I've been hearing a lot about the team leagues run in other areas (specifically, Monday Night Pinball in Seattle). You have 10 person teams, and each has a home bar. Half of the season you host another team at your bar, and the other half you travel to different bars to take on the home teams there.

You play a combination of singles and doubles matches, and there is strategy around who plays who (though everyone plays an equal number of matches). When people are absent, you have subs fill in...a good way to engage those who can't commit to a full season.

There are limitations on the strength of teams, so the best players have to spread out. Sounds like a great way to get beginning and new players involved. It's all about team/location pride, not WPPR points.

There are just around 100 (different) people who have played in the most recent league in Denver, Lyons, Boulder, and Fort Collins. Let's do this! We can work out a schedule that won't conflict with existing leagues.

Who's in? Post here, or PM me, even if you'd just want to be a sub once in a while. Currently just trying to gauge interest, but happy to take on organizing duties. I'm imagining 8 teams: a Lyons team, a Boulder team, a Fort Collins team, and 5 in Denver (spread between the 1ups and Cukoo's Nest). Maybe Colorado Springs too? 8 week season - play each team home and away.

What say you?

Excellent!

Do you guys have a good public venue to play in? How are the games at Stumpys?

In Seattle, a venue has to have 6 machines to host a team. Might be able to go to 4 or 5. But in either case, they need to be good playing machines.

Thanks for all the replies. I'll definitely be polling people about availability...although I will say that weekends are tough for many reasons: it's when people go out of town, it's the time when public locations are already busiest, there are already 3 recurring monthly tournaments in Denver on Sundays, and all major local tournaments (when there are any) are held on the weekend (examples: Lyons Spring Classic, RMPS, Dory Hill, UPC, etc).

Nothing is set in stone yet!

Also, if email is a good way to get in touch...please PM me your email address, since I'm probably going to go back through this thread and ask you via individual pms anyway.

Thanks to everyone who pm'd me. First order of business is to get a day of the week that works for the locations. You'll be hearing something more concrete in the next week...and then we can start forming teams1

Thanks Lem, that looks awesome. Hope we can get a team going there.

Will have more info in the next few days!

Front Range Team League (placeholder name)

A team is 10 players who defend their honor and home turf against other teams over an 8 week season. Half of the games will be at home, hosting a different visiting team each time. The other half will be traveling to other locations to try and beat the host team.

8pm, every Thursday night from March 24th through May 12th.

Current locations (and contact person):
Denver, 1up Lodo: Caucasian2Step (Kevin Ryan)
Denver, 1up Colfax: Bill Reeves
Boulder, Press Play: me! (Ryan Wanger)
Lyons, Lyons Classic Pinball: There will be a team, captain undetermined
Fort Collins, Pinball Jones: infinitelives (David Andersen)
Other locations? Talk to me.

Players: if you will be able to attend most of the games, and are willing to travel to nearby cities/venues half the time - awesome, you should get yourself on a roster! Teams need to show up with 10 players to maximize their bonus points. If you can only attend once in a while, you should talk to your nearest captains, and tell them you'd like to be an occasional substitute. Not only are subs encouraged, they're practically required.

Potential captains: If you'd like to start another team, please talk to me. We can have as many as 2 teams per venue, but I doubt that will be necessary for the first season. A venue must have at least 5 machines to host a team.

Cost: $400 per team, paid by the captain...so basically $40 per player. 100% payout. Will be determined once number of teams is set.

WPPR points: none. This is for city/venue glory (and money). Individual results are not separated out - you win, and lose, as a team.

Stacking teams: none. There are IFPA ranking related restrictions on teams. No more than 3 players in the top 1000. Of those, no more than 2 in top 500 and 1 in top 150. Each team is going to have a good mix of skill levels.

Format: An evening match consists of: 14 singles games, and 8 doubles games = each of your 10 players plays 3 games throughout the night. Teams alternate choosing games and players, other team gets to match up as they see fit. Live coaching is allowed. This will be modeled as close as possible to Monday Night Pinball in Seattle: http://www.mondaynightpinball.com/rules.html

Questions? If you want personal contact info for anyone, please PM me.

I will reach out to people via email also.

Yes. Though he thinks he doesn't need players yet.

Yes. If you show up with 10 people, you get maximum bonus points. You can do as few as 8 in a pinch, but you're going to be at a big disadvantage because of how the scoring works. (Edit: You'd really want at least 8 players...you can compete with 7 but will be playing two doubles games short-handed).

If you're on a roster for a team, you can only play for that team. Subs can play for whomever they want (as long as it doesn't make the team exceed the IFPA ranking restrictions)...but can't play for the same team more then 3 times in a season.

Excellent! No one has stepped up yet to tell me they will be a captain in Fort Collins. Who will it be?

Anytime is fine. You can make changes up until the day before the season starts.

We need a good name for the league. Any good ideas?

Self-deprecating aside, I really want this to be approachable for players of all skill levels. I realize that making the captains gatekeepers to getting on a team probably makes it feel otherwise, but it's necessary for a logistics standpoint (at least this first season). (And we can always add a team or two to accommodate extra players).

Being on a team definitely changes the dynamic from typical tournaments (where you're on your own). With a team, there is even more opportunity and incentive to improve, and get help/feedback. Instead of it being you vs 20 other players, it's you and your 9 teammates vs just one other player (your opponent in any given match).

The number one reason that people don't play in leagues/tournaments is that they "aren't good enough". If that is stopping you from trying to participate, please send me a message so I can talk you out of that mindset.

Boulder still has a few spots.

All 4 Denver teams are full as far as I know. But if you're interested in Denver, be sure to message me. Would love to have a 5th team.

Surprisingly is almost zero action on a Lyons team. Let's make this happen!

8pm every Thursday night, March 24th - May 12th. Half the games are home, and half away. Where you will be playing when won't be figured out till a week or two before the league starts. Need to have the number of teams and their locations finalized before any of that can be scheduled.

I assumed that where each game will be each week would not impact whether or not a person could play. Either you're available on Thursday nights, or not. PBJ (which would play 4 games in Fort Collins, 1 in Boulder, and probably 3 in Denver) is having a team either way, and at the very least they could use subs.