Overview and Rules for

2009 VRPA Tournaments and League:

 

 

Overview:

 

This Tournament Format will be used for all 8 Tournaments in 2009.

The basic idea behind it is to have players compete against others of similar skill to their own, while at the same time, creating a more accurate League scoring based on each and every game a person plays.  This will keep the League tighter, and should prove to be a far more fun and exciting Tournament each and every time.

It will also ‘handicap’ better players, while giving little advantages to less skilled players WITHOUT removing the true nature of any real pinball Tournament… you still must play better than another person to win!  If a person does well in a Tournament, they will play against better players next time… if they do poorly, they will play in a lower skill group.  Ultimately, this will accommodate all players of all skills, and yet challenge those players that are TRULY competitive as well!!

 

 

Tournament Start Times:

 

All Tournaments this year will be RSVP because of potential space limitations at some venues, however…

 

ALL PAYING VRPA MEMBERS SPECIFICALLY COMPETING IN THE LEAGUE WILL BE ALLOWED TO PLAY!

 

BUT: Please note that ALL players MUST be ready to play at the start time indicated in that Tournament’s Announcement Thread in the Forum Section of the VRPA Website.  Sign-up will start approximately 30 minutes before the scheduled start time to ensure we start as promptly as possible... having EXACT CHANGE would also be appreciated.

 

This format means that late-comers who did not sign up CAN NOT play in the Tournament.

BE ON TIME OR EARLY!!

 

** At very least, call someone who is at the Tournament to let them know that you are running late, but would like to play in the Tournament.  You can still be placed in a group, but once the Tournament has started, players in your group will PLUNGE YOUR BALL whenever it is your turn until you arrive.  In the case where it is your turn to choose a machine, they will skip over your choice and continue to play ahead.  Once you arrive you can start playing your turns, even mid-game.  At the conclusion of whatever game is being played upon your arrival, YOUR MACHINE CHOICE will be played next in the case it was skipped over in your absence. **

 

 

Tournament Groups:

 

Once all players have signed up for the evening’s competition, a list of all players will be made based on a player’s TRN (Tournament Ranking Number)

 

** TRN – is the average points a player has earned in the last 5 Tournaments they have played in.  Obviously, if a player has played LESS than 5 Tournaments it is the average points of all the Tournaments they have played in so far. **

 

Each available player will be put into groups of either 3 or 4 people.  This is solely based on the number of entrants.  Groups of 4 will ALWAYS be made if possible, but in the case of numbers indivisible by 4, the required 3-person groups will be made as to include all players in the Tournament.  As an example:

 

Let’s say that the names in RED on the list below are playing in the Tournament, and this list is in order of each player’s TRN:

 

ed.wood

Woz

cayle

The Bullit

silverball

Angelo

TMC

henri

Davegrant

DGPinball

Donarnold

Grant

pinzbud

quagmire

fanofpinball

Lyle

Bonz

dhardy

Aquapin

Eisner

Xtie

Berrisaj

Snow white

Smorgy

 

We have 18 players participating, which would equal 3 groups of 4 people and 2 groups of 3 people.

ANY groups of 3 are made out of the HIGHEST RANKED players first!!

This would mean the groups in this example would be:

 

Group 1 – ed.wood, Woz, The Bullit

Group 2 – Silverball, Angelo, TMC

Group 3 – Davegrant, DG Pinball, Donarnold, Grant

Group 4 – pinzbud, quagmire, fanofpinball, Bonz

Group 5 – Aquapin, Eisner, Berrisaj, Snow white

 

Note that players in BLACK in the example list are skipped over, and players compete in groups with players that are as close to their own rankings as possible.

 

ALSO:  For the first Tournament that any NEW person plays in for 2009, they will be RANKED according to their World Pinball Rankings at the time of that Tournament. If the player is unranked, they will start at the bottom of the list.

 

Tournament Score Sheets:

 

Each group will be given a score sheet with each participating player color-coded.

Fill each player’s names in the appropriate spaces, and choose someone within the group to be the scorekeeper.

 

It is IMPORTANT to choose someone in the group with LEGIBLE PRINTING to be your scorekeeper to prevent as many scoring and clerical errors as possible!!

 

 

Choosing Machines for the Tournament:

 

Each player in the group will take turns picking a machine to play on.  The LOWEST RANKED player in the group will choose the first game to play on AND BE LAST PLAYER!!  If you follow the color coding on the Score Sheet, the person who is LAST PLAYER of any game is the one who picks the machine.

No machine may be picked more than ONCE in any Round of play, BUT if there are LESS THAN 5 machines available for play in that Tournament, each game MUST be played AT LEAST ONCE instead… For example:  If the machines are A, B, C, and D, and the first machine chosen is B, then the 2nd machine chosen is B AGAIN, the remaining players MUST choose between A, C, and D since each machine must be played at least once.

