The Hal story to end all Hal stories
Bowen Kerins
I think he played well in the Flipoffs this past weekend. This post is mostly
for people who have met Hal or heard of his exploits, and wanted to hear more.
I thought this was pretty darn hilarious.)
In this weekend's Flipoffs, there were two Hal "situations". I think the
second one takes the cake as the greatest Hal incident ever.
Situation 1: Hal is playing Ty Polk in a match; they are tied 1-1, and headed
to Indiana Jones for the third game of the match. Hal claims that the machine
is in rotten shape (there were minor problems with the left flipper, but
nothing horribly significant) and that they should play something else. Ty
disagrees, saying that Indy is just fine, and they should play the game listed
on the match card.
This sets Hal off, and he bickers with Ty about this for a minute or so.
Eventually, I inform Hal that they'll have to play Indy, since only agreement
by both players to move the match is acceptable under the tournament rules.
So they play Indy, and Ty agrees after the first ball that Indy isn't in great
shape. They agree to move, and the Indy game is thrown out. I tell both of
them to give me their top three game choices, in private. Hal goes first:
#1 Freddy, #2 Corvette, #3 World Cup. Ty comes to give his: #1 Addams Family,
#2... Hal cuts him off: "I want to change #3 to Road Show." "Okay, Hal, fine."
Ty continues: #2 Road Show, #3 Corvette. Corvette is thrown out, since they
had already played that in the match.
"Road Show it is," I announce. 30 seconds later, Hal comes up to me. "Look, I
want to change back to World Cup." "No, I'm sorry, the decision has already
been made." "But I forgot that I have no experience on this game and Ty has
played it a lot!" "Well, you should have thought of that when you made those
choices." "Look, can't you let me choose again?" "No, why should you be able
to? You don't like the decision, so you want more choices so that you can get
a decision that gives you an advantage?"
Hal becomes furious, claiming that the whole setup is "ridiculous" and asking
Ty to change his mind, and move the match onto World Cup. (Actually, it was
more along the lines of badgering.) Eventually, Ty says "Okay, Hal, don't talk
to me for 5 minutes," and walks off. Hal follows him, and I try to stop him
from following. Ty was very annoyed (actually, very angry) about the whole
situation, and told me that he wouldn't change his mind anymore, only because
Hal had been such a jerk about repeatedly asking him.
5 minutes later, I track down both of them, talking in the parking lot.
Apparently, an agreement has been reached, and Ty agrees to move the game to
World Cup. I ask Ty privately why he changed his mind -- "Well, Hal told me
that originally he said Road Show, then changed his mind to World Cup at the
last minute." "Um, that's not true." "Well, that's different, then! Hey,
Hal..."
They argue for awhile more, and I begin a two-player game on Road Show. "Okay,
we're playing Road Show." Ty plays his first ball, and Hal becomes calm enough
to play after a few more minutes.
Hal wins.
No problems after that, of course.
Situation 2: The tournament is over; Hal finishes third. Under the rules of
the tournament, the non-cash prizes are distributed first to the non-money
winners, beginning at #5. Then, after the last-place finisher has picked
something, #4, #3, #2, then #1 pick a prize, and get that along with their
cash.
At 7th place, Ty picks third, taking the Royal Flush T-Shirt. Hal, with a
third-place finish, chooses one of four Freddy T-Shirts.
Pictures are taken, everyone seems happy. We're all leaving the arcade...
Ty: "Hey, has anyone seen my Royal Flush T-Shirt? Mine's been switched, and
now I've got a Freddy." He shows the Freddy shirt.
I go around to the players. Neil is wearing his Freddy shirt. (2 shirts)
"Hey Hal, where's your T-Shirt?" "Oh, it's in the bag here." "Okay..."
"Hey Rick, you got your T-Shirt?" He shows his shirt. (3 shirts)
"Hey Marc, you got yours?" He shows his shirt. (4 shirts)
I go back to Neil's car, in which is also Hal and Ty. "Well Neil, we've
identified four Freddy shirts. Whoever hasn't shown me their shirt, then,
must not have one." (looking at Hal) "Hal, could you get out your Freddy
shirt, please, just for a moment?"
Hal shakes his head, not really as a negative response, but in annoyance.
"You know, I really have a personal attachment to that game. I played that
when I was eight years old, one of the first games I ever really liked. And
I think it's ridiculous that he should get the shirt when I beat him in the
tournament."
