PinMaineIa2 Tournament Rules

Quick Overview

The New England Pinball Championship is a one-day, match-play pinball tournament. All day long, players will be paired in head-to-head matches. Play well, and you'll be paired with better opponents as the tournament goes on. Or play for fun: halfway through the tournament, the bottom half of the field will play for a separate "B Division" prize. When all the matches are over, the top 4 players in each division will face off in a final round for cash prizes.

There is NO elimination in this tournament! Enter, and you'll be guaranteed to play competitive pinball all the way through. Plus there's a T-shirt if you pre-register.

Need more details? Keep reading!

When & Where

When: Saturday, June 28, 12 noon - 10 pm

Where: 80 New County Road, Saco, Me. 04092

The first round starts promptly at noon! Plan to be there sooner if you want to warm up or help with setup.

Pre-Registration Encouraged

Pre-register for the New England Pinball Championship to ensure a spot in the tournaments. A tournament T-shirt will be given to all pre-registered players.

We encourage pre-registration, because there is a limit of 64 players who may play in the tournament. It is quite possible the tournament may fill to capacity with pre-registrations.

Prizes and Entry Fees

The entry fee per player is $40. This includes entry into all tournaments for the weekend, including Friday's PineBrawl? . Most of the entry fee will go toward prizes in the main event.

Prize levels listed below are based on 32 players; actual attendance may vary and will likely be higher. Attendance was 40 players in 2007.

A Division:

1st Prize: $300

2nd Prize: $150

3rd Prize: $90

B Division:

1st Prize: $120

2nd Prize: $60

Prizes are based on participation levels, and will be larger with more players.

Sidepot!

The Sidepot is for top players interested in playing for additional cash in the main tournament. Any interested player can pay a second entry fee of $50. This Sidepot will be awarded, winner take all, to the best-finishing player of all players who take the Sidepot bet.

We expect the Sidepot to be in the range of $300-$400, depending on the number of players entering it. If the Sidepot grows large enough, tournament officials may award a percentage to 2nd place, but any such decision will be made before the tournament begins.

How Does It Work?

The tournament is played in six rounds. In each round, you'll get a card with 3 opponents on it. Play each opponent in a single game, and record whether you won or lost. After all the games in a round, turn in your card. Once the entire round has been played, players will be re-paired according to their won-loss record, with the best records playing one another in the next round.

Putting Players Into Groups

The first grouping will be random. No two players who entered the Sidepot competition will be placed in the same first grouping (but are likely to be placed together as the tournament goes on).

After each round, all players will be ranked according to their won-loss record, then assigned to groups directly. For example, after 4 rounds (12 matches) the won-loss records for a small event might look like this:

Adrian 8 - 4 Edward 2 - 10 Irving 9 - 3

Bruce 9 - 3 Frank 6 - 6 Jerome 1 - 11

Carol 10 - 2 Gerry 5 - 7 Kristi 8 - 4

Dave 4 - 8 Harold 4 - 8 Lisa 6 - 6

The top four players would be grouped together: Carol, Irving, Bruce, Kristi (chosen randomly, tied with Adrian).

The next four players would be grouped together: Adrian, Frank, Lisa, Gerry.

And the bottom four players would be grouped together: Dave, Harold, Edward, Jerome.

In each group, each player competes once, head-to-head, against their three opponents. In the above example, Irving would play once against Carol, Bruce, and Kevin in round 5.

Depending on the exact number of players in the tournament, there may be one or more "byes" available. The "bye" will be placed into the lowest group(s) in each round, and players in these groups will have only two opponents. A "bye" will be counted as a win for any player who encounters it.

Playing a Group

Play your group quickly! It should be easy to play three two-player games of pinball in an hour, right? The faster you play your group, the faster the tournament moves on. This type of tournament runs at the speed of its slowest group -- don't be that group! If a player in your group is missing or otherwise slowing down the completion of matches, please inform us immediately so we can continue to move the tournament along.

Each group will be given a list of FOUR pinball machines to choose from for the round, chosen randomly from the list of all games available from the tournament. The games in the tournament will be broken into four roughly-equal groups by age, then one game from each group will be selected for your card. (So, you're guaranteed to get something old, something new, something borrowed...)

All matches in the group will be played on these machines. The player listed as Player 1 for each match will choose the machine. IMPORTANT: Players cannot pick the same game more than once within a group, although you may end up playing the same game more than once.

The players in a group are ranked 1 through 4, and the order of play is:

Player 1 vs Player 3

Player 2 vs Player 4

Player 2 vs Player 3

Player 4 vs Player 1

Player 1 vs Player 2

Player 3 vs Player 4

The player listed FIRST will be Player 1 on the game of their choice. The player listed SECOND will be Player 2 on that game.

In the example above, take the group Carol, Irving, Bruce, Kristi. In the first match pairs, Carol plays Bruce on a game of her choice, and Irving plays Kristi on a game of his choice. In the second match pairs, Irving will pick again, but must pick a different machine than the one he picked in the first match.

