4.5 - How do the tournaments work? (Pinball Tournament Play)
Description
This article is from the General Pinball FAQ, by Keith Johnson keefer@access.digex.net with numerous contributions by others.
4.5 - How do the tournaments work? (Pinball Tournament Play)
Well, this depends on the tournament, too. Here is a brief overview of the
major tournaments:
IFPA (at least, how it used to work)
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The IFPA tournament features the game currently on the production line or
very close to it for each manufacturer that is a member of the IFPA (this is
all 3 (4 if you separate Williams/Bally, which are really the same) of the
major manufacturers at the moment). The tournament is a double-elimination
tournament, each match being the best 2 out of 3 games, each one played on a
different machine. If you get to next day's competition, you start all over
again (i.e. you have to lose twice again to be eliminated). All the machines
(typically, 100 of them - 25 of each) are always available for play, but for
a price. You also have to pay for each game that you play for actual
competition.
In its effort to pay out to as many people as possible, the IFPA has
succeeded in making its prize money pretty much a joke. The winner of the
highest division this year made slightly over $800. Yay. Generally
speaking, though, most people aren't in it for the money (probably, quite
frankly, because it just isn't there - you can't make a living playing
pinball).
The IFPA has come under question after each of the last 2 tournaments they've
put on. It seems that the prize money given out doesn't seem to quite equate
to the amount gained for entry fees and coin drops (since you always have to
pay to play). This amount has generally been fairly substantial. For IFPA
3, the total purse advertised was $20,000, when the actual payouts were
closer to $10,000. For IFPA 4, the advertised amount was $25,000, with the
payouts being closer to $15,000...
PAPA
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This is by far the premiere tournament for pinball players. It is generally
held in New York City (at least, the first 4 were). The PAPA tournament
features the qualifying round and the finals round. To qualify, you need to
have one of the 20 or so top scores in the division. Your total is the sum
of all scores on (usually) 8 machines. These tend to be the 2 machines in
production from each manufacturer right before the current machine (which is
used for finals/doubles), though it also has a great deal to do with the
availability of certain games.
In the quarters, there are about 5 4-player games played. Each person scores
points on each game based on where he/she finished (10 for 1st, then 5, 1,
0). There are a certain number of people that move on to the next round
based on the number of "PAPA Points" they have. In the case of a tie, total
score is used to break it. Then around 12 people move to the semis, then 4
to the finals using the same format.
Prize money is very good here, but then they only pay out the first 4 places
in each division. The divisions are: A, B, C, Women's, Doubles, and
Juniors.
Other
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At the Arizona show, there is a qualifying round, then the top scorers
compete on one machine (a surprise until finals, could be *anything*,
including old EMs!), top score wins. What do they win, you ask? A new
pinball machine (current).
At Expo, there is a qualifying round, then later rounds on different machines
for each round. The qualifying machine tends to be the latest machine from
the manufacturer giving the factory tour that year. Winner here also gets a
new machine.
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