The Electric Bat Bounty Knockout Tournament

 Mesa, AZ

I didn't have a documentary team today so I had to take a selfie

Chui's Electric Bat Bounty Tournament

Today's tournament was a 4 strike tournament with a twist, when you enter you get a poker chip and when you get knocked out you give that poker chip to the person that knocked you out.  It cost $5 and you cash it in for $5.  It's a really fun format where the money is spread around to more than a few people.  

I also got an envelope with 2 things in it 1) a playing card and 2) a slip of paper saying what prize I won.  The playing card lined up with 1 card drawn at the beginning of the tournament.  If you had that card (the 10 of Diamonds) you got money when you got knocked out depending on what round you got knocked out on.  You weren't allowed to open your envelope, the Tournament Director had to do it.  The player that had the 10 of Diamonds got knocked out in Round 5 and won $150!

I won my 5th round on Deadpool and knocked out a player so I got a chip!

When I was knocked out I took my chip and my envelope to Chui, the Tournament Director and he opened it to reveal my prize.

A framed Big Guns One Sheet!  I also got $5 for my chip.  I am really going to have to buy a bin just for pinball prizes and trophies.

I lasted 7 rounds and I almost got through round 7.  The scores were VERY close.  I finished 33rd out of 64.  I had a terrible game on Creature but I was happy with the rest of my rounds.  I just need to continue to play better.  When this tournament gets entered on the IFPA site it will replace one of my terrible scores and my ranking will go up.

That's it for today.  If you missed Christmas Cocktails and a Pinball Speakeasy, check it out.

Christmas Cocktails and a Pinball Speakeasy

 Scottsdale, AZ

The Pink Dolphin

Today we headed over to the newly opened Global Ambassador Hotel in Scottsdale.  It's a new really fancy hotel with a couple cool bars.  We both wanted to celebrate the Christmas season by visiting a festive hotel and bar.  Instead we had amazing drinks at a poolside bar called The Pink Dolphin.  The hotel wasn't very festive and the bar we had intended on going to didn't look that fun.  The Pink Dolphin delivered on drinks, atmosphere, and service.  We had a great time.

The bar was right next to the pool and had inside and outside seating.  We sat outside facing inside.

It really felt like a Vegas Bar.

Donna ordered a drink and it ended up being a frozen drink.  It was fantastic despite it's frozenness.  A bit later we asked the bartender what the other frozen drink was and she gave us a sample.  It was also fantastic.  

We bought Tajin Fries and they were great.

Since we were by the pool, everything was served in plastic cups but they were very fancy plastic cups.

Donna couldn't wait for the photo to be taken.

My drink was pink too and it was a really good drink.

After our drink and snacks we walked around the hotel a bit.  Rooms are like $500 a night so we shan't be staying there.

A Pinball Speakeasy

Later in the evening I went to Stardust Pinbar for some pinball.  Yesterday my sister asked if I ever get bored because I have no schedule or deadlines to meet (you know because it used to be all work work work) and I said no, I make my own silly goals and try to drive them forward each day.  Pinball is one of my goals (it isn't a silly one) and I wanted to get some of the Stern Insider Badges that expire at the end of the night (this, I admit, is a somewhat silly goal).  I headed over just before 7pm (later than I normally play) because one of the badges was Play James Bond 007 after 7pm.  

I snapped this cool Prince mural on the way over

The pinbar is behind a refrigerator door in the back of a pizza parlor.  I had to look twice to make sure I was going the right direction.

The machines played really well.  They were more expensive than normal, $1 each play vs. 3 plays for $2.

The murals on the wall are cool.

Both Godzilla and Foo Fighters had a free game on them so I played them.  I ended up winning 5 more games on Foo Fighters.  Replay scores were pretty low.  I was mostly there to play James Bond 007 and Venom for the badges.

I got the 007 badges I set out to get and one of the Venom badges.  I have until the end of the year to get the other Venom badges and they are all based on cumulative score between now and the end of the year.  

Tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday I play in pinball tournaments.  They should be pretty fun.  I hope to replace some of my lower scoring tournaments.  My IFPA ranking is based on the 20 highest scoring tournaments played in the past 12 months.  I just hit 20 tournaments so now the really bad ones get replaced as I finish higher in the tournaments.

Right now I am 4764th in "The World" but I have a few real stinkers at the bottom (one I didn't even play in so I got last place).  As I replace those with better results my score will go up.  It's dumb but fun.  

That's it for today.  If you missed Another Day, Another Pinball Trophy, check it out.  I won another pinball trophy!

Another Day, Another Pinball Trophy

 Mesa, AZ

Sophie wasn't there to take photos so I went back into the arcade and took a selfie with the trophy and the machine I won it on.

Tracy's Pintastic Birthday Bash

On Saturday I played in Tracy's Pintastic Birthday Bash which is an all day (and multi-day for some people) pinball tournament.  It happens once a year and luckily I was in town for this year's.  

