Yep. That’s what I would do. Just be clear and consistent with your rulings and you’ll be fine.
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Thanks for the feedback everyone.
I think I have one final thing for now. I’ve read through the rules and didn’t see anything so figured I would ask. Players that are currently not playing, yet notice a game malfunction or a stuck ball during multi-ball on any tournament machine, are they allow to notify the player and/or a tournament director or should they remain silent?
A grand example of this happened a couple of weeks ago where someone got multi-ball on Getaway. During multi-ball one of the balls got stuck under a wire rail unbeknownst to the player. I was simply watching the game and saw it jump behind the rail. Should I have said something out loud or not?
Tell the player or TD immediately. I think it’s the only instance where you can talk to the player while they are playing. Calls it out so they can try and trap up.
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Yes, players not in the game are allowed to alert the TD about anything. They should generally not alert the player in the middle of their ball – however, as Chuck said, stuck balls during multiball are a bit of an exception, because they require such immediate attention. Shouting something like “Hey, stuck ball” would totally be fine.
Good questions! Here’s one that happened last night: playing Wheel of Fortune, the center drain gives a “Big Money” spin, and one of the things on the wheel is Extra Ball. An Extra Ball spins up, and a ball is served to the plunger. However, no other “extra ball” fanfare occurs, and there was no bonus count down. This tournament has a “plunge extra balls” rule – so the question is basically whether this is an extra ball or a ball saver. (Under PAPA/IFPA rules this is definitely a “play on” because they do not have any rules restricting extra balls.)
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Wow, so much to learn and be aware of!
Good progress since last month 
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It’s still not rocket science my friend!
Chad and I were the ones in DE last night getting the machines set up when those two questions came about. If I’m summarizing correctly:
- NBA Fastbreak Championships give +100 points
In the event of a warning-through:
- Offending Player Gets a Warning
Player who has the warning can either:
- Play On
- If machine has add-a-ball capabilities, tilt out existing ball before plunging and give another ball to that player
- If machine does not have add-a-ball capabilities, tilt out existing ball before plunging and that players gets to play one extra ball starting from Ball 1 (with notable exceptions for games like BSD and certain games with final-ball extra scoring features).
Did I get that right?
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I treat the Big Money extra ball like a Free Spin. My logic is that since 10m is another possible award from Big Money (and likely even more valuable than EB), and it’s not like I’m going to deduct that 10m from the players score, then extra ball should be play on.
(However, this is probably also influenced by the fact that it doesn’t end your ball and count up bonus and give you another ball…it immediately serves it into the shooter lane as it does for Free Spins).
I’m re-reading through this and saw @bkerins’s note on the WOF situation.
I had assumed that all Extra Balls in the SCS should be turned off, not because it was a rule restriction but to keep pace-of-play reasonable. What are other states doing in that regard? We set up our machines as follows:
- Extra Balls Off
- Disabled Start Button Resetting Game (where possible)
- Two Tilt Warnings Before Tilt
- Tournament Mode On (where possible)
Essentially, the things on this list: http://pinholicsanonymous.com/Machine%20Settings%20Checklist.pdf
Anything else we’re missing that others are doing?
Most tournaments turn extra balls off, or have them plunged to keep the pace of play reasonable, but there are no rules requiring you to do so. The Big Money extra ball on WOF cannot be turned off, and the game treats it more like a ball save than an extra ball (ie: no bonus countup).
The only thing I’d add to your list is: turn off “lost ball recovery” or equivalent. So if there is a stuck ball, the game won’t give up on it and plunge a new one into play. Also it’s good to have the player hold the flipper button if a ball is being retrieved, even if they don’t have a ball on the flipper (so the game will think that they do).
Also if you can disable interlock switches that cut power to the flippers, that’s a good idea too. Then you can put a stuck ball on the flipper before closing the game back up.
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Ackchtually,
Tournament mode should make it always spin 100K.
And, yes, extra ball from that feature is treated as a ballsaver as most have noticed.
“Giving TDs headaches for over 10 years now!”
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6.02 FTW!
Not in the standard ROM.
I know you know this @Adam, but mentioning for the sake of others: this only supports Free Play, so it’s not feasible for a machine on location.
OK I don’t remember and haven’t paid any attention to what is or isn’t available. It should’ve been doing that since the IFPA 6.00 version certainly.
Yep. In the “final” version that came before IFPA 6.0, you could still see non 100k awards given in tourney mode (EB and 1 mil always stood out, lol), but with 6.0 and 6.02, it is always 100k.
All 6.X versions are Free Play only, correct?
Despite having WoF for quite some time now this was the first big money extra ball I’ve seen happen during a tournament. Sorry Bowen. I really wish there was finalized code for the damn thing even 6.02 has issues for tournament use.
What issues have you seen?
The much bigger issue with 5.0 and earlier code (any code that takes coins) is that trip MB jackpot values don’t reset until power is cycled on the machine. If you’re going to use it in a tournament or league on coin drop, cycle power before you start and cycle power frequently during the event.
And yes, both 6.X versions are free play only.
The exact bug with MB jackpot values exist in 6.02. It does standardize Trip MB to Puzzle 2 and derandomize other awards though. Still need to power cycle between games.
At least that is what I got with the Code notes. Haven’t used 6.02 for more than a few games as the machine is on location and has to take coins.