RGPL - the Blog

Champion's T-Shirt

2011-01-20T09:46:00.000-08:00

Joe S has won the latest round of the RGPL. Here is the design that will go on his commemorative T-Shirt.

Mucho-double-triple thanks to my lovely wife Wendy for the art...

Week 2 Medians and Highs

2010-12-23T09:02:00.000-08:00

They're posted...

http://www.pinzach.com/qualify.htm

Also, just a sidebar, here are the most played games in the league...

Week 1 - 58 players vie for the Title

2010-12-20T07:57:00.000-08:00

No divisions this time, just a 58 player free-for-all.

First week leaders are Les Manley, Butterflygirl24, Railbender and Brian. I'm next in 5th!!!!!! But there's a long way (4 more weeks) to go.

Lots of good play this week with only one GC score being broken that would be worth bonus points if it holds up by the end of the tournament. That was Brian on POTC - 488 million.

Remember that you only get GC bonus points at the end of the tourney if your score is still the GC ! AND ! the machine has at least 20 plays on it historically.

Also remember for next week that you get a bonus point for variety each week your score is from a different machine than your previous weeks.

HS2, Taxi and WH2O were wildly popular games this week.

Oh, and please use commas when posting your score. Much easier for me to read.

RGPL Returns - Week 1

2010-12-17T07:37:00.000-08:00

Lots of new games to play. Check them out here...

http://www.pinzach.com/qualify.htm

Play your games by Sunday midnight - really!

Final week to make the playoffs!

2010-03-26T07:47:00.001-07:00

Go me!

Week 4 - Time to Move up the Rankings

2010-03-19T06:02:00.000-07:00

It's now or never (or next week).

See you in the playoffs.

RGPL Champion Cup - Mark in NJ

2010-03-11T18:49:00.001-08:00

Finally finished the Champion's Cup for the last tournament.

Sorry for the blurry pics - it's grey and gloomy in Seattle today - not good lighting for pics.

Random Crap

2010-03-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

There have been 3,995 games played in the RGPL.

Coincidentally, for games that start with the letters A-M there have been 1,997 games played.

For games that start with N-Z, 1,998. Crazy.

Funhouse is the game that scores the most consistently. After 41 games played the GC is only 219% (a little more than double) the median. The average (for machines with at least 20 plays) is that the GC is 807% of the median.

On the other end of the spectrum, Elvis, BSD and SM have the highest ratio of GC/median and the highest standard deviations. Meaning the scores are all over the map on these games.

To show why I use the MEDIAN and not the AVERAGE, for game with at least 20 plays, the median score is 71% of the average score. No game has a higher median than it does average.

The only games worth 3 bonus pts for GC scores are (more than 100 plays):

TZ - 2,501,781,020 - Tzodd/Gravitar
SM - 1,979,830,230 - Beemus
LOTR - 346,684,980 - TBK
WH2O - 1,375,993,670 - Troz
AFM - 28,910,673,170 - Kenbo

Good luck knocking them off.

Cliffy Contest Winner

2010-03-09T07:47:00.001-08:00

Sometimes being the commish is a tough job (insert whine here).

As I read all the great posts about why people wanted the Cliffy sleeves I decided that it was too tough of a choice to make. There were folks who have none (and want some!), folks who have lots (Michael O'Brien counted his), folks finishing shop-jobs, folks wanting to salve their pinball wounds...

They were all good and I HAD decided to just have a random drawing out of all the folks who mentioned the Cliffys.

That is until Sunday night, when I read Brian's (B Coney) post... Have to give the man credit ("props" for you guys under 30 years old) for his inventive use. He is the winner.

If you didn't read it, here is his post...

Ok, well after my crappy performance on BDK last week, I decided to go to my ol' reliable Breakshot. She only let me down once so I fired her up cold and got 3,073,320 on the first game. Was a little worried, but my second game was a lot better at 14,503,040. Just think how good it
would've been if I had the cliffy colored posts on there!!

I actually REALLY need the colored posts because not only would I use a few on my games, but I just put a deposit down for a 5 week old German Shepherd puppy! Now, it's my experience with these dogs that they are VERY smart, so I was thinking about how I could train it.
Well, I came up with an idea that I could use the colored sleeves to help train the dog. I would put the red ones where the dog wasn't allowed to go and the green ones where it was allowed to go. I would use the yellow for the areas that quite frankly I just didn;t know if it was ok and where it should use caution because it MAY get in trouble or it MAY not, but it was up to the dog to decide. I think they would also come in handy for cleaning up the "wet mess" that the puppy may make before fully trained....I mean the post sleeves HAVE to be at LEAST as absorbant as the Sham WOW right!!!!??? The last few remaining sleves, I would string togeather and make them into a ball so it would have a multi color chew toy......so THAT my friends and all knowing commish, is why I NEED those colored post sleves.....have a heart.....do it for the dog for cripes sake!!!! :)

Brian

Week 2 Results

2010-03-09T07:36:00.000-08:00

Lots more play in week 2.

62 players played this week, there are currently 69 active players in this tournament.

GC scores were set on several games that will be worth bonus pts at the end of the tourney if they are still the GC score...

Blubboman - Space Station (worth 2 pts)
Tzodd/GravitaR BK (1 pt)
Jeff Blair - Paragon (1 pt)
Kevkat - TOTAN (1 pt)
rev-test - Seawitch (1 pt)

Very high scoring this week an average of 7.3 pts. The scores averaged 260% of the median compared with 208% last week.

There is now a link at the top of the scoreboard to sort it by region! (or just click here)

The region battles are shaping up nicely, luckily I'm in the lowest scoring region.

The leaders are:

seymour-shabow in the East
blubbloman and Xerico in the M/S
Raymond in the Pacific

Keep in mind that some folks are in line to win bonus points at the end of the tourney for their GC scores - those points are NOT currently included in the ranking. The new GC scores worth pts are highlighted on the page so you can see them easily.

Kevkat Gone Wild

2010-03-07T06:53:00.001-08:00

Usually mild-mannered Kevkat has accomplished the rare feat of setting the GC on both games he played this weekend.

