For the US, If the situation worsens local counties will go into a state of emergency and can be much stricter on policies. Some may already be doing this but ive been working all weekend and don’t know. The next 48 hours will give us a lot more clarity. Between now and then you’re playing with fire if you share a pinball machine with someone, especially if they have a fever.
Looks like my neighboring county has today:
New guidance from the CDC, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/large-events/mass-gatherings-ready-for-covid-19.html
IL and OH is shunting bars down for a few weeks
CA as well.
Heard Washington state is shutting down all restaurants, theaters, bars, etc.
Confirmed.
Operators and pinball bars… I’m hurting for you. It was never a high margin business in the first place.
Anyone have any ideas to support businesses and individuals that relied on those businesses? I’m feeling for a lot of my friends.
Tony Stark nailed it: “I’m sorry, Earth is Closed Today.”
Gift cards?
All of NJ, NY, CT, and MD, just released statements that all restaurants and bars will close later today until further notice. This also includes casinos, gyms, movie theaters, etc.
More states will follow suit in the near future.
To those still considering holding IFPA tourneys:
“My administration is recommending that all Americans, including the young and healthy, work to engage in schooling from home when possible, avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people, avoid discretionary travel and avoid eating and drinking in bars, restaurants, and public food courts,” Trump said.
Edit-added source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/coronavirus-guidelines-america/
I’m not ignoring this. A group of women far smarter than I are crafting a response that is about 100000% better than what I could come up with. Stay tuned to the IFPA site for our announcement . . . shouldn’t be much longer.
So also cancelling the worlds?
That’s on the agenda for ‘not today’ . . . but it’s something I’ll start tackling soon with the hosts.
Now if there is an log term shutdown / size limits At what point do just not have any year long stuff / chnage the rules to make it more open / cut-down the point value of the events form start of year to day?
Also what about leagues that don’t report till the end of the season what will this / an log change do to them?
Will they be able to count any events on this time frame?
Obviously, I and others will not “Play On” given these new developments. I completely understand and support this difficult decision.
Let’s live to play another day!
We’ll talk about his over a beer at Gameworks Joe … As soon as they reopen 
wise move…
Clearly all of the “what about?” issues will depend on how long this lasts and what limitations remain when we come out the other end. I recommend not bugging Josh or anyone else about such matters before we have an idea what “after” looks like.
Think it would be useful to give a plan for a plan Josh given the impact to folks travelling and costs etc.