Welcome to another TOPL season!  Thanks to Nick for hosting this week-we had 22 people out for the first week of the season, and we got the first chance for many of us to try out the new Stern Star Wars.  Results are up on the PAPA site, and one week in, there’s not much to say about them yet. 

Next week we’re off for Labour day, and then things pick up again on the 11th at Jim’s place.  Have a great long weekend, and see everyone in 2 weeks!

With the end of a TOPL season comes another TOPL playoff tournament, even though there was a little chaos around the date this season.  Since we moved out of the way of the CNEPC tournament happening at the Ex next weekend, we ended up on the same weekend as the Buffalo Open, which was on the PAPA circuit, so some players had to choose where to go.  Luckily, we still had 23 players for the finals, including some friends from the K/W area, and had a great day of pinball at Kim’s place.  A big thank you to Kim for hosting, and for making sure everyone was well fed all day! 

Once we finished the first 7 match play rounds, we gave the players below the cut line the option of whether we ran a B division or not.  Since we didn’t end up with the required minimum number of players, we kept to one division, and paid out the top 8 spots there.  The final results were:

1    Ken Lapointe
2    John Flitton
3    Charles Blaquiere
4    Adam Hollander
5    Kirk Hutton
6    Dave Smith
7    Les Kowal
8    Andy McNab
9    Andrew Aiken
10    John Clegg
11    Josh Zilberberg
12    Larry Perreria
13    Chris Bardon
14    Mark Foy
15    Mike Luciani
16    Chris Draper
17    Ryan Matheson
18    David Newman
19    Myles Cameron
20    Karl Braun
21    Kim Darowski
22    Henrik Andersen
23    Brianne Darowski

Congrats to all the winners!  Here’s Ken, Charles, and Adam with their prizes (not pictured, John Flitton):

As usual, we’re off tomorrow because of today’s playoffs, but the next season starts up a week later at Nick’s place.  See everyone there for a brand new TOPL season!

Another TOPL season is in the books!  This summer was a little quieter than other years, but we still had a decent turnout this week, even though the season was pretty much decided already.  The scores are up on the PAPA site, and as expected, Adam has taken the season champ, and earned a replay into next season.  The Pinball Wizard trophy goes to Kim, who managed to pull ahead of Adam once the handicap came into play, so really Kim had a much stronger season.  Kim also wins a replay into next season.  Finally, even though John Clegg ended up ahead of Luch for the most improved stats, John only had 6 scores for the season.  The rules state that while a valid percentage is 5 weeks, for the purposes of most improved you need 7 scores, which means that Luch takes the Most Improved award, and the replay into next season.  Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks again to all of the hosts and players for another successful TOPL season!

Just a reminder that playoffs are this Sunday (Aug 20) at Kim’s place.  Match play starts at 11 AM, and doors open at 10:30.  The plan is the same as last time-16 match play rounds before playoffs, with an A/B division split after the first 7 rounds assuming we have enough people.  Remember that the playoffs are completely open, so if anyone wants to bring a friend to check out the league, coming to the playoffs is a great way to try an event.  Also, some of the top ranked players are going to be going to the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open to chase the WPPR/Circuit points, so it’s an opportunity for someone not named Adam Becker to win the TOPL event.

See everyone at Kim’s on Sunday!

Thanks to Adam for hosting this week, especially right after Pinburgh!  Congratulations to all the TOPL folks who make the trek down to Pittsburgh for Replay FX and the big tournament.  Sounds like everyone had a blast, and a lot of you did really well with a tough set of competitors.  Registration for next year should be open in December, and will likely fill up fast, so watch the calendar for details on when that opens up. 

Scores are up on the PAPA site and it looks like Adam has gotten to the point of being unreachable (again) for the season total.  Luch is also holding onto about a percentage point lead over John Clegg in the most improved category, so we’ll see how that turns out after the final week of the season. 

