Any malfunction or unusual behavior that is determined to be relatively minor but unusual enough to merit comment may, at the discretion of tournament officials, be posted for players to be aware of before playing the affected machine. Players who have played the machine before this notice is provided will not be allowed to replay the machine nor to replace it with play of another machine. The occurrence of any posted malfunction will be treated as a minor malfunction unless it worsens or interacts with another feature to yield a major malfunction.
So, I’ve got a Wizard! (EM, in case anyone isn’t familiar with it) that I’ve kept out of the last few monthlies because of an issue where some of the flags don’t always reset properly on the next ball. Specifically, it’s flags 1 and 2 which are, respectively: light thumpers (pops) and light center target (3,000 and advance bonus when lit.) Honestly, I don’t feel these are major issues- if they were flags 3 and 4 which are extra ball and light spinner, I would say it’s mostly unfair. To me though, 1 and 2 not resetting properly every time is pretty minor. I’m thinking of putting up some signing on the game indicating the issue, and keeping it in the tournament. I’ve only got a handful of EMs, so I don’t really want to keep it out of the tournament.
Fellow TDs, do you feel this is a fair call for me to make, or is it more trouble than it’s worth?
Your call - I agree that you have the two best flags to have issues with, but you can argue either way for/against it. If it’s in, make it an announcement before starting and/or post signage to the game.
Best of luck again, I miss have free Sundays to make the trip!
That was my plan! A sign on the game, and an announcement before the tournament begins. I wish you could come out too, Lewis! There’s a slew of Columbus players making the trip tomorrow, I’m pretty excited.
Earl, I was thinking the same thing about the flag issues when I stopped in for a few games last night. Not that big of a deal, just let everyone know. Agreed that it would be much more significant if flags 3 or 4 were having that problem.
I think at this point I need to order the specific little metal thingy that flips the flags. I’ve tweaked it over and over and it stays for a short while but eventually it goes back to sticking.
Wizard is such a great game! Superelectric took a lot of time restoring this particular one. We touched it up and clear coated it. I’m sure we’ll fix the mech eventually but it’s so low on the priority list- we’re working on serving food and alcohol in our parlor and it’s been quite a journey.
