AWESOME!!!

Luke:  I’m glad all those years I spent in grad school weren’t wasted after all! How’s it all going, mister?

BB:   It’s going great. Working on Skill Shot 16.  So Gordon and I played a 2-player 100 game pinball tournament. It took about a week, and he won 71, I won 29.  Afterwards, we played a 10 game tournament, and I won 6, he won 4. So 100 games or 10, we’re still close in skill. How’s your life?

G2:  Hi Luke. We need another pinball equation for determining a fraction or percentage of a pinball tournament where it is possible to have a tie score.  For example: If player X and player Y played 100games of pinball, the equation would express the results as percentages. The equation could also be used in a tournament of 8games or 7 or whatever. We’re thinking about calling the article “Percentages”. It would help people rank themselves.

Luke:  Hey Gord! Let’s see here. Suppose you play a total of T games (100, or 8, or 7, or whatever) and win X of them. Then you’ve won100*X/T percent of your games. We can turn any fraction into a percentage this way, just by multiplying by 100: 0.6 or 6/10 is the same as 60%, etc. Just type 100*X/T into Google and press enter (replacing X and T with the actual numbers, of course) and it’ll even do the computation for you. I freaking love Google.

BB:   Hey Luke, one more question. Do these equations apply to tournaments with more than 2 players?

Luke:   Oh! Good question! The percentage one, definitely. In a tournament, if there are T games played in all, and a certain player wins X of them, he’s won 100X/T percent of all games in the tournament. If a certain player wins X games and that same player plays a total of say D games (maybe he doesn’t play every single game in the tournament; if there are a total of say 30 games in the tournament but this player only plays in 10 of them, then T=30 butD=10) then he’s won 100X/D percent of the games he’s (or she’s) personally played.

The formula for the number of games required to win will still work in a multi-player tournament, *if* a single player has to win more than half of all games to win the tournament. If you just have to win more games than any other player it’d become a lot more complicated! I’ll have to think about that one.

BB:  Anyway, this type of tournament isn’t really all about winning, it’s more of a way to rate your skill against other players. I mean, winning is great, but every game has to be played, even after one player has won the number of games required to beat the other(s). In the 100game tournament, Gordon and I played all 100 games, long after he had already won the tournament by winning 51.

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news & gossip

Stern vs Stern

Big Buck Hunter or Iron Man? What is it that makes you like one more than the other? They seem fairly similar at first glance. War Machine = Ram, The Big Buck moves and Iron Monger rises, they both have similar skill shots. Is it more an aesthetic thing or are the games that different?

The following comments are edited responses we received from Facebook

Brian Hasbro: I prefer Iron Man. The buck in Big Buck Hunter is often fidgety and takes a good thwack to register a hit on it, plus the track going right across the field changes the ball’s path, which is annoying. I really wanted to see the whole ‘aim for the bucks and avoid the does’ translated into pinball, the designers were just lazy and made a crappier version of the Scarecrow Crane from Batman. I’m not incredibly impressed with Iron Man either; the ramps should do more than they do, and Whiplash Multiball is a joke. You have to hit it 5 times and each time, it threatens to throw your ball directly into the drain and for what… 2 ball multiball? Psh. The 50 mil skill shot after completing everything in 1 ball is nice though, good money shot to aim for each game.

Jamie Beth: I haven’t really played either extensively, but I really don’t like BBH and I’ve enjoyed the handful of times I’ve Iron Manned. BBH is too drainy with a crappy flow. IM is way more funner and playable… and spinners are the bombdiggity..

Julie Gray: I’m not into hunting Bambi so I would prefer to play Ironman, but I feel that BBH is a better game with the unique Elk Multiball in that you hit and re light the left loop, and the skill shot is that interesting right extended target, and bird and ram shots that make it more intriguing. However, Ironman has a really great flow that makes you feel like you know how to play pinball because it is going so long. If someone said, “you could pay $100 to win either of these games”, I would pick Ironman. Downside, the ball often gets stuck on the middle playfield toys, and stops all of the wonderful flow.

Matt Brehe: I’m not crazy about either. However, when I have to, I play BBH over IM because it has a more interesting playfield. The lower playfield has double in-lanes on the right, which moves the flippers off-center a bit. There is also a lot more going on in the mid-field. Iron Man on the other hand is all focused on the upper playfield, and just overall feels overly symmetrical.

Weird Iron Man factoid I just learned from IPDB: “The four drop targets on the left-side represent the letters I-R-O-N and… the three drop targets on the right side represent M-A-N. David Thiel explains that the reason those letters do not appear on these targets is because it is a requirement of the license that the two words “IRON MAN” must never be shown separated from each other.”

