I had a blast at the CPC this weekend. Looks like I will need to wait until next year to get my chance for top prize (ok, maybe longer because some of these guys are real good!). My first goal was to avoid coming in last place, that worked out, phew. Then I decided to tell myself, go for the top half of qualifiers, so far so good but will need to wait until the final standings are out. Anything else is a bonus. This is a big tournament with over 124 participants when I last checked. Impressive!

I have to say that I liked to regular updates that were projected onto the wall, game by game and overall standings, for everyone to see. That helps with the strategizing and I am sure, getting the players to go buy in for that elusive game that they are trying to master to get those few precious points. This tourney is a cash cow and it keeps enticing you to go one more time and I mean that in a positive way. If anyone thinks that pinball is dead, I think that they are just not talking with the right people. The players are here to play serious pinball & I saw some parents bring their children in and the kids were having an amazing time on all of the other games that were free play, very nice! The kid's ping pong was a nice touch!

The not so good; Dale Jr and NBA. I do not like those games at all and I am totally ok if I do not play them ever again. As for the Batman and Shrek, they are fun to play and thank you to Squid for telling me the rules. Squid is like a pinball trainer, helping direct me with what to shoot for throughout the game.

Overall, it was a good time and great chance to meet up with everyone. Looking forward to next year's tourney!

It was great to meet up with everyone down at STARBURST.too many to name!

Had a great time playing THROW DOWN at BALLYBOY'S after with TSLAM,SPARKY ,VENGENCE a guy named BOWEN KERINS?  

Talked to GARY STERN for a bit,always great to talk to.

Great little road trip that turned into a fun time.

HUGE THANKS TO BALLY BOY ONCE AGAIN.

Quoted from Ricker

The not so good; Dale Jr and NBA. I do not like those games at all and I am totally ok if I do not play them ever again.

I agree with Dale Jr.  Never liked Nascar.   But I think I will be in the minority to say that I enjoyed NBA.  I only played it for a limited time so I would like to try it again elsewhere to make a better judgement.   I was expecting it to really suck, with all the negative press its been having.

VENGECE 12 AND ANCIENTGAMES 18  WERE IN THE TOP 20 SAT night.
https://www.theplaydiumstore.com/TournamentPage.aspx?Topic=Tournament1

ALSO that guy name BOWEN (nice guy) #4

I went to SB not expecting to play in the tournament, but I'm glad I gave it a shot, just to have the experience.  I guess it's the way most, or perhaps all tournaments are organized, but the idea that games can be repeatedly played until a better score is attained seems odd, at least to a newbie.   I suppose the nature of the qualifying rounds is to generate revenue and THEN the actual competitive portion of the tourney takes place with the top 32.  

I feel it would be better if everyone just paid $50 or some other higher amount and had "x" number of games on each machine.  This would add a little credibility to the qualifying process.  I would be one of the first to suffer, since I'm not a strong player, but at least when I finished 39th out of 100 or whatever, I would know that that was where I actually belonged.

Just the naive observations of a rookie.

Had a great time.  Wish I could have stayed around longer to try another round.... my first was crap-ola (which I'm slightly better than pure crap-ola) but I was pressed for time to get home.  Didn't even get a chance to play the DK tourney.... who won?  What was their score?
Daniel

I had a good time despite the fact that the pinball machines were far too easy. I don't know about you but but the thought of playing for hours on one ball doesn't appeal to me so I walked away before even finishing my first ball on each machine and let the other balls drain ... and I STILL placed 51st. Sad.

Quoted from OTTOgd

the thought of playing for hours on one ball doesn't appeal to me so I walked away before even finishing my first ball on each machine and let the other balls drain ... and I STILL placed 51st. Sad.

Begs the question...How did you let the other balls drain if you had already walked away ?   Are you just THAT good ?   

I did terribly at the tournament (woo hoo!  80th!), but I had a good time.. meeting the usual suspects, and a few new ones as well.    Sorry if I didn't say hi to everyone I was hoping to.. I was running around a lot picking up supplies.  that reminds me, no great deals at the parts store this time 'round.  I hope they bring back the "no tax" deal at next auction  

Quoted from mrniceguy

Begs the question...How did you let the other balls drain if you had already walked away ?   Are you just THAT good ?   

