Spring 2000 League Rules

This document gives the rules of and info about Koi’s Pinball League. League play takes place at 8 on the Break (8OTB) in Dunellen, New Jersey. The Commissioner of the League will be the person in charge of running the league. The name of the current Commissioner is Koi Morris.

Every Wednesday night is league night. For the league beginning on 15 Sept 1999, play will be held every Wednesday for 10 weeks. These 10 weeks consist of the regular season. Playoffs will be held the Wed. immediately after the regular season ends.

Each week, league players will be broken into groups and each group will play five games to be determined just prior to game play. The games will be a subset of the games available. In general, a consensus will be informally taken to determine which games to play that week based on known malfunctions, etc. The final decision for which games to play will be made by the Commissioner.

Play begins at 7:15PM. At that time, all players are expected to be at 8OTB and have “checked in” with the league Commissioner. The Commissioner expects players to be dedicated to playing. The rules do allow for a player to miss games, but in general, all players should plan on being there promptly each week.

There will be a 15-minute grace period for players arriving late due to unexpected circumstances.

If a player does not arrive by 7:30PM, that player’s group will begin play without that player. If the player arrives late, they may play in any games not yet started by their group. Further, if the player’s group is currently on ball 1 of a game when the late player arrives, they may join the game in progress if possible. The player currently playing is not required to go out of their way to allow the late player to “get in”, but if the playing player can catch the ball, or locks a ball and then has a ball sitting in the plunger, the playing player should use that opportunity to let the late player buy-in.

Players arriving later than 7:30 will have their pre-makeup scores (see Section III) used for games they miss with associated penalties.

If a league player notifies the league Commissioner in advance (preferably before league night if possible) that the he or she will be late, the league Commissioner will use his discretion to either wait for the player or begin play. However, if a player must notify the Commissioner on the day of the League about being late, then the Commissioner must be notified by 3 PM (via my work e-mail address or work phone [see Section XI for my contact info]) otherwise the group that that player is to play in does not have to wait past 7:30 for that player to show up.

It is very important for league players to show up for all league nights. However, emergencies do come up. In the event that a player misses a week, the player’s pre-makeup scores will be used. Early in the season (week 1 or before), each player will play one official game, on each machine. This game must be played as part of a multi-player group. These scores will be recorded. Then, during the season, if a player misses a week, these scores will be entered along with the scores for the other group members who actually played as if the absent player played along with them. The pre-makeup scores will be made available to players in the group who are playing against these scores.

Later in this document, game scoring is discussed. For any single game, first place earns three points with the potential for a 4^th point if the first place player beats the 2^nd and 3^rd place players combined. When a pre-makeup score is used, the player cannot get the 4^th point even if the score would otherwise warrant it. If a player is absent in a given week and has no pre-makeup score for the game that his or her group is playing that week, then that player receives zero points for that game that week (this is called the Zero Point Rule).

A note regarding players who miss more than three weeks of the season (and therefore can’t use any more premakeup scores): the Zero Point Rule applies for all the games to be played that week. If for some reason, a player doesn’t have any premakeup scores for any of the games to be played that week and that player is part of a two-player match, the opponent will automatically receive three points for that game, unless his/her score for the game is greater than or equal to the normalized score in which case the opponent will receive the extra bonus point for a total of four points for that game. For games that the absent player has premakeup scores for, the scoring (for a two player match) for the opponent is the same as if the absent player was present, except, of course, the absent player receives 0 as his/her score in the game. For stats purposes, this game will be counted as a loss for the absent player, even though the opponent may have failed to beat the premakeup score that was available to him/her.

If a new game arrives at 8OTB, each player must play a pre-makeup game on that machine as soon as is possible otherwise the Zero Point Rule applies.

The maximum number of weeks for which pre-makeup scores can be used is three. After this, the Zero Point Rule applies.[1]

Every week during the regular season, players will each pay $6.00 that will be used exclusively for prizes.

Prizes will consist of weekly payouts and end of league trophies and cash for the top three overall winners in each division (more on that later). The dues will first go toward weekly payouts (50%) and the remaining 50% plus money put up by the League Commissioner will go toward the trophies and end of season cash prizes. The end of season cash prizes will be awarded in this way:

* as a consolation prize, 20% of the amount that the winner of Second Place of A Division gets.

** as a consolation prize, 50% of the amount that the winner of Second Place of B Division gets.

Weekly payouts will be as follows: Total league points (TLP) (ignoring the bonus multiplier after the third week of the season) for the winner of each group for that week will be compared. The two people with the highest TLP will share the prize pot for that week. 75% goes to the highest TLP scorer and the rest goes to the other winner. If both people have the same amount of TLP then those winners will be ranked according to the total of all normalized scores they obtained on the games they played that week. Normalizing scores are a way of comparing scores obtained by players on different machines. For example, a score of 1 Billion in Attack from Mars could be equal to a normalized score of 1 Million points and a score of 50 Million on The Addam’s Family could be equal to a normalized score of 1 Million points.

