who are they anyway?

[bounceback]

seriously? i know/knew of ONE OOO score, and i see HPF on machines about twice a year. just curious, it seems like other folks know these guys a lot better than i do. by no means does CFF have a monopoly on good ballers in the city-- but we've got by far the most consistently good players, and all the guys that are actively improving their game. loners that can play-- MIT, WOF, JDR, MWF. there's a few others i see that seem to rock one or two particular games. since josh put out the call on jdr it seems like a lot of those scores have gone down, and at the very least there are more CFF's neck and neck with his top scores. if anybody can figure out how to rule elvira we can give the wolfman a run for his money.

anybody out there have anything to say for yourselves? perspectives, introductions, opinions on games? i'd like to see the CFF site represent the portland pinball scene as a whole. how can we get people aware of the site and participating with it more?

[ROM]

I think there's another group, and they have some scores at the Vern.. maybe. But I don't know their name. Like you, I'm still figuring out who's out there. Slingshot seems to know who's who. So maybe he can weigh in.

[Slingshot]

TBA = TriBallAssassins.

They got some shit up at the vern on occassion.

[ROM]

I noticed on Friday that TBA has a bunch of scores on the Dirty Harry at the Jolly Inn.

Pretty fun game! It was sort of dirty - seemed like it had been exposed to too much cigarette smoke. So the field was a little sluggish. But it still played well. That gun shot shot is tough to hit. I had it bounce out - in and out - about ten times before I finally made one in.

[Kickback]

Who cares! I just want to see there scores replaced with the 366.

[bounceback]

well are we doing anything at all to approach other quality ballers in town? there are good players with obvious dedication creeping on our spots. ASN has scores, he's got a buddy, and you see MIT and WOF in more places. JDR has a buddy. those guys are taking pride in taking down OUR scores, and they're not doing it all in one brilliant moment-- they're picking a location, a machine, and putting in some time getting good scores on that game until they reach their goal. that's what it's about.

so here's the question: are we doing the same thing to defend our scores and represent against those guys, who obiously enjoy the competition, and rightly so? and moreover, are we getting in touch with those people and talking to them, inviting them to meetings and trying to raise the level of our own competition? i don't personally know who any of these dudes are, but maybe we should put up a couple of flyers inviting some of these players to meetings or tournaments, to see what comes of it. this could be about Portland, not just one fragmented group. no one is ever going to beat us overall for the scores we put in different spots-- let's make the "can't beat 'em join 'em" saying true.

[Dropshot]

Is there anyway of knowing when you have your meetings? I know that they try to be held every sunday or so but never where. There are players out there that would show up for the competition and fun if they knew about it.

[ROM]

They are held every other sunday. Unfortunately at the moment we have some bizarre system where only one to two people know where it's going to be - until a few hours before the actual meeting. The internet/website is not utilized as it should. I have heard rumors of either clinton st, c bar, or ship for tonight's meeting. 10pm.

[bounceback]

meeting is tonight at C-Bar and there's a tournament. 10 pm. pass the word along to any ballers you know of that would be interested in showing up. we're working on making meeting locations known more than two seconds ahead of time, but it's going to take a bit of discussion. hope to see some new faces there!

BB

[bounceback]

people we know:

ASN
JDR
MIT>
KPB
WOF>
DEN
OOO
MNK
TBA
who else has scores? POO, VAN (i think one of the owners of the alleybar? seen his inits at green dragon and slammer in the past.) there's a couple of other dudes who score at goodfoot, billy ray's (MWF) and i've seen some pinheads consistently there but never seen them put up a score so don't know who's who. also anyone know the deal with MIT/WOF's KPB (kings of pinball) club, and when they choose to put their own scores up vs. the KPB inits? maybe they just post KPB when they play together? i've known some people that put in a different score when they were playing together to mark the occasion or whatever...

i know i'm missing some folks that score here and there. if anyone knows these folks let them know we want to hear from them. aaron (ASN) is already posting and contributing, which is cool.

it would be good to hear from some unaffiliated players about what would bring them out to tournaments and meetings and so on.

[Dropshot]

POO is a two man team off of Hawthorne, i got one of the guys number and i will let him know about tonight

[Kickback]

I was wondering who I was knocking off all the time at Vincente's. Now I'm not aloud there.

[bounceback]

yeah but i bet you read aloud everywhere. jesus, try mouthing the words silently in your head for a change!

[HornedGramma]

WNK

I have done much hemming and hawing on this board - due in equal parts to truly poor interpersonal skills, a desire to get in on you guys' first rate shit-talk, and a feverish love of pinball.

Shamefully I was doing the 'fling poo and hide' thing - I had shit to say, but was still a foundling pinhead and didn't want to a.) be given shit whilst playing or b.) get punched (which is a fair concern, if we're just judging by the mugshot gallery... but, after playing alongside you guys for a while, I know yer just a bunch of big galumphs and wouldn't punch me unless I really needed a punchin'.)

In the last couple weeks, I've put up scores in almost every location I play at. GC on Family Guy at the Bonfire, GC on Tales From the Crypt at the Black Cat, and decent scores on machines at Vincentes, the Matador, the Yukon, and the Vern.

The number of quarters, Tilts and spilled beers has gone down significantly. So I thought I'd introduce myself, even though I've met quite a few of you (happy belated b-day from Steph and myself, by the way, ROM).

So. See you guys out there. If you see me - perpetually wearing a blue Residents hoodie and black hat - challenge me to a game. You might destroy me, but chances are equally good that I might destroy you.

[ROM]

If you're Stephanie's husband, shouldn't your initials start with a D?

[HornedGramma]

The two of us use WNK.

'Cuz you called us wankers, ROM. And, once the tears dried and the sting of fey British slang faded, we decided to own it.

[ROM]

Ah, I did not realize that was you. Your internet persona doesn't quite match your physical one. I could not have made that guess.

At any rate, glad to see I inspired something. Embrace can sometimes be easier than escape...

[HornedGramma]

I communicate much better in writing than speaking. I'm a huge fucking knot of anxieties, especially in groups of people. Even so I was sure you had me figured out.

[ROM]

I can be pretty dense (or spaced out... one of the two). Stephanie even told me about an incident at Plan B that was extremely similar to the one you wanked about in the comments, and I still didn't make the connection!

[HornedGramma]

Yeah - sorry about that. We had just started playing a month or so before. I wasn't familiar with the politics and protocols, and I wasn't about to challenge you guys anyway.

Wanking nonetheless... and over IJ4? Embarassing. Like I said: truly poor interpersonal skills.

I learned my lesson, and have tried to cut back on the wankery to preserve my poor, thin wrists for playing the game itself. No hard feelings?