The tournament was awesome. Competition was way srsly tight. Pretty good CFF turnout and showing, and a good Portland turnout; solid Seattle and VRPA turnout; and some solid ballers came from other places (Neil Shatz and Bob Matthews and Keith Elwin from Caliornia, Bowen Kerins from Massachusetts). Gotta say – this tourney is really developing into Portland’s biggest and best one. The Ground Kontrol Pinbrawl is another big one… but it’s a different format. Thanks everyone for coming out and entering and trying really hard. And thanks to all the organizers and techs and scorekeepers for putting this together and keeping it running. I can’t wait for next year.
Eric Hill took most of these pictures. But I took a few, too. So I captioned them. Thus, hot pics:
Danny Backglass-Mandela gently macking on the Holy Mary Mother of God. (pic by ROM)
Slabtown (pic by Eric)
Fred and Dropshot crunching numbers (pic by rom)
And then Shatz is all like, 'hey guys, gimme some tix' (pic rom)
Current scores/ranks projected (pic by Eric)
Open line-up (pic by Eric)
Dennis has some 'alone time' with Royal Flush (pic by Eric)
But then Eric was like, 'wtf are you doing, Dennis? Go buff Indy 500!' And so that's what Dennis did. Here's the proof. (pic by Eric)
Opto appraises the situation, and finds it adequate. (pic by Eric)
Kevin slices through a game of Super Soccer (pic by Eric)
With the help of his eyeglasses, Soundcard accurately reads and manages a load of active entries. (pic by Eric)
Aaron Dropshot checks the temp on weather.com to help determine if he needs to apply more sunscreen before his next smoke break. (pic by Eric)
People playing the classics machines. (pic by Eric)
Open tourney mayhem. This picture isn't great... but look at Dannyb! (pic by rom)
One of our extraordinary volunteers, Sara! (pic by Eric)
Fierceness. (pic by Eric)
Neil Shatz absolutely mega-butchering Royal Flush. (pic by Eric)
ROM and PatC taking a break from the competition with some Simpsons. Pat and I never talk when we hang out. We have, like, a silent agreement to not talk. (pic by Eric)
And here I am playing Super Soccer. I was pretty okay at playing it. (pic by Eric)
Eden, Keith, and Robert play some classics. (pic by rom)
Finals! Mahaffey and Noah observe, approve. Mahaffey soon went on to win the classics. (pic by Eric)
Fred and Bowen discussing stuff or something. (pic by Eric)
We make sure to always have at least three judges monitoring each ball in the finals. That way, no one can get away with gaffling. (pic by Eric)
Former NBA player and current shredmaster, Todd MacCulloch. (pic by Eric)
Keith and Bowen, two super great pinball players (currently ranked #1 and #3 in the world rankings). (pic by Eric)
Friendly guy and strong competitor, Bob Matthews (from Thousand Oaks, CA). (pic by Eric)
Robert Gagno and Mike Mahaffey, pulverizing Zip-A-Poo and Super Soccer. (pic by Eric)
Danny Backgaffle McKillrose asks his fans to, 'just take me for what I am, man.' (pic by Eric)
Meanwhile, Pat Castaldo partakes in a between-match cocktail. That's just one of the ways it goes down at Portland's Slabtown. Slabtown: Where Pinball Dreams Are Made (and Broken). (pic by Eric)
The view from afar.
But then! The Open finals. This is the time when all us losers can sit back and relax. Deathsave, Fredly McGenocide, Videomode, Rev-Test. (pic by rom)
I enjoyed just chilling out and watching the finals unfold. I scorekept for a little bit. But then after a while I was like, 'I just want to sit and chill.' I think a lot of us were feeling that. (pic by Eric)
Maka Honig looping the fuck outta Sorcerer. (pic by Eric)
Bowen slizays Sorcerer in the final finals. (pic by Eric)
And then it was over and everyone was high fiving and victory-slapping other dudes on the butts. (pic by rom)
Money and accolades are awarded to the winners. (pic by rom)
And finally, Eric took this REALLY awesome panorama shot of the interior at Slabtown. Click to view larger.
Alright! Reminder: The pictures of the top 4 from each group are in the previous post. Thanks Eric for taking all those great pictures during the weekend.
Hell yes! I think next year we need to keep 5 judges on Shatz the whole time. I think I might have noticed a gaffle or two. Take me for what I am, MAN!
Dannyb: hmm… there’s some weird digital artifact on that first picture of you. I didn’t notice it last night. I’m going to check the original file to see if it’s there. Weird…
TOURNAMENTS! Visit Flip City for all your information about upcoming Portland pinball tournaments. There are weekly tournaments held each Tuesday (rotating locations). Plus bigger tournaments held a few times a year.
Also, go to Rose City Pinball for monthly tourneys. Rose City Pinball, run by CFF members, operates machines throughout town and is awesome.
MWM 24 Feb 11 at 11:25 pm
You guys kicked ass dialing this tournament in! Nice pics & captions Eric/ROM.
dannybackglass 25 Feb 11 at 3:44 am
Hell yes! I think next year we need to keep 5 judges on Shatz the whole time. I think I might have noticed a gaffle or two. Take me for what I am, MAN!
fred 25 Feb 11 at 11:14 am
hahaha! Awesome pics. Sunscreen before the next smoke break. too funny! that was a fun weekend!
ROM 25 Feb 11 at 2:54 pm
Dannyb: hmm… there’s some weird digital artifact on that first picture of you. I didn’t notice it last night. I’m going to check the original file to see if it’s there. Weird…