PINTERESTING OBSERVATIONS (Fall 2023 WEEK 5)
Replay:
Only 3 weeks of play remain for the CFFC Fall pinball season. In the sprint to the finish, a lot can change. As you can see from the overall standings, players have been assigned to divisions where they will compete for their league standing. These division assignments are made by the average league rank at the conclusion of play across each week of the league; listed as “Div Avg Ladder” on the standings. At present, these assignments are still fluid, meaning that if you improve your rank through working your way into higher groupings, you could be elevated to a higher division. In fact, this exact circumstance occurred as a result of Week 6 play. Here’s the low-down.
Brian Stubbs was officially the star of Week 6. He won four out of five of his matchups in Group 3 and finished 1 point shy of a perfect score with 23 points (19 game points; 4 bonus points). Brian maintained his hold on the top of Division B leaderboard but importantly, he also improved (lowered) his Div Average Ladder Ranking. He is now on the cusp of elevating into Division A. Since he won his group and will be playing in higher group next week, he’s got a good shot of making that leap next week. However, he'd need beat Ed Tank, as he is the player in Division A who is currently on the cusp. It should make for an interesting Week 7 matchup in Group 2. Brian currently has 82 points; If he were moved to Division A today, he would be just 1 point outside of 3rd place.
Jay Sutton also had an excellent night in, picking up 20 points (16 game points; 4 bonus points). Despite the commanding victory, Jay’s average ladder rank had no choice but to increase because he was competing in Group 5 this week. Thus, by the end of the evening, Jay was reassigned to Division C. However, with 72 points, Jay comfortably slid into 2nd place in that Division. Given that he won his group and will be playing in a higher group next week, his average ladder ranking will have a chance to improve as he remains on the cusp of returning to Division B.
Behind Brian and Jay, two players from the evening with 16 points; Jared Cline (Group 4) and Eric Sutton (Group 2), both with 13 game points and 3 bonus points. For Jared this means a second consecutive group win. He currently sits on top the of Division C leaderboard with 85 points. However, his average ladder ranking is not far behind Jay’s. If Jared continues his winning ways, he could potentially leapfrog Jay to pickup a Division B assignment. If he were assigned to Division B today, he would be in the top spot with his point total. This week represented a second consecutive group win for Eric as well. The performance raised his season point total to 76 and moved him up a spot into 4thwithin the Division. The win also means that he will return to Group 1 next week.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that despite finishing third in his group this week, the fact that Dane was playing in a higher group this week led to an improved average ladder ranking. Since he was on the cusp of the Divisional assignment, Week 6 sent him from 2nd place in Division C to 3rd place in Division B! Here’s the full breakdown of play.
Group 1
This group featured the closest competition of the night with only 6 points separating the final point totals of the players when all was said and done. Two players came into the competition with winning streaks (myself and Luke Faulkenberry) and neither won the night. The honors went to Dylan Lipscomb, who emerged victorious with 15 points (12 game points; 3 bonus points). He certainly earned the win, taking bonus point victories on three machines (Foo Fighters, Jurassic Park, and Godzilla). He was also the only player in Group 1 to set any new personal season high scores (Foo Fighters and Godzilla). Both scores were also the highest set by any player this week on those machines. Meanwhile, I didn’t get a single win on the night but, was able to finish with 12 points (10 game points, 2 bonus points) by finishing 2nd on all 5 matchups. Of course, this means that Luke won the two machines that Dylan didn’t (Monster Bash and Iron Maiden), and did so convincingly, picking up a bonus point on each. Though it wasn’t his personal best on the season, his Iron Maiden score was the top total on that machine for the week. Luke emerged with 9 points (8 game points; 1 bonus point). As a result, the top positions of the Division A leaderboard remain unchanged; Me (95 points), Luke (87 points), and Dylan (83 points). Dylan and I will welcome Eric Sutton to Group 1 next week, and Luke will matchup with Dale Becker, Brian Stubbs, and Ed Tank in Group 2.
Group 2
Eric did what he needed to do this past week, winning Group 2 and picking up 16 points (13 game points; 3 bonus points). Victory was achieved with a bonus point win on Godzilla, and another win on Monster Bash. As a result, he moved into 4th place in Division A but, will have to faceoff against Dylan and I in Group 1 next week. Dale was right on Eric’s heels this week and ended up just 2 points shy of his total at 14 (12 game points; 2 bonus points). However, Dale set his personal best of the season on both Foo Fighters and Godzilla, earning bonus point wins on both. As a result, Dale will remain in Group 2 and will be joined by a new lineup that includes Luke, Brian, and Ed. It should be a lively matchup! Kamuela Kaneshiro laid down a really nice performance on Jurassic Park. It was his high for the season and the best score of the night on that machine from any player. The bonus point win contributed a 10 point total on the night (8 game points; 2 bonus points). Gary rounded out Group 2 with 8 points (7 game points; 1 bonus point). Gary and Kamu will rematch next week in Group 3, joined by Tory MacQueen and Jared Cline.