Any "bye" in a group replaces Player 3 in the table.

A group's play records will be recorded on a score sheet. Make sure you don't lose it, and make sure it is returned immediately after your matches are completed.

Match Details

Remember, a match is one game, not best 2 out of 3. You'll get plenty of chances to do better with your next match.

Pick a machine quickly. If someone is playing another tournament match on the machine you'd like to play, feel free to wait (within reason).

If a machine in your group is broken, please let staff know immediately so it can be removed from the list of available games for play.

Do not play extra balls. If extra balls cannot be shut off on a machine, players must PLUNGE them without flipping or nudging. While aiming for a skill shot on an extra ball is allowed, no flipping or nudging is allowed at all.

If you are Player 2, and you have already won the game as Ball 3 comes, stop and claim your victory. This will help move the tournament along more quickly.

Know your opponents! Most of the players in the tournament will know each other, so ask around if there is someone you need but can't find.

Timing & Number of Rounds

There will be 6 rounds in the tournament. All players will play 18 matches. The first round will start promptly at 12 noon, and rounds will continue into the afternoon.

There is a scheduled break between 6:00 pm and 7:00 pm. Four rounds will be played between 12 noon and 6:00 pm. This is the full schedule:

Round 1: 12:00 - 1:30

Round 2: 1:30 - 3:00

Round 3: 3:00 - 4:30

Round 4: 4:30 - 6:00

BREAK 6:00 - 7:00

Round 5: 7:00 - 8:30

Round 6: 8:30 - 10:00

Head-to-Head Final: 10:00

The schedule may be changed slightly if rounds end early (it happened last year). If you need to leave for any reason, speak to your group or see a tournament coordinator.

"B Division" and the Wipe

After 3 rounds, the field will be divided into halves. Players with a winning record (5-4 or better) will continue to play in A Division for the top prizes.

Players with a losing record (4-5 or worse) will be placed in B Division to compete for its prizes. And, these players will have their losing records erased! B Division play starts back at 0-0, with randomly-assigned groups.

The B Division tournament will last 3 rounds, for a total of 9 matches.

Final-Round Play

The top four record holders in each division will advance to head-to-head play. In case of a tie for fourth, a one-game playoff will be held on a game randomly chosen from a list of fast-playing games. In case of a tie for first, second, or third, head-to-head record is the tiebreaker, followed by combined strength of opponents, followed by rock-paper-scissors.

The semifinals will see #1 vs #4 and #2 vs #3, in a best-2-of-3 format. Games will be selected randomly from the entire list of available tournament machines. Winners advance to a final round with the same format.

In the first game of the finals, the higher-qualifying player has choice of play order. In subsequent games, the loser of the previous game has choice of play order.

More Rules

Staff reserves the right to eliminate a game from play at any time, especially if a game is a "long player" that is holding up the progress of the tournament. Eliminated or broken-down games are unlikely to be repaired during the tournament, due to the total number of games available for play.

A player giving a tilt warning or tilting another player's ball, or slam tilting a game in progress, loses that game immediately. Players may not interfere with another player's ball.

There is no "coaching" allowed while a player's ball is in progress. If you wish to share strategy advice with a player, do so before the game begins or while their opponent is at the machine.

Failure to maintain a family-friendly attitude (including, but not limited to, swearing, taunting, kicking, biting, or stealing T-shirts) will probably result in disqualification, forfeiture of any and all T-shirts, and explusion from the event.

Staff reserves the right to make whatever decision seems appropriate should something happen that is not specifically covered by these rules. In any case, the decision of the tournament directors is final.

Stuck Balls and Malfunctions

If the ball gets stuck, stop playing and ask for a staff member to assist you. If a ball becomes stuck during multiball (a potential advantage), stop and ask for assistance immediately.

Players may not take advantage of "positive" malfunctions such as a repeatedly registering switch or one-ball multiball. If this occurs, a ruling will determine what should happen next: if possible, a reduction in score to offset the effect of the malfunction. If it is not possible to determine the appropriate score of the game, the game will be restarted regardless of situation.

If a malfunction occurs during gameplay, stop immediately and ask for a staff member to assist you. In cases where the game can be fixed but requires a reset, scores in progress will be recorded, then the game will continue where it left off. We realize this is an imperfect solution for games with bonus carryover features, but it is the best available solution in the time frame. In cases where the game cannot be fixed quickly, the game will be restarted on another machine.

While there is no specific definition of "malfunction", there are several physical aspects of pinball which are not considered malfunctions -- a ball falling out of a hole or getting rejected from a ramp, or flying over a flipper, or rolling off a habitrail into an outlane, or a ball saver not kicking in when it "seemed" like it should. None of these things will be "fixed".

Good luck and have fun!

-- JimHeck - 15 Mar 2008