Let me start off by saying that I do not attend pinball shows because of tournaments, mostly because I am a terrible player. I mostly like playing games that I have never played before.

Has anyone really looked into the legality of hosting these high dollar tournaments? If you look into the law, isn’t it technically considered gambling because it’s a “pay to play” system? Only the state lottery and a select few nonprofit charities and allowed to do this and they are regulated by the state. That’s why when you see, for example, the McDonalds’ Monopoly sweepstakes advertisements that they always say “no purchase necessary” since you buying the meal is a “pay to play” system. McDonalds’ always has forms that you can join their contest and mail in and join without buying any of their products to get around that. I guess you could argue that the high dollar tournaments are a completion, but I really think it’s still a “pay to play” system still applies.

If the final prize is given by a sponsor and the money you pay into goes toward the use/wear of the machines during the completion, that’s a way you could skirt around it. Yet I feel high dollar buy-ins would really need to be questioned since the price to play seems over the value what typical wear and tear would be on a machine and the machines that are used are typically donated by people who never receive the compensation for use of their machines.

Lastly, one of the biggest problems with these high dollar tournaments is that the show promoter may advertise the games included in the tournaments as games being brought to the show for the public (general admission) and once you get there and pay your admission you realize the games you came to play are roped off. It could really put a bad taste in your mouth and I think game lists should be broken down by tournament and public games.

It’s just something you need to consider when planning these events.

I just bought 4 tickets for Saturday.