I love Gobble Holes, one of my favorite kind of holes!

are we still talking pinball? LOL

Bank 12, the bank that got me into my division finals.

Jackbot
Gator
High Speed
Cheetah

HS was our last game for my group and I needed 2nd and got it. I had a reasonable score. The next day, that HS is on the stage and I saw the A players "not like this" some amazing scores on that machine. Lots of fun to watch that.

LAST CALL for invisiglass order for free delivery to ReplayFX... Need orders and payment by Sunday 7/23... TY

Original post :
We are also taking pre-orders for INVISIGLASS for delivery to ReplayFX - free delivery, boxed up for safe travels home. Must be pre-paid, I will not be bringing any extra - just what's already pre-sold. Discounts for bulk orders over 5 sheets.

Email Joe at PinballSTAR.com.

Just a joke, I realize the papa inventory isn't going to change every year. And you don't even play half of the banks.
Just noticed some familiar sets, and familiar games. Some friends, some foe.
Can't wait!!!

Is anybody available to drive a pinball machine from Dawsonville GA to Pennsylvania? If so please PM me we can work out logistics price ect. Thanks

Any word if the new Stern Star Wars game will be there? Is the list on the ReplayFX website 100% accurate or will other games show up?

Thanks for the list!

Looks like #68

If anyone makes this into an excel doc please let me know. Gotta start practicing .

I can't wait to see everyone and hope my D finalists from last year all do great and don't give me reasons to issue more stern warnings

I cant seem to find it...

What are the restrictions (if any) for each division? I think I am top 300 IFPA (just because I play in too many events as I am not really very good but the sun shines...) so wondered how that screws me?

Edit: see below for a much better answer.

2. Skill Division Restrictions

The following restrictions are designed to discourage any player from intentionally competing beneath his or her level of skill:

Division A Restrictions

Qualified in Division A of PAPA 16-20
Final Four in Pinburgh 2012-2016
Final Four in any PAPA World Championship
Final Four of Pinburgh 2016 Division B
Final Four of PAPA 20 Division B
Top 50 IFPA WPPR Ranking

Division B Restrictions

Qualified in Division B of PAPA 16-20
Final Four in Pinburgh Division B 2012-2016
Final Four of Pinburgh 2016 Division C
Final Four of PAPA 20 Division C
Qualified for Pinburgh 2012-2016 Div A Finals
Top 200 IFPA WPPR Ranking

Division C Restrictions

Qualified in Division C of PAPA 16-20
Qualified in any Classics Division in PAPA 18-20
Final Four in Pinburgh Division C 2012-2016
Final Four of Pinburgh 2016 Division D
Final Four of PAPA 20 Division D
Qualified for Pinburgh 2012-2016 Div B Finals
Top 500 IFPA WPPR Ranking
Tournament coordinators reserve the right to modify these restrictions as they deem necessary. Only a player’s highest restriction will apply. In all cases, players will be informed before or during play on Day 1 of any skill division restriction that applies to them, and a list of these restrictions will be made available to all players. Note that, for example, a player with a B Division restriction may still qualify in A Division as a result of strong play on Day 1.

thanks.

So C division it appears. I assume if I suck it up on Thursday and dont make it into C then I am just done?

Safe to assume they also dont enforce these restrictions all that much?

Last year the guy that won C was a top 200 IFPA ranking.

Instead of dropping to the lower division you just stay at the bottom of the division you are restricted to

If I am doing the math right of how it works, it basically makes it a 1 day event if you dont qualify for your restriction, correct?

In other words, if I dont qualify for C outright after Day 1, then that means I did so crappy that I would be too low in the forced restriction to even make the top 60? in that division of 200 by the end of Friday?

Just trying to understand how this works. Looks like it puts all the eggs in D1 if you are restricted?

Not sure if there, but stop at kickback Cafe to play star wars, if it's not there and you have time. It's in Lawrenceville, right outside of pittsburgh.

While it sounds un-related. I have three Williams Boards that need repair. Is there anyone that is going to be at replay that would take boards at the show to be repaired and mail them back to me?

I believe Rob Anthony (Borygard) will be there. Might want to send him a pm of what you need fixed prior.

I've gotten forced into A div, last year and previously. It definitely doesn't mean you are out, just because you got forced in.
You just have to have a kick ass day 2, a few years back, I got forced in and ended up 4th seed.
Nobody is really mathematically out until round 8 or so, and at that point you know you pretty much earned it.

Thought I read somewhere that the match play setup at Pinburgh makes for 3 great days of playing no matter how badly you stink (yeah, I'm talking about myself again).

So, first day is to set qualifying division (or forced up a division based on restrictions), then second day is to set the ranking within that division. On third day, the top 40 qualifiers in each division playoff and the others play in a consolation tourney.

Ok, I'm doing this from memory because it's too late to look it up again... someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

For the non tourney folks, is it Friday evening when they open up most of the Pinburgh games?