4th Place Andy: At least it’s not like Shrek vs Family Guy. Yes, some games have very similar strategy+layout, see for example Attack From Mars vs Medieval Madness and Twilight Zone vs Addams Family. Bottom line is if it’s fun to play, there’s no reason to not have a similar game.

Jesse Thurston: IRONMAN!!!! So much more fun, better story and progression, and better general flow.

Anthony Brown: I prefer the Iron Man theme, and I enjoy blasting War Monger way more than shooting at a deer.

Aaron McAbee: Vegan. So, Iron Man.

Steve Cartoon: That depends on which one makes the more impressive SMASH after being pushed off a ten-story building…OK, it’d be Iron Man in my case. Killin’ thangs just ain’t my bag.

Maka Honig: Iron Man has two high-scoring “wizard” modes that require varied shots and a modicum of skill. That alone keeps me coming back for more, challenging = fun. BBH has a ruminant-toy that slides around. You’re supposed to shoot that thing, a lot. Completely unappealing theme (for me, anyways). I really tried to give Big Buck a chance but I can safely say I despise it now. Hail Iron Man!

Aaron Bendickson: Big Buck Hunter is definitely a fun game and I wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to play one. However, when it comes to the game that I want to have in my home, the game my kids are going to be begging to play, Iron Man definitely has the advantage. It’s a combination of theme, aesthetics, audio/music & game play. The game just oozes excitement. It’s the total package.

Cheese Boat: Iron man! BBH pinball reminds me too much of the original BBH game – it’s too janky. The Ram shoots the ball straight down the drain far too often, the ball save light is too far down the drain to be able to see well, and there is a lot of colorful crap on the play field, but it doesn’t feel like there is a lot to hit. The ‘buck’ is set up in an awkward way across the play field, and the track the buck slides on makes the ball jump up & constantly hit the glass. The only thing to look forward to on the entire game is when you light up several multiballs in a row.

Iron man, on the other hand, has great game-play and can be challenging despite its basic field layout, yet fun for a first-time player. Iron Man does have its own issues, such as the Iron Monger sometimes catches the ball on the edge of the moving piece when it lowers.The issues Iron Man may have are a lot less frequent and annoying than BBH’s. It feels like they spent a lot more time designing Iron Man. Overall Iron Man wins hands down with a better design and more challenging game play. Even though these are the two newest Stern games, I don’t really think it’s fair to compare them. I would rate BBH more in a class with Stern’s Batman.

Aaron Bendickson: Iron Man FTW! BBH isn’t bad, but IM is the total package. Good art, great sound, fast fun & challenging game play.

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news & gossip tips & tricks

DESTROY CENTAUR

by 4th Place Andy

Centaur is a fun classic pinball table. You can hear it taunting you from across the room, saying “Energize Me!” The black and white and red all over table art is beautiful. If you play at Shorty’s it is only 50¢ for 5 balls! So it is overall a very attractive game to practice. However, it probably plays a little different than other games you are used to playing. For starters, there are no extra balls. Bummer! The next difference is that there is no extra scoring for multiball–no score multipliers, like on Fathom, nor any Jackpots, like most multiball-equipped tables. Therefore, I like to think of it that you are ALWAYS in multiball. The reason for this is because you can, at any time (regardless of how many balls you have in play), lock balls or release locked balls or even add a ball! So don’t get too bogged down on how many balls you have, every shot still scores the same. Here are the ways to lock/release/add balls:

To lock a ball– Shoot the O-R-B-S targets, in any order. One of the orange “captive ball” targets (1-2-3-4) will light up to show you how many balls you have locked. When you hit each target once, they reset and can be completed again for another lock, up to a maximum of 4 simultaneous locks. Note: these are virtual ball locks, so you will not see a pinball physically restrained.

To instantly add a ball– either A) Complete the four lower blue lanes (“Guardian Releases Power Orb”) or B) Shoot the O-R-B-S targets, in that order. Orbs… Pinballs… same thing, right? Option B also locks a ball, as mentioned above. Remember, you can add a ball during single ball play to get two balls on the playfield at once, or during a multiball you can add another ball! Option A is great when one of your pinballs is going down the left or right outlane–if you can rotate the lit blue lights so that you roll over and light the last blue light, another ball is launched automatically. What a great way to save your game when you are about to drain your last ball!