TOTAN & BK. TOTAN was his official score and he doesn't get any extra for the BK score, but holy crap, that's pretty studly.

Scoreboard updated.

Week 2 - Contest and Oops

2010-03-05T04:45:00.001-08:00

Week 2 begins....

This weekend's contest:

Tell us why you want or need a pack of 20 of Cliffy's Colored Sleeves. If you have the best/most compelling reason, you win.

Also, on a side note, I missed an email for JJJ early in the week and will be updating the list of qualfied games later today. The punch line (and only change) is that Starship Troopers is now a qualified game.

Week 2 Stuff

2010-03-04T08:13:00.001-08:00

Week 2 medians and highs are posted.

New games are:

Bally Game Show

North Star

Time Machine (DE)

Maybe if you play Time Machine you can go back and play it during week one. (Sorry, couldn't help it).

Contest this weekend with Cliffy's Sleeves being the prize - get your begging cap on.

Cliffy's Generosity Bubbles Over

2010-03-01T16:28:00.000-08:00

We have a new "sponsor" to add to our list of benefactors.

Now, in addition to Pin Footies from Bryan Kelly and Glare Guards from Mr. 68, we have colored sleeves generously donated for prizes from Cliffy.

Everyone thank Cliffy, without whom my Elvis wouldn't be nearly as cool.

Tzodd/gravitaR runs off with the prize

2010-03-01T16:06:00.001-08:00

Tzodd/gravitaR has won this week's drawing.

Apparently the rich get richer since he already has some RGPL swag from being a previous champion. Congrats.

He also holds the distinction of being the person with BY FAR the most games submitted towards qualifying machines.

A true friend and future Hall-of-Fame member in the RGPL.

Prize drawing

2010-03-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

A little later tonight I'm gonna announce the winner of Week 1's contest.

Remember it is a random drawing out of the people who posted by Saturday night.

42 folks are eligible. Winner wins choice of Glard Guard or Pin Footies.

Just have to get the names together and... Poof. There'll be a winner.

Making a list, checking it twice

2010-03-01T15:44:00.000-08:00

Clearly I'm not as well organized as Santa, because I didn't check my list twice.

I missed Steve-O's post. My humble apologies.

I will update the scoreboard with his score and a few more locations/regions later tonight.

Week 1 done - 61 players strong

2010-03-01T09:44:00.000-08:00

After week 1 of the latest RGPL tournament, here is some arbitrary info:

Four guys lead with 11 points: blubboman, Les Manley, seymour-shabow & Xerico.

With the new playoff format, regions matter.

The Midwest/South region looks tough as 3 of the 4 leaders are from that region. (blubbo, Les, Xerico)

The East is led by Seymour-shabow with Ray in NJ only 1 point behind.

The Pacific region (go Zach!) is led by Bobby Conover & Raymond with 10 points each.

Although there were 4 GC scores set this weekend (the four leaders), only Seymour-shabow set the GC on a machine with enough plays to earn bonus points if it still stands at the end of the tourney. It was on STTNG (worth 2 points). If you read his post, you'll see that it could/should have been even higher.

Average score was 5.7 points and 210% of the median.

Yours truly (the hero of this story) is tied for 14th!

Get me you locations and mug shots!

Scoreboard Updated

2010-02-28T08:36:00.000-08:00

42 players thru Saturday, nice.

Everyone currently on the scoreboard is eligible for this week's "early bird" drawing for a prize.

Nice playing so far everyone.

I have 3 balls

2010-02-26T18:15:00.000-08:00

And so should you.

Just a reminder - especially with more SS and EM games being qualified - that all games are to be played as 3 ball games.

By the way, for those of you that haven't read it, the FAQ answers most of the RGPL questions in condensed form. Read it here...

RGPL FAQ

Start Me Up - Win this week's prize

2010-02-26T07:01:00.000-08:00

Week 1 of the new tourney.

Play by Saturday night and you have a chance to win a glare guard or set of pin footies.

Doesn't matter what you score, the winner will be chosen randomly from everyone who plays and posts by Saturday night.

See what I did there?

TBK - Still the all-time leader

2010-02-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

Updated the all-time stats. You can see the whole list by clicking from the scoreboard page.

Meanwhile, here are the Top 30. There have been 180 players in all.

Click on the list to zoom.

Rule Change #2.413.088D

2010-02-24T08:32:00.000-08:00

Playoff.

Sometimes as the tournament comes to an end, folks are a little less interested if they aren't at the top. To help keep more involved and give more a chance to win, the winner will be determined by a one week playoff (after the normal 5 week tournament).

Here's how it works...

There a now 3 regions... East (E), Midwest & South (M/S) and Pacific (P).

There will be four players who make the playoff. They will be the highest finisher in each of the regions plus a wild-card (the highest finisher who didn't win their division).

Those four finalists will play one more round (with scores wiped out and starting from 0). The winner of that playoff round will be the Champion.

This way, you don't have to win it all in the 5 weeks, just win your region - to get a chance to become Champ in the playoff.

As an example, the four finalists last tournament would have been Mark in NJ (E), TBK (P), Tzodd/gravitaR (M/S) and dcerny (wildcard with 48 points).

It's kind of like pro sports now, the winner of the regular season may not become the Champ. You have to win in the playoffs, too.

Good luck.

Rule Change #1.003.47C

2010-02-24T08:23:00.000-08:00

Points for GC scores.

As described before, all GC scores are not created equal.

To set the GC score on a game with only 4 plays is cake.

To set the GC score on a game with 100 plays is difficult.

I got several good suggestions and in the end here's the deal...

It's just too damned easy to get a good score (as a % of the median) and set the GC on a game that doesn't have many plays. So, if the game has less than 20 plays, there is no bonus for setting and holding the GC.

50 games seems to be the next level for plays and 100 separates the most popular from the rest.

So, in the end, here are the new GC bonus points awarded at the end of the tournament.

Machines with <20 plays - 0 Points
Machines with 20-49 plays - 1 point
Machines with 50-99 plays - 2 points
Machines with >99 plays - 3 points

I didn't want to go higher than 3 pts so that no one could run away from the pack.

That'll make the GC more coveted on the popluar games and make the competition more wild and woolly.

Of course you still get all the same points for your score each week (% of median) regardless of how many plays are on the machine you choose.

Love & Kisses,

The Commish

Our Champion

2010-02-24T08:18:00.000-08:00

Mark in NJ - on fire as usual

Mark in NJ Wins

2010-02-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

I know you are all disappointed that I didn't win.

Mark in NJ did win. Congratulations from the Pinzach the commish and congratu-frakking-lations from Pinzach your fellow competitor.

The rest of the Top 10

TBK
dcerny
Michael O'Brien
Evets
Tzodd/gravitaR
Brian
Tomdotcom
John Bigbooty
Les Manley

12 points separated the Top 10 places.

Top Urchin was Jaret.

Week 5 was extremely LOW scoring. Only 6.3 avg points per player. Almost a half point less than the previous week. And the lowest week this tournament (when adjusting for bonus points).

Will have a few minor changes this weekend when the league starts all over again. I'll explain them in a few days.

It'd be great to get some more folks going (100 maybe???), so please drag your friends and family into the RGPL.

GC scores in Week 5 were:

Nip-It - Homebrood
Champion Pub - TBK
Centaur - dcerny (who had 3 GC scores this tournament)
WCS94 - tomdotcom

Scoreboard Updated

2010-02-21T07:23:00.000-08:00

Thru Saturday's play.

Winning Time

2010-02-19T08:02:00.001-08:00

Final week of the tournament. Nut up.

New games this week - Mata Hari & Xenon

2010-02-18T18:35:00.000-08:00

The medians and GC scores are updated for week 5 - (the last week of this tourney).

Find the game you are going to lay a beat down on.

GC Scores & bonus points (future change)

2010-02-15T14:30:00.000-08:00

To remind everyone, at the end of next week (the end of the tournament), everyone who scored and still holds the GC score on a machine during the tournament will get a bonus point for each GC score. That could make or break a winner.

It did get me thinking, though... It is MUCH easier to get a GC score on a newly qualified game than one that has had lots of play. When a game is newly q'd, there have only been 4 games played. The odds of you being able to set the GC score vs 4 other scores are much better than (for instance) a machine that as had 100 plays.

Just like at home, when you reset the GC scores, you keep breaking it in the beginning, but then as more games pile up and there is more data, the GC score becomes higher and harder to break.

SO, while I won't change the rules in the middle of the Tourney, I think that next time the award for setting the new GC on a machine will be based on how many games have been played historically on that machine in the league. You may get 1 bonus point for the new GC on a newly q'd game and yet get 3 or 4 bonus points for the new GC on something that's been played more than 100 times like LOTR or TZ.

Sweet.

Playing the same machine every week... Good?

2010-02-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

Mark in NJ is our leader. He has played Fast Draw each of the last three weeks. This brings up an interesting strategic point about the RGPL. Of course, some people only have one game available to them, but for others, you have to choose whether to play the same game or different one each week (or even 2 diff in a weekend).

Theoretically, if you only have one game or play the same game all the time, you might be better at it and that would be advantageous for scoring. To counteract that, remember that in the RGPL you get a bonus point EVERY WEEK that your posted score is on a different machine than previous weeks. SO, you have to decide whether you want the bonus point, or think you can do so much better on the same game that you don't care about the bonus point.

In the end, it must not be very advantageous (in general) to play the same game each week because since we have run the RGPL this way (bonus points for variety), all the Champions have played different machines each week in the tournament that they won - except for one, who only repeated one machine in the 5 weeks. I guess if you are good, it doesn't matter what game you play.

Scoreboard redesigned

2010-02-15T14:18:00.000-08:00

The new scoreboard has the most current week in the first column for easier reading.

Also, there are now 3 versions of the scoreboard stacked vertically on the same page. First, there are the normal rankings, then there is an alphabetical listing so you can easily find someone and finally, a third scoreboard lower down that is the quick summary of just the points scored each week for each player, in case you don't like how the first scoreboard is laid out.

Week 4 results

2010-02-15T14:07:00.000-08:00

Another week, another gaggle of ballers.

Mark in NJ leads going into the final week with 43 points.

Tzodd/Gravitar is 2nd with 41.

Brian, Michael O'Brien and TBK are tied for 3 with 40.

There were GC scores set this week on

Fast Draw (Mark in NJ)
CP (Michal O'Brien)
Cosmic Gunfight (dcerny)
Flash (Dennis)
JM (rev-test)
TOTAN (Taxman/Shreksman)
BK2K (blubboman)
Joker Poker (Dr Dave)

I'm the picture of mediocrity standing in 31st place having slightly beat the median each week.

The average player scored 6.7 pts this week vs 6.8 last week.

Remember that after week 5 is complete, if you STILL own a GC score (highlighted in yellow), you are awarded a bonus point for it (for as many different GC scores you hold).

Scoreboard Updated Mon Morn

2010-02-15T07:36:00.001-08:00

Holding off final analysis until all stragglers have reported.

Sultans of the Silverball

2010-02-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

I realized that I wasn't putting who the GC was on the qualifying page. So here they are. All the GC scores and the ballers who scored them. Below that is a chart of all the ballers who own more than one GC score. The leaders are llabrevlis and Xerico with 7 GC scores each.

Just click on any chart to make it bigger.

These are games A-M...

These are games N - Z...

This is the count of GC scores by baller...

Why we play two games

2010-02-12T10:00:00.001-08:00

So I looked at last weekend's games. The average for all players for their better game was...

196% of the median and 6.8 points.

Just to be irksome, I calculated the scores for everyone's crappy game, they averaged...

77% of the median and a (would-be) 4.1 points.

The better game on average was just about 2.5 times the worse game.

It's Week 4

2010-02-12T07:08:00.000-08:00

Don't worry, you are definitely finishing in the Top 100.

