Inside Houston’s Competitive Pinball Scene

March 1, 2019March 1, 2019

With growing groups like the Space City Pinball League and Belles & Chimes in action, this retro sport is all the rage again.

The Houstonia Magazine features Space City Pinball in their March issue!

IMAGE: MARCO TORRES
Click the image to read the article online.

	March 2023
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
			1 League Lounge League Lounge Starts: 7:00 PM Ends: March 1, 2023 - 10:00 PM Location: Eighteen Twenty Lounge, 1820 Franklin St, Houston, TX 77002, USA Description: The league will use seven weeks of group matchplay qualifying. Each week players will compete in groups of four on five games. Players will be awarded points based on finishing position. Points will accumulate across the season to determine overall league standing. Players must play in at least 4 weeks to qualify for playoffs and for their participation to count for IFPA pts. The best 5 weeks will be used to determine eligibility for playoffs, so players can safely drop two weeks. The top 16 players will be eligible for finals which will use a group elimination format (aka PAPA style). More details... •	2	3	4 Wormhole 4X Wormhole 4X Starts: 1:00 PM Ends: March 4, 2023 - 5:00 PM Description: Monthly 4X Tournament at Wormhole - April 1, 2022 Players are placed in groups of 3-4 and play on a random machine. The bottom two players (bottom player in three player groups) of each game receive a “strike”. Players who receive four strikes are eliminated. More details... •
5	6	7 Three Strike Tuesday Three Strike Tuesday Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: March 7, 2023 - 10:30 PM Location: The Game Preserve, 473 Sawdust Rd, Spring, TX 77380, USA Description: Players are placed in groups of 3-4 and play on a random machine. The bottom two players (bottom player in three player groups) of each game receive a “strike”. Players who receive three strikes are eliminated. More details... •	8 League Playoffs League Playoffs Starts: 6:00 PM Ends: March 8, 2023 - 10:00 PM Location: Eighteen Twenty Lounge, 1820 Franklin St, Houston, TX 77002, USA Description: League Playoffs/Finals for those who qualify. STARTS AT 6PM! The league will use seven weeks of group matchplay qualifying. Each week players will compete in groups of four on five games. Players will be awarded points based on finishing position. Points will accumulate across the season to determine overall league standing. Players must play in at least 4 weeks to qualify for playoffs and for their participation to count for IFPA pts. The best 5 weeks will be used to determine eligibility for playoffs, so players can safely drop two weeks. The top 16 players will be eligible for finals which will use a group elimination format (aka PAPA style). More details... •	9	10	11 Belles & Chimes Women's Tournament Belles & Chimes Women's Tournament Starts: 3:00 PM Ends: March 11, 2023 - 7:00 PM Location: 19218 Greenview Glen Dr. Cypress, TX. 77433 Description: Tournament at the Mueller's house! Ladies are placed in groups of 3-4 and play on a random machine. We will play 5 rounds of 2 games for a total of 10 qualifying games. Top players will compete in finals. This is an IFPA sanctioned event for women's ranking. Visit https://www.spacecitypinball.com/bellesandchimes/ or https://www.facebook.com/bellesandchimeshouston/ for more information. More details... •
12 EinStein's Drainiacs EinStein's Drainiacs Starts: 1:00 PM Ends: March 12, 2023 - 6:00 PM Location: 873 S Mason Rd, Katy, TX 77450, USA Description: 4 Strikes Knockout 21+ More details... •	13	14 EinStein's PhysXXX Tuesday EinStein's PhysXXX Tuesday Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: March 14, 2023 - 10:00 PM Location: EinStein's Pub, 873 Mason Rd #360, Katy, TX 77450, USA Description: EinStein's PhysXXX Syllabus - 2023 Spring Semester Instructor: Space City Pinball League Course Curriculum : The PhysXXX curriculum includes interactions of matter and energy, velocity, accelerations, force, and momentum. Space Cadets will test their skills to manipulate physical matter using electricity and mechanical engineering constructs. Course Instructions : SCPL Cadets will assembly in small study groups of 3-4. Each group will attempt to outperform their group peers in a test of skill on one of the specialized electromechanical PhysXXX simulators available. Group failure rate is 50% in groups of 4 (bottom 2) and 33% in groups of 3 (bottom 1). Failure results in a single X (strike). After three failures you are on academic probation until the next schedule PhysXXX class. Only one SCPL cadet will prevail. Material's List: $1 for IFPA fees & coin-drop Prerequisite: age 21+, familiarity with concepts such as "fun" and "a good time" Electronic Devices: Students should be able to access http://Next.Matchplay.events/ on a personal electronic device. SCPL Cadet Handbook: http://www.spacecitypinball.com/ More details... Three Strike Tuesday Three Strike Tuesday Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: March 14, 2023 - 10:30 PM Location: The Game Preserve, 473 Sawdust Rd, Spring, TX 77380, USA Description: Players are placed in groups of 3-4 and play on a random machine. The bottom two players (bottom player in three player groups) of each game receive a “strike”. Players who receive three strikes are eliminated. More details... • •	15	16	17	18 Monthly Matchplay Monthly Matchplay Starts: 4:00 PM Ends: March 18, 2023 - 10:00 PM Location: The Game Preserve, 473 Sawdust Rd, Spring, TX 77380, USA Description: $5 for the tournament in addition to admission to The Game Preserve arcade. 7 rounds of qualifying of matchplay Top 8 in A finals Everyone else invited to a B division 2 strike knockout All ages. All skills. All fun. Visit www.spacecitypinball.com/monthly-tournaments/ for more information! More details... •
