I started a league with some of the collectors in the Northern Kentucky area, and our first session is next Saturday May 7th. Derby Day! I was wondering if anyone ever put together some sort of Kentucky Derby infused pinball tournament. There are typically around 20 horses in the race, so I was thinking of having horses assigned to each finishing spot of the pinball game. For instance:
Assuming 20 horses and 5 pinball machines to choose from and 20 players. Each pinball machine would have one of the five best bets (based on the odds at the time of tournament), and then have one horse from each of the next tiers of horses in the race.
Players are randomly assigned a game, and then depending on how you finished that one game of pinball, you were assigned a horse. Get last place on the game you get a crummy horse from the worst pool of odds. Get first on the game, you get once of the 5 best odds horses to win.
Make sure one of the machines is Derby Day; it was in the “D”/Juniors/Seniors/Women’s bank at PAPA recently. But seriously, it would be fun if you had horse-themed machines in the event. Hot Tip; Winner; Cowpoke / Buckaroo; if you wanted a newer game, you could include Mustang since it both involves racing and is named for a horse.
As for your format, I like it. The one downside is that the odds tiering may be uneven. If one or two horses have really good odds, but the next three or four are so-so, then which machine someone gets assigned to makes a lot of difference. For instance, if the first 5 picks are 5-2, 3-1, 8-1, 10-1 and 12-1, those first two have a big edge.
Yeah that’s what’s I’m afraid of. Maybe if that’s the case, make sure those groups are all or nothing kind of? Like pair the 5-2 and 3-1 with all 15-1s or worse?
Btw I would love to have a nice hot tip at some point. Is that everyone’s favorite horse racing EM? I’ve only seen/played that one none of the others you mentioned.