From: lfs@damon.ccs.northeastern.edu (Lyman F Sheats Jr.)
Subject: Re: Flip-Out Finals ??
Organization: College of Computer Science, Northeastern University
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 19:20:25 GMT

yyz@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (donald.w.coons) writes:

>I am not sure about the final 16, but I talked to Lyman Sheets today and he
>told me Rick Stetta (who else) won the tournament. Lyman finished 3rd or 4th,
>I forget which. Maybe Lyman or someone else can post the whole 16 finalists.

Ok, well, yeah, Mr. Sports Illustrated won again (yawn).  Seems like it's
always some space-shot from California winning a pinball tournament.  Maybe
someday, that'll change.

:-)

Seriously though, that's three consecutive Expo victories (1990, 1991,
1992) for Rick, and if I had to bet money on who would win the next three,
I wouldn't want to bet, but if I *had* to, I think I'd put my money on
Rick.  Three in a row I think will be untouchable in the future based on
the current level of competition (which I see increasing very quickly in
future years).

Anyway, I got my pictures back tonight.  One was a really nice one of
Leonard posing in front of the scoreboard with his eyes closed at the
end of the qualification period.  So I'll try to get all of the scores
in and let you know who finished where.

Note: the tournament game was "Cue Ball Wizard" by Gottlieb (designed by
Jon Norris).  There were 18 of them set up for people to play, at $5 for
two games on one machine.  It was a continuous qualification format (which
means you can pay another $5 for another 2 games) and your best score from
any of the attempts could get you into the top 16.

All of the machines used for qualification were fresh out of the carton
(hell, some of the games still had their cartons lying underneath them after
they were set up) and set up on the "medium" level of difficulty, with the
following modifications:

The machines were set on "Free Play."

The free ball did not award a free ball -- it awarded 20M points.

The special did not award a special -- it awarded 50M points.

The Bank Shot random award always awarded "Light Hurry up 10M."

When you started a new game, the only the letters "D O U" in the
"D O U B L E" sequence were lit, so to get double, you had to spot
the "B", the "L", and the "E."

The outlane posts were set to "conservative" (difficult).

The games had "conservative" tilts (i.e. they tilted).

That's all I can remember, so if I left something out, I apologize.

"A" Division Finalists

John Ross:           2,134,309,680
Lyman Sheats:        1,885,284,180
Dave Hegge:          1,770,579,030
Yoshihito Fujisana:  1,704,358,200
Leonard Moscaritolo: 1,678,147,460
Scott Forgaard:      1,590,090,290
Dallas Overturf:     1,542,793,860 <- what a pathetic score, huh! :-)
Rick Stetta:         1,497,304,704

"B" Division Finalists

Ken Share:        1,300,788,220
Dean St. Antoine: 1,300,264,470 (what? and ignore those last 6 digits?)
Gene Lewin:       1,257,249,510
Kenji Ishii:      1,183,132,010
David Lindas:     1,118,799,840
Dale Rice:        1,095,739,080
Glenn Wilson:     1,067,031,530
Toy:              1,049,927,540

Womens:

Wendi Jankowitz: 283,858,080
Julia Slayton:   254,405,480

Manufacturers:

Joseph Gottlieb:  926,880,810 <-
Mosaya Horiguchi: 837,510,130    \ (you'd think these guys would know how
Jim Shird:        582,837,670    / to play a Gottlieb game, wouldn't you?)
Michael Gottlieb: 571,518,540 <-

I left out the Youth (14 and under) and the Tots (5 and under) divisions
cause it's real late and I'm tired and I want to go to bed.

Rick Stetta won the "A" division, John Ross finished 2nd, I placed 3rd,
and Scott Forgaard placed 4th.  Rick also defeated the winner from the
Manufacturer division, Michael Gottlieb, and thereby earned the title
of "Grand Wizard" (he got another huge trophy and got to dance around in
a silly red-felted cardboard "crown" :-).

I wasn't paying much attention to the happenings over in the "B" division
as I was too busy experiencing one of the biggest ass-whippings of my life
at the hands of John Ross.  Damn, he toasted me pretty good.

I do know that Dale Rice finished 1st, Kenji Ishii finished 2nd, and Dean
St. Antoine placed either 3rd or 4th.

The winner of the "A" division received a new Cue Ball Wizard game.
The winner of the "B" division received a new A.G. Soccer game.

Some of my feelings on this tournament:

I really thought the organizers could have done a better job with the
divisions.  I mean, I wouldn't consider the divisions to be "A" and "B."
More like "A" and "A-."  I would have preferred that players be required
to indicate their division at the start (either "A" or "B") and attempt
to qualify from there.  I mean, Dale Rice and Kenji Ishii qualified in
the top 8 at Expo '91 (last year), so it was no surprise to me when they
finished 1st and 2nd in the "B" division this year.  Dale and Kenji are
really "A" players that, for one reason or another, had trouble getting
into the top 8 this year.

For the finals, Expo tournament organizers wanted the two groups of 8
people (the people in the "A" and "B" divisions) to play ONE GAME head
to head.  LAME-O, LAME-O, LAME-O, LAME-O, LAME-O.  I don't care how much
in a hurry one is to get a final over with, one simply *doesn't* decide
who advances to the semi-finals on the outcome of ONE game.  Then again,
one doesn't tell Rob Berk and Mike Pacak how to run their Expo.  HOWEVER,
enough players were so set against this incredibly stupid initial decision
that Mike made the head to head quarter finals best 2 games of 3.  Thank
you very much, players do have a say in all of this mess.

All of the final matches, with the exception of the match between Rick
Stetta and John Ross (best 2 of 3 on Star Wars) and the match between Dale
Rice and Kenji Ishii (best 2 of three on Super Mario Brothers) were played
on Cue Ball Wizard.  (Cut & Paste): LAME-O, LAME-O, LAME-O, LAME-O, LAME-O.
Talking to Steve Baumgarten, the idea that the tournament didn't determine
who was really the best player, but rather, who was the best player on Cue
Ball Wizard was discussed.  I will say, without a doubt, I *REALLY* prefer
the PAPA system where you play 4 *DIFFERENT* games.

I really thought the way Rob and Mike handled the finals LAST YEAR was
far superior to the way they handled them this year.  I liked playing in
a rested state Sunday morning, but I would have rather played something
OTHER than Cue Ball Wizard.  If I hear Yee-Ha one more time, I think I'm
going to roll over and die.

I really think Rob and Mike could take lessons in running tournaments
from either Steve Epstein or Doug Young.  Based on what these guys were
trying to pull off this year at Expo, they've a lot to learn about
competitive pinball and how seriously the players are about it.

--
Lyman F. Sheats Jr.
lfs@damon.ccs.northeastern.edu
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA