Quoted from DarthXaos:

PROBLEM FOR NOOBS #2:
Format confusion. To most noobs, their idea of a tournament is a single elimination bracket like March Madness. A noob-friendly explanation of:
a) The concept of "qualifying"
b) The qualification format
c) The finals format
should be prominently posted in a physical location. Not just on the internet, what we want is 3 gigantic posters.
Also, if the format can't be explained adequately for noobs in a poster, it probably shouldn't be used at a show like this.
Example: Let's say the tournament was a basic 10-game Herb with a double elim best-of-3 final taking top 8, next 8, next 8 for A B C divisions. (i know this wasn't the format used but it is similar to formats used in the past and at other events, and this is just for an example of what posters could look like)
Poster 1 would explain that there are 2 phases to the tournament, qualifying and finals: In order to qualify, you must put up at least 1 score on each of the 10 games, the top 8 qualifiers will go to A division, the next 8 (subject to IFPA rank restriction) will go to B, the next 8 (subject to IFPA rank restriction) will go to C.
Poster 2 would explain that your best score on each game will be ranked against all other players best scores, and that you score Herb Points for where your score places in rank, and the total Herb Points will determine whether you qualify and your seed. Call them Herb Points so players don't get them confused with the points on the game.
Poster 3 would show a sample finals bracket and explain that you need to win 2 out of 3 games in a match to move on, sending your opponent to the losers bracket. Explain that the higher seed gets choice of game, and that the losers bracket winner must defeat the winners bracket winner in 2 MATCHES to win.
Also have another poster that shows payouts and prizes.

Quoted from Frax:

Lanes were completely open man...if Marcus wanted to take rubbers off the outlane posts, he could have done so. Same deal with the tilt bob. I set it as a courtesy and expect it to be changed to be tighter by tournament directors using my machines. It's my personal opinion that a solid nudge should give one warning, a shove or good shake two warnings, and any kind of slide is most likely a tilt.

Yes. This is my fault. I was aware of this prior to the tournament, and even one of the guys down in Austin took me pictures of the damn flipper alignment and I totally forgot to even try to correct it. That's on me. Congo, for whatever dumbass reason, doesn't have the alignment holes, and I can't, for the life of me, figure out how the hell to set the upper flipper to make the mystery cave shot. Personally, short of it being used for the super jackpot, that shot is WAAAAAY too lucrative IMO as it starts both a video mode which can award a crapton of points safely (GO LEFT, MAN!), but also does the 50 million per shot in Amy mode, which on some other Congo I have played is way too easy to repeat shoot from the post held release.
I'm open on feedback how to adjust the flippers for this game, so let me know in what way you feel they need to be adjusted. I specifically removed Superbands and put on brand new red rubber for this, so it may also be that people were not having to re-acclimate themselves to shots that are at different times on superbands..
http://pinballtourneys.com/TPF2015/machine_info.php?MName=Congo~~Texas+Tilt+Saturday
These are not spectacular scores from a bunch of guys that I know for a fact are well acclimated with Congo.. it looks to me like if people felt the times were too long, the tilt needed to be tighter. With good play, Congo is VERY controllable and the rules provide consistent awards.
Other than this, the only feedback I've gotten was the color changers in ZINJ someone said it was hard to tell if they were lit or not.. if it ever goes back in a tourney bank, I'll put those on a cool white or something. I don't think it's an issue, and it's a cool effect, but hey...I get it.