I can understand an automatic tiebreak rule EARLY in the playoff rounds, but I think from quarterfinals and to the end all ties should be solved by a match on a game. This years EPC final in denmark where a tie between Ostermeier and one more (Bo i think) was decided on qualification rank (!) Is totally bullshit. If you dont have time for real tie breaking then adjust the format or schedule, especially the final.
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I had this experience in a quarterfinal playoff round in Denmark. I was very salty about it and still bring it up as an example of a poor way to handle ties.
Here is how we break ties after you lose in final rounds of OBX Flippers Stern Circuit Event so that the top 24 will not have one tie in standings.
“ Consolation games after losses:
Players who are eliminated from head-to-head matches in the finals will be reseeded based on their qualifying scores, and then placed in a consolation bracket to determine each position as follows:
Consolation Round #1: Groups of 4 players will play a single game, determined by the tournament director. The top 2 players in each group will advance, and the bottom two players in each group will play the bottom players in the other group. The results of these 2 groups will determine 17-24th place.
Consolation Round #2: Groups of 4 players will play a single game, determined by the tournament director. The top 2 players in each group will advance, and the bottom two players in each group will play the bottom players in the other group. The results of these 2 groups will determine 9-16th place.
Consolation Round #3 This will be a four player game picked by the Tournament Director where they will be playing for position #5, #6, #7, and #8.
Consolation Round #4: This will be a 2 player best of three to determine position #3 and #4”
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I’m warming up to a timed, one ball playoff. Each player gets one ball, but has to stop flipping after 2 minutes (assuming the ball is still in play). Do this on a modern game where you can reasonably expect the ball to reach the flipper. You could even intentionally choose the longest playing (or most controllable game). No need to do it on an older machine that could be a no-flip house ball.
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I do this but it’s not timed. One ball playoff on a dmd or newer game.
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What do you do if more than one person in a round doesn’t want to play a consolation game? I think there are some State Championships that run 4 rounds for every player no matter what (not sure how it works with 24 players) but I am glad that in PA we don’t do it that way.
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We have not had anyone not play in consolation because they know each placement counts in circuit points . But if they did not play then would get last placement in that consolation round
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I’d add that having tiebreaker games has another advantage: it keeps the last game of any round meaningful for more people, since more of them have hope of advancing than if there’s some rule to choose who moves on. It’s much more interesting - for everyone involved - when you still have a chance to catch up to someone to get into a tiebreaker game to advance. Your play means more, and theirs, too, since they can’t just sit on their lead knowing they’d win the rule-based tiebreaker.
As a side note, I would have been in a tiebreaker if only “points” counted, and I believe I would even have still gotten into the playoffs if the coin flip to decide which #1 result of one of the players would be counted had gone the other way. Such is pinball, I may not like the result, but the rules were posted and I accepted my fate. I played well my last game that round, too - even entered my initials - but was not high in my group and came up a point short of getting in cleanly, thus falling into the tiebreaker rule zone.
I disagree with some (not all) of the “if you don’t like it, don’t come” comments given the SCS situations people can find themselves in. To make SCS, you need to attend enough events, which may force you to go to some you’d prefer were run differently. Players are within their rights to say they would prefer things be run other ways so long as they provide constructive feedback to that end and realize that running an event is a tough job.
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Just had a 9 way tie before the finals of pincinnati matchplay and it was done as a one ball on a dmd game. Took 10 mins. We just did it while all the other players took their break and we set up the finals brackets. Easy peasy.
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I still think one of the most exciting hours at Pinburgh was the year there was a 9- or 10-way tiebreaker for the last 2 spots in A. I understand the time issue, but tiebreakers are really the zeroth round of the playoffs, and they decide the difference between “no money” and “guaranteed money, plus you still have a chance at the Big Bucks and trophy.”
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Agreed. Just do one ball games if it’s lots of people and do a full game on a fast player if it’s tied to advance in the finals or win it all.
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This method went extremely smooth in execution from what I saw of it! I wonder if anyone in the 17-24/9-16 in particular can throw in their input, since those were more complicated.
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This confuses me - if you’re using 1st and 2nd place finishes as a tiebreaker, isn’t this directly using “earlier round performance?”
FWIW, I have always hated this idea that one person’s X points is worth more than another person’s X points. If I earn the same amount of points as you, we did exactly the same and it feels really cheap to get knocked out because of some math.
Earlier round performance in this instance was when your 2nds, 3rds and 4ths happened. So they looked at total points in round 5, then 4 then 3, etc to see when the two players weren’t tied. At that point, whomever had the higher amount of points at that time won.
Hope that helps clarify a bit.
Preference for firsts/seconds means you don’t care about a person’s 4th place scores. A person with less firsts and the same score as another player is probably a more consistent player. I never understood this metric.
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Then award 7.001 for first. 5.00001 for second. 3.0000001 for third and 1 for forth. No arbitrary tiebreak rules, just let the points stand.
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Would it be legal to break ties by awarding them to the person(s) with the lowest IFPA ranking?
If it is clearly explained in the rules how ties will be addressed, I would think it would be legal.
Is it fair is another question altogether.
Yeah you can do whatever you want. Just might have some super angry players on your hands that don’t come back if it’s unpopular.