As some might know here, I don’t play tournaments really and I won’t do it in the foreseeable future. For many reasons.
One reason is that I don’t want to spend the time, vacation days and money going to tournaments abroad (I won’t play any tournaments in Sweden, ever again - that’s the plan). If I had unlimited vacation days and unlimited financial resources: sure, I would travel the world and play great/fun pinball tournaments in great/fun cities.
However, I have no interest in “grinding” local (Stockholm, Sweden) tournaments (that the best local players don’t even play) for X number of years to possibly be able to qualify for the IFPA World Championships.
I don’t know the rules for qualifying, but as far as I know you have to be in the top-64 on the rankings? Are there any “wildcards” or something similiar to get in?
I’m not saying that I want a change in this, I just want to know if it is possible to get into that tournament without grinding IFPA-rakning-points?
Other people (in Sweden) would probably argue that I’m in the “top 64” in the world, in pinball. Skill-wise (maybe not tournament-wise, we will never find out ), but as of now I have no possibilities to play in the IFPA World Championships, right?
As far as I can see you have to get them ranking points to even have a chance to play, right? I deactivated my IFPA-profile as a protest, since “some people” in Stockholm are allowed to run IFPA-tournaments. But I’m not gone forever. I’ll activate it when/if I play another tournament.
EDIT: Seems like the “trick”/expolit is to move to a country with exactly 50 poor pinball players and take the shortcut, that way? How do I find a list of potential countries (“each eligible country”?). I’m open for suggestions, my plan is to leave Sweden as soon as possible, anyway.
# Country Rankings for Romania This country has 57 players active in the rankings system.
Romania has actually been on the list of “potential” countries to move to. But I wouldn’t move there only to get into the IFPA World Championhips, really. Interesting though.
Other potential countries: # Country Rankings for Denmark This country has 127 players active in the rankings system.
(on the list of “potential” countries to move to)
# Country Rankings for Hungary This country has 202 players active in the rankings system.
# Country Rankings for Japan This country has 199 players active in the rankings system.
(“potential” country to move to!, but not right now)
# Country Rankings for Slovenia This country has 126 players active in the rankings system.
(unclear “status” regarding a country to move to)
# Country Rankings for Poland This country has 148 players active in the rankings system.
(out of the question to move to)
# Country Rankings for Brazil This country has 88 players active in the rankings system.
(out of the question to move to)
I believe I won 13/17-18 (2nd place in two) of the local Stockholm-tournaments I played in the spring/summer (None of them gave IFPA-points) before I got …bored. The 3-4 best local players were never playing in those tournaments and it wasn’t fun to play really.
So I guess it’s possible to grind local points to get into the IFPA World Championships by “grinding” local tournaments. I’d like to see a constructive post about this rather than this nonsene.
I think you should consider creating an alternate world championship for your new pinball website.
Since you don’t enjoy playing tournaments and don’t want to travel, just declare yourself world champ and have the requirement to win your world championship be someone challenging you and beating you.
You said you want constructive posts but things like this aren’t at all. That’s a very bold claim with little evidence besides he said she said to back it up. If this is true, then their are thousands in the same boat who don’t travel and have these similar skills. You would not be the only anomaly it’s mathematically impossible.
It’s not a grind, it’s a “season”. A test of skill that shows your consistency throughout the sport. That’s how competition works in 99.9% of sports. In theory then what you’re looking for is the least amount of work for the most amount of reward in this case. So yes, going to some small county is your best bet.
But let’s say you moved to somewhere bigger where already there are top players. You could still play against them without going to worlds to test your skill and get your thrill.
This nonsense isn’t even worth commenting really. But this is the way it goes these days on the internet. Apparently.
However, have fun out there, on the World Wide Web. Send me a PM here when you’ve built something great for pinball on the WWW/Apps (which old grumpy white middleclass men won’t use) or whatever. If you have already, please send me a link. Here, or in a PM.
I don’t want to get into a spat with anyone, but I’ll try to make a few (hopefully constructive) points…
There are clearly tons of pinball players in the world who don’t play a lot of tournaments but would be world class if they did. We should all remember that these players are out there.
It could very well be that hundreds of these players would be in the Top 64 if they decided to travel a lot and play in a lot of big tournaments (if they were the only one of that group who did), had a more flexible job, had more disposable income, didn’t have child-care responsibilities, etc.
The very top players are indisputably some of the best in the world. Nowadays, it’s so competitive at the very top, their rules knowledge is so deep, their skills are so refined and (importantly) their ability to perform in a high-pressure tournament is so consistent that it’s not realistic to argue that the people at the top don’t belong there.
If a great player who doesn’t play a lot wants to come into competitive play, there are plenty of regional opportunities in Europe and North America where a player can test their mettle.
Of the four “major” tournaments, only the IFPA World Championship in an invitational. The European Pinball Championship, the Open World Championship (INDISC) and the Pinburgh Matchplay World Championship are all open to whoever wants to buy an entry.
Good luck. I hope to see you at a major event soon.
This IS a problem for sure. I personally know two players who either are in the top-64 or would be for sure, that don’t play tournaments. Or will stop playing tournaments. Sort of. I won’t mention any names.
