In a 2-player group the winner of each game gets a 3 but the loser gets a 0? Shouldn’t it be either a 1 and 0 or 3 and 2?
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Both of those situations are unfair to either the group of 2 (4 points max for 1-0 while everyone else has a chance at 12) or the general population (guaranteed 8 If last gets 2s).
Ideally this would never happen and everyone plays 4 player groups, but due to drops you have to account for this, and fairly.
I think comments like these are derogatory towards those who played in E division, and serve no useful purpose other than puffing yourself up at the expense of others.
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And yet the WIPT champion was the top seed in E division 
E Division wasn’t playing for cash, but the finals were no joke. There were phenomenal game scores up and down the bank, with all the machines playing to PAPA standards. The only thing that was changed on a machine was the Ghostbusters left scoop feed, because screw STDMs.
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It was C division and my buddy was the one that went 12-0
What was the experiment? Not awarding cash prizes? I thought E Division was essentially the same as D Division was last year. Was there a similar spate of no-shows in D Division last year?
To me it makes sense to have more divisions if there are more players, although it is disappointing to have less opportunity to improve your overall position.
I guess my sob story would be that I had the same number of points as one of my local rivals, and I would have beaten him on a tie-breaker, but he was restricted to C and I was restricted to D, so despite both deserving to be in E based on our Day One play, he’ll be earning double the WPPRs I will be and won’t let me forget it!
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I failed to stop myself from blurting it out in one game and it cost me the point, as the guy diving back to the machine went on to win with the second ‘half’ of that ball.
According to the initial seedings for round 6 and comparing it to the initial seedings for round 7, it appears you were the only no-show for C division on day 2.
LOLOLOL!!! You too, huh!?! 
I played badly on first day, three reasons, one I played badly, two the machines helped me play badly and three I had a bit of jet lag, but in summary I played badly. There was one machine that I knew and I smashed it on that round but the rest it was just a nightmare from hell.
I ended up in the E and if you studied the end of day one scores there were many experienced players who played terribly that should have been in the E but lucked out by being rank limited or something And many players who are better players who like me choked on day one. I couldn’t stop the nerves no matter what I did and I’m annoyed about it as my last few tournaments I had it well under control and my performance was so much better. In my day job I speak at 10,000 people events regularly and have never felt as nervous as I did on day one!
The E round I was in was somewhat strange and I didn’t come across any no shows. I played some great players ranked below me and then played players ranked above me that I struggled to understand why they were above me! At the end of round 9 I was ranked first and then In the final round I played a lot of players well below me who were definitely better players than me. Strange. But I was happy with my performance on day 2 but I was on top of my nerves the whole day!
The E finals was a crush for me though, got through one round on a bye and with the Three banks and I thought I’d have choice but didn’t got the bank I least wanted and got stomped on badly, again I played badly, didn’t know three of the games. But on ghostbusters I played so shit I was very annoyed, again nerves just got me.
with regards to player order and ball saves. Personally I think its fine to tell people on these, I want to win because we both played the machine and hopefully I played the machine better, not because of some stupid error. Sadly on playing a game on my last ball I drained (I’d smashed the round) and saw bonus be collected and walked away, turned around and saw the next player playing with my score going up. I was so far ahead it didn’t make any difference but on conferring with the other player they asked for a ruling and he was DQ’ed; not my fault but I felt bad for the guy the rest of the tournament.
I entered my wife for the ladies tournament and have to say the WIPT gang knocked it out of the park. My wife didn’t want to do it an was somewhat relieved to find that there was not enough no shows for her to play, only to find out ten minutes later that there was enough no shows (thanks to Colin M and Megan S!). She had never played in a competition and plays hardly any pinball, but she really enjoyed it (and beat my score on solar fire!) even though she came last in the end, although she got the same bank of ugly machines that booted me out of the E finals! (Bounty Hunter, Solar Fire and AC/DC) that if she hadn’t got them twice I am sure she wouldn’t have been last. She loved it, especially the friendliness of the tournament so much so she is definitely going to do it again. So WIPT team - you smashed it! I avoid divorce for another year
Overall all the folks at PAPA and Replay FX did a freaking amazing job and I’m very thankful having given me a high that will take me through for a long while
When does tickets for next year go on sale? 
