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London Pinball League is Back!

Matt Vince

Matt Vince

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Joined
Jul 21, 2011
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Location
Sussex
It's been a while but we're back and with a brand new format!

This year the London Pinball League is available for anyone to enter at any time from the 1st of May until the 30th of June.

There will be 6 machines nominated across 2 London venues available for competitors to play at any time during the qualifying period.

The top 3 scores on each machine will be used for each player, but you can submit as many scores as you wish.

In order to register your scores you will need to take a 'selfie' showing your face and the score and submit it by either:
e-mail - londonpinball@gmail.com or post the picture on the London Pinball League Facebook page.

At the end of the qualifying period the top 8 (or 16 if over 80 players) will compete in a head-to-head finals day to decide the Champion.

In order to keep the social aspect of the league, we will be holding a meet at both the Four Quarters and Brewdog Shepard's Bush, where players will also be able register scores without the need of a camera or phone.

Details of the machines to be used will be announced shortly.
 
It is a step into new territory for us here in the UK, but this format has been very well received over in the US. It not only enables people to play at their convenience, but it also allows you to play as many games as you wish rather than the traditional 'one shot' format. I shall also be advertising at the venues with the hope of encouraging more new players into the league.
 
Firstly Matt, Thanks for all your efforts as the league takes so much time and effort to arrange.

The new format is interesting but there is a large potential for abuse. Hopefully it won't happen but what's to stop a player turning up at a venue, finding someone before them has had a great game and then posting that score as their own? A stuck ball or a faulty switch is also going to raise some interesting scores.

I also suspect that we'll see less variation in the top 8 players as with unlimited entries anyone of the big names who doesn't have a great game will buy their way in again. Personally I think that will be a bit of a shame as in that case you might as well just run the finals with the top 8 UK seeded players without bothering with anyone else playing. I'm pretty certain I could name who your top 8 will be now. While this might be fair in terms of their ability it takes the fun out of it for less able players as there is virtually no chance of qualifying.

Good luck with it and I hope it works well

John
 
put some recognisable sticker on the DMD to stop people doing the selfie at home on their own machine with the glass off.

What will you do if you get 3 or 4 selfies of the same score (obviously of the same play I mean, with others claiming)?

I'm not a fan, but good luck and thanks for all the efforts Matt [emoji14]
 
cooldan said:
put some recognisable sticker on the DMD to stop people doing the selfie at home on their own machine with the glass off.

What will you do if you get 3 or 4 selfies of the same score (obviously of the same play I mean, with others claiming)?

I'm not a fan, but good luck and thanks for all the efforts Matt [emoji14]
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Jeez guys, are there really that many dishonest unsporting types around?? Hey, it's only pinball ;-)
 
johnwhitfield said:
Firstly Matt, Thanks for all your efforts as the league takes so much time and effort to arrange.

I also suspect that we'll see less variation in the top 8 players as with unlimited entries anyone of the big names who doesn't have a great game will buy their way in again. Personally I think that will be a bit of a shame as in that case you might as well just run the finals with the top 8 UK seeded players without bothering with anyone else playing. I'm pretty certain I could name who your top 8 will be now. While this might be fair in terms of their ability it takes the fun out of it for less able players as there is virtually no chance of qualifying.

Good luck with it and I hope it works well

John
Click to expand...

I agree with John on this, takes away any chance of us less able. We need to bring the fun back, otherwise the top 8 won't have anyone to compete against.
 
I do understand and share some of your concerns, they were the first things that sprung to mind when I heard how the guys in the US are using this format.

This truly is an experiment and I am very interested to see how it unfolds. I believe there is good scope for the competition to hot up with the scores being posted onto facebook for everyone to see. I also believe that there will be some surprising results in the overall standings and that the finals will have a few surprise players included. All machines used in the league will be easily identifiable in the pictures as there will be safeguards in place. If the format proves unpopular or unfair then it will be a one off but I honestly believe the ability to play whenever it suits the player will enable more players to participate. We also get to enjoy a totally new format of competition as well as encouraging new players to enter that may have previously been intimidated by the thought of coming along to meet.
 
These super selfie leagues do seem to have worked well over there. I think it's a great idea to give it a try Matt.

