Final Week

Tonight is the final week of the Spring 2014 season...it has been a great time and it has been fun getting to know all the new members.  If you missed a week, have no fear - we will be having a make up week next week before all the scores are finalized.

Trophies and certificates have started the production process this week, prizes are being divvied up...the end is almost upon us.

We will be back this summer though!  Drop us a line to keep up to date.

Pinball for the People with Disabilities - Fundraiser

Hi Everyone,

Many of you know about my love for pinball.  Many of you also know that my fiancée, Angie, who is the president of the Spinal Cord Injury Association of Iowa and  who loves helping others.  We have the unique opportunity to combine both of these passions.  We hope to purchase a wheelchair accessible pinball machine for the Spinal Cord Injury Association of Iowa.  We plan to take the machine to various locations and organizations allowing people with disabilities the chance to access life and enjoy pinball.  Some places we plan on working with - local chapters of Easter Seals and Paralyzed Veterans of America, local hospitals and rehab units, nursing homes and in-patient facilities.

This is a rare machine - only 15 machines were converted for use by people with limb impairments and other disabilities...and that was over 20 years ago, it is not known how many still exist (my guess would be very few).  This machine allows rooms for wheelchairs to fit underneath, is on wheels so that it can be brought to a person's bed, has large buttons on the front of the cabinet for easier pushing, has a remote set of buttons so that the person can sit them on their lap, table or whatever works best, and has a straw-style sip/puff adaptor for those with severe limb impairment.

But we aren't buying this machine for ourselves, we hope to take to many locations and functions across the state so that all people can enjoy pinball.  You can learn more and donate through our indiegogo fundraiser page.  A plaque will be made and attached to the machine with all donors’ names.  We need to raise $2500 for the machine and shipping.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wheelchair-accessible-pinball/x/6977685

Any extra money will be donated to the Spinal Cord Injury Association to help others through different projects.

Thank you for any help that you can offer, also if you could please share this with others, it would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Michael 

Spring League...starting March 3rd

The Spring season of Des Moines Pinball League is less than a week away.

Please join us on March 3rd, 7:15pm at the Jordan Creek theater arcade!  

• We will play every Monday for 12 weeks (March 3rd - May 19th), 10 weeks regular league play, a make up week, then have a trophy/prize/fun night
• No cost besides the games you play (3-4 per week)
• Field trip league nights to Up/Down and Barcadium DM are planned
• All Skill Levels welcome - beginner to wizard
• Fun for the whole family - if they don't want to play pinball, there are video games or they can check out a movie (except for field trip nights - sorry no kids at the bars)
• Meet other fellow pinheads in the area
• League play usually lasts 1-1.5 hours each week
• Current line up at JC: Star Trek, Metallica, X-men
• Even if you can't make every week, stop in when you can - you are welcome anytime!

Please forward/invite anyone else you think might be interested.  The more the better.

Please drop me a line if you are interested in playing (or for more info) so that we know to expect you.

Thanks everyone.  I hope to see you there. 

Michael

Des Moines Pinball League

michael.hulsebus@gmail.com

2014 Spring Season

The 2014 Spring Season of Des Moines Pinball League begins on March 3rd.  Please contact me for more information or to join.

Hope to see everyone there.

Thanks,
Michael

Congratulations Everyone!

Thanks for a great season!  It was a heck of a lot of fun and great to meet and hang out with everyone.

Final Standings (and it was CLOSE):

1. Nick
2. Don
3. Victoria
4. Shawn
5. Stacy
6. Becky

Congratulations!

I look forward to seeing you all again soon.  More info on next season in a few weeks.

Thanks for coming out and playing pinball with me.

Tonight is the Night

Fall 2013 League play ended last week.  Tonight a winner shall be crowned!

The trophies - in process of manufacture

It was a tight race with the lead changing between players 4 or more times throughout the season. Only 18 points separating First and Fifth places...thats 1.5 points per week.  A good game here, a bonus point there and nearly everyone could have been the winner.

It was a good season with a great group of people.  I hope everyone had fun because that is what it was really all about.

