Month: November 2021

November 19, 2021November 19, 2021

Houston Arcade Expo Recap

Wow, what a weekend!

Thanks to all the competitors for being so excellent all weekend. Being a tournament director isn’t easy, but having such a great group makes all the difference in the world.

Thank you again to all the folks who brought games for the tournament room and Space City booth, as well as those who stepped up to assist with set up, tear down, and technical work. Tournaments like this are a community effort, and we are forever thankful.

Thanks to Quasars Arcade and Pin Shades for donating money, shirts, and a set of PinShades to the B-division prize pool, and to the Back Box Pinball Podcast and Kalieda Festival Wear for donating prizes to the women’s tournament.

Congratulations to the winners!

Space City Open

A-division — 1. Colin MacAlpine 2. Robert Byers 3. Jim Mueller and 4. Lee

B-Division — 1. Jeff Mleynek 2. Tim Hood 3. Eric Heskett and 4. Stephen Thaxton

Women’s Interstellar Showdown

1. Kelli Raisler 2. Maritza Chirichingno 3. Lisa Shore 4. Alana Johnson

If you didn’t see, there was a great writeup on the show and tournament in pinballnews.com

Hope to see you again next year! – The Space City Pinball team

	May 2025
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
				1	2	3
4 Star Wars Group Matchplay at Upkick Star Wars Group Matchplay at Upkick Starts: 4:00 PM Ends: May 4, 2025 - 7:00 PM Location: 5311 Climber Ct, Houston, TX 77041, USA Description: “In my experience, there’s no such thing as luck.” —Obi-Wan Kenobi Join Space City for an afternoon of Group Matchplay at UpKick, a private pinball collection. We will play 6 rounds of group matchplay with the top 4 qualifying for PAPA finals. Practice at 3:30pm. Tournament at 4pm. BYOB and snacks. Feel free to dress up! More details... •	5	6 NASA 3X Tuesday NASA 3X Tuesday Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: May 6, 2025 - 10:00 PM Location: The Game Preserve NASA, 20810 Gulf Fwy Suite Z, Webster, TX 77598, USA Description: 3 strike knockout tournament at The Game Preserve NASA starting at 6:30 every other Tuesday night. Ten dollar admission to the venue, games are on free play, one dollar for IFPA fees. Strikes for 3rd and 4th for 4 player games, 3rd for 3 player games. Last person without 3 strikes is the winner. More details... Three Strike Tuesday Three Strike Tuesday Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: May 6, 2025 - 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... EinStein's PhysXXX Syllabus - Maymester 2025 EinStein's PhysXXX Syllabus - Maymester 2025 Starts: 7:00 PM Ends: May 6, 2025 - 10:00 PM Location: 873 S Mason Rd #360, Katy, TX 77450 Description: EinStein's PhysXXX Syllabus - Maymester 2025 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. SCPL Cadets will perform 3 rounds of 2 games each class session. The series will be 6 weeks long with a minimum attendance of 4 weeks. Cadets desiring to audit for less than 4 weeks are welcome to attend. On the last scheduled date of class after qualifying rounds a class finals will held. The top 4 qualifying SCPL Cadets will compete in a PAPA style finals. 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://app.matchplay.events/ on a personal electronic device. Maymester 4/29 5/6 5/13 5/20 5/27 6/3 plus finals More details... • • •	7 FINALS Belles League Nights FINALS Belles League Nights Starts: 7:00 PM Ends: May 7, 2025 - 9:00 PM Location: 5311 Climber Ct, Houston, TX 77041, USA More details... •	8	9 Eureka Heights Friday Tournament Eureka Heights Friday Tournament Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: May 9, 2025 - 9:30 PM Location: 941 W 18th St, Houston, TX 77008, USA Description: Six rounds of group matchplay (7/5/3/1). Top 8 finals. More details... •	10 Belles & Chimes Women's Monthly Belles & Chimes Women's Monthly Starts: 3:00 PM Ends: May 10, 2025 - 7:00 PM Location: 19218 Greenview Glen Dr. Cypress, TX. 77433 Description: Ladies, April Showers bring May flowers! This month we are all sunshine and rainbows inspired by the Farfalla pinball machine. Let's bloom! Join Belles & Chimes Houston for our May women's pinball tournament Saturday, 5/10 at 3pm. This month we will play at the Mueller's home on their amazing private collection. Practice starts at 2pm. Tournament starts at 3pm. $1 for IFPA BYOB and snacks to share If you have not been to a Belles and Chimes tournament before, please review the women's tournament etiquette guidelines as they vary from the open tournaments. https://www.spacecitypinball.com/bellesandchimes/ We welcome women of all ages and skills. If you've never played pinball before, don't worry. We are a fun and welcoming group! All ladies will play 10 games in this matchplay tournament. The top 4 qualifiers will also play a round of finals. This is an IFPA event, and all players will earn WPPR points towards their women's ranking. Details about our league and tournament rules can be found at https://www.spacecitypinball.com/bellesandchimes/ More details... •