"Okay, Hal, that's great, but you know what the rules were. Just give him
back the shirt, and everything will be fine. Besides, you won $30, you can
buy one of those T-Shirts."
"Man... I knew he wouldn't accept switching the prizes if I asked, so I just
switched it myself... you know, I deserve this shirt, I earned it, I'm not
giving it back." (At this point, my jaw was pretty much down for the rest of
the conversation.)
"Oh jeez, Hal, just give it back, it's not that big a deal. You can buy one
of those shirts."
"No, I'm not giving it back, I earned this shirt! Come on, let us go, we're
late. Let's go, Neil." (They weren't late for anything.)
"Look, if you want to get prosecuted for theft, then that's just fine. Come
on..."
"No! Let's go, Neil."
I looked in the back seat to Ty, and he had the same disbelieving expression.
They left, with the shirt still in Hal's bag. Who knows what happened next;
Neil was taking both Hal and Ty to the BART (subway) station, so they may have
taken the same train home. I watched the 11 o'clock news, so neither of them
was murdered...
Later, on my way to dinner with Marc and Ken (another tournament player), they
came up with a great description for the whole event... directly from Indiana
Jones.
"The shirts are mine!" "What a vivid imagination." :)
Bowen
John Hermann
Scott R Tiesma
go read it... it's hilarious!
Well, I hope I never meet this Hal guy. Talk about loony! Anyway, it would
be interesting if he ever got internet access and read about his exploits!
Then again, that might be dangerous even (for those who don't know about
kill files ;)
Scott R. Tiesma
Jeff Marshall
>In this weekend's Flipoffs, there were two Hal "situations". I think the
>second one takes the cake as the greatest Hal incident ever.
Bowen, does Hal plan on attending PAPA 5?
Jeff
Keith P. Johnson
>Well, I hope I never meet this Hal guy. Talk about loony! Anyway, it would
>be interesting if he ever got internet access and read about his exploits!
Well, I met him at PAPA 4, and aside from being a pretty darn good
player, mostly he seemed kind of moody or not taking too too much to set
his temper off. But when he was in a good mood, he wasn't too bad,
FWIW.
>Then again, that might be dangerous even (for those who don't know about
>kill files ;)
Or those of us that don't believe in them... The main reason I don't
use one is because either me or my killee might have done something
stupid and that would've set off a chain of events and both of us would
be real pissed at each other for stupid reasons, etc. etc. If I thought
like that, then I would've missed a lot of Mark's interesting messages.
:) :) :)
(Not that we've ever disagreed or anything. :) )
keith
--
Keith Johnson (keefer) -- kee...@rahul.net, kee...@access.digex.net
Diehard pinball player, CS Major, and all-around good guy.
This is a static .signature while a new dynamic one is being written.
Your patience in this matter is appreciated.
Scott Piehler
>(Disclaimer: I have a lot of respect for Hal Erickson as a pinball player, and
>I think he played well in the Flipoffs this past weekend. This post is mostly
>for people who have met Hal or heard of his exploits, and wanted to hear more.
>I thought this was pretty darn hilarious.)
>In this weekend's Flipoffs, there were two Hal "situations". I think the
>second one takes the cake as the greatest Hal incident ever.
<snip of Hal's exploits>
I believe the quote is *Hey, it's only pinball!*
Scott
Scott Piehler
<Ros...@mindspring.com>
The ability to operate a computer and
navigate the Internet is not a sign of
intelligence, per se.
Erik Peterzen
I thought pinball was for "amusment only" ?
Is this Hal actually a grown man ?
Does he have a wife/girlfriend ?
etc.
etc.
Erik
Bowen Kerins
Jeff Marshall <mars...@mit.edu> wrote:
>Bowen, does Hal plan on attending PAPA 5?
No, not that I know of. Last I talked to him, he was "broke" and wasn't likely
to go to PAPA 5, even if he won the hotel nights from this past weekend's
tournament.
Actually, it's too bad, because he's one of the top players out there. It's
unfortunate that he can't control his temper in some situations (ie when he's
not winning), because he's not that bad a guy otherwise.
Until the shirt situation is resolved, Hal will not be invited back to any
BAPA events. Hopefully, it will be soon.
Bowen
tvpd...@gmail.com
phis...@hotmail.com
-phish
Frank Furhter
> Hal is still putting up epic GC scores in the east bay. I always enjoy seeing Hal while out playing. He may never win Papa, but he'll always be a legendary player in my book. If you get back to the area, he's not so skinny any more. Still a badass player though. You'll recognize him.
>
> -phish
>
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