Sign-Up Issues

It seems that we are having some issues with our sign-up form not working as it should (I blame Obamacare...not really but everything else gets blamed on it, so I am using it).

If you have had issues or have not been contacted, I apologize.  Please send an email to one of the addresses below:



If you are interested in joining the DM Pinball Leauge, want more info, have questions,  want to host our league  - Please email

DMPinball@gmail.com
or me directly michael.hulsebus@gmail.com.

You can also find us on Facebook    www.facebook.com/dmpinball


Thank You.
Michael

Half Way

We are half way through the Fall 2013 season and it has been great.  Returning players and new friends, we have a great group of people.

We had our first field trip night to Up Down Barcade in downtown Des Moines a couple weeks ago and it was a blast.  Nice change of pace and getting to play all new machines.  Several people that might not do great on a regular league night (probably mostly due to not understanding a machines rules as much as other player; really stepped up and did well on machines that no one was real familiar with.  It was interesting to see.

My favorite thing about pinball league has been meeting all the people with similar interests.  That has just been wonderful.  My second favorite thing has been an appreciation for all pinball machines.  Several that I didn't like when I first played them, I have learned to enjoy quite a bit...but even machines that I haven't previously had much interest in (think most pre-DMD machines), I have a new found respect for their layouts, design, and function.  I didn't think it would happen, but Just the regular playtime has changed the way that I think about all machines and piqued my interest into other areas.

If you are not a member, why not join now?  Just email DMpinball@gmail.com


Thanks,
Michael

New Season...Less Than 2 Weeks Away

Hello Pinballers,

Des Moines Pinball League starts a new season in LESS than 2 weeks.  This will be a full season and we will have Trophies and Prizes for the top players.  If we have enough players, we will probably even have the group split into flights...so everyone has a decent chance at prizes.  Even if you don't win, you will have fun and meet some great people.  I think that is the best part of pinball league.

Here is how it will work:

All meetings will be Mondays at 7pm at the Jordan Creek Theater arcade, we will break into groups and play the assigned machine...4 games each week, and you will be measured against the others in your group for each game (and then as a final tally).  I'll be sending out the rules next week and we will also go over them real quick the first night.

No Fees...you just have to pay for the games you play, so $2.  Bring friends, family, significant others, etc...I think everyone who played last time had fun once they got there - once you get them there, hopefully they will be hooked.  Having too many players would be a nice problem to have.

I have been giving the rules a lot of thought and thinking about ways to make it even more fun and exciting for everyone...if you have any ideas, let me know.

Planned Schedule:

Week #1:  Sept 9th - Short meeting, go over the rules, introductions of new people, draw machines, play pinball.

Week #2: Sept 16th - Standard matches

Week #3: Sept 23rd - Standard matches

Week #4: Sept 30th - Standard matches

Week #5: Oct 7th - Standard matches

Week #6: Oct 14th - Mix it up night / different set ups and points (more details soon)

Week #7: Oct 21st - Standard matches

Week #8: Oct 28th - Standard matches

Week #9: Nov 4th - Standard matches

Week #10: Nov 11th - Standard matches

Week #11: Nov 18th - Standard matches

Holiday/Make-up Week: Nov 25th - no matches unless you want to make up a missed game or just hang out

Week #12: Dec 2nd - Position Round / Fun matches

Prize Week:  Dec 9th - Prizes / Trophies

Holiday Break until next season after the new year.

Hope to see you all in just under two weeks!

Let me know if you have questions, ideas, or would like more info.

Thanks,

Michael

DM Pinball League

Week 6 - End of the Season

First of all, I would like to say - THANK YOU.  Thank you everyone, for coming and playing pinball with me.  I've wanted to do something like this for years, but alway made excuses for not doing it (not enough time, not enough interest, I wouldn't be good enough, etc...).  So thank you for coming and playing, I hope everyone had a good time.  I definitely did, and I was a pleasure meeting you all.  I hope to see you all throughout the summer and at the start of the Fall pinball season (we will definitely have prizes for that one)!

