PINTERESTING OBSERVATIONS (Fall 2023 WEEK 4)

Replay:

Week 4 has come and past but, competition in the CFFC Fall league is only growing hotter. This week, no player ran away with the competition, and three players, Kamuela Kaneshiro (Group 2), Gary Dean (Group 4), and Dane Bryant (Group 5), tied for the most points on the night at 17. Luke Faulkenberry (Group 3) finished close behind at 16 points. As a result, Dane was able to move up 6 spots in the rankings, Gary moved up 4 spots, and Kamu broke out of his tie with Dylan Lipscomb to claim the number 2 spot on the leaderboard uncontested. Kamu is now within striking distance of the top of the leaderboard. With 65 points on the season, I remain at the top of the leaderboard but, Kamu is only 5 points behind (60 points; 2nd place). Third place is now a tie between Dylan and Luke who both hold 55 points. With Kamu advancing out of Group 2, next week will feature a showdown between the top three players on the leaderboard (me, Kamu, and Dylan). Should be interesting! Let’s see how things panned out last Tuesday:

Group 1

At the end of the night on Tuesday, none of the three players from Group 1 were entirely sure who had won the night. All three players (myself, Dylan, and Dale Becker) won at least one matchup and lost at least one matchup. Bonus points made a big difference in the final outcome and ultimately I squeaked out a group with 15 points (12 game points; 3 bonus points). This included bonus point wins on both Godzilla and Iron Maiden. Dylan pulled out tightly contested wins on both Jurassic Park and Monster Bash to earn 12 points (10 game points; 2 bonus points). Notably, he was the only player in Group 1 to set a personal season high score (Foo Fighters) this week. Foo Fighters was won by Dale who banked a very respectable 9 points (8 game points; 1 bonus points) for the week. Dylan and I will welcome Kamu to Group 1 for week 5, while Dale will join a dangerous lineup in Group 2 that includes Luke, Ed Tank, and Brian Stubbs.

Group 2

Starting the league in Group 4, Kamu has been advancing through the Groups progressively. With a win of Group 2 this week, he has completed his ascendance into Group 1. He played lights out in the present week and claimed a hefty 17 points as a result (14 game points; 3 bonus points). To generate this total he blew away the competition with a bonus point win on Godzilla and also landed the win on Foo Fighters. He’s clearly upped his game as he set new personal season high scores on Godzilla, Jurassic Park, and Monster Bash. Dylan and I will need to take notice as Kamu will join in Group 1 next week. Though Kamu took the win, Ed was close on his heels earning 14 points (12 game points; 2 bonus points) after a bonus point win of Monster Bash and additional wins of Jurassic Park, and Iron Maiden. Ed clearly had the best personal performance as he set new personal season high scores on every machine except Godzilla. Ed will remain in Group 2 but, will face a difficult matchup next week with Luke, Dale, and Brian. Eric Sutton and Marty Henion rounded out the Group 2 competition with 9 points for Eric (7 game points; 2 bonus points) and 8 points for Marty (7 game points; 1 bonus point). Given the strong play of Kamu and Ed, neither Eric nor Marty were able to score a win in week 4 matchups however, Marty did set his personal best on both Jurassic Park and Foo Fighters. Marty and Eric will get the chance at a rematch in Week 5 as the play against Gary Dean and Tory MacQueen (I love a good rhyme) in Group 3. In the present week, 9 personal season high scores were set in Group 2 (tied with Group 4 for most personal records on the week).

Group 3

It appears that Luke is back to his winning ways as he completed a takedown of Group 3 this week to the tune of 16 points (13 game points; 3 bonus points). His point total was produced off of bonus point wins for both Godzilla and Monster bash, another win on Iron Maiden, and a personal season’s best on Jurassic Park. With 15 points (13 game points; 2 bonus points), Brian Stubbs was close behind. Setting new personal highs on Foo Fighters and Jurassic Park, Brian picked up the remaining wins, including a bonus point for his stellar performance on Foo Fighters (over 300 million; best of the evening). Luke will have to contend with Brian again next week in Group 2 as they join Dale and Ed in Group 2. With Luke and Brian sucking up all the air, neither Jay Sutton (12 points; 10 game and 2 bonus) or Ryan Kirkendall (5 points; 4 game and 1 bonus) were able to claim a win, or set a new personal best on the season. Ryan and Jay will be tested next week in a Group 4 matchup that also features Dane and Melissa Becker.

