This is a good video. Much more in depth than I've seen on the topic previously.
I have been talking with local competitive players lately. You mentioned a settings video and I think that would be cool.
One thing that is still lacking in my mind is a standard tilt setting for modern games. I mean like literal... "the cone should be cleaned and it should be above the 50% mark" and it should be tested and working". Sounds obvious but I swear, it's a free for all out there.
I mean why do we most often NOT play extra balls in a league/tournament? It's essentially to shorten the ball times on a game. If that is true, should we be looking for more ways to shorten the lengths of all competitive games since the collective whole of all people playing in tournaments is constantly getting larger and better? I'm not really talking about removing posts or rubbers on the outlanes because that is definitely a strategy for reducing ball times as well, it's just not really possible to make that a "standard" because not all games have those things.
Also consider tilt forums, which discusses these things much more often... I suppose in some ways that is a better forum for a specific competitive video guide, if you do choose to make one.
I realize there are the IFPA rules and they do cover some of this: https://www.ifpapinball.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/PAPA_IFPA-Complete-Competition-Rules-1.pdf
It's obviously up to a TD to decide and execute these things but... STANDARDS and helpful tips are distinct from RULES.
A tournament standard is "most of the time EBs are off". A rule is "plunge all extra balls" if you happen to get one. They are different and there is really no set of standards outside of the "IFPA rules". Good TDs only come with experience.
Maybe a short guide would help those that occasionally want to host a tournament (be a TD) or play competitively with a list of things to consider and set up on games ahead of time?
Some possible considerations... should there be a standard # of tilt warnings, should there be a tilt at all, should you use rubber casters to minimize sliding the machine, should extra balls always be turned off for all games, should a game be in tournament/competitive mode if available, how level or steep should a game be, are you allowed to change tilts/leveling after a tournament has started, what about unintentional bouncebacks, withdrawing, disqualification rules, outbursts and rage tilts, stuck balls during multiball, game malfunctions, tilt through situations, if a player is up, how long do they have to show up or plunge (shot clock), list here is very long.
The suggestions I have are:
1. Leave your potential tournament game on overnight, then the next day play it 3 times and confirm it's still working great.
2. Invite good players to "test" games and measure a few ball times or game times. (Most modern games even have ball time lengths) and set a standard average of 2 minutes? or less. If one game sticks out as taking forever, you want to come up with a way to shorten the ball times or, just remove it from the event.
3. Make sure the tilt is working and the game is in Tourn/Comp mode when possible.
Seems like it would be a given but games constantly have problems and if you've never hosted an event before, these 3 things are easy to overlook.
