And so the calendar turns to Wednesday, September 4. After a short day at work in Port Arthur, I head back up to Beaumont for my first time ever playing in the monthly tournament at Colorado Canyon. (I had hoped to attend this tournament in August, but circumstances just didn’t allow for it.)
I get in a few warmup games and a little social time with the bunch. I’ve played against at least some of these players in past tournaments, but of course there were a few people I haven’t met.
The machine lineup consisted of five games, all newer Sterns from the Spike 2 era (i.e. 2016 and later). Three games were on the main arcade floor: Godzilla (Pro), John Wick (Pro), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Pro); two others were in the party room, wheeled in just for the tournament: Black Knight: Sword of Rage (Pro), and Iron Maiden (Pro). The format was five rounds matchplay (with 3-2-1-0 scoring) with a three-game matchplay finals (with 4-2-1-0 scoring a.k.a. “PAPA style”).
(Quick note: some of the intermediate scores may be less than completely accurate, as it was more difficult to read them from a distance where I had to do most of my note-taking. I am pretty sure I got at least the most significant digits correct, though.)
After waiting for a late arrival or two, round one is announced. We have a total of 16 players, which makes for a nice and even four groups of four. I am on John Wick grouped with Kelly Moncla (first player), Benjamin McCormick (third player), and Dennis Moncla (fourth player). I’ll just summarize and say this game was a stinker. I had a whopping 1.05M+ at the end of my second ball (of a three-ball game). For comparison Kelly had 29.8M+ and Benjamin had 12.4M+ after two of the three balls had been played. Dennis would take the game though with a huge third ball, 34.5M+ to Kelly’s 31.3M+ and Benjamin’s 12.9M+, all of which completely dwarfed my 2.8M+. There’s nowhere to go but up, or at least that’s what I’m hoping.
As if that wasn’t enough, apparently I had somehow managed to anger the RNG gods and get assigned to John Wick for the second game as well, this time with Tim Sudela, Preston Moncla, and Johana Mercer. This game was pretty slow all around through the first two balls but I had a nominal lead with 2.1M+ and the remainder of the group under 1.5M+. Tim would shoot ahead with 7.602M+, and I would just miss first place with 7.575M+. Preston would take third with an uncharacteristically low 1.7M+ and Johana would take fourth.
Things would start to get better as I would finally get to play something besides John Wick. That game would be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I’m playing first followed by Allen Robertson, Alan Robinson, and Leon Moncla, in order. I have a decent first ball with 4.4M+, blossoming into 14.6M+ after ball two. Leon is the only player that came close to keeping up, with 11.2M+ after ball two. I would wind up taking a decisive first place, and things are really starting to look up a little bit, though I have realistically low expectations at this point, figuring I will probably finish qualifying in sixth, seventh, or eighth, or maybe even fifth if I’m lucky.
Finally, in round four, it would be time to venture over to the party rooms, as I would be assigned to Iron Maiden with Russell mercer, Casey Sudela, and Chad McManus. This wouldn’t be my best game of Iron Maiden ever, but I did manage to get a decent multiball going and put up a respectable 37.0M+ by the time my third ball ended. Only Casey was able to do any better, signing off with 54.8M+. Another second place finish, but I’m still realistically planning on an early departure to Houston.
The fifth and final round of qualifying would see me assigned to Black Knight Sword of Rage, again as first player. My opponents would be Craig Robinson, Samarra Ware, and Benjamin (my only repeat opponent for the entire qualifying session). Amazingly, I would jump out to a commanding lead during my second ball, with only Craig coming anywhere near my score. A total of 121.0M+ would be good enough compared to Craig’s 107.6M+ with the other two scores being rather distant. I would wrap it up with a first place finish.
Interestingly, during the game, Preston (the tournament director) informed us that I would be in a three-way tie for the final two playoff slots should my score hold up for first place. This was a rather big shock to me, but I cheerfully accepted the chance to play a playoff on TMNT with Allen and Tim (in that order). I would have what was widely considered the advantageous slot, playing as the third player in this three-player game.
I managed to get the lead and keep it, finishing ball one with 6.98M+ to Allen’s 5.42M (exactly, oddly enough). Tim struggled through the first two balls and would wind up with 6.24M+, far enough behind Allen’s 12.40M+ and yours truly with 10.24M+. And here I am, in the playoffs (“finals”). Fourth seed of a four-player playoff, but I’m in.
Once again, the first game would be on John Wick (this time decided by Preston as first seed, not the RNG). The choices for player order were predictable except for mine: I opted to go first instead of second. I never got much going on this game, barely eeking out a third with 5.03M+ ahead of Kelly’s 2.80M+, with Allen taking first with a respectable 78.18M+ and Preston taking second with a 40.70M+.
I would get game choice for the next round, as Kelly would opt to choose her player order (fourth). I would choose Black Knight Sword of Rage, based upon how well I just did three games ago (last game of qualifying). To say the least, no such luck. I just never got anything going, and I couldn’t save anything after missing a shot. And I did miss a lot of shots. A total of 3.73M+ was nowhere near enough to get it done, less than half of Allen’s third place score. Preston of course runs away with it, signing off with a 99.51M+, barely staying in eight-digit territory. So it’s Preston with 6, Allen with 5, Kelly with 2, and yours truly with 1. I am mathematically eliminated from winning at this point. I could only tie for second if Allen were to come in last (realistically, forget it).
Again I would get game choice. Figuring I just played a few rounds of Godzilla the previous night back in Houston at Del Mar Lanes, that’s what I chose. I was barely able to scrape up 21.6M+ by the end of the game. Just to give you an idea of how lacking that score was, Allen had put up 324.7M+, or almost 15 times that, by the end of his second ball. Preston, on the other hand, put on a show and showed why he is a five-time state champion (four times in Louisiana, once in Texas). He would eventually end up with 1.165B+, though Allen would put up a significant number of points on his third ball to finish with 699.9M+ — a very respectable score that would also be good enough to beat my grand champion score back at Del Mar.
And with that I would set the GPS to give me directions back to home in Houston and drive off into what was now darkness punctuated by headlights, street lights, and various store and parking lot lighting.
Overall I had a great time and it was good to confirm I still have the “stuff” to at least make it to the finals of a tournament like this. I’m not sure how many times I will be able to make it over to Beaumont for this tournament in the future, but it will definitely be high on my priorities if circumstances allow. Even if you are not in town for the monthly pinball tournament, I highly recommend stopping by Colorado Canyon for pinball, arcade games, or mini-golf.
