Pokémon, Addams, John Wick, Jurassic Park & The Beatles
Week 2 of Tilt Studios Thursday League was one of those nights where the competition was absolutely stacked, the machines had opinions, and I apparently decided that third place was my spiritual home. 😂
Tilt Studio’s Thursday league at Arizona Mills is five rounds of four-player group match play, with the qualifying season using the best four of six weeks.
And this week?
25 players showed up.
And there were some serious beasties in the building.
Round 1 — Pokémon Pro
Christy — 93.8M — 3rd place
This game started off pretty promising.
Ball 1: 10.6M with a skill shot, multipliers, plenty of setup for Meowth Multiball, and I found a Pokémon.
Ball 2: was where things really started happening. I got up to 85.2M, got Meowth Multiball, caught a Pokémon, started a battle, hit the action button and got a whole bunch of shots going. I was even setting up another Meowth Multiball.
Ball 3: brought more Meowth hits, more multipliers and another Pokémon find—but I couldn’t catch that one.
I finished at 93.8M.
Unfortunately, the other three players had other plans.
3rd place = 3 league points.
Not bad at all for the opening round.
Round 2 — The Addams Family
Christy — 28M — 3rd place
This one was… frustrating.
The machine was being very stingy about giving me the things I wanted. Even Hailey, who is an absolute beast, was having a hell of a time getting anything going.
My game included:
Skill shot
Mansion shots
Tunnel hit
Train wreck shot
Bookcase hits
More mansion
And then, eventually, the inevitable drain
I finished with 28M.
Gavin and Paul got their games going, and once Paul beat me, I found myself actively rooting for Gavin to take him out.
Which, naturally, resulted in me finishing third.
Because apparently that’s how this night was going to work.
3rd place = 3 more points.
Round 3 — John Wick Premium
Christy — 7.7M — 3rd place
And then Manny Costa showed up.
Manny was in town from Las Vegas, and he’s an A-level player I’ve played before at Starfighters Pinball Festival and Electric Bat Arcade.
So naturally, I got to play John Wick against Manny Costa, John Shopple and John Antioco.
Because apparently I had angered the pinball gods.😂
Ball 1: 2.9M. Missed the skill shot, started a mode, got a hit to the car, two Winston letters and one mode hit before draining.
Ball 2: 4.3M with a skill shot and two ramps.
Ball 3: 7.7M with another skill shot, a started mode and one ramp.
Meanwhile, somebody over there casually put up 498.8M. Yep. That was Manny’s group.
3rd place = 3 points.
At this point, I had 9 points and was beginning to realize that my entire evening was going to be built out of tiny bricks of third-place finishes.
Round 4 — Jurassic Park Pro
Christy — 14.6M — 3rd place
Oh, Jurassic Park.
My old nemesis: THE PLUNGER.
The plunger was still being stupid.
No skill shot.
One T-Rex ramp.
A couple of loops.
Some amber action.
And eventually I managed to get a mode started, which at least gave me something to work with.
I was actually able to trap up and keep the ball alive instead of immediately watching it disappear into the abyss—which I consider a personal victory.
But I couldn’t get the ball back to the ramp I needed for multiball.
Final score:14.6M.
Andy Olson took first, Jeffrey Goad took second, and I took third.
And yes, Andy is the owner of Wyrd Candy, one of the businesses I promote on Wellness Whiskers Silverballs.
So technically, I got beaten up by one of my own promotional partners.
Excellent.😂
3-player scoring: 7/4/1
So that third-place finish was worth 1 point.
Round 5 — The Beatles Platinum LE
Christy — 684K — 3rd place
And then The Beatles decided to mess with me.
Ball 1: 143K
I picked loops. I got drops.
Ball 2: 396.4K
I picked drop targets. I got loops.
At least I got the skill shot this time.😂
There were lots of drops, one spinner hit, mystery lit, and then Ball 3 ended at 684K.
Adam Horton won the game, Michelle Pack took second, and I took…
you guessed it—third. For 1 point.
At this point I wasn’t even surprised anymore.
Final Results
24th out of 25 players — 11 points
And here’s the thing:
I’m not going to pretend this was a great night competitively.
It wasn’t.
But it also wasn’t the disaster that 24th place makes it look like.
I played against some ridiculously good players.
John Shopple finished the night in first with 31 points. Jim Smith had 29. John Antioco had 28. James Turner had 27. John Magyar and Paul Blanco had 26. Hailey Buhrman and Adam Horton had 25.
And then you’ve got Andy Olson at 21, Jeffrey Goad at 19, Gavin Bowman at 19, and Manny Costa at 15. Manny only finished four points ahead of me.
And I finished four points ahead of last place.
So yeah.
The leaderboard is not exactly going on my Christmas card.
But I showed up.
I played five rounds.
I got three 4-player third-place finishes and two 3-player third-place finishes.
Which means my entire night was basically: > “Congratulations, Christy! Here’s another third place!” 😂
The Silver Lining
The biggest thing I’m taking away from this night is that I wasn’t playing badly because I didn’t understand what I was doing.
I was getting modes started.
I was getting multiball going on Pokémon.
I was finding Pokémon.
I was working through Addams Family objectives.
I was getting modes going on John Wick.
I managed to salvage Jurassic Park despite the garbage plunger.
And The Beatles…
Well.
The Beatles and I had irreconcilable differences. 😂
And honestly, I’ve got all my kids coming into town, so I’m not even going to be able to play the entire season anyway.
So this isn’t the night to lose my mind over. Plus, I got some exercise, so it wasn’t a waste.
Incidental Exercise Receipts
It’s Week 2.
There are still weeks to play.
And if nothing else, I got to spend an evening with a bunch of people I genuinely love—even when they’re busy kicking my ass at pinball.
Andy, Jeff, Manny, John, Hailey, Paul, Gavin and all the other Tilt Studio folks…
It’s not their fault they’re good at pinball.
Well. Maybe it is.
But I’m still expecting sushi or potstickers as reparations. 🍣😂
Week 2: 24th/25th — 11 points.
Shake it off.
Next week, we go again.
Still counts. Always.🎱💜
Incidental Exercise Receipts Hub