If you are in a 3-4 player matchplay how do you handle if someone plays the wrong ball?

Didn’t attend and don’t recall if it was sanctioned, but there was a anything goes tourney in SF or east bay a few years ago. Maybe Andrei or Gene was there? Anything goes (bang backs and death saves legal) was the theme of the event. I don’t do bang backs and my death saves are weak, but I’d certainly like to watch an event like this. Bring extra popcorn.

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As much as I am intrigued about bang backs and deathsaves, I’m honestly too afraid of hurting myself to practice them seriously much less try them in a tournament where they are allowed. That doesn’t mean I’d never run an “anything goes” tournament, just that I wouldn’t necessarily be playing in one.

If someone screws up on player 1 of a new game, I just restart the game. We are here to play pinball and it literally changes nothing unless they played longer than 30 seconds and just got a crazy amount of practice. Prolly a less popular opinion though.

and on games like SM how do to deal with the other players missing double bonus on there last ball?

I’d plunge/tilt all the balls and let them play the final/double bonus ball as their compensation ball.

How about this one? I played in a newish league the other night. Format is group matchplay. Four games are predetermined for all groups. After four games the player in the lead gets to pick a fifth game. Just so happens that the homeowner also has a 1950’s game with no flippers. It was stated at the beginning of league that this flipperless game could be picked as a fifth game.(thankfully nobody did). I reminded them that the “F” in IFPA stands for flipper. Should this be allowed in an IFPA sanctioned league? Extreme case, what if they wanted the fifth game to be Ms. Pacman? LOL

are video pinball games allowed?
I think that a non pinball game should not be. And as for flipperless games?? what is the TGP on that?
timed games don’t count as 3 ball games as you know?

Does the IFPA have any player protest / objection process? and what would happen if say an event needed to be voided?

I think at the very least there should be an basic framework for that.

At least for IFPA run events there should be an basic weather delay rules say if at an event with filled slots delay start by upto X time if all players are not there if there is an bad weather.

Max wait time in a power outage / fire / other event that stops game play with no real hard time for restart before you call the event / give players the option to quit with say at the very least refund.

TD’s should not have unlimited power and players should have some way to report odd things happening also there should be some way to deal with events that are foreced to end before the they are done / not let some do some non flipper?? PINBALL way of picking an winner.

also may not want someone to say play an rigged ticket payout game set to an no skill payout % game.

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IMO, any round where any player did not play a game of pinball would not count towards total games played. So Ms Pac would make that round worth nothing towards TGP.

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As long as the borderline game is announced before the event starts, I’m fine with it. We have league playoffs in different locations and that’s generally the first decision. Which games are allowed. Varkon is technically a mechanical pinball machine, but I don’t want to play it in a tournament. It was used in the LA Celebrity tourney years ago, as was Joust.

Varkon is more an pinball tournament game then Joust / other head to head games.
Just need to max out the setting for auto relaunch times so that places don’t need to rush after an player drains.

What about a pitch-and-bat, it has a flipper and you play multiple balls.

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I played a Bromley Little Pro as a tiebreaker in an tournament once. I think these types of games are great for positional tiebreakers, but obviously not for people on the bubble for in/out of playoffs. Still ended in a tie and we had to go to a coin flip.

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I could see Joust as a tournament game if played exclusively as a one-player game.

We’ve used it as the designated final game of a head to head tournament before.

what is the ruleing for tilting joust in head to head game? or just remove tilt bob?

We didn’t tilt.

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That’s how it was in the LA tourney I mentioned earlier. Single player in qualifying. Don’t think it was used in playoffs.

Yes at this tournament, Eric ran it and both were allowed. It was fun and only one person was good at bang backs (and he was really good at them, effortlessly doing one on TZ IIRC). It was fun for sure!