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| FALL 2009 PINBALL PICNIC |
| Date: August 2nd, 2009. On August 2nd, 2009, another successful Pinball Picnic was held at SS Billiards. The event was, of course, hosted by the great Lloyd. With other people contributing to the previous picnic, the events seem to keep getting bigger and better. So, let’s see about this Pinball Picnic.
The weather has an effect on every picnic. This day started out beautifully; bright and sunny, but not too warm at 73°F. I got a lazy 12:30pm start; a full one-half hour after Lloyd’s opened.
By 12:30pm, a few pin-heads had already shown up. By 2:30 pm, a few small groups of pinball players had already come and gone.
By 5:30pm, the early evening sky had clouded over and was starting to spit rain.
But, tournament players were already safe inside and practicing.
Found practicing were both newbies and previous tournament players.
The line-up of pinball machines at the Pinball Picnic is shown below in order of grouping.
Up front was another set of pinball machines.
In the back was another four pack of pinball machines, plus two games on which Lloyd was working and one more pinball machine.
And, in the back corner was one more pinball machine.
No problems were reported on any of the pinball machines throughout the entire day. Lloyd had set the tournament games on free play by 5pm. Lloyd learned from the previous tournament that player space became a little cramped. There were four pinball machines, spread throughout the arcade. All were available for free play during practice and the tournament. Free food was delivered at 5:50pm. There were plenty of ribs for everyone. Marlowe Koch brought in a couple of salads. PinRen brought in cookies and Lloyd had an entire cooler of pop available to picnic attendees.
Although a few people had wolfed down their picnic lunch and were ready to begin tournament play by 6:00pm, registration for the pinball tournament was held off until 6:35pm. This was not a rain delay. It was an attempt to allow everyone a chance to enjoy their meal. As the director whose title the tournament was named after was on a two week vacation, I substituted for Joe Esposito. I had the pinball picnic tournament start at 7:00pm. Seventeen people signed up to compete.
Unlike the previous tournament, this tournament was run as double elimination. Players were paired up by luck of the draw. Their games were also chosen by luck of the draw, from the four pinball machines available for tournament play. Most of the games had two pairs of players. In this case, players one and two competed against one another; as players three and four followed suit. Player order was decided by player agreement.
Several of the competitors had better than forty five minute ball times.
At about 9:30pm, this Pinball Picnic final tournament came down its last round which was between Andy Akerson and Dave Gorka. But, this single round lasted until 10:45pm, with Dave taking the top spot!
The earlier rain had developed into a full blown thunderstorm, with brilliant flashes of lightning signaling the end of yet another successful Pinball Picnic!
Dates for Lloyd’s next pinball events are in the Diary section, so start making your plans to visit now.
All pictures are property of SS Billiards and are used with permission and courtesy of LTG. |