 

 

Scoring Each Game in the QUALIFICATION ROUND:

 

Each group will play 4-player games on the machines chosen in the order indicated by the color-coding on the Score Sheets.

When a game is done, the scores of each player will be recorded accurately, and points will be awarded based on how the scores attained RANK against each other:

 

1st place = 7 pts.

2nd place = 5 pts.

3rd place = 3 pts.

4th place = 1 pt.

 

For groups with 3 PLAYERS, the points awarded based on RANK are:

 

1st place = 7 pts.

2nd place = 4 pts.

3rd place = 1 pt.

 

These scores are then transferred to the appropriate score boxes at the top of the Score Sheet.

Once all 5 games have been played, add up all the players’ scores to find out the total points earned for the QUALIFICATION ROUND.

The most points a player can get is 35 points, and the least is 5 points.

 

The TOP 8 players with the highest points in the QUALIFICATION ROUND will move on to the Tournament Semi – Finals.

 

In any Tournament with more than 30 players, the TOP 12 players with highest points will move on to the Tournament Semi – Finals.

 

*** Any Tiebreakers will be played on a machine chosen by the LOWEST RANKED player of the Tiebreaker group ***

 

The player with the LOWEST TRN at the start of the Tournament will have 1st choice of machine or position, then the next lowest ranked player will choose position (or the machine if the previous player did not pick it) and so on until all positions for the Tiebreaker are filled.

No points are awarded during Tiebreakers.

 

 

Scoring Each Game the SEMI-FINAL ROUND:

 

The Semi-Finals are made up of 2 groups of 4 players. (** 3 groups of 4 players if there are 30+ players in the Tourney **)

The top 8 (or 12 where required) players that advanced from the QUALIFICATION ROUND will be ranked in the SAME ORDER AS THEY STARTED THE TOURNAMENT.

The groups would be:

 

Group 1 – 1, 2, 3, 4

Group 2 – 5, 6, 7, 8

** Group 3 – 9, 10, 11, 12 (** When 30+ players present)

 

These numbers above are the relative ranks of the players that have moved on to this round form the QUALIFICATION ROUND.

 

Machines will be picked again in the same way as the QUALIFICATION ROUND, with NO MACHINE REPEATED.

When the game is done on each machine, scores will be recorded accurately.

Points will be awarded based on RANK as follows:

 

1st = 4 pts.

2nd = 2 pts.

3rd = 1 pt.

4th = 0 pts.

 

The most points a player can get in this round is 12, and the least is 0.

The TOP 4 players with the highest points of the SEMI-FINAL ROUND will advance to the FINAL ROUND.

 

*** Any Tiebreakers will be played on a machine chosen by the LOWEST RANKED player of the Tiebreaker group ***

 

The player with the LOWEST TRN at the start of the Tournament will have 1st choice of machine or position, then the next lowest ranked player will choose position (or the machine if the previous player did not pick it) and so on until all positions for the Tiebreaker are filled.

No points are awarded during Tiebreakers.

 

 

Scoring Each Game the FINAL ROUND:

 

The FINAL ROUND is played EXACTLY like the SEMI-FINAL ROUND.

The 4 remaining players are put into a group in the SAME ORDER AS THEY STARTED THE TOURNAMENT.

Points are awarded the same as they were in the previous round.

 

*** Any Tiebreakers will be played on a machine chosen by the LOWEST RANKED player of the Tiebreaker group ***

 

The player with the LOWEST TRN at the start of the Tournament will have 1st choice of machine or position, then the next lowest ranked player will choose position (or the machine if the previous player did not pick it) and so on until all positions for the Tiebreaker are filled.

No points are awarded during Tiebreakers.

 

 

The person with the highest point total after this round is the

 

Tournament Champion!

 

 

Prizes:

 

The TOP 3 finishers in the FINAL ROUND will share the prize pool:

 

1st place = 50 %

2nd place = 30 %

3rd place = 20 %

 

 

League Points:

 

The points that any VRPA Member earns through all 3 Rounds of the Tournament will be added to their League Total.

The points are added as:

 

Qualification Points + Semi-Final Points + Final Points + BONUS Points

 

BONUS Points are awarded to the TOP 3 finishers as follows:

1st place = 20 pts.

2nd place = 10 pts.

3rd place = 5 pts.

 

 

Guests that participate in a Tournament will NOT get to participate in the VRPA League.

However, their points will be kept ‘phantom’ to rank them appropriately in any future Tournaments in which they participate.

 

 

 

League Finals:

 

In December, the TOP 8 PLAYERS IN THE LEAGUE will get together for a final event, and participate in a LEAGUE FINAL!!

 

Any player in the top 8 who CAN NOT attend this Final event will be replaced with the NEXT HIGHEST player in the League Standings.

A player’s ranking in the League will be their seeding for the event.  If a top 8 player is absent for the event, all players ranked below the absent player will move up one position and be seeded appropriately.