Maybe this will actually help the not so good players like myself. The good players will post good scores, while if the not so good players screw up they can have another go and another until they do themselves justice. We are all capable of great scores from time to time, but what seperates the good players from the rest is the ability to deliver high scores consistently. I reckon a super selfie league will make consistency less important as long as you can spare the pound coins to have a few goes till you rack up a good score.

It's also proved good for the venues and operators in the US, so perhaps this will encourage more pins in locations over here.

Lets give it a try I say!
 
I think for a league that takes place using location machines this seems a good idea, especially those in busy cities like London, could increase money going into the machines which is only a good thing for operators. Also reduces some barriers (eg specific date & time for league play) for people to take part too.
 
Good on you Matt, the pinball community is very lucky to have someone putting the time and effort into running a league like this. I wish you every success, I hope that its the most popular league the country has seen and you make a killing doing it. If I'm able to make it to London in those 2 months I will certainly play a few games
 
Also Matt, could you just clarify a few things for me.

So the minimum requirement to qualify is, play 3 machines, record the score you get on each of those machines and post a picture of yourself with that score? So in theory you can just play the 3 machines in one location and qualify without visiting the other venue?

Also, will Full Throttle be one of the games used? :)
 
hmm... After discovering a WOZ in Manchester I wasn't previously aware of and recently visiting 4 or 5 places in the city centre. I'm considering doing the same league/setup thing for Manchester.

1) Does this exist?
2) Would people be interested?
3) What locations / machines would people want?
4) Should I move this to a different Thread
 
roadshow16 said:
Also Matt, could you just clarify a few things for me.

So the minimum requirement to qualify is, play 3 machines, record the score you get on each of those machines and post a picture of yourself with that score? So in theory you can just play the 3 machines in one location and qualify without visiting the other venue?

Also, will Full Throttle be one of the games used? :)
Click to expand...

No. We will use each player's best 3 scores on each of the 6 machines, 18 in total. This is in order to maximise the WPPR points available for everybody. We will total the 3 scores on each machine for players and rank them on the totals. So if you can score more in one game than others can in 3 then perhaps you will need to play less games, but each player will receive points per machine, based on their position in that games totalled table.

As for Full Throttle, yes that will be one of the machines (assuming Andy can get me a coin cable sorted in time)
 
damos3 said:
hmm... After discovering a WOZ in Manchester I wasn't previously aware of and recently visiting 4 or 5 places in the city centre. I'm considering doing the same league/setup thing for Manchester.

1) Does this exist?
2) Would people be interested?
3) What locations / machines would people want?
4) Should I move this to a different Thread
Click to expand...
This is perfectly possible, you would be best to speak with Martin Ayub first if you plan on applying for world rankings points though.
 
Matt Vince said:
No. We will use each player's best 3 scores on each of the 6 machines, 18 in total. This is in order to maximise the WPPR points available for everybody. We will total the 3 scores on each machine for players and rank them on the totals. So if you can score more in one game than others can in 3 then perhaps you will need to play less games, but each player will receive points per machine, based on their position in that games totalled table.

As for Full Throttle, yes that will be one of the machines (assuming Andy can get me a coin cable sorted in time)
Click to expand...


Ah, I see! That makes sense, thanks for clarifying.

Fingers crossed for Full Throttle
 
Oh, please don't make me take a "selfie"! I'm old and refuse to join the younger generation in this practice! I don't need to buy a selfie stick do I? Yuck. Yeah yeah, I know, I'll just get someone to take my picture.

Joking aside,

I am excited for the league to start. I am interested to see how the new scoring system will work out. As a mediocre player, I am curious to see if this helps or hurts me.

The downside for me is that I enjoy the leagues as a social gathering. I like to see everyone, have a few beers and watch some players who are better than me. So when I saw this new format, I was a bit disappointed. As a semi crappy player I don't really come to the meets to win, but to pick up some pointers and socialise.

I saw the post on Facebook that there will still be 2 venue meets, which is good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Emack said:
Oh, please don't make me take a "selfie"! I'm old and refuse to join the younger generation in this practice! I don't need to buy a selfie stick do I? Yuck. Yeah yeah, I know, I'll just get someone to take my picture.

Joking aside,

I am excited for the league to start. I am interested to see how the new scoring system will work out. As a mediocre player, I am curious to see if this helps or hurts me.