To release all captive (locked) balls , there is a little more prep work required. Release Option I: Complete the right bank of drop targets in order (1-2-3-4) to light the orange “Release Power Orbs” shot on the upper right. You can shoot the upper right white stand-up target (with playfield green light) to spot a number, and the middle left white stand-up target (with playfield green light) resets them if you accidentally hit one out of sequence. Once the “Release Power Orbs” light is lit, shoot the upper right shot to release all of your locked balls. The game will say “Orb Release Sequence Activated!” Release Option II: Complete the Queen’s Chamber. This is the mini playfield on the upper left-hand side that can only be accessed by hitting the captive ball hard enough to send it up to collide with the drop targets. Once all drop targets are completed, the top-most stand-up target alternates between “Release Power Orbs” and “Special” for the remainder of your ball. Release Option III: During ball 5 of every game, the top right “Release Power Orbs” shot automatically lights and unlights approximately every 2 seconds. This is a good last chance effort to get a multiball even if you were unable to strike 1-2-3-4 in sequence.

Using the above techniques, it should be pretty easy to start a multiball and keep it going indefinitely! The game scores rather slowly, so be prepared to play for a long time if you want to get a high score. If you are attempting to roll the score over, expect about 30-60 minutes of continuous play to get 10 million points. Good luck destroying Centaur!

Categories
news & gossip

Skill Shot #15 News & Gossip

Originally published in Skill Shot 15, August 2010

For the third year in a row, summer in Seattle began with the NW Pinball and Gameroom Show (PAGS) at Seattle Center on June 11 – 13th. We always have a great time at this event, and this year was even better when we were allowed in the night before the show started to take pictures of Black Hole for the cover! It was fun and interesting to see everything that goes on the night before the show with pins being assembled, leveled, and fine-tuned for the big opening. Naturally, we played a bunch of games and also found more cool pin-art to take photos of for future issues. Big thanks to Rod Olson and James Edes for the VIP treatment!

If you don’t already know, all the games at PAGS are supplied by private collectors from around the Pacific Northwest. There were lots of great games that we rarely see anywhere else, such as Mousin’ Around, Spectrum, and Banzai Run, as well as local favorites that are usually broken, like Doctor Who and Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure. While some popular pins were missing from the line-up, there were plenty of cool games that were new to PAGS this year, like River Boat Gambler, Ice Fever, and Class of 1812 (featuring a huge beating heart!).

Other games that had neat gimmicks included Hollywood (with multiple kick-outs) and 4 NBA Fastbreak machines, with 2 of them connected together for two-player matches. One of the NBAs was also a raffle prize this year (along with a Congo pin)! Some machines were also for sale such as Super Mario Bros. and Vector (which was purchased by Brian Hasbro). Besides buying pinball machines, a current trend seems to be people making their own games, and Galactic Girl and Cosmic Colony were the examples this year. We’ve seen and heard of others working on their own pin designs, and we expect there to be more of them next year. Right, CIB?

On Saturday, guest speakers such as George Gomez (designer of Lord of the Rings), John Trudeau (designer of Bride of Pinbot), and Steve Wiebe (star of The King of Kong) gave talks, and Headley hosted a spontaneous outside BBQ. The finals of the pinball tournaments were Sunday, with Zoe Vrabel winning the Women’s Championship and Keith Elwin winning the Northwest Pinball Championship after a nail-biting finish against Robert Gagno, Cayle George, and one of the Sharpe Brothers, that lasted well after PAGS was over and people were loading out their games. The whole weekend was a blast and we look forward to going again next year. Thanks Dan!

Meanwhile, The Seattle Pinball League keeps gathering new members and having fun events on a monthly basis. The July meeting/tournament was at Mitch’s house and was a Bally-only event that also incorporated Pinball Golf into the format. It sounded like loads of fun and we are sorry we missed it! (Damn those Saturday tournaments.) The previous month’s meeting was held at Rod’s house and we also missed that, but we did make it to his 4th of July Pinball Party a week later, which had all of the machines still set up. That was a great party with fireworks, hoola hoops, countertop dancing, and lotsa pinball! The Cartoons were also celebrating their 10th anniversary that day and Cathy surprised Steve with the Chicago Coins’ Hollywood pinball machine that we had previously admired at PAGS. What a great gift!

Another great gift was when all the folks came out to the Skill Shot Folding Party we had at The Lookout for our last issue. We played pinball, drank PBR, and watched Sagel beat ELF’s high score on the Frankenstein machine. You might remember that that was our first The One To Beat (TOTB) contest back in issue #11, and until the folding party, no one had been able to Grand Champ ELF’s score. Too bad for DOC that we’ve since moved on and that pin is no longer our featured TOTB machine. Speaking of which, we guess that maybe LWL’s high score on Cactus Canyon at Bandits was unbeatable after all (especially once the ramp stopped registering), and now we’ve moved TOTB to Terminator 2 at Al’s Tavern in Wallingford (sorry, Geoffro).

