Please do this. It matters to the other people in the room. Especially by the second or third day. Bring enough clean clothes to last the whole tournament. Shower in the morning. If you are the type that needs a second shower at 7pm then please do it. Remember that there are many guys in the room and each one that doesn't bother with hygiene stacks up onto the rest.

Most important to tournament directors: READ THE EVENT'S RULES!!!

Definitely do this.

Definitely do NOT do this. It's good that you brought up your experience, because some events (like mine) don't tolerate touching a machine in play at all and can get you DQ'd. Even if the ball drains and it is going into bonus, try to just resist the urge. If you touch it and it tilts out the previous player's bonus (it happens), that's a real problem. Just resist the urge to make contact with the machine until the DMD has officially activated your ball.

...and obviously. Don't touch or purposely try to disturb a player when they are playing a tournament game (unless it is a team tournament/they are on your team and coaching is allowed). Seems obvious, but there is always the possibility of someone new to events trying to be the life of the party by kicking someone's foot or yelling to get their attention. I played a CAX tournament one year and, in the middle of playing a tournament game, a convention goer (a stranger) literally came and slapped me on the shoulders like we were buddies, leaned over and tried to tell me how cool he thought Demolition Man is (a game I also had never played and was trying to figure out in only one 3-ball tournament game). I wanted to shove him through a wall.

Also, don't lean on a neighboring machine and leer at the playfield of a tournament game going on. It sounds overly sensitive and anal, but once you enter someone's peripheral vision being that close, it is super distracting. Plus, if they are a "dancer", you're in danger of getting nailed. This also goes for photography as well. I had someone innocently lean over a neighboring machine and try to take a flash photo of someone in their grand finals game...LOL!...talk about distracting.

You make it sound like this is an uncommon occurance?

Good advice,
I will +1 to headphones, put them in when you don't want people talking to you. (DM guy)
Also:
Wear comfortable shoes- You will be standing alot.
Sit whenever you can- Save energy for playing time, some tourneys go 10+ hours if you make the finals.

Thanks shpwizard! Not only did you let me know about Waun-A-Pinball, but now this excellent post.

I went to my 1st tournament last August.

It can be described by a quote from a funny Geico commercial, "Eww... Seriously? So gross."

Show a little pride in your appearance and it will intimidate those who don't.

To be fair, it may not be "mismanaged", but instead it may have something else going on. Just as a for-instance, when you are running a tournament, you only have so long to do so at the venue. Any minute that you don't have qualifying open that you could is money that could be going into the pot, making the tournament bigger that you no longer have.

When we're running the Midwest Gaming Classic tournament, if the option is to give a couple breaks a day, but then shorten the length of qualifying and the prize pool by 20% or to make it so that people need to work around the schedule given, I think that even most players would pick to work around the schedule given.

The other thing is that sometimes good management actually looks like bad management. If the rules are written in a particular way, then you follow those rules no matter what. Last year, the MGC tournament cut off entry sales early, but not early enough. In doing so, we ended up with people still playing over an hour past the time finals were supposed to start, but that was how the rules were written, so it's what we had to do. There is no better way to tick people off than changing rules mid-stream.

Not trying to sound like I disagree with you, because I don't, but a lot of the things that are done no matter what tournament they are in is to ensure that they are done to maximize what can be done in the allotted time.

Have fun! If you want a beer get one! Its Pinball!

Playing pinball with a bunch of uptight guys clenching pringles is about the worst tourney environment I could think of!

Find out who the tourney directors are, and find out who the scorekeepers are; say hello to them and thank them for volunteering at the event.

I wasn't even necessarily thinking that you were - but those are just things that I see pop up from time to time that people often complain about, but in a lot of cases like I said, it's hard to properly manage a tournament because if you follow your rules to the T, you can't just cut off things at a perfect time. We're changing that for this year - I have to double check it's in the rules properly - but a lot of this is also trial and error. And since there isn't really *any* money to be made by hosting a tournament, there tends to be no real 'professional' way to do it.

I mean this for all tournaments - MGC or otherwise. Like you said, it's all for fun and people are doing their best, but I just wanted to point out that some things - like meal breaks in particular - are nearly impossible to actually "schedule" for a tournament because it means lost revenue. There is no perfect solution, at least until either tournaments become sponsored with huge amounts of cash so that breaks don't mean significantly smaller pots, or until less people play, and I don't want that

Hope to see you at the MGC this year!

I'm not sure I understand the meal break issue. Why do people need to schedule it? If qualifying is from noon-6 then people can either choose to go eat or stay the whole 6 hours. Why do people need a scheduled time to go feed themselves? What is stopping them from bringing food and eating a sandwich for ten minutes in the parking lot or skipping the meal altogether?

