Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown and Gameroom Expo Main, Novice and Classics Tournament banks revealed! If you'd like to get a leg up on the competition, I've noted if the game's lender happens to have it on location and where to play it. Many thanks to Blizzard Mountain Pinball, Game Exchange of Colorado, Donavan Stepp, Dan Gutchess, Holly Kleinman Nikolich, Zach Smith, Lem Scarbrough, Ryan Wanger and Brandon Wheeler for donating this year's machines!

2018's Main Tournament format:
$60, limited entry, 20 attempts across a bank of 10 games, top 7 scores go towards qualifying rank. So long as we get 32 players we'll take the top 16 into PAPA-style finals.

Novice Tournament:
$20, limited entry, 10 attempts across the same bank of 10 games as the Main Tournament. Top 4 scores go towards qualifying rank and top 8 advance to PAPA-style finals. We are trying to be as inclusive as possible this year and though the Novice Tournament will not award WPPRs, it will be the same format, on the same machines as the Main (yet 1/3 the price and with a shorter time commitment) to give greener players the experience of competing at one of Colorado's large annual tourneys. Entry will be limited to those ranked 3000 and higher. Those who are eligible for Novice may choose to play in the Main but cannot play in both.
Classics Tournament:
Unlimited entry, 3/$10 or 7/$20. Top 4 scores on a bank of 6 games.With 32 or more players we'll take the top 16 into PAPA-style finals. 24-31 players we'll take the top 12.

games (resized).jpg

#2 5 years ago

DHF

fosaisu

Pinside+ Frequent

10y 142K 10,355

Thanks for posting the details. Any chance you could add WPPRs to the novice tourney?

#3 5 years ago

WYO

Ballsofsteel

Inactive member

Riverton, WY

12y 73,550 2,923 7 81

no WPC games in the main? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh. ahhhhhhhh.

#4 5 years ago

BJW

Bwheels

Inactive member

Centennial, CO

9y 46,550 249 7

Quoted from fosaisu:
Thanks for posting the details. Any chance you could add WPPRs to the novice tourney?

IFPA only sanctions events that are open to all people and abilities. So, juniors, seniors, novice don’t award WPPRs. Only recently did the IFPA allow women’s tournaments but they don’t give out WPPRs that apply to her overall rank. Instead they recently (a year ago) agreed to award Women’s WPPRs which apply to a women’s Women’s only rank though there are two separate categories.

Novice tournaments are stepping stones to get players interested in competing in main events.

#5 5 years ago

DAV

InfiniteLives

Pinside member

10y 125K 4,556 283

OP
Quoted from Bwheels:
IFPA only sanctions events that are open to all people and abilities. So, juniors, seniors, novice don’t award WPPRs. Only recently did the IFPA allow women’s tournaments but they don’t give out WPPRs that apply to her overall rank. Instead they recently (a year ago) agreed to award Women’s WPPRs which apply to a women’s Women’s only rank though there are two separate categories.
Novice tournaments are stepping stones to get players interested in competing in main events.

you could keep the novice all in the main and have a traditional B and Novice rank restricted like TPF does, just couldnt do that separate, lower buy in.

Quoted from fosaisu:
Any chance you could add WPPRs to the novice tourney?

i can see the appeal of true novice players not wanting to spend $60 and go against the Lefkoffs of the world and feel like they are throwing away their money. This gives them an option at a lower price point and maybe help build some confidence and desire to play in more WPPR sanctioned events.

@Bwheels, what are the payout structures for this years events? (if you have them figured out yet)

#6 5 years ago

BJW

Bwheels

Inactive member

Centennial, CO

9y 46,550 249 7

Quoted from InfiniteLives:
you could keep the novice all in the main and have a traditional B and Novice rank restricted like TPF does, just couldnt do that separate, lower buy in.

i can see the appeal of true novice players not wanting to spend $60 and go against the Lefkoffs of the world and feel like they are throwing away their money. This gives them an option at a lower price point and maybe help build some confidence and desire to play in more WPPR sanctioned events.
Bwheels, what are the payout structures for this years events? (if you have them figured out yet)

They are posted on the Rocky Mountain Pinball showdown website. And yes, the whole point of novice is to have a smaller barrier of entry

#7 5 years ago

DAV

InfiniteLives

Pinside member

10y 125K 4,556 283

OP
Quoted from Bwheels:
They are posted on the Rocky Mountain Pinball showdown website. And yes, the whole point of novice is to have a smaller barrier of entry

I wonder if you could somehow incorporate some sort of "tutorial" for the novice players prior to the tournament. Maybe on Friday? just spitballin'

is Ryan still doing something like that?

#spreadthepinballgospel

#8 5 years ago

MWR

sethi_i

Inactive member

6y 47,650 711

OP
Quoted from Bwheels:
Entry will be limited to those ranked 3000 and higher.

Was thinking of giving the novice tournament a shot, but then I read this. It's probably not the right setting to play in for your first tournament anyway. I'm still looking forward to attending my first show and watching the tourneys.

#9 5 years ago

DHF

fosaisu

Pinside+ Frequent

10y 142K 10,355

Quoted from sethi_i:
Was thinking of giving the novice tournament a shot, but then I read this. It's probably not the right setting to play in for your first tournament anyway. I'm still looking forward to attending my first show and watching the tourneys.

