So I've been moving to a new place and didn't realize how much stuff I accumulated till I had to move it. It's been several days of walking up and down stairs, carrying boxes, unboxing, cleaning, phone calls to cut off services, etc. etc.

I needed a good day of pinball and I got it.

Put on a Pin Golf tournament at Playland not at the Beach today. We have four tournaments scheduled in the bay area this month so I expected a somewhat light turnout. We got 20 total, which was just right. Nachos and pizza were served at lunchtime and everything went on schedule.

Andrei Massenkoff, current PAPA World Champion took first. EBPL up-and-comer Chris Heilig took second, followed by Tim Hansen and Josh Lehan.

I finished 8th. That's not bad, but I qualified 4th, and I just missed out to Chris in the semis by one ball. Ugh, that hurts.

Pin Golf, for those of you who don't know, is about completing a certain objective with the fewest number of balls. For example: "Score 5 Million on Funhouse" or "Defeat Dracula" on Monster Bash. It really emphasizes that "every ball counts" factor. One ball can change everything.

In the three game semi-final, Chris got a "hole in 1" on the first game (hokus pokus) and I scored 2. After that we tied (Earth Shaker and Cirqus Voltaire), and that's why Chris went to the finals and I was in the also-rans. Just one ball! Ugh! But Chris earned it with his hole-in-one.

As a sort of "after-party", several of us went down to a bar that just opened in Oakland with three pins. I was somewhat wiped from having run the tourney but I sure could've used a drink so I went down, too. Zoe, Andrei, Keith, Dottie, Chris and Damien and I picked up a drink at the bar then got our pinball on.

Turns out, they added a fourth pin - Medieval Madness. Yeah, MM, and it was playing mint.

Damien Charletty, who recently started the Sacramento Capital Corridor League, bought appetizers for everyone. It was pinball happy hour so the owner game me a 10 dollar role of quarters to put into the games. We played a lot of games, I won a few lost of few, but damn, a great time and wind-down after the intense tourney action.

Good tournament, good times, good pinball, good friends, free games.

That, my friends, is a good day of pinball.

Just got back from the PPE volunteer appreciation day at PPM and another six hours of hanging out and pinball. PPM produced a special volunteers only poster and I also got a PPM mug, along with two raffle prizes I didn't know I won.

So it wasn't just a good day of pinball, it was a good weekend of pinball!