Note on Weekly Payouts and Absent Players: An absent player forfeits any cash prize that he or she might have won in a given week even though his/her TLP is one of the top two for the week. In this case, then the person in the group from which the absent player was supposed to play who has the next highest TLP will be declared the winner of the group that week for payout purposes.

League members will pay for the games played on league nights. When replays are awarded during league games, the replays are considered the “community property” of the league. The next group to play on that machine can use the credit. It is up to the players in the group to decide who gets the credit, or if it can be split between two players by each of them putting in one coin. The winner of the replay does have the first right to use the replay when possible. For example, if a group is playing two games on a particular machine and a player gets a replay on the first game, the player gets to use that credit on the second game.

For the first game of the night, the highest ranked player in each group goes last, the 2^nd highest ranked player goes next to last (or first in a two player group), the 3^rd highest ranked player goes first (or second if in a four player group), and in a four player group, the lowest ranked player would go first. For each subsequent game that night, the order in which position is chosen is based on the order of finish of the previous game. The winner of the previous game goes last; the 2^nd place player goes next to last, etc.

A player may play one and only one extra ball per game. Any other extra balls that are earned must be drained. The player can, however, try for the skill shot. If the skill shot requires a flipper shot, this CANNOT be attempted. For example, the Super Skill Shot in Attack From Mars. It is up to the players in a group to keep track of whether a player has played their extra ball.

If a serious malfunction occurs, the player affected by the malfunction has the right to replay the game, alone, after the other players finish. The player must decide immediately after the ball during which the malfunction occurred. If the player allows the game to continue, the assumption is that the player is going to use the current game and not play a makeup. It is up to the player to make sure this decision is made before allowing the game to continue. If the player decides to replay the game, the score for this make-up game is used as if it were played with the other players, whether or not it is higher then the player’s score on the original game

· A turn ends prematurely (bonus count starts with ball in play). This includes the situation where a machine kicks out two balls to start and the turn ends after the first ball drains.

· A lit kickback fails to kick the ball into play. (Note: In Theater of Magic, the Hocus-Pocus magnets are not designed to be 100% effective and thus their failure is not considered a major malfunction. The ball-save in Tales of the Arabian Nights is a similar example).

If a malfunction is serious enough to prevent all players from continuing the game, the entire game is replayed, possibly on another machine. If a malfunction gives significant advantage to any one player, and there is no way to avoid it, everyone replays their game (possibly on a new machine) and takes the new result. If it is discovered and can be avoided, and players do not take advantage of it, play can continue.

If a problem is encountered in a game, and no mention is made during a match, no retroactive changes are made. If a problem is noticed but it is decided to play anyway, it is considered part of the game.

Neither death saves nor bang-backs are allowed in League play. If a ball bounces back on its own, no penalties are invoked. If a death save or bang-back is performed, that player's score is set to zero.

If a player tilts away the ball of another player, the offending player must buy a credit to be used by the offended player to buy-in the extra ball at the end of the game, if possible. If no buy-in is possible, the offended player has the option of taking the game as-is or replaying the entire game (with the offending player paying for the replayed game), taking the higher of the two games

If a player tilts another player’s ball a second time on a particular night, the offending player automatically gets a score of zero points for that second game. The offended player has the same options as above.

Slam tilts fall into three categories: intentional, accidental and malfunction. The slam tilt is considered a malfunction only if the coin door is loose, or some other problem with the machine makes it prone to slamming under normal shaking/nudging conditions

Intentional slam tilts are caused by players hitting the coin door, attempting bang-backs, or hard shoving of the machine after a drain. If it is clear that the ball had already drained and the shove served no useful play purpose, the slam tilt is considered intentional. If the slam occurred during a legitimate save attempt, it is considered accidental. Whether intentional or accidental, the slamming player receives a score of zero for the game. Scores for the other players are noted, if possible. The match is then replayed without the slamming player. If the slam was deemed a malfunction, the match is replayed with the slamming player. Each player keeps the higher of the two scores.

An intentional slam tilt is considered unsportmanlike conduct and repeated offenses are grounds for the player’s expulsion from the league at the Commissioner’s discretion.

All league standings are based not on actual game scores, but on league points. League points are awarded based on 1^st, 2^nd 3^rd and 4^th place in individual games, with additional league points awarded based on actual scores as follows:

In a three-player game (which will likely comprise the majority of league games), league points are awarded as follows:

One additional point is awarded either to the 1^st place player or the 3^rd place player. If the 1^st place player scores more than the 2^nd and 3^rd place players combined, the 1^st place player gets the extra point. Otherwise, the 3^rd place player gets the point. Thus, in a 3-player game, the points awarded are either 4-2-0 or 3-2-1.

