I guess it depends on which side of the coin you fell on whether you see this as a good deed or not. I got 3 for me, my son and a buddy... so I see your actions as a good deed. But I will say for sure that there are dozens (if not hundreds) that got shut out and were trying frantically to get a ticket for themself without any help from others. I think these people won’t see you in the same positive light.
I’m not trying to pick on you John, because I would have done the same thing. But certainly 2018 will go down as the year that pinburgh ticket sales reached the tipping point and I’d be very surprised if something doesn’t change for 2019. Demand is crazy high and if big name players end up not getting entry it will water down the A division and put a different light on the whole tournament, ultimately turning it into more of a public show instead of a premier tournament.

I definitely want to be on Team LesManley next year... I’ll take every advantage I can get!!

Yeah, but it would free up a ton of slots when the Wisconsin ( ) contingent chooses to stay home!

Doug... Great explanation on the Pinball Profile podcast with Jeff Teolis about this. Thanks for all that you and the rest of the PAPA crew do to organize this. The logistics have to be out of this world, but I was glad to hear that you're looking at training additional staff (TD's and Techs) to hopefully expand even further in 2019.

I will echo the comments from Hilton earlier about hopefully something opens up for more rooms blocks. However, since the convention is already booked years in advance, it certainly hurts your bargaining power to negotiate with the hotel chains. It doesn't surprise me that you have so many cancel from the waitlist as they get closer. The reality of spending $1000-1500 (or even more) for a hotel for 3-4 nights is daunting for most.

I don’t think people really care that level one can buy early. I don’t think people care if tickets are reserved for other certain players (past champions, top ranked players, etc). But I do think people care that they are led to believe (actually told) that everyone is in the same boat with regards to their chances to acquire a very high demand ticket. Rightfully so, people are skeptical that this is actually the case.

Doug, this number is simply awesome!! I'm suspecting this has something to do with the potential ramp up to a higher Pinburgh participant number in 2019, but even if not it's a testament to the dedication by you and the rest of the staff to make this the most awesome show and tournament in the country.

Thank you once again for everything you and the rest of your team do to make this happen. Problems arise and criticism abounds at times, but I hope you do realize just how happy you make so many people in this hobby.

Heard you talk about it on a recent podcast as well, so not just a wild guess. I got in for 2018 and with the increased number for 2019, I'm hopeful for the future as well. However, the demand for competitive pinball tournaments is skyrocketing.

Therefore, I'm advocating that we all start a new rule when it comes to Pinburgh...

Pinburgh fight club meme.jpg

Josh Sharpe of IFPA has stated on numerous occasions that "open" tournaments that are eligible for IFPA points can NOT have a bias toward selection. Everyone has to have an equal shot to register (up to a limit which is allowable under IFPA rules). I don't think the pre-sale violates this because they were not for specific players, but instead for a random giveaway/promotional.

Now that IFPA is collecting money and pumping up prize pools, it's even more imperative to have open registration without any favoritism. This has been discussed on many many threads so no need to start a long debate here. But basically, if Pinburgh wants to participate with IFPA and distribute WPPR points, it should be following IFPA rules with regards to registration.

Doug... Josh has already addressed this one. They are not invite only in the sense that the TD picks and chooses who he/she would want to play in the events or show any type of favoritism in the registration process. Everyone has a chance to play in those events by earning WPPR points to qualify them for the invite. Their yearly play is in effect the qualifying entries to these championship events. In fact, points earned at Pinburgh are among the largest if not THE largest throughout the year... so it definitely matters how the point distribution is handled.

I agree with your comment about “fun first” and I believe you would see very little loss of interest if you chose to not be IFPA sanctioned. I’m just pointing out that their will be a whole ‘nother mess IF you started inviting specific people that don’t have to go through the registration process. It will be a complete violation of IFPA rules and would disallow WPPR point distribution. It would be in a sense “the good old boys” club working to get points for those already highly ranked.