In other Wallingford news: Sock Monster, the sock store with a The Addams Family pinball machine, is soon to be pinball-less. They had it so briefly that they never even made it on our Seattle Pinball List. We’re pretty sure that that was the game formerly at The Owl and Thistle, whose patrons were so upset when the pin was removed, they created a Face Book page about it. Another notable case of a moved game is the KISS pin that was formerly at The Feedback and now seems to be at Radar Records. We can’t imagine that there is more than one KISS pin on location in Seattle.

Speaking of Face Book, the Skill Shot page has been buzzing with activity lately, with readers posting about broken and/or new pins. For example, Kimberly Morrison went to Stellar Pizza recently to play Demolition Man, only to find one of the flippers broken in half and the machine still on! It’s good to know what the pins are like before you travel across town to play them, so if you have something to report, go to our FB page and share your observations. We also have current news, gossip, and links to other pinball maps.

Pinball Tidbits: Seattle may soon have a Pinball Museum in Pioneer Square; Tacoma will soon have a new spot called Dorky’s Barcade; Centaur has (sort of) been reborn after the Hooverville fire and is now at Shorty’s; a third Ballard Pinball Tournament is planned for August 30th; Add-a-Ball Amusement may return; Matthew is walking; and Stern’s next new game will be based on Avatar. We want TRON!

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news & gossip

Skill Shot #14 News & Gossip

Originally published in Skill Shot issue 14, June 2010

The 1st Annual Tommy Tournament happened at Shorty’s on April 1st and was a blast. Co-hosted by PBR, it was a blindfolded tournament where 2 player teams went head-to-head with the blindfolded player controlling the flippers and directed by their teammate on what to do (flip, nudge, etc). Team Skill Shot didn’t plan on making it past the first round, but our hands-on approach got us all the way to the final match-up against The Peeps (if you’re too scared to touch, you’re too scared to win!). And what do you know, we WON and are now Tommy Pinball CHAMPIONS!

The grand prize was one customized back glass that later created confusion and controversy, because there was only one awarded! We wonder what would have happened if it wasn’t Team Skill Shot that won the tournament and instead a team like Jeff Groper and Maka had won; how would they have shared that prize? If there’s going to be another Tommy Tournament next year, they may want to rethink what kind of prize it is going to be because something like this could possibly damage relationships. Still, we don’t want to sound like we’re complaining because the tournament was free and there was also free food, beer and fun! Did we already mention that we are now CHAMPIONS?

Winning this tournament wasn’t the only good thing that happened to Skill Shot since our last issue, we also got a pinball machine at the Skill Shot office! A 1980 Bally Xenon was loaned to us by Seattle Pinball League President Rod Olson and we love it! It’s a beautiful pin, fun to play and is teaching us quite a bit. A big shout-out goes to Headley, who’s showing us how to fix it too. Thanks guys!

Speaking of our last issue: we had our first folding party at The Lookout on Capitol Hill after #13 came out and it was a big success! A bunch of people came out to play Frankenstein, drink beer and fold zines. The Lookout always treats us right and they recently added another pin, a SEGA Harley-Davidson, which makes us feel even more appreciated there. Skill Shot folding parties are going to be regular events at the Lookout whenever we have a new issue, so watch our Facebook page for more details.

Another bar that has made us happy recently is Bandits on Denny, where the Cactus Canyon that used to be at Jules Maes now resides. We like that game so much that we decided to make it The One To Beat beginning this issue, since no one could top ELF’s high score on the Theatre of Magic at the Zoo Tavern. As mentioned previously, The One To Beat is the high score of a selected pin at a specific location and will be published in each issue of Skill Shot until no one is able to beat it. When that happens, we pick another pin to showcase.

We thought that since ELF was on tour with Black Breath it would give other people a chance, but instead we got a bunch of grumbling about LWL’s score being too high and that he probably got it at Jules Maes anyways. We’re betting that someone attending PAGS will take on this challenge and that we will have a new high score to publish in #15. (Bandits is a few blocks from The Seattle Center and on the way to Shorty’s if you’re walking.)

