Category: news & gossip

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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!

Categories
news & gossip

Skill Shot Top 12

Our current favorite pins; we asked a few friends what they thought about them too.
Originally published in Skill Shot issue 12, February 2010

Cactus Canyon – It’s fun but tends to be more highly regarded because it’s rare. I wish they’d finished the software, there was supposed to be a final Bart brother to fight at the end. Bionic Bart, I think. (JG) The gun fight with the drop targets popping up out of the playfield is my favorite part. (GG) “Shoot that bad guy!” (NL)

The Champion Pub – A celebration of stereotypes! How many video modes does this game have? (NL)  The Spitting Gallery is great, that’s why I play this game. The pinball part is fun too. (GG) “Flip, kid, flip!” (BB)

Family Guy – Bouncy, with a chance of Stewie Pinball. One of my favorites of the new(ish) Stern games, although it shows the path Stern started down in making boring playfield layouts. One of the easiest games to get a free replay (or 3) on in Shorty’s right now even though you must invest 75¢ to begin with. (CB) I like to puke on Meg and make her cry. (BB)

Star Trek: the Next Generation – Steve Ritchie’s best game, it’s really well rounded. There are multiple strategies that pay off, and if you get a few going in the same game it’s a breakout score. (JG) When they work, the probes are my favorite part. (NL) The voices, music and different modes are great! I try to get the Holodeck every time I play. (GG)

Theatre of Magic – Pretty sweet game. I never finished the wizard mode… does it have a multiball? I like playing the different “tricks” and how each one has a different shot. (4PA) Very fun game but unfortunately the only winning strategy is to shoot the left orbit a million times. (KM)

Fish Tales – I like how you can charge up the center captive ball for sweet awards (even stacking Rock the Boat w/ multiball). And the video mode is the best. (4PA) Tough game but unbalanced scoring. The really big points are in super jackpots, so expert players will only play for that. Anyone less expert will only play for Monster Fish. Wasted potential in terms of competitive play. [But is it fun?] Yeah, for the most part. There’s very little lower playfield to work with so it feels cramped to me. (KM)

Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein – It’s the fun-ist, ugliest game I know. I saw Kenneth Branagh on the back glass and I said “No! No! No!” (NL) I was at Sega when it was designed and built. I’m not fond of it. The stand-ups are flakey and the ramp is way too steep. The graphics are great – done by friends of mineJ (KM) It’s a fun game and the one at The Lookout is hard to tilt. (GG)

Spectrum – I love this game and wish there were more of them. I don’t think I’ve ever solved the code, I think you have to hear what the game is saying. (GG)  Beautiful game. Cover image of Skill Shot 6.5.  I love how there’s no plunger. “Guess the computer’s color code!” There’s no game like it.  I want one!  I love Spectrum. (BB)

Wheel of Fortune – It’s ugly, has a lame theme and sound. Cool design from the slingshots down though. A couple of the bonus wheel modes are killer. Had a 5-way combo worth about 100M once. Stacking the multiballs would be better if the jackpot lights weren’t all f####d up. (JG) Tough game, not one I’ve had much success with.
I think it’s surprisingly good considering the unusual theme. (KM)

NBA – It’s really simple, not suitable for expert players, but novices seem to like it just fine. (KM) Every time I see it at Shorty’s I’m tempted to shit on it, then light it on fire. (JG) I play it every time I’m there. (GG)  It’s so fast!  The loops are intense, and the spinning pad in the middle adds suspense. Shooting a basket is like magic! (BB) Johnson. (NL)

Monster Bash – A great game. So cool that each shot is a different monster, and that you can keep advancing each simultaneously (except during Frankie multiball, but then the timer stops). After watching Cayle, I learned that the shot sequence during Monsters of Rock is pretty systematic for mega points if you can hit them.
The scoop awards are good too, spotting stuff you need when ya need it. (4PA)

Attack From Mars – A great game. Ethnic stereotypes in pinball are always a bonus. Play through all of the saucers, you’ll hear what I’m talking about. Kinda like the boxers in Champion Pub. Great progression on the multiball, each super jackpot raises the jackpot value of that multiball and every other one for the rest of the game. Stacking Martian Multiball and Total Annihilation is lucrative. Trapping a ball behind the force field during multi-ball is like a license to steal points. (JG)

Categories
news & gossip

Skill Shot #12 News & Gossip

Originally published in Skill Shot issue 12, February 2010

Portland, Spokane, Vancouver BC – pinball players from all over the Pacific NW came to Seattle on November 14th and 15th for The 12th Annual Shorty’s Pinball Tournament. Portland’s CFF crew did well this year, especially Slam Tilt who went up against last year’s winner, Seattle’s Cayle George, in the final match up. But once again, Cayle couldn’t be beat and he drove away with the grand prize: a Barracora pinball machine! Sure, the tournament was a little disorganized at times, purses were stolen, bang backs employed, and fruits were fruity, but the event was fun and the extra day gave everyone more of a chance to get to know each other. Another thing that was different this year was that Shorty’s didn’t replace one of the pins at the last minute like they have done in the past, despite all the rumors indicating otherwise.

