As TD, prior to the tournament I had stipulated that extra balls were to be plunged and not played. Player one finished ball 2 having earned an extra ball. He had Crank it up lit and did not want to risk the plunge finding its way into the scoop and negating his Crank it up mode (this had in fact happened to him in competition before). His solution was to intentionally tilt his extra ball rather than plunging it. As I could not recall any official rule referencing this situation, I allowed it to stand.
I.9
"Any player who deliberately tilts or slam tilts a machine in order to derive some benefit to his or her own play, or the play of others, under these rules, will receive a score of zero. Repeated offenses may result in ejection from the tournament."
But I would not enforce this rule in this situation.
I always thought this rule needs to go, as it’s just way too subjective on whether something was intentional. For instance you could just short plunge and then tilt while the ball is in the bumpers claiming you were just trying to keep the ball in there, etc.
Another option could have been to play his extra ball and plunge but not play ball 3.
As my stipulation created the controversy, I felt inclined to allow the player that concession particularly since the Tilt did not alter the state of the game. Tilting the ball would provide the exact same play scenario as it would had I had the extra balls turned off.
This just happened in WA State finals. I had an extra ball to plunge on Tron with light cycle lit and decided to tilt it out as to not accidentally start light cycle.
Was ruled no penalty because we have a rule that supercedes the Ifpa rule saying you are allowed to do whatever you want prior to plugging an extra ball but once you let go, no touching the machine. Since I was allowed to do whatever before plunging it was ruled tilting was allowed before plunging.
I would have gladly taken the zero just to point out how dumb this rule is.
Then what is the rule for TAF? Intentional tilting post-ball is a legitimate strategy with no bonus. It feels in the same way as visor “stuck balls” on AFM multiball - if it’s in the code, it should be allowed.
what is dumb is that he IFPA/PAPA rules does not clearly cover the EB situation, which are enable on over 90% of the IFPA tourney… on location where turning off EBs is not realistic.
Please note that older machines may have different settings, such as allowable extra balls, five-ball play, or a Tilt penalty of “entire game” rather than “current ball”. Players will play the game “as is”. For example, if a machine is set for five-ball play, groups may not end the game after three balls. Electromechanical machines will generally be set for five-ball play, but if they are set for three, they will be played as three. While efforts have been made to eliminate extra balls from machines, any extra balls earned should be played unless otherwise noted on the machine. If a machine is awarding extra balls, please bring this to the attention of tournament coordinators, who may need to address a problem with the machine between rounds.
It wasn’t that one, it was Attack from Mars. The employee with access to the key box had gone home to get ready for the night shift.
Why isn’t the drop target down during strobe multiball?
Also, I was pretty nervous yesterday morning, not that I would be knocked out early (I was), but that I would have to make a very difficult ruling and screw it up. Lucky for me, @pinwizj gives everyone his phone number.
