PINTERESTING OBSERVATIONS (Fall 2023 WEEK 7)
Replay:
With week 7 of play in the books, the end is nigh for the CFFC Fall league. This past Tuesday was a quick session with 5 players competing through preplay scores. Nonetheless, the evening shook up the leaderboards. Here’s how they presently stand:
A Division
1st– Dylan Lipscomb: 105 points
2nd– Dave MacQueen: 103 points
3rd– Luke Faulkenberry: 102 points
B Division
1st– Brian Stubbs: 94 points
2nd– Gary Dean: 93 points
3rd– Dane Bryant: 89 points
C Division
1st– Jared Cline: 91 points
2nd– Jay Sutton: 82 points
3rd– Feletia Lee: 67 points
Dylan Lipscomb (Group 1) has been absolutely dominant lately and was the star of the show this past Tuesday, picking up a league leading 22 points. It was enough for him to overtake me for first place on the A Division leaderboard. Marty Henion (Group 5) also had a stellar night, banking 17 points. With 83 points to date, Marty is poised for a qualifying spot, just 6 points out of 3rd place in B Division. Ryan Kirkendall showed up to play as well, and secured 17 points from Group 4. Having accumulated 78 points on the season, Ryan is still chasing Marty on the B Division leaderboard. Let’s break down the action from the past week:
Group 1
Dylan smashed the competition in Group 1 to the tune of 22 points (18 game points; 4 bonus points) this week. He picked up bonus point wins on every machine except Godzilla, and set his season high on both Jurassic Park and Foo Fighters in the process. He’s won Group 1 now for 2 consecutive weeks and finds himself at the very top of the season leaderboard. As for me, I was due for my luck to run out. I got one good ball on the night which earned a bonus point win on Godzilla and 8 points (6 game points; 2 bonus points) for the effort. Eric Sutton put up a better fight than I did on most machines but was only able to wrestle 6 points (6 game points). Dylan and I will welcome Dale Becker back to Group 1 next week while Eric will be in Group 2 battle royale with Luke Faulkenberry, Gary Dean, and Kamuela Kaneshiro.
Group 2
This week, Group 2 featured a showdown between Dale and Luke Faulkenberry. Dale took the victory by a single point, adding 16 (13 game points; 3 bonus points) to his season total. Along the way, he picked up a win on Godzilla, a bonus point win on Iron maiden, and set his season high score on Foo Fighters. Unfortunately, Luke also set his season high on Foo Fighters and it was enough for a bonus point win. More importantly, Luke earned a bonus point win on an eye popping Jurassic Park score (1.475 billion) that set the league wide season high. Luke finished 2nd with 15 points (13 game points; 2 bonus points). Brian set an impressive score on Jurassic Park as well (about 500 million) but alas, it was a bit shy of Luke’s score. With a win on Monster Bash, Brian finished with 12 (10 game points; 2 bonus points). Ed put up a good fight this week and claimed 5 points for the effort (4 game points; 1 bonus point). Next week, Dale will ascend to Group 1 to challenge Dylan and I. Luke will remain in Group 2 to welcome the new lineup of Eric, Gary, and Kamu. Brian and Ed will join Ryan and Dane Bryant in Group 3.
Group 3
Play was pretty competitive in Group 3 this week. With a personal season high on Godzilla, Gary claimed victory and 16 points (13 game points; 3 bonus points). In addition to his win on Jurassic park, his Godzilla game was good enough for a bonus point win. Closely trailing Gary, both Tory MacQueen and Kamu finished with 13 points (11 game points and 2 bonus points for both). Tory got bonus point wins on both Monster Bash and Foo Fighters, and set her personal season high on the latter. Meanwhile, Kamu earned a bonus point win on Iron Maiden and set his personal season best on Godzilla. Kamu will join Gary in moving up to Group 2 next week to join Luke and Eric. Jared, who picked up 6 points this week (5 game points; 1 bonus points), will join Tory in Group 4 for a match with Dane and Ryan.
