Thanks to a group of dedicated and passionate pinball players here in Northeast Ohio, folks are starting to flip out again over Pinball at places like the Superelectric Pinball Parlor on West 78th Street, Kid-force Collectibles in Berea, and The Happy Dog in Gordon Square.
Guests
Brian Hill, Cleveland Pinball League
Sean Watterson, Happy Dog bar owner
Ben Haehn, Superelectric Pinball Parlor
Don Johnson, Kidforce Pinball League
Michelle McCleester, tournament player & collector
John Delzoppo, tournament player & collector
Thanks again to Luch for the Pizza, Beer, and Pinball-always a great combination. We had another good turnout this week, with two new members-Stephan and Richard. Welcome to the league guys-hope to see you out again soon!
Another TOPL season is underway! Thanks to Jim for hosting a great kickoff week, and for having everyone out to play his great collection of machines, with some games that we don’t have the opportunity to play anywhere else. Also a welcome to Sam, who made it out to his first league night, and a welcome back to Bob and Jeff, who are back after taking a couple of seasons off.
First off, a big thanks to Kim for hosting everyone all day this past Sunday for the season playoffs. We had a decent turnout with 22 players, and a good solid 6 hours of match play to qualify. At the cutoff, the final standings were:
Rank
Player
Total Points
1
Zaharatos, John (15)
17
2
Kowal, Les (11)
16
3
Becker, Adam (1)
14
4
Bernard, Ciaran
14
5
Brdar, Barry (14)
13
6
Blaquiere, Charles (13)
12
7
Manolis, Zeus (40)
12
8
Flitton, John (2)
10
9
Josef, Adam (32)
10
10
Clegg (B), John (21)
9
11
Luciani, Mike (4)
9
12
Bernard, Andrew (22)
9
13
Frolic, Chris (5)
8
14
Newman, David (6)
8
15
Cameron, Myles (7)
8
16
Smith, David
8
17
Wilks (B), Jim (3)
7
18
Kyriakoulias , John (15)
7
19
Bardon, Chris (9)
7
20
Raymond, Stephane (25)
7
21
Darowski (B), Kim (10)
5
22
Brown, Simon (32)
4
Some surprises in the standings to be sure, but none as fun to watch as the 9 year old Ciaran, who managed to beat most of the top players though the day.
We had an off-season Fun Night at Luch’s. We tried a different format than normal, players had their scores ranked against all players, not just their group. Because of the small number of players, we also doubled up on games and played 8 games for the session. We also welcomed back Shaun to his first ToPL related night in some time and hope he can join us more next season. Congrats to Shaun for coming back and coming out in first.
Another regular season is in the books! Thanks to everyone who came out this week, even though some of the outcomes were already set. Remember that there’s still order selection advantage at the playoffs for higher ranked players though, and as of next season, there are WPPR points up for grabs in the regular season, so all the more reason to come out more often.
Also wanted to say welcome to Patrick, who was in town from Sweden, and trying to settle a bet to “win a tournament in Canada within 10 years”. He did manage to come first in his group, which might count, but the Walking dead launch this Friday might prove to be the more definitive win.
Thanks to Nick for having everyone out to his place this week for pinball and 3d projector demos, and another special thanks to Kev for bringing the Samosas again! I can’t remember the last time we only had 4 groups playing, but with only 16 people, it meant that everyone played the same 4 machines, just like the TOPL of old. Also, welcome to Ross (Russ’ friend) who made it out for his first league night this week. Hope to see you again when you can make it!
