♫ You Don't Kill Trump so Easy You Don't Kill Trump so Easy You Don't Kill Trump so Easy You Don't Kill Trump so Easy ay ay ♫ ♫Media on the news they are all singing the blues 'cause You Don't Kill Trump so Easy They're all making sighs and try to sympathize But it really isn't easy ♫
♫ The roof top spot security they all skipped it The killer had his chance but in the end you know he missed it ♫
♫ The media made a fuss saying "you can't blame us" and you Don't Kill Trump so Easy But the "Hitler" cries they played them all the time but You Don't Kill Trump so Easy ♫
♫ Two years of their lawfare came together But even after all that fuss Trump he just did better! ♫
♫ The Ladies on The View they are still singing the blues 'cause You Don't Kill Trump so Easy And their nuts on line they're making angry cries 'cause You Don't Kill Trump so Easy ♫
♫ The MSM's enabling the Dems pivot But all their gaslighting it just makes the people livid ♫
♫ The Lefties made a fuss shouting "you can't blame us" 'cause You Don't Kill Trump so Easy But their "Hitler" cries they made them all the time but You Don't Kill Trump so Easy ♫
♫ You Don't Kill Trump so Easy You Don't Kill Trump so Easy You Don't Kill Trump so Easy You Don't Kill Trump so Easy (fade) ♫ '
On Saturday my sons and I stopped by the Tycoon Arcade that I mentioned a few days ago.
Here is a quick video review of the place:
One thing I failed to mention in the video is that when you buy a batch of tokens they donate a game to toys for Tots, one game for a $19 purchase and an extra game for every $20 worth more up to five games if you drop $99 on 130 tokens.
You can find more information about them here. You can also order board games form them at the same site.
It’s been an interesting season in our 1972 Draft league here is where we stand so far
Team AL Alpha Division
Wins
Losses
PCT
GB
Wild Card GB
New York Yankees
36
14
.720
—-
n/a
California Angels
25
19
.568
8
+1 1/2
Cleveland Indians
27
23
.540
9
+ 1/2
Kansas City Royals (Kansas shitty)
18
32
.360
18
8 1/2
Baltimore Orioles
13
34
.277
21 1/2
12
The Yankees hold the best record in baseball thanks to the 2nd best ERA in the AL (2.65) the 3rd best fielding percentage .986 and a team that leads the majors in slugging percentage by almost 40 points thanks for Bobby Mercer and John Mayberry California and Cleveland continue the fight for the wild card while last years top dogs KC & the O’s are both falling behind. Interesting stat KC while having a horrible record are 3rd in the AL and 4th in the league in walks
Team AL Beta Division
Wins
Losses
PCT
GB
Wild Card GB
Milwaukee Brewers
32
15
.681
—-
n/a
Boston Red Sox
25
22
.532
7
—–
Minnesota Twins
23
24
.489
9
2
Oakland A’s
22
27
.440
11 1/2
4 1/2
Washington Senators
20
27
.426
12
5
Milwaukee leads the pack based on Pitching, Pitching and Pitching. Last years NL Cy Young winner Don Wilson (1.24) & Ken Holtzman (1.44) are 2nd & 4th in the Majors for ERA While leading the majors in doubles and sitting 3rd in OBP (.320) & 4th in OPS (.688). Boston hold the last wild card but is poised to advance leading the majors in OBP (.339) and just behind NY in OPS (.712) thanks in part to a rookie named Carlton Fisk. The twins remain in the hunt despite a -17 run differential. Oakland started strong but is fading thanks to an injury to ace Vida Blue. The Senators seem poised to take advantage to climb out of the cellar and back in the wild card race.
Team NL Alpha Division
Wins
Losses
PCT
GB
Wild Card GB
St. Louis Cardinals
29
18
.617
—-
n/a
Cincinnati Reds (cin city)
25
22
.532
4
+1
Atlanta Braves (Bananas)
24
23
.511
5
—
Philadelphia Phillies
22
25
.468
7
2
New York Mets (Daytraders)
21
26
.447
8
3
The Cardinals hold a 4 game lead despite Bob Gibson’s complete inability to get run support in his starts (5-3 1.79 ERA ) fortunately the team 2.54 ERA has made the difference. Cincinnati has thrived under new management this year, of course Johnny Bench’s Major league leading 14 HR might have something to do with it. The Atlanta Braves (Bananas) Billy Williams is helping them keep a grip on the wild card. The Phillies with an off season from Torrie but a powerful rookie Named Luzinski are right there and with Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton going 1,2 the Mets (Daytraders) aren’t far behind. Both the wild card and indeed the division are wide open.
