[FSPA] Happy 30th Birthday, FSPA!
Roland Joyal
joyalrj at aol.com
Tue Jun 3 18:05:25 EDT 2025
It certainly has been a looooong time. Someone told me that I joined in the second season at the NOVA Annandale college campus location. Competitive pinball was all new to me, and was introduced to the league through Neil S, and met Brian B. Scott S, Paul M, and others. There were only about a dozen of us playing some of the greatest pins every made, the mid-late Bally/Williams games. We had 4 of them there, but too bad there were always multiple problems with each and every one of them that I believe Scott and maybe others would FAX (Yes, FAX!) the operator a list of problems; and with any luck, a week or two later half of the problems would be fixed. That unfortunately was the norm for the past several decades prior to that league starting with regard to commercial operation of pinball, at least before it became a big hobby as a result of the internet. The newbies of the past decade or so have no idea what it was like to play pinball in the wild "back in the day" of early FSPA and prior ...it was not pleasant, lol. If you found a pin that was "somewhat" working, you were lucky and had gratitude.
But while I haven't had the time to play much in the league, the league did entice me to get more pins, and just to show you how dead pinball was in the late 90's, I remember approaching Time Out arcade in Springfield Mall and they reluctantly agreed to sell me their only two remaining mid-90's pins that their tech could not fix. They only agreed with something in writing saying I would not bother them for service or parts once the deal was made. So then I started operating pins in bars/breweries in the area since just before the year 2000, right when every other operator was getting out of the pinball business because of the amount of repairs necessary. The early days of the league, especially when it was smaller, brings back fond memories. Congrats FSPA on being around 3 decades!
-Roland
On Friday, May 30, 2025 at 11:43:13 PM EDT, Joe Schober via FSPA <fspa at fspazone.org> wrote:
As May comes to a close, and Summer leagues are starting, I just wanted to take a moment to say...
🎂 HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY, FSPA! 🎂
The first official FSPA season played week #1 exactly 30 years ago today, on May 30, 1995. (There was some FSPA play prior to that, but I guess it wasn't worthy of being considered an "official" season while the format was developed -- I dunno, that was before my time here!) I'm guessing few people then would've bet that the FSPA would still be flipping 30 years later, never mind imagining the growth and popularity of leagues, tournaments, locations, manufacturers, and games that we all enjoy today.
Hope everyone has a great Summer season!
--Joe
From: Keith Johnson <keefer at sma.com>Subject: FSPA: results: 05/30/95Date: Mon, 5 Jun 1995 23:37:31 -0400 (EDT)
OK, here we go, just in time for week 2. ;)
Player and machine results are lifetime. Overall standings, obviously,are for the current season, now 1 week long.
keith
----------------------------------
FSPA UPDATE -- STATS AS OF PLAY DATE 05/30/95 *********************************************
RESULTS *******
Flintstones Group Player Score Grp Scr Overall=========== ----- ------- -------------- ------- ------- 1 Keith 667,493,000 4 9 Jay 416,405,000 2 6 Chris 149,983,000 0 0 2 Sergio 680,039,000 3 10 Lee V 600,480,000 2 8 Steve K 419,500,000 1 7 3 Steve J 1,483,879,000 4 12 Jessica 295,962,000 2 3 Bernie 269,877,000 0 2 4 George 1,149,295,000 4 11 Adlai 386,371,000 2 5 Brad 369,537,000 1 4 Dave 230,979,000 1 1
Maverick Group Player Score Grp Scr Overall======== ----- ------- -------------- ------- ------- 1 Keith 721,577,000 3 6 Jay 562,920,000 2 2 Chris 274,428,000 1 0 2 Steve K 980,811,000 3 10 Sergio 972,828,000 2 9 Lee V 654,764,000 1 4 3 Steve J 1,490,516,000 4 12 Bernie 891,882,000 2 8 Jessica 453,561,000 0 1 4 Adlai 1,441,623,000 3 11 George 822,101,000 2 7 Dave 674,098,000 2 5 Brad 567,940,000 1 3
Stargate Group Player Score Grp Scr Overall======== ----- ------- -------------- ------- ------- 1 Keith 3,337,410,000 4 12 Chris 232,038,000 2 4 Jay 201,956,000 0 2 2 Sergio 495,843,000 4 9 Lee V 182,254,000 2 1 Steve K 114,730,000 0 0 3 Steve J 907,947,000 4 11 Jessica 456,246,000 2 8 Bernie 349,851,000 0 7 4 George 734,381,000 4 10 Dave 344,767,000 2 6 Brad 302,764,000 1 5 Adlai 217,888,000 1 3
STTNG Group Player Score Grp Scr Overall===== ----- ------- -------------- ------- ------- 1 Keith 3,018,237,000 4 12 Chris 398,211,000 2 7 Jay 373,985,000 0 6 2 Sergio 517,906,000 4 9 Steve K 263,824,000 2 3 Lee V 185,304,000 0 0 3 Jessica 354,386,000 3 5 Bernie 209,429,000 2 2 Steve J 199,117,000 1 1 4 George 1,050,587,000 3 11 Dave 755,139,000 2 10 Adlai 512,348,000 2 8 Brad 310,893,000 1 4
Player Group Overall Normal ------- ----- ------- -------Keith 15 39 0.81250George 13 39 0.81250Sergio 13 37 0.77083Steve J 13 36 0.75000Adlai 8 27 0.56250Dave 7 22 0.45833Jessica 7 17 0.35417Steve K 6 20 0.41667Lee V 5 13 0.27083Chris 5 11 0.22917Bernie 4 19 0.39583Jay 4 16 0.33333Brad 4 16 0.33333
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