Group 3
As previously mentioned, Brian Stubbs had a stellar night at the expense of Group 3. He had bonus point wins on every machine with the exception of Godzilla. In the process he set his personal season high on Monster Bash and Iron Maiden, with his Monster Bash score setting the pace for all players on the Week. He finished just shy of a perfect score with 23 (19 game points; 4 bonus points) and is currently in the top position of Division B. Ed picked up as many of the remaining points as he could, getting 11 (9 game points; 2 bonus points) for the effort. It was enough for 2nd, so Ed will join Brian in moving up to Group 2 for a showdown with Luke and Dale next week. Dane had a nice bonus point win on Godzilla that set his personal season high on that machine. He ended the evening just a point behind Ed at 10 (9 game points; 1 bonus points). After Brian’s dominant performance, only so many points remained and Melissa was able to claim 4 (3 game points; 1 bonus point). Melissa and Dane will face new competition in Jay and Ryan Kirkendall for next week’s Group 4 tilt.
Group 4
Two wins (Monster Bash and Iron Maiden) were enough to secure Jared a victory in Group 4 to the tune of 16 points (13 game points; 3 bonus points). On his favorite machine (Iron Maiden), the win garnered a bonus point. This is Jared’s second consecutive group win and remains in the top spot of Division C. Tory clearly came to play as well. She set her personal season high scores on both Godzilla and Foo Fighters. Godzilla yielded a bonus point win and she finished with 14 all day (12 game points; 2 bonus points). She’ll move to Group 3 with Jared next week and face Gary and Kamu. Marty showed his prowess on Jurassic park, picking up a bonus point win and 10 points (8 game points; 2 bonus points) towards his season total. Jon Mann won Foo Fighters with his personal season best and gained 8 points (7 game points; 1 bonus point) for Week 6. Next week, Marty, Jon, Feletia, and Meghan Cook will meet in Group 5.
Group 5
With Feletia absent on the evening, Ryan and Jay battled for the win in Group 5. Jay claimed the glory with bonus point wins on Iron Maiden, Godzilla, and Monster Bash. His scores on the latter two were both personal season highs. He was rewarded with 20 points (16 game points; 4 bonus points) and finds himself in 2ndplace in Division C. Ryan earned a bonus point win on Foo Fighters and toughed out a contested win of Jurassic Park. With 15 points from the present week (13 game points; 2 bonus points), he will move up to Group 4 with Jay, to play Dane and Melissa. On a down evening, Meghan came away with a point on the week. She’ll reboot for a machup next week with Marty, Jon, and Feletia.
Movers, Shakers, and Tilters:
Brian earned some serious points this week and they were well deserved given his play. He put up an 80% outscored percentage, meaning that he would won 80% of the games if his scores were matched against all other players on each machine. Dylan and Eric were also especially good, finishing at 72.94 and 69.41% respectively. On the season, the outscored percentage leaderboard remains Me (74.23%), Luke (68.40%) and Dylan (62.38%). It is clear from these values that competition is pretty tight this season. Consider, after Week 6 of the last league (Spring 2022), Jamie Caton held an outrageous season average of 84.11% followed closely by Luke at 79.66%.
High scores are nice but, the goal of any matchup is to win, and nobody has picked up more matchup wins to date than Jared (55 wins). He also holds the highest matchup win percentage (64.71%) with Dylan and myself trailing just behind (64.29% and 62.86%).
High scores are nice but, we haven’t seen any in a while! It has now been 3 weeks since we’ve seen a new league wide season high score on any of the machines. The current high scores for Foo Fighters, Godzilla, and Jurassic Park have each been held for 5 consecutive weeks now, while the high scores for Monster Bash and Iron Maiden have been held for 4. Given this and the observation that we are seeing fewer personal season high scores set in recent weeks, it can be easy to assume that league play has simmered a bit. However, the league is performing rather well as a whole. One comparison is to look at average machine totals at this point in previous leagues. The Spring 2022 CFFC league also utilized Godzilla, Iron Maiden, and Monser Bash. In each case, the average scores of the present league are superior; Godzilla 63K -> 114K, Monster Bash 19K -> 24K, Iron Maiden 62K -> 69K. Keep up the good work everyone! Here are our present machine titles:
Foo Fighters Pro:
Dave MacQueen; 777,621,940 points
5 consecutive weeks (both player and score)
(13.75 times the league average)
Godzilla Pro:
Dave MacQueen; 720,044,990 points
5 consecutive weeks (both player and score)
(6.30 times the league average)
Iron Maiden Pro:
Luke Faulkenberry; 432,822,620 points
4 consecutive weeks (both player and score)
(6.26 times the league average)
Jurassic Park Premium:
Eric Sutton; 761,852,650 points
5 consecutive weeks (both player and score)
(8.55 times the league average)
Monster Bash SE:
Dave MacQueen; 161,366,280 points
4 consecutive weeks (both player and score)
(6.54 times the league average)
Thanks for reading
As always, shoot straight, shake that thing, and stay special when lit.
-DAM