"The Open Division Tournament is IFPA sanctioned and participants will be awarded World Pinball Ranking Points. Game list is tentative and subject to change in the event issues with specific games arise	Battle at the Beach Pinball Tournament at Playland-Not-at-the-Beach February 6, 2010 Pinball Divisions and Pinball Machines include: Kids Division & Novice Division Games Pinball Magic Monster Bash Hokus Pokus Circus Open Division Games White Water Pinball Magic Creature from the Black Lagoon Haunted House San Francisco Circus

Playland-Not-at-the-Beach Pinball Tournament Information

Tournament Rules - The Short version:

Novice and Kids Tournaments:

You play each game and you get points based on how you rank against other players, with bonus points awarded to the top players on each game. The players with the top three total points win prizes! Winners, if not present, will be contacted via email.

Novice and Kids Division Competitors can enter the tournament at any time between 11 AM and 4 PM on February 6th.

Open Tournament:

 The Open tournament is for serious amateur and professional pinball players.

You play each game in a Qualifier round. Your scores are recorded and you get points based on how you rank against other players, with bonus points awarded to top players of each game. The top eight players with the most points go on to play in a head-to-head single elimination tournament. The top three players win cash prizes.

Open Division Competitors are advised to arrive early at 10 AM to take full advantage of the one-hour warm-up. (Entrants after 11AM get a 60 second warm-up per game). Last Open Division entry at 1 PM!

"The Open Division Tournament is IFPA sanctioned and participants will be awarded World Pinball Ranking Points.

Open Division Schedule:

10 AM - 11AM: Open Division Registration and Warm-Up

11AM - 3PM: Open Division Qualifier

3PM: Single-Elimination Finals

Tournament Rules - The Long version:

Kids Division:

Eligibility: Entrants may be up to 14years old.

Each entrant plays 4 designated machines twice and the highest score determines the player's rank for a particular machine.

Points are awarded to the player based on their score rank for each machine and correspond to the number of players in the tournament.

1. For example, if 15 players enter the tournament and Player A has the highest score of all players, s/he shall receive 15 points for that game (plus Bonus points – see next). If Player A had come in fifth place, s/he would receive 11 points. If player A comes in 15th place, s/he would receive 1 point.
2. Bonus Points are awarded to the top three scorers on each individual machine as follows: 1 st Place: 15% x total number of players, 2 nd Place: 10% x total number of players, 3 rd place: 5% x total number of players.

• For example, if 15 players enter the tournament and Player A has the highest score of all players, s/he shall receive 15 points for that game, plus 2.25 Bonus Points (0.15 x 15 = 2.25).

 

1. The winner of the tournament is decided by whoever has the highest cumulative point total across the four machines. For example, if Player A scores 10 points on Game 1, 5 points on Game 2, 8 points on Game 3, and 15 points on Game 4, his/her point total would be 38. If this is the highest total score of all players, Player A would be declared the winner of the Tournament.

 

Novice Division:

 

1. Eligibility
1. Entrants may be any age.
2. Entrants may not have a World Pinball Ranking of 500 or better, and/or have ever competed in a major tournament playoff or final in a division other than Novice (PAPA C division, for example). Where the player's credentials are "borderline", the tournament judge will consider the player's credentials and render a decision as to whether or not the player may compete in the Novice Division.
3. Novice Division competitors who wish to also enter the Open Division may request to do so and will be allowed, schedule permitting.

 

1. Each entrant plays 6 designated machines twice and the highest score determines the player's rank for a particular machine. Points are awarded to the player based on their score rank for each machine and correspond to the number of players in the tournament.
1. For example, if 15 players enter the tournament and Player A has the highest score of all players, s/he shall receive 15 points for that game (plus Bonus points – see next). If Player A had come in fifth place, s/he would receive 11 points. If player A comes in 15th place, s/he would receive 1 point.
2. Bonus Points are awarded to the top three scorers on each individual machine as follows: 1 st Place: 15% x total number of players, 2 nd Place: 10% x total number of players, 3 rd place: 5% x total number of players.

• For example, if 15 players enter the tournament and Player A has the highest score of all players, s/he shall receive 15 points for that game, plus 2.25 Bonus Points (0.15 x 15 = 2.25).

 

1. The winner of the tournament is decided by whoever has the highest cumulative point total across the six machines. For example, if Player A scores 10 points on Game 1, 5 points on Game 2, 8 points on Game 3, and 15 points on Game 4, 7 points on Game 5 and 1 point on Game 6, his/her point total would be 46. If this is the highest total score of all players, Player A would be declared the winner of the Tournament.