11 EinStein's Drainiacs EinStein's Drainiacs Starts: 1:00 PM Ends: May 11, 2025 - 6:00 PM Location: 873 S Mason Rd, Katy, TX 77450, USA Description: 4 Strikes Knockout 21+ More details... •	12	13 NASA 3X Tuesday NASA 3X Tuesday Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: May 13, 2025 - 10:00 PM Location: The Game Preserve NASA, 20810 Gulf Fwy Suite Z, Webster, TX 77598, USA Description: 3 strike knockout tournament at The Game Preserve NASA starting at 6:30 every other Tuesday night. Ten dollar admission to the venue, games are on free play, one dollar for IFPA fees. Strikes for 3rd and 4th for 4 player games, 3rd for 3 player games. Last person without 3 strikes is the winner. More details... Three Strike Tuesday Three Strike Tuesday Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: May 13, 2025 - 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... EinStein's PhysXXX Syllabus - Maymester 2025 EinStein's PhysXXX Syllabus - Maymester 2025 Starts: 7:00 PM Ends: May 13, 2025 - 10:00 PM Location: 873 S Mason Rd #360, Katy, TX 77450 Description: EinStein's PhysXXX Syllabus - Maymester 2025 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. SCPL Cadets will perform 3 rounds of 2 games each class session. The series will be 6 weeks long with a minimum attendance of 4 weeks. Cadets desiring to audit for less than 4 weeks are welcome to attend. On the last scheduled date of class after qualifying rounds a class finals will held. The top 4 qualifying SCPL Cadets will compete in a PAPA style finals. 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://app.matchplay.events/ on a personal electronic device. Maymester 4/29 5/6 5/13 5/20 5/27 6/3 plus finals More details... • • •	14	15 8th Wonder Thursday Night Pinball 8th Wonder Thursday Night Pinball Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: May 15, 2025 - 10:30 PM Location: 8th Wonder Brewery, 2202 Dallas St, Houston, TX 77003, USA Description: Six rounds of group matchplay (7/5/3/1 scoring). Top eight play Amazing Race finals. More details... •	16	17 PinNutz Matchplay at EinStein's PinNutz Matchplay at EinStein's Starts: 1:00 PM Ends: May 17, 2025 - 6:00 PM Location: EinStein's Pub, 873 S Mason Rd #360, Katy, TX 77450, USA Description: https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/185816 8 games of group matchplay, top 8 in finals More details... Monthly Matchplay at TGP Monthly Matchplay at TGP Starts: 4:00 PM Ends: May 17, 2025 - 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... • •
18 Meteor Strikes at the Little Dipper Meteor Strikes at the Little Dipper Starts: 1:30 PM Ends: May 18, 2025 - 5:30 PM Location: Little Dipper Bar, 304 Main St, Houston, TX 77002, USA Description: Space City Pinball: Meteor Strikes at the Little Dipper Four Strike Tournament 3rd Sunday of the Month 1:30 pm (Doors open at 1pm) 21+ Coin drop. 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 from the next round. More details... •	19	20 NASA 3X Tuesday NASA 3X Tuesday Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: May 20, 2025 - 10:00 PM Location: The Game Preserve NASA, 20810 Gulf Fwy Suite Z, Webster, TX 77598, USA Description: 3 strike knockout tournament at The Game Preserve NASA starting at 6:30 every other Tuesday night. Ten dollar admission to the venue, games are on free play, one dollar for IFPA fees. Strikes for 3rd and 4th for 4 player games, 3rd for 3 player games. Last person without 3 strikes is the winner. More details... Three Strike Tuesday Three Strike Tuesday Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: May 20, 2025 - 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... EinStein's PhysXXX Syllabus - Maymester 2025 EinStein's PhysXXX Syllabus - Maymester 2025 Starts: 7:00 PM Ends: May 20, 2025 - 10:00 PM Location: 873 S Mason Rd #360, Katy, TX 77450 Description: EinStein's PhysXXX Syllabus - Maymester 2025 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. SCPL Cadets will perform 3 rounds of 2 games each class session. The series will be 6 weeks long with a minimum attendance of 4 weeks. Cadets desiring to audit for less than 4 weeks are welcome to attend. On the last scheduled date of class after qualifying rounds a class finals will held. The top 4 qualifying SCPL Cadets will compete in a PAPA style finals. 