Attacks only happen after a jackpot, so if no attack is happening, one won’t just show up. If one is coming, just post pass it.
7 Likes
You always have the option to try and free the ball yourself by hitting it with the other ball, or in this case just getting another ball into the pops.
My opinion is that players should always make an honest attempt to free the ball before calling a TD over, I’ve seen too much footage where freeing the stuck ball would be trivial but the player still gets a TD involved due to the advantage of having the ball placed on a flipper or back in the shooter lane.
No you don’t.
Paragraph 7. Stuck Balls includes:
“No attempts should be made by the player to continue shooting shots around the playfield trying to free the stuck ball if that ball is deemed to be stuck under this rule.”
Giving the players an honest attempt to free the ball, gives them honest attempts to accidentally hit 3 jackpots while missing the stuck ball they are aiming to release. Stuck balls have to be dealt with as a stuck ball regardless of whether you’re in multiball play or not.
6 Likes
Since when? Rules changes like this need to be publicized better. I review the IFPA rules every six months or so, and this never stood out as a change. At some point the rules said explicitly that attempting to free a stuck ball was fine, and I’ve seen people do it in major competitions.
Also, that’s crap. My opinion, but it’s crap.
2 Likes
It’s definitely been that way since before IFPA12 in 2015, because I made an incorrect ruling letting Jorian shoot a stuck ball free when I shouldn’t have (so far greater than 6 months).
Your opinion may be that it’s crap . . . the pinball gods unfortunately disagree with you, and IFPA/PAPA follow whatever the gods tell us 
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I will drop this here, not because Josh needs proof, but this certainly came up in the past.
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While I know it’s in jest (and agree with the rule at hand) this sort of phrasing and deferral of responsibility to a nebulous authority when an IFPA/PAPA decision is questioned tends to be extremely off-putting.
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No deferral of responsibility intended. I’ll own it 100%, full stop. Anyone that doesn’t agree should feel free to use their own rules.
My off-putting response was triggered by the level of opinion that was previously offered
Back to your regularly scheduled programs…Huge IFPA news less than a week away
4 Likes
What, you are going to increase the IFPA tithe to $2? 
2 Likes
Check it out,
3 dollars
1 Like
Last bids, gentlemen…
Adding a rage suppress button to all IFPA profiles
5 Likes
A “Suppress player” button, more likely?
What do the pinball gods tell us in this Dialed in situation?
IMO you can’t force the player to post pass.
A player is supposed to make their best effort to trap up, while not risking draining the ball which is their responsibility.
I wouldn’t fault a player for flipping away when the attack is about to strike. I would expect them to try their best to trap up as quickly and safely as possible after that. If another attack comes while trapped, rinse repeat until a TD can help you out.
What about no hold flippers in WoZ? Are you forced to drain out of multiball since no trap is possible?
With it being impossible to trap up, you gotta dump them. The only options here are letting someone play the 1 ball multiball out indefinitely, or draining them out…our rules always default to “F*ck the player”.
In this case I would hand out Keefer’s email address to the player and have them send him a thank you note
5 Likes
This seems like a good time to remind TDs that you don’t have to use the PAPA/IFPA ruleset for your events. If you don’t agree with “F the player” as a fundamental policy, just announce a different rule for your event. You even still earn WPPRs.
8 Likes
This seems like a good time to remind TDs that every ruling “F’s” someone. In the WOZ situation allowing the player to play on really screws the other three players in the group
But definitely agree with Joe, tailor your rules to whatever you feel works best as TD. Just make sure those rules are written clearly beforehand. “Stuck ball during no hold flippers on WOZ = automatic win!” That rule also works just fine
Does WOZ have coindoor ballsave? Enable that, then you can pop the door to solve a stuck ball issue during that no-hold mode (assuming not a location game)
Another house-rule option since WOZ is such a stackable game… if player has other multiballs stacked with no-hold, allow them to play with the stuck ball until there are just 2 balls remaining in play, then they have to dump. They don’t lose the whole shebang and the benefit of the stuck ball is somewhat nullified by losing the MB when 2 are still in play.