 

As an example, if the #6 player in the League is absent from the event, the #7 player would move up to take their spot, the #8 player would take over #7’s old spot, and the #9 player would now be into the #8 spot. This ensures that 8 people WILL participate in this Final event.

 

In the event of a tie within the Top 8 spots for the League Finals, a tie-breaking system is used to determine each player's seeding.

Higher seed is determined by:

 

1)    Most Tournament Victories in 2009.  If equal, then...

2)    Most points in one single Tournament. If equal, then...

3)    2nd Most points in one single Tournament (3rd most, 4th most, etc)

 

If at that point the players are in a TRUE TIE, a single play-off game will occur, with choice of game or position determined by coin flip.

 

In the case that there are players tied to fill the 8th and final spot, a single playoff game will be the tiebreaker. This is regardless of how many players are tied for spots, whether 2 or 20.  Although the players are tied for points, the tie-breaking system above is used to determine which person may have choice of game or position for the tie-breaker

 

There will be at least 9 machines available for play in the Finals.  At minimum, 3 games will be EM’s, 3 will be ‘SS’, and 3 will be DMD.

 

The first match of the day will be between the #8 and #7 seed.  This is a best-of-3 head to head match.  The higher seeded player gets 1st choice of machine OR position.  After the first game, the LOSER gets choice of machine or position.

 

The winner of this match would go on to play the #6 seed in another best-of-3 match.  This continues up to and including the match vs. the #4 seed...

 

The match vs. the #3 seed, and the following match against the #2 seed are both BEST-OF-5 matches.

 

The final match against the #1 seed is a BEST-OF-7 head to head for the League Championship!!

 

 

***NOTE: In each match, ALL ERAS of games must be played!! ***

 

 

This of course would mean that in a best-of-3, no era can be repeated since it COULD end after just 2 games.

 

This also means though, that in a best-of-5 or best-of-7, one could strategically choose the same era twice, forcing their opponent to chose from a particular era on their next pick!!

 

Example:  Let’s say this is a best-of-5 match, and the score is 1 to 1.  An EM and a DMD have been picked so far.  Since the player KNOWS there will be at least 2 more games played in the match, they could pick EM again, and then the next game MUST be SS since the score will be 2-1 and this COULD be the last game.  The criteria must be met to play all 3 eras in a match whenever it can possibly be done.

 

 

Once all 7 matches have been played, we will have our 2009 VRPA:

 

LEAGUE CHAMPION!!!

 

 

The TOP 4 finishers in the League Finals will split the League Prize Pool based on their final placing.  Prize pool is split:

 

1st place – 50 %

2nd place – 25 %

3rd place – 15 %

4th place – 10 %

 

 

What are the advantages and handicaps given to various players? :

 

There are SEVERAL little edges given to lesser skilled players in EACH group, as well as the fact that this system limits the possibility of ALL the top players in the VRPA from constantly playing in the FINAL ROUND.

 

1)    This system is set up to allow AT LEAST 1 or possibly 2 people from EACH GROUP to move on to the SEMI FINALS…

As well, AT LEAST 1 or possibly 2 people from each SEMI-FINAL group will go on to the FINAL ROUND.

POSITIVE: Players who do well for their SKILL GROUP will advance.

NEGATIVE: Some of the BEST overall players WILL BE ELIMINATED.

 

2)    When it comes to machine choice, the LOWEST RANKED player in each group has the advantages…

POSITIVE: Lowest ranked players pick 2 MACHINES in the round.

NEGATIVE: Highest ranked players will be Player 1 TWICE.

 

3)    In Semi-Final and Final Rounds, things get even tougher on top players…

POSITIVE: Lowest ranked players are NEVER PLAYER 1.

NEGATIVE: Highest ranked players NEVER PICK A MACHINE.

 

4)    In Tiebreakers, the LOWER RANKED player has the edge…

POSITIVE: Lowest ranked players choose machine OR position.

NEGATIVE: Highest ranked players will always get last choice.

 

5)    In groups of 3, if a player got straight ‘2nd place’ finishes, the 20 points they receive would likely NOT BE ENOUGH to advance to the Semi-Finals.

This can be a VERY difficult obstacle to overcome.

POSITIVE: Lowest ranked players are NEVER groups of 3.

NEGATIVE: Highest ranked players will ALWAYS be groups of 3 whenever groups of 3 are necessary.

 

 

On their own, they may seem like small advantages and disadvantages, but when you add up the Positives, the edge goes to the lesser skilled players, add to that the Negatives, and that’s 5 things AGAINST the better players in the VRPA!

 

This is how the better players get handicapped.  The higher your rank, the fewer opportunities you will have to choose machines or play last, plus points MAY be a greater struggle on occasions, but ONLY in terms of advancing to the Semi-Finals.

 

 

Should you have any questions about this document or you are in need of clarification of a rule, feel free to send me a PM in the Forum or ask me directly any time (except when I’m in the middle of a Tournament game!!!)

 

Your VRPA Tournament Director,

 

-Eden Stamm