Archive for the ‘Pinball’ Category

Quest for the Beta Test - Pre-Avatar Pinball Tourney

ROM from Casual Flow Headquarters here, bringing you news about an upcoming Slow-Flow tournament being run by local operator, Quarterworld.

Stern’s next machine, Avatar, is coming out soon. Avatar is already known among some circles (namely, the circle made up of me and my cat) as one of the most pixelated pinball games ever made. Take a look at this screenshot for an example:

It’s like freaking Monet met up with Buzz Aldrin and they had a baby together. And then they smashed the baby onto the playfield and then cranked up the pixels. Amirite?!

But wait, there’s more! Now’s your chance to finally see the pinball machine in person.

Quarterworld is being rad enough to let some top ballers get an early taste of the machine. To be granted access, all you have to do is hold a GC or #1 score on one of the two machine at the Langano Lounge by the tournament’s end.

Check out Qdub’s post about the tournament.

And here are some additional details:

Casual Span: Aug. 20 - Sept. 12.
Casual Loc: Langano Lounge. 1435 Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard.
Casual Crush: The Simpsons Pinball Party, Indiana Jones (Stern)
Casual Flow Rating: 5/5 (due to length of the tournament)

There is the potential for four people to win this tournament. So don’t fret! You have a chance. And if you win, it would be cool if you could use the message board to give us fans and early review!

The City that Hates Pinball. Beacon, NY.

The City of Beacon, NY had the idea that they should enforce an old law banning pinball within the city limits, effectively shutting down the Retro Arcade Museum run by Fred Bobrow. The Retro Arcade features several old electro mechanical pinball machines as well many old rare and old arcade machines.

Apparently after being open for 18 months, the city decided to come along and enforce this crazy old law. Think about it, someone from the city came along and insisted upon enforcing this law on the arcade nearly two years after being open, what a douche of a person. In my opinion it is some crotchety old fart who has nothing better to do that to hate on stuff. I’m guessing this law is merely the vehicle for a much darker hate that is rooted in the City of Beacon.

Probably the best thing that we can do to get Fred back in business is to write or call Beacon city council and mayors office.
http://www.cityofbeacon.org/departments

There’s a facebook group that even has a nice form letter to send in.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=139564602749976

If the city does not allow the Retro Arcade to operate in the next few days. I think then we will have to up our efforts to this cause, and I do have some very creative and effective ideas in store for that. Let’s hope that some calls and letters will do the trick first.

Check out this video about the issue on CNN

Showdown at Slabtown II Finalcap

‘Tis over! After three days of tournamenting, and mini-gaming, and plain ol’ regular playing, it has come to an end. Let’s get to details!

58 people competed in the Open tournament, and 49 in the Classics tournament. Strong turn-out! And folks really put a lot of work into their qualifying entries. You had to put up some hot scores in order to make it into the final rounds.

And then once the final round started, oh man, things got shaken up fast. Some big names got eliminated in the first round of the finals.

And through it all Robert Gagno emerged victorious in - get this - not one, but BOTH tournaments! He swept it! No easy feat. He played great throughout the tournament. And when crunchtime came, in the final rounds, he pulled it off like a champ. He came down with this parents, Kathy and Maurizio, and they all basically operated as a team throughout the weekend. Team Gagno. (On a personal note: I got 2nd place in the Open, and while I felt like I played pretty well, I’m not sad! It was totally cool to watch Robert sweep the event. Major props.)

Nice showing by Portland players in the event. All our constant playing and competing must be paying off… with DIVIDENDS! Whatever that means. Nice showing by the core CFF contingent, too. But there were some notable absences (Replay!).

Here are photos taken by Robert’s dad of the winners line-ups. Check out their flickr page for a lot more great pictures.

Classics Division Winners. l-r: James Edes (4th), Cayle George (2nd), Robert Gagno (1st), Aaron “Dropshot” Nelson (3rd).

Open Division Winners. l-r: Fred “Fred” Franken (4th), Robert Gagno (1st), Steve Lampros (3rd), Ryan “ROM” Gratzer (2th).

Eden Stamm was top qualifier in the Open. Cayle George was the top qualifier in the Classics. Zoe “Legs” Vrabel was the top female qualifier, and she also won the PBR skateboard in a mini-tourney (thanks PBR!).

Big thanks to Aaron, Jake (Revtest), Fred, Eric, and Noah for organizing the event. And thanks to Slabtown for providing a rad venue. Mega thanks to Ricochet for their tight tournament machines, and for their really awesome mini-game machines. Here’s a video of Jeri from Ricochet showing off the NES Light Gun game.

