The Jersey Pinball Association Pinball League Rule Sheet

This document gives the rules of and info about the Jersey Pinball Association 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 7 March 2001, play will be held every Wednesday for 10 weeks. These 10 weeks consist of the regular season. Playoffs will start the Wednesday 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 premakeup 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.

If a league player does not show up at all during any league session without having notifying me (by e-mail: kmorristaftzww@mindspring.com (home) or morrisk@war.wyeth.com (work); by phone (732)-274-4091 before 3:30PM on weekdays (work); telling me in person beforehand; or calling the Break between 6 and 7 PM on leaguer night if necessary; I prefer that the player tell me in person (especially if he/she knows that he/she will be out in advance), call me (leaving a message if necessary), or send e-mail to my work address so I would be certain to receive his/her message) before that he/she will be absent will be declared a No-Show. A player is allowed two No-Shows before automatically being dropped from the league. On a week where a player could have a third No-Show, which will occur after the affected player’s group starts their third game, if the player is not there before the player’s group starts their third game, that week will be considered the third No-Show and the person will not be allowed to play in the league for the rest of the season and will forfeit any and all monies paid to the league up to that point.

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 premakeup scores will be used. Early in the season (Week 1) or before the season starts, each player will play two official games on each machine. These games must be played with at least one other player.

It is not required that a player obtain premakeup scores; but it is strongly recommended that a player obtains premakeup scores to avoid getting zeroes for any games that player’s group plays when he/she is not there. There will be three different scores for each game that will be used each time a player is allowed to use a premakeup score: Both scores obtained on the premakeup games played and an average of the two premakeup scores (using any zeroes if necessary; the player gets a zero for the second premakeup game score if he/she doesn’t play the second premakeup game), rounded to the nearest 10 points. So, for example, a player’s premakeup scores on Monster Bash could be 20M (Game 1), 40M (game 2), and 30M (game 3; an average of the scores from games 1 and 2). Each player can choose when he/she wants each score to be used, typically after the player has completed his second premakeup game on a particular machine, but the choice must be made before any premakeup games are to be used. The first premakeup score recorded doesn’t necessarily have to be used first, for example; it could be used last (as the third premakeup score) if the player wanted to. Generally, a player would obtain both premakeup scores then decide which scores to use in what order, keeping in mind that one of the premakeup score will be an average of the other two. If a player doesn’t make a decision before the first premakeup is to be used, then the highest score for that game the player has will be used. If a player only has one premakeup score on a particular game before any premakeups on that game are used, then the only score the player has will be used for the first premakeup; if a second premakeup score on the game in question is not obtained before a second premakeup is to be used, then a score of zero is used for that premakeup and the player may not obtain any more premakeup scores on that particular machine.

Example: Player A has only one premakeup score of 50M on TAF. He has used it already by the fifth week of the season, but hasn’t obtained a second premakeup score yet. On week 6, he is absent and his group plays TAF. He has to use a premakeup score of 0 for that game and then the third premakeup score is automatically calculated as the average of these two premakeup scores: (50M + 0M)/2 = 25M. This would also be his ghost premakeup score should he need to have a premakeup score after the third absence.

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 or shows up late after that player’s group has finished playing a given game 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).

If for some reason, a player doesn’t have any premakeup scores for any of the games to be played that week, a ghost premakeup score of one-half of the normalized score for the game will be used, and that absent player (Player A) is part of a two-player match, the opponent (Player B) will automatically receive three points for that game, unless Player B’s score for the game is greater than or equal to 1.5 times the normalized score in which case Player B will receive the extra bonus point for a total of four points for that game. For games that Player A has premakeup scores for, the scoring (for a two player match) for the Player B is the same as if Player A was present, except, of course, Player A receives 0 as his/her score in the game. For three and four player matches, the ghost premakeup score of one-half of the normalized score for the game will also be used, and if there are two or more players who are using the same score, then for purposes of calculating the place of the other players, the absent players will be ranked according to their place in the league at the moment with the top ranked of the absent players coming in ahead of the other player(s).

Notes regarding players who miss more than three weeks of or uses 15 premakeup games during, whichever comes first, the season (and therefore can’t use any more premakeup scores):

“Ghost” Premakeup scores will be used. The ghost score will be the average of all three premakeup scores (including any zeroes) obtained by a player on one game. So a player who only obtained one premakeup score on a game (say 30M on Monster Bash) will have as a ghost premakeup score (30M + 0 + 15M)/3 = 15M. The player got a zero for not getting a second premakeup score on the game. The official score for the missed game for that player will be zero, but the ghost score will be used as if the person were there and a three-player match with one or two ghost premakeup scores will be treated as a three player match as if all parties were there. The same goes for four player and two player matches: if any absent players in the match are using ghost premakeup scores, they will get an official score of zero, but their ghost premakeup score will be used as the player were actually there.

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 premakeup scores a player can use during the season is 15. After this, ghost premakeup scores will be used (see Note above in Section C).