19 Wormhole Q1 - Max Matchplay Wormhole Q1 - Max Matchplay Starts: 1:00 PM Ends: March 19, 2023 - 6:00 PM Location: 2017 N Shepherd Dr, Houston, TX 77008, USA Description: Max Matchplay is the new Flip Frenzy. Join Space City Pinball at Wormhole for 20 head-to-head matches with no set duration, plus playoffs for the top 4. If you wish to enter, PLEASE commit to playing the entire event! Cost: $20 ($10 to Wormhole, $1 to IFPA, $9 to pot) Practice: 12-12:45 pm Intro and Rules: 12:45-1 pm Max Match Play: 1 pm until everyone has played 20 games ~ expected to be about 4 hours Finals for the Top 4 only: Group Match Play More details... •	20 Wormhole 3X Wormhole 3X Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: March 20, 2023 - 10:00 PM Location: 2017 N Shepherd Dr, Houston, TX 77008, USA Description: Players are placed in groups of 3-4 and play on a random machine. The bottom two players (bottom player in three player groups) of each game receive a “strike”. Players who receive three strikes are eliminated. More details... •	21 Three Strike Tuesday Three Strike Tuesday Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: March 21, 2023 - 10:30 PM Location: The Game Preserve, 473 Sawdust Rd, Spring, TX 77380, USA Description: Players are placed in groups of 3-4 and play on a random machine. The bottom two players (bottom player in three player groups) of each game receive a “strike”. Players who receive three strikes are eliminated. More details... •	22	23	24	25
26 EinStein's=MatchplayCompetition² EinStein's=MatchplayCompetition² Starts: 1:00 PM Ends: March 26, 2023 - 7:00 PM Location: 16733 W Airport Blvd #290 Richmond, TX 77407 Description: 7 rounds of matchplay qualifying. PAPA finals for top 8. 1 PM start. All ages welcome. $1 + coin drop. More details... •	27	28 EinStein's PhysXXX Tuesday EinStein's PhysXXX Tuesday Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: March 28, 2023 - 10:00 PM Location: EinStein's Pub, 873 Mason Rd #360, Katy, TX 77450, USA Description: EinStein's PhysXXX Syllabus - 2023 Spring Semester Instructor: Space City Pinball League Course Curriculum : The PhysXXX curriculum includes interactions of matter and energy, velocity, accelerations, force, and momentum. Space Cadets will test their skills to manipulate physical matter using electricity and mechanical engineering constructs. Course Instructions : SCPL Cadets will assembly in small study groups of 3-4. Each group will attempt to outperform their group peers in a test of skill on one of the specialized electromechanical PhysXXX simulators available. Group failure rate is 50% in groups of 4 (bottom 2) and 33% in groups of 3 (bottom 1). Failure results in a single X (strike). After three failures you are on academic probation until the next schedule PhysXXX class. Only one SCPL cadet will prevail. Material's List: $1 for IFPA fees & coin-drop Prerequisite: age 21+, familiarity with concepts such as "fun" and "a good time" Electronic Devices: Students should be able to access http://Next.Matchplay.events/ on a personal electronic device. SCPL Cadet Handbook: http://www.spacecitypinball.com/ More details... Three Strike Tuesday Three Strike Tuesday Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: March 28, 2023 - 10:30 PM Location: The Game Preserve, 473 Sawdust Rd, Spring, TX 77380, USA Description: Players are placed in groups of 3-4 and play on a random machine. The bottom two players (bottom player in three player groups) of each game receive a “strike”. Players who receive three strikes are eliminated. More details... • •	29	30 Belles League Nights Belles League Nights Starts: 7:00 PM Ends: March 30, 2023 - 9:00 PM Description: Women of all ages in the Houston area are invited to join the Belles of Space City during our spring league nights at The Wormhole, a private collection of machines provided by one of our league members. The women's league season will consist of six weeks of matchplay qualifying. Each week players will compete in groups of four on six different games. Players will be awarded points based on finishing position. Points will accumulate across the season to determine overall league standing. The best 4 weeks will be used, so players can safely drop two weeks. The top players will be eligible for a finals, which will use a group elimination format (aka PAPA style). These competitions will take place at a private location. Please contact the tournament director if you plan to attend bellesandchimeshouston@gmail.com or spacecitypinball@gmail.com for details regarding the entering the location and parking. For complete information, please view the calendar on spacecitypinball.com or follow Space City Pinball on Facebook.Qualifying matchplay: March 30; April 6, 13, 20, 27; May 4 and Finals on May 11. More details... •	31