Danny Backglass won the Time Machine reverse-flipper tourney, and Mike Smith won both the Tommy Bad Cats and the Star Trek NES Zapper tourneys. Way to go! Also, thanks to Quality Entertainment for their machine. Thanks to Chris Rhodes for bringing in Aztec, and for everyone who brought in their sweet machines. The line-ups were nice. Very well-rounded and interesting.

Check out this page on the message board for the full results.

Lastly, some pictures:

Grandmaster Danny Backglass watches, approves

Eden and Cayle in the Classics finals

More classics action

Eden rocking some Royal Flush

DDT rocking the Frontier

Robert in game 1 of the final round.

ROM in the final round

See you next year!

Showdown at Slabtown II - Casual Flowblock

At the stroke of midnight - two hours ago - dropshot called out, with his grotesque horsevoice, the final games of the qualifying round. And not too surprisingly, some mad rank exchanges took place right at that final toll. Danny Backglass, on a heroic 900,000+ game of Aztec, leaped from 12th place in the Classics (not a qualifying placement) to 4th. And in the Open division, Opto did something or other on Whirlwind to skyrocket his placement from so-so to good! A moment after these games were registered, all the machines were swiftly turned off - the mad shuffle complete, the qualifying round OVER!

There’s a lot to go over right now. And I do not think I will be able to cover it all, late as it is. But I will try to note the things that pop into my head. First off, Eden Stamm arrived today from Canada and succeeded in posting a slew of big scores in the Open division, thus securing his 1st place qualifying position. He was solid all the way through. And in the Classics division, Cayle George ended the night on top.

There was a very strong turnout in both tournaments. It was busy all day, but the final few hours were especially crammed with contenders jockeying for qualifying positions. Mega thanks go out to Sara, Nhu, and Katrina for managing the scoring in the final hours. It looked really hectic, and you all really took care of business. Also thanks to Emma for her superlong day shift. Plus thx to Isaac, Noah, DannyB, Jake, Dennis, and EVERYONE who helped out and/or took a scoring shift (I am missing many in that list).

Here are the leaderboards:

Open leaderboard (top 16 qualifies)

Classics leaderboard (top 8 qualifies)

And the individual machine scores:

Open:
Simpsons
Demolition Man
Whirlwind
Terminator 2
Frontier
Seawitch

Classics:
Royal Flush
Aces and Kings
Aztec
Solar City

Okay, I am super tired. Here are a bunch of pictures I took today! Click each image for full size. The pictures cover some afternoon action, mini-games (NES Gun Flippers, Reverse-Flippers, and Tommy mode), Classics set-up, and more.

And here’s a video I took with my camera of some Classics action! That’s Eric Hill, one of the event organizers, in the foreground playing Aztec.

So! The Classics finale matches start tomorrow, Sunday, at noon! If you’re in the top 8, ya gotta be there on time. This is IT!

And during the classics matches, there will be the side-battle for the PBR longboard. This battle will be with the 17th-20th place finishers in the Open Division (but it also depends on how they qualified in the Classics…?? I don’t get it, really - JUST BE THERE OKAY!), and will be starting at noon.

Then, around 2:30pm, the Open division final matches will begin. If you qualified in the top 16, be there earlier than 2:30pm. Don’t be lame (looking at you OOO).

The Ricochet mini-games! In the fourth picture above, you can see Jeri Ellsworth, one half (with Trish) of the inventive minds behind the fun set-ups, using the NES laser Gun to play Star Trek. As far as I know, Dave (10th picture) has the current high score on that machine - around 34 million. And Danny B (7th picture) has the current high score on the reverse-flippered Time Machines (around 4.2 million). I’m not sure who has the high on Tommy Bad Cats - but I’ve heard it’s around 25 million.

Alright, I’ll have another round-up tomorrow once it’s all over. I hope you found this post informative, and I hope I didn’t anything crucial out. See you tomorrow!!

Showdown at Slabtown 2010 Friday Wrap-up

Day 1 of qualifying at the Showdown comes to a close, and what do we have? We have this:

Open Leaderboard

Basically:
Robert Gagno - 1st
Cayle George - 2nd
Danny Backglass - 3rd
Romulanx - 4th

and etc.

Open division machine scores:

Simpsons
Demolition Man
Whirlwind
Terminator 2
Frontier
Seawitch

And the Classics Division Leaderboard

Royal Flush
Aces and Kings
Aztec
Solar City

Nice turn-out tonight. It felt busy. We’re showing 40 entries so far. Even stronger than last year at this point. A lot of the weekly regulars have shown up (though not all! what up), as well as some fresh faces, plus there’s a solid contingent from Seattle, and from British Columbia. And more of them to arrive tomorrow. Action starts tomorrow at noon. And there’s, no doubt, gonna be a lot of shifts in the leaderboard.