 

 

Open Division:

 

Eligibility:

 

1. Entrants must be at least 18 years old.

 

Warm-ups Format:

 

1. The registration and warm-up period is officially from 10AM - 11AM. Players may play one ball on each machine, after which they must yield the game to the next waiting player and move to another machine. After playing a different machine, they may return to the first machine to play second, third, etc. warm-up. Players may not play extra balls they earn during their one-ball warm-up play. Players may not "stall" on a game (i.e. capture a ball and intentionally hold it to prevent other players from warming up on the machine).

 

a) If necessary, each player will be issued a token with their name on it and will place it on the left side of the machine to denote their place in line during warm-ups.

 

b) If demand for warm-up plays is especially high, a 60-second timer shall be used instead, whereby each player is allowed to play for 60 seconds, after which they must immediately discontinue play and move to the next machine. Players will "cycle" through the machines in this manner until all machines are played. After a player has completed his/her warm-up round, if the player desires, s/he may go to the back of the warm-up line and wait for another warm-up round opportunity (time allowing)

 

c) Regardless of prevailing warm-up format, at 11 AM the warm-up format shall revert to 60 seconds per game (as defined in b, above). If a player was not able to play a particular game during warm-up, they will then be allowed to play for 60 seconds.

 

2. If a player enters the tournament after 11AM (i.e. after the warm-up round is concluded), s/he may play each game for 60 seconds prior to playing his/her official qualifying entry.

 

Qualifier Format:

 

1. Each entrant plays 6 designated machines once and the highest score determines the player's rank for a particular machine. If the number of players happens to be especially high, the number of machines may be reduced to five or four.
2. Points are awarded to the player based on their score rank for each machine and correspond to the number of players in the tournament.
1. For example, if 15 players enter the tournament and Player A has the highest score of all players, s/he shall receive 15 points for that game (plus Bonus points – see next). If Player A had come in fifth place, s/he would receive 11 points. If player A comes in 15th place, s/he would receive 1 point.
2. Bonus Points are awarded to the top three scorers on each individual machine as follows: 1 st Place: 15% x total number of players, 2 nd Place: 10% x total number of players, 3 rd place: 5% x total number of players.

• For example, if 15 players enter the tournament and Player A has the highest score of all players, s/he shall receive 15 points for that game, plus 2.25 Bonus Points (0.15 x 15 = 2.25).

1. The Player’s qualifying score is the sum of the player’s points across all the machines.
1. For example , if Player A scores 10 points on Game 1, 5 points on Game 2, 8 points on Game 3, and 15 points on Game 4, 7 points on Game 5 and 1 point on Game 6, his/her point total would be 46. If this is the highest total score of all players, Player A would advance to the Finals as the top seed.
2. If Player B's score was the third highest, Player B would advance to the Finals as third seed.
3. If Player C's score was the 9th highest, Player C would not advance to the Finals, but would be the first alternate. Should a player in the top eight be unable to play, Player C would then play instead.
4. In the event of ties, the competitors affected shall play a randomly selected game once.
5. Example: both Player A and Player B completed the qualifying round with 30 points each which happens to be the 8 th qualifying position. They are assigned a random game to play and the winner of that game win the 8 th qualifying position, while the loser finishes 9 th overall, and becomes the first alternate if one of the other players cannot play in the final for any reason.

 

Finals Format:

 

1. The top eight players qualify for the Final round of play, which is a Single Elimination Tournament.
2. The Finals format is a match play single elimination style. The winner of a match is determined in a best of three games match. The winner advances to the next round of play and the loser is eliminated from the tournament.

 

1. The brackets are seeded by qualifier score in the standard format. 1st plays 8th, 2nd plays 7th, 3rd plays 6th, and 4th plays 5th.

 

 

1. Each match consists of up to three games, with the winner winning two out of the three games.

 

1. Match Game selection is as follows : 1) The first game is selected at random by the tournament judge and will be chosen among the solid state machines with Dot Matrix Displays. 2) The second game is selected by the loser of the first game. 3) The third game (if the match is tied) is selected by the loser of the 2nd game.

 

1. Games that were not available during the Qualifier round may be selected. Each player may have a one minute warm-up prior to beginning play.