Speaking of PAGS (the NW Pinball and Gameroom Show, June 11 – 13), this year they’re going to have close to 300 pinball and arcade games, a bunch of special speakers and guests, the NW Pinball Championship and should be loads of fun, just like last year. You may be reading this issue there right now! Besides Bandits, another nearby bar is The Funhouse, which is having a drink special for those attending the event. Let’s hope they get that Medieval Madness in tip top shape! We’ll have more to say about PAGS next issue…

Stern’s new Iron Man pin made its Seattle debut at the Madison Pub weeks before any place else, and local pinball enthusiasts went there to check it out. Unfortunately the pin was suffering from various mechanical problems and people were disappointed, especially Pub employees who had to listen to our complaints. The Pub has been a great supporter of pinball and often has the latest Stern games, so we hope they have better luck with their next pin.

The Iron Man pin may be cursed, because one of the three pins that Gameworks was supposed to get for the release party/tournament on May 7th was damaged by a forklift! The event drew 39 contestants vying for a grand prize which was rumored to be an Iron Man pin itself. Well, it wasn’t (it was cash)and it was won by Nycole Hyatt, who is now a tournament CHAMPION after getting close many times before. People were surprised about a pinball tournament at Gameworks, because their pins are often in disappointing condition, but Pickles, their pinball repair gal, told us that she’s trying to get the pins in proper working condition and to that we say: you go girl!

On a related note, we also heard about someone who had her debit card info stolen and it may have possibly happened at the tournament. So if you had an open tab there you should keep an eye on your bill. Send us an email if you notice anything amiss and we will forward it. Claire swears it’s not in her purse!

As often happens, pinball locations come and go. Both Owl ‘N Thistle and Pink Gorilla have temporarily had their games removed, while the Roanoke Tavern sadly lost their lease. Luckily, recent additions are helping to fill the void: Highline (Cap Hill), Grizzled Wizard and Sock Monster (both in Wallingford) and 2 Bit Saloon (Ballard). Check out our Seattle Pinball List in this issue for more details!

Matthew almost had his leg cut off and he saw his own bone! Get well soon, young dragon…

Categories
news & gossip reviews

Pinball Tournaments Are Rad!

by Gordon

Readers of Skill Shot may have noticed that Seattle has a lot of pinball tournaments. Whether at bars, private homes, or public arcades, if you play pinball you’re bound to come across either a tournament while it is happening or a flyer for one that is going to happen soon. This is a good thing because tournaments are fun and they make pinball more exciting than any other arcade game. But for new players, or those who have never participated in a tournament, they can be a little intimidating.

Head-to-Head pinball tournaments are popular in Seattle and the kind of contest you will find in bars like Shorty’s and at the Annual Georgetown Pinball Tournament (which is held at multiple bars). Head-to-Head tournaments put two players against each other in what is a best two-out-of-three match-up. During a single elimination Head-to-Head tournament, the winners keep advancing until there are only two players left for the final game that decides the winner.

In a Double Elimination Head-to-Head tournament, two different brackets are used: a winners’ bracket and a losers’ bracket. The first time a player loses they move into the losers’ bracket and continue to play matches (against other losers) until they lose again and are eliminated from the tournament (hence the name Double Elimination). The players in the losers’ bracket keep advancing until there is only one player left, and the top loser then plays against the final winner from the winners’ bracket. During the final match of a Double Elimination Tournament, the final loser has to win two of the games while the final player from the winners’ bracket only has to win one.

Yet another variation in Head-to-Head is sudden-death, which is simply a single game match instead of the best-of-three. This version is mostly used when time is running out (because the bars close at 2AM).

For more casual tournaments that happen regularly (such as in pinball leagues), the Vancouver Regional Pinball Association style of tournament is popular. The VRPA league point system was developed by Eden Stamm of Vancouver BC, and is a group/point format that has been adapted by many and is especially good for social groups and pinball leagues.

The basics: During the qualifying rounds of the tournament, participants are divided by their skill level into groups of three or four to play a series of matches. Players are then awarded points according to how they placed during each match of the series (1st place gets 7 points, 2nd place gets 5 points, etc). At the end of the qualifying rounds, the total number of points each player acquired are added up to determine who goes on to the next round, ultimately leading to the final match-up that determines the winner of the tournament.

The points that all participants received at past events are averaged together and are carried over to the next (league) tournament so that the players with the highest rankings/number of points can be grouped together. This system is a way of making tournaments in a regular group setting a bit more fair, as it usually places players against each other who have similar pinball skills and insures that all participants have a chance to get further in the qualifying rounds, as opposed to the more random head-to-head style, where a first time player could potentially be matched against a champion.