Next week, we’re off for the long weekend, and then we’re back to my place in 2 weeks.  Also, a reminder that the playoffs are on Aug 20 at Kim’s, then the CNEPC is the weekend after that, and the next TOPL season starts on Monday August 28.  It’s shaping up to be a great month for pinball in Toronto!  Enjoy the long weekend, and see everyone in 2 weeks to wrap up the regular season.

Thanks to Luch for hosting this week!  Scores are up on the PAPA site, and with only 2 weeks left in the season, it’s not looking likely that anyone is going to catch Adam for the season championship.  John Clegg has pulled into the lead for most improved though, which is looking like a close race this time around. 

Good luck to all the TOPL folks heading down to Pinburgh this weekend-it promises to be a great tournament!  We’re still playing at Adam’s next Monday though, so I’m looking forward to hearing about it first hand from the competitors there (if you’re not sick of playing competitive pinball by then). 

Thanks to Josh for hosting this week!  Scores are up in the usual place, and Adam has increased his lead over John and Brian.  He’s also tied with Kim taking the handicap into account, although Luch is still leading the Most Improved category.  With only three more weeks to go, there’s still room for things to change, but not a whole lot. 

Just a quick reminder that the playoffs did move up a week to August 20 to get out of the way of the CNE tournament happening the following weekend.  They’re still at Kim’s place, and details are on Facebook and Yahoo.  Have a great week everyone-we’re back to Luch’s next Monday!

Thanks to Jim for hosting this week!  Scores are up on the PAPA site, and we’re up to 28 players with a valid percentage.  Adam, JRF, and Brian are still at the top of the league standings, while Kim is still leading the handicap race.  Luch has taken a slim lead over Julian on most improved. 

I’ve also had people mention that they haven’t been receiving updates from the Yahoo group.  I’ve gone back in and double checked, and the email notification settings are enabled for the event, but as you can imagine, yahoo groups support isn’t great these days, since it’s a near-dead platform.  Just a reminder that the calendar is always available at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/topl/events, and the events are listed in the sidebar at topl.ca (although not with the addresses for privacy).  The Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/torontopinballleague/) is definitely the best place to get event dates, since it syncs to most calendar applications (e.g. Google Calendar), so it’s really easy to get it to show up on your phone.  I’ll continue to see what I can find out on the Yahoo issue though and try to make sure emails are going out to the group.  Otherwise, if anyone knows of another event management solution that can replace Yahoo groups, let me know and I’ll check it out. 

Next week we’re at Josh’s place-have a great week everyone!

Thanks to Nick for hosting this week, and for letting everyone check out a couple of rare new games.  This was the first time we’d had Batman 66 and Rob Zombie in league play, and even though it wasn’t playable, getting to see a Magic Girl prototype in person is something that not a lot of pinball fans have gotten to do.  Scores are up on the PAPA site, and Adam has pulled into the lead for the season.  Kim has regained the top spot for handicap, and Brian is still holding on to a slim lead in the Most Improved category. 

There’s no pinball next Monday for the long weekend, and then the week after that we’re at Jim’s place.  Have a great long weekend everyone, and see everyone in a couple of weeks!

Also, note that the date for playoffs has changed because of the CNE Pinball Championship happening the last weekend of August.  We moved our tournament up a week to clear the next weekend off to give people a chance to participate in this new event.  It has the potential to be one of the largest tournaments we’ve ever had in Toronto, and will be the closest thing we have to a pinball show in the city this year!

Thanks to Andrew for hosting this week in an almost exact replica of his old house!  Scores are up on the PAPA site, and Brian has maintained his lead for the season across all the categories. 

Next week we’re back out at Nick’s place-have a great week everyone!

Thanks to Adam for hosting this week!  Scores are up on the PAPA site, and Brian has pulled into the lead for points over the season, and is tied with Kim for the handicap lead.  Brian also has a pretty commanding lead for most improved, but it’s still early so we’ll see how long he can keep the streak up. 

Next week we’re at Andrew’s place, and take note that the address has changed.  I’ve also heard from a few people that you haven’t been getting the automated emails from the yahoo group, and I’m looking into what’s up with it.  Have a great week everyone!