Going Atomic!

 Albuquerque, NM

I tried to play Missile Command but the Stella Emulator wasn't running and there was no mouse.

The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History

Today we headed back to The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History.  We were here in October of 2021 on our visit to Santa Fe.  It's a cool museum but half of it was closed and it was very popular because of that Barbenheimer movie.  We didn't spend a lot of time there for all of the reasons listed above but we did get in free with our Science Museum Reciprocal Membership.  

Their temporary exhibit was called At Play in the Atomic Age

They had a lot of Atomic inspired toys

And even referenced Atomic inspired music

After looking at the music list, 

I had to play Kraftwerk

Train Broken!

Atari Broken!

Donna selected a song to play while we exited the exhibit

We have been to Arco Idaho

Where can I get one of these?

There was a raffle for a dream vacation to San Antonio Texas!  I didn't enter.

After the museum I went into the gift shop.  Last time we were there they were selling Trinitite. Trinitite was created when they tested the nuclear bomb.  A friend of ours casually mentioned that it was one of the things he really wanted when we were hanging out so I looked for some for him.  They were sold out.  And they aren't making any more.

Pinball Practice

My next pinball tournament is a big one in Phoenix.  It will be at The Electric Bat. They have 59 machines, some of which I have never played before, so I am trying to learn basic strategy on as many as I can over the next few weeks.  Diner and T2 are both there and I am not versed on those machines so I headed over to Boxing Bear Brewing Corrales to practice after watching a few videos.

The older machines were in the very back

I bought a very light beer and spent 2 hours nursing it while I played pinball.

I had never played Diner before.  

Next time I go I will study Dr. Dude and Eight Ball Champ so I can get better scores on those.  I also still need to get much better at Guardians of the Galaxy.

That's it for today.  If you missed Albuquerque Pinball Tournament, check it out.  I go into great detail on how they work.

Albuquerque Pinball Tournament

Albuquerque, NM

Pinball Tournament at Sister Bar

Today I played in the monthly Sister Bar pinball tournament.  It's the only tournament I can play in while I am here but it was one of the biggest I have played in with 36 players.  I have been doing some studying and practicing leading up to today so I was excited to test my skills.

I got there about an hour before the tournament started and paid my entry fee of $5 and then did some more practice.  I was able to tell which machines were a part of the tournament so I brushed up on some of the games I am not as strong on.  While I was warming up the tournament director asked me how familiar I was with Rush and I said somewhat.  I know the basics but don't know the deep end game.  He gave me a free credit and asked me to check it out to make sure it was playing correctly.  I did and it was playing just fine.  

My first game was on Monopoly.  I had played quite a few practice games but I am still not great at it. I knew what I wanted to do which is important but was this the optimal strategy?  I don't know.  I started out great and on my 2nd ball I got a Multiball.  As I played I got the sense I had a missing ball and when one of the balls drained and I had the only ball I could see on my flipper and it was still in Multiball I knew I was correct so I called the tournament director.  You need to do this because it is an exploit to play Multiball with a stuck ball.  I have been watching a lot of tournaments so I knew the procedure was to hold the flipper to keep the ball stable, the tournament director would open the coin box and unlock the lock down bar and remove the glass to get the ball and then place it on my flipper.  He opened the coin box door and my flipper went dead and the ball I was saving drained.  The tournament director looked surprised and then said he didn't know I was in Multiball.  He decided to make a ruling and give me an extra ball to play after the game and then add that score to my final score on the first game.  Next time this happens I will make sure the tournament director knows I am in Multiball.  The extra ball couldn't save me and I came in last that round.  Still one of the players asked where I came from and I said my normal, "Seattle but kinda all over". He said he usually doesn't see a player get such a good score in their first tournament so he knew I was experienced.  It was a nice thing to say but I did come in last in that round so I didn't THAT that good a score.  Turns out I was playing with 3 other people that were in the top 10 in New Mexico so I guess I did well from their point of view.

Oh there was a costume party going on too.

C3PO and R2D2

This is the first time I have lost a round to a guy in a sushi costume.

  After that I was paired with other losers the next round.  I came in first on Attack from Mars (Remake) which is great.  The 3rd round I was paired with people that were about where I was score wise.  First round I got 1 pt, 2nd round I got 7 points so I was at 8 points.  I came in first on The Godfather, which is a machine I really studied.  It felt good having that study pay off.  One of the guys I was playing with mentioned he just didn't know what to do so I gave him some pointers.  He still came in 3rd but then between rounds he played another game and I walked him through that game and he got better.  

