You went full Wisconsin. You don’t never go full Wisconsin!
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Who decides what the regions are? IFPA
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Does every state get 10 players, no matter how big or small they are? YES, but you must declare at registration which state you are deeming your home turf. So the endorsed regionals tournaments points only count in your home turf. If ohio is your turf your not going to attend the michigan endorsed tournament as it would be meaningless…
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Is it the same SCS style qualifying process for those state standings? NO, only the events that deemed endorsed for regionals… the idea is create a mini circuit outside of the major circuit to involve players. The pitch forks are out because of the everyone deserves a trophy riots. There would be say 10 regionals endorsed events in each state. The Elected TD’S would each get an event split. east michigan gets 5 events west michigan gets 5 events.
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Who decides the “Regional Championship” rotation schedule and who hosts? (More importantly how many finalists do you need to accommodate space and game wise) IFPA. When the regionals come to each state, the elected TDS would get together to create these events. For example each state should have 1 location that is capable for hosting 50-60 people.
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Does Nationals go away entirely? Do you take the winner of each Regional to Nationals? No, winning the regionals will allow you to attend nationals.
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When does a player have to decide on their eligibility for regionals and get their payment in? by the end of january of the current year.
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What happens if a state doesn’t have 10 players that want to pay the $125 fee? Then whatever # they have goes to nationals.
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So the IFPA State Reps have complete control over what tournaments get pulled into being eligible? Does it matter that a majority of our state reps are also competing in this process? No, For example a major event like stern pro circut or pinburgh would not be a regionals eligible wppr event. It would have its own circuit. so lets say ohio has 5 Endorsed TD’S they each would be allowed to host 2 Regional Endorsed Events that year. If you said ohio is your turf you would do your best to attend.
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How do you determine what “X” is with respect to the number of events that are eligible? Does Delaware get the same number of events that count in their standings as California? yes because again this is only for those who have opted in.
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What if there’s only a handful of TD’s for the entire state, and one TD runs a majority of the events in that state? How do you propose we handle your split “evenly among endorsed TD’s” rule? For Example Ifpa says ok each state gets 4 endorsed TD’s per state. If its 8 events per state then each td would get 2 events.
an elected TD would be a person who wants to promote the growth of pinball within their state and would make efforts to make sure that the events are spread in fairness to the state
Regionals will be interesting in Western states. I think Colorado and Arizona are the only places with significant activity. After that you have to drive hundreds, if not a thousand miles across several states to find something significant.
That’s an easy answer to say, and lobs the volleyball back over the net in my lap. What’s the process for deciding what the regions are? What are the rules regarding what state gets put in what region?
When is registration? You mention something about declaring by January 31st of the current year. What happens if you don’t start playing until April of that year? Are we telling new players this isn’t for them (versus currently new players can qualify for the SCS of the current year even if they started playing today for 2017)?
Who is managing the logistics of only counting events turf? It sounds like you want the IFPA to add a process where players select a region at the predetermined date (say 1 through 13, or however many they are). We then have to map out our build process to only build the standings of the events played in the region of that particular player?
How are the circuit events decided? For Michigan there are 37 different registered tournament directors in the state. Who decides what barrier represents the “East/West” split? If there are 10 events total, and 37 registered TD’s, which 27 are left out in the cold? Is that a subjective decision (and if so, who decides)? Is it an objective metrics based decision? If so, what are those metrics that decide who the 10 elected TD’s are?
What about states that have multiple locations that are capable of hosting? Who decides who earns that right to host? For example, if Traverse City wants to host Michigan, but so does Detroit . . . who gets it? (Assuming you have quality TD’s and locations in each area willing to host)
Does each Regional only advance one winner (regardless of how big that region is)? How many participants for Nationals you do see based on that? Currently there’s 40-50 players for Nationals . . . this seems like it would be far fewer players?
Does any of that $125 fee get paid out at the Regional level . . . or are you paying nothing to any of the players that qualify for regionals and perform well in that final?
What constitutes a major event? If Pinburgh decided to NOT by on the Stern Pro Circuit, could they then make themselves eligible for this Regional Championship? Is the Stern Pro Circuit the only metric that measures whether a tournament is a “Major” or not?
What do you do if Ohio has 31 IFPA endorsed TD’s? Who decides what 5 events are included in the Ohio portion of this regional circuit?
So if Washington has 600 IFPA endorsed events each year, and Delaware has 2 . . . that means you only count the 2 from Washington? How you decide which 2 are counted?
What criteria are you deciding WHO those elected TD’s are? In Michigan with their 37 TD’s, how am I supposed to decide which 4 get “elected”? Do we have a voting process and let the players decide? Do I pick who I’m closest friends with? Do we raise funds and whatever TD donates the most to IFPA gets picked? I’m curious how you would narrow 37 down to 4 without causing an insane amount of drama here with the existing organizers.
But, really for Oregon I think the expanded field would take care of most of our state’s gripes. And as has been pointed out the SCS is already fantastically successful and we’re nit picking here.
Yep, no need to radically change the SCS.