Custom Cards for CC and Power Play - Need Guinea Pig

2010-02-11T16:37:00.000-08:00

Here are some new custom cards I think I'm done with but I don't own these games. Could someone please email me who would be willing to test them to make sure they fit. Especially since Cactus Canyon has the gun handle blocking some of the cards. I intentionally left the area blank where I think they cover.

There are two different sets for CC.

Thanks for the help.

Here's the preview if you are interested....

Week 4 medians and GCs posted

2010-02-11T13:27:00.000-08:00

New machines available for play in week 4:

Card Whiz/Royal Flush
Flash
Party Zone
Corvette

TSPP Custom Cards

2010-02-08T16:08:00.000-08:00

Lots of folks here play TSPP. So here are some custom cards I made. Hope you likey. There are 3 because I made two different kinds for the design credits, use the one you like better.

You can download the set of all 3 in the "custom card" section of my pinzach.com site.

Week 3 is Ooooovveer

2010-02-08T15:55:00.000-08:00

Our leader is Brian...

There was a young baller named Brian
Whose scores have all been flying
He plunges the ball
And then beats us all
The only thing left is the crying.

Scores were down this week - the avg was 198% of the median vs 235% last week.

The following set GC...

blubboman
butterflygirl24
dcerny
Hugh
Jimmy Lipham
Mark in NJ
tomdotcom
Tzodd/Gravitar
Xerico

More later...

Stats are a little delayed

2010-02-08T13:24:00.000-08:00

Had a damn power outage all morning.

Scoreboard Updated Sunday A.M.

2010-02-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

Includes Saturday's scores

Scoreboard Updated

2010-02-06T08:56:00.001-08:00

Includes Friday's scores.

Week 3 Commences

2010-02-05T09:11:00.001-08:00

Go play your games and hurry back and post your scores. Go on.. Hurry... That's a good boy/girl.

If not, everyone is gonna get mad...

What the frak? Counting backwards

2010-02-04T09:46:00.000-08:00

A recap for those who don't remember but may have noticed something weird on a few lesser played games.

The number of games played and the GC score may have gone backwards. That's because after a game has at least 8 total plays on it, I remove the qualifying games from the data. Therefore, the 4 Q games are no longer represented in the median and if one of the Q games was the GC, it is gone also.

The reason I do this is because Q games consistently score lower than league games - maybe folks don't concentrate as hard. Anyway, it's easy to trounce the median on a newly Q'd game because the Q scores are generally low. Thus, when there are at least 4 league games played (8 total with the Q games), I remove the Q scores from the data.

File that under things you don't give a crap about.

Week 3 medians and GC

2010-02-04T09:42:00.000-08:00

The new goals are up for this coming weekend. Click on the link in the right column to see them.

EBD and Viking are new games this week and there are 19 more machines that only need one more game played to qualify them.

Please try to play Friday or Saturday so that I don't get all the scores posted late Sunday night after New Orleans wins the Super Bowl.

POTC Custom Cards

2010-02-03T14:47:00.001-08:00

Lots of folks in the RGPL seem to play POTC. Thought I'd make some custom cards.

If you want to download the full size/resolution set, just head over to my site, pinzach.com and go to the custom cards section.

RGPL - Contest Winner (See below)

2010-02-02T07:40:00.000-08:00

There were lots of great posts. Several poor souls had to do some repair work to even be able to play their games.

Others had to interrupt long days of chores to fit a game in.

In the end, there were many runners-up including: (but not limited to) Bryan, Blubboman, ButterflyGirl24, Karmatose & TBK (for his play-by-play after each ball).

In the end, only one guy played with a respirator and that alone is worth a prize. Congrats Pincorrect. Please choose from the TZ clock board, Glare Guard, Pin Footies and Zit Cream and email me your mailing address.

If you missed it, below is the text from his post...

I'm doing a kitchen renovation and have moved my machines into the
dining room as I shuffle stuff throughout the house to accommodate
stuff that I'm clearing before doing tilework on the floor.. There's
drywall dust and fiberglass all over the place. I've got walls torn
down and holes in the ceiling where work is being done and insulation
is exposed. So I donned a mask and at first tried to pull the plastic
off the machines, but I remembered if I did that, I would have a
helluva time putting the plastic back over the machines because
they're all pushed against a wall in the far end of the room, book-
ended with a new fridge and other furniture. Now if I had one of
those robotic arms like they have on the space shuttle, it would have
been no problem, but I didn't, so I thought it best to crawl under the
plastic and try to play the games.

So there I am, wearing a respirator, underneath the plastic, and go to
start Fish Tales and realize that there are no credits in the machines
and my keys are in some unmarked box. So now I'm on a quest to find
quarters -- I usually don't keep the machines on free play. This way
I'm motivated to recycle my pocket change and I usually put the coins
into some pinball fund that goes for something for the machines. Ok,
I find some quarters and fire up a game.

I'm on the first ball and it's going well, then the power goes out.
I'm like "what?" Then it comes back on, so I put my second quarter in
the game and start playing. Then the front door opens and it's the
contractor who was working on the outside electrical. At this point,
I'm wearing a respirator, underneath a pile of plastic playing
pinball. All he can see is some kind of weird distorted image of a
guy covered in plastic wrap wearing some kind of mask.

"I'm working on the electrical and ... um, what are you doing?"

"I'm playing pinball."

"Biggest fish I ever saw!"

"Biggest what?"

"I'm playing pinball"

"Lie!"

"No I'm not lying, I'm working on the electrical. I need to shut the
power off."

"Ok, can you give me a second?"

"It's a feeding frenzy!"

"Um, are you ok? Did I catch you at a bad time? Is there someone
else there with you?"

"No, I'm playing pinball. You've heard of pinball?"

"Are you gonna talk or you gonna fish?"

"I'm going to go outside and wait for you to finish whatever. Let me
know when I can shut the power off..."

I let him do his work on the electrical and decided to play Genie
instead:

192,680
478,060

Cactus Canyon Custom Cards

2010-02-01T16:40:00.000-08:00

Help me decide which style I should complete.

Email me or post on the thread on RGP. Thanks.

Click here for the thread on RGP.

