Laughlin, NV
G'day!
The purpose of this thread is to detail what sort of cool stuff went on during the Rolling Stones Pinball Machine Debut events!
I'll start. You follow. Doesn't matter if your stuff reads like a travelogue. Were You There?
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Dorky's in Tacoma is really a great place, if you haven't been there yet. The spirit of the old 1980-1990s arcades lives on here.
Five of us SPL people (James and Janice, Deathsave, Katy, and myself) were at the Rolling Stones Pinball Debut Tournament last Friday. The place had grown a bit since I was last there. Walking in from Pacific Ave. the three machines were on the right in what appeared to be an alcove. Les had actually rigged up stage lights over the machines to heighten the mood (DJ Rekles knows good lighting!) Everything else was over to the left.
Dorky's is arranged into tiers. The lowest tier is the Pacific Ave. entrance and the kitchen. Les has his DJ booth right inside the door. He says he likes to watch people coming in and he can do the music at the same time. The second tier has many 1980s games and the Evel Knievel pinball. The third tier is all pinball. I don't think Black Knight 2000 got more than ten minutes rest that whole evening. James and I tied 1-1 on Cyclone.
Before the tourney, two of the three machines had been set on free play and practice was done as four-player games. Free play went on until 9:00, and then the machines were set to 75 cents. All proceeds from the weekend would be used towards Dorky's license and equipment to serve beer.
Caroline is really proud of her little kitchen and it shows in their cooking! (Not to mention the wonderful aromas wafting around the place!) She told me that there's a salesman coming in every couple of weeks to try to get her to switch to bread with a week or more shelf life. She says, "No way! If I can't use the bread by the next day it's out of here. That's how I do my bread." She buys from a local bakery. I had the focaccia pizza and it was excellent!
The tournament itself started at around 7:30. As expected, everyone was hesitant to be the first player, but it didn't take long for things to get going. DJ Rekles spun lots of good Rolling Stones vinyls in the background (the machines had music off) and lots of people stopped in, curious what all the commotion was about. That could also have been because of the lighting Les had strategically spilling out of the windows and onto the sidewalk. I was really surprised how busy Pacific Ave. was at 10PM.
So, even though there were about two dozen contestants (25, actually), there were closer to 50 people in Dorky's that evening.
I got a 9.1 million score, which was better than any of my practice scores but not good enough for the playoffs. Deathsave got a pretty bad score the first time around, then he decided to try again, and *surprise* landed a playoff spot as well as one of the highest qualifying scores.
The playoff was a classic "It Only Takes One Ball" game. Looked like Les had it all wrapped up at the end of the game as Gerald Green stepped up for his third ball with a pretty bad fourth-place 4.1 million. By the time he was finished, he had taken first place with a 33.7 million score!
At the end, it was Gerald Green, Les Voros-Bond, Deathsave, and John McAllister winning the Pro bracket, and Jacob Nuss, Jerry Day, Sarah Andregg, and Jeff Bird winning the Novice bracket.
Then Les turned on the lights on the lower floor to show that there was easily room for another 40 pinball machines down there. So Dorky's is really using about half the space they have.
A fantastic time was had by all. Can't wait for TRON to come out so we can do this again!
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More stories, please?