I let the Red Shirts has some fun at my expense. I'm just like that; I like to give back ... mrniceguy. Hmmf. Kinda like Little John's moniker, I suppose.

I had a great time.  Popped my tournament cherry.  I was happy to be in the top 30 but i ended up loosing in the first round, best of 3, 3rd game, final ball.  It was a great experience and hopefully i can take part next year.

GREAT JOB MIKE!
How were the CANADIANS doing when you left?

I have no idea?  I didn't know anyone except for Adam.  There seemed to be a few groups of guys chatting amongst themselves.  I just waited and watched.  I played a Cdn from TO by the name of Michael Hammlinson I believe?  Nice guy.  Hope he does well.

How was the auction?

This was my first time attending a pin event in Toronto. I had a great time and enjoyed meeting Vengeance, mrniceguy, Ricker, Bally Boy, Pinballed, Bish, H5P5, and Eden Stamm. I was able to make it out to either of the Saturday night events but I had a great time at SB. I finished 43. I just couldn't bear having to play NBA and Dale Jr anymore. I spent ALL of Saturday playing those two games since my scores on them are rubbish, and they were not improving. I liked NBA the first time I played it, but the fun of hitting the hoop wears off fast. Plus, I got a ball stuck twice, two games in a row! Normally that sucks, but in a competition?!

I loved playing Shrek and Batman, but since I did well on them on my first play, I couldn't justify paying to play them again. I did so well on Batman I was ranked #3, right behind Eden Stamm at the end of Friday. But by the end of the qualifications I was ranked 28 on it. Boy, competition is TOUGH!

Update: I forgot poolman! Sorry, nice seeing you again. In fairness, I met you at my place last year when you bought my T2, and I was just listing new people I met

Does anyone know who won ?

The tournament is STILL going on.

The final is between Sean O'neil ( A TOPL member - go sean) His high scores initials are "DOH" I'm sure you have seem them if you have played a pin anywhere in the GTA  vs. Cayle George ( ranked #12 in world from the Seatle area.

Quoted from igorsr

How was the auction?

I was disapointed, thier SB's were set too high for some machines. I figure they were thinking with the tourney theyd have more people to buy, so higher staring bids would generate more cash. Auction highlight...the lady putting a Juke in the trunk of her ( i think it was a Toyota). I have a pic , just gotta figure how to get it from the wifes fone to my pooter.

Quoted from briguy

Auction highlight...the lady putting a Juke in the trunk of her ( i think it was a Toyota). I have a pic , just gotta figure how to get it from the wifes fone to my pooter.

Actually, it turns out that was our very own MAACA member John Jones and his wife.. but I'm sure they got it home thanks to B1 helping them out.  Terry, you've gotta stop being so nice to people or it's going to hurt your reputation  

Anybody hear who won yet? Are we keeping it Canadian again this year? Well, it was alot easier to keep it in Canada last year being only open to Canadians!

I left at 7pm right when the finals were about to start. If they chose NBA it should be quick. If they chose Batman, they'll still be playing Monday night. The semi and quarter final games saw some pretty high scores and long Batman games. I wouldn't say the games were too easy based on one game on one machine. Truth be told, some machines always play easier than others, but one game is no pressure. Having three good qualifying scores and one NBA turd score and trying to improve it (although mine was Batman, I saw alot of attempts at NBA by alot of the same players) THATS pressure. Getting back to back 300 million plus in the semi finals and losing! Thats hard. And if you stayed long enough to play NBA, you wouldnt be thinking easy  

Well, did better this year than last year. Last year I was just happy to qualify. This year I saw quite a bit fewer Canadian names in the top 30 so I feel it was a bigger accomplishment this year just to qualify. And I didnt have to spend $95 as some of the dudes who wanted to make sure not only did they qualify, but wanted to bump their positions for the bye's. Which, was probably a smart decision on some part, Some of them qualified guarenteed into the money but then had to play cold against players going through the other rounds and I'll tell you what...I think that made a difference as the some of the higher seeded players lost out in one round. I know I was warming up as the tournament wwent on. I got beat by Trent in the second round but I still had good games. He was better and he was also more familiar with the game than I was, thats for sure. But I still put up a good fight. If I made the 3rd round, at this point I dont think I could have competed with the constant 300 mil point Batman games. So thats about as far as I deserved to get for now. But, like last year, I picked up a few things along the way. Some of the things I picked up from last year helped me improve this years result.

