Growing up in the Bay Area, Alameda was always considered sort of a culture-less boringville.  Yes, that certainly stereotypes the place but I don’t apologize for that because I think it’s true.  Bayfarm Island, in particular, feels like a suburb that got dropped right in the heart of the Bay.

Alameda: Exciting as rice cakes

When the Pacific Pinball Museum came along, Alameda doubled its cool points overnight.  Prior to that there was almost no reason to go to Alameda, outside of Mexican food till 3am at La Pinata or Juanitas.  Everything you can get in Alameda you can get somewhere else faster, cheaper and better.  I think maybe the residents like it that way.  If they look boring enough people will leave them alone.

A few years ago they renovated the theater on Park street and it’s pretty nice, the main theater especially.  Wouldn’t it be great if PPM could team up with them and put some classic EMs or Woodrails in the upper balcony?

We already know the City of Alameda has a bad taste in its mouth for these pesky museums in town. That deadbeat Hornet (which also turns out to be an important historic icon and landmark) and those foul-mouthed lazies over at the Alameda Museum (preserving what little we know of Alameda’s past). Now we have these newbies coming around to sniff out the funding: the Alameda Naval Air Museum and the Pacific Pinball Museum. Who asked these people to preserve American history? Who cares about what Alameda did up until now, it would just remind people about the ways the city messed up in the past.

Sarcasm aside, I truly believe a city museum is a link to the community’s spirit. The fact that city government looks at local museums as potential threats to their budget speaks to an entrenched fear of culture and free thought in Alameda.

http://alamedasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7772&Itemid=11

New from New Potato Tech.  They also have one for the iPhone.

Found this video today.  The cabinets certainly are slick.  Can we expect to see these in arcades at some point?  Or is it just an elaborate art project?

Here’s the web site affiliated with the uploader of the vid: http://www.coddart.com/

EDIT: I found more info.  I think these are probably for some sort of promotion for a company called eTorQ.

http://www.etorq.com.br/

http://www.autoclase.com.ar/wp/etorq-el-nombre-de-los-nuevos-motores-de-fiat/

Found this so-so video.  It’s definitely better than the Leo videos, which are just comedy gold, but seriously: quarters or tokens are “optional”?

Click here to watch the vid.

More here: http://randyhess.blogspot.com/

Thanks to http://blogpinball.blogspot.com for the link.

Can’t get enough Ironman or Spiderman?  This might help.

If anyone gets this game or had a chance to beta test it, please post your thoughts!

About a month ago I ran a Pin Golf for the Backbone Entertainment Party at Playland-not-at-the-Beach.  I remarked to Richard Tuck (the main honcho at Playland) that while the turnout was lackluster the people who played really liked the format.  A week later I got a call from Denise, Playland’s media promotion person, asking me for details about the Pinball tournament for their upcoming Pinball Weekend of the 13/14th.

So that’s how you find out you’re running a pinball tournament sometimes.  And that’s how Richard Tuck thinks: Idea?  GO!  I sort of like that – just come up with an idea and let’s do it.

Pin Golf seemed to work so I ran with it.  The better players actually finish first, so no epic games of superlong length making the schedule uncertain.  I decided to use Bowen’s “bonus format” which has novices playing with experts but novices are eligible for their own, separate final.  I also tried out a poker chip queue system to see if it would make that duty easier (it did).  The combination of the two gives everyone a chance at the money, sweetens the pot, mixes newer and experienced players, and creates a better social mix.  Everyone seemed to like it.  It made the tourney run faster and didn’t lock players into pre-set groups.

When used in the tournament, each chip had a label with the player's name on it and each slot was labeled for a particular game.

In Pin Golf, your goal is to complete objectives for each game using the fewest number of balls, similar to strokes in golf.  Often times, the objective is just a certain score, but I wanted to make it more interesting so I had players activate certain features in some cases.  For example, on Fun House, players could either activate all the STEPS awards, collect all goals on the Mystery Mirror, or score 5 Million.  On Creature from the Black Lagoon, players had to activate Video Mode with eight shots to the right ramp (and the ramp was very difficult to backhand on this particular Creature).

Tragedy struck right at the end of qualifying.  With only two players left on Fun House the Mirror scoop broke off!  What to do?  Have everyone play a different game?  Average these two players other scores for this one?  I chose option C: lots of tape.

My first pinball repair. Hopefully my last.

Qualifier scores:

Andrei Massenkoff    28
Chris Heileg    33
Mads Kristensen    38
Tim Hansen    42
Josh Lehan    42
Alex Samonte    43
James Vierra    46
Eugene Gershtein    50
Chris Gershtein    55
Mark Altvater    58
David Joud    59
Nina Ghisseli    60
Jeannie Rodriguez    60
Mitch Tunick    67
Tony Escobar    69
David Strong    77
Teresa Altavater    78
Nick Loizeaux    85
Roman Edwards    87
Spencer Tai    90

NOTE: James Vierra was eligible for Novice but qualified in Open
David Joud was disqualified for Novice for taking 2nd at the Avatar Launch Party

Plaques for the top 3 finishers in Kids, Novice and Open. Playland provided $185 worth of passes to the Novice and Kids Tournaments and the Open Division had a $200 cash pot.

