Our 4th Annual Pin-Brawl saw 20 players, representing 10 teams. Team match-ups were very even, with the composite scores all falling between 65 and 85 points.

BIG TIME CONGRATS to the Winners– TEAM TODDLEE– with Lee Moscaritolo and Todd Baxter. Both of these guys played very well throughout the day, but really nailed it in the finals where they beat out some great teams to take home the big prize. In addition to some handsome trophies, TEAM TODDLEE will also get their names inscribed on the “Asylum PLAQUE OF PIN-BRAWL CHAMPIONS,” which shall hang on our wall as long as The Pinball Asylum is standing.

Each one of the teams played each other one time, and after five rounds, 7.5 hours, and 15 matches on 15 machines, the top qualifiers were, in order, THE CHERRYBUSTERS, OUTLANES, TODDLEE, PLUNGERS, SILVERBALLERS, and SALT & HOT PEPPER. Top qualifier, THE CHERRYBUSTERS remarkably grabbed five out of six of the bonus points in the final round.

There were 30 games available, and players got to choose the games (or play position) each round (one EM, one SS, and one DMD). Games choice and play positions for the first round of play was done by coin toss, and subsequent rounds first choice was given to highest seed (i.e. best composite score) going into that round. Composite scores were calculated based on the PAPA 4, 3, 2, 1 method.

Since players got to choose the games they played, the play distribution is interesting to look at, with some games receiving zero plays. (Of course the always popular Interflip DRAGON won with 8 total plays!)

Games and number of times played:
BON VOYAGE (1), CHERRY BELL (6), DRAGON (8), CAPTAIN FANTASTIC (3), AIR ACES (3), MONTE CARLO (0), MARS TREK (4), TRAVEL TIME (0), FAN-TAS-TIK (2),4-MILLION BC (3), AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2), ALGAR (3), POKERINO (0), ECLIPSE (4), TIME FANTASY (5), VOLTAN (2), DEVIL’S DARE (5), HEAVY METAL (5), BLACK SHEEP (4), SPACE RIDERS (0), JOHNNY MNEMONIC (0), FISH TALES (4), CONGO (3), SOPRANOS (6), AVATAR LE (1), GETAWAY (4), POPEYE (2), FRANKENSTEIN (6), BLACK ROSE (1), STAR TREK 25TH (3).

The last round of play– i.e. Round 5– carried three (3) guarantied bonus points for the highest combined game scores (i.e. adding each team’s scores together), and the possibility of an additional three more for high game of the match on any game played in the final round. Strategically, players looked for games with low or no gameplay to try and capture a high game score (and an extra point), and four players succeeded– Gwen Austin on Voltan Escapes Cosmic Doom, Scott Bratton on Avatar LE, Matt Malone on Black Rose, and John Stone on Algar.

The final list of winners taking home trophies were: THE CHERRYBUSTERS 4th Place (Matt Malone & John Stone), SILVERBALLERS 3rd Place (Erik Wallis & Larry Hendricks), SALT & HOT PEPPER 2nd Place (David Paz & Tatiana Mora), and winners TODDLEE (Lee Moscaritolo and Todd Baxter).

Thanks again to Eric (Khabbi) for loan of the Jersey Jack “Dialed In” which was set on Freeplay, and got pretty much constant attention all weekend.  Prizes were given for 1st-2nd-3rd high scores on both Friday and Saturday.

Great also meeting world-ranked pinball players (and super nice people), Californians Louise and Eric W. Thanks for visiting and playing our tournament!

Friday night started both our Pro and Amateur’s PAPA-Style Tournaments. The selection of games seemed to spark a lot of conversation in both divisions, but the games held up well with over 14 hours of play, except for an early failure of Target Alpha, which was quickly replaced with Mata Hari. Saturday saw the most action, beginning at 9:00 am.

The Professional Division had 21 players, and was played on nine (9) games, with the number of plays each machine received relatively balanced: Pokerino (26 plays), Aerosmith (31 plays), Kiss (36 plays), Cherry Bell (31 plays), Avatar (41 plays), Mata Hari (39 plays), Bon Voyage (35 plays), F-14 (35 plays), and Hotdoggin'(46 plays). 

Top eight qualifiers, in order, for the semi-finals were Nick M., Lee M., Carlos P., Eric W., Sebastian B., Jeff P., Norma J., and Eric L.

Finals were exciting, with congrats to Jeff P. for winning the whole PAPA-Style in a tight contest. First game of finals chosen was Kiss which saw fairly close 2nd and 3rd place scores in the 70K range, however, Eric L. spun up a final 114K to grab the high.  Carlos P. took second in the whole PAPA-Style after a stellar 3.3MM game on F-14, which amazingly Jeff crushed on his third ball, ending up with 4.07MM. The final game of the finals was on the much loved (and hated-LOL) Cherry Bell.  Once again Carlos grabbed the lead with 497K, but did not have the points to eclipse Jeff who snuck out a 2nd on his favorite  game with a 391K, and won the whole PAPA-Style contest. Final standings: Jeff P. (1st), Carlos P. (2nd), Eric L. (3rd), and Sebastian B. (4th). Very well-played, well fought, gentlemen!

The Amateur Division had 10 players, and was played on five (5) games: Dragon, Farfalla, High Speed, Sopranos, and Tommy. Congrats to the winner– new-comer, Doug S.. Second place was taken by Mark M., dad of the young ace-player, Nick. Third went to our local Asylum Inmates League player, Louis K. Fourth went to the smartest kid in the room, Sebastian V..

As always, this fun weekend was brought to you courtesy of MANY people both working the event, before the event, and behind the scenes. Scott K. and Michael H. especially should be thanked for helping move, prep, level, play test, clean and ready nearly every machine in the Asylum. Rhonda J, likewise was on hand helping clean and prep machines. Matt M. is our head genius at fixing machines, and without him you’d find many, many more broken machines at the Asylum. Helping him was the TD’s indispensable old friend and consigliere, John I. Score keeping duties were so expertly handled by Ceil and John B. that you might of thought you were at the World Championships.  And we could NOT have done it this weekend without Jeff W., who also provided score-keeping for all the amateurs, and dug in on the finals for both divisions making it possible to keep the contest moving smoothly.