There was a trophy for best costume and for 1st place.

Woody was the guy I was helping out on The Godfather

Halloween was broken, as always, so it wasn't in the rotation.

I got a few people in costumes to pose for me.

The 4th round was the last round and I peeked at where I was in the standings (which I don't usually do).  I surmised that coming in 1st or 2nd might give me a chance at The Top 8 and the playoffs.  The machine we were on was Monster Bash (Remake) and I was now paired with winners so the kiddie gloves were off and we were playing for a spot in the playoffs!  I came in first place!  Boom!  I even beat the tournament director who also happens to be the top New Mexico player.  Pretty cool!

The three pink players had to do a playoff round and 3rd place went home.

I bet this added to the already frustrated buyer.

While I waited for the playoffs to start I got a nudge from Woody and he pointed to his score on The Godfather.  He had put up a score that would have won the round we played together.  He was really happy and was having a good time. I was glad to be a small part of that fun and hopefully he will go on to help other players in the future.

He was SUPER STOKED to be putting his name in.

This tournament is really cool.  It's set up so that the 4 bottom players get their money back and get to play for a prize.  This really incentivizes players to keep coming back and playing which is great.  I was talking to a guy that wasn't in the tournament and he was saying how nice everyone was and how they said he should play.  I said, "Yea you should play next month, It's super fun and if you do terrible by coming in bottom 4 you get your money back."  He didn't know this and was like, "Damn, now there is no reason not to play!"  I'm helping grow the pinball community one barfly at a time.

The Playoffs

Eight players advanced to the playoffs.  There would be 2 groups of 4 playing in the first round.  The top 2 in each group go on to playin the finals and the bottom 2 in each group play for 5th-8th.  I drew Attack From Mars (Remake) again.  I played 3rd.  Players 1 and 2 had bad balls and I had a great ball.  I finished ball 1 in first place.  The guy that I had talked to in my very first game was playing and said something like, "you made it to the playoffs!" I said yea but I'm not in the kiddie pool anymore so this will be tough.  He let me know that everyone I was playing with on this current machine was in the top 10 in New Mexico so I was in good company.  

Player 1 had a GREAT 2nd ball and player 2 had another bad ball.  I stepped up and also had a great ball but I ended up tilting and not getting my bonus which can be massive.  I still ended ball 2 in first place.  Player 1s ball three was amazing and player 2 tilted so I was excited to step up and try to get 2nd place.  I played for a few seconds and the machine tilted on me.  I was confused because I was being careful but then I remembered my mistake.  Whenever someone else tilts you need to let the machine rest a bit. I am sure the tilt fob was still agitated and my playing was just enough to put it back over the edge.  That was my bad.  I was still in 2md place with one to go but that one is the #1 player in New Mexico and he had a good ball so it was 3rd place for me and the losers bracket.  

The other losers joined me on Monster Bash (Remake) and we played for 4th place.  You still get IFPA points so you want to do as well as you can.  IFPA points determine your ranking in the world and in the state. On my 2nd ball I got another stuck ball during my Multiball.  I called over the tournament director and when he arrived I said, "I want to make it clear that I am in Multiball".  I said it in a funny way so he laughed and then thought about what the ruling should be.  The ball was stuck behind Frankenstein (it's actually Frankenstein's Monster but it's called Frankenstein).  He said I had 2 options, #1 was to let my ball drain and then the "Ball Finder" function will find my stuck ball, #2 was to hit Frankenstein with the ball and try to knock it loose.  He would give me 3 chances.  I chose to hit Frankenstein because that is what I would be doing anyway.  I hit him once and the ball got more stuck.  I hit him a 2nd time and the ball came loose but the ball I was using drained so I was back in single ball play.  I ended up playing really well but another guy "blew up the machine" and I took 2nd that round which meant I finished 6th out of 36 players which is great.  It was a super fun tournament and I learned some stuff that will help me in future tournaments.  I also met a lot of nice people who said they hoped we would play together in the future.

Here are the top 8 and where they rank.  This is all public info on the IFPA site.

I ended up finishing just ahead of Dustin and Reuben who didn't have good games the last round.  It happens.

The 4 machines at the bottom weren't a part of my tournament but I did have some practice on them.

That's it for today.  I have to wait until Phoenix for more pinball tournament action.  If you missed Birding and Retro Gaming, check it out.  It has no pinball whatsoever.