It's not that people couldn't bring food - just that most people don't for whatever reason (for example, a lot of tournaments tend to run extremely long, and may not have anywhere to refrigerate or heat up food that you packed yourself), and so if you want to get something to eat you may need to go off-site. I do try to pack meals for myself when possible, something I can eat quickly on-site, and just stick some fruit in my bag as well for quick pick me ups. But it doesn't always work out that way.

No pringles, got it! First tourney this Saturday! Man this is going to be fun.

Didn't pinball guys ever learn to make themselves a sandwich? Heh. My son and I bring PB+J to league night every week. Dollars not spent on food can be spent on tokens and time not spent seeking out food can be spent playing pinball.

+1

Come say Hi if you're at TPF... I'll be volunteering in the tourney area Friday.

I second bringing a water bottle and being sure to wear comfy and supportive shoes

Potluck is a good option in a lot of cases, especially if you can do a potluck prize (I awarded a translite once) or award entries to people/couples who bring food. This will often get the pinball widows more involved as a side benefit.

what about performance enhancing drugs?

Beer is until a certain point. And muscle builder might have to opposite effect with the tilts so damn sensitive.

I think the Pinball 101 etiquitte video needs some much-needed additions:
"Disappearing Dave" - When you are between turns in a round(ie 4 players playing a 4-player game), don't wander off, making the others wait & have to search for you when it's your turn. The previous player may drain out quickly.

"Coatcheck Cal" - When you put your coat on the machine next to the one you're playing. It's not like anyone else wants to use that machine, right?

"Proximity Peter" - Yeah just keep a minimum of 5 feet from the machine when someone else is playing. During a tourney, a younger player insisted on being super-close to the machine(near the plunger) which was immensely irritating. Arms & legs flail around during play,and you don't need to be that close between turns.

Also, if a game is in progress(first ball), and not all the players have gone yet(but the first player has), don't ask to join in, add your quarters & hit start. Some games completely reset and thus the first ball scores are long gone. This happened once on a Devil's Dare machine, costing me.

Do NOT pick the game you played best on if you did extremely well on it in qualifiers and you're top seed picking the first game for the finals. Odds are you're gonna barf. Had a friend learn that the hard way at the last tourney I went to...he was first seed and I was 5th. I had been doing horrible on it all night, he ROLLED it, then barfed on it. I did pretty badly on it, per the standard of the night, but awesome on the second game (different pin) and placed 2nd overall, lol. =\

If they're playing a tournament game, absolutely. But if it's a practice game and still first ball, I'll always invite others to join in. It's common pinball courtesy. Pretty much every game built in the last 20 years will allow you to add another player without resetting everyone's score.

Whenever possible, I'll ask if others want to join in. Playing on location, at home, wherever. I recommend others do the same. It won't earn you any karma points here, but it will in real life.

Excellent advice! I try to follow the same mantra. Stay light on the wrist's too, that way 9 hours into the day you are still able to be quick.

Hey look Ma, I got called out for something positive

Thanks for the kind words. I really try to keep things running smoothly and on time. It is no easy feat and I understand how even well laid plans can easily get derailed.

Running or helping run a tourney/event is a VERY difficult and time consuming undertaking for the people bringing games, setting them up, tweaking them, getting all logistics ready for the day of stuff, score keeping, etc...

The worst thing to deal with as an event organizer is having ungrateful attendes get in your face over a relatively small issue (typically becuase they did not read the rules).

My advice it to say thanks to all the guys that put these events on, I know it means a lot. Also, if you see someone getting heated and into it with an organizer do your best to chill them out and remind them that nobody is perfect and we are doing this on a volentary basis. I am not sure who it was, but I was extremely grateful for the guys that took care of the one agressive player at MRP last year. That one bad apple was luckily overcome by all the great people I met that had a blast and look forward to the next one.

Well said. If you had a good time, thank the organizers. It's by-players-for-players until that big Budweiser deal comes through.

I've been lucky. The vast majority of peeps have been super thankful and appreciative of my events. They make an effort to thank me, and I hate that I'm honestly too busy running the tournament at the time to give them my full attention. But every thank-you is honestly appreciated.

And the bad apples? Yeah, there are a few and it goes with the competitive territory.

I guess we can follow that point of view with:

- Don't run to the organizers with every little dispute. Make every effort to resolve minor issues yourself. Sometimes a person is not going to notice someone standing in line behind them and start a second game. Or someone might make contact with you in a crowded aisle during your ball. These are not problems that need mediation.

So... were you or weren't you?

Thanks for the tips, OP

Dave> are you coming to Wanna on Sat to compete?

You should, as you are one of the best local players IMHO.

