Pinball Tournament Rules

2021 Level 1 Arcade Bar Pinball Tournaments

• Weekly Thursday events for the year with monthly (4 weeks) payout and quartlery (12 weeks) bonus awards.  We start at 6:30pm - you must be checked in by the time the tournament begins. 
• Format: 4 rounds of 4-player match play.
• Results will be reported to the IFPA every 4 weeks.
• IFPA requires a participation fee for every submission of $1 per player.
• Fees
  • $5 entry fee covers your participation that event - no refunds.
  • $4 goes to tournament pot.
  • $1 goes toward monthly pot.
  • Coin drop included in entry fee

Etiquette/Rules

• Tournament Officials will make all rulings during tournaments: 
• Head Tournament Director: Scott Goldsmith
• Tournament Director: Olivia Helm
• Tournament Director: Kayden Helm
• IFPA/PAPA rules are the basis for rulings in the Level 1 Arcade Bar Pinball Tournaments.  The tournament director reserves the right to make final rulings that may differ from the IFPA/PAPA ruleset when appropriate for the location and event.  Every attempt will be made to rule consistently in similar situations.  Known exceptions to IFPA/PAPA rules are at the bottom of this document.  
• A ruling must be made when the situation occurs.  This may mean your group will need to wait for the tournament director to be available.  Do not play on and ask for a ruling after the fact.  Do not make your own rulings on a game - find a tournament director.  Players are not authorized to award compensation balls or disqualify players other players or themselves. 
• When a round is posted, go to your assigned machine and gather with your group. Player one starts the appropriate number of players for the game.  
• At the end of the game, the last player should stand at the game with a hand up to indicate to scorekeepers that the game is ready to be scored. At least 2 players should remain near the game to verify results are entered correctly. In the event that all but one player has left the game, the entered result verified by the one remaining player will stand unless there is proof of a discrepancy.
• Scorekeepers will be your fellow players. Please do not interrupt any scorekeepers who are mid-game.  Wait patiently for someone to come help you.  
• It is the group’s responsibility to start the correct number of players on your assigned machine and to report the results with the help of a scorekeeper.
• Matchplay.events will be used to run the tournament
  • The software will determine the groups for each round with an emphasis on pairing you with different players throughout the season.
  • The software will assign player order and machine with an emphasis on finding a machine that has been played the least by the members of the group on that day.
  • The software will assign points to your performance each week which will determine 4-week series and 12-week standings.
    • 100 points to first place, 97 to second, 95 to third, then 94, 93, 92, etc. down the line.  Weekly ties will share the average points for the players in the tie.
    • Your points will add up each week.

