A bit (well, it turned into a lot) of feedback from an ex London/SE league attendee, and new East Anglia participant...
Firstly, and apologies for this, but a bit of a moan about the London/SE league...
I totally agree with
@johnwhitfield in his post above. Over the past few years I'd become quite disillusioned with the London/SE league. A major part of this was the hard limit of only 6 games included in the league meets, despite significantly more machines being used in other league regions. This never changed, and the suggestion of increasing the number of games was met with a stubborn refusal to even consider the idea when I discussed it with the organiser on more than one occasion. I had no problem with only 6 machines if it was kindly hosted by someone who only had 6 or 7 machines, but it was, quite frankly, ridiculous to only play 6 machines when a league meet was held at PBR with 50+ machines, or other hosts with large numbers of machines available. This was especially galling if one had a long distance to travel to only play 6 games.
The other main issue I had with the SE league was that dates for events were released inconsistently, and much, much later than other leagues - often after 1 or more league meets had already happened in other areas. This quite often meant that by the time the dates were released in a piecemeal fashion, I had other engagements already booked in my diary, which I would have arranged on other days had the league dates been released in a timely manner. There is no reason that league dates should/could not be arranged and made available at least at the start of the year, as happens in other regions. Surely this would have been more convenient for the hosts as well?
I understand that
@Diane B will be taking over organising the London/SE league for next season, and have every confidence she will address both the above issues, which hopefully should help see the revitalisation of this region.
East Anglia League
Well, what can I say - what a contrast to London/SE!
This was the first year for this new region, and it has been absolutely brilliant. Several people kindly kindly opened up their homes to host a pinball event for the very first time. All were superb, and I was very grateful to be able to attend all but one of the league meets, in addition to the final held yesterday.
The organisation has been superb by
@Lecari and
@David_Vi and the standard of the venues and the food/refreshments provided has been top-notch - well worth the £10 fee, often with home made curries, cheesecake etc..
At each of the meets there have generally been 8-10 machines in the competition, but in addition to the league, at most events, there has also been organised an additional competition run after the league, very much with the ethos that WPPRs are not important (although some were IFPA registered), but totally focussed on having fun and socialising (split flipper, strikes etc..). Given this league didn't exist in previous years, the number of hosts and players who have emerged from nowhere is remarkable, and many new players are now interested in other competitions after their positive initial experience at the EA league.
I'd also like to mention one thing that I think is unique to the EA league, which I certainly found helpful, was that on the UK Pinball website, on the pages for scheduled events, not only was there the usual list of machines to be used, but also helpful links to the rulesets and tutorial and video streams featuring the machines. I know it's possible to google this info yourself, but having the links there was great - maybe something to consider for other regions?
In summary, Claire, David, all the hosts, and the people who have attended have made the inaugural EA league a resounding success.
Good luck to Nathan and Pete in the finals, but, as a comitted PBR member, good luck also to Lucy and Matt!
