Pinball thrives on adversity…
Here is the same type of article that seems to be written over and over by outsider journalists, however, maybe it’s a good point that the constant threat of extinction has galvanized pinheads into vociferous supporters rather than just casual fans. What do you folks think? There’s definitely a fatalistic element to pinball, since you know you will always eventually drain; does that impulse define our relationship to the game as a whole? Maybe…
Results from Shit Kicker Texas Death Match Pinball Tourney
Last night 18 of the World’s Most Undesirable Pinball players met at the Ship Ahoy Tavern on SE Gladstone to battle it out for the title of the World’s Most Unsavory Shit-Kickin Pinballer. To avoid the hassle of the unnecessarily long and emotional double elimination triple complication 46 round quadruple bypass bracket conundrum style tournament, CFF organizers opted for a more simple approach: Last Man Standing Shit Kicker Texas Death Match Pinball Battle.
The rules were simple: players had two hours to get the highest multiplayer scores on 4 pinball tables. The top three scores for each machine at the end of the battle earned points. The games were Indiana Jones (Williams), Star Trek TNG, Sopranos and a Scared Stiff with a dangling, snapped left flipper rubber.
At the end of the night only one baller was left standing: CFF’s very own ROM. ROM
is a total TEXAS SHIT KICKER. He put up a score of 1 billion on STNG on his very first quarter and it went uncontested for the remainder of the battle. To secure his victory, he maintaned respectable scores on Indy and the badly crippled Scared Stiff. Congratulations ROM, you have officially earned your pick of the breeding pool. Get humpin…
A tie for for second and third was decided by an overtime shootout on Indy. Second place was earned by non-member and pinball afficionado Mark. He was rippin some serious pins all evening. Third place went to non-member Jake who totally dropped the hammer on some Sopranos. Congratulations and respect to both of you.
Honorable mention goes to CFF’s All-Star baller and veteran ripper REPLAY. REPLAY put up the obnoxiously high score of 700 million on the meanest, most vengeful Indiana Jones on earth. It was truly a pintabulous sight to behold. The entire battlefield of warriors stood momentarily defeated and mesmerized by REPLAY’s flipper skills. REPLAY has earned his moniker time and time again.
CFF would like to thank all the participants who showed up for our battle. We would also like to officially thank Anna at the Ship Ahoy Tavern for putting up 
with our slam-tilting, beer-spilling ways for all these years, and also for rewarding the final contestants with a free round of drinks. You are an honorary Texas Shit Kicker in our book.
There will be more pinball battles in the future, so keep your fingers juiced, your mind loose and stay tuned…
A MOMENT OF STUPENDOUS IMPORTANCE.
Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls, Pinballers and PinBrawlers: Crazy Flipper Fingers is proud to announce the arrival of our Member Profiles section. Now you can finally figure out who that guy or girl is who keeps beating your Grand Champion on Pirates and Star Trek the Next Generation.
Extra Special Thanks to our members Tank, for his genius photo snappery, and ROM, our in-house technical wizard, for making this all possible.
Quick! Get yr questions in to Mike Mahaffey!
So I found this in one of my various inboxes this morning:
If you’ve played pinball at just about any bar in the metro Portland area, you’re familiar with the work of Mike Mahaffey. As head of route operation for Quality Entertainment, he decides which games to operate, where to place them, and how to adjust their scoring and features. He’s also responsible for ensuring that all of Quality’s tables are clean and working properly. Now’ s your chance to tell him what you think: he’s agreed to field questions and comments from Portland Pinball League members. Want to tell him what he’s doing right or wrong? Got a question? Post here on or before Monday at 5PM, and I’ll compile the responses and send them to Mike at that time.- Anthony– Anthony Ramos, Co-OwnerGround Kontrol Classic Arcade * 511 NW Couch St. Portland, OR 97209p: (503)796-9364 * e: anthony(at) groundkontrol. com
So my dudes and dudettes, let’s get some discussion flowing. We speculate and ruminate enough about the goings on of pinball operations here and elsewhere, but now Mike’s agreed to have some direct open discussion about it, which is awesome. Post some Q’s here and then be sure to pass them along to Anthony to pass them along to Mike, and then stay tuned.
A few I’ve been thinking about to kick things off:
1. Is there a standard maintenance schedule for quality games? For example, are they cleaned a minimum of X times weekly/monthly/yearly? Are all the games routinely played and tested for problems, or does the company rely on notices/reports from users to identify problems?
2. What can dedicated players do to establish a better rapport with their operators and pinball providers to keep the ball rolling as well as possible? Should players keep a list of problems they find with games and submit them regularly, and how would you recommend doing this? We have some clear ideas on what we’d like from our operators– what would operators like to see more of from their customers?