 

1. The losers of the semi-final round of Finals play will play against each other (run-off) to determine third place.

 

General Rules:

 

Prizes:

 

Kids Division: Prizes shall be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, and consist of free passes to Playland, a trophy plaque and other prizes as available.

 

Novice Division: Prizes shall be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, and consist of free passes to Playland a trophy plaque and other prizes as available.

 

Open Division: Prizes shall be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, and consist of cash prizes, free passes to Playland, a trophy plaque and other prizes as available.

 

Cash prizes are awarded as follows: 1st Place - 70% of prize money, 2nd Place - 30% of prize money, 3rd Place - 10% of prize money.

 

Total Prize Money is determined as follows: Each Open Division tournament competitor shall increase the pool by $10. Therefore, if 30 competitors enter the Open tournament, the total prize money shall be $300.

 

Etiquette:

 

1. No foul language. Playland Not at the Beach is a family environment with many young children present. First incident of foul language voids remainder of game, or, if the incident occurs at, or near the conclusion of a game, voids the next game. Second violation results in disqualification. Depending on the severity of an incident, the tournament judges may, at their discretion, disqualify a player on a first violation.

 

2. Cheating. The decision as to what constitutes cheating is ultimately determined by the tournament judges, but may include restarting a game when no one is looking, resetting a game to give the appearance of software/hardware malfunction, exploiting a known software bug in the game, or utilizing a bang back or death save technique. Depending on the severity of the cheat, the penalty may be the voiding of the next ball in play, void of game or disqualification from the tournament.

 

3. Abuse of machines or facility. Bang backs, death saves and similar techniques are not allowed. Bumping, nudging and sliding the games are allowed, however, if any of these activities is severe enough to present a risk or damage to the game, other players or the facilities, penalty (loss of game) or disqualification (repeated abuses) may occur. For example, sliding a machine violently enough to cause it to crash into an adjacent game or wall, or sliding a machine violently enough to disrupt play on an adjacent machine.

 

4. Players are expected to generally behave with good sportsmanship. Any player who excessively complains about tournament conditions, harasses or distracts judges or other players, etc. may be disqualified and asked to leave.

 

Schedules:

 

Novice and Kids Divisions competitors may enter and play their games at any time during Playland's normal hours, up to one hour before closing (typically 4 PM).

 

Open Division competitors must enter the Open tournament no later than 1 PM on February 6th 2010.

 

10 AM - 11AM: Open Division Registration and Warm-Up

11AM - 3PM: Open Division Qualifier

3PM: Single-Elimination Finals, Prizes awarded immediately afterwards.

 

Significant effort has been made to select formats and games to ensure the Tournament runs according to schedule, however, the nature of pinball is such that games can continue for an indefinite period, mechanical failures can create delays, power outages can occur, etc. The tournament judges reserve the right to adjust rules and playing conditions as deemed necessary in light of scheduling challenges.

 

 

Machine Malfunctions and Failures:

 

The DEFINITIONS (but not necessarily the outcomes/rulings) of machine malfunctions/failures shall mirror those defined in the most recent PAPA (Professional Amateur Pinball Association) rules (see Section VII at http://www.papa.org/papa12/rules.php). Please note that the specific outcomes in Section VII, Point 8 will not apply.

 

In the event of a Major or Catastrophic failure:

 

1. In the event of a machine failure during the Kids, Novice and Open Qualifier which cannot be repaired in a timely manner, the remainder of the tournament shall proceed on the working machines and the player's point average for the other machines shall be substituted for the non-working machine, rounded to the nearest whole point. Example: Player A scores 10 points on game 1, 5 points on Game 2 and 6 points on Game 3, 5 points on Game 4 and 10 points on Game 5. Then it is discovered that Game 6 has failed. The player's average score rounded to the nearest whole point (10 + 5 + 6 + 5 + 10 = 31, 31/5 = 6.2) of 6 is used for Game 4, giving the player a Final Score of 37.

 

1. In the event of a machine failure during the Open Division single-elimination portion of the tournament the round shall be replayed on a different machine. However, if the failure occurs near the end of a game and one player has an extremely decisive lead over another, the judge may, at his discretion call the game in favor of the leading player.

 

Beneficial Malfunctions, Player Errors and Stuck Balls:

 

1. Beneficial Malfunctions, Player Errors and Stuck Balls shall be defined and addressed in accordance with the most recent PAPA rules ( Section VII, points 6, 7 and 9 at http://www.papa.org/papa12/rules.php)

If you would like any clarification on rules please e-mail.