Ricochet has set up some rad side-games. Get this! They have a Data East Star Trek machine with flippers that you activate using an NES Gun! There are sensors at the bottom of the playfield, and you shoot the gun at the left or right sensors, accordingly. Its really difficult! But I was definitely improving with each try. Whosoever has the high score by the end of the tournament wins half the coin box. 25 cents to play.

Plus, they set up Bad Cats Tommy Style - with the bottom foot of the playfield covered up in black tape, so you can’t see the flippers!

And - third side-game machine - Time Machine is set with reverse flippers. The right button triggers the left flipper, the left button triggers the right. Super challenging. Top score on any of these machine by the end of the tourney wins half the respective cashbox. They are really fun, unusual, and creative side-games to be running during the tournament. Fun ways to step away from the qualifying machines and just get wild!

Sorry, I did not take pictures of anything tonight. I’ll take and post some pics tomorrow. And I’ll also post another status report after the qualifying rounds ends, midnight tomorrow. Good luck tomorrow, everyone. Let’s see some sick scores!

Second Annual Showdown at Slabtown

Hey hey, next weekend is the second annual Showdown at Slabtown!! It’s a three day tournament, with big cash payouts to those who qualify for the final day’s matches.

Check out the Showdown page for more details, plus some stuff about the rules.

And read the message board thread for some hot discussions!

This style of tournament, though different from Portland’s weekly tournaments and from the Ground Kontrol Pinbrawl, has a strong focus on an individual’s skill and strategy. While you are trying to beat other people’s scores, you’re also allowed the time and space to do your best without having to worry about being eliminated after just a couple bad games. Two days of casual flow qualifying on Friday and Saturday! Hang out, watch the players, watch your placement go up and down, and have fun!

But then on Sunday, things change! Once it’s down to 16, you’ll be matched up against the other players, playing three 4-player games, and then advancing (or not) from there.

A lot of people will be entering this tournament. It’s a good way to check out the scene, get sorta serious about your game, TRY HARD, and maybe win some money!

Here’s an overview:

Slabtown
1033 NW 16th
Portland, OR

Open Tournament will be held on 6 machines and qualifying will be held from:
Friday, July 30 3:00-Midnight
Saturday, July 31 12:00-Midnight

Finals will be held on: Sunday, August 1 following Classics finals

Classics Tournament will be held on 4 machines and qualifying will be held from:
Friday, July 30 3:00-Midnight
Saturday, July 31 12:00-Midnight

Finals will be held on:
Sunday, August 1 at 12:00pm

1 ticket=1 game
1 ticket- $3
4 tickets- $10

Open tournament machines:
Seawitch
Frontier
Whirlwind
Demolition Man
The Simpson’s Pinball Party
Terminator: II

Classic tournament machines:
Aces and Kings
Royal Flush
Solar City
Aztec

Machines are provided by Quality Entertainment, Ricochet Pinball, and some individuals. Thank you to all y’all, and to the organizers, and Slabtown! It should be a lot of fun. There are two big pinball tournaments in Portland each year, and this is one of them!

In the meantime, read our excellent (live)blogging coverage from last year’s Showdown:
Showdown at Slabtown - Updates
Top 16 announced
Showdown at Slabtown wrap-up

And like last year, we’ll try to keep this blog up to date with the latest qualifying scores (daily round-up).

The Pinball Map is Multi-City

Great news, people! Please read this general pinball service announcement:

As most pinballers in Portland know, the Portland Pinball Map serves this city well as the go-to source for locating pins in town. The map has an army of pals, many of them unknown and unacknowledged (until now: thank you), keeping the data up to date. When you stop into a spot and notice a machine has been swapped out, it’s only a matter of moments until *click click BAM* the website is updated. Easy as that. And with the next version of the iPhone app coming at ya shortly, users will be able add/remove machines and stuff straight from their phone. Plus what’s more, the Android app is shaping up curvaceously, and will be available sooooooon!

So, as I’ve pointed out, the map works well here because we have 1) a ton of machines, 2) hot data, 3) a really user-friendly website, and 4) an active user base that helps keep everything up to date.

But there are some other cities around the country with a bunch of public machines, too. And they wanted a map like ours - So! the Portland Pinball Map has expanded to cover other cities. First up are British Columbia (aka Vancouver, BC), and Seattle, WA. Their maps are basically separate sites, all under one domain. And it’s easy to switch from one to the next. See:

British Columbia

Seattle

The new link for the site is http://pinballmap.com (though http://portlandpinballmap.com still works, too).

