The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science

 Albuquerque, NM

More like Land of Dormant Volcanoes at the moment, thankfully.

A Science Museum on a Holiday

We are in our last few days here in Albuquerque (I can spell this easily now) and The Mew Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science was on my list of places I wanted to go to before we left so we went today only remembering it was a holiday as we were walking up.  It ended up not being overly crowded but there were still more kids there than we would have liked.  It is a small museum and it only took us about an hour to see.  My key takeaway was that there were a lot of real fossils and bones.  There were also quite a few signs with words on them so I took fewer photos than I normally do.

Don't try this at home!  Only try it here at The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science!

This was kind of a simulator elevator that didn't really go anywhere.  It exits around the corner.  We didn't do it so I am telling you what it is based on assumptions and seeing the exit around the corner.

Pinball Practice

After the museum, I dropped Donna off to hang with Francis and went to Sister Bar to practice pinball.  I wanted to accomplish a few goals.  Here is the list I typed up for myself before I left;

Venom

Eddie Brock Strat

- Shoot light shots and skip 2 ball MB by holding down action button.  Start 3 or 4 ball MB

Work on Carnage MB during Mayhem MB

Foo

Find van upgrade skill shot

Start Area 51 MB with 5 right ramp shots

Prepare Overlord MB, start it with New Orleans (Purple repeat shots)

Mando

Find mission ramps shots

These might not make much sense to you but my goals were clear to me.  When I got there I noticed that Venom had been moved so I wasn't able to practice on that one.  I did play Foo Fighters and Mandalorian and was able to piece together a few of the goals.  I think the only goal that evaded me was starting Area 51 Multiball, but I know how to do it now so that is key.

I had my best game ever on Mando.  It's a score I would be very happy with in a tournament.

I also got a ball VERY stuck on Foo Fighters.  Not, not the balls on the left, those are supposed to be there (they are referred to as "Captive Balls".  My stuck ball is on the right circled in red.  It isn't going anywhere!

I have been putting a lot of effort into pinball in preparation for a number of tournaments in Phoenix and the surrounding area.  I will be playing in my biggest tournament yet the next week.  I don't expect to win but I hope to finish in the upper half of players.  I have been gathering info and strategies on all of the machines they have there.  

I have updated my spreadsheet to include hyperlinks to the best info I can find on that particular machine.  Some of the links have incredible detail and write ups by top players.  I am hoping this will help give me a refresher on the machine and not just flail away at the ball.  As you can see, there are a ton of machines at Electric Bat and I won't find out which ones I will be playing until right before the round.

Now that I am better at making the shots I want to make, knowing which shots to make and in what order can really help with score.  

I also really improved on Tales of the Arabian Nights.  I am very happy with 26m on this machine.

That's it for today.  Just a few days until packing day.  On Tuesday we pack up and on Wednesday we drive from Albuquerque, through Gallop NM, head south at Flagstaff AZ, and end up in Phoenix for the rest of the year.  I am really looking forward to our Phoenix stay.  It will also be interesting how it feels to be in one place for more than a month.  We haven't done that since early 2022.

If you missed Happy Accidents, check it out.  It's a very cool bar.