Game Preserve Tuesday Three Strikes, January 12

Note: Due to recent events, Shawn no longer recommends participation in Space City Pinball League events until further notice. Please see this post for more information and the Bayou City Pinball League website for alternatives.
Unfortunately due to events occurring after this post was made, Shawn is leading a boycott of The Game Preserve among other businesses associated with one of the owners. See this post for further details.

Not one of my better tournaments, so I’m going to go through it very quickly and summarize most of what I remember. TL;DR: I only lasted four rounds, meaning I avoided a strike in only one round; the rest of the tournament also went by fairly quickly.

Round 1 was Charlie’s Angels with Matt Rodon, Holden, and Fred Revnew (I would play first). We were playing this title as a two-player game since there were issues with the fourth player score display. On this game I’ve put up scores well into the hundreds of thousands on this game before, and even rolled over the score counter a couple of times. All of that meant jack spit this evening as I would put up a truly cringeworthy 36,610. Matt would put up a more respectable 205,420. Holden would put up a rather lacking 109,250, and Fred would seal the deal with a 327,910, most of it on one ball. So that’s strike one.

Round 2 would send me over to Star Wars with, Fred Revnew, Kevin Tooley, and Holden (I would be playing third). I never really had much of a chance. I was able to put up 84.7M+ after two balls, but Fred and Kevin signed off with 478.6M+ and 291.0M+, so my third ball would have needed to be a minimum of 207M and change for me to possibly be safe. It wasn’t, in fact, it was a real turd and I’d sign off with 98.4M+ good for third place and strike number two.

Round 3 would finally drop a bit of better luck on me. Holden, Dillon Neal, and Alyssa would be my opponents (I would play second). I was a bit worried at the start of ball 3 as it was a fairly close game. Holden had already wrapped up with 74.1M+, which could be no better than third. Dillon had 89.2M+ for the lead at that point, and Alyssa was way back with 21.0M+, both with a ball still left to play. I would call it a wrap with 132.8M+, Dillon would put a lid on it at 172.4M+, leaving Alyssa, who I had never seen play in a tournament prior to tonight, though to that point she had been the weak link in the group. I got a bit nervous, but finally got to exhale as she signed off with only 49.5M+.

Round 4 would bring on Game of Thrones, with Josh Merlet and Hunter Reed (I would play third). Hunter ran away with it posting a 288.4M+, Josh had put a lid on it with 17.4M+. I would start ball 3 with 7.2M+, not a high score by any means, but it should have been fairly easy for me to dodge a third strike here. Emphasis on “should”. I’d end the night with the third strike here putting up only 15.1M+ and give Josh another round that arguably, he didn’t earn (though he would bust out the following round anyway).

My finish: ninth place of 12 players. You’d think after the previous tournament I would have done better than that against many of the same players.

Eventually, Fred and Jack Revnew would agree to split first place after eight rounds, as it was getting late and they were the only two players left. I’d hang around and put in a few more games. Quick summary of the (better) non-tournament games that night:

  • Frogger: 17,290
  • Charlie’s Angels: 1,441,590 (where was this during the tourney?!)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy: 109.7M+
  • Centipede: 34,857
  • Twilight Zone: 291.7M+
  • Tri Zone: 212,960

Arcade visit summary through January 9

Unfortunately due to events occurring after this post was made, Shawn is leading a boycott of The Game Preserve among other businesses associated with one of the owners. See this post for further details.

Once again, most of these will be a bit light on detail but there will be a few highlights to comment on.

The Game Preserve (The Woodlands), January 1:

  • Star Trek (Stern): 8.49M+
  • Twilight Zone: 66.4M+
  • Dancing Lady: 416
  • Spy Hunter (pinball): 1.83M+
  • White Water: 228.2M+
  • Star Wars (Stern): 280.6M+
  • Game of Thrones (Pro): 97.49M+
  • Q*Bert (video): 29,835
  • Charlie’s Angels: 392,380
  • Rollergames: 2.23M+ (slightly blurry, but this game does not show previous scores easily)
  • The Simpsons (pinball): 739,040
  • Lord of the Rings: 6.10M+
  • Metallica: 4.40M+
  • Guardians of the Galaxy: 561.9M+, high score #4
  • Marble Madness: 19,630
  • Tri Zone: 347,050
  • Arkanoid: 17,230
  • Nibbler: 51,630
  • Flying Carpet: 3,689 (may not be accurate, scoring reels are having issues on this game lately)
  • NBA Fastbreak: 57
  • Doctor Who: 428.4M+

The main highlights here were White Water, Spy Hunter, Doctor Who, and Guardians of the Galaxy. On White Water, I had a pretty good multiball run as well as getting a high bonus multiplier early on (and on this game, the bonus multiplier is automatically held for each succeeding ball). Spy Hunter was another case of getting key features lit and a high end of ball bonus to boot. Doctor Who, if I remember right, I had at least one good multiball, possibly two, with the jackpots helping immensely (it also helps that the bonus multiplier shot in this game is always lit and relatively easy to keep hitting). Guardians of the Galaxy, I remember having a good Groot Multiball run or two, possibly an Orb Multiball as well. All in all a pretty good evening.

