Oakland, CA
PAPA World Champ Andrei Massenkoff proved his monster skills by taking the first two of four November tournaments here in the Bay Area. Fortunately for us mere humans, Andrei is an awesome dude who will show you all the tricks of the trade.
At Playland, Chris Heilig, EBPL league member pulled his weight as bottom qualifier but went on to finish 2nd with top notch finals play. Tim Hansen, always a great player, took third. Seems like the EBPL is growing in skill to challenge the top-notch BAPA folks.
I qualified 4th, and was in a tough finals group and didn't make it through the Semi's. Then I stupidly suggested we should play a one-game run-off for 4th through 8th place, where I finished dead last. As the tournament director, you would think I would be smarter than this, but oh well...
Playland not at the Beach Pin Golf Results:
1 Andrei Massenkoff
2 Chris Heilig
3 Tim Hansen
4 Josh Lehan
5 Damien Charletty
6 Josh Warren
7 Zoe Vrabel
8 Jon Olkowski
9 Keith Parkins
10 John Lautmann
11 Kenny Reyna
12 Erin Ray
13 Tim Harrison
14 Jeannie Rodriguez
15 Dottlie Ledesma
16 Tim Langeloh
17 Molly Reisman
18 Darrin Bebout
19 Matt Warren
Vitus was somewhat of a new thing for the Bay Area. A true bar tournament, emulating the Portland style. Previous to Vitus, there were no locations in the Bay Area with enough games in good working condition close to me. One of the owners is a pinhead, so we set it up. But I knew pinball + alcohol is a can't miss. Sure enough, even though it was on a Tuesday, we got a nice turnout.
Jeannie Rodriguez rocked it and sent Andrei Massenkoff, world champ, to the losers bracket with a photo finish win of less than 15k on Lord of the Rings. Zoe Vrabel, a recent Portland transplant to the Bay Area showed that Portland is for real and took 3rd. The big surprise was Aaron Wong. Aaron is foremost a video gamer who got into pinball when Phoenix Games in Concord added pinball games to their store. Very no-nonsense, not a lot of flipper skills, but just solid play and raw talent. He won the winners bracket.
Vitus Single Game Double Elimination:
1 Andrei Massenkoff
2 Aaron Wong
3 Zoe Vrabel
4 Jeannie Rodriguez
5 James Vierra
5 Matt Wilmarm
7 Hal Erickson
7 Chris Heilig
9 Ashley
9 Emmet Gadigan
9 Beth Davies
9 TJ Beyer
13 Dylan Eichenbaum
13 Keith Parkins
13 Mitch Tunick
13 Maurice Tierney
17 Dottie Ledesma
17 Darren Ensley
17 Eric Martin
17 Michael Spears
17 Nicole Anne Reik
The next tourney is Nov. 19 at Pacific Pinball Museum. "Import Danish Pinball".
Tournament is FREE with PPM admission. There will be pizza, nachos and beer for players. Hope to see you there!
