Thanks to Luch for hosting this week in the basement that keeps expanding, but somehow still has a pool table in it.  Scores are up on the PAPA site, and the standings are still pretty close.  Adam, Josh, Jack, Steve, and Mike are all between 50 and 56 points, which is a gap that can definitely be made up in the second half of the season, so things are far from decided.  On the most improved side of things, Ian has pulled ahead of Josh with a strong 16% jump. 

Next week we’re at Andrew’s place in Vaughan.  Also, the calendar for the rest of the season is up except for the playoffs, which will be on Apr 24.  We’re just working on a location now, so as soon as we have confirmation, that’ll be on the Yahoo and Facebook calendars.  Have a great week everyone!

Thanks to Adam for hosting us again this week!  The weather meant that turnout was down a little from last week, but still a good number of people to make the drive up to Keswick.  Results are up on the PAPA site, and now that we’re 5 weeks in, the most improved stats are starting to come online.  As it stands now, Josh is looking to be the man to beat, but it’s still early going, so lots can happen in the next 9 weeks of play. 

Next Monday we’re out at Jim’s place-have a great week everyone!

Four weeks into a new season, and we have a second new host to add to the TOPL rotation.  We had a great night at Josh’s place this week, and got to play a couple of unique games to the league, so a huge thanks to Josh for having us over.  Scores for this week are up on the PAPA site.  At this point, keep in mind that the new software is more aggressive about the three dropped weeks (in that it’ll drop them right at the beginning of the season), which is why the “adjusted points” are basically only your best week now.  The totals are there though, and the adjusted scores will start to become much more meaningful after a couple more weeks.  Next week we’ll also be able to start tracking Most Improved.

See everyone at Adam’s next week!

Thanks to Nick for hosting us for the first week back in 2016!  A good turnout for the first week back, and a great chance to get back into weekly pinball.  Scores for this week are up in the usual place. 

We have another first time host coming up next week when we play at Josh’s place, which is pretty central for everyone.  Have a great week everyone!

It’s not very often that we get a new host location for the league, so a big thanks goes out to Don for hosting this week.  Not only does does Don’s place give us a new location, but he has a great game lineup, with some unique titles that we don’t get to play anywhere else.  Scores for this week are up on the PAPA site.  We also brought back the mystery score giveaway this week, and gave away sets of headphones to Pete, and new member Mario on his first night out!  Thanks again to Myles for the donation. 

This was also our last league night of 2015, so enjoy the break from weekly pinball, have a happy new year, and hopefully we’ll see everyone at Nick’s place on Jan 4.

It’s been 2 years since the initial implementation of the new leadership structure, so that means it is time to open up the discussion on elections for the Leadership team of the Toronto Pinball League.

For those that are new the league has 3 positions of leadership.

Treasurer – Currently held by Mike Luciani
Score Keeper – Currently held by Chris Bardon
President – Currently held by Adam Becker

Every 2 years we give members within the league an opportunity to step up and say they would like to volunteer their time to help make the league better for everyone.

With that being said all 3 incumbents would like to continue to volunteer their time for the league.

But if anyone would like to step up and volunteer their time for any of these positions that would trigger an election.

The details of how an election would work can be found in our rules located here: http://topl.ca/topl-rules/

In order to be considered the person would need to submit their application via the Yahoo Group, Facebook or replaying to the post on the webpage stating which position they would like to volunteer for. This open nomination will be available until Dec 21st at 12pm EST.

The existing leadership team is happy to continue to move TOPL forward and volunteer their time but in our continuing effort to make leadership activities more transparent this is a necessary step in that process.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Your TOPL Leadership team
Chris, Mike and Adam

Thanks to everyone who filled out the survey that we put up!  We got a good number of responses, and some good feedback that we’ll be considering as we plan the next year for TOPL.  The question of whether or not to go to 14 weeks was pretty decisive:

It also seems that lots of people want to play most Monday nights:

The “other” responses had some great comments like this one: “Playing the Monday after a pinball intensive weekend like ReplayFX or Allentown is better than not playing for 13 days. Somehow, I could muster the energy. “ 

In the past, we’ve skipped the Monday after major events like the PAPA world championships, Pinburgh, and Expo, just because we wanted to encourage people to attend, and there were only a few decent sized pinball tournaments every year.  These days though, the IFPA calendar has something virtually every week, and while there is certainly a large contingent of players who travel for tournaments, there are a lot who don’t or are unable to who still want to play pinball.  We’re also not scheduling competing TOPL events during other tournaments, and would encourage everyone to represent TOPL in as many events as possible. 

As for the playoff dates, it looks like Sundays still have the edge if we factor in the “don’t care” responses:

So, based on all of this, I’ve put together a revised schedule for the next few years that you can check out here.  There are a few changes from what we’re currently doing.  After this current season, we’re running a 14 week season (and in one case, 13), and the only Mondays we’re skipping are the Monday after playoffs, and anything that’s a long weekend.  We’re still allowing players to drop their 3 lowest scores, and league fees will remain the same.  This also means that playoffs and season breaks will be at or very close to the end of April, the end of August, and the end of December every year.  For 2016, we’ll keep the dropped week for PAPA in April.  Conveniently, ReplayFX has been held at the same time as the August long weekend in 2015 and 2016, so if that continues, we’ll probably get a skip week in there as well for the foreseeable future if you really don’t want to have to play after driving back from Pittsburgh. 

And just as we finish one TOPL season, the next one starts up right away.  Thanks to Kim for hosting a big crowd this week, including an incredible 6 new members.  Welcome out guys, and hopefully you had a great time.  Sorry it was a little chaotic getting everyone signed up, but it all worked out in the end.  Scores are up on the PAPA site, and with only one week in the books, a player who isn’t Adam is in the lead.  Fresh off his 2nd place finish in the playoffs, Josh is tied for the lead with Henrik.  The question, of course, is how long will this hold for? 

Next week is going to be our last week of 2015, and it’s at a new location: Don Arpa’s.  Remember to check the facebook and yahoo groups for event details, including addresses for host locations.  Have a great week everyone!

Another TOPL playoff is complete!  Thanks to Luch for hosting and arranging food-everyone was definitely well fed through the day.  We played a full 20 rounds of match play, followed by a playoff for the top 8 spots based on their performance today.  Here’s what the final standings looked like going into the playoffs:

If you want to check out the round by round breakdowns, the tournament is still online at https://matchplay.events/app/tournaments/883. 

After the playoff rounds, the final standings and prizes were:

1. Adam Becker ($300)
2. Josh Zilberberg ($200)
3. Mike Luciani ($150)
4. Brian Trenholm  ($100)
5. John Flitton ($90)
6. Andrew Aiken ($80)
7. Eddie Dorazio  ($70)
8. Ian Harrower ($60)

Congrats to all the winners.  Adam took home three trophies this season:

Josh, Luch, and Brian also had their best ever finishes in a TOPL event:

Thanks for another great season everyone!  Next season starts up again on Dec 7th at Kim’s, so hope to see everyone there!