The Seattle Pinball League uses a version of the VRPA style where the points gained from past tournaments are averaged to determine a player’s ranking. But instead of awarding points gained from each individual match, SPL points are awarded according to how a participant placed in each individual tournament. SPL does it this way because the host of each tournament has the ability to decide what kind of tournament style they wish to have (at their house). Many of the SPL tournaments are done in the VRPA style, but occasionally a tournament style is chosen where counting points during matches is impractical, such as a Round Robin tournament (where only a single point is awarded during each match). While this system may seem confusing at first, like the VRPA, the SPL averages the rankings of the players this way to insure that all members of the league have an equal chance to compete regardless of their skill level.

The Northwest Pinball Championship is the yearly tournament held at PAGS (the Northwest Pinball and Gameroom Show). This is an Open Qualifying tournament where participants buy an entry for the qualifying rounds, which allows them to play one of the designated 7 machines set aside specifically for the tournament. Once their game has been played, the score is recorded and compared to that of the other players, with the highest scorers receiving specified points for how they placed at the end of the qualifying rounds (which end at midnight on Saturday). On Sunday the players with the most points advance to the tournament’s final matches, where the champion is determined by the player with the most points (usually the winner of the final match).

Because this is an open qualifying tournament, contestants are free to purchase entry games as often as they want, with their highest score on any particular machine being the one that is counted. Often players will continuously play qualifying games during the event in order to maintain (or surpass) their ranking on that game. Besides the NW Pinball Championship, PAGS also has other side contests, such as a classics tournament (held on older machines), the highest ranking woman, the highest qualifying score, and a tournament for novice players.

One of the most influential pinball tournaments in the country, the World Pinball Championship, is hosted each year in Pennsylvania by the Professional /Amateur Pinball Association. This is an Open Qualifying tournament held at the PAPA facility, which is used almost exclusively for this event and maintains over 400 pinball machines. PAPA has an extensive rule set for the tournament (over 20 pages) and many of the specific rules concerning game play, machine settings, malfunctions, and player conduct have been adopted  by other pinball tournaments around the world (including PAGS and VRPA).

Although many pinball tournaments use the PAPA rules governing the machines and players, it’s the rules of the qualifying rounds at PAPA that can truly boggle the mind. Participants buy an entry in the qualifying round, and then play a total of five different pins (from 10 or 11 designated games). Once they are finished with the five games, their scores are used to determine their ranking on each individual machine and these rankings are then awarded points which are added together to determine an individual entry’s total points. Because the qualifying rounds are continuously happening, it is likely that an individual’s ranking on a particular pin will decrease as the tournament progresses, unless they get a really high score.

Since each entry contains the total scores of five games, each time a player submits a new entry it is possible for them to affect their previous ranking on a pin and also lower their previous points. Their earlier scores are not omitted, no matter how many times they may play a particular machine and each individual entry is considered unique unto itself. While it is not possible for contestants to void a single game, they are allowed to void a whole entry, and this necessitates a strategic game play. While it certainly is a confusing system, it was developed by PAPA as a way to award consistently good players and once the qualifying rounds are over they go back to scoring individual players and their rankings in a more recognizable manner. (Whew!)

Needless to say, pinball tournaments can be as easy or as complicated as the organizer wishes them to be.  They may seem intimidating at first but new players shouldn’t be afraid to give them a try, because playing at tournaments is a fun way to learn more about pinball and a good way to meet other people who also love this great sport!

Other Pinball Tournament games and styles:

PIN Golf. Organizers set out (18) pins and then pick a score (par) for each. Players then try to reach that score in the fewest balls (strokes) possible. The winner is the person who uses the lowest number of balls when totaled after all the games are played (just like golf). A danger of this style of tournament is when the scores for the machines are set too high and players need many balls to reach it. If a player needs more than 3 (or 5) balls to hit the target score then the previous game total must be computed into the next game’s score.

Round Robin: A tournament where all participants play against each other, with the winner being determined by who has won the most matches. This style works best when there is a limited number of players and a lot of pinball machines, because it can last a long time. It was recently used at the Tiger Lounge during the Galactic Girl release party.

The Ballard Pinball Tournament: Pub crawl style. Head-to-Head, double eliminations held at a series of bars in the Ballard neighborhood. Players in the losers’ bracket often found themselves playing their rounds in the least desirable locations! (aka places with broken pins)

Price is Right: A specific score is chosen on each game and players must get as close as they can to that score without going over. Come on down!

Siamnese Twin Half and Half: Two-player teams go head-to-head against each other while wearing one XXXL t-shirt. Each team member can have only one arm out of the sleeves, but both of their heads have to come out of the top.

Quarter Qualifying: Set up a group of machines and let people play them for a set period of time using quarters.  You can spend as much as you want to qualify, contributing to the prize fund at the same time.  This also works very well for a “side tournament”, where one machine is set up and everyone tries to get the best score up to a certain time.  At the end, the person with the highest score gets all the money that was put into the game during the tournament!