TYPE 1

TYPE 2

Week 2 in the books

2010-02-01T09:09:00.000-08:00

Another crazy week of 60+ players.

Current leaders are tied at 22 points. They are...

Mark in NJ
Brian
qbert-WPC
TBK (prior champ)
Tzodd/Gravitar (prior champ)

Maybe we shouldn't let anyone win who hasn't sent a pic. For all we know all the ones without pics are all aliases for TBK.

Two players are right behind with 21 points.

Jaret & TDJWill are currently tied for Top Urchin.

The avg points scored this week was 7.1. More than the 5.9 last week, but remember that starting with this week everyone who played a different machine than week 1 got a bonus point for variety, so the two weeks' averages were actually very close.

A couple of new guys joined the fray this week and there are now 65 active players in the league. Roughly the same number as my IQ.

Two of the Top 10 players from last week (llabrevlis and pincredible) did not play this week. Bummer for them.

Get in your Q scores to qualify new machines for next week soon!

Scoreboard Updated

2010-01-31T09:43:00.000-08:00

That's all, just letting you know.

New custom cards for old EM

2010-01-30T13:48:00.001-08:00

Made some custom cards per request for a Wms Grand Prix (EM).

Emailed them to Pinball Rebel, so hopefully they'll be up before long.

In honor of them, I say we get two more qualifying games on it so it can be a league machine (there are two q scores already).

Here's what the custom cards look like....

I'll put the pics and links to Pinball Rebel on the custom cards page of my site soon. I'm lazy.

Scoreboard updated Sat Morn

2010-01-30T09:02:00.000-08:00

14 players the first day, another strong showing.

I personally having proven what was thought to be impossible by both sucking AND blowing at the same time.

Pics

2010-01-29T15:04:00.000-08:00

It's not necessary to send pics of your scores (qualifying or League games), but some players like to...

Here are a few Q scores from this week from Dennis & Rev-test. Always nice to see some backglasses.

Newly Q'd Games

2010-01-28T09:26:00.000-08:00

The medians and highs are updated for this weekend's games. Click on the link in the right column to see them all.

New machines this week are Embryon, Genie and NBAFB.

There are now 120 games to choose from AND 14 more that have 3 games played toward qualification and only need one more.

In all, 310 different machines have had a score submitted on them and a grand total of 3,278 games have been played in the RGPL all included.

TZ still has the most plays. Followed by SM, LOTR, WH2O and AFM - they are the only ones with over 100 plays each, making the GC score on those much more impressive. Of those, the SM GC is the one that is the greatest percentage of its median, making it my vote for best score so far of all games.

Contest upcoming this Weekend

2010-01-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

Since everyone was so cool and fun during Week 1 of the return of the RGPL,
I want to keep the ball rolling in Week 2 (coming this weekend).

As is usual for our contests, instead of rewarding scores we are rewarding
fun & participation. The contest winner will be the player who writes the
most entertaining/fun/funny post about his/her league games.

No other parameters are involved. The Commish is the final judge.

The prize is your choice of any ONE of the following...

A brand new Rottendog TZ clock board I never used.

or

A set of Pin Footies

or

A Glare Guard.

or

some zit cream (if the other things aren't interesting to you)

Again I'd like to thank the generous donations of the Pin Footies and Glare
Guards, many players have won and cherished them. You can get to their
websites from the links on the right side of the blog.

PZ

Google Chrome & Safari issues

2010-01-26T01:47:00.000-08:00

For some reason, Google Chrome and Safari web browsers don't handle the spreadsheet details as well as Internet Explorer and Firefox do. The main difference is that GC and Safari don't show the lines between the rows and columns which makes it a little harder to read the rankings.

If you can, use IE or Firefox to view my stuff. (I mean the RGPL stuff, not my stuff... Get your mind out of the gutter).

Week 1 stats updated - New alpha listing

2010-01-26T01:45:00.000-08:00

In all, 62 players scored in Week 1. I've updated the rankings. Also, to make it convenient to find a specific player, there is now an alphabetical listing of everyone's scores below the main rankings. Just scroll down on the rankings page to find it.

We are all Chumpions now

2010-01-25T09:08:00.000-08:00

Since there are so many players, and only a few prior champions, I have eliminated the separate divisions. Now everyone competes together. BUT, in order to make sure someone new has a chance, if a prior Champion is the winner, the highest ranked player who hasn't already won will be declared the Co-Champion. That way, the prior Champs can't keep us amateurs from winning.

The meek shall inherit the Earth (and the RGPL Cup).

Working on the stats

2010-01-25T09:04:00.000-08:00

Finishing up the stats for week 1. I'll give lots more details when I'm done. There are still going to be a few stragglers who asked to play today because they were out of town, but we already have 58 players. By far a record.

Hordes, Spouses and Urchins

2010-01-24T18:26:00.000-08:00

It's 6:15 Pacific time.

While I'm sure there are lots of folks who are still going to post, we already have 45 players this week (and only TWO former champs have posted so far). Several got their spouse involved and there are a handful of pre-pubescent players also.

Very cool. Long live RGPL.

Warming up, Schmarming up

2010-01-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

So much for "warming-up" as far as this week's stats so far.

Of the 24 players who have posted, 15 had their better game on their first game, only 9 scored higher on their second game.

Scoreboard updated through Saturday's games

2010-01-24T07:21:00.000-08:00

Updated the latest stats thru Sat night. Remember that the rankings don't change and sort until everyone has played for the weekend.

.....but we all know that I'm no longer gonna be in first place. D'oh.

Busy First Day of Play

2010-01-23T07:21:00.000-08:00

Scoreboard is updated for the first day of Week 1. We had 11 players post scores in the first 24 hours - that's WAY more than in previous tournaments when we would have 1,2 or 3 in the first 24 hours. Hopefully that means we'll have a big turn-out the rest of the weekend.

By the way there are now quick links at the top of the blog (just under the title) to get to this weekend's scoring thread on RGP and to get to the scoreboard.

Riddle Me This!

2010-01-23T07:17:00.000-08:00

When is a high score not so high?

