Hey folks, I just wanted to jump in with a quick moment of thanks for y’all. I work at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and I appreciate how seriously everyone is taking COVID-19 pandemic around these parts. I haven’t been around much, but what I’ve seen has been really good, and I think the indefinite suspension of WPPRs is a great call.
I know these decisions have not been easy on either the IFPA or the local organizer front. I appreciate all the folks that have wrestled with the decisions around holding and canceling events. I’m guessing most of us don’t have a whole lot of training in epidemiology or infectious diseases, and even those of us that might have some training in those things also struggled mightily. No one wants to put anyone in danger, no one wants to cry wolf, and social pressure I’m sure varied based on the community. Whatever you decided, it was not an easy call.
My two cents on the SCS is if we are not holding events for the rest of the year, I do really like the idea of Open Finals, and I also think we should hold the SCS whenever we get back to organizing & such. I’m really glad folks are thinking ahead. We’ll be back, and pinball will be back. It’s good to know people are on it, and I can’t wait to be a part of whatever is next.
Keep listening to Dr. Fauci, keep being safe, and keep being kind to one another.
Standard disclaimer because I mentioned my jerb: I speak for myself and myself only, and not in any official capacity. Don’t get it twisted.
Say max X players per sessions top finishers players move on to the finals?
SCS sub open the year is broken into smaller chucks with sessions to see who moves on to the finals (can only be in 1 session) (best seed) (some kind of wild cards to fill slots if needed)
@pinwizj should we be doing anything in tournament manager with our in progress postponed leagues?
I know you asked people to delete events when the first postponement of WPPR sponsorship happened, but for our leagues that started in Jan, I was just waiting. Now that we are approaching my scheduled end dates, I wasn’t sure if I should update the end date to Dec 31, 2020, or cancel the entry, or just let the end date come and assume we fix it when we know more.
In addition to enforcing social distancing during play, events have the choice of one (or more) of the following means of infection suppression:
Across options 1-3: all persons present at the event shall wear masks at all times.
All players must wear closed-tip gloves at all times. Players should wash or dispose of and replace gloves at the conclusion of playing a session or when taking a rest room break, whichever comes first. Players may disinfect or request that a tournament director disinfect any machine prior to play.
Machines will be modified to be played using foot pedals to control the flippers. No hand/arm nudging will be permitted. Games will be started by gently kneeing the start button. All games will also be converted to auto-launch plungers, however such modification may allow for gradation of autoplunger force, e.g. by varying the amount of force on the right foot pedal prior to triggering the autoplunger.
Use of single-run qualifying and single-player-game playoffs. Qualifying machines shall be placed into one or more banks, aligned as far apart as is practical, where a player’s qualification run consists of playing all games in one bank in sequence from left to right.
Not all games in the bank need count, e.g. a bank could have 6 games and only a players best 4 results count. Players will play all games in the bank of their choice. Once a player has advanced to a game at least 8 feet to the side of the first game, the next player may commence play on that machine. At no time, however, may a player advance to the next game in line if the player ahead of them is not at a machine at least 8 feet away. Tournament staff shall disinfect each game prior to the next player starting. Events may allow players to may play more than one qualifying run if time permits. Playoffs shall proceed in similar fashion.
All players shall compete via remote proxy. A single “host” player will play all games on any one machine. Games need not, and probably shall not all be in the same physical location. There may be multiple proxy hosts at one location, each on a different game at that location, subject to social distancing. Competitors shall signal the proxy player for each game they choose to play via means of their choosing when they want the proxy player to plunge, flip, nudge, etc. Player identities will not be revealed to the proxy players to avoid favoritism.
Well, as for trivia, here’s some. There actually was a tournament where one machine was rigged for foot pad flipping. The Wild West Pinball Fest in 1997 had a Pinball Rodeo event with special machine mods and or rules. One machine used was a Police Force, rewired to foot pad flippers. I remember it well, it cut way down on the center ramp all day success rate.
Papa had a side tourney one year with a WCS on the floor (no legs) and the flippers connected to two soccer balls you had to kick to move the flippers. Talk about ahead of the times.
Hearing PPE (personal protection equipment) on the news so much lately makes me think of the Pacific Pinball Expos every time. Hate when acronyms with good memories get hijacked by bad shiat.
If we were to postpone, I can say we will still hold the satellite winners spots.
The IFPA being shut down would not have any impact on us running Pinburgh/FX. However it probably stands to reason if IFPA is closed, the situation is still not good for large groups.
The event is still scheduled to happen, and the website reflects that.
TBH, if the $ goes to the Replay Foundation, they can keep my entry fee so long as I am guaranteed the ability to buy a ticket for 2021. I think that would be a good alternative…
Significant organization goes into many of the shows, and with current stay-at-home orders, even such preparation is not allowed. So even if the order were to be lifted a month before the show, that would not be enough time to get everything organized. And with a heavy possibility of things not being cleared up by then, organizers have little motivation to spend more money planning that would just drive up the losses if the show does get cancelled.
Tournaments held in existing locations can probably wait longer till choosing when to cancel, as compared to shows that involve carrying in all the machines and thus have significantly more prep work to do.
In response to @ethanatx says “Wow seems early to cancel”.
Although a great many of us are probably ok with things at the moment, there will be some that are struggling financially with the lockdown. Either out of a job temporarily - with no idea when things will resume, or laid off entirely.
In my opinion it would be good to consider these people and have some clarity on the refunds policy asap.
Like everyone, I hope the world is in a better place by July. But I doubt it will be the same world we knew for a good while longer. I can’t imagine any large events will be going ahead for the rest of this year.
