I would never assess a penalty to a player for doing this if I were TD unless I was 100% positive they did it on purpose. Which is almost impossible unless they were dumb enough to brag to me about it. Haha
I think his objection is to the word āshouldā, but Iām guessing. It seems like changing āshouldā to āmustā here would clarify the situation.
The rule and its execution have been very clear in purpose and intent for more than a decade.
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Hi there. From what I hear, this conversation stems from a game of Aerosmith I played during the Womenās World Championship yesterday that was apparently broadcast on Twitch. The reason I didnāt trap up is because I did not have a ball stuck; the game was functioning as intended, and I knew that because I had played quite a bit of Aerosmith in preparation. I verified this fact with a TD afterward. I understand this is an interesting thought exercise but Iād appreciate it if it were not implied that I was ācheating.ā
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For what itās worth, as someone who was watching live and someone reading this thread I personally did not interpret it this way.
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Your perspective is understandable by all Iām sure. But do you have a suggestion for a better way to handle these situations, or do you think it should just be āplay onā no matter what?
The rule is obviously impossible to implement perfectly, but I think it still results in more fair play and less nonsense than the alternative (no rule).
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Knowingly exploiting the situation or not ā This has to do with whether there are consequences for player conduct, such as DQ from the game, DQ from the tournament, DQ from all tournaments ever.
Not knowingly exploiting the situation, but āstuff happening during the unknown stuck ball phaseā ā TDās determine if the activity was material or not, and either the game gets voided or not. No penalties here for Player Conduct
Weāve had this discussion on the issue of materiality for a given situation . . . so you donāt always void the score in a given stuck ball situation.
For example, if you have 400mil on TZ, and I have 30mil on TZ on ball 3. I play Powerball Mania, and unknowingly play it with a ball stuck on the playfield for twenty minutes, finally trap up to get a TD. If I show up and the current Powerball Mania score is 5.5mil, Iām NOT going to void the game. However if the Powerball Mania score is 4.2bil, I would review the situation with my fellow TDās and call for that game to be replayed for player 2 (or if the Powerball Mania score is actually known, we can back off those points, give a new 3rd ball, and the player can finish their game on a fresh game).
The penalty for intentionally taking advantage of the situation is certainly far more likely to happen with a high level player who knows every nuance of every game . . . but our hope is that those players are likely to be the ones that arenāt complete assholes . . . you know . . . for the good of our sport 
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Ok, but can we address who is supposed to say something. Take @CFFLegs point above (I didnāt know where this conversation came from and I didnāt see the stream until the end, so nothing I said is directed at anybody in particular), she knows the rules and the ball was not stuck, so what if an observer thought a ball was stuck and started screaming āhey hey - the ball is stuck!ā and as a result she drains out of multiball. That is not a situation anyone wants. Can we get some direction on what people are supposed to do?
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In this situation where the player had more knowledge than I did on a game, I would ask people around me or find a td and voice my concern before bothering my opponent.
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I was wrong in that situation.
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This seems important. Both āshouldā And āmayā are used. Should should be replaced and āmayā could be replaced with āAt the discretion of the TDā or something.
How do you know who has more knowledge? Letās say youāre an opponent who believes a player has a stuck ball (whether or not you are correct) - what are you supposed to do?
Is there a recording of the Twitch broadcast? Iād like to see what happened in the game, along with the comments made by @timballs.
Multiple people have told me that @timballs accused @CFFlegs of cheating. It sounds like she was doing fine (relocked ball during Toys, perhaps?).
If a player is falsely accused of cheating, the accuser should apologize; āI was wrong in that situationā is not an apology.
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Since it is not archived to twitch I do not think a chat replay will be available. The video, however can still be dumped onto youtube at some point in the future @GarrettHays.
Stuck in an elevatorā¦ Blowin it up while timballs frownsā¦
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This was sort of why I made this thread because I needed to get a platform to apologize for my conduct in the twitch chat yesterday. I was operating under 2 key incorrect assumptions. 1 being that the elevator lock was malfunctioning as it had been in games prior. And 2 that the penalty for playing on during a stuck ball during multiball is a voided game score with no opportunity to replay that game, regardless of player intent.
I donāt think the platform of twitch chat helped much as I lashed out after I felt like I was being ganged up on and doubled down and in the future I will try to take a step back and reconsider my actions instead of letting my emotions get the best of me. Sorry ZoĆ« and everyone in chat
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Alert the TD as soon as possible.
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So for those of us like myself who donāt know the rules. Can you lock a ball in the elevator during toy box multiball? Or was it elevator multiballā¦Or can you only lock a ball in the elevator during toy box IF the toy box is disabledā¦
I was in the chat and watching the stream. I saw a TD and experienced player voice their opinion that turned out to be wrong.
Thanks Tim, for investigating further, apologizing to Zoe, and helping everyone learn by starting the topic.
TDs reading, would you suggest using a game that is mostly unknown because itās brand new should be restricted to only high level tournaments? Any tips for handling suspected problems when the correct functionality of a machine isnāt known?
When Iām asked a question about machine behavior, my response is either to fix / rule on something, or just to say something generic like āThe game is working properly.ā
I agree with you that game knowledge is critical, and a lack of information about new machines (along with a lack of explanation by the machine, perhaps) can cause some trouble.
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Pretty much in that situation, try to get a good idea of the game state before starting up the TD Inquisition. If you can see the playfield, look to where the locks are (in this case, the Briefcase) and see if thereās any reason as to why the multiball is continuing. Also, make sure that the multiball isnāt one that still continues the mode in single ball play, like Horde, Iron Throne, or in this case Scene 6 Multiball.
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