I feel I am a decent representative of the Eugene community as it relates to IFPA issues, and while an expansion to 24 or more would in no way guarantee someone would represent the Eugene player base in the SCS, (particularly as our only weekly will not be IFPA-sanctioned in 2018 
) it would give us a better chance to gain some value from the hundreds of dollars we’ll be sending to the tournament in 2018 and beyond. @heyrocker, can this please be implemented? I’m having a hard time seeing any downside.
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It’s not intended as an insult. I do think it’s pretty well known that a certain WI person has mentioned starting a WI version of the IFPA points system. So it was an easy reference to make.
The funny thing is that I have a spreadsheet that I made a few years ago that would calculate the value of an event based on TGP, player count, and even bonus points. I had a list of players that provided bonus points who might play in an event and had to manually tally that up, but the formulas worked to get the values. So realistically, crunching the numbers and making another spreadsheet to track points/standings isn’t really hard with something like Sheets in Google Drive. The data and database of the IFPA to be able to compare events and players is an amazing feat that I wouldn’t even know where to begin with. But if I am tracking points and standings for my City Championships, it really wouldn’t be any different for a state to do the same thing. Seems a little extreme, but whatever.
I love WI by the way. My family has a long history there and one of my favorite beers comes from WI and I can only get it when we visit or have visitors. One 6 or 12 pack at a time.
WPPR v1.0 was all handled on a giant Excel worksheet. I would just insert a new column whenever a new result came in, and then search for the players (they were in the Rows) to find what row to put the points on. If I couldn’t find the player, I would add them as a new player in the next available row.
I can’t underestimate how much I don’t miss those days. I’m guessing I would have lasted maybe a year before going insane. Good thing @Shep came around and saved the day 
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No worries desertt1. Not insulted at all. I was really just trying to be funny responding to your comment. I should have given you a wink.
Yes it looks like he will be starting a WI ranking. I am not a huge proponent of an only WI system but know a lot of people around here play in free tournaments for just coin drop and IFPA points. Now those tournaments have to decide whether to charge the $1 or not do IFPA.
The other big problem is the Midwest Gaming Classic got in trouble a few years back for charging for tournaments and the police and gaming commission made threats to shut it down (my understanding of the events). After that, all the tournaments were free there.
Most of the local operators are now scared and don’t want to take the risk and have the same thing happen and charging even a dollar to o play in an event can cause trouble from the law. They could come in and confiscate the games is my understanding.
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One of our local regulars is pretty good with databases and I might see what magic he can work with things. I’ve run Tucson Pinball League out of a spreadsheet embedded into the web page for the last few years and it’s been fine once it’s all set up. Same thing with City Championships. But, I bet it would look a lot cleaner if it was actually web based.
With 30ish entries in league and 20 so far in city, I can imagine running that with hundreds or thousands of players and wanting to escape to something better ASAP.
That’s a bummer situation. Hopefully somebody is willing to try and get things changed, like the people who have recently worked to get pinball officially legalized in some areas. If that’s not possible, then do what you need to do as a state to keep things going.
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Well yea… the IFPA is your system…no matter what system you use a portion of it is going to land on you. The current system has no accountability when it comes to making sure a TD isnt screwing the system.[quote=“pinwizj, post:186, topic:3163”]
When is registration? You mention something about declaring by January 31st of the current year. What happens if you don’t start playing until April of that year? Are we telling new players this isn’t for them (versus currently new players can qualify for the SCS of the current year even if they started playing today for 2017)?
Who is managing the logistics of only counting events turf? It sounds like you want the IFPA to add a process where players select a region at the predetermined date (say 1 through 13, or however many they are). We then have to map out our build process to only build the standings of the events played in the region of that particular player?
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Yes this isnt for someone whos just joining in. Its a put your money where your mouth is system. If you are holding this big series of tournaments to compete in a nationals the idea is to get the best out of each state.
yes another “branch” would need to be created.[quote=“pinwizj, post:186, topic:3163”]
How are the circuit events decided? For Michigan there are 37 different registered tournament directors in the state. Who decides what barrier represents the “East/West” split? If there are 10 events total, and 37 registered TD’s, which 27 are left out in the cold? Is that a subjective decision (and if so, who decides)? Is it an objective metrics based decision? If so, what are those metrics that decide who the 10 elected TD’s are?
Pinwife:
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no one gets left out in the cold. Anyone can still run their weekly small scale events for the WPPR points. For example if Record Boy was an endorsed TD and say he was allowed to hold 3 regional qualifying events, 1 event could be held at his place and then the other 2 events ideally he would with other locations in the area to have them held at those venues like Chesterfield , mbrew, or bay city for example. Where as if Alex took the west side he would hold his events pyramid scheme, one well, & blind squirrell. IFPA State Reps should know who is knowledgable in each state that runs tournaments and is versed in IFPA Ruleset. I would say allow IFPA State Reps to make the call on who would be an endorsed TD[quote=“pinwizj, post:186, topic:3163”]
What about states that have multiple locations that are capable of hosting? Who decides who earns that right to host? For example, if Traverse City wants to host Michigan, but so does Detroit . . . who gets it? (Assuming you have quality TD’s and locations in each area willing to host)
Pinwife:
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Thats where a conversation gets started between the State Reps & the endorsed TD’S. Hold a vote within the TD’S & IFPA REP. Each Location will have its own charm. For Example the difference between holding a grand rapids event vs chesterfield would be 1 location has a mix of new and old and they other has an mostly system 11’s.[quote=“pinwizj, post:186, topic:3163”]
Does each Regional only advance one winner (regardless of how big that region is)? How many participants for Nationals you do see based on that? Currently there’s 40-50 players for Nationals . . . this seems like it would be far fewer players?
