I think it is based on rules created before IFPA/PAPA refined and matured the rules over the last decade. So it’s time to evolve. There are still some rules that may be applicable to the league play that are fine, but imo not when it comes to malfunctions. The pinball community as a whole benefits from consistent rules on malfunctions.
So the background for this has several elements…
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Does the player know there’s a ball stuck somewhere? How do you know they know? Advanced players may be fairly cognizant of the location of the balls at most times, but certainly less skilled players may not be, often they’re just flailing. (And even advanced players may not know… e.g. on my Stern Star Trek, balls like to get caught just to the right of the lower pop bumper, and it’s very difficult to see one there.) If you can’t prove this objectively, you also can’t penalize the behavior objectively.
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Once you’ve determined that a ball is stuck somewhere, what do you do about it? (Remember, location machines, assume no keys, and even if you have keys, there’s probably a coin door power interlock, so you can’t just ask the player to catch the balls on the flippers and remove the glass.) Tell the player that just started Super Duper Wizard Multiball that you’re very sorry, but their ball is stuck somewhere and so their multiball and/or game are now void? Or maybe they have to tilt out to get it unstuck? That really sucks for something that happened through no fault of their own.
Now, you commented specifically about a ball in the plunger lane, not generic “ball is stuck”… as you know, there’s no separate FSPA rule for that right now, it’s under the umbrella of “stuck ball”. Certainly a clause could be added like “during multiball, if a ball goes into a manual plunger lane and the player is made aware of this, they must plunge it into play within X seconds, or…” (or what?). But IMHO this is in the category of “weird crap that happens in pinball that’s sometimes good and sometimes bad but it’s part of the game”. If a player has a ball clearly drain but then it lazarus bounces back into play, should they be required to drain that ball? I’ve never heard such a rule… the player got a lucky break, congrats, make the most of it. Personally, I’m not uncomfortable with saying that if a player gets a freak bounce that sends a ball into the plunger lane during multiball, congrats, you got a lucky break, make the most of it. What’s the difference between those two scenarios?
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From what I understand, current PAPA rules limit a player to a single lazarus per ball, a second lazarus is required to be allowed to drain.
No way!! This can’t be true.
BTW, for anyone who happens to care… the FSPA is highly democratic in how we manage rules changes. Any FSPA officer can propose a rules change (we also proxy requests for rules changes from our players, or from other leagues that use FSPA rules). We have officer meetings after most every season, and all proposed rules changes are discussed, sometimes tweaked on the spot, and then voted on to be accepted or rejected. The vote of each officer counts equally, so even though I’m the current FSPA Association president, my vote is worth the same as, say, @alwysmooth 's vote. And then afterwards, someone (usually me) writes up the actual change(s) and posts it on our Web site in a draft/provisional state, and the officers are asked to approve the text as written before it’s finalized. We also provide a revision log of all changes that have been made.
I see in the rules that’s true for hardware/software malfunctions (e.g. unexpected software ball save), but I would certainly hope that’s not the case for Lazarus saves. In the hardware/software case, I can see the rationale that you don’t know if the problem will recur indefinitely, but for a Lazarus, there’s no mystery about what’s going on… frankly I’d consider it pretty dumb if the second Lazarus for a player was a required drain.
From the PAPA/IFPA rules:
In the event that a drained ball bounces back into play without deliberate player action, such as in the case of a “lazarus”, this is considered the mechanical nature of pinball and the ball may be played. If this situation occurs repeatedly, and there is question as to whether the lazarus ball was naturally occurring or induced by the player, tournament directors may end the game in progress and award a score of zero.
So no hard limit on Lazarus balls.
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this is referring to death saves and/or bangbacks
Good thing on the no hard Lazarus limit… but it wasn’t so good for Brian Teyssier as he got to watch me get 3 (3!) Lazarus balls during a single ball of play on TX Sector at PA States.
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WCS has the issue with the ball sitting in a shooter lane during MB. Is a player required to launch the balls back into play during the World Cup Finals mode?
I don’t think so, it is pretty strategic as to when and if to launch them.
The game PUNISHES you with more Germany goals if you don’t plunge them, so you generally want to do this.
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Oh really?? Wow I had no idea! Man that is A+ information.
Under FSPA rules (let’s get back on topic, please), no. However, if this is my opponent, I actually don’t want them to plunge because as Keefer noted, it makes Germany score more goals and therefore makes it harder to defeat Germany.