How to join TOPL

[Chris Bardon]

This question has come up a few times already, and I realized that the way things were formatted on the website weren't incredibly obvious, so I just added this page (content copied from http://topl.ca/how-to-join-topl/ ):

If you want to join the league, all you really need to do is show up to an event. No need to wait for the beginning of the season, playoffs, or any other special time. All of our league events are “open” in the sense that all are welcome.

The only reason we keep location information private is out of respect for our hosts. Our league nights are held in private members’ homes, so we don’t post their addresses out on the internet for all to see. To gain access to the league calendar, mailing list, and event directions, you have a couple of options:

1. If you’re on Facebook, just go tohttps://www.facebook.com/groups/torontopinballleague/. You’ll need to request access, but we’ll basically let in anyone who’s in the area and not a bot. All the league events get posted to the group calendar, which syncs nicely with your personal facebook account, and therefore other calendar aggregators.
2. If you prefer not to use Facebook, we stil have a Yahoo group that you can access athttps://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/topl/info. Just click the “join group” button (you’ll need to sign into Yahoo first). Once you’re approved, you’ll get access to the group calendar (with all the events), as well as the email list. Event reminders are sent out to the mailing list before they happen, so if nothing else, you can watch for emails letting you know of upcoming events.
3. If all else fails,Contact Usand we’ll help you get started.

Weekly league nights are most Monday nights, and the occasional weekend all across the GTA. There are also other TOPL affilliated standalone tournaments that we’ll post to the TOPL calendar. Finally, there are also other leagues in the area that cater to different geographies, schedules, or interests. Many TOPL members play in multiple leagues, and we try to schedule events around each other to let people play as much pinball as possible.

 

[WARLOCK]

Thanks for the post Chris. Just PM someone you know on pbrev if you need any info.
I have known Chris for years and he is a most "excellent" pinball ambassador for the game.

I am the most "delinquent" member of TOPL in the last 3 years. 4-5 events, maximum.
It is go time for many of us. 3-4 newer active pbrev members last night plus 8 new people.

The dynamics of TOPL have changed and last night was proof of this. It was a fun night!
Thanks to Luch for hosting. Thanks for a good new season "night #1". Play pinball. Enjoy.

 

[meegis]

Thanks for the post Chris. Just PM someone you know on pbrev if you need any info.
I have known Chris for years and he is a most "excellent" pinball ambassador for the game.

I am the most "delinquent" member of TOPL in the last 3 years. 4-5 events, maximum.
It is go time for many of us. 3-4 newer active pbrev members last night plus 8 new people.

The dynamics of TOPL have changed and last night was proof of this. It was a fun night!
Thanks to Luch for hosting. Thanks for a good new season "night #1". Play pinball. Enjoy.

All of this, exactly this!

 

[tim.sanderson]

It was great to see Scott and Josh out on Monday, and like Scott said, there are lots of new faces this season.

TOPL is the reason that Monday is now my favorite day of the week.

 

[SuperPinball]

I had a fantastic time and my son hopefully will usher in the next generation of pinball hobbyists. It is always great to see faces to the people I chat with daily on this forum. Special thanks to Luch and rest of the TOPL administrators for doing an amazing job. See you next Monday.

 

[luch]

your welcome

 

[tim.sanderson]

Welcome aboard, too, Mike!

 

[meegis]

Too many Mikes in TOPL

 

[Vengeance]

No way, there are too many Adam's in pinball.

I've never met another Adam outside of pinball, now I know like 7 in the competitive community.

 

[Menace]

I've never met another Adam outside of pinball, now I know like 7 in the competitive community.

Isn't that interesting... maybe there's something more to this? Hmmmmmmm.....

D

 

[Vengeance]

Isn't that interesting... maybe there's something more to this? Hmmmmmmm.....

D

It's crazy, there was like 4 of us in A division this year at PAPA, it's comical.

 

[spiroagnew]

I guess I've "joined" TOPL...!

Attended my first TOPL event ever last week at Jim's place. Great collection and a decent group of folks to play pinball with. Best of all it is one of the few TOPL locations close to my home. It was far less "competitive" than I imagined...which suits me just fine. Maybe it was the foursome I was in: very laid back and lots of good natured, ball-busting. I was, however, expecting more group play. When my foursome finished our set of four games, I was really surprised that we were done for the night. I was left with a feeling of "That's it??". I thought there would be more match/group play...but I guess that just doubles the workload for the admins and could make for a very time consuming event. Taking a tour of Jim's collection before and after the match play event was the highlight. He has a great set of games!

It's weird walking into a stranger's house for the first time, seemingly uninvited, and following printed directions through their living quarters to find the pinball machines. The host and the TOPL "staff" were very welcoming to this first-timer. I still don't think I'll be a regular: I'm a shift worker, have a young family and some of the locations are pretty darn far from my home. In the end, I can take or leave competitive play...however, it was nice to get out and see local league play in action and meet a few more people I only know through a message board avatar. I'm going to try to make it out again this week to Luch's place. See y'all there!

 

[Chris Bardon]

Glad you could make it out-if you're really looking for more match play, come out to the playoffs (which are also at Jim's place this season). 20 rounds of head to head games! Doing more in a single night would just make things go on way too long-if we start league games at 8, usually all the groups are done their 4 games by 9:30 or 10, and depending on which end of the city we're in, some people have a long way to drive (we use a very liberal definition of "Toronto" for TOPL).

Agreed on it being a little strange just walking into someone's house the first time, but after that it gets much easier. Besides, there are only 9 or 10 different hosts these days, so you learn each of the locations pretty quickly

 

[Vengeance]

Glad you made it out and sorry I wasn't at the league night to be able to greet you as well.

TOPL is WAYYYY more casual then most people think, I'd say perhaps 5% of the league is competitive while the other 95% is just looking for a excuse to hang out, drink some beer and play pinball

The group play may feel short, but remember, we play every Monday, if this was a once a month thing we would for sure make it more substantial, but your just 6 days away to the next meet and another group to play in If we tried to fit more in on a Monday I think it would create too much fatigue. This way people can come, get their group play in and stay as late or leave as early as they like.

Hopefully we see more of you in the future!