To me this isn’t much of a “World Championships”, to be honest. I guess it’s a “World Championships” in …some ways… but all the best players that probably should be won’t be there. I guess most players in Sweden (at least in Stockholm) would say that I am one of them. Ask them (the swedish players, that is)?
b.la. b.l.a b.l.a - to make a long story short: I might be one of the 64 best pinball players (tournament play is another story) in the world. But I will never (as it seems to be now) play in the IFPA World Championships. I don’t mind that much though, really (I get my pinball kicks elsewhere). But it could be a problem worth adressing?
Feel free to come to Stockholm to play a five match challenge (with EBs) against me, anytime? Couchsurfing in central Stockholm is included - for most people!
But I won’t pay for the trip, and the food. You can pick the machines! I will create my own Stockholm Pinball Challenge ranking system and do “Yet Another Pinball World Championships” when I’ve played around 10 challenges!
Fez, it’s beginning to feel like you’re wasting our time.
You say you won’t play new games nor keep up with the code, but yet you’ve been doing so all along and want to build a dedicated website for that very purpose?!?
You hate tournaments and look down upon people who chase WPPRs, tournament mode is stupid and it’s all about GCs, but now you are asking for a game plan to move to a different country so you can qualify for IFPA?!?
You (eventually) have some interesting things to discuss, but they seem to come after a long string of posts where you crap on those very same subjects…claiming that they don’t interest you.
I’m sure it’s not your intention, but this behavior makes you look like a troll, rather than someone worthy of getting into discussions with.
What’s the problem there? I’m trying to solve a problem, that exists: too many software-versions to keep track of. I’m willing to create a “page”/“system” on a new website we’re building. However, I won’t administrate this myself. I don’t have the time or interest (possibly for one or two games). And noone seems to be interested in helping out. So, I guess the problem (at least for me) will linger. I will wait till 1.0 is out. It’s fine. I gave it a try though. I would love to have some kind of simple “feed” with software-update-summaries, but won’t do it on my own.
A “system” like this could even be intergrated with rulesheets on tiltforums. The possibilities are endless! I’m willing to spend my (precious!) programming time doing that.
I look down upon a lot of Swedish poorly organized tournaments. I’ve never said anything bad about the tournaments in the US, ok? I’ve never said that tournament is “stupid”, please. Just that it can be very different, and I think it’s more fun to play with EBs.
I’m trying to adress some problems here, I am a very sarcastic-ish person (hence a lot of smilies, sometimes) and tend to think “outside the box” . I think most people misunderstand my intentions here.
PS. I wish it would have been easier to be top-2 i Germany since this is probably the country I’ll move to - damn Ostermeier! DS.
This is the most non-productive, not even remotely close to funny/hilarious/interesting, post I’ve read on Tilt Forums.
I guess I will leave this too then. I’m not welcome. The “pinball scene” has gone through changes. We (it’s just not me) don’t like them much. Have fun getting youtube and twitch-viewz and keep attacking me while I’m still around/not banned! I don’t mind. I have a few hours to spend.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it’s highly likely the rules regarding playing tournaments to achieve a qualifying ranking for IFPA WC events will remain in place for the foreseeable future. Better get to grinding.
I guess I could win about 50-70% of them monthly tournaments, if everything goes as planned. Possibly more, possibly less. Le’ts say that 33% is a “resonable” number. And assuming I’m top-8 in every tournament, every month.
I honestly wouldn’t have the slightest clue. I’m not familiar with the international scene. I know in America, I’ve traveled for competitive tournaments for exactly a year now to experience things outside of Oklahoma and I’m still multiple high finishes away from even sniffing top 100. I’ve had my butt kicked multiple times, but it has been well worth the hard knocks as it’s a tremendous learning experience playing against top competition. It’d be great to break into top 64 or 100, but realistically I’m not on their level. It’s tough to even reach a 150 rank. There’s a lot of outstanding players that also travel to these same events for the same reasons.
At the end of the day, it comes down to what time you’re willing to invest and how well you perform with your invested time.
If you’re as good as you say you are, and always place in the top 2, then you shouldn’t need to "grind’ at all. Just go win the most valuable tournaments, get into the EPC, win that, get a spot into the IFPA championship. Easy peasy.
I bet you’d qualify for Swedish Championship after 1st place in 5 big local tournaments. Then you win that. then you go to EPC, then you go to IFPA. So 7 tournaments will get you an invite to IFPA18.
My friend do you not see or hear how you sound pompous? Not to mention your other posts which you deem that “your time is too valuable”. You have a very holier than thou attitude that is easily seen throughout the way you present yourself. We aren’t misunderstanding, we are interpreting what you say. And this is coming from the guy who wears a fur coat to a tournament.
), but as of now I have no possibilities to play in the IFPA World Championships, right?
How do I find a list of potential countries (“each eligible country”?). I’m open for suggestions, my plan is to leave Sweden as soon as possible, anyway.
I’m willing to spend my (precious!) programming time doing that.
. I think most people misunderstand my intentions here.
- damn Ostermeier! DS.
If I have to grind for years I won’t even try.