Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown

[Snorzel]

http://m.pinballshowdown.com


I plan to go this weekend, maybe today if the rain keeps me from work. Anyone else going to check this out?

 

[DA5ID]

Oh yeah - should be an amazing time - new pins for me to check out KISS, the hobbit, big juicy melons, and I think Americas most haunted. The link above is the mobile version of the site and does not include the list of 150+ pins. You have to go to the real site on a real computer to see the list. Who the f develops a separate stripped down mobile version of their site these days? - it's all about the responsive yo.

 

[DA5ID]

WOW - that was my first pinball expo - absolutely phenomenal 3 days of playing pins - here is the list of tables http://www.pinballshowdown.com/attend.html

I got to play everything - lots of pins from TPA I have never seen out in the wild and some new surprise tables I have never heard of.
JJ Hobbit is awesome!!!
The new stern Wrestlemania table(s) are fun but I didn't get too excited over them- there are 2 versions - I preferred the LE with the nostalgic wrestlers (hulk hogan) and additional play features (spinning disc, top left flipper mod).
KISS is absolutely amazing and I predict it will be a player's favorite.
Whizbang's Whoa Nellie (big juicy melons) and Alvin G's Pistol Poker - interesting that they are giving nods to classic pinball.
Spooky's America's most haunted - really fun table and happy/sad they sold out their 250 table production run - they gave a seminar on what's next for them - but i missed it...

A happy moment for me was my girlfriend came with me - she is not into pinball as much as I would like her to be - but she actually had a lot of fun on the stern playboy table. Another lady was playing and explained all the rules to her - "you have to hit the uni-boobie drop target and then shoot the centerfold ramp 3x in order to start multiball and see more boobies..."

Snorzel - hope you got to play the zaccarria tables (farfalla and time machine) my peeps from lyons classic pinball brought them.

AND finally my surprise table that I fell in love with - BARRACORA - 1981 williams SS table that had been restored and modded (playfield overlay, led's, etc) This table felt buttery and perfect. Would love to see this table in TPA someday.

 

[Snorzel]

I really wish I could have gone! Worked Friday, my girl had Saturday planned, on Sunday when she was FINALLY ready to go it was 3 already and I found they closed at 5! With that little time left I thought it would not be worth it. I went to 1up on Colfax instead. I highly recommend going in to play some pin if you have not already. It is great, increadable selection of pins, all playing smooth as silk with LEDs, just very well maintained. I really want to go to Lyons Classic Pinball, wish I could get a crack at those real Zacs.

Off the top of my head the pins at 1up Colfax: LOTR, Indiana Jones, Tron, Walking Dead, Sopranos, A/C D/C, Metallica, G n' R, Wizard of Oz, South Park, Simpsons Pinball Party, White Water, Monster Bash, Attack from Mars, Midevil Maddness, Adams Family, Twilight Zone... Maybe a couple others but that's what stuck out to me.

 

[DA5ID]

oh man snorkel, I think you were the one who told me about Rocky Mountain Showdown last year.
Well, try to make the dory hill pinball campout - my hard-core pinball friends say it's their favorite event of the year.

http://papa.org/2014/09/10/the-6th-dory-hill-pinball-campout/

I play in the boulder league (press play) on wednesday and we have open tournaments once a month you should give it a shot ($5 buy-in).

I also play the lyons league on thursday nights (I have reached my max quota of pinball nights my GF will allow) - there is an open tournament this thursday at 7:30 if you want to make the trip. I actually didn't know they owned the zacc's and am not sure where they keep them...

I'll definitely hit 1up soon!

 

[Snorzel]

Anyone go to the show this year?

I tried a couple times to qualify for the solid state tournament but came up just short, on cash and score The 3 tables were Sorcrer, Paragon and Medusa. You got 3 attempts on the table of your choice for $10, a score in the top 8 on 2 tables was required to qualify for the finals. Surprisingly, I did best on Paragon, and found out lasted that I could play Medusa pretty well. Last I looked like 30min before time was up I got 7th on Paragon and 11th on Medusa not good enough lol but it was fun

This was the first time I had tried any of the tourney machines irl and I really liked them all, very well maintained. I also got to play some others for the first time that were very good, had a blast and will come earlier with more cash knowing what to expect next year. They had 3 tournaments and I hope to enter all of them, SS, EM, and open.

 

[DA5ID]

Anyone go to the show this year?

I was there all three days from open to close (got a hotel room and everything -staycation!) One of these times we will have to meet FTF - maybe I did meet you and you just didn't introduce yourself as snorzel!
There was 2 other papa circuit events happening that weekend so the tournaments were very "local" (no sharpes or augensteins) but regardless competition was fierce.
I placed about the middle in the open, ss, and em tournaments. (Paragon 5x shot much much harder in real life!!!!) I was able to take home one of the first place glass trophies from the rookie tournament on sunday (you had to be 1000+ IFPA rating to compete).

kind of surreal getting the adam west passing news alert as I was playing Batman 66...

edit: 2 years ago my favorite table was barracora - this year it was a Stern Magic - absolute perfection, felt like I was in 1979 playing this when it was brand new.