When it's my new GC score on Johnny Mnemonic.

Yes, at the end of the tournament, you get one bonus point if you set and held the new GC on a machine, but your normal points for your score each week are still based on your percentage of the median. My 2.3 Billion is the new high, but since most of the qualifying scores were good and clustered together, my high is only 176% of the median. Thus, I broke the GC yet only scored 6 points this week. Wuh-wuh.

What we're playing for....

2010-01-21T10:57:00.001-08:00

Newly Qualified Games

2010-01-20T10:33:00.000-08:00

There are some additional games to play in the league now. Newly qualified games include:

Devil's Dare, Flight 2000 and Johnny Mnemonic.

The beautiful part for me is that not only do I get to add JM to my mix of games to play in the RGPL, but I recently bought two games that were already qualified: GNR and No Fear.

Below is a pic of the custom No Fear topper that my wife painted for me for Xmas.

Back in Business - Send me your pics

2010-01-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

Since I'm restarting the league and there will be many new faces, please send me your face... That is, if you haven't already done so, please email me a picture of your pretty face and let me know where you are from so that I can put your info on the big RGPL scoreboard.

Besides, I need a picture of you so I know who I'm pissed at when you are beating me.

Kaput - Kaboom - So Long - Auf Wiedersehen

2009-08-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

Too much other crap to do to continue to run the RGPL in a proper manner.

Wanted to run this one last tournament (it's week 2) but it is evident that I can't give it the time necessary to do it well.

Therefore, effective immediately, the RGPL is on hiatus for ????????

Thanks to everyone for playing, I had a lot of fun.

2nd Game Bailouts

2009-08-30T09:32:00.000-07:00

So far this weekend there have been 15 scores posted.

For the first 2 players, their first score was better than their second score.

For the next 13 players (and counting), their second score was better than their first. Zoiks.

Week 2 - Play Now!

2009-08-28T06:24:00.000-07:00

Three new games are qualified for week 2, continuing the trend of adding EM games to the mix. They are Iron Maiden, Bobby Orr's Power Play and Joker Poker.

Tough competition this time around, so grab your lucky charm b4 you play this week.

Stats'll be late

2009-08-23T08:49:00.001-07:00

Going out of town in search of the mythical "Golden Pinball". My trip should make Columbus, Cortez, Ponce de Leon, Indiana Jones & Laura Croft look like they were out for a Sunday drive.

Won't be back 'til Wed.

If you can't wait 'til then to see the stats, I declare myself in 1st place 'til we see otherwise.

Dennis NOT Dennisn't

2009-08-22T07:50:00.000-07:00

I robbed Dennis of his credit for the GC score on HS. It's now corrected.

Incidentally, that knocks Pinballed down to 4 GC scores (still nothing to sneeze at).

All-time leaders

2009-08-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

The all-time point totals have been updated here ...

TBK overtakes Tzodd for the all-time lead.

The next 10...

Rare Hero
Kenbo
Taxman
Pinzach
Blubboman
RD Reynolds
Llabrevlis
Michael O'Brien
Pinball Charlie
gpsdrew

Clearly in my case, perseverance wins out over skill or talent....

Special Thanks to Shrekman

2009-08-21T07:09:00.000-07:00

He may not have much to do with the data or the website anymore, but my Co-Commish Shrekman has talked me down off of many a ledge while running the RGPL.

Always there when I needed to bounce ideas or crab about an email I got from an unhappy player, without him the death and carnage that I would have caused is unspeakable.

While the weekly stats and info may be due to my work, our very lives are owed to his sage advice and understanding.

Long live Shrekman

Week 1 - Everyone's tied for 1st

2009-08-21T07:05:00.000-07:00

Time to crank up another (and possibly last in a while) version of the RGPL.

Currently I am in first. There's no stopping me now.

Play your hearts out and sell your soul to El Diablo, you're gonna need his help.

GC Scores

2009-08-20T08:43:00.001-07:00

After updating the medians and highs for the new tournament, these are the folks who currently hold more than one GC score....

Rare Hero - 6
TBK - 6
Pinballed - 5
Blubboman - 4
Brian Bannon - 4
Ed Wood - 4
LAR - 4
Llabrevlis - 4
Nick M - 4
Ronkz650 - 4
Seymour-shabow - 4
Xerico- 4
DanG - 3
Max Badazz - 3
Michael O'Brien - 3
Rev-Test - 3
Steve-O - 3
Tzodd/Gravitar - 3
Beemus - 2
Fastford2 - 2
John Pursglove - 2
Kenbo - 2
Les Manley - 2
Pinzach - 2
Raddroxx - 2

Final Tournament Results

2009-08-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

Open Div

1. Pinballed (50)
2. Brian (48)
3. LAR (45)

Champs Div

1. Xerico (58)
2. TBK (57)
3. Kenbo (50)

We're gonna have to penalize Brian next tournament for being the highest ranked player without a photo. Maybe he's really someone's alter ego.

Rev-Test straggled in and finished 4th in the Open Div. He was the only player to finish with 3 GC scores (Seawitch, Flash Gordon, Grand Lizard)

Butterflygirl24 and seymour-shabow finished tied for 5th.

Everyone's favorite Tax/ShrekMan finished 7th and yours truly finished 19th. Therefore I am declaring everyone who finished better than 19th a cheater and disqualifying you. So I win!

See ya next week.

Week 5 early results

2009-08-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

It looks like Pinballed has pulled out the victory over Brian. It was a close race. LAR finished 3rd.

Full results later today after I wait on stragglers.

In an even closer race, Xerico holds the lead over TBK by one point. It was two points before the bonus points.... Each received two bonus points for GC scores, but TBK also received a bonus point for recruiting Matt Topper to play. Remember that if you recruited someone at the beginning of the tourney and they played at least 3 of the weeks, you get a bonus point.

TBK, qbert-WPC and rev-test all got a point for recruiting.

So, with it down to a one point diff between Xerico and TBK, if by some miracle there is a straggler score today that takes down one of Xerico's GC scores, they could end up tied.

