So, in looking up something from this years circuit, I discovered some amazing new rules! Check them out when you get a chance, but here are some of them:
8 majors/12 minors - there will be 8 major events, which will have totally different scoring from the rest of the circuit events. (150 points up top)
I like the idea of distinguishing “majors” and giving them greater circuit point value, but I’m surprised there are so many of them. I expect to see PAPA, Pinburgh, INDISC, and Pin-Masters on the major list. After those, there should be a handful of strong contenders, but I won’t get too deep into speculation.
All in all, the updated rules look good. Nice to see that 20 events will make the cut and awarding points down to 40th place is likely to get some more people interested. The new five dollar fee per player, per event also makes sense to take some of the cost burden off the Replay Foundation.
Looking forward to the announcement of next season’s events!
I can see the reasoning behind eight majors a year. The accepted standard is four, as in tennis and golf, but in the world of pinball, it is much, much more likely that any given player will not attend all eight majors.
PAPA and Pinburgh are in the same city. INDISC and Pin-Masters are only five hours apart. It makes sense to believe the wider availability of majors to the remainder of the country will be a bigger benefit than the tangential possibility of whales artificially inflating their point standings by participating at a disproportionate amount of majors.
Circuit Fee – During the first 5 years, the non-profit Replay Foundation funded the PAPA Tournament Circuit and all related Circuit activities in excess of $100,000. For the 2017-2018 PAPA Circuit, we are instituting a $5 fee per player at each event. It is up to each event how they collect this fee. For example, an event could place a $5 registration fee per entrant, or take it out of the overall prize pool. 100% of the money collected will go towards PAPA Circuit promotion, Circuit Final prize pool, as well as providing some prizes for each event.
Wonder what sort of prizes will be provided.
The 8 events with the highest rated survey results from the previous season and who also have an IFPA player count of 70 will become majors (the median player count for 2016 was 77.5).
So this doesn’t imply that PAPA and Pinburgh will necessarily count as majors. Especially since it’s been implied that PAPA didn’t have some of the best ratings in the circuit surveys I believe.
These two points were mentioned on the new rules page. The custom medals for each event sound like a cool idea!
7. Each event will receive a package before their events with some PAPA Swag that can be used at the event as giveaways or prizes.
8. The Replay Foundation / PAPA will be creating a unique medal for each event during the Circuit season to be awarded to the winner of each event. These medals will be mailed to tournament directors prior to each event.
Not sure where you saw that PAPA didn’t have the best ratings, but this post from Doug seems to state otherwise in response to the idea of leaving PAPA/Pinburgh off the circuit.
So looks like the rules page has been updated but the few points @pinwizj mentioned earler are still in:
"1. Tournament must have already been held for a minimum of three years prior to applying. Exceptions may be considered if a PAPA representative attends and takes a greater role in overseeing the event in the first year.
Tournament must have a running 3 year average of 30 players or greater in the highest division."
but it looks like this will tackle the question:
“11. If your event does not meet all of the requirements above, you may still be considered for Circuit inclusion if there are no Circuit events within 100 miles of your event. Events submitted under this restriction will each be reviewed by PAPA staff and if approval is given the event will be added to the voting process.”
Not much details on the voting process going forward for bottom 5 + any new tournament applying yet it seems
We want to create a little internal competition among events to receive the ‘major’ status. The idea of events raising the bar for what they do every year to try and be tagged as a major should be a great thing for events and players moving forward.
A low-rated format does not mean a low-rated tournament. I read this to say that when players were asked about preferred formats, the PAPA run-style qualifying was low on the list.
Listen to my NEW @PinballProfile podcast. Interview with PAPA Director of Operations, Mark Steinman. Talks about the history of Pinburgh, getting feedback, and the PAPA Circuit…plus changes in 2017.