Although a couple people consistently did well, everyone had great games and bad games, good nights and not-so-good nights.  Pinball is very random and no one is guaranteed success.  Entering the scores every week, I probably have a little more insight into how everyone has done over the season and I can say that no one was out of place.  I think that the weekly scores were close enough that a good week here or a bad week there could completely change most people's position...everyone was competitive...and personal bests continued to rise throughout the season.

Overall, I think this test season went really well.  There are some things I would change (flipping a coin worked ok choosing partners and machines, but it probably wasn't a long enough run for everything to really even out).  I am also testing some new scoring ideas and still trying to think of new bonus point ideas.  If you have any ideas or things you might like to see changed, please let me know...nothing is set in stone, and I am learning what I like and what works best for the league as much as you are.

Finally, a big thanks to Chris for paying this week, that was very nice of you...and thanks for hosting a party Friday.  I think karma came back to you on the $121M game (all the other fifteen games on X-men last night combined were $156M).

I am attaching the summary and also the excel spreadsheet with all the weekly scores and info (in case anyone is interested).

Thanks again everyone, I had a blast.  I will see you throughout the summer for practice and next fall for the next league start!

Spring 2013 - Results

Spring 2013 - Week 2

Instead of posting the results to this home page, from now on you can access them by the link on the right "Current League Standings."  This will keep the home page clear for more general information but will always be available for you to view.  I will post them within a day or two, but won't usually be posting here on the front page.  Just click on over to Current League Standings.  I will update the date at the top, so you can always tell when it was last updated.

I've added a table to keep track of everyone's best scores on each machine.  Did you have a monster game and want to see how it ranks?  Check out this table.  Looking to see what you need to set a personal record?  This is your table.

I will also continue emailing the results weekly.

Thanks,

Michael

Results: Week 1 - Spring 2013

We had a good turnout and a great time.  Thanks everyone for coming.  Here are the results - click to embiggen.  I will also be emailing them out of everyone in PDF form.  In the future, I will probably make a results page that you will click on the right...but here it is for now.

We still have several spots to fill, so if you are thinking about it...stop thinking and join us!

League Starting May 13th!

Hi everyone, 

Sorry it has taken so long finalizing the details on the pinball league.  

We will be starting play on Monday, May 13th at 7pm at Jordan Creek Theaters.  Monday at 7pm will be our standard league time for this season.  This will be a short season, just to test everything out and see if we need to change rules, set up, etc...  We will play through the end of June (except on May 27th due to the holiday).  This will give us 6 weeks to see what everyone thinks.  After than we will talk about whether we want to continue the current season for up to 12 weeks or have a summer break and start back in the fall (and re-evaluate day and time).  There will not be any fees for this first season...just pay for the games you play.

If you can make it, just show up...we will meet in the arcade at the theater.  We will have a short meeting so that we can make sure we are all on the same page with how it works.  We will draw cards or something to divide into teams for each machine.  Then we will play our first rounds! In my experience with the Ames league, league night will take about an 60 - 90 minutes.  If you know of other interested parties, bring them along!  We'll try to squeeze them in.

The rules are posted in a link to the right.

I know this won't work for everyone and I apologize about that...depending on how well this goes, we may be looking to add alternate days and times.  If anyone is interested in playing on Tuesday evenings in Ames, a new season for the KD Amusement League should be starting sometime in the next month or so.  I hope to play in that one again, so if anyone wants to carpool, that is a possibility.

Please let me know if you have any questions.  I look forward to seeing you all on May 13th.

Thanks,

Michael

Leagues Forming Now

Welcome to the Des Moines Pinball League.  We are a group of central Iowa pinball enthusiasts who get together for some fun times and competitive play.  All skill levels are welcome - from the novice to highly skilled players, the only requirement is that you enjoy pinball.

We are looking to start league play in April 2013.

If you would like more information on joining, please click the contact info to the right.

Thanks,
Michael
(DM Pinball League administrator)

Sorry about the cheap website...it was done very quickly, but will improve in the future.