Team NL Beta Division
Wins
Losses
PCT
GB
Wild Card GB
Pittsburgh Pirates
29
18
.617
—-
+5
San Francisco Giants
29
18
.617
—-
+5
Montreal Expos
21
26
.447
8
3
Chicago Cubs
18
29
.383
11
6
Los Angeles Dodgers
14
30
.318
13 1/2
8 1/2
Pittsburgh and the Giants are locked in a battle for 1st. The Pirates trying to make up for a disappointing 1971 and the Giants trying to return to the world series winning glory of 1970. Gaylord Perry (Pit) & Jim Palmer (Giants) leading the fight. The Montreal Expos despite having issues holding managers have been a surprise only 3 out of the wild card thanks to Lou Brock’s hitting and speed. The Chicago Cubs are top 5 in the majors in OBP (.315) & top 10 in slugging (.351) but are dead last in ERA (4.85). The Champion Dodgers have two great arms in Nolan Ryan (ERA 1.63) 2nd in NL and Wayne Twitchell (ERA 1.72) 3rd in NL but nothing else.
On the final day of Pintastic I woke around 7 (My son woke at five, went downstairs to play and then came back to snooze for an hour). The plan was to go downstairs, play a bit in the extra ball lounge, grab a bite of breakfast, pack and check out by 9:30 and then play we didn’t want to or couldn’t play anymore.
When I got to the Extra Ball lounge a few games such as Elton John were busy but the excellent Lord of the Rings was not so I took advantage of it.
There was a time when it would have been impossible to find this game empty as it’s, in my opinion one of the greatest games of all time, but then again two years ago you would never see a Willie Wonka empty either
Yet I saw it empty frequently.
Bottom line there were a lot and I mean a LOT of high quality new games there and as always the newest games get the most attention.
Traditionally the final tournament of Pintastic is the ladies tournament and that was no exception this year. I popped in to see it in full swing and spoke to the organizer, she was entered into the tourney as well so I filmed a bit as she played her ball then spoke to her at length when it was done.
Here are the trophies she referenced:
Longtime readers might wonder why I didn’t bring up a subject that I’m not shy about discussing or giving my opinion on, that’s rather simple, it’s pinball plus it’s a not my club, tourney or ox being gored.
Heading back to the Freeplay room I passed the vendor area where the Pinball machines were wrapped and packed and ready to go to the next show or back to the various showrooms. One of the things I noticed was I didn’t see the rental companies here. It could have been the economy or personal matters. After all Quigley’s cakes had to cancel for such reasons.
In the free play room the number of machines were slowly decreasing as the people who brought them packed up. I spotted game designer Steve Ritchie there signing a bunch of Elton John Pinball publicity shots.
He was packed and ready to leave but gave me a few minutes for a closing interview
I don’t know how many if any were sold at the show (I know Gabe bought one as it was in the Extra Ball Lounge) but either way it was a fun game to play and I thought I’d get some gameplay in before the end.
I had managed the 3rd high score the day before by the time I played that morning I had dropped to 4th.
Daniel dominated the high scores on that game holding 5 of the top 8 plus most of the mode championships but the #1 spot eluded him. Well there’s always next year.
By 2 pm they started shutting off machines. Last year I couldn’t find Gabe for the traditional closing interview, this year I found him but he was flat out however Michael was there as the 30+ EMP games were coming out of the club area one at a time to be packed and wrapped so we closed with him.
It’s a big difference between doing it all yourself and having a team so when you compare this video to closing videos with Michael from five years ago it’s a huge difference.
As we got up to leave the Rush games which had been there when we arrived were still being played. It was a tad odd to not be staying till the very last game was shut off as we had in prior years, but we had to be home in time for the 6 PM mass and the number and availability of Pinball machines all around the area had grown exponentially since the first time we attended a Pintastic.
It’s true you didn’t see too many pizza places with pinballs anymore but between barcades and arcades offering unlimited play for a flat fee and even some like Tycoon in Manchester that still work on the token based system there is plenty of pinball available within a 20-40 minute drive for us to enjoy with the prospect of a local club and barcade still in the cards.
That more than anything else is a solid sign that while Pintastic New England 2024 was clearly a success, Pintastic NE as a whole series of events to promote the hobby has been a bigger and resounding one.
UPDATE: By an odd coincidence this appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Pinball, and Stern in particular but the killer quote comes from Jersey Jack himself:
As digital as the guts of this thing may be, the experience is far from virtual.
You can see why, as wildly unpredictable as the industry has been, it requires a factory. “It’s such a handcrafted product,” said Jack Guarnieri, owner of Jersey Jack Pinball. “People forget, yet anyone who makes these things can tell you: build 10 machines in a row with the same parts and, depending how tightly a rubber is fixed to a post, or how a lever gets adjusted, that’s an assembly line full of small tweaks. It’s not a video game.
“And yet that’s also the best part — the randomness.”
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