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://app.matchplay.events/ on a personal electronic device. Maymester 4/29 5/6 5/13 5/20 5/27 6/3 plus finals More details... • • •	21	22	23 Belles: Rocket to the Moon Matchplay Belles: Rocket to the Moon Matchplay Starts: 7:00 PM Ends: May 23, 2025 - 10:00 PM Location: 19318 Wood Village Ln, Houston, TX 77084, USA Description: Women's tournament at the LOWer Level Arcade, a private pinball collection in Katy, Tx Registration not required, but appreciated for planning: https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/186415 6 rounds of group matchplay Top 4 to PAPA finals Practice starts at 6pm Tournament starts at 7pm $5 cash, BYOB and snacks Please review the tournament etiquette guidelines found on our website: https://www.spacecitypinball.com/bellesandchimes/ More details... •	24 Belles: Next Stop the Stars Mega Matchplay Belles: Next Stop the Stars Mega Matchplay Starts: 9:00 AM Ends: May 24, 2025 - 10:00 PM Location: 5311 Climber Ct, Houston, TX 77041, USA Description: Next Stop the Stars Schedule: 9am Doors Open 10am-1pm - Matchplay qualifying for the first four rounds Lunch Break 2pm-5pm Matchplay qualifying for the last four rounds Dinner Break PAPA Finals for top 12 qualifiers (if we have at least 24 players) Registration: https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/186414 Cost: $10 cash plus $1 IFPA fee BYOB and snacks Format Ladies will be placed in groups of 3 or 4 and play 8 rounds of 2 games for a total of 16 games of matchplay qualifying on Saturday, 5/24. The tournament will run on Next.Matchplay.Events. We will use 7/5/3/1 scoring, rotating order, and balanced pairing. The expected TGP is 200%. Finals for the top 12 players will be on Saturday night and will be PAPA style (3 games per round) on games randomly selected by the tournament directors using the tournament software. At the start of the round, players will choose player order starting with the highest seeded player according to the points accumulated during the qualifying rounds. They will play in this order for the entire round. Players will earn points for each game depending on their finishing positions (4,2,1,0). Ties at the end of this round will be played on a single, randomly chosen game. In the event of a tie during qualifying: Ties will be broken automatically by the number of first and second place finishes. If the software cannot resolve the tie, the tie will be broken by a single game on a random machine. Only critical ties will be broken by a three ball game such as those that determine advancing to finals. Prizes Cash prize percentage pay outs are determined by player participation, net of trophy and fixed cash prize expenses, and tournament expenses. 1st place – 40% of Net Prize Purse + trophy 2nd place – 30% + trophy 3rd place – 20% + trophy 4th place – 10% + trophy Please review the tournament etiquette guidelines found on our website: https://www.spacecitypinball.com/bellesandchimes/ More details... Lone Rangers Target Matchplay Lone Rangers Target Matchplay Starts: 7:00 PM Ends: May 24, 2025 - 11:00 PM Location: EinStein's Pub Description: Space City Pinball League presents our Lone Rangers tournament. Registration begins at 6:45 PM , first round at 7 PM. $1 IFPA fee plus coin drop. Target Matchplay : 3-2-1-0 scoring : Balanced pairingFirst 4 Lone Rangers to reach 13 points moving on to a PAPA style finals. More details... • •
25 EinStein's=MatchplayCompetition² EinStein's=MatchplayCompetition² Starts: 1:00 PM Ends: May 25, 2025 - 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... •	26	27 NASA 3X Tuesday NASA 3X Tuesday Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: May 27, 2025 - 10:00 PM Location: The Game Preserve NASA, 20810 Gulf Fwy Suite Z, Webster, TX 77598, USA Description: 3 strike knockout tournament at The Game Preserve NASA starting at 6:30 every other Tuesday night. Ten dollar admission to the venue, games are on free play, one dollar for IFPA fees. Strikes for 3rd and 4th for 4 player games, 3rd for 3 player games. Last person without 3 strikes is the winner. More details... Three Strike Tuesday Three Strike Tuesday Starts: 6:30 PM Ends: May 27, 2025 - 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... EinStein's PhysXXX Syllabus - Maymester 2025 EinStein's PhysXXX Syllabus - Maymester 2025 Starts: 7:00 PM Ends: May 27, 2025 - 10:00 PM Location: 873 S Mason Rd #360, Katy, TX 77450 Description: EinStein's PhysXXX Syllabus - Maymester 2025 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. SCPL Cadets will perform 3 rounds of 2 games each class session. The series will be 6 weeks long with a minimum attendance of 4 weeks. Cadets desiring to audit for less than 4 weeks are welcome to attend. On the last scheduled date of class after qualifying rounds a class finals will held. The top 4 qualifying SCPL Cadets will compete in a PAPA style finals. 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://app.matchplay.events/ on a personal electronic device. Maymester 4/29 5/6 5/13 5/20 5/27 6/3 plus finals More details... • • •	28	29	30	31