List of Exploits that are Allowed / Disallowed in Tournament Play

yes, a statement with intention. Almost everything is covered by the current IFPA/PAPA rules and there are really only a few things on certain machines which can be exploited by very few people who know these things - game knowledge rules

Not allowed: Radical - intentionally tilting to cause locked ball to be ejected
I’m assuming is allowed, don’t know if it even counts: ToM - shooting trunk hole as it is spinning back to normal position at the end of multiball can register not only a grace period jackpot but also the secret ball lock. I haven’t tried it at other times such as end of hat magic or theatre jackpot.

Intentional tilt is covered generally. Which is funny, as you see it all the time. Even in big time competition. As the IFPA of last week. Or is the rule specifically, intentional tilt that causes a benefit.

“Any player who deliberately tilts or slam tilts a machine in order to derive some benefit to his or her own play, or the play of others”
It’s in section 7 under stuck balls.

You are misremembering. It is explicitly allowed in the rules.

Nudging a machine so a locked ball moves and registers a switch causing a ball save, or nudging in order to manipulate a feature to begin a multiball would be permissible. Examples include shaking Bram Stoker’s Dracula such that the mist ball falls from its magnet starting multiball, shaking Avatar when a ball is in the Link assembly causing it to register, or shaking The Walking Dead causing the Well Walker to register a hit.

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What about using your practise time on Twilight, specifically to have the Powerball as first ball out of the trough when you’re P1?

Nudging to trigger a switch such as TWD, CP, Avatar etc - I can add TSPP to trigger daredevil hits

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I might need some backup on that one to be sure, but intentional stalling for a ball search/start a feature (PZ, Nightmare on Elm Street) should be generally disallowed.

Section III: Player Conduct, Paragraph 5. Intentional Delay

“A player may not intentionally cause a ball search in order to activate any feature of the game. A player is permitted to wait a reasonable amount of time, as determined by the tournament director, for a tilt mechanism to settle.”

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In discussions with @PAPA_Doug on the non-ball search delay tactics, I’ve seen him extend this to “timing in” to certain features where you may need to wait a significant while such as Party Saver on PZ (not verified) or mode start on Elm Street. Where would these fall into this rule?

I’ve always followed this paragraph:

“Intentional delay is defined as time when the player is intentionally making no progress towards in-game objectives, including but not limited to time during which the ball is left in the plunger lane, held on a flipper, or passed from one flipper to another.”

Timing out modes, or timing in a feature to be activated has always felt like “progress” within that game being played, so I’ve never had a problem with it.

To me delay is a game that is completely stalled, and there’s absolutely no progress being made anywhere. For example, timing out a mode to clear the mode, then deciding to just sit there cradled for another 5 minutes. The first 30 seconds of timing out the mode . … fine. The next 5 minutes of just sitting there not making progress . . . not fine.

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But not in GOT where if the lock switches are miss adjusted to get free locks.
When that was happening the game was taken out of the event.

what if you have a stuck ball that will be freed by the 1st search? Do you hold up an flipper and wait for an tech or just let it search? or Risk an tilt to free it?

7. Stuck Balls

During the course of play, it is possible for one or more balls to become stuck on a playfield feature, usually after becoming airborne. If this happens during single ball play, the player must wait for four automatic ball searches to occur. At the discretion of the tournament director, the forcing of a ball search to be triggered can be waived. This is for situations where inducing a ball search has adverse effects on the current game state. The expiration of any timed feature during this period is not considered a malfunction._

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I always find it best to call a TD over to clarify the stuck ball situation. There’s of course nothing stopping a player from finding a way to free the ball themselves. Furthermore if they are not paying attention waiting for a TD, the game ball searches, and the ball drains . . . that player would not receive compensation.

Typically I will make this two ball searches, because I’ve seen games put out a chase ball in less than four and that’s a disaster.

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There goes my Joust strat when both balls are on opponents side :wink:

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One of the only games that might benefit from a disabled tilt.

On stern SW if you start tie fighter button slapper mode and immediately drain… a danger will allow you to keep blowing up tie fighters. vs with no danger it will end the ball and go straight to bonus. If you hit the MB threshold it doesn’t start MB so isn’t always the best idea on b1/2

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You cannot induce a ball search for benefit (though this has still happened). But you CAN hold the ball on a flipper to progress the game, either to force something to start (Freddy) or to force something to end (so many mode games).

Munsters Spot mode: say I decided to hit Spot just enough to qualify its Super Jackbot, but Dwight insists I have to spent 40 more seconds thinking I give a damn about raising Spot again when really I just want the Munster Madness that’s gonna be lit right after. I can’t just cradle out 40 seconds cause of the timer freezes, so all I’d want to do to wait out the mode is shoot the scoop over and over. Allowable?

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