The idea here is that a player is rewarded for a decisive win or for keeping it close.

Two additional points are awarded in four player games. One point to either 1^st place or 3^rd place and the other point to either 2^nd place or 4^th place. As in the three player game, the 1^st place player gets the extra point for beating 2^nd and 3^rd combined, otherwise the 3^rd place player gets the point. The 2^nd place player gets the point for beating 3^rd and 4^th place combined, otherwise the 4^th place player gets it.

One additional point is awarded to the 1^st place player for tripling the score of the 2^nd place player, otherwise, the 2^nd place player gets the point.

As noted earlier, the regular season will consist of ten league nights, one per week, on Wednesdays. In general, national holidays will be skipped. Other weeks may be skipped based on weather, or other circumstances, at the Commissioner’s discretion.

If there are fewer than 8 players competing during a League season, all players will compete in a single division. If there are more than 7 players, then there will be two divisions, an A and a B*.

For the first week, the league players will be broken up into groups of three each. If there are two players left over, they will become another group while if there is one player left over, that player will be placed in one of the three player groups to make a 4-player group. The players will be grouped according to their known skill level to the Commissioner. If the Commissioner doesn’t know a player’s skill level, then that player will be placed with other players whose skill level is not known or if all players’ skill level is known then in a middle ground (4-7 on a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 is rank novice and 10 is expert). For subsequent weeks, the groupings will be in sets of three people with the one or two players left over going into a group as was done in the first week. Each group will have a “winner” each week based on who has the most league points for the week. The groupings for the week will be determined by swapping the winner in each group with the loser from the group immediately above, with the exception, of course, of the winner in the top group. For example, in week 1, players A, B, and C comprise group 1 and players D, E, and F make up group 2. Suppose the order of finish for these groups is B, C, A and F, D, E. For week two, the groupings would be B, C, F and A, D, and the winner from group 3. Player E would move down to group 3.

If a player misses a week of play, and does not have pre-makeup scores available, their group position for the next week remains unchanged. This removes the potential for a player to miss a week, move down a group, and have the opportunity to play against weaker players. For example, in a typical three-player group, if one player is missing, the winner of the two present players moves up and the loser moves down.

As noted above, the lowest groups may be 4-player groups. Swapping only one player, particularly in the bottom group where only one player changes each week, causes the lower groups to be more stagnant than the others. To alleviate this, 4-player groups will swap two players as long as the players moving up scored at least 10 points AND the players moving down scored no more than 10 points. In other words, to move up, you have to score at least 10 points, and you can’t move down if you score more than 10 points.

Each week, there will be a certain number of working pins, P. If P < 5 then all groups will play one or more games twice so that the total number of games played that week is 5. If P > 5 (which should normally be the case) then all groups will choose 5 of the P games to be used that week. Everybody in each group will get to choose the game(s) he or she doesn’t want to play or wants to play twice, as the case may be. The lowest player in each group chooses first, then the next lowest chooses next, and so on. If a game is chosen by 2 or more people in a group, then that game will not be used that week (or played twice if P < 5). If a game isn’t chosen by at least two people in a group (for three and four player groups), then the games chosen by the lowest (P-5) ranked players will not be used that week (or the lowest (5-P) players have their chosen games used twice if P < 5).

During the first part of the season, each player will qualify for Division A or Division B based on the following rule: Starting with the 6^th week[2] of the season, any player who was the winner of their group two of the previous 5 weeks AND either was a winner of their group or did not move down to a lower group (or both) in at least two of the other three weeks will be in the A Division while all other players will be in the B Division. If more than n/2 (or (n-1)/2 if n is odd) players, where n is the number of players in the league, fulfill this requirement, then the lowest ranked players in this group will be placed in the B Division (so that n/2 (or (n-1)/2 as the case may be) players fill the slots for the A Division). If less than n/2 (or (n-1)/2) players don’t meet this requirement, then enough of the top ranked players will be taken from the B Division to have n/2 (or (n-1)/2) players in the A Division.

Once players are in their respective Divisions on the sixth week, they will be playing players within their OWN Division only for the remainder of the season. There will be at least two groups in each Division (for example, two groups of two players each for an eight person League). This is to prevent, say, a mid-ranked A Division player from having an advantage over B Division players should he/she were to be in a group with two mid-ranked B Division players.

The idea behind grouping the players according to this scheme is so that players tend to play against other players of similar ability. When a player has a good week, they move up a group, and thus, in theory, play against slightly better players the next week. Likewise, after a poor week, the player moves down a group and plays worse players.

