Murrieta, CA
Hello all…..
For many years now, several of us ‘pinheads’ down here in So Cal. have
discussed the fact that it’s about time for a, IFPA sanctioned,
pinball tourney in our neck of the woods. Well, that time has finally
come!
We are formally announcing the 1st annual “It never drains in Southern
California Pinball Classic”!!
Tournament Dates: May 4th -6th
(Starting next year, the target month for our tourney will be in
January.)
Location: Lake Alice Trading Co.
This is a bar/restaurant located in downtown Riverside. (No one under
21 allowed after 7pm)
Qualifying:
Friday May 4th, 3pm – 9pm
Saturday May 5th, 11am -9pm
Finals:
Open: Sunday May 6th , 11am-3pm
Classics: Saturday, May 5th, 7pm
General overview follows:
The tournament consists of open qualifying and match play final
rounds. During open qualifying, each player may make as many
qualifying attempts as he or she likes. A point system is used to
rank each player’s score on each machine. Those who rank highest at
the end of qualifying will participate in the match play final
rounds.
Divisions
All players’ qualifying attempts are considered “open” attempts.
However, to ensure that some less experienced players at the event
will win prizes, the players will be split into two groups of
qualifiers. Those who finished in positions 1-12 will qualify for the
“A” division playoffs. Those who finished in positions 13-20 will
qualify for the “B” division playoffs. To prevent top players from
taking advantage of this, any player ranked in the top 200 of the
World Pinball Player Rankings at the time the tournament begins shall
not be eligible to play in the “B” playoffs. If such a player is in a
position between 13 and 20, the next lower eligible player shall
qualify instead. At the discretion of the tournament officials, any
other player whose past tournament performance indicates that they
should be treated as an “A” player may be also ineligible for the “B”
division. [They probably know who they are.]
If the total number of ‘players’ exceedes 50, the the number of ‘Open’
qualifiying slots will increase to 24 (1-16 ‘A’, 17-24 ‘B’). (Also,
top 4 in ‘A’ will receive 2 byes, 5-8 will receive 1 bye.)
A Classics Division side tournament will be held on older
Electromechanical and or Solid State games. Entries fees will be the
same as for the “A” and “B” divisions. The top 12 finishers will
qualify for the Classics playoffs. The are no skill division splits
within the Classics tournament.
Prizes
Prizes, as % of total entries are shown in the table below.
“A” and “B” prize funds are from total Open entries; Classics funds
are from Classics entries only.
“A” “B” Classics
1st 20% 12% 35% + trophy / plaque
2nd 14% 6% 20% + trophy / plaque
3rd 8% 4% 13% + trophy / plaque
4th 6% 2% 8% + trophy / plaque
5th – 8th 4% 1% 4%
9th – 12th 2% n/a 2%
Top Qualifier in ‘Open’ and ‘Classics’ divisions will receive $50
each.
Top score on each machine pays $20.
Fees
A one-time $5 registration fee is required of each player who wishes
to compete to defray the cost of trophies and other non-cash prizes,
if any.
Registration does not include entries in any division; each entry is
sold for an additional fee. All players who reside outside of
California and travel to the tournament to register as a player will
receive two free entries for both the main and classics tournaments.
The entry fee is $4 for 1 entry, $7 for 2, $10 for 3 and $20 for 8
entries. Unplayed entries will not be refunded.
Games will require 50 cent coin drop each; the proceeds will be used
to defray the cost of trophies or plaques and other non-cash prizes,
if any. Any remaining monies from coin drop will be added to the prize
fund. No coin drop will be required for finals play.
Scoring
Each player’s best score on a machine will receive a point value based
on its rank compared to all other players’ scores. We will use the
common system where the #1 score earns 100 points, #2 earns 90 points,
#3 earns 85 points and #4 through #87 earn one point less per
position, i.e. 84 points down through 1 point. Ranks below #87 earn
no points on that machine. A player’s overall score is the sum of
their ranked scores on all machines in that division of the
tournament, whether or not the player has played all such machines.
Because the rankings will change as new scores are posted on each
machine, the overall score of each player may change as the qualifying
rounds progress.
Tournament officials will endeavor to provide up-to-date scores and
rankings. The overall ranking scores are used to determine which
players qualify for the playoff rounds.
Points are counted separately for the Open [“A” + “B”] tournament and
the Classics tournament.
Playoff Rounds
1. Format
In the “A” division, players ranked 1-4 will receive a bye; Players
5-12 will play in the first match play round, grouped thus:
i. 5 + 8 + 9+ 12
ii. 6 + 7 + 10 + 11
The top 2 finishers in groups i. and ii. move to the next round as
follows:
iii. 1 + 4 + top two from (i.)
iv. 2 + 3 + top two from (ii.)
The top 2 finishers in each group will move on to final round.
In the “B” division, there are just two rounds of playoffs as follows:
i. 1 + 4 + 5 + 8
ii. 2 + 3 + 6 + 7
The top 2 finishers in each group will move on to final round.
In the Classics division, players ranked 1-4 will receive one bye.
Players 5-12 will play in the first match play round, grouped thus:
i. 5 + 8 + 9 + 12
ii. 6 + 7 + 10 + 11
The top 2 finishers in groups i. and ii. move to the next round as
follows:
iii. 1 + 4 + top two from (i.)
iv. 2 + 3 + top two from (ii.)
The top 2 finishers in each group will move on to final round.
The machines used for final rounds in each division will be the same
as those used in qualifying with one exception. The #1 qualifier in
the “A” division may add one machine from the practice bank to the
final rounds, provided that the machine was available for all players
to play during qualifying hours. The #1 qualifier is not required to
do so, nor are they required to choose to play that machine during the
final rounds. The “B” division will use solely the games used in
qualifying.
Playoff Round Scoring
Each group will play three four-player games, scored as follows:
1st – 4 points; 2nd – 2 points; 3rd – 1 point; 4th – 0 points
The majority of the detailed rules are adapted from PAPA.org, whom we
thank for making them available for other tournaments.
Games Used:
4 machines used in both Open and Classic divisions. Games titles will
be announced in the coming weeks.
Mini Tournaments on both Friday and Saturday!
IFPA sanctioned tournament. WPPR's will be awarded!
More details to come!
If you’re interested in seeing the full list of rules and details or
need any other info, send me an email! [email protected] or call me
(951) 378-4091
Co directors: Karl D’Angelo and Bob Matthews
Special thanks to Adam Lefkoff for use of his ‘widely used’ tourney
software!!
More updates:
Website is up...........we'll still update here as well.
http://www.iepinball.com/neverdrains (still a work in
progress....thanks Karl!)
Secured a couple sponsors, working on more, .........so we have a
prize fund started already! That's always nice. Other prizes from
Stern and JJP(Thanks ALL!)
Will be awarding PAPA registrations/entries for top finishers...thanks
PAPA!!
More updates coming soon!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Jim