Tommy Pinball: A team contest where the person controlling the flippers is blindfolded, while their teammate directs them what to do. The first annual Tommy Tournament happened at Shorty’s this past April.

Pat Hand: Also known as one-handed pinball. Only one hand can be used during each ball. Named after a 1975 William’s pinball machine.

Powder Puff Tournament: A bi-annual Double Elimination Head-to-Head tournament held at Shorty’s for the “anatomically female only”.

Weekly Sunday Tournament: A head-to-head, double elimination tournament that happens every Sunday at Shorty’s and begins at 6PM.

Single Qualifying Tournament:  Each player gets one chance to qualify on a single machine and the four players with the highest scores moves on to the final match-up, which is then a four player game. Highest score wins.  Recently used at the Iron Man tournament.

Categories
news & gossip

Skill Shot #13 News & Gossip

Originally published in Skill Shot issue 13, April 2010

There has been a lot of tournaments since our last issue. The 2nd Annual Georgetown Tournament, hosted by Larry Reid and Mike Poetzel , happened on January 31st. This tournament seems to draw a different crowd than the Belltown tourneys, perhaps because of the earlier starting time? Skill Shot #12 had just come out and our Top 12 List caused a bit of a ruckus because it didn’t have Fathom or many other popular pins, but instead contained the (then latest) Stern game, NBA. Hey Simon, we like playing that goofy pin, thank you.

Meanwhile the tournament proceeded to take place at three bars (Jules Maes, 9LB Hammer and Calamity Jane’s) with the final match up of the day going to Cayle George and Eden Stamm, who played it pat hand style on Fish Tales. Other notables: Slam Tilt acting a bit fruity (show us your tits – Cayle did!), 4th Place Andrew getting a bit loopy, and JJJ and crew were AWOL. These tournaments have stopped having the most drunken contestant award because of liability concerns, so this may be the last time you read the name Timmy Smith in an issue of Skill Shot. Oh, and Cayle won the grand prize, which was a keg of beer. Since he doesn’t drink, we wonder what happened to it… Jeff Groper?

A few weeks later at the Tiger Lounge, Silver Age Silver Ball’s Dominique premiered his hand-built pin, Galactic Girl, with a round robin tournament. He did a great job on Galactic Girl, which is a beautiful hand-painted EM machine. Dominique opened the game up for public inspection at one point and held a question-and-answer session for those curious about what it takes to build a pinball machine. While we loved the pin, we were more curious about the round robin because we had never participated in one before. Just how many kinds of pinball tournaments are there, anyway? Skill Shot also raised a few eye-brows (and accusations of cheating) when we shared a spot in the tournament that was vacated by Dominique’s father. (If we were cheating, we’d be winning!) Ben the bartender was a great host and ELF won the tourney and the prize, which was a traffic cone decorated by Destiny. Snip, snip!

The Seattle Pinball League (SPL) is hosting monthly tournaments at different members’ houses and the tournament in February was at Raymond’s (or rather, Raymond’s parents). Various members pitched in and brought their pins to the event (which had “no excessive drinking” as part of the house rules??). March’s tournament was held at James and Janice’s house and they upped the ante by having a restricted smoking policy that encompassed the whole state! What kind of reputation does Seattle have, anyway? Another round robin tourney, 39 people played and Bernard surprised the assembled pinball community by not getting bumped after the first round and actually making it to 8th! A great time was had by all, including (we hope) the organizers of the events: Julie, Andrew, and the hosts. SPL president Rod Olsen not only found time to play, he won the tournament! Pins were being worked on right up to the time of the event and we’ve heard that pinball repairs are going to be part of SPL meetings, even if it’s on an informal basis.

Some of the members of the SPL are also involved with The 3rd Annual Northwest Pinball and Gameroom Show (PAGS) happening June 11 – 13 at Seattle Center. This should be a fun time as always, with a hundred or so pinball machines, all set to free play. We were approached about including some ads for the event in our zine but they stuck up their noses at our offer to trade ad space for weekend passes (ouch!). Oh well, we love PAGS anyway and will give them a shout out, even if we probably won’t make it for the whole weekend. We’ve been told that the PAGS tournament’s qualifying games are going to be priced differently this year, with single games costing $2.50. Something else that’s different: Beginning six weeks before the show, each time you participate in a Sunday Tournament at Shorty’s you will receive one free qualifying game at PAGS. Since the Sunday tourney fee is only $5, that’s a nice little extra, eh? Sunday Tournaments at Shorty’s begin at 6PM.