Unfortunately, the process isn’t transparent and probably never will be so we may never know for sure. But I trust Josh Sharpe ifpapinball to do the right thing and not sanction the event if he found out it didn’t meet IFPA rules in the future.

Sorry Doug, I have already overstated the point I was trying to make and realize this from yours and Black Knight's post. All I was trying to say is that you have a right to sell tickets to whomever you want as a private event, but if WPPR points are awarded, people want a reassurance that everyone has an equal chance to go after them. This is the case now, but some on here had proposed some changes in the future where invites get made to top players or returning players or players with the letter S in their name. It doesn't matter how it's done... once it's not open to everyone with the same chance, it's not fair to award WPPR points that enable players to compete for more of the IFPA money. My post was about proposed future changes as to the way tickets are handed out and not the current system.

I can assure you that the criteria I'm talking about is not my own and was sent to me by Josh Sharpe when asking about how to obtain WPPR points for local events. I just said equal chance to go after them (the available spots). If you have a 100 person event and invite 99 people by personal invitation only, and have 1 ticket available for purchase on the Internet, is that "open to all" according to the criteria you are going by since everyone in the world has access to that 1 ticket in theory? When do you cross the line where it becomes open to all and not a special invite event? I ask these questions with sincere curiosity because I live in a town with no pinball scene and would like to start up a local league in my basement. I want to be IFPA sanctioned and offer WPPR points and reached out to Josh and was told as long as I post the event on the IFPA calendar 30 days in advance, don't hand pick the participants, and meet some other basic criteria (I'm paraphrasing a bit), then I would be eligible for WPPR points for my league (once everyone has an established rating).

Really, I've gone down this rabbit hole way too much already. I can't wait to get to Pinburgh and get by butt kicked in D division again (or possibly E). I don't care if I win or lose, it's the most fun a person should be allowed to have and still be doing something legal. If there is an afterlife, I'm pretty sure it's filled with pinburgh banks and Bowen giving his wonderful talks on stage while we're waiting for something to happen!!

I was thinking about this... and then I wondered how much revenue they made last year from cancellations that they might potentially lose this year. The cancellations get anywhere from 75% to 25% refund. Maybe the additional revenue from cancellations doesn’t offset the added work and headaches of having to contact waitlisters and shuffle down the list.

No... they gave refunds in the past, similar to the refunds they give now. Starting at 75%, then 50%, and finally 25% as you get closer to tournament dates. Look at ReplayFX website for more details. But in the past, since registration was 8-9 months ahead of event, they had more refunds from people who registered but couldn’t make it for some reason.

This year, with registration being delayed the thought is that people are able to confirm their plans (vacation from work, travel budget, etc) and there will be less cancellations.

Personally, I think we’re also seeing another effect... the popularity of the event has grown through the roof so much this year that people just don’t want to miss it, so they don’t cancel and do everything in their power to attend.

There were plenty on the wait list at the tourney desk to fill the open spots. Quite a few on the waitlist did not get spots. Nobody was able to walk in.

Do us all a favor and stop posting stuff like that. If you keep it up, everybody and their uncle is going to want to come to pinburgh and it will be nearly impossible to get an entry. Oh wait... nevermind...

@ninjadoug... if we have our Pinburgh pass successfully purchased but haven’t yet bought the ReplayFX event pass ($100 I think), can we get this event pass at the early checkin on Wednesday at Harris Grill? Last year we could get the event pass at the Thursday morning checkin. Just wanted to make sure we could get them on Wed.

I typically hold off buying the event pass in the off chance that an emergency comes up and I can’t make it to Pittsburgh (making a waitlister very happy).

This is one of my favorite ones and so glad they dictate that the player gets a score of zero on the game. I know I've played a few tough ones where 3 plunged balls might have a better score (by random action) than my 3 house balls where I did my best to gain control. Would totally suck to be beaten by a player with 3 plunged balls!!

My long lost twin!! Finally have a chance to find you...