Group 4

This week, Group 4 featured strong play from each of the competitors, who set 9 new personal season high scores (tied with Group 2). At the end of the day, Gary recorded the win, claiming 17 points (14 game points; 3 bonus points) for his season total. En route to the victory, Gary squeaked out a win on Godzilla by less than 400K points, and got a bonus point out of his win of Iron Maiden. He also set his personal season high on Godzilla, Iron Maiden, and Monster Bash. Gary was trailed by Tory who earned 12 points (10 game points; 2 bonus points). Though her sole win was on Monster Bash (with a bonus point), Tory kept everyone honest with a strong performance that set her season high for both Monster Bash and Godzilla. Tory and Gary will compete against each other again next week, joining the other player whose name ends in Y (Marty), as well as Eric, in Group 3. Finishing 3rd in the group, Feletia Lee gained 9 points (7 game points; 2 bonus points) on the evening. She crushed the competition on Jurassic park, earning a bonus point on a win in which she recorded her personal best, and the best performance on this machine across the league that night. This was in addition to a win on Foo Fighters.

Jon Mann also had a really strong night but, as a result of a forfeit on Iron Maiden, finished just shy of Feletia with 8 points (7 game points; 1 bonus point). He did however, set his personal best season score on Monster Bash, Foo Fighters, and Godzilla. Feletia and Jon will play Jared Cline and Meghan Cook in Group 5 next week.

Group 5

Dane stole the show in Group 5 this week, earning 17 points (14 game points; 3 bonus points). Though his personal season best on Jurassic Park was not enough for a win, his season best on Monster Bash earned both a win and a bonus point. The solid performance was rounded out with another bonus point win on Iron Maiden. Melissa finished in second with 13 points (11 game points; 2 bonus points). Her personal season best performance on Monster Bash was shy of Dane’s but, her new season record on Jurassic Park did earn her a win. As a result, Dane and Melissa will get new company (Jay and Ryan) in Group 4 next week. Jared almost made the cut to advance to Group 4, finishing just 1 point behind Melissa with 12 points (10 game points; 2 bonus points). Though he didn’t set any new personal records, he did get wins of both Foo Fighters and Godzilla. With Jimmy Buffet’s catalog inaccessible, Meghan was not able to rally for new high scores this week but, she did add 6 points to her season total (5 game points; 1 bonus point). Meghan and Jared will give it a go against Feletia and Jon next week for a Group 5 rumble.

Movers, Shakers, and Tilters:

Group 1 simply did not look like Group 1 this week. Only Dylan was able to set a new personal high score (Foo Fighters), and all three competitors finished in the middle of the pack with regard to outscored percentage (50.56% - 52.81%). The best performances came from Kamu (Group 2) and Ed (Group 2), who both scored 74.16%, followed by Luke (Group 3) at 69.88%. As a result, Kamu jumped 4 spots on the Season Outscored Percentage leaderboard to claim 3nd place with 62.22%. Luke ascended to 2ndwith a 65.25% on the season, and I was able to hang on to 1st, though my season rating dipped to 75.71%. No new league wide high scores were set in the present week but, the best performances on each machine were produced by Feletia Lee (Jurassic Park; 269,130,400), Gary Dean (Iron Maiden 190,149,150), Tory MacQueen (Monster Bash; 83,964,200), Brian Stubbs (Foo Fighters; 301,318,370), and Luke Faulkenberry (Godzilla; 403,174,730). Kamu continues to rack up wins, and still leads the league with 41 (68.33% of matches). Dylan is in 2nd with 33 (66%) followed by myself (32; 64%). Machine averages stayed pretty consistent between this week and last, though there was a small increase in average scores for Foo Fighters, and Jurassic Park. here are our current machine titles:

Foo Fighters Pro:

Dave MacQueen; 777,621,940 points

3 consecutive weeks (both player and score)

(14.11 times the league average)

Godzilla Pro:

Dave MacQueen; 720,044,990 points

3 consecutive weeks (both player and score)

(7.04 times the league average)

Iron Maiden Pro:

Luke Faulkenberry; 432,822,620 points

2 consecutive weeks (both player and score)

(5.51 times the league average)