2020 Women's Evergreen State Pinball Championship
Thursday January 16 2020

8-Bit Arcade, Renton, WA

Weather Alert: As of now, this event is still planned to occur as scheduled. If there are any changes, it will be shown in red in this spot.

2020 Women's Evergreen State Pinball Championship, sponsored by 8-Bit Arcade

Thursday January 16, 2020, 8:00pm, at 8-Bit Arcade

The first annual Women's Evergreen State Pinball Championship will crown the best women pinball player in Washington State.

Mirroring the IFPA World's Women Pinball Championship and the IFPA State Championship Series, qualification for the event will be based on year-long performance in IFPA-sanctioned leagues and tournaments, and the championship itself will be a head-to-head single-elimination bracket.

The top 16 women players in the state will participate in head-to-head competition to establish the champion. The top 16 will be determined based on the top 8 players in Women-Only events and the top 8 women players in Open events.

If a player is unable to attend, the next highest ranked player in the respective ranking will be provided the opportunity.

Entry Fee: $10

Format

Players will be seeded based on their finishing position in the women-only or open events. Players in the women-only events will obtain the odd-numbered seeds (1, 3, 5, etc.), while players in the open events will obtain the even-numbered seeds (2, 4, 6, etc.). If a player qualifies from both rankings, the one that gives them the higher seed is the one that they will enter championship with, and the other will be replaced with an alternate.

A single-elimination bracket with standard seeding (1-16, 2-15, 3-14, etc.) will be played. Each round will consist of a best-of-five match, with first player obtaining 3 wins moving on to the next match. The higher seed chooses machine or position game one of a match. The loser of the game chooses machine or position for subsequent games.

The consolation finals for 3rd and 4th will be a best-of-three match.

The winner of the bracket will be crowned Washington State's Women's Pinball Champion.

Prize Pool

8-Bit Arcade is sponsoring the tournament, providing trophies and plaques, supplementing the prize pool, and will provide $5 in quarters to every player.

Champion: $100 + Trophy
2nd Place: $70 + Plaque
3rd Place: $50 + Plaque
4th Place: $20 + Plaque

Qualification Standings

Women's Standings in IFPA Open Events, 2019
Women's Standings in IFPA Women-only Events, 2019

Standings consider ALL events played during 2019 (and not just top 20).

Malfunctions and Rulings

Anytime an abnormal circumstance occurs, a tournament official should be notified. To ensure consistency throughout the tournament, PLAYERS SHOULD NOT RESOLVE ISSUES ON THEIR OWN. Except for customized rules explicitly covered on this website, PAPA/IFPA Tournament Rules will be used to address malfunctions and as the basis for rulings. Note also that any rule posted at the event, such as on the backglass of a machine, will override any rule described herein. The rules listed here are generalized for all NWPAS events, and might not apply to some specific formats.

Head-to-head Runaway Score Rule: Pinball is not a timed game, and occasionally a player has a dominating game that could take a half hour to an hour or more. While these can be impressive games to watch, they wreak havoc on a tournament schedule. This rule is to address such long games to ensure sufficient time to play every game within constraints imposed by the schedule. If a player has such a game, a tournament official may ask the player to end their ball and game, in favor of saving time. Should this occur, the other player can complete their game. If the second player catches up, the game is void and a new game played on a different machine. If the second player fails to catch up, the player who was asked to stop playing will receive the win.

Delay of Game: Due to the tight schedule, delays due to players not being ready to play are problematic. When a new game is announced, players are expected to immediately proceed to their assigned machine. If a player has not shown up within one minute, please notify a tournament official, who will start a 2-minute timer. Players who have not arrived within 3 minutes of the start of a round may be given an official warning and have their balls plunged by a tournament official. Between balls, players are generally allowed 1 minute to get to the machine and start their ball. Exceptions could be granted, but these are generally expected to be occasional and the player would have informed their oppoent ahead of time of the need. No additional time is provided if previous player tilts, due to use of fast-settling tilt bob, unless that machine has a note that it is not equipped with that modification. If an opponent regularly takes longer than 1 minute, please notify a tournament official. Tournament officials will monitor for delay of game. Tournament officials can provide warnings as well as plunging ball on first delay of game offence, and disqualification from game or tournament for repeated offenses.

Machine Setup Changes: Tournament officials reserve the right to modify any machine between games or between rounds, including changing of settings, tilt sensitivity, machine level, or any other adjustment that is deemed desirable to make the tournament run more smoothly and be more fair and fun. Since a player is only competing against the other players in the same game, all players will encounter such changes at the same time, and it is part of pinball to be able to quickly adjust to changing conditions of a machine. Tournament officials also have the option to remove any machine from play even if machine playing well, due to long average ball times, problematic location within the venue, and minor malfunctions that may still be fair for both players but determined to take away all reasonable strategies on the machine.

Extra Balls: Any extra ball is to be plunged, unless a note on the backglass says to play it. If an extra ball is to be plunged, then player may touch flipper buttons to setup skill shot, then plunge ball in attempt to get the skill shot. The player may also choose to tilt the machine prior to plunging in lieu of skill shot and end-of-ball bonus, but a tilt anytime after a first plunge attempt will result in disqualification. Once ball is in motion the player must step back and cannot touch the machine, unless the ball returns back to plunger lane and is not auto-plunged, at which time they can re-attempt a skill shot. In the case that a player has a compensation ball awarded due to a major malfunction, and they earn an extra ball, they may choose to play the extra ball in lieu of the compensation ball in a new game.

Bonus Balls: A bonus ball is differentiated from an Extra Ball in that it is timed, and ends when the timer runs out. Space Shuttle and Medusa are examples of two machines with Bonus Balls. Bonus balls CAN be played.

Fast-Settling Tilt Bobs: The tournament machines will be equipped with Fast-Settling Tilt Bobs when possible, using the ear-plug tilt hack, so that even sensitive machines tend to give only one danger warning after a strong nudge or save. With this mechanism, the tilt bob usually settles to a full stop within 15 to 20 seconds, and thus no need to wait longer between players when the prior player ended their ball by tilting. As a result, the delay-of-game rules don't allow for extended waits after a player tilts, as described next. This does not apply to satellite tournaments that are held on location, with most machines as-is.

Practicing on Tournament Machines: During the championship, players not actively engaged in a match are free to practice on other available machines with two constraints: (1) do not start a new game on any machine that is adjacent to an active match; and (2) if an active match needs the machine they are practicing on, they immediately stop playing and yield the machine.