Seven players ended up the tourney with 2 new GC scores (and, of course, two bonus points for them)... they were...

Xerico
TBK
Pinballed
Steve-O
Raddroxx
Rev-test
Llabrevlis

Nice going.

Last I heard from them, Michael O'Brien and Nick M were coming back to play in the Champs Division next round - adding in Pinballed will make for a very competitive Champs Division starting next week.

Kontest Winner

2009-08-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

Pinball Charlie smoked the contest by quickly posting a score and grabbing the letter "S".

There were 7 games posted starting with "S", the next closest was "T" with 4.

Congrats PBC, send me your info so I can ship.

Week 5 Kooky Kontest

2009-08-14T07:19:00.001-07:00

Since week 5 is usually a little slow (not everyone plays if they are way behind, bummer), we're having a contest rewarding early play.

The winner gets BOTH a Glare Guard and a set of Pin Footies.

Here goes...

The winner is the player who posts his/her score first on a certain machine. That machine is determined by the first letter of the name of the game that is played the most often this weekend. How's that for confusing? In other words, if there are more games played on machines that start with the letter "S" (Sorcerer, SS, SM, etc) than any other letter by the end of the weekend, then the first player who posted a score on any machine that starts with the letter "S" wins the prize.

For example, if several people play T2 and TZ and TOTAN and thus the letter "T" is the most popular first letter this weekend, the person who posted first on any of those games wins the prize.

Therefore, we won't know 'til the end of the weekend who wins because we won't know what first letter is played the most. But, you know it will behoove you in the contest to be the first to post a score on a machine that starts with a letter that hasn't been posted yet.

Only the better of your two scores counts toward figuring out which game was played the most, so if you play two different machines, only the one that you did better on counts towards figuring out the contest.

Good Luck

Week 4 results

2009-08-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

Week 4 was the lowest scoring week this tournament (actually the lowest in the last 14 weeks) with the average being 200% of median (for the better score that was used).

Xerico holds the edge in the Champs Division, TBK has moved/grooved into 2nd. Kenbo is 3rd.

In the Open Division, Pinballed is 1st, two points ahead of Brian, who is only one point ahead of seymour-shabow for 3rd. Keep in mind that in the upcoming final week you get a bonus point if you have set and still hold the GC on a game anytime during this tourney. Games currently in line to get that point are highlighted in yellow on the rankings page.

This week highs were set on:

FT - Les Manley
HS - Dennis
Silverball Mania - Homebrood
Solar Fire - Bob Langelius
Medusa - Brain Bannon

Rev-Test also broke the previous GC on HS but was eclipsed by Dennis. That's what friends are for.

The ongoing drama continues for Taxman and myself, trying to crack the top. Taxman has dropped to 5th, but only 2 points out of 3rd. I am firmly planted in 18th.

This week's close shave award goes to Pinballed who missed another point by scoring 98.9% of the median (100% would have meant another point). Bummer. Of course that hurts less when you are in first place.

Have lots of pics I need to add to the blog and the rankings page.

GC score holders

2009-08-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

The following is the list of players who currently hold more than one GC score...

Nice going...

Player	# of GC
----------------------------------	---------------
Rare Hero	6
Pinballed	5
TBK	5
Xerico	5
Blubboman	4
Brian Bannon	4
Ed Wood	4
LAR	4
Llabrevlis	4
Nick M	4
Ronkz650	4
seymour-shabow	4
Tzodd/Gravitar	4
DanG	3
Max Badazz	3
Michael O'Brien	3
Steve-O	3
-Al	2
Beemus	2
John Pursglove	2
Kenbo	2
Pinzach	2
raddroxx	2
Rev-Test	2

Week 3 Results

2009-08-05T08:32:00.000-07:00

The scores are in for week 3.

The Champ's Div is pretty tight with Xerico holding a two point lead over Kenbo and a four point lead over TBK.

In the Open Div, Pinballed has put a little bit of distance between himself and second place raddroxx. Just one point behind raddroxx for third place is a tie between Taxman & seymour-shabow (who from his picture looks a lot like the Q - so I'm surprised he doesn't play STTNG).

On the look-a-like subject, gonna have to say that llabrevlis should be singing "Old time Rock and Roll" and maybe "Against the Wind" for an encore.

Probably shoulnd't have brought up the look-a-like subject, God only knows who I look like.

GC scores were set this week on:

FH - TBK
CSI - raddroxx
Fast Draw - seymour-shabow
Space Invaders - John Pursglove
Pharaoh - llabrevlis
Black Rose - Raymond

Had fun at Ground Kontrol in Portland meeting fellow RGPLers Rev-test and Dennis. Didn't have much time to stay & play, but hopefully will get down for a longer session soon. (Actually I just ran away frightened by their good scores and didn't want to get my butt kicked).

Stats delayed

2009-08-02T06:38:00.000-07:00

I'm out of town for the next couple of days, stats for the weekend won't be posted til Tues or Wed.

I wonder if this happens in the NFL.

How mad do you get?

2009-08-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

New poll in the right column... Pony up your worst scenario.

Improved Shout Box for Qualifying

2009-08-01T09:24:00.000-07:00

Put your qualifying requests and scores and bitches in the new shout box on the right under the RGPL links.

Shout Box Fcuked

2009-07-31T17:43:00.000-07:00

The shout box that was in the right column for adding qualifying games is gone. Somehow the code was no longer functioning. I'll find another version somewhere else.

Week 3 goals

2009-07-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

Week 3 is upcoming tomorrow. There are 3 new machines qualified for play: Breakshot, CSI and Mousin' Around.

There are 13 more games that only need one more score submitted to be qualified. Make sure to check the list to see if you can submit a score on one of them or any of the machines.

On another note, TZ is the most often game played in the league, there have been 160 plays on it in the RGPL.

The Top 10 (# of games played)

TZ - 160
LOTR - 131
SM - 122
WH2O - 119
AFM - 100
TAF - 81
TSPP - 79
MM - 78
JP - 76
POTC - 68

Interesting that 4 of the top 10 are recent Stern machines.