If I was ranked higher and could have chosen the game, I would have chosen NBA. I finally figured out how to score and what to stay away from and its a good leveler of the playfield, so to speak. Scores were not high for NBA and people are just not that familiar with it yet.

All in all I had a good time at the tournament. Played good games, dealt with the pressure and went down swinging. Can't wait for next year!

Stan

Quoted from machine.slave

Actually, it turns out that was our very own MAACA member John Jones and his wife.. but I'm sure they got it home thanks to B1 helping them out.  Terry, you've gotta stop being so nice to people or it's going to hurt your reputation  

Ahh Kitchener is on my way to London..well sorta I had to stop in Hamilton first...but its all good, They gave me beer too
I just seriously in good conscience (shocking! I know but, I do have one) I could not let them drive home like that, and my truck was empty anyway. Thanks again to Brock for your help with the Juke, and serioulsy for ensuring my truck was empty...1st time I ever had buyers remorse before buying

Don't worry about my rep... I am sure 99% of people will still think/call me a prick

Sure will.... Prick

lol jk most of us like you .. mostly...

Quoted from b1buwg97

Don't worry about my rep... I am sure 99% of people will still think/call me a prick

Just checked the results...Sean Oneil won.
Nice to keep the champ Canadian!!!!!

the juke in the trunk was classic... gave me a good laugh

Yeah, if i had known it was a member, I might have slapped him


That pic totally belongs on http://www.thereifixedit.com

Congrats, Sean!


This made my weekend though.....

A weekend of big highs and huge lows for me... I am utterly discouraged. To the point of giving it all up.

Drove in on Saturday morning, did OK at qualifying. Got to 27th on Sat evening, but I knew it wouldn't hold long.

Had an AWESOME time at Bally Boy's. Got to play some fun throwdowns with TSlam, Poolman, Vengeance and Bowen Kerins! Truly a nice guy!!! And what a pinball player!!!

Then... the mess started to happen...

Got to my van Sunday morning and someone tried to break into my van and the trailer. They fucked up the only lock I have on the van (driver door). I have remote door locks so I could get in no problem, but I called the garage this morning... 650$. My insurance deductible is 500$. Great...

And they did a number on the trailer door as well. I fixed it myself with the few tools I had, but it took me 2 hours to do it.

And just to make it shittier, the thief(ves) probably got pissed off that they couldn't break into my van or the trailer discretely (obviously amateurs...) so they grabbed my trailer light harness and literally ripped it out of my van. So I no longer had any lights working on the trailer AND on my van, since they tore up my van wiring when they pulled the harness.

I had to walk to a local hardware store, spend 150$ on supplies to fix it all, and by the time I got it all fixed it was 2pm. Too late for the tournament... so I left.

It took me 3 hours to unload everything last night... finished at 1am. Of course, nothing goes as planned. I found out the hard way that Centaur has an oversized head and won't fit through my door. I go to remove the head... oops... no key for the head. Probably dropped it somewhere while moving stuff. Great... I had to wake up my stepfather at 12:30am to help me get it in the shop with me hauling the cab on the dolly while he held the head sideways so it would fit through the door with all the wiring attached. I debated on leaving it in the van but cold + backglasses = trouble.

Last night I checked my email and I got a message from Gory stating that I was 33rd by the end of qualifying... so I felt somewhat better... until a few minutes ago when I saw a message from Vengeance telling me that I should have been there because my name was picked for the wildcard.

Beautiful... F#@*#@# beautiful. So all that trouble and I end up 600$ in the hole.

Last time I haul stuff to TO with a trailer. In fact... I am even debating ever doing a run again... what a waste.

So I have a workshop full of games that aren't mine, no space to work on anything because of it, a back that is screaming at me with pain,

damn sparky that sucks.  sorry to hear all that.  thought it was the top 32 in and my friend chris boyd was ranked in the top 30 and didn't show on sunday at all.  too much parting on saturday night.  didn't know it was the top 30 +2 wild cards.  
   i didn't do that great but had loads of fun.  hate batman but it ended up being the better game for me to play.  i guess i have to get out more often and try the newer games.  wish we could have a classics playoff someday.
   my wife and daughter were with me on the friday.  eve is only 2 1/2 and hung out for over 4hrs and didn't even want to leave when we did.  she had a blast.  saturday i brought up three friends and had more fun.  
   auction was nothing great.  i did bid once and that was it for me.  didn't leave the auction with anything.
  
   what came back with me:
   bone buster is set up and working in the shop
  hyperball is set up but i can't find where one plug goes in the header yet.
   rock is halfway set up and i will do the rest when i go to work today.
  

   great to see you all and i did retain some of your names to memory.  sorry again if we have meet and i forgotten you.  in my line of work i talk to 20-200 people a day in person.  so my old brain gets alittle foggy sometimes (not always the weed).
  

It's OK... but if ever I find whoever did that to my van, he better keep in mind that I have access to heavy machinery.

Never piss off someone that has a backhoe...

Did your truck get broken into at Starburst?

Ian, you have THE worst luck out of anyone I know...

Quoted from jonny_eh

Did your truck get broken into at Starburst?

No... on the street near a friend's place. In a high end neighborhood on top of that... supposedly safe.

Quoted from machine.slave

Ian, you have THE worst luck out of anyone I know...

No mess...

I tried to check the results just now. Sean O'Neil and qualifying info only. Anyone know what the end results were beyond the first place?

Ian. Recommend next time parking your truck and trailer in Newmarket overnight. Pretty much seems like every neighbour around here is a cop. Not a whole lot of crime in this area.

Same in oakville there are 3 cops on our street alone.

Luck you guys, all Russian mafia in my neighbourhood

Sean O'neil Won

Cayle George came 2nd

Either Andy Rosa or Paul Maddison came 3rd/4th

Bowen Kerins was 5th

I was 6th

Eden was 7th

and Neal Shatz was 8th.  

Quoted from Vengeance

Sean O'neil Won

Cayle George came 2nd

Either Andy Rosa or Paul Maddison came 3rd/4th

Bowen Kerins was 5th

I was 6th

Eden was 7th

and Neal Shatz was 8th.  

If you are using tot pts during qualifying then Rosa was 3rd and Maddison 4th

Quoted from SquidVicious

If you are using tot pts during qualifying then Rosa was 3rd and Maddison 4th

Nope they had a playoff for 3rd / 4th I just don't remember who took 3rd / 4th.  

Quoted from Vengeance

Nope they had a playoff for 3rd / 4th I just don't remember who took 3rd / 4th.  

But 5 -8th was done by pts ?

no, they had a playoff for that too

Quoted from necro_nemesis

I tried to check the results just now. Sean O'Neil and qualifying info only. Anyone know what the end results were beyond the first place?

Ian. Recommend next time parking your truck and trailer in Newmarket overnight. Pretty much seems like every neighbour around here is a cop. Not a whole lot of crime in this area.

Yeah... will do. Problem is that I haven't seen that friend in a long time so I promised that I would come over.

Lock on the van is fixed already... the dealership was cool about it and slipped it under warranty. They even retouched my door handle that had a small scratch due to the jackass trying to pry the lock.

So overall I do see that there are still lots of decent people in the world.

Speaking of which, I really didn't have a chance to properly thank Bally Boy for the high point of my weekend. It was lots of fun to play the Silverball Mania I did the cab and playfield on. Nice feeling to see that a rough machine ended up being a gem, especially with the work that Bally Boy put on it.

And I am proud to admit the fact that I actually thoroughly enjoyed the GnR pin. I finally took the time to play it and I thought it was very vell done. Lots to shoot at, cool features, and the music ain't bad either...

