Why do you refer to other players as "drama fueled self important donkeys" and "toolbags" and their actions as "pretty dickish"? That's extremely disrespectful. You're calling people these names because they ... followed the rules of the system IFPA built? Come on. If you're really trying to build camaraderie among players, name-calling is not a great way to start.

A lot of what you say here is completely legit, suggesting a different way in which the SCS fields are built. It's hard to take these comments seriously when they are coupled with insults.

A group from PAPA comes down from Pittsburgh to operate the tournament at the Louisville Arcade Expo. It is a high-quality event and tournament, and that's why it has strong attendance. The group that runs Louisville Arcade Expo has no control over what other events occur in that state throughout the year. Whether or not there are other tournaments in that state shouldn't be relevant to the quality of the events it does have. One could make a reasonable argument that there shouldn't be a Kentucky IFPA State Champion given the low number of events in the state: last year the minimum number of events was 4 and has been lowered to 2.

FYI, PAPA Circuit is expanding and is moving to a more democratic process for event selection in 2015-16. See the details here for how to apply:

http://papa.org/2015/01/02/2015-16-papa-circuit-details/

Pinballz moved 10 machines into a special location for the event, made that area of its space off-limits to customers, and spent a ton of time bulletproofing those games for the event. PAPA never asked Pinballz to close to regular customers, as far as I know, and I was the PAPA representative at the Pinballz PAPA Circuit event.

You say "we got pooched with PAPA", I'm not sure what you mean by "we". I don't recall names against Pinside names well, so I'm sorry that I don't remember you from the Pinballz event. I felt it was well organized on their part, started and ended on time, and 100% of the money collected in entries was paid out in prizes.

When is it? TPF should consider applying for PAPA Circuit if that is a target: http://papa.org/2015/01/02/2015-16-papa-circuit-details

I only attended once, and that was coincidental (I had business in the immediate area). I generally can only travel to 3-4 events per year. Players are motivated to attend an event by many factors -- the prize pool and the percentage of the prize pool paid out, the timing of events, a set of well-publicized and well-followed rules, a good balance between the "grind" of tournament qualifying versus the fun of being at a pinball show with friends. From the PAPA page above:

"PAPA’s preexisting agreements with individual tournaments will be dissolved, and the entire Circuit calendar will be based off of what the players themselves choose as the best events. Tournament directors will no longer be required to convince PAPA representatives of the high quality of their event, they will be required to make decisions that convince the players themselves."

Uhhh... what? The Circuit tournaments can be anywhere. Circuit Final 2016 is unscheduled at this time but likely to be held the day before PAPA 19.

... but your alternative is to force *everyone* to pay, IF they want to compete in the SCS. How is that better??

Then have a real discussion, and stop calling people self-important donkeys, toolbags, or panty sniffers, and stop posting idiotic off-topic pictures. Like I said before, this behavior makes it very difficult for anyone to listen to or care about anything else you say.

If you care only about local growth and not the national or worldwide state of pinball, then do your own thing, and let IFPA do theirs. If you choose to host an independent state championship, like many states do, then you should probably do it without using IFPA's information as the basis for your anti-IFPA event. Why would you limit to 24 players if the goal is to get more involvement from new and beginner players? Let everyone play, and crown a champion.

Just so we're clear, you're saying the following are all fine because you didn't name a specific person, so they don't qualify as "personal attacks", just "attacks". (You edited out the phrase "self-important donkeys", so we don't have your direct quote on that one anymore.)

But: it's out of bounds and a personal attack for someone to tell you that your decision to post something you marked as NSFW, seven other people objected to, and 12 people voted down, was "idiotic". The image has been removed from Pinside, and that says a lot! Calling a thing or a decision idiotic is not the same as calling someone an idiot.

Anyway, I guess name calling or saying something is idiotic isn't your thing.

I didn't take offense. Read what I said: it's difficult or impossible to listen to any of the legitimate things you have to say when it is buried among this garbage.

I've read every post in this thread and responded when I felt I had something to contribute. The fact that you considered calling your event "the real WI state championship" shows precisely what you are interested in doing. It suggests you believe the IFPA event isn't "real" or legitimate. What makes you say that?

For a little more context, here's what you had to say to an IFPA staff member a year ago.

Good luck with the real WI state championship!