About the Detroit Pinball League
HISTORY
The D.P.L. was founded by three pin heads wanting more out
of their collections, more times to get together with friends and relate pinball
stories and of course to play pinball.
We come up with there was no way any "pinball" league would be able to survive by
attending bars and bowling centers in public. The local pinball scene is all about
dead in Detroit, with less than 5 arcades with more than 5 pins. Thus we needed
to be in our homes playing our collections, where the majority of machines in metro
Detroit sit, in peoples homes.
D.P.L.'s Goals
Our main goal is simple. We wanted to have fun playing competitive
pinball with other collectors on collector quality working games from all era's
in a smoke free environment. Our secondary goal was to protect our "host of the
month" machines and residence from our members. Our 3rd goal was to be able to do
this without having to travel great distances away from our home and family's. And
our 4th and last goal was to make the machines as difficult and tourney worthy so
everyone will have a chance to win.
Our Host
A quick count of the current game list of our members willing and
or capable of hosting an event is well over 75 different game titles and expanding
as we all get deeper into the obsession. Games include the latest Stern releases
to the old EM machines that made pinball what it is today. We will rarely run into
repeating a game of the same title through a complete season. But due to mechanical
failure and host number of machines, this may not succeed. For example, there are
10 Twilight Zones in our members ranks. Not all members have collections in their
teens.
Why we limited our member base?
As most of us know, this is Michigan. Some of our members have houses
50+ years old and really cant fit over 20 people in their houses. Collecting pinball
machines is all dependent on what kind of space you have to spare. The directors
of this league wanted a trouble free, no hassle league. By limiting our membership
to those people who are local ( 30 minutes out of downtown Detroit) will allow everyone
to make every meeting and be home at a decent hour.
Why there is no cash involved ?
We wanted to play competitive pinball with the best in the area. We
do have local "pro's" who often compete in the world stage, but we also have the
run of the mill collector who is an average player. We give everyone the chance
to basically have fun. Meeting other collectors, trading games, playing and restoration
strategies and parts is really our main concern. Not to mention its a night out.
Why we choose people that can host over people that cant ?
The founding members had concerns of hosting an event while others
cannot or will not host events. We are trying to set it up so you wont have to host
but every other year. With only 6-8 meetings a year, we don't see a problem with
this, but we would prefer that new members will be able to host events to expand
our title selections.
Waiting List
To be added to the waiting list to become a member please forward your
name, location, game count and host preferences to the DPL mailing list (detroit.pinball@gmail.com) Please note that this email account is not checked everyday.