In other tournament news, the Seattle Pinball League is starting to pick up some steam, with over 70 players attending the tournament January 16th at Todd MacCulloch’s house. The SPL uses VRPA (Vancouver Regional Pinball Association) tournament rules which group players according to skill level during the qualifying rounds and is different from what most people are used to. Some member of the (somewhat secretive) Black Dragon Organization suffered crushing humiliation which has now led to a reevaluation of their approach to pinball (it had nothing to do with the really tilty machines). Ultimately, Vancouver’s Angelo Muro walked away with the win (go figure). It was a great time and the SPL has other tournaments planned for almost every month this year, so if you like to get up early on Saturdays, check out their website: http://seattlepinballleague.com/

Dominique of Silver Age Silver Ball will be debuting his handmade one-of-a-kind EM pin Galactic Girl at a tournament to be held at Tiger Lounge on February 28th. Dominique has been building this game for awhile now so we are excited to finally see the finished product, even if his flyer leaves us a little cold. The tourney will be played on all EM games and starts at 4 PM with a 15 player limit, so be sure to get there on time if you want to participate.

Another upcoming tournament will be the Tommy Pinball Tournament at Shorty’s on April 1st. Hosted by longtime tournament official Larry Reid, no one is quite sure what he means by Tommy pinball. Blind? Deaf? Most assuredly dumb. And you know that we will be there! Also, you may very well be reading these words at the 2nd Annual Georgetown Pinball Tournament (January 31st) which, like last year, will be held at Jules Maes, Calamity Jane’s, and 9LB Hammer. We wonder if Stellar Pizza realizes that it’s happening this year and will have working pins and quarters? Find out next issue!

Did you know that Wheel of Fortune finally resurfaced at Beth’s Café? Avout of Shorty’s has taken over that location (and Duck Island Ale next door) so the pins will be in better condition than the last time you were there. We wanted to go there on Christmas, but since no one answered the phone we decided that they were closed (despite a note on their door saying otherwise the day before). The Zoo Tavern was also on our list of potential X-mas fun, but an article in The Stranger led us to believe they would be open hours earlier than they actually were. Gameworks was open though, so we decided to give that place another chance and were pleasantly surprised by a working Sopranos and giant $4 beers (during happy hour). While the other 3 games there had some issues, it wasn’t as bad as we remember and 4 balls per game was an interesting touch.

Another interesting touch happened later that same night when we went to Madison Pub and discovered free pinball! Word of free games texted out and soon it was like a mini Shorty’s on Capitol Hill, which eventually took most of us to an all night pinball party at Headley’s apartment to play his Future Spa and other games. It was a pinball Christmas!

In other Capitol Hill news: We went to the soon-to-be-open Unicorn recently to chat up Adam the owner about his future plans concerning pinball there. While he wants a lot of pinball and has a large area in the basement for it, the sad news is that it may be 4 months to a year before this becomes a reality, due to construction costs and other factors. Be sure to go there once they open to help them raise some cash and be sure to mention pinball!

In other sad news: The Bit Saloon has closed its doors recently and, curiously, so has Add-a-Ball Amusements. Add-a-Ball’s departure is curious because Brad the owner abruptly began selling his pins on craigslist with the intention of starting a television studio in its place. We wonder what kind of programming he has in mind. Talking cats?? If you are wondering what happened to the Jumping Jack, it has resurfaced at the Josephine in Ballard. Luckily, that game was owned by Dominique and not sold or put into storage. See our Pinball List for more details.

Another classic machine that may soon be publicly available is a Banzai Run that Bobby Conover may add to his arcade game collection at Pink Gorilla in the U-district. That one’s not on our List yet, but if they add pinball, they will be. Another place that’s not on our List is the new Full Tilt Ice Cream that opened recently. Unlike the other Full Tilts, this one is apparently too small for a pinball machine, which makes us wonder: is anywhere too small for a Baby Pac-Man?

Big news is that Stern’s newest game Big Buck Hunter is soon to be released. There are photos of it online so it’s only a matter of time before one shows up somewhere. We’ve heard that the next pin after that will be Iron Man 2, which is slated for release when the movie comes out this summer. Will either of them have a skill shot this time?

And speaking of Skill Shot! Have you seen our new t-shirt yet? It features the cover of issue #11 (Frankenstein) and should be available for awhile, although some sizes are selling fast. Ask or email us for details. We are also working on a Skill Shot Pinball Party Bus tour for some time this spring. If we keep the number of riders to less than 20, it may cost close to $20 per person! So let us know what you think about that. Coming up next issue: Exciting news about our revised website (and Pinball List) and details on this year’s NW Pinball and Game Room Show.