Kids:

1st Place: Peter Loizeaux – $50 family pass to Playland and Plaque
2nd: Peter Williams – $25 family pass to Playland and Plaque
3rd: Bella Gershtein – $15 pass and Plaque

Novice Final:

1st Place : Chris Gershtein – $50 family pass to Playland and Plaque
2nd: Mark Atvater – $25 family pass to Playland and Plaque
3rd: Nina Ghiselli – $15 pass to Playland and Plaque

OPEN SEMI- FINAL:

The top 8 squared off on Scared Stiff, with no preference to seeding, random order.  The goal was to light at least 3 modes and light Cast a Spell.  The result of that was to divide players into two groups of four:

Jim Vierra, Chris Heileg, Eugene Gershtein and Alex Samonte were knocked out, and now playing for WPPR points (World Pinball Player Ranking)  and an impomtu $5 side pot.  Not to mention, two players (Chris and Jim) were in the East Bay Pinball League and the other two were from the Bay Area Pinball Association, so it was also a matter of league honor.

5 – 8:

5: Eugene Gershtein

6: Alex Samonte

7: Chris Heileg

8: Jim Vierra

Eugene and Alex emerged victorious on behalf of BAPA.

OPEN  FINAL:

Andrei Massenkoff, Tim Hansen, Mads Kristensen, and Josh Lehan are the top 4.  They are all in the money at this point and playing White Water to beat the cash and WPPRs out of each other.

The goal is to activate Bigfoot Hotfoot.  This took 5 completions of the Big Foot standup targets.  Tim opens it up with a HUGE hole-in-one.

I thought the tourney was over right there.  I was ready to hand Tim the plaque and go home.  Only one other player in qualifier did this goal in a single ball.  But then Andrei Massenkoff rose up and activated.  BOOM > hole in one.  Josh Lehan exclaims “oh wow” and Mads Kristensen utters several Danish curses.  That forces the tie-breaker.

Tim and Andrei face off on Roller Coaster Tycoon.  The Goal: earn 2500 guests.  Mads and Josh fight for 3rd.

Tim and Andrei tie again with holes-in-one.  Double tie-breaker!

Meanwhile, Mads bested Josh for 3rd.

Last stop: Circus Chimera – a re-themed Ballyhoo EM.  The Goal is a mere 2000 points.  Tim and Andrei square off.  Both players get early bad balls, but then Tim makes a foray with 1300+, maybe next ball?  But then Andrei has a ball, an incredible ball, and really, it was a thing to see – many close, precise saves and clutch grabs on the ball to send it back up the playfield.  A truly intense final, no easy points in this game – Andrei left the game shaking, rattled and slightly confused with the effort.  It was up to Tim to equal… but…

ANDREI MASSENKOFF HAS WON THE BATTLE FOR THE BAY.   HUGE CONGRATS TO ANDREI!!

Open Final:

8th: Jim Vierra
7th: Chris Heileg
6th: Alex Samonte
5th: Eugene Gershtein
4th: Josh Lehan

3rd Place: Mads Kristensen $40 + Plaque

Tim Hansen - Second Place $60 + Plaque

Andrei Massenkoff - Grand Champion $80 + Plaque

Thanks to:

Richard, Frank, and Kendra of Playland-not-at-the-Beach for hosting, promoting and providing prizes.

Mark and Teresa Atvater for help setting up.

Mads Kristensen for help with game goals.

Eugene Gershtein and Josh Lehan for scorekeeping.

Jeannie Rodriguez for help with cleanup.

Don’t forget there are TWO pinball tournaments this Sunday, Nov. 14 and you can attend them both.  See the Events listing on the right for details.

On the surface this might not seem to affect pinball at all, however, if redemption prizes could not exceed the play price, the arcade market in CA would likely cease to exist.  Redemption is often one of the biggest money earners in today’s arcades.  Can you imagine anyone playing a crane game for 50 cents or a dollar to win a pack of gum?  The whole reason to play is the anticipation of winning something of value.

In April and May this year, Snyder intervened with Los Angeles sheriffs to secure their support for amended language to AB 1753, a state bill that was intended to outlaw slot machines that masqueraded as skill games or amusement devices. The bill’s original language was so broad that industry members feared it could effectively ban all redemption and merchandising games.

Source: Vending Times click here

The bill’s language would have restricted the value of prizes awarded by amusement machines to an amount no greater than the play price. Operators had feared that this provision would have an extremely negative impact on redemption games and skill-based prize merchandisers in California – in the worst case, outlawing this kind of equipment altogether.

Source:

LA Sheriff’s Dept. Backs Revised Redemption Bill, Snyder Reports | Articles | Vending Features | Vending Times Inc..

Data East (now STERN) service bulletin for Time Machine.  Thanks to Josh Lehan for bringing this piece of awesome to our attention.

Mads Kristensen, our visiting Danish player, is not surprisingly gloating about this.  He also became a huge fan of Time Machine after first playing it a couple months ago and has the Grand Champion Score at the Pacific Pinball Museum.  So I’m going to work this SB into some sort of graphic and make T shirts out of it.  Anyone that beats Mads at the Pin Golf tournament this Sunday will get a free shirt.

Click the picture for the full PDF on STERN’s site.

First there will be a Pin Golf Tournament at Playland not at the Beach starting at 10.  Then there will be a second (fundraiser) tournament at Pacific Pinball Museum/Lucky Ju Ju that evening.

Outside my window is what Winter looks like in the Bay Area, so I made some plaques.

See you next Sunday, Nov. 14 for the tournament.