If we are using one deck for a tournament, is there a recommended number of players to cap the tournament at?
Iâd suggest a 20 player cap for a single deck tournament.
And more decks is better! Youâll lose some cards over time from people forgetting to give them back or dropping them in dog poop outside the venue etc. so if thatâs one of the singular cards that sucks to lose one of them. I almost always use two decks for any group smaller than 36 
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Bat City pinball ran our first Critical HIt tournament on Feb 19, 2018.
https://matchplay.events/app/tournaments/16167
Our venue was Pinballz Arcade original. We had 60+ tables available for tournament play (just under 100 in the venue) after I removed broken/long-playing tables.
We capped the time for beginning a new round at three hours. Started at 7pm, last round (6) started at 9:58 pm. We had two Matchplay Critical Hit decks. I pulled Modica Plague, Insanity, and Bootstrap because I thought they would cause excessive time issues. I was simply wrong about Modica, Insanity could have been left in and only caused minimal delay. Bootstrap Iâd probably pull next time too.
We had 22 players. A good mix of skill levels from #31 @Snailman to over 10,000, including two new players. We gave everyone one card before the tournament and last place on every game in a round got an additional card so added six cards per round.
We felt we could have given additional cards and had even more fun. Maybe last two get a card instead of only last place.
Feedback was positive. We covered the scores with sticky notes, which is not optimal. Iâll bring some foamcore for next time.
I was not very diligent about announcing phase changes from global to local but it didnât cause a problem. We wanted to maximize the number of games played so as soon as the last game of a round finished I started the next round without gathering everyone together. As a game finished the last place player would come get their new card.
How would you cover the scores on Lexy Lightspeed? Tape something on the glass just above the flippers, similar to The Whoâs Tommy when the blinders are deployed?
We used Swiss pairing and four player groups. Would 2 player groups shorten the rounds enough to play twelve rounds instead of six? Iâve never tried. It doesnât seem like it would shorten them that much since you would still have the top players facing each other. Maybe Balanced pairing is a better option when youâre trying to maximize the number of games played in X amount of time.
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That is awfully specificâŚ
Did this end up happening?
The first part happened, the second part did not. You can swap players out by clicking the cog and then selecting âmodify playersâ
Has anyone used matchplay with their crit hit tournament since the ability to swap players was implemented? What else does it not do/how did you handle it? Got one coming up in June and want to be prepared
Iâve used it for the last 4-5 CH tournies and one thing you may watch out for IIRC is to not go too fast with starting rounds etc.
Make sure you do the pre-round card plays and call a stop to when people can play cards and process those first. Then once groups and machines are set make sure if anyone is going to play any cards that affect things to do that.
After the round, donât close it out until after all post-game cards are played. You may have to use the âadd/subtract pointsâ thing under the PLAYERS tab too if results change after an EB is played etc. which is simple to do.
I know the shared doc somewhere earlier in this thread is pretty useful - are you doing 3-strikes or MatchPlay? I have an updated MP version I customized for the last few times I ran that if you wanna see itâŚ
I have the knockout version
Cool the guide that was posted above should be good then for ya! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Em5kItK4OqYLnckVzvz1crZmrn14AVYQ-PQsyoYBwy4/edit
Had an interesting question come up - can someone who played out of turn use a card (like Fortune or Mega Fortune) after they are DQâd for that round. We ruled that no since after they play out of turn, they essentially are not in the same game. Similarly, if someone else plays a card to replay the whole game then that DQâd player would still be DQâd
I agree about Fortune & MegaFortune, they are no longer in the game and those cards only affect players during that game.
But if Bomba was played (by someone else) I would let the DQed player start a new game with the group. Itâs as if the first game never happened.
Is there a CH Match Play google doc directors guide floating around anywhere?
thereâs this one: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OPM1MG_K8tw6-Nc5DXY4jM0e1IIcmuzW9LHtBTU4ppg/edit?usp=sharing
and hereâs a modified version we used for our tournament that might also help? https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZLSZmOYb6O4f2H7h7tV_BlpXZpyeIkydjR0NGIaHu1A/edit?usp=sharing
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Thanks! I couldnât find the match play doc, only the strikes/Knockout.
First State Flippers will be running the first ever Critical Hit pinball tournament in Delaware on September 22. We still have 3 spots open if anyone is interested. We are going to run the Match Play format.
Event details can be found below:
Sold out!!! Once again Fiest State Flippers has another event sell out. Thanks to everyone who signed up! Below are the prizes for 1st in âAâ division and 1st in âBâ division. Epic!
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These are so cool. Canât wait to see them in person. You did an awesome job man!
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