The day started with a group photo and then we went over the rules.  I have been playing in a lot of tournaments here in the Valley of the Sun so I recognized quite a few participants.  I also saw the 2 people I shared the podium with last night.

The first part of the tournament was a 12 round Match Play formatted tournament.  I played 12 games with one other opponent.  Winner got a point and loser got no points.

For 12 rounds I went 6 and 6 which put me in the A (winners) group for the next round.

There were raffle prizes for the players that didn't win a trophy

A lot of trophies were given out today.  More on this later

Everyone stood in the sun and listened to the rules for the day.  They had you come outside after each of your games.  I found a nice shady place but I am sure some of these pasty pinball players got sunburns today which you wouldn't expect for a pinball tournament.

Locutus of Borg is there to greet you at the front door.

And so is Jason.

My last game during Match Play was on Heavy Metal, a machine I had never played on before.  My strategy for machines I don't know is to 1) Keep the Ball Alive 2) Hit lit shots.  I felt this game was a must win for me to make it into the A group.  My opponent asked if I was good at the machine and I said, I didn't know because I had never played it before.  I went on to have a great game and get a walk off win (I didn't need to play my 3rd ball because I had already won).  By the time I finished my game I had a score that was close to the Replay Score.

After a snack break we moved into the 2d part of the tournament.  Group A played 5 rounds of Max Matchplay (4 players to a game), and Group B had their own 5 rounds.  In Max Match Play winning has a premium because the scoring is 7 pts. for 1st, 5 pts for 2md, 3 pts, for 3rd and 1 measly pt. for 4th.  

I started out strong with a 2nd on Creature.  The first place player "blew it up" because he is one of the best (5th I think) players in the state.  I was the lowest seed in the group so getting 2nd was awesome.  My Ghostbusters game was demoralizing but luckily I had enough time to shake it off before my solid Avengers game.  You can see The Who's Tommy machine isn't blue in my list.  That means I have no good info on how to play it and I hadn't really ever played it so 4th is acceptable in this situation.  After my 4th place loss there I played it a few more times to practice and got much better scores.  

By this time I knew I wasn't making day 2 but if I had a strong finish on my last game I would walk away in a good spot and the winner of the last game of the day got a cool trophy.  I played 4th and my first ball was 1.4 billion which is a normal complete game for me.  I was in the lead by a ton and at least one of the players was a bit demoralized.  He said, "okay now I am ready to drain two balls and go home". I gave him a pep talk which may or may not have helped.  The rest of the game went very well for me and I didn't need to play my 3rd ball.  Another walk off!  And a walk off for a trophy!

The awards ceremony was fun.  I fell like I was the only one that got a trophy that the person running the tournament didn't know.  I ended up 28th out of 74.  My goal these days is trying to finish just above the middle of the field and my last few tournaments have been much better so maybe I should up my goal.

Not the Godzilla people think of when you say Godzilla Pinball Machine.

I caught Wonder Woman changing in Clark Kent's changing room.

Sweet Asteroids neon sign

I took a photo of my blow up walk off score on Attack from Mars for y'all to see.

That's it for today.  If things continue this way, we may need to buy a new bin for pinball trophies.  If you missed Playing for the Love of the Game and Knick-Knacks, check it out.  I won a different pinball trophy.

Playing for the Love of the Game, And Knick-Knacks

 Mesa, AZ

Atomic Age Modern Pinball Tournament

This evening Josh, Sophie, and I played in the Atomic Age Modern Pinball tournament.  This weeks tournament was really big at 47 players.  There were some Holiday Festivities going on in Downtown Mesa so I assume this brought a few more casual players in.  It was Sophie's first tournament and maybe her last.  There was quite a bit of waiting around for games to finish up before the next rounds could start and it was so crowded that you couldn't really play much between rounds.  

At the end of the 6th round there was a 5 way tie for first so we had a 5 way playoff.  The Playoffs were on 1 machine and there was a 4 player game and a 1 player game and the finishers finished in order of their score.

My first ball pretty much drained straight down and at the end of the first ball I was in dead last

My 2nd ball was kind of the same story.  By the end of the 2nd ball I was dead last but there was only 1 player running away with it.

For my 3rd ball, I knew I had to have a great one so, no pressure.  I told Sophie I knew what I had to do and I stepped up and had a great ball.  I took my score up to 7.7 million.  This put me in 2nd place with 2 players to play.  

The 4th player started his 3rd ball with 6 million.  He just had to play a little to pass me up.  He ended up having a terrible ball and ended with 6.8 million.  This left just one person to play their 1 player game.  I was in 2nd and the worst I could do was 3rd.  I was on the podium!  The 3rd player had 3 terrible balls and that sealed my 2nd place fate.  I was really happy with this.

Winners don't get money in this tournament, they get a Knick-Knack from the store.

I got a totem!

It's my highest finish and my first "Major Award"

A special thanks to Sophie for helping document this pinball milestone for me.

That's it for today, (well I came in 2nd out of 47 players so I guess That's all for today), if you missed Headhunters Hideaway, a Home Tiki Bar, check it out.