It means your ranking has to be worse than 3000 (unranked would qualify as well). This wording is common in pinball tournament circles for some reason — while it’s technically accurate that “higher” numbered IFPA ranks are worse,it’s confusing for newbies since generally English speakers associate “higher” with “better.”

So get out there and play!

#10 5 years ago

MWR

sethi_i

Inactive member

6y 47,650 711

Quoted from fosaisu:
It means your ranking has to be worse than 3000 (unranked would qualify as well).

I got the higher meaning worse part. But I did take it that you had to have a ranking. Thanks for the clarification.

#11 5 years ago

KCM

Kevkat

Blizzard

11y 54,900 124

Quoted from sethi_i:
Was thinking of giving the novice tournament a shot, but then I read this. It's probably not the right setting to play in for your first tournament anyway. I'm still looking forward to attending my first show and watching the tourneys.

The novice tournament is meant exactly for you. I know a few players who are planning to compete in the novice tournament, they either have no tournament experience (but want to find out what it's about) or have only participated in a couple of small tournaments, so this will be their first 'big' tournament. You'll play on the same games as the open tournament, so you can compare scores and see how you'd have done in open. I think it'll be a lot of fun for everyone.

Kevin

#12 5 years ago

BJW

Bwheels

Inactive member

Centennial, CO

9y 46,550 249 7

Quoted from sethi_i:
I got the higher meaning worse part. But I did take it that you had to have a ranking. Thanks for the clarification.

You definitely don’t have to have a ranking. In fact our hope is that most don’t. This is a really good entry into the tournament scene with a low barrier for entry. I would be happy to answer any questions you have and I am really excited for new players to try to out!!

#13 5 years ago

SNO

SnowGalvin

Pinside member

Denver, CO

8y 34,300 80 6

Quoted from InfiniteLives:
I wonder if you could somehow incorporate some sort of "tutorial" for the novice players prior to the tournament. Maybe on Friday? just spitballin'
is Ryan still doing something like that?
#spreadthepinballgospel

At 5:30pm on Friday I will be doing exactly that in the seminar room! It can be so hard to answer all the questions that newer players have while registering players, scorekeeping and tending to all the tournament needs - as you well know. So I'm making myself available for a whole hour and will going over all things tournaments!

Quoted from sethi_i:
Was thinking of giving the novice tournament a shot, but then I read this. It's probably not the right setting to play in for your first tournament anyway. I'm still looking forward to attending my first show and watching the tourneys.

The Novice Tournament is precisely for you! And please come to the talk I'm giving Friday night. I'll be going over what/who PAPA and IFPA is, various tournament and league formats so you know what to expect when looking to get involved at any of Colorado's plentiful monthly events, how the tournaments work this year at the RMPS, unspoken tournament etiquette, strategies for approaching Novice/Main/Classics among other tips and tricks I've picked up along the way.

I'll also be taking questions - the goal is to be inclusive as possible this year and take some of the mystery out of the tournament scene.

This year's tournament directors are: Brandon Wheeler (@Bwheels) is the Lead TD, myself Snow Galvin and Lem Scarbrough (also the tourney's tech)
We're friendly! We want you to play, enjoy the experience and ideally use this tournament as a springboard for newbies to get out there and join local monthlies and leagues.

Post last edited 5 years ago: “typo”

2 weeks later

#14 5 years ago

MWR

sethi_i

Inactive member

6y 47,650 711

I want to say thank you to everyone for all the encouragement about playing in the novice tournament. I really enjoyed it, and even qualified and finished 8th. Special thanks to ryanwanger for all of his advice...and to SnowGalvin for answering my endless stream of questions, and making sure that I didn't do anything stupid...and Bwheels for running everything so even a total first-timer could follow it.

#15 5 years ago

BJW

Bwheels

Inactive member

Centennial, CO

9y 46,550 249 7

Quoted from sethi_i:
I want to say thank you to everyone for all the encouragement about playing in the novice tournament. I really enjoyed it, and even qualified and finished 8th. Special thanks to ryanwanger for all of his advice...and to snowgalvin for answering my endless stream of questions, and making sure that I didn't do anything stupid...and bwheels for running everything so even a total first-timer could follow it.

Well done!! Glad you had fun and competed so well!

#16 5 years ago

JWR

Apex

Pinside member

Manitou Springs, CO

9y 44,050 442 11 16

I would also like to thank Brandon, Snow, all the score keepers, and the tournament game bringers for their work this weekend!

#17 5 years ago

JAR

jar155

Pinside member

North Salt Lake, UT

14y 114K 6,220 9 141

Snow and Brandon are awesome. The tournament was hugely successful and they ran it flawlessly, despite some unforeseen issues with the tournament software here and there. I didn't play my best, but I had a blast.

Here's hoping that Bwheels got his cooler back...

#18 5 years ago

BJW

Bwheels

Inactive member

Centennial, CO

9y 46,550 249 7

Quoted from jar155:
Snow and Brandon are awesome. The tournament was hugely successful and they ran it flawlessly, despite some unforeseen issues with the tournament software here and there. I didn't play my best, but I had a blast.
Here's hoping that bwheels got his cooler back...

Damn cooler thieves!! Enjoy the warm bud light dummies

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