If you already have the iPhone app, the next version will have these regions added to it. And any additional regions we add will be automatically added to the apps (no updating necessary).

We’re excited about these new regions. VRPA is managing the BC data, and they’re surely going to be on the ball with keeping things up to date. But for both regions we need to get the word out! If you live in either of these areas, please start using these maps! The cool thing about these is that you don’t have to send machine updates to someone, and then wait for the updates to be made live - you can do all the updates yourself. Cut out the middleman!

And we’re always adding more features to the maps. If you have suggestions, sock ‘em to us.

Trackie!!!! Day

It’s been well over a year since the synchronized flipping of a fleet of tracksuit-clad warriors hit the streets of Portland. We swish-swished from bar to bar, tearing up machines, staying hydrated, stretching before and after, calibrating our stopwatches, and checking our pulses as we simultaneously checked on the pulse of the Portland pinball scene.

And now tomorrow’s the day when we do it all again! So, pump up your shoes and step into a lifestyle of comfort and leisure. (Personally, I think of tracksuits as like stylish pajamas that are acceptable to wear outside…)

The day starts off at Ship Ahoy at 1pm. We’ll play there some, and then move on to the next spot, and after that the next spot, etc. DDT (pictured above) has planned all kinds of cool shit. Such as! Mini-games, like skillshot tests and various other styles of casual tournament play. So bring dollars ($$) to wager against your fellow tracksuiter. There will also be open casual play, if that’s all you’re feeling. But the real fun comes from betting! And trust me, there will be some fun and unusual mini-tournamos.

And there will be prizes!! We’ll have shwag and stuff, plus a load of VISO to fuel us along the way! The good folks at VISO have supplied us with goods to keep us fired up for the whole day. Attentive readers will remember about a year ago when we created a fake VISO logo and put it on this site for a couple months in order to pretend that we were sponsored or something (pictured right). Most of us drink a ton of the stuff, and we wanted to show our support for the local brand. Well, now they’re giving us stuff for real! Thanks, VISO!

If you don’t plan to be at Ship Ahoy at 1pm, but you still want to catch up with the group at some point, I will make a point of twittering our current location on the Portland Pinball tweetertweet. So, check that for the latest loc.

Also, bring cameras!

This is gonna be a rad day. See you tomorrow.

Iron Manticide

Just like what happened when the last latest Stern machine erupted onto the scene - which was that operator Quarterworld held a two day “Casual Flow” tournament on it for $100 - that same deal is going down right now to welcome in the even laterest machine, Iron Man.

The tournament is happening at:

Slingshot Lounge
5532 SE Center (right off of Foster)
Portland, OR, 97206
(503) 445-6649

I was at Slingshot last Saturday with DDT, and I ate a Deluxe Garden Burger that was so freaking delicious you don’t even know!

The tournament ends tomorrow (5/6). The winner gets $100. Come check out the new game! And then go see the movie!! Discuss the tournastuff here.

Enter the Pinbrawl

WE ARE CURRENTLY AT 127 REGISTRATIONS.

REGISTER HERE AT: http://groundkontrol.com/wordpress/?cat=12

The time is nearly nigh for the 2nd Annual Portland Pinbrawl. So, bone up on your skills - your pinball skills, your pre-registration skills, and your metaphor skills - because soon you’ll be punching suckas in the face left and right, via your scores being higher than theirs.

Details:
Ground Kontrol - 511 NW Couch St.
Sunday April 18, 2010
11am til death
$20 for entry

Machines: There are a lot lot of them. Check the GK site or the Portland Pinball Map for the list.

I don’t have my datapad in front of me, but last year there were like 120 people (128?). This year’ll be about the same, except that shit’s being capped! 128 en toto. Pre-registration is open now, so you better pre-registrate now or die forever, okay? As of this writing there are 61 pre-registered. Still over a month away and it’s nearly half full? That should tell you something right there…

Note that this year it’s going to start a little earlier. 11am SHARP. Very sharp.

There will be two mini-tournaments happening during the main event, run by your favorite hometown heroes, CFF! The mini-tournos will be a split-flipper tournament, and a one-handed tournament. The split-flipper will be on Viking. The one-handed will be on Dr. Who.

There will be a food cart nearby for tasteful all-day grub.

The format for the main event is 1 on 1, best 2 of 3, double elimination.

The grand prize is a Johnny Mnemonic DVD Pinball Machine!

Stay up to date with Ground Kontrol’s Pinbrawl blog posts. Also, click that link to pre-register.

Okay then, see you then! Don’t forget to try your hardest!

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