Category: Events

Weekly League: EightyTwo

LET’S GET BACK IN THE GAME!

Space City welcomes the new arcade lounge EightyTwo in downtown Houston! While the IFPA is not yet sanctioning events, SCPL is ready to resume the fun with a free 8-week league season that will begin on May 18th and continue each Tuesday at 7pm. During each meet, players will be paired with 3 other opponents, and will play six games together total. The six games will be randomly selected from all of the available games at 82.

Player selection will be balanced across the entire season in order to minimize having to play the same opponent multiple times. Players will earn points according to their final finishing order on each game — 1st place is 3 points, 2nd is 2 point, 3rd is 1 point, and 4th is 0 points. Points will be summed at the end of each meet, and will accumulate across the season. Only the 5 best weeks will be used for each player (so you can safely miss a few weeks). 

On the 9th week, we will hold finals for all players who attended at least four weeks of the season. Players will be split into divisions based on their point totals throughout the season. The number of divisions and size of the divisions will depend on the total number of players. The playoffs will follow a head to head, double elimination format. Each matchup in the winners bracket will be a best of three round. The high seed player will choose the first game. Each subsequent game will be chosen by the loser of the previous game. The losers bracket will be played on a single game chosen by the higher seed player. 

Space City Pinball Returns from the Dead

This Halloween, Space City Pinball returns from the dead!

We hope that you will join us for a very special Halloween tournament at The Game Preserve NASA location. The tournament will start at 1pm and will follow a head-to-head strikes format (format may be adjusted based on turnout and available games). Entry will be $5, paid back out in TGP schwag prizes. IFPA is still closed, so obviously no points involved here. Though we are all eager to get back to playing pinball, it is important to stay vigilant against COVID. If you aren’t feeling well, please please do not come. We are requiring that all tournament players wear a mask while inside.

We look forward to seeing everyone again!

Houston Arcade Expo Recap

Space City Open

Congratulations to Colin MacAlpine for taking the top prize at the Space City Open! Colin was on absolute fire all weekend, and finished strong for the win. Also congrats to Steve Bowden, Preston Moncla, and Zach Palmer for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, respectively.

Be sure to check out the finals, which will soon be archived on the space city pinball youtube channel . Currently available on twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/spacecitypinball). Some top notch play!

Huge thanks to my assistant TD’s, Marc Gammons, Elizabeth Dronet, David Pollock, and Matt Quantz. Also huge thanks to the game donors who provided just an amazing collection of well playing machines. This was the biggest tournament in Houston Arcade Expo history, with 123 players total! – Phil Grimaldi

A Division Finalists:
Colin MacAlpine, Steve Bowden with broken trophy, Preston Moncla, Zach Palmer
B Division Finalists:
Dennis Moncla, Chad Lower, Tom George, Tim Tennison

Interplanetary Knockout

Wow! What an amazing event. Participation in our inaugural women’s tournament exceeded expectations with 45 women battling it out. We would like to thank all the Space City League members who contributed games for our mega-booth as well as Titan Pinball who loaned us a game so we could include more players. Titan, Eight Bit Dreams and Speedy’s also contributed prizes. We would especially like to thank Jennings Orthodontics for sponsoring the event. Congratulations to our champions!

-Elizabeth Dronet and Raleigh Palis

Interplanetary Champions
1st Ashley Ludwig, 2nd Miette Dronet, 3rd Kelli Raisler, 4th Elizabeth Dronet

Space City Open Shirts

The excitement builds as we come closer to November’s Houston Arcade and Pinball Expo!

Only a few days remain to pre-order a custom Space City Open Tshirt! The deadline to order is October 27. Shirts are $18.96 and can be picked up at the show. We will not have extras, so get your shirt now! Order here. 

A more readable player list is now posted here. A link can also be found on the tournament website.

Interplanetary Knockout Women’s Pinball Tournament

The Belles of Space City will host a three strike women’s pinball tournament at the Houston Arcade Expo.

Women of all ages are invited to a cosmic battle of skill that will test their mastery of gravitational fields over metal spheres. Battle-ready earthlings will target jackpots and nudge their way around the unknown terrors of outer space to avoid the deep black hole straight down the middle. If you have what it takes to be a space cadet, register today for the Interplanetary Knockout!

This three strike tournament will take place during the Houston Arcade Expo on Saturday, November 16. Check in will begin at 7:30 pm at the tournament desk. $10 Entry. Read all the details here.

Space City Open

Once again, Space City Pinball League will host the Space City Open pinball tournament at the Houston Arcade Expo on November 15th and 16th. Online registration will begin on September 22nd at noon.

The Space City Open is a matchplay pinball tournament. There will be four distinct qualifying sessions (A, B, C, and D), during which players will play six randomly selected machines against groups of randomly selected opponents on each game. The top six players from each session will move on to the finals. Each player is permitted to play in up to two qualifying sessions. Please see the tournament website for the full rules. 

The Belles of Space City will also host a women’s knockout tournament at the Houston Arcade Expo on Saturday, November 16th. Online registration will begin Sunday, October 20th. Details may be found on the tournament website.

Bat City Open

Over 30 Space City players attended the 2019 Bat City Open in Austin. Congratulations to our finalists:
A Division: Phil Grimaldi, Bryce Revnew, Jack Revnew
B Division: Jim Muller (1st place!), Tim Hood, Cory Westfahl
Novice Division: Christopher Heskett

Space City Pinball Family at the Texas Pinball Festival 2019!


Most of the traveling crew from Space City Pinball League pause for a picture on the floor of the festival in Frisco, Texas on Saturday afternoon. In this picture are volunteer tournament directors, tournament officials, scorekeepers, tournament players, trophy winners, collectors and other folks that just came to enjoy the show and the camaraderie, as the Houston group brought their well known community spirit to Dallas.

We offer a hardy congratulations to our champion tournament players:

  • Ben Horstman – 2nd in Wizards B division
  • Elizabeth Dronet – 3rd in Wizards Women’s division
  • Dora Li – semifinalist in Wizards Novice division
  • Christopher and Eric Heskett – 3rd in the Parent-Child tournament