Nope, can't get there until 2 and don't want to feel rushed. Thanks for the compliment, I'm a hack and you just get to see me during my good moments.

So one of the best and modest too eh?

You are close! Look for Disappearing Dick and Tapper Ted on Pinball 102!

Dave > just come at 2 and put one game on each to see if it is good enough to make playoffs. You should not be rushed to play a total of 5 games.

Yup. Do it.

Do it, Dave.

Also, for organizers of pin tournaments, have a game plan for equipment failure in place. It can get messy. One tournament I was at, the power went out briefly, ruining a great run for a player. Another tournament I was taking scores at, there was a kickback not working. It was mitigated well(not by me, for I was just takin scores) and he was happy when I offered him the resolution. His name was Lyman Sheats Jr.

Having worked now at five different tournaments, here are a few things I've learned:

* Never assume the published standings are up to date... you may think you're close to qualifying for the semis and then all of a sudden you're way down in the rankings... many times the standings are not up-to-the-minute, so you have to be patient.

* Respect the TILT!

Pay close attention to how sensitive the tilt is on the machines. It can vary dramatically.

Some people don't realize that TILT does different things on different machines. If you're playing in an EM tournament on ball 1 of 5, and the ball is going to drain and you manhandle the game to see how sensitive the tilt is, don't freak out when that's the *end of your game*. Some older EMs tilt and it's "game over" not "ball over."

When you're playing multi-player during a tournament, RESPECT THE TILT. You can become disqualified if you "tilt-through" to the next player and affect his ball. You'll lose the match and piss everyone off.

* Don't be afraid to ask fellow players for advice, but don't be surprised if they aren't terribly helpful. I've met some players that want to be "in the zone" and don't want to talk to others, and some who are more than willing to share what they know about the game. Some people are more competitive than others, but don't let that discourage you.

* On some machines you can press both flipper buttons to display the last score so you can take a picture

* Have fun - don't take the competition too seriously.

* Respect the TILT!

My last game to move on to final 4 awhile back. Get all your tilting out in qualifying or practice rounds. Get your rage fix then.

Snow.jpg

Does this work with WCS? It takes forever for the machine to cycle through to the scores after a game is done. We have WCS as a tourney machine tomorrow (Waun-a-Pinball Tourney) and I want to make sure I have all the correct digits written down as a scorekeeper. Hilton did you notice this?

Yes there is a way to make almost all the dmd era games more readily display scores rather than cycling thru all the other crap. I think changing settings to tourney does it for wcs...

Yes, and along the same lines, when playing those same EMs, be ready to be more aggressive on ball 5 because in most cases there's no end of ball bonus and you have nothing to lose. The exception is some EMs have very valuable outlanes.

Here's a tournament tip: Always play to win. This seems obvious but I got a reminder today.

I was playing Rolling Stones against a decent player. Neither of us had played it before so it was a battle of basic strats.

He beat me decisively on game 1. Since it was an LE RS with the power ball, we'd agreed to play single player games. He played first on game 2 and got a bad score of about 4.5M. I just needed to not suck out to push it to game 3.

On my game, I started the main multi but didn't do much with it. Still I was at around 3.5M on ball 3. Nothing on the playfield seemed lit or ready. What I *should* have done was look at the rule card or go back to my practice strat, which was to start combos, and go from there. Like an idiot, I shot ramps, loops, etc. for nothing points, till the ball drained. Lost by 100k. Stupid.

If I was under pressure, or playing a tougher player, I would have looked harder for the points. But I was stupid: I figured I had a gimme win on game 2 because of his low score, and I relaxed.

The funny thing is, the game before was Wheel of Fortune. I took a bad beat on that one at the previous tourney, so even though I was playing someone I felt I outclassed, I never let up and just kept pounding the game for points. Got my best score ever on WOF.

All depends on how you hold your drink.

the more he had the better he got (to a point)

He also became much more fun to watch! Ken, you are a good guy and I was damn impressed with how well you played in your first event!!!

He even said that he was playing better once he started drinking.
Wonder if he made it off of tmac's couch yet. :p

New PROTIPS from my #5 place finish last night:

If you are #1 seed, don't play the same EM three times in a row no matter how good you did the first four times you played it.

Don't pay your buddy's entrance fee unless you are prepared to lose to them on said EM.

Don't expect that the guy that got the GAME OVER tilt on that EM the two games prior will do it a third time.

DO choose to play first and pick up the 2 million point jackpot on Taxi that's been rolling all night and not been collected by anyone when it's your turn, especially when average scores are hovering around a million on the game, thereby completely burying your competition with little chance of them catching up since the jackpot resets to 500k.

...and NEVER tell your opponent how to play a game. Especially on Gold Wings.