Week 2 in the Books

2009-07-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

46 players played their respective asses off in week 2 of the RGPL. A few new ones joined the party.

Here are some highlights....

Xerico still leads the Champs Division - someday he'll have a week where he scores less than 10 pts.

Kenbo and TBK are right behind.

Pinballed (not to be confused with Taxman's Pinbald.com) is in the lead in the Open Division.

Rev-Test and John Bigbooty are 2nd and 3rd respectively (if not respectfully).

This may be the only time you see Taxman (7th) and me (9th) in the Top 10 at the same time. Sweet.

GC were set on Teed Off, RFM, Meteor, Grand Lizard, BOP, EATPM, Paragon and Wizard. Two players broke the GC on Grand Lizard and EATPM but were subsequently trumped by others (sorry Taxman).

The average score was 7.1 pts per player. While that's higher than last week's 6.9, this week most players earned a bonus point for variety, so in reality the scores were lower.

A little surprising that Taylor34 and DiscoDuck didn't play considering they were near the top after week 1. Hope they're back next week.

Need to know where Dan Nikolich, dcerny and Troz are from. Could use lots of pix, especially from players ranked high like John Bigbooty, Matt Topper, raddroxx and qbert-wpc. It's harder to hate you guys for beating us if we can't picture your face on a drop target.

More later including some more pix to post. Also, there is now an ongoing RGPL slideshow in the right column.

Game Over.

Backloaded

2009-07-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

Amazing how many players play on Sunday. I know from last week and with some newbies that about 50 total players will play this week. It's now Sunday at 11am EDT and only 13 have played so far. Soon begins the onslaught.

Qualifying Angels

2009-07-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

Below is the list of the Top 15 players in terms of the number of games they have played for qualifying new machines.

Tzodd/GravitaR wears out my keyboard. Bless him.

Rank - Games - Player

214 - Tzodd/Gravitar
37 - llabrevlis
25 - Taxman
24 - TBK
21 - blubboman
21 - Sseacord
16 - Xerico
11 - Michael O'Brien
11 - Pinzach
10 - Brian Bannon
10 - Goatdan
10 - John Pursglove
9 - Butterflygirl24
9 - LAR
9 - seymour-shabow

Week 2 medians and new games

2009-07-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

We've added High Speed and Grand Lizard to the list of qualified games to play, that makes 105. Remember if you have a game you want people to help you qualify, there is now a box on the right side of the blog under the links to enter your name and the machine you want help qualifying. Also, you can enter q scores there when you play.

This weeks medians and highs are as usual right here .

Keep in mind that it is part of the process that once there have been 4 league games played on a machine I throw out the 4 qualifying scores. That way all the scores used in calculating the data are from league play only. That occasionally does some funny things. For instance, the GC score on Evel Knievel was lowered because the previous GC score was one of the qualifying scores.

A few other games also have significantly different medians because I eliminated the 4 q scores.

If it's handy to do so this weekend, send me a pic of your score. Also, if I don't have a pic or location for you, please email me the info.

Qualifying Game Requests - New Shout Box

2009-07-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

You can add the game you want qualified to the Shout Box on the right (below the RGPL links).

Simply type your name and your message and click "shout".

All-Time High RGPL scores

2009-07-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

There have been about 2,500 RGPL games played. These are the Top 10 all-time high scores for league games (not including games played for qualifying). Ranked by % of median.

1. Rare Hero - BSD - 7,818,355,820 - 4,386% of median
2. Nick M - Elvis - 1,248,588,720 - 2,024% of median
3. Qbert247 - TZ - 5,732,596,890 - 1,966% of median
4. Beemus - SM - 1,979,830,230 - 1,861% of median
5. Rare Hero - BSD - 2,594,365,250 - 1,455% of median
6. Rare Hero - BSD - 2,338,316,230 - 1,312% of median
7. Rare Hero- BSD - 2,037,473,360 - 1,143% of median
8. JP - Ronkz650 - 1,474,156,160 - 1,091% of median
9. F-14 - Pinballed - 4,720,860 - 945% of median
10. MB - Ronkz650 - 1,541,421,670 - 925% of median

Seems to me like Rare Hero should play BSD every week.

Qualifying WPC games

2009-07-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

There are about 47 WPC machines (not counting Pinball Circus and Special editions).

35 of them are qualified for league play.

With 103 machines total qualified, it's amazing that a few more of these aren't.

WPC games that have 2 games played and need 2 more to be qualified:

Johnny Mnemonic
Jackbot
Flintstones
Party Zone

WPC games with 1 or 0 games played so far toward qualification:

WHO Dunnit
Corvette
NBAFB
Dirty Harry
Harley-Davidson
Gilligan's Island
Hurricane
Popeye Saves the Earth

Play 'em, folks.

RGPL grows and grows

2009-07-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

These are the number of players who played in week 1 of the previous four RGPL tournaments...

Current tourney: 48
Previous : 41
Before that: 27
Before that: 19

Name's the thing

2009-07-20T07:09:00.001-07:00

Lots of folk's names on RGP crack me up. On the right is a quick poll of what I consider the best names from the RGPL, vote if you'd like.

Week 1 prelim results

2009-07-20T06:53:00.000-07:00

Lots of play and new players. 43 scores are logged despite the fact that we haven't heard yet from about 6-8 regular players (Rare Hero, Nick M, Ricjas to name a few).

Xerico is the only Champ to score 11 points, three players stand right behind him with 10 - Kenbo, TBK & Tzodd/GravitaR

In the Open Division, it's wild & woolly. The four way tie for first is between Pinballed, taylor34, Matt Topper and Rev-Test.

Welcome all the new/long dormant players including: taylor34, Matt Topper, Rev-Test, DiscoDuck, John Bigbooty, Goatdan, Dennis, Les Manley, Red West and prior Champ, Kenbo. You guys need to send me some pics so the rest of us have something to throw darts at when you are doing well.

Six highs were set this week, they are highlighted in yellow on the main ranking page.

The average player scored 7.1 pts this week -a little stronger than usual.

I'm in 33rd having scored an egregious 99.6% of the median on my best friend Paragon.