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.

These End Of Season Prizes (number given out and the amount of the cash awards given out) are subject to change, depending on how many people participate in the league in a given season.

Weekly payouts will be as follows: Total league points (TLP) for the winner of each group for that week will be compared. The two or three people with the highest TLP will share the prize pot for that week. If there are fewer than 18 people in the league, then the weekly prize pot is split as follows: 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 (discussed later in this document) they obtained on the games they played that week. If the league has 18 or more players, then the weekly prize pot is split up in the following fashion: the highest TLP scorer gets 65%, the second place TLP scorer gets 25%, and the third place TLP scorer gets 10%. Any ties in TLP will be broken up by each player’s total normalized score earned that week.

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.

If a player inadvertently starts a one-player game (say because the start button was pressed only once if the required amount of credits were in the machine or if there weren’t enough credits in the game to begin with), then if any of the other players catch this mistake before ball 1 of the first player is over, they can put in their credits (or press start the required number of times), as the case may be, to bring up the proper number of players in the game without penalty to the player who made the error. However, if nobody catches the error before the first player begins ball 2 (meaning the other players haven’t played their ball 1 yet), then the offending player shall abort the current game as soon as the mistake is caught and a new game begun with the proper number of players.

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); however you may lane change before the ball gets through the rollovers in games that use them for their skill shot (e.g. AFM), then you must let go of the flipper buttons. 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, then all players who have finished their game will have their scores recorded, if possible. The player whose game the slam occurred on will replay the game and if it is not possible to record the scores of the other players in the match, then they will also replay the game and each player (including the player in which the malfunction occurred) will keep the scores obtained on that game.

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. No person may join the current season after the second week of the season has passed.

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 according to the following table:

Number of Players in the league	Number of Players in each Group

<8	TBD at beginning of season
8	G1: 2; G2 and G3: 3 each
9	G1, G2, G3: 3 each
10	G1 and G2: 3 each; G3: 4
11	G1: 3; G2 and G3: 4 each
12	G1, G2, G3, G4: 3 each
13	G1, G2, G3: 3 each; G4: 4
14	G1 and G2: 3 each; G3 and G4: 4 each
15	G1, G2, G3, G4, G5: 3 each
16	G1, G2, G3, G4: 4 each
17	G1, G2, G3: 3 each; G4 and G5: 4 each
18	G1, G2, G3, G4, G5, G6: 3 each
19	G1 to G5: 3 each; G6: 4
20	G1 to G5: 4 each
21	G1, G2, G3: 3 each; G4, G5, G6: 4 each
22	G1 and G2: 3 each; G3 to G6: 4 each
23	G1: 3; G2 to G6: 4 each
24	G1 to G6: 4 each

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 asked to estimate his/her skill level and the player will be placed in the appropriate group (skill level scale is from 1 to 10 where 1 is rank novice and 10 is expert). For subsequent weeks, the groupings will be in sets of 3 or 4 people 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. For players using their premakeup scores, the following week’s grouping for that player is as follows: If a player is the winner of his or her group in a given week, that person will move up a group (or stay in Group 1 if the player is already in that group) otherwise the player’s group placement will remain unchanged.

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 2 or more people in a group chooses a game, 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).

All league players have the opportunity of playing against every other league player during the first 5 weeks of the season. The Total League Points (TLP) for each player is noted at the end of the 5^th week of the season. For a league that has an even number of players, n, (No-Shows and other dropouts are not counted in the number of players on Week 5) the top n/2 scores at the end of the 5^th week of the season will be in the A Division for the rest of the season and the other half of the league players will be in the B Division. If the league has an odd number of players, then the top (n-1)/2 scores will make it to the A Division with the rest of the league going to the B Division. Any ties in TLP between league players will be broken by: Average Normalized Score (ANS) up to the 5^th week of the season (higher ANS wins the tie), then the player’s win-loss record up to the 5^th week of the season to break any further ties.

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.

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.

Normalizing scores are a way of comparing scores obtained by players on different machines. Each game used in the league will have a normalizing score associated with it. To calculate a player’s normalized score on a given machine, you have to divide the player’s score on the game in question by the normalizer. For example, a score of 1 Billion in Attack from Mars could be equal to a normalized score of 1 Million points and a player who scored 3 Billion would have as a normalized score: 3B/1B = 3.0 Million; a score of 50 Million on The Addam’s Family could be equal to a normalized score of 1 Million points and a player whose TAF score is 75 Million has a normalized score of 75M/50M = 1.5 Million. Every player in the league will have a Total Normalized Score (TNS) (the sum of all the normalized scores on the games played that night) each week and an Average Normalized Score (ANS) (the average of all weekly TNS’s since the beginning of the season). The TNS is used in breaking any ties at the end of the night (Ties are discussed in Section D, below) and the ANS is used to break any ties in the weekly standings during the season.

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.

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 6 players in each division will advance to the 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 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 Jersey Pinball Association: League Rules & Information

Player