Some league nights, everything clicks.
And some league nights, you’re hot, tired, your focus has apparently wandered off without leaving a forwarding address, and your shoulder is still asking to be treated a little gently.
Week 4 was the second kind of night.
I knew pretty early that I wasn’t playing particularly well. I had taken a nap before league, but apparently my brain did not receive the memo that it was supposed to wake back up. Still, five rounds of pinball awaited, so off we went.
Round 1: Big Game — 3rd Place
The night started on Big Game, where I finished in 3rd place.
Not a spectacular beginning, but points are points, and there were four more rounds to go.
Little did I know Big Game would have one more joke waiting for me later.
Round 2: Total Nuclear Annihilation — 4th Place
Next came Total Nuclear Annihilation, which lived up to its name and thoroughly annihilated me.
4th place.
TNA is one of those games that can make you feel like you have a plan right up until the moment it reminds you that your plan was adorable.
Moving on.
Round 3: Black Knight: Sword of Rage — 2nd Place
Finally, my pinball brain briefly returned from wherever it had been vacationing.
After Ball 1, I had 848,000, with some drop targets, inlanes, and loops.
Ball 2 was the good one.
I got two locks, started Hell Hand, made some solid shots, and jumped all the way to 12.7 million.
I finished with 15,994,050, good enough for 2nd place.
There you are, pinball brain. Nice of you to stop by.
Unfortunately, it did not stay for the rest of the evening.
Round 4: Congo — 4th Place
Congo was actually more productive than the final result makes it look.
Ball 1
I finished at 45 million after a skill shot, two ramps, a loop, an inlane, and one very strange ball-jumping chain of events that ended with my ball draining.
Because pinball.
Ball 2
This was my best ball of the game. I hit plenty of ramps, received a multiball from Mystery, and got a Volcano lock, bringing my score to 168.9 million.
Ball 3
A skill shot, an inlane…
…and out.
Final score: 219,535,890.
Normally, that would feel pretty respectable.
Unfortunately, my group finished with:
- 465,079,390
- 433,621,950
- 271,188,190
- 219,535,890 — me
So, yes.
4th place.
Sometimes you score 219 million and everybody else simply decides to score more.
Round 5: Sorcerer — 3rd Place
By the final round, I was ready to see if I could salvage one more decent finish.
Sorcerer started promisingly.
Ball 1
I put up 170,000, getting a ball lock, plenty of drop targets, and three inlanes.
That had me in 1st place after the first ball.
Ball 2
A few more drops and then an early exit brought me to 189,500.
Ball 3
I needed a good final ball to move up.
Sorcerer declined my request.
Final score: 206,110, good for 3rd place.
The final scores were:
- 666,130
- 313,090
- 206,110 — me
- 122,280
And that wrapped up league play.
The Week 4 Scorecard
My five finishes:
- Big Game — 3rd
- Total Nuclear Annihilation — 4th
- Black Knight: Sword of Rage — 2nd
- Congo — 4th
- Sorcerer — 3rd
3rd, 4th, 2nd, 4th, 3rd.
That gave me 10 points for the night.
Was it my best league night?
Nope.
Was I playing particularly well?
Also nope.
But Black Knight showed that the ability was still in there somewhere. I just had trouble finding and keeping that level of focus throughout the night.
And Then Came the Revenge Pinball
Did I sensibly leave after league?
Of course not.
I immediately played a revenge game on Sorcerer and scored more than I had during league.
Naturally.
Then I moseyed over to Black Knight and bashed it around for a while.
I tried to get on Joker Poker for a little comfort-food pinball, but someone kept blocking the machine. When I finally got a turn, I played badly.
So I played it again.
I played badly again.
Then I played Cleopatra.
Also badly.
And then I wandered back to Big Game—the same machine where I had taken 3rd place during league—and blew it up.
OF COURSE I DID.
Because nothing says competitive pinball quite like discovering how to play the machine approximately five minutes after the results stop counting.
Meanwhile, Andrew was attempting to tame Total Nuclear Annihilation, which is roughly the pinball equivalent of repeatedly bashing your head against a wall and asking why the wall refuses to cooperate.
There was some colorful commentary coming from that direction.
I eventually decided I had contributed enough chaos to the evening and went out to wait in the car.
Not Every Night Has to Be a Great One
I would love to say that I always play well at Electric Bat Arcade, but lately, that simply hasn’t been true.
That matters to me because both the Arizona State Pinball Championship and the Women’s State Championship will be held there this season.
For Women’s State, I’m in a strong position. I’ve been earning the points I need through women’s leagues and tournaments, including Epic Women’s Pinball League, Belles & Chimes, and Desert Dolls.
The Open State Championship is a much bigger mountain.
I’ve never qualified for it before, and I’m still nowhere near the 24-player cutoff this season. But I’ve been playing competitive pinball for seven years.
Maybe it takes eight.
Maybe it takes ten.
That’s okay.
Progress doesn’t have to happen on my preferred schedule.
And one hot, tired, unfocused Tuesday night certainly doesn’t decide what happens months from now.
For tonight, I played five rounds, earned my points, got a solid 2nd place on Black Knight, walked approximately seventeen thousand miles between the arcade and where I had parked out in the tillies, played entirely too much revenge pinball, and eventually accepted that it was time to sit in the air conditioning and wait for Andrew to finish arguing with TNA.
Week 4 is in the books.
Not my best.
Still counts. Always.
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