Hello! I’m relatively new to the competitive scene and am going to attend PAPA 19 and Pinburgh this year.
How far in advance are the machine selections made public? Looking through the forms here, I believe that the PAPA 18 list was shared in February, and Pinburgh was July.
Thank you in advance!
I think the PAPA games will be delayed a bit this year. Last year PAPA was the second week in March and this year its not until April. So I’d expect the games to be announced for that in March sometime rather than February.
I wish papa would go back to not announcing games. At least for A. The guess/reveal was always way more fun.
I have to agree with Cayle on this one. Was fun to go into PAPA Thursday morning and look over all the games and spread the news of which titles for which divisions were present. All that fun is now gone.
We will probably finalize the games and make some kind of announcement in March.
The main issue with keeping them secret these days is that there are just too many people in and out of the PAPA facility because we are involved with so many things.
Trent could be dropping off a game and if the bank is set-up, he sees it and now has an unfair advantage because he knows the games and no one else does.
Well, the answer to Pinburgh is…
Uh… all of 'em I think.
I agree with Cayle, but also for second reason besides the “reveal” fun. I also liked the idea that nobody could practice on the games beforehand. Now, once the list is known, those people with access to those machines can practice on them, while players without such access can only bone up on the rule set or watch videos. Granted there’s no such thing as a level playing field in that regard, at least it used to be less unlevel.
And yes, it was way more fun not knowing. Still is for Classics 2 and 3.
Re: Pinburgh, the answer is all of them.
another vote for not knowing - i like that for all tournaments 
For Pinburgh, if you know more than 1 of the games well in any given bank, you’ll be way ahead of your average opponent.
I’m in favor of pins announced ahead of time when the TD’s that are making pin selections will also be participating in the tourney.
No PAPA World Championship TDs particpate in the PAPA WC tournament.
The finals games are always a surprise at least
I have to disagree here. For those of us that don’t have access to every latest Stern release, I would want to know which one(s) are going to show up in the the banks so I can target my research efforts.
Ahh yes, I completely forgot that I buy every new stern and have all their babies.
It’s extremely rare papa uses the newest Stern game. Usually there is a one year minimum or so.
My guess:
ST pro
TWD
JD
WCS
LW3
Whirlwind
LOTR
Indy 500
Winner 
Kiss
Star Trek
Family guy
No Good Gofers
Starship Troopers
Baywatch
Dirty Harry
Whirlwind
Corvette
Cosmic Gunfight
There has got to be at least one you-never-saw-this-comming oddball Premier/Data East/Sega game. Which one?
That razor sharp CV from last years final with Ringmaster Battle scoring reduced would be a fair guess for A-bank rerun.
Oh yeah… Force 1 in the finals
The idea it was ever a secret is a fallacy. Word always got out ahead of time and was posted somewhere and circulated. The only difference is it was usually kept in cliques. Now, everyone knows whether they’re “connected” or not, and I don’t have to worry about someone dressed up as a UPS guy delivering an empty box or some idiot climbing on the roof to look through the skylights.
It will never go back to the old way, because the old way wasn’t even the old way.