Johannes Ostermeier would not like this rule one bit 
The IFPA16 crown would have went to Daniele after the end of ball 1 of that final Dracula game if this rule was in place.
Of course, the game does matter. Getting 1b on Addams Family is going to take 30/60 minutes, no matter what you do. A comparably massive score on BSD can be achieved in a few minutes, as we saw. With another minute, he could have been at 6b or more.
Yes. Each game would need to be marked with the limit for that game, if there is any.
If the purpose is time, what about doing something like scrabble (I think that is the correct example). You have a 30 min play clock, for each minute of play over 30 min, you receive a scoring penalty (say -1%) of your score. If you are accumulating points fast enough, it might be worth playing over. Or you may choose to drain, it you have diminishing returns. It encourages faster play and different strategies. But it allows you to leave the low risk low reward strats unnerfed, as time will take care of it.
and now you need an clock time keeper?
Does waiting for an tilt that the player before did before your turn count as part of your time?
waiting for an ruling?
stuck balls?
game hardware issues?
Waiting for rulings, stuck balls, game repairs would all pause the timer.
Waiting for tilt I would like to count. Factor that into total time expected. It would create a negative incentive shake as you drain to drain opponents clock, which is not great.
A DGT cube is probably the best device for 4 player games (2 you can use a chess clock). Self controlled and enforced. Having played chess in highschool, the nice thing is your opponents will very carefully ensure the clock is running. When your opponent forgets to hit the clock and you need to sit there pretending to think about your move as their clock runs down was a tough skill to learn.
I am not saying it is a great idea, but it is interesting to think about
#useTDdiscretion
also when is an game over for the clock? when player 4 takes the lead on the last ball? at drain? after bonus court is over? after any match?
rounding?
ties from any scoring penalty’s?
I think that having a hard time limit for ALL games and players would make for an interesting tournament format, crossing matchplay with gauntlet to some degree:
- Players get 3 balls or 10 minutes, whichever runs out first.
- Players start their own clock before plunging. Player stops their clock when they’re done with ball and cannot touch machine after they stop the clock (until their next turn).
- TDs can stop clock for malfunctions (this would be the trickiest part of the format IMHO)
or - Player can stop their clock after trapping - no flips can occur during stopped clock - to ask for TD
- Time elapsed between balls isn’t clocked
As soon as a player hits 10min, they’re done and score is recorded. Or, if they run out of balls, that score is recorded.
Trickiest part is dealing with malfunctions, etc. that require clock stoppage, also would likely require more TDs than typical tournament. Also might need video to determine exact score when 10min mark is hit.
This would obviously influence strategy and possibly make for more exciting matches since players have to be efficient and maximize their limited ball time, discourage easy, boring, repetitive play…
Would need an IFPA classification, similar to pingolf?