Right, that’s how I read it too, which is pretty unusual.
Two four game rounds took 9 hours. The 10-person ladder final took 3 hours.
I do think we can save significant time compared to the previous format.
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Removing Deadpool from the bank for the ladder may have helped more. 
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You enter the bracket, you get your ONE chance to pick a game, and you might not be able to use your one pick on the game you want?
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So this year’s winner would have not even qualified under these rules 
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Hard to say. He may have travelled more if he knew he had to make top 20.
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IFPA is promoting travel on the circuit level.
First year of the Circuit, Daniele Acciari came out of nowhere as the last seed to climb the ladder and then play a marathon best of 7 and win the whole thing. It was phenomenal to watch, the stakes were clear, and it was easy to follow.
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This is correct.
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I’ve run playoffs that way when I want to make players feel like the playing field has been evened a little. Make the top players prove they deserve to be there!
Pretty sure this rule was put in place the year everyone was picking Demo Man.
Modern Pinball will never make for good TV. It’s too fast and to complicated to explain anything on the fly to a casual viewer.
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Is this to “even the playing field” ? Seems odd to give a distinct advantage to someone who qualified lower. Is it just so the broadcast can show players seed = playing position?
My personal goal with IFPA’s involvement with the SPC is all about OPM.
I understand the desire for sponsorships … but I have no buts. With Stern’s help as the face of the SPC this is all about finding a way to massive exposure for the sport and massive influx of outside cash.
The existing competitive pinball landscape already fills a ton of needs at expanding the player base, nurturing that player base from the local to regional to national to international level player.
The SPC is about servicing the elite player base and exploiting their stories to the outside world for large amounts of cash.
The direction I’ve wanted to see this go hasn’t changed one bit from the day we launched the partnership between Stern, IFPA and PAPA.
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You should put that on a t-shirt
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If the way this tournament looks to the outside world is very important, and I have no doubt that it is, I feel there needs to be a layer of separation between the organizers of the Circuit and the players, as there was before IFPA’s involvement.
Based on the fact that IFPA was involved in changing the Circuit format in a way that can benefit some players while harming others, and the potential publicity this event can generate if done well, I hope you will consider making yourself ineligible for Stern Circuit Final in the same way as other event administrators for large events.
Thanks for your work continuing to build this event into what it can be.
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Andy did legitimately place 40th out of the SPC rankings. He eventually was seeded at 29th because 11 people elected not to play. Ultimately, 19 people opted out, meaning the last player, Paul Caras, was actually 59th in the standings.
Every year there are people who decline. This year, two people in the top 10 opted out.
PAPA and Stern are also involved in the Circuit, and we all agreed that this was the correct course to take. This is not a Joshtatorship.
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This has been discussed by the three parties at length (and will continue to be), and the current answer is that Stern/IFPA/PAPA affiliations will not impact the eligibility of players.
The progress we’ve made in year one of the SPC (Ebay sponsorship, ESPN signing on to broadcast, Paragon being interested in pitching the e-sport angle, all the media coverage generated throughout the season) - this was all done with a ton of conflicts of interest all available for anyone to poke at.
I’m excited to see how things progress for year 2, the impact of the actual airing of the ESPN piece and what opportunities that brings to the table for us. I have no doubt that at some point we’ll have specific examples of how these conflicts of interests are limiting our ability to legitimize the sport. For me I just don’t believe that time is now.
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I’m forwarding this to Amanda. It’s totally going to revolutionize the way she’s able to make fun of me at home in front of the kids 
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Personally, I’d love to see some of the conversation Touch on what a potential big corporate sponsorship windfall could do for other events on the circuit. How about helping make these events more lucrative and interesting and helping drive some press coverage?
A big prize package for Fewer players at SPC is nice but how about spreading some of this big money around to the other circuit events, either to beef up prizes, improve production, better streaming etc.
Right now seems like the idea is to focus on one event, top down, rather than trying to build a better, stronger foundation for the whole thing. I’m not really sure what the circuit events and players get for their 5 bucks a head; in that I’m not sure what the benefits really are for circuit events to be circuit events.
A potential corporate windfall could make being a circuit event in and of itself seem a lot more attractive for people to run and attend year-round.