The downside for me is that I enjoy the leagues as a social gathering. I like to see everyone, have a few beers and watch some players who are better than me. So when I saw this new format, I was a bit disappointed. As a semi crappy player I don't really come to the meets to win, but to pick up some pointers and socialise.

I saw the post on Facebook that there will still be 2 venue meets, which is good.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

This is actually pretty nearly the exact same thing I thought, I'm not a great player and I'm never going to be in the top 10 (well unless only 9 people enter ;) )
So the beer, and fellow pinheads to chat to are as much of a reason I come along as the actual competing.

However - always up for something new so will be interested to see how this format works!

I assume there is nothing in the rules to say that a bunch of people can't go to the locations at the same time and play the games is there?
Just would need some organising between people who wanted to do this....
 
First of all Matt I would say I am only disappointed in that the previous competitions you had been running were fantastic and I always really really enjoyed. Accidentally stumbling into the pipeline one day oblivious to any competition has now got me completely hooked on pinball.

I think this new format could be really interesting and I will certainly be giving it a go.

In regard to the social aspect. I guess there is nothing to stop other forum members adding to this thread when they are gonna head down. I know it won't be everyone at once but at least a few small groups could meet up on a Saturday afternoon and have a few beers.

In regard to cheating..... Come on, if those people even exist just let them have it. Completely pathetic. I don't think anyone would cheat
 
If anyone is interested in a social meet up @ Brewdog on Sunday 1st of May, I will be there and can manually take scores for those that would rather not (or are unable) take selfie's. Full Throttle will be there and I will give a prize to the best score on it for the day!
 
Firstly, thanks to Matt for taking the trouble to sort this. Sadly, I am too far away to participate.

I only went to my first event last year' but one thing that struck me is that that the traditional tournaments are about getting good scores. Whereas when i used to play machines in the wild, it used to about getting a replay, then posting a mega score in an attempt to make the high score table.


Imho
  • This selfie format is closer to playing machines in the wild in the old days
  • It should broaden the pool of players. Existing ones have more chance of attending. New ones may stumble across it.
  • I loathe selfies, but i do recognise that many folk like putting their ugly faces on the internet for all to see
But
  • Folk will cheat
  • Some folk will play dozens of times and feed the machines pound after pound in a desperate attempt to post good scores
Might is be possible to introduce a degree of control by setting a maximum time that the player can use?, get the venue operator to supervise this ? This could bring a fair bit of cash into the machines, and would not a big time soak
 
image.jpeg I went to Four Quarters today and thought I would practice my selfie score shots, I have to be honest I find playing pinball easier than trying to take a photo of myself and the score in :rofl:
 
It seems losing the social aspect is a big thing, can operator and pub manager not come to some agreement where something like the first Saturday of every month is pinball day- running it similar to before, £5 entry, tables on freeplay but without the troubles of food/ drink included.
A few extra simple rules like every table can be played as often as liked but not concurrently - your game ends you have to play a number of the other tables before having another go so no one table gets hogged!
Just a thought!
 
The positive side of this is that if you can go in any time to play some league games then you are more likely to bump in to pinball friends who are also there for the same reason. And maybe if you know you are going to one of the two venues on a particular day you could mention it here in case anyone else fancies going along.

As far as tables getting hogged is concerned, I remember back in the 90s it was a matter of putting your coins down on the glass to get in line for a machine. That seemed to work pretty well.

A couple of questions for Matt:
Can you play two people (or 3 or 4) at once in this competition?
Are the games set for no extra balls?
 
Mfresh said:
The positive side of this is that if you can go in any time to play some league games then you are more likely to bump in to pinball friends who are also there for the same reason. And maybe if you know you are going to one of the two venues on a particular day you could mention it here in case anyone else fancies going along.

As far as tables getting hogged is concerned, I remember back in the 90s it was a matter of putting your coins down on the glass to get in line for a machine. That seemed to work pretty well.

A couple of questions for Matt:
Can you play two people (or 3 or 4) at once in this competition?
Are the games set for no extra balls?
Click to expand...
The games are set up as usual for games 'in the wild' so will have extra balls which can be played. Multiplayer games are fine, as long as your selfie post is clear which is your score (either by you obviously pointing or a message stating which player you are)
 
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