I know it’s only September, but it seems that is mostly the correct time to start talking and celebrating. In late August of 2022, we submitted for our first tournament to be held at our home to the IFPA, hosted on October 1st of that year. Small Flip Frenzy, capped at 16 people because we both didn’t know how packed it’d be and didn’t know what we were doing. But it got us started. More tournaments came, higher capacities, different formats, and 2 full days of pinball in WPPRMania.
I’d argue we still don’t know what we’re doing, but I know what we’ve done here is significant. What started as a place for us to share a few games and host a few competitive WPPRs has grown to having friends who now show up for a majority of events and have a great time with us as much as they can. It’s a special community and we’re proud and honored to be a small part of the game in New England.
Sitting and pecking this out two years out, it seems like we’ve done alright. We’ve started a show to have a more fun and casual thing to share, and on the opposite end of the spectrum, we’ve made enough impact that we’ll be honored to be hosting the 2024 New Hampshire State Championships for both Open and Women’s Division in January 2025! I hope to see some Lower Playfield regulars at each battling it out for a chance to represent NH in the nationals!
Celebrating with custom artwork
I wanted to do something special for year two, and the inspiration actually came from another big thing in my life: music. I love going to shows (somewhat less so now that I’m old and live far from many shows, but we still make it out more than a few times a year). I thought of doing a concert poster for TLP pretty early on. If you’re not super familiar, some bands will commission a unique poster for every stop on a tour, by different artists, and then sell them at the shows. Now-pinball art wizard Zombie Yeti does/did this as well!
Immediately I thought of my friend Jeff LaChance. Jeff has been making art for bands for as long as I’ve known him, and he’s done quite a few well regarded posters for big bands in the past.
- Here’s a link to a shop that sells a few pieces he’s done for a few bands. It’s not comprehensive but you get the idea.
- Jeff is just getting his own artist shop up now, check that out here. He just has his latest two posters up there for now, but perhaps he’ll be adding more in the future!
We’d talked about doing some collabs way back when (maybe a homebrew label?) but never really got around to it. Jeff was the first person I wanted to ask, and oddly enough he agreed to take it on! But what to draw? I gave Jeff a bunch of info on a game and a character that would work really well in his art style, and well… he nailed it.
The Lower Playfield Second Anniversary Tee!
First, the picture:
Featuring your favorite pinball ringmaster, with no additional branding, the TLP 2nd Anniversary shirt can be worn everywhere and absolutely no one will ask you what a lower playfield is! Instead, they’ll be focused on Jeff’s amazing rendition of the only person I’m aware of to be cranky because he has a spring for a neck!
Available on our mech shop through the end of 2024 only, the shirt is available in different colors, styles (heavyweight tees, super soft cotton, and tri-blend) in unisex, tank, and women’s cuts. They are a few dollars pricier than our normal tees so we can kick some sweet pinball money back to Jeff for all the work. I hope you like it as much as I do!
( A quick note: If you’ve never bought anything at Cotton Bureau before, you can use promo code PR3SDCRDSW at checkout to get $5 off your first order! )
But that’s not all, there’s also…
The Lower Playfield 2nd Anniversary Poster!
I mean, this is what I really wanted, was a poster worthy of a touring band but for our little thing here in the woods. Celebrating two years of balls and drains, the poster by Jeff came out more amazing than I could have hoped. We then got the design printed on 110# textured paper and… well, wow.
These are a one time run. Maybe I ran too many of them, but I did a run of 25 and hand numbered them. Maybe that means I’ll have plenty of them to wallpaper a room in my house with, who knows! But if you want one, there’s going to be a few ways to get your hands on them:
- 3 of them will be framed and given away as prizes at our Second Anniversary tournament! The top 2 finishers in the top bracket will receive one, and the winner of the not top-16 bracket will also win one! Everyone will have a chance, regardless of if you make finals!
- If you would like a poster, and are attending the Anniversary tournament, there will be a checkbox on the registration form to reserve one of the 10 posters I’m holding for that tournament. They will be $20 and you can pay me whenever ahead of time, or when you get here. If you reserve a poster and end up winning one I’ll give your $20 back. Easy!
- The remaining hold of 10 (plus any that folks didn’t want from coming to the tournament) will be available for sale after the tournament. I’ll figure this out. I don’t have an easy way of selling things. But I’ll figure it out!
I have literally no idea if people will be as hyped about this as I am, so strict limit of 1 poster per interested party, please. When I’m left with almost 20 of these and you want more, fine, we’ll figure it out then. 🙂
Thank you, thank you, thank you
None of these crazy things still seem real to me, but dammit I have a tangible poster now so I know it is. None of this is possible without all of you reading and finding your way to share the love of pinball with us at our place. I hope you’ll celebrate with us in November (scheduling tournaments these days is rough! Check out the other events in October!) and beyond. Here’s hoping for another fun year 3!
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