Neil.
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I am truly sorry the schedule wasn’t right. Between not checking in Friday morning, and relaying confirmation of our absence through a friend, I thought we were covered. If “Friday 9:30-10:00 Pinburgh Player Check-In” is no longer a thing, it should be removed from the schedule.
As for
That’s a pretty pretentious thing to say. Is it “incredibly disrespectful” for someone to be division-restricted and forced up? You’re saying it’s perfectly OK for someone else to decide a player it too experienced for a division, but “incredibly disrespectful” for that player to make the same decision? Some would consider it just as disrespectful for an experienced player to crash a lower division. We also had things come up that needed taken care of sooner rather than later, so this wasn’t just about poor qualifying play.
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The division restrictions are based on previous Pinburgh / PAPA / IFPA tournament performances. It may not be perfect, but it is a measurable standard that can be used to compare players and help prevent sandbagging. Once the players have been assigned to divisions, sandbagging is no longer a concern.
So yes, it is incredibly disrespectful for a player to decide that they won’t play the second day of a two-day tournament because they didn’t do as well as they thought they should after day one. It throws off the structure of the tournament, which is designed with the expectation that everyone will play all ten rounds.
I see that you’ve added, “We also had things come up that needed taken care of sooner rather than later, so this wasn’t just about poor qualifying play.” That’s understandable. Life happens, and I think we all get that some things are more important than pinball. However, slagging those who ended up in E division and making it seem like poor qualifying is an acceptable reason not to show up is what I find offensive.
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Was in your round 10 group with you, Sanjay. You had no luck at all and hardly any ball time. However, despite this, you were great to compete against and friendly to chat with, as always.
That game of Party Zone was just ridiculous!
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We did not “slag” anyone; I clearly said that we thought E was a novice only division, similar to PAPA. He did not want to sandbag, even inadvertantly. You are attacking a decision made with good intent. It appears this forum is becoming as judgemental as pinside.
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You took a tiny snippet of my post and based a straw man “why are you being mean to E players” burn out of it.
I have nothing against E players. In fact I am friends with many of them and from what I could tell there was a general malaise and distaste about the whole thing among experienced players who found themselves there, and didn’t want to participate.
This is exactly what metallik was talking about, and if you want to pretend that this didn’t happen be my guest but it’s not what I was hearing.
Seems like the division could use some tweaking to avoid no-shows next year. Players who don’t think they belong there and don’t want to play in pinburgh’s only non-payout division should be able to easily opt-out.
If it were me, I’d probably play cause why not, it’s Pinball. That’s exactly what I was saying to friends who were complaining about it. But clearly not everybody felt that way.
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I’m sorry if it’s coming as attacking your decision. I certainly don’t intend to be attacking you. What I’m commenting on is your statement, “My partner wound up in E division, which isn’t really the place for someone with 5+ years tournament experience and past winner of cincy league.” That seems like you’re slagging the folks who ended up in E.
Was it written somewhere that E Division was for novices? I’m not sure how many novices were actually in the list of competitors. A grueling two-day tournament with some of the best players in the world is not something I would expect to draw the casual player, but I know the intent is to keep Pinburgh open and accessible.
Anyway, I’m sure your partner didn’t sandbag. The competition was fierce! I think that’s why some of us are sensitive about what we perceive as shade being thrown towards E.
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I just want to add, the lack of money wasn’t really a factor, it was simply a feeling that he shouldn’t be there. We thought E was for novices and that screwing up qualifying wasn’t really an excuse to play in the beginner division.
Would be nice to get more than 1 day to qualify, but I understand the tight schedule.
This is the disconnect, we were thinking of PAPA verbage when considering divisions and were valuing experience more than performance. We envisioned an E full of beginner players with little tournament experience, when in fact it sounds like there were a lot of folks just like us - crappy qualifiers.
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I appreciate your comments and clarification (I mean that sincerely, no snark) but stand by my opinion.
The difference between the bottom of B and the top of E was 6 points. That’s 1.2 points per round.
The difference between the top of B and the top of E was 9 points. That’s 1.5 points per round.
IMO it’s more realistic in most cases to frame ending up in a lower Pinburgh division than expected or hoped as doing slightly badly with the format being responsible for magnifying the results of bad play.
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