Group 4
Ryan got it down this Tuesday. His 17 points (14 game points; 3 bonus points) were generated by bonus point wins on both Iron Maiden and Jurassic Park, as well as a win on Godzilla. Those Dane did not get a win in Week 7, he kept each match close and finished just behind Ryan with 14 points (12 game points; 2 bonus points). Dane and Ryan will tango again for a Week 8 tilt with Brian Stubbs and Ed Tank in Group 3. Jay and Melissa each got a win this week. Melissa set her season high on Foo Fighters to claim her win while Jay laid down a bonus point win on Monster Bash. At the end of the day, Jay finished with 10 (8 game points; 2 bonus points), while Melissa banked 7 (6 game points; 1 bonus point). They will join Jon Mann and Meghan Cook in Group 5 next week.
Group 5
Marty must have had his Wheaties on Tuesday. He won four of his five matchups, accumulating 18 points (15 game points; 3 bonus points) in the process. His wins on Foo Fighters and Iron Maiden both earned a bonus point, and he set his season high score on the latter. Yet, Feletia Lee was hot on his chase. She picked up the win on Jurassic Park, with a bonus point, and ended with 15 all day (12 game points; 3 bonus points). Marty and Feletia will be tested next by Tory and Jared in Group 4. Meghan and Jon kept all of the matches very competitive but, with unfortunate forfeit by Jon on Foo Fighters tilted, Meghan got the better of the evening. She finished with 8 points (6 game points; 2 bonus points) to Jon’s 5 (5 game points).
Movers, Shakers, and Tilters:
It is always gratifying to see the gnarly scores league members put up on these machines each week. Here was the top score for each machine this week:
Jurassic Park – 1,475,431,540 – Luke Faulkenberry (Group 2)
Foo Fighters – 304,884,060 – Dylan Lipscomb (Group 1)
Monster Bash – 58,174,390 – Brian Stubbs (Group 2)
Iron Maiden – 142,329,190 – Kamuela Kaneshiro (Group 3)
Godzilla – 339,755,050 – Gary Dean (Group 3)
All impressive scores. Though Dale didn’t put up the top score on a machine this week, he did put up a solid series of scores. Good enough for the top Outscored Percentage on the week at 86.52%! Dylan wasn’t far off at 83.51% and Luke offered a sold 73.03%. On the season, I am barely hanging on to 1stat 69.81%, a number that has been declining rapidly in recent weeks. Luke is only a quarter of a percentage behind at 69.56%. Dylan rounds out the top 3 at 65.28. These three players are also currently contending for the top of the A Division leaderboard. However, Dylan is currently on a hot streak, having won Group 1 for two consecutive weeks. It is the only active hot streak in the league. As for myself, I have the distinction of being the only player to have played in the same group for every week of this season thus far (Group 1). In terms of win percentage, Dylan paces the crowd at 67.50%. He is followed by Luke (60%) and Brian (59.05%).
Last week I noted that a new league wide season high score had not been claimed for several weeks. Luke must have taken this as a challenge given that he put up almost 1.5 billion on Jurassic Park. This is over 14 times greater than the average league score on that machine. The high score for Foo Fighters is also quite high at over 13 times the league average. While these scores might be difficult to top in the weeks that remain, I’d imagine we’ll see someone raise the bar on the other three machines in the 2 weeks that remain. The high scores for these 3 machines are all under seven times the league average. Who will add their name to the list below next week?
Foo Fighters Pro:
Dave MacQueen; 777,621,940 points
6 consecutive weeks (both player and score)
(13.51 times the league average)
Godzilla Pro:
Dave MacQueen; 720,044,990 points
6 consecutive weeks (both player and score)
(6.52 times the league average)
Iron Maiden Pro:
Luke Faulkenberry; 432,822,620 points
5 consecutive weeks (both player and score)
(6.58 times the league average)
Jurassic Park Premium:
Luke Faulkenberry; 1,475,431,540 points
1 consecutive weeks (both player and score)
(14.82 times the league average)
Monster Bash SE:
Dave MacQueen; 161,366,280 points
5 consecutive weeks (both player and score)
(6.69 times the league average)
Thanks for reading
As always, shoot straight, shake that thing, and stay special when lit.
-DAM