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I would say allow top 4 from each region to attend nationals. [quote=“pinwizj, post:186, topic:3163”]
Does any of that $125 fee get paid out at the Regional level . . . or are you paying nothing to any of the players that qualify for regionals and perform well in that final?
Pinwife:
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60% goes towards nationals 40% goes towards regionals.[quote=“pinwizj, post:186, topic:3163”]
What constitutes a major event? If Pinburgh decided to NOT by on the Stern Pro Circuit, could they then make themselves eligible for this Regional Championship? Is the Stern Pro Circuit the only metric that measures whether a tournament is a “Major” or not?
What do you do if Ohio has 31 IFPA endorsed TD’s? Who decides what 5 events are included in the Ohio portion of this regional circuit?
Pinwife:
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The idea is to find the best 10 players in each state to compete for their state in regionals and hopefully move onto nationals. The Endorsed TD number would be the same for each state. Each state gets the same # of events that count towards regionals. A major event would be any sort of expo or event like pinburgh. The idea is to have a better balance.[quote=“pinwizj, post:186, topic:3163”]
So if Washington has 600 IFPA endorsed events each year, and Delaware has 2 . . . that means you only count the 2 from Washington? How you decide which 2 are counted?
Pinwife:
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each state gets the same number of endorsed events… again its just like a circuit but within each state. There will still be your normal events taking place kinda of like novice division/charity events
So I would say the Criteria for an Endorsed TD would be:
-Atleast 1 year of running IFPA tournaments/League
-Understanding of IFPA rules/guidelines
-Willing to promote & work with other locations
Let the people & state rep decide
Again the Endorsed TD’s act as the active party to organize, advise,& promote pinball within the state a region.
This regional idea would be its own devil.
it allows people to have a choice on if they want to try and play with the big dogs or not.
This statement immediately knocks this proposition out of IFPA consideration as they are right now. “I shouldn’t go to (event), it’s for locals only.” What if Wizards of Ohio was like this? A fun tournament that I’m looking forward to making the drive again for enjoyment/personal betterment/seeing Ohio friends/PAPA practice would all of a sudden be off my list because the IFPA and it’s representatives decided that they wanted to make pinball more exclusive. That philosophy is the antithesis of IFPA’s vision and catering to it by allowing out of state play would create a data logistics nightmare.
How about in states with player disparity and/or long travel times? Should Pittsburgh have the same events as Allentown/Harrisburg?
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Good stuff Amanda, appreciate the thoughtful comments.
I’ll leave your suggestions up to discussion here on Tilt Forums to see what others think the pros/cons are on ditching the current SCS process in favor of what you’ve laid out.
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Agreed. I like the idea, it’s just part of my day job to question everything to make things better. Research life and all that. 
No could go… you just wouldn’t get the points to count towards regionals. But you could stop someone from getting points.
For example… if josh was in Michigan and wanted to stop Aaron from getting top points he could play the event. Josh’s points from the Michigan event just wouldn’t carry to the regionals standings. He wouldn’t become eligible in Michigan and it wouldn’t help his Illinois standings.
I like this piece of it a lot. Why not just implement this part to the already in place SCS rules?
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Doesn’t this already happen?
If I show up to the biggest tournament in Michigan, which Aaron also attends . . . if I beat Aaron I stop him from getting top points at the event.
This doesn’t help my standing in Illinois at all because the event is in Michigan. The points I earn at the Michigan event are meaningless to me because I’m not playing in Michigan for SCS.
I think this exact situation is already playing out? Unless I’m totally missing something . . .
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But you could play in MI if you wanted to.
Adding this wrinkle would require us to declare a state each year and eliminate the mystery of where some players are going to play.
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So I should be penalized because I played well enough to earn the option to choose IL or MI? Sounds fair, especially if I move in February 2018 to Michigan after declaring Illinois in January 2018. Now I’m just screwed for the SCS that season unless I drive back to Illinois to compete?
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I have an idea . . . why don’t you guys prove this model out for Michigan?
We can call it the IFPA Michigan Circuit. Tabaka I’m sure would be willing to help coordinate things with the rest of you guys. Have Rosa choose his MI Circuit event, Harmon can choose his, you guys can choose yours, and whoever else Tabaka nominates as being able to join in the circuit for the season.
Ask all interested players to pay the $125 fee to be ranked, and I’ll help you guys track the Michigan Circuit standings for the year.
It would be educational to see how the logistics work between the State Reps and the local TD’s, as well as the level of player interest.
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