• Ties for prizes every 4 weeks will be broken by actual league performance.
  • For the 4-week series submitted to IFPA, the tie will be broken by the players’ best 2 weeks first, then best 1 week.  If a tie still remains after this time, then the 4th week of the series will break the tie, followed by the 3rd week, etc.  This tie-breaking method will only apply to prizes and will not affect the IFPA submission except in the case of a tie for 1st place. Ties may not be submitted for 1st. In the case of a tie for 1st, the tie-breaking will stand.  In the case of a tie for 1st all the way through the tie-breaking steps, a one game playoff will occur.  The breaking of ties for 4-week prizes will have no impact on a player’s season standing.
• Ties for finals divisions will be broken similarly to series ties.  Players best 9 weeks are considered for trophy divisions.  If a significant tie exists, the players best 8 weeks will be considered followed by their best 7, etc.  Trophies will be awarded to the top players in trophy divisions based upon the finals week tournament only.  A consolation prize will be given to the winner of the consolation finals. Ties for trophy placement at the conclusion of finals will be broken with a 1 game playoff.  
• Extra balls: We will not play extra balls due to time constraints.  Extra balls may be off on some machines.  You must pay attention and ensure you know if you have received an extra ball or if it is the next player’s turn.  A game that has extra balls off may play an animation for the extra ball but award points instead of awarding an extra ball.  If you have earned an extra ball, you may flip the flippers to set up a skill shot and then must remove your hands from the flippers before plunging the ball and do not touch the machine again after plunging.   
• Playing out of turn (including playing another player’s extra ball) will result in the player who made the error by playing out of turn taking last in that round.  It is the individual and the group’s responsibility to keep track and play at the correct time. 
• As this is a public location, we will respect the right of the community to play the machines and recognize there may be a wait from time to time to begin a match on an assigned machine. If the customer ahead of you has multiple credits and will be on the machine a long while, find the tournament director who will assign your group to a different machine.  
• If your group finishes first and you are waiting on other groups, you may socialize, order food, drinks or play machines not actively being used in the tournament.  You must abandon any game you are playing when a new round begins.  You can watch the match assignments on the website and you must be prepared to return to join your assigned group within 5 minutes of matches being assigned or the tournament director may choose to have the group start without you added to the game and you will take last for the round.  Get to know your fellow players and make sure someone can call or text you if you are not in the tournament area when the new round begins.  
• The restroom is located near the back of the arcade.  If you eat something greasy/sticky, please wash your hands before resuming play.
• Nudging the machine is part of pinball.  Abusing the game through hitting, kicking, or shaking excessively is not allowed.  A player will receive a warning for excessive behavior.  If it occurs a second time the player will be disqualified from that day’s tournament.  If your nudge causes a tilt-through causing the loss of the next player(s) ball, you will take last in that round.
• This tournament prioritizes the experience of a welcoming community.  Excessive outbursts will receive a warning and may be disqualified from the tournament if the behavior continues.  Repeated offenses may result in expulsion from the tournament. 
• Never place a drink or food on the glass.  There is a drink table next to every machine.
• The tournament director reserves the right to make a “runaway game ruling” for the sake of time and may ask a player who has a significant lead to stop playing the game in progress.  In the event this occurs, the player who is asked to stop will receive a guaranteed “win” of 7 points for the game.  Any player reaching the runaway player’s score as confirmed by the TD at the time of the ruling will also receive a 7 for the game - these points will be added in the adjustments in matchplay and will not be reflected in the placement entered in to matchplay.  The runaway player will be listed 1st for the game with any subsequent players achieving their score being listed 2nd, 3rd, 4th as they occur.  
• Banned moves such as death saves are not allowed in competitive pinball.  Visit this site and scroll down to Player Conduct for more information.  http://papa.org/learning-center/players-guide/?target=competition-rules 
• Give your fellow players an appropriate amount of space while they are playing. There are TV’s above each machine that display the current game playfield for watching.
• If a ball becomes stuck, the player should gently try to free it before asking for the tournament director’s assistance.  No other players should try to free the ball.  If the machine has a ball search functionality, allow it to go through 2 ball searches before calling the tournament director.  After 2 ball searches, hold up one flipper while waiting for the TD to prevent the machine from ending your ball from too many ball searches.  Please note that per IFPA/PAPA rules, you may not play multiball with a ball stuck (see exception below).  Trap up as soon as you can and ask for TD assistance to free the stuck ball.  
• If you need a tournament director and he/she is actively playing in a match, please wait patiently for the conclusion of their turn.  

This rules/etiquette sheet and additional information available at https://www.level1arcade.bar/pinball-tournament-rules

IFPAPA Rules Exceptions

• Extra balls are generally “on”.  Most games will award an extra ball that you must plunge per the rules above.  This rule is for the sake of time - the tournament would run too late if we played extra balls.  The exception is Beatles - we have extra balls off on that game due to an auto-plunge malfunction.  
• We will not add a 4th ball to a game for a compensation ball.  Compensation balls will always be on a new game. 
• Players are not allowed to play in multiball mode with a stuck ball under IFPAPA rules.  This league will allow you to continue to play your multiball as long as you have multiple balls actively in play.  If you have a single ball in play and one stuck, you must trap up and call for a tournament director to free the stuck ball. 
• Some games will kill the flippers when opened.  In the case of a stuck ball during multiball on a game that kills the flippers and does not have coin door ball saver, no compensation is given for loss of multiball if the machine must be opened.  Player cannot continue playing multiball with a stuck ball.