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Categories
news & gossip tips & tricks

Medieval Madness

Why The Castle is a Good Strategy for Tournament Games

by 4th Place Andy

Castle payouts are on a fixed schedule, and there’s no way to botch it (as opposed to getting stuck with a 2-ball multiball when you were trying to light up catapult+joust+peasant+damsel). They pay out regularly (gate hits award nice points, and destroying castles are huge) plus there is that extra ball at the 2nd castle. After 4 hits, you’ve already destroyed one castle for 2.4M points. That’s 600K per hit! 4 shots to the peasant ramp scores you only 250K and lights a weak multiball (100K Jackpots, 400K Super Jackpots). Why not keep shooting the castle – after another 6 shots you’ve earned another 4.6M points. You’d have to hit 11 Super Jackpots during your multiball to get that many points.
6 shots is less than 11 shots.

After your 28th castle hit, you have earned a cumulative 22.8M, which is nearly a replay, for an average of 814K per shot! You need to get 4 multiballs stacked (ie catapult+joust+peasant+damsel simultaneously) to beat that with an 850K Super Jackpot. And still you only get that scoring while multiball is active. You keep getting massive points per shot with the castle throughout the whole game. The only dry spells are when you shoot the moat. At your 54th castle hit, you defeat the King of Pain, which awards 20M on top of the 41M you’ve already received from castle hits. Assuming you have not gotten all of the blue lights, you move to a “Castle Bonus” mode where the drawbridge is always down, gate hits score 750K, and every 7th shot or so you get 7.5M for destroying the castle. Now if you put me in a situation where I could get a guaranteed 750K, or I could try to build up my multiball for a chance to collect similarly-sized Super Jackpots, I’d just shoot the castle. It’s like getting multiball scoring in single ball play. And the best reason to always shoot the castle: If/when you miss, the ball does not go near the slingshots or outlanes, not to mention that you only have to practice one shot, so your accuracy should get very high.

Categories
news & gossip

Skill Shot #11 News & Gossip

Originally published in Skill Shot issue 11, October 2009

Marc O’Farrell of Space Age Amusements was recently observed at 9LB Hammer replacing the Monster Bash pin with a newly shopped Monopoly. Monopoly is becoming one of our favorite games to play mostly because of the sudden influx of them around town (for a long time there was only one). Of course free credits and an almost nonexistent tilt never hurts. Space Age has a reputation for not leaving pins on location for very long and Full Tilt Ice Cream is a perfect example, as they have had different games every time we publish a new Skill Shot.

Another place with new pins is Hooverville, which reopened last month after a fire devastated the bar earlier this year. Shorty’s supplies the games there so we are disappointed that Wheel of Fortune didn’t show up, but Red and Ted’s Road Show sort of makes up for it. 8 Ball Delux is the classic that replaces the beloved Centaur (whose fate is still unknown). Check out our Seattle Pinball List for a complete line-up.

The Shorty’s 12th Annual Pinball Tournament has expanded to two days this year (November 14th and 15th ) order to accommodate everyone who is interested in participating. Last year 116 people competed which made the tournament last until 2AM and forced the finals into single elimination matches, which didn’t sit well with almost everybody. Hopefully the two day format will solve this, although we wonder what effect having the tournament on two days will have on the number of people able to attend and compete. Regardless of what happens, we look forward to the event.

Chicken With Penis hosted a zine release and pinball tournament recently at Add-A-Ball Amusements that had all the contestants wearing diapers! While we won’t mention the theme of the tournament in a family publication, we will tell you that there was lots of fun and excitement at the event including a vicious girl fight, a gun, and the police in the parking lot next door. Late arrival Tim Smith added to the fun when he wrote a manifesto (and nailed it to the wall) deriding tournament official Jeff Groper and fellow contestant ELF. Many of the participants walked away with one of the new CWP t-shirts, fancy!

Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, pinball enthusiasts are anticipating a new bar opening later this year called The Unicorn. Located in the space where the Satellite Lounge once was, The Unicorn will have a basement level (similar to The Cha Cha), a French circus theme and lotsa pinball machines (sound familiar?). Apparently the upper bar area will open first with the lower arcade soon to follow, and rumors are that there will be as many as 16 pins on location. At this writing we are unsure of who will be supplying the games, but we are hoping that they are better maintained than the machines at the Twilight Exit where one of The Unicorn’s owners currently works. Stay tuned…

Another exciting development is the new Seattle Pinball League, which had their first official meeting in October at Andrew Nunes’ house. With 20 members so far, the SPL hopes to attract pinball players of all skill levels and as part of the $25 annual membership fee you receive a t-shirt and a subscription to Skill Shot. Go to www.seattlepinballleague.com for more info!

If you’re looking for something a little less formal, don’t forget about the Sunday Pinball Tournament at Shorty’s. Although it’s a weekly tournament, the first Sunday of the month usually has a little something extra for the winners, so check it out! The entry fee is $5 and sign up begins at 6.

Tidbits: The next new Stern pin is going to be Big Buck Hunter but there is no word yet on a release date. We are still looking for a pinball machine for the Skill Shot office, if anyone has a tip on a cheap one or a loaner, keep us in mind. And thanks to Greg the Fireman for showing us his Amigo!

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