Yes. After round 10 on everything except for the finals games open up for play.

Thursday and Friday (40 games total) are guaranteed for everyone. Saturday is the division finals and also the Intergalactic Tournament. Sunday is the Intergalactic finals.

wish they used rating (855th) rather than ranking (280th)

I have always felt my rating is a much more accurate reflection of my skill. Ranking just happens over time from playing in events, which happens by default for many.

Looks like I need to spit fire the first 5 matches...

Gonna get my son to do another follow-up pic with Doug.

CIMG1078 (resized).JPG

This is incorrect. For Pinburgh 2016 David was in the system as restricted to C or above. At the time of the event, he was rated #209.

All players can look at the complete player list and see their restriction status. If there is an issue, let a TD know Day 1 so it can be corrected.

my mistake. looks like he times that one perfectly

last year he was top 200 for the majority of the year, must have eroded just beyond prior to pinburgh.

You shouldn't really worry so much about why other people are playing in whatever divisions or whatever else they were up to. There's gonna be like 800 people there it's pretty taxing to keep tabs on which division all of them are restricted to, or playing in and why and how.

Just play your best and try to win some games - if you can do that you'll be all right. Whichever division you end up in if you can average around 7 points a round you should be ok. And if you are really terrified of ending up in a division where everybody is "better" than you you can always sandbag the last round if you need to. Lots of people do this to avoid playing in A or B on Friday if they think they aren't good enough. I did it myself my first year to play in B - I ended up beefing it in the second round of B finals anyway, and decided I really would have been better off just playing my best.

Play your best on Thurs and on Fri play your best again and try to finish Top 40 in any division that you're in.

that is the plan

gonna be fun no matter what!

I believe that the "width" of the B division last year was only 3 points. Meaning that having four less points was the difference between being at the bottom of A and the top of C. If you're playing well enough to make A or B, you don't want to end up in D by throwing a round...I don't think it will be that enjoyable.

My favorite advice to give is that every point matters. Thinking about how many points you need to average, or taking the attitude like "oh well, I guess this round is a bust, I'll make it back next round" isn't the best strategy in my opinion. A point in the 1st round is just as good as a point in the 5th round. And as I mentioned above, a whole division is contained in just a three point window. Pulling out a first place in that final game of a round where you had zero points can jump you up 200 spots.

Every point matters. When you're in last place going into your final ball, don't adopt a "first or bust" scoring strategy. Pass the person in third, then do what you need to do to pass second place. And so on. Don't tilt away a bonus that will jump you past other players in your group.

Can't wait!

thanks for the advice Ryan! My first time and honestly no real idea how to go into this.

My buddy that did well last year keeps saying"just dont take last on a game and you are doing good

Also, Comet Pinball is doing free in-person delivery at Pinburgh for any international orders placed by midday on Tuesday. I'd love to meet! I'll be wearing my blue Comet shirt and trying not to get too stressed out about how I'm playing. Come say hi and let's chat (about bulbs, games, strategies...anything).

This may be an A Division thing, but both years I made it into A, and in both cases Day 2 was way less fun than Day 1. People were more stressed and generally not happy about their performance. This year I'm going to try and be better about that, and enjoy myself regardless of my groupmates!

Hopefully we get paired up more than once. Or at least meet up for dollar games at some point!

serious pants (resized).jpg

Forgive me Hilton, as I've only been on this site a year, but am wondering if you own any other style of pants?

Looking forward to meeting you and a few others. I'm still pretty far down the waitlist (in the 80's) but am hoping that previous years hold true and there are plenty of open spots. If not, I'm going to be doing a lot of sightseeing in Pittsburg seeing that I have flights and hotel booked and everything. Oh well, you only live once, right? If I for some reason don't make it in, I'll at least get a chance to play with you at Mad-Rollin in Sept.

Sweet. I need 4 flashers, but have been humming and hawing over whether to add hundreds of dollars to that for weeks. I still need to make some decisions, but this might motivate me.

This is already there as in the shipping drop-down in case other people were wondering how to take advantage.

I was slightly panicked when the subject line in my email preview said "You are receiving this because you are on the waitlist..." Just a heads up that something goofy happened with that. Confirmed my spot on the list, but was a little concerned for a minute.

yeah me too! i went to the site to make sure i was on the list haha. crisis averted

I got a little pucker butt when I got the preview on my screen popup.

Glad to see Im on there, but I imagine all 800 players just went "WTF!?!" simultaneously.

I just listened to the latest Pinball Profile podcast from Jeff Teolis. Interview with Elizabeth Cromwell of PAPA... and while she was very noncommittal about the waitlist (as would be expected because there is no way of knowing who will show up and who won't), she didn't paint as rosy of a picture as what I had read elsewhere on the Internet about previous years. Sounds like one year (didn't catch exactly which one) they only had 4 spots open up to the waitlist. I got a sick feeling about my travel plans all of a sudden...

you got my order LOL looking forward to catching up.