A Year End Pinball Tournament and A Look At Creature From The Black Lagoon

This past Saturday, just outside the city of Pittsburgh, I attended an awesome pinball tournament at my friend DJ's house. The event was double elimination style - Best of 5 in the winner's bracket / Best of 3 in the loser's bracket. Qualification for the event and seeding for the event were based on qualification scores in DJ's 8 events throughout the year.

Before the event started, due to popular request @fezziwig I interviewed DJ about his Creature of the Black Lagoon. I recently found out that he installed some LED's to improve the feel of the game. I have to say, it does look sweet. Thanks DJ for taking the time to talk with us.

I think my favorite is the green glow in the swamp. As a player, I really appreciate the extra light in the middle of the playfield. I was able to focus on a ball earlier and make a few saves I might have missed thanks to that light. In any event, while it's true this Creature is incredibly challenging - it might be one of the nicest examples as well. Thanks again for the interview.

I was able to get some sweet pictures during the practice rounds (and even one during the event itself). Let's jump right in:

Who is that masked man playing Stern's Ripley's Believe it or Not?

Oh - It's Aleksander!

"Ripley's Believe it or Not is an American franchise, founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims." Source Stern released Ripley's in 2004, and one of the unique features on the game is magnet at the back of the playfield under the shrunken head which could send a ball around the back of the playfield or straight down towards the flippers. Source In my experience Ripley's is a low scoring game that requires a long game time in order to achieve a good score. There are ways that players have exploited the game in a tournament setting, and I have even seen the game modified for tournament play by removing the plunger!

Petey warming up on Batman Forever

Batman Forever is a 1995 American superhero film that features Val Kilmer as Batman. Source Sega produced Batman Forever in 1995 and it was one of the few games ever produced that allowed 6 players to play one game. Source Personally, I don't have much experience with Batman Forever. What little experience I have is that the left ramp is difficult to hit (and I don't know why). I sort of like it (not a ringing endorsement) and I am not sure why I haven't seen it in many tournaments. Sega did only produce 2500 units, so I wonder if that is why? Source

Bookie playing Stern's KISS

Dr. L playing some World Cup Soccer

My Personal Favorite: MAS rolling the sleeves up to tackle some Demon Multiball on Stern's KISS

We got lucky in the timing on this shot. This was during our match - he threw down quite the score on KISS and this multiball would have really helped increase that score. Unfortunately for him, one of the balls got stuck in Gene's head and he was forced to trap up and wait for DJ to free the ball. 2 minutes later his flow was gone and he quickly drained out of his multiball. Tournaments have rules in place to deal with a lot of the 'malfunctions' that happen when we play pinball. Where in the wild (when we play for fun) a ball getting stuck in multiball is a good thing, when we compete it's disallowed.

I had a blast at DJ's. I hope you all enjoy this glimpse I was able to provide into the world of competitive pinball. I really enjoyed interviewing DJ about his Creature from the Black Lagoon. If anyone has any games they want to see featured - please let me know in the comments. I will do my best to accommodate any requests. Until next time this is Boooooooom News signing off.