Slabtown Showdown II July 30, 31 Aug. 1 2010

[Dropshot]

If you did some research there Steve most people could really care less. They are just appreciative that people spent time and effort to put on an event. Like I said, if you really don't like it, you can opt out. It's unfortunate they can't all play like they used to huh? So what is it, machines have a flipper slightly out of alignment so it should be pulled from a weekly, or a pop bumper doesn't work so we better get a tech here right away. Now we will have some perfectly dialed in machines but some one owns them? Man, it's to bad skill usually out weighs most things in pinball. Out of all the machines in the entire tournament, DM and WW ARE actually on location right now. So is there an advantage for those living in Portland? Maybe, but they are going to be tweaked the day of so they will play completely different. I also probably won't play them until the actual tournament. As for the home machines I have played Jake's Royal Flush maybe 3 times 1 time I was over there about 6 months ago. But check this, there was one in Minnesota I played to, so you're really fucked now! Steve, your a good pinball player, you should just play pinball, regardless who owns it. Skills usually trumps all when it comes down to it anyway. Also, if it makes you feel any better the people who own the machines are NOT playing them. Other than making sure everything is dialed in they will maybe get played for 1 minute after being moved in just to make sure the tilt, pitch, level... are all set up just the way they are supposed to. Oh, and anyone who has a dialed in tournament ready machine willing to bring it out is always welcome to offer theirs. So it could be your machine everyone has to play. We are looking for 1 more EM, we have a few to choose from but they are fairly similar to the 3 we already have. We would like to keep a little variety in there.

On another note, this tournament is coming together and am excited to hear about all the people from out of town come down, up and over for this! It's gonna be fun!

We won't have one of those cool kiosks to check scores but we are having separate projectors for Open and Classics.

[caylegeorge]

Agree you are making the most of the situation and your efforts are appreciated!

I don't find the "games from home" such a big problem at this event. People have all weekend to qualify and learn the machines nuance, so by the time finals rolls around, eveyone is pretty much even on machine knowledge.

Now GK this year was different. There were games in the finals that could not be played by anyone until the finals/semi, or in a very limited or castrated way. If an owner of the game were to make it to the finals they would have a percieved significant advantage on that machine. I would change the GK finals game choice format in the future because of this. I could really care less because I know it is what people have to work with running a tournament, but perception is important.

The fact that everything is laid out on the table before this SlabTown event lets everyone know what is at stake and makes everything seem on the level.

[Dropshot]

Agreed with GK. We didn't realize what was happening until it was to late. That is one major reason why we are making Slabtown so transparent. Next year at GK it will be different. First off they are doing a huge remodel, and if there are a select final 3 games we will make them all playable as mini games during the tourney or at least maybe a little 1 minute per machine warm-up prior to the final 3 matches. Either way, we will deal with that later.

[FHF]

[Opto]

Does anyone have a really nice dialed in EM they'd like to bring? Right now we've got 2 late 70's GTB's and one early 70's WMS. Would be really cool to get a game with the dinky flippers (or better yet! Zipper Flippers!)for some variety.

[ROM]

[FHF]

Yes, Zipper Flippers!! That 4 million BC at the Expo this year was sweet!

[Dropshot]

Didn't Rob have an EM? Did he ship it to Detroit or give it to Jay?

[ROM]

That machine is not in working order, and likely won't be ready by the end of this month (my guess).

[Dropshot]

I believe Slabtown will be selling Gatorade, Vitamin Water, VISO and all that other kinda stuff as well for those that need to quench their thirsts without the addition of caffeine, sugars alcohol or whatever doesn't float your boat. Word on the street is there may even been some PBR light for those trying to keep their frail figures...Dennis, when can we pick up Aces and Kings from you to bring down to Slabtown if you are going to be working all week?

[videomode]

I have the whole weekend off now so I can bring Aces and Kings down Friday morning.

[Dropshot]

Sweet. Sounds like MWM is bringing in the TSPP today and is moving the TZ up front into the green room. Most likely we will be having a mini tourney on that. Possibly for a PBR long board. I told him to bastardize it. Into the sling from the slot, nice upper flipper feed from the ramp... yeah right. Turn off all the magnets to make the camera shot a bitch and battle impossible as well as remove the lower left flipper! He might put in all LED GI's so you can really see how much you will be getting screwed!

[ROM]

NOOOOOOOOOO. Not LEDS!!

[Opto]

Not sure if this should go in the General Section or not, but I figured since I just got Frontier working correctly, I would shoot a crappy video (i shot it on my digital still camera) explaining how the game works.

The only things I forgot to mention were that the top rollovers light the pops for 1000 each, and the first inline lights the spinner for 1000 a spin.

[Dropshot]

Thanks Noah! Those stand up's look nasty, and sounds like you got to go for them to get any kind of score. Gonna be some very quick ball times. Does your 'den' carry over from ball to ball, or your frontier bonus, multipliers or anything?

[Opto]

Both Den and Frontier bonuses carry over ball to ball, but the multipliers DO NOT. Therefor you can find yourself with your multipliers maxed on Ball 1 with a meager den/frontier bonus, or by ball 3 it can be the other way around.

When you fill up the Den it spots the 45,000 insert, and your Frontier bonus will be at 60k. When you start filling the den back so does your Frontier bonus but with the 60k insert still lit. The Frontier bonus maxes at 110,000 (60k insert and 50k inserts are lit). What you want to do is collect your frontier Bonus at 4x at the Frontier falls gate over and over and over.

Also - there is NO lane change. You'll find that you have 2 columns of the den completely full, with the remaining column completely empty - which gives you a Frontier bonus of a measly 10k (have to fill the den up evenly for the frontier bonus to advance).

The Frontier BonusX Advance (Inline Drop Targets) are drain shots. The Standup Targets are drain shots. This spinner (if you don't make it up to the rollovers) is a drain shot. What's great is you NEED to make these shots in order to get you Frontier bonus up/ and be collecting it over and over).

I think I also forgot to mention that you can collect the Frontier bonus 3 ways. Via the Frontier Falls gate up by the rollovers (you have to nudge the ball into the gate after a spinner shot, or a pop bounce up through the ABC rollovers, when you drain AND you can sneak it into the saucer from the right pop bumper. There's a tiny opening to the left of the saucer - this rarely happens, but sometimes Kenny Rogers takes pity on you and lets one sneak in.

In a normal game you would collect Extra ball by rolling over ABC twice in one ball (extremely hard with no lane change). It's going to be set to give out 30,000 if you do that. Also, the right 3-bank special will be set to give out 50,000 up on 4th and following completions.

[Dropshot]

Yeah, gonna be nasty. What do you think top score will be?

[Opto]

????? That game is so frickin' inconsistent it's tough to say.

I played the one over at Mikes house for a hour or two straight and didn't break a million. When KME was over there he put up a 9.5. It punishes you for missing shots - it sometimes punishes you for making shots (Inline Drop Targets). I'm sure folks will break a mill during qualifying. Hell, someone whos never played it could walk up and school the thing - it's funny like that. The key is collecting that Frontier bonus at a good multiplier. If you can max it, you're looking at 110,000 at 4x (440,000) which you can collect with 2 shots, over and over and over. Left standup - spinner to frontier gate for collect. Repeat. Piece of cake right?

I've never done it with everything maxed - not even once.

[Dropshot]

Since no one has stepped up with an EM, it looks like Surf Champ will most likely be the 4th machine.

[Dropshot]

Okay, we have got the 4th and final EM machine for the classics tournament.

Aztec (Williams, '76, owned by Chris Rhodes)