Magnolia, DE
All,
The year end finale is coming! Listed below are the full rules & format for the Delaware Tour Championship. In short, as mentioned before we are copying the format used for the PAPA Circuit Finals, with one small change. We have added "Consolation" rounds and "Consolation" groups so that everyone will get to play in the same format as the Top 8 playing in the "Championship Bracket". What does that mean you ask? If we followed the PAPA Circuit finals exactly, that means that anyone losing in Round 1 (4 games) would be sent home. That doesn't sit well with the First State Flippers as we want people to have a great time and play lots of pinball! So in the modified PAPA Circuit Finals that we will be using, no matter how you are playing on 12/1, everyone will play a bare minimum of 8 games. This also means that even if you lose in Round 1, you still have the ability to win money in one of the 3 Consolation groups. Please take time before 12/1 to read over the rules and if you have any questions REPLY ALL so that everyone can be on the same page. Lastly, I have also included a picture of the Round 1 pairings as long as all 32 people show up. To recap our player list, we have 1 person back out and that slot was filled by Tom DeStasio, so as of now we have a full field of 32 people. We also have Ryan Altemose, Mike Germscheid, Chris Chow, and John Hurd all confirmed as alternates should they be needed. Good luck everyone, Happy Thanksgiving, and we will see you in a couple of weeks!
The Finals – Format & Details (Modified PAPA Circuit Finals)
The Tour Championship Final will feature a select group of pinball machines selected by officials. Machines outside this group may not be selected for play. Officials may make machine substitutions as they deem necessary.
Round 1
All players will be grouped together by seed into 8 groups of 4 players. Each group of 4 players will compete on 4 different machines, with the highest seeded player given the choice of choosing the game to be played or determining order of play. We will use the PAPA Finals scoring format of 4/2/1/0 during this round. At the end of the 4 game round, two players will advance out of each group into the second round of the winners bracket. Players not advancing will then move down to the losers bracket.
Round 2 – Winners Bracket
Round 2 in the winners bracket will function just like round one. All players will be grouped together by seed into 4 groups of 4 players. Each group of 4 players will compete on 4 different machines, with the highest seeded player given the choice of choosing the game to be played or determining order of play. We will use the PAPA Finals scoring format of 4/2/1/0 during this round as well. At the end of the 4 game round, two players will advance out of each group into the Championship Ladder-style bracket as part of Group #1. The players not advancing will move down to the Consolation Group #2 Ladder-style bracket.
Round 2a – Losers Bracket
Round 2 in the losers bracket will function similarly to round one, with the exception that these groups will play a 3 game round instead of a 4 game round. This group will be made up of the 16 players that did not advance in Round 1. All players will be grouped together by seed into 4 groups of 4 players. Each group of 4 players will compete on 3 different machines, with the highest seeded player given the choice of choosing the game to be played or determining order of play. We will use the PAPA Finals scoring format of 4/2/1/0 during this round as well. At the end of the 3 game round, two players will advance out of each group into the Consolation Group #3 Ladder-style bracket. The remaining two players not advancing to Group #3 will instead advance to the Consolation Group #4 Ladder-style bracket.
Round 3 – Championship Ladder-style Bracket Finals for the Final 8 (Group #1)
Round 3 consists of a series of four-player games. The first game is played by the four lowest-seeded players. The highest-seeded player has choice of machine or order of play. Choice proceeds through the remaining players in descending order of seeding. Once the game has ended, the player who has the lowest score is eliminated from the Tour Championship. The next lowest-seeded player, who has not yet played, is added to the group for the next game. In each subsequent match, the highest-seeded player (who will be the player who just joined the group) has choice of machine or order of play. The next choice is given to the winner of the previous game, and choice proceeds in descending order of score on the previous game.
No player may choose the same machine more than once, but any player may choose a machine already played, including the most recent machine played. Officials may remove any machine from consideration at any time.
Players will compete until two players remain. At that point, a best-of-three match between the final two players will take place to determine the 2018 Delaware Tour Champion. The highest seeded player has the choice of machine or order of play for the first game. From that point forward, the loser of the previous game has the choice of machine or order of play.
Round 3a – Consolation Ladder-style Bracket Finals (Group #2, Group #3 & Group #4)
Round 3 in the losers bracket will consist of 3 different Ladder-style brackets.
* Group #2 will be made up of the 8 players who won Round 1 but lost in Round 2 of the Winners Bracket
* Group #3 will be made up of the 8 players who lost Round 1 but won in Round 2 of the Losers Bracket
* Group #4 will be made up of the 8 players who lost Round 1 and lost in Round 2 of the Losers Bracket
Each Consolation Ladder-style bracket will consist of a series of four-player games. The first game is played by the four lowest-seeded players. The highest-seeded player has choice of machine or order of play. Choice proceeds through the remaining players in descending order of seeding. Once the game has ended, the two players who have the lowest scores are eliminated from the Tour Championship. The next two lowest-seeded players, who have not yet played, are then added to the group for the next game.
In each subsequent match, the highest-seeded player (who will be one of the players who just joined the group) has choice of machine or order of play. The next choice is given to the other highest seeded player who just joined the group. From there the winner of the previous game gets 3rd choice, and the second place finisher of the previous game will get 4th choice.
No player may choose the same machine more than once, but any player may choose a machine already played, including the most recent machine played. Officials may remove any machine from consideration at any time.
Players will compete until two players remain in each of the 3 Consolation Ladder-style brackets on the losers side. At that point, a best-of-three match between the final two players in each Consolation bracket will take place to determine the winner of each group. The highest seeded player has the choice of machine or order of play for the first game. From that point forward, the loser of the previous game has the choice of machine or order of play.
Prizes
The final 8 players in the Championship Ladder Bracket will all receive a cash prize with the 1st place winner receiving the biggest portion of the prize fund along with the Delaware Tour Championship trophy! Additionally, the winner of each Consolation Group in the losers bracket will also win a cash prize. Payouts are listed below based on all 32 people showing up for the event.
After trophy expenses, we have $1615 in the prize fund. Payouts are listed below:
Championship Bracket Payouts:
1ST - $800
2ND - $200
3RD - $150
4TH - $100
5TH - $75
6TH - $65
7TH - $55
8TH - $50
Consolation Group 2 Bracket Winner - $50
Consolation Group 3 Bracket Winner - $40
Consolation Group 4 Bracket Winner - $30
First Round Pairings (resized).JPG