By stratifying the divisions as explained, players of similar ability will be competing with each other for the playoff spots. Thus, while the initial weekly groupings may seem to favor the strong players, they are really designed to help everyone.

The method for awarding league points coupled with the grouping system can lead to certain anomalies in the overall fairness of the system. In particular, there are times when it would seem advantageous for a player not to do well on purpose to avoid moving up in the groupings. Often, a player will only win their match by one or two points, and then have to play in a much tougher group the next week. Thus, the reward for winning the weekly match (the mere one or two points more than the 2^nd place player in group) was not sufficient to compensate for having to move up in the groups.

To compensate for this, we also award bonus points for winning your match. Further, the number of bonus points awarded is augmented by difficulty level of the group.

When awarding match bonus points, a match will be treated like a game. For example, in a three-player match, the winner of the match will receive 3 bonus points. The 2^nd place player will receive 2 points and the loser, zero points. A bonus point will also be awarded as in a 3-player game. If the winner of the match scores more than the 2^nd and 3^rd place player combined, the winner gets a bonus point. Otherwise, the 3^rd place player gets it. Typically, the winner does not score more then the other two players combined. So, usually, in a three-player match, the bonus points will be 3-2-1.

Two player matches and 4-player matches are scored like 2 and 4-player games. However, if in a 4 player game, the winner of the match scores more than the other three players combined, then another bonus point is awarded to the winner of the match.

Case 1: Two (or more) players score the same number of league points for the match. The person with the highest total normalized score (TNS) for that week wins the tie

Case 2: The winner of a match scores exactly the sum of the 2^nd and 3^rd (for a 3 player group) combined. If the total normalized score of the winner is greater than the sum of the normalized score of the other two players in the group then he or she wins the tie otherwise of the second and third place players, the one with the highest total normalized score wins the tie. Exception: If second and third place are tied for TLP then Case 1 applies here.

For the third through sixth weeks of the season, the bonus points are awarded exactly as described above. Starting in week seven, bonus points are multiplied by number from 0 to 3. Each week, players will be assigned a bonus multiplier up to a maximum of 3X and a minimum of 0X (no bonus points for a given week) based on their previous week’s bonus multiplier and whether they lost, stayed in, or won their group. If you are the winner in your group in a given week, then your bonus multiplier for the next week goes up by one (e.g. from 1X to 2X) unless it is already at 3X in which case it will stay the same; if you will be in the same group the following week, then your bonus multiplier will not change; and if you are the loser in your group in a given week, your bonus multiplier will go down by one (e.g. from 1X to 0X) unless it is already at 0X in which case it will stay the same. The bonus multiplier for week seven will be based on whether you are the winner of, stay in, or are the loser of your group in week six. The winners’ bonus multipliers will increase to 2X (from 1X), the losers’ bonus multipliers will go to 0X (from 1X), and all other players’ multipliers will remain the same for week 7 (at 1X).

As detailed, this bonus point scheme should make it so that there is never any question as to whether it is better to win your group and move up. The bonus points awarded for winning your group coupled with the multiplier awarded for playing in a higher group should always make it worth more to win.

After the regular season is complete, each player will have a total number of league points accumulated for the ten weeks. This will be the total of regular points plus bonus points. Depending on the total number of players in the league, anywhere from 2 to 4 players in each division will advance to playoffs. The playoffs will then determine the A and B division champions.

Play will begin promptly at 7:15 PM. Players who qualify for the playoffs will be given a 15 minute grace period. After the grace period, if the player is not in attendance, the first runner up for the that division’s playoffs will automatically advance to the playoffs

If a player notifies the Commissioner in advance that he or she will be unable to attend playoff night, every attempt will be made to reschedule the playoff tournament, if possible. If it is not possible, based on other players’ schedules, etc., then the playoffs will go ahead as planned using the runner-up player as the alternate.

The format for the playoffs will be made available by the 8^th week of the season.

The playoff tournament will be likely take longer than a typical league night. Plan on staying as long as it takes!

Thanks to A.J. Fried and ultimately the founders of the Free State Pinball Association (FSPA) and the Triangle Pinball League (TPL) for providing the basis for most of the rules on which this league is based.

3 Jan 1999 The revision of this document from A.J.’s GSPA League rules was completed.

18 Sept 1999 Revision and addition were made to Sections VIII D and B respectively.

[1] The League commissioner can make exceptions to this rule if extenuating circumstances warrant it.

* The precise breakdown of divisions and number of prize winners is open to reevaluation, based on how many people actually show up each week during the season.

[2] The week number may change with respect to the total number of players in the league. With fewer players, it will be later in the season, more players, earlier in the season.