Speedy’s, January 3:

  • Quick & Crash: 7.735 sec (started off great but had a lousy stage 3 and 4)
  • Iron Maiden: 102.8M+
  • Deadpool: 21.15M+
  • The Munsters: 13.22M+
  • Jurassic Park: 108.7M+

The Game Preserve, January 8:

  • The Simpsons (pinball): 1.76M+
  • Paragon: 96,640
  • Guardians of the Galaxy: 620.9M+, high score #2
  • Star Wars (Stern): 100.3M+
  • NBA Fastbreak: 31
  • Tri Zone: 351,730
  • No Fear: 276.0M+
  • Charlie’s Angels: 896,750
  • Back to the Future: 1.87M+
  • Q*Bert (video): 32,845
  • Revenge From Mars: 11.41M+
  • Doctor Who: 262.6M+
  • Twilight Zone: 283.2M+
  • Centipede: 45,006
  • Star Trek: 68.98M+
  • Frogger: 13,700
  • Flying Carpet: 2,129 (again, may or may not be accurate)

Guardians of the Galaxy, I remember starting Groot Multiball twice, Orb Multiball once, and Cherry Bomb Multiball (after getting four modes) which is a six-ball multiball with continuous ball save until the mode is over (60 seconds I think?).

Speedy’s, January 9:

  • The Munsters: 8.7M+
  • TMNT Final Battle: 7.58M+ (Final Battle champion at the time)
  • Batman 66: 41.7M+
  • Star Wars: 161.2M+
  • Q*Bert: 31,600
  • Super Pac-Man: 110,090
  • TMNT (normal game): 22.34M+, high score #3
  • Iron Maiden: 199.4M+, high score #3 (Hallowed Be Thy Name Champion 85.5M+)
  • Airline Pilots: 64 points, 7:47 beginner; 74 points, 6:12 intermediate

 

The last arcade visits of 2020

I am way behind on these, so these will be a bit light on detail and picture heavy. The good news is the next two from January will be more recent.

Speedy’s on 12/22, highest scores on the day (with one non-high score where a record was set):

  • JP: 43.9M+
  • Batman 66: 639.6M+, Bat Phone champion 18M, Penguin 95 champion 246.1M+, Shame 115/116 champion 74.3M+
  • Iron Maiden: 76.4M+
  • Deadpool: 28.3M+
  • TMNT: 25.0M+, Donatello champion, grand champion
  • The Munsters: Zap champion 880K (in a game with a 20.0M+ score), 90.7M+, high score #1, Munster Madness champion 21.8M+, Bonus champion 12.1M+
  • Super Pac-Man: 110,340

Speedy’s on 12/24, high scores on the day (apologies for the reflections on some of these, they are the best quality pictures I could get):

  • Batman 66: 30.5M+
  • TMNT: 10.4M+
  • JP: 131.8M+
  • Iron Maiden: 267.1M+, high score #1, Trooper Multiball champion 39.33M, Spinner master 315, Bonus Meltdown master 26.656M
  • Deadpool: 169.6M+
  • The Munsters: Herman champion 6.9M+, (in 32.9M+ game) 36.4M+
  • Quick & Crash: 5.325 seconds, 6th place
  • Star Wars: 165.3M+
  • Millipede: 72,573

EinStein’s in Richmond, 12/30 (pardon the holiday lights in some of the pictures, that’s just how the arcade was decorated for the season):

    • Wizard of Oz: 44,341
    • Total Nuclear Annihilation: 599k+; Reactor 2 Speed Run, 42 seconds (yes, I “SKQuashed” the previous record)
    • Sorcerer: 569k+
    • Batman 66: 133.4M+
    • Stranger Things: 173.5M+
    • Paragon: 101k+
    • TMNT: 6.3M+

Speedy’s on 12/31:

  • TMNT: 18.0M+, high score #4
  • The Munsters: 4.3M+
  • JP: 79.5M+
  • Iron Maiden: 23.3M+
  • Star Wars: 39.5M+
  • Quick & Crash: 6.197 sec (place unknown, didn’t take)
  • Some flight sim game I don’t recall the name of: 74 points, 3:41 flight time
  • Deadpool: 111.0M+