The first ever Ballard Pinball Tournament happened on March 8th and was a hoot. Hosted by Shorty’s bartender Jawn Wakefield, 13 players began the tournament at Snoose Junction with the first round of losers heading off to Golden City (where the games are not in good condition, losers!), while the winners played their second round at Snoose Junction. The third round had everyone converging on the Tin Hat where participants had to wait for the machines to free up, then once again the losers had to head for a different location (Sully’s Snow Goose). The final round was held at Ed’s Kort Haus. It was a unique event because the places are fairly far apart and Jawn had commissioned a cab to shuttle players around, so there was actually very little waiting. The machines had no tilt in some places, Headley puffed, Elijah won and another tournament is planned for May. Stay tuned.

The U District would be a good place to hold one of those kinds of tournaments, especially if the Pink Gorilla gets a second (or third) pinball machine. No cabs would be needed because most of the places that have at least 2 pins are within walking distance from each other. We recently noticed that the Baby Pac-man at the Redwood has been removed and we will be really disappointed if we don’t find that game at the U District Full Tilt Ice Cream, since Mark O’Farrell of Space Age Amusements services both of these locations.

Jules Maes changed the layout of their backroom by getting rid of the live stage, adding more table games and moving the pinball into the big new gameroom. At first glance it seems like a good idea, but pinball players have been complaining about having the air hockey and ping pong tables so close to the pins, with ping pong balls often bouncing beneath the machines and the players getting in the way of each other. We also wonder why no one thought about where the pinball players are supposed to put their beers? Maybe they should get rid of the noisy air hockey and put in a few tables, or at least move the ping pong table to the back of the room and away from the pins.

You don’t need to worry about where to put your beer when you go to Beth’s Cafe because it is a diner with a small gameroom. They have a nice Wheel of Fortune that we enjoyed playing but it did make us think that this awesome game is sort of wasted there. Here’s an idea for Shorty’s (who services the location): why not move NBA to Beth’s and bring WoF back to Belltown? NBA would probably be better appreciated by the underage players at Beth’s, and the more seasoned players would once again have easy access to what is arguably Stern’s last good pin. Think about it!

Big Buck Hunter made its Seattle debut at Madison Pub in January and drew the Belltown crew up to Capitol Hill to play it. Opinions were mixed about the pin but everyone seemed to enjoy checking out the new game regardless. Mad Pub keeps their games in good repair and has a nice space allotted for them so hopefully they see the value of having games that are different from Shorty’s. BBH has since arrived at Shorty’s and the Mecca and we expect to see more of these pins in the future because of the popular theme (to non-pinballers anyway). Coming up next from Stern: Iron Man 2!

We will now draw your attention to The One To Beat, which has graced our Pinball List page for the past few issues. The idea with The One To Beat is that we pick a game at random, showcase the high score and then challenge anyone to beat it. If no one beats it by our next issue, we change the game. If someone gets a new high score, we’ll feature it in the next Skill Shot. Last issue, we featured Theatre of Magic at the Zoo Tavern and since then it’s been a three way battle between CIB, MAK and ELF for the title of Master Magician, with eventually ELF coming out on top (for now). Will anyone be able to knock ELF down by next issue? If not, we will change the game a few weeks before the publication of the next Skill Shot (so keep an eye on our Facebook page for further updates).

Categories
news & gossip reviews

One Hand In My Pocket

by Bernard Blvd.

“I could beat your score with one hand tied behind my back.”  Is it a triple dog dare, or….  Pat Hand!

Pat Hand is a great way to play pinball. The concept is simple:  Each player uses one hand per ball.  You are allowed to change hands between balls.  Pat Hand works the best on EM games, but you can play it on all types.  It was even employed by Cayle and Eden in the finals at the last Georgetown tournament.

Pat Hand takes some time to get used to, so take baby steps.  Make sure that you are watching the ball.  You have to be able to anticipate which flipper the ball is going to land on, so that you can switch flippers if necessary.  Nudging the machine is really useful with Pat Hand, because you can push the ball back up into the playfield, giving yourself more reaction time.  Just keep that other hand occupied, because if you slip up and use it, you will be disqualified.  Nobody likes losers!

So yeah, that’s it.  Play with one hand.  What you do with your free hand is up to you.  Many people will hold their beer, or put their hand in their pocket.  I put mine in my man-purse.  Other suggestions:  Eat a hot dog.  Talk on your cell phone.  High-five.  Apply chapstick.  Slap somebody.  Drum for Def Leppard.  Give the Peace sign.  Count to five.  The possibilities are endless.

Let’s all stick our hands in our man-purses and play some Pat Hand!