I had an incident last week at leagues that I wanted to run by everyone. I should have used the Slack TD channel, but forgot about it until after I made my ruling. I have a copy of the IFPA-PAPA Quick Reference Guide and wanted to make sure I interpreted it correctly. The game was DialedIn and the ball came to rest on top of the metal switch wire on the left in lane (the wire that registers the ball rolling down the inlane). The player attempted to give it a few whacks, but it wouldn’t come loose.
I ruled that it was considered a stuck ball based on the Guide under the “Ball stuck on playfield” and threw it in the shooter lane. Was that the correct ruling?
I don’t think it explicitly says that in the rules, but it’s been the practice for a while now. When possible, placing the ball on the flipper on the side of the playfield on which it’s resting. Or back in the shooter lane if it was stuck somewhere it entered the playfield from the plunge.
As always, TD discretion. Your choice wasn’t wrong or bad, but probably the less common one.
I went off the line in the Reference Guide that said “TD places ball on either flipper or in plunger lane and player has no choice of location”. If I remember correctly DialedIn has an interlock so I think both flippers die when you open the door.
Yep agreed. I’ll just add that when dealing with an interlock, make sure the player is at the ready when you close the coin door as most will autolaunch once the door is closed.