I hope that I can have the opportunity to offer the Toronto crowd the same hospitality one day.

So yeah... the weekend had shitty moments, but it's always good to be around some buddies.

Congrats Adam, you did quite well! I see you totally blew away my TDK score too.

So, who's this Sean O'neil guy? Did he keep NBA?

Quoted from jonny_eh

Congrats Adam, you did quite well! I see you totally blew away my TDK score too.

So, who's this Sean O'neil guy? Did he keep NBA?

Yea I ended up having quite the killer game on TDK before I was done qualifying, good to meet you, hopefully you enjoyed your first experience in being in an competitive pinball environment.  

Sean is a new member in TOPL but has played pinball long before he even got involved with the league.  The guy is a machine, the finals were awesome, yea they took forever but Sean was able to reach the 100 million wizard mode in every game of batman he played in the finals truly an amazing feat.

It's funny, in one game where he hit the 100 million shot he actually walked away from his ball because he didn't want to hold up everyone any longer, I told him he was crazy but he still ended up winning.  

His name is nonesoville on here

I forgot to add... I would like to have a stipulation added for me for the next championship if I attend. For every game I play I MUST have Tslam trash-talk me during the entire game. For some stupid reason, I play better. I actually won the throwdown on GnR when he was screaming ''HEYYYYYYY SPAAAAAARKYYYYYYYYYYY'' behind me!!! Man, was that ever funny...

The downside of that now is that I play at home and it is just boring...

Hey Tslam... make me a few CDs with you just trash-talking on it!!! Then I can feel good about pinball again!!!

Ya, a big downside to these competitions is that playing at home is really missing that adrenal rush you get at a competition. But on the bright side, I can at least hear the games!

Quoted from jonny_eh

Ya, a big downside to these competitions is that playing at home is really missing that adrenal rush you get at a competition. But on the bright side, I can at least hear the games!

Yep that's half the battle in competition is the mental side, I find it's my largest hurdle when playing, just staying calm and playing the way I know I can when the pressure is on.  

I had a great second round against one guy, it was the 3rd match in the best of 3 he had 8 million at the end of ball 3 on NBA and on the start of my ball 3 I had 600,00 but I was able to stay calm and pulled my a** out of the fire on that one and ended up with 10 million at the end of the ball.  Was a great match

JEEZE Sparky!



Glad some of your weekend wasn't total shite, but DAMN!

As you mentioned previously, maybe less transporting, but come for the tourneys!!!!  Your like the wingnut that holds the Eastern and Central parts of Maaca together!

As to the Toronto crime thing, there are NO good neighborhoods.  Nice neighborhoods are just places where criminals can go to cause mischief.  Why steal a pontiac 6000, or break into a Hyundai Pony??? very little chance of getting anything "good"

One of us must have a garage that hasn't been turned into a games room!! (no garage at all here though) or somewhere you can park your trailer off the road...

Considering the amount of bullshit you've been heaped with lately, I think you must be ready for sainthood.

Hell man it only works live Sparky!!!

Quoted from Sparky

Hey Tslam... make me a few CDs with you just trash-talking on it!!! Then I can feel good about pinball again!!!

Get this shirt Spark, you'll get trash talked where ever ya go...


I had a great night till I got slinked by Adam BTW I can't believe how different you were...man have you lightened up...ALL HAIL THE NEW VENGEANCE!!!!!!

Bowen was a hoot....how the hell does someone get 16 extra balls on Silverball Mania....and I counted,it was
at least 6

Poolman's throwdown...Canuck style..


Don't ask...


Guess who came in last...Damn Sparky I needed you to trashtalk me....It sure worked for Adam!!!
he almost came back to win it....almost....you were just short one RIOT!!!!! RIOT!!!!! RIOT!!!!


Thanks Dan...you host a mean shindig.

I would wear that!!!

Quoted from tslam

Hell man it only works live Sparky!!!



Get this shirt Spark, you'll get trash talked where ever ya go...

I rather this one...

Actually... this one is better...

That was just training on how to deal with the distactions of a crowd from LONDON

Your Lucky I wasn't there too

London guys are sarcastic and cocky MoFos