The Jersey Pinball Association: League Rules & Information

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.

II. League Nights / Attendance

A. General

Every Wednesday night is league night. For the ninth season of the league beginning on 7 March 2003, play will be held every Wednesday for 10 weeks. These 10 weeks consist of the regular season. Playoffs (one or two weeks depending on how many people are still in the league at the end of Week 5 of the regular season in question) will start the Wednesday immediately after the regular season ends.

B. Games

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.

C. Starting Time

Play begins at 7:30 PM. 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.

D. Grace Period

There will be a 10-minute grace period for players arriving late due to unexpected circumstances.

E. Late Arrival

If a player does not arrive by 7:40 PM, 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 7:40 will have their premakeup scores (see Section III) used for games they miss with associated penalties.

F. Announced Lateness

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 7:40 for that player to show up.

G. No-Shows

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@wyeth.com (work); by phone (732)-274-4091 before 4:00PM on weekdays (work); telling me in person beforehand; or calling the Break no later than 15 minutes of League start time on league 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 and the affected player can't get in before player 1's ball 2, 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.

III. Premakeups

A. Overview

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. After the start of league play on Week 6 of the season, no league player will be allowed to obtain any premakeup scores on a game, unless it is on a game that was not there prior to Week 6 of the league. After this point, all premakeup scores not obtained on games existing at the Break prior to the start of league play on Week 6 will count as a zero. A premakeup game must be played with at least one other player for it to be a valid premakeup score.

B. Obtaining and Using Premakeup Scores

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), rounded to the nearest 10 points. So, for example, a player’s premakeup scores on The Addam's Family could be 20M (Game 1), 40M (game 2), and 30M (game 3; an average of the scores from games 1 and 2). The score obtained on the first premakeup game played on a particular game will be the first premakeup score used for that game; the second premakeup score obtained on that game will be the second premakeup score used for that game and the third score will be the average of the first two. If a player only has one premakeup score on a particular game before the first premakeup score on the game in question is needed or in accordance with the deadline stated above, whichever comes first, 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 in accordance with the deadline stated above or a second premakeup is needed for the game in question, whichever comes first, 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 has no second premakeup score. 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 (see Ghost Premakeup scores in Section C, below).

Whenever a player is absent on a given League Night, all premakeup scores in a given set will be considered to have been used even though no more than 5 games will be used from that set. That set then will be unavailable for use again during the season. Exception: If a player has to use one or two premakeup scores in a given set because he or she arrived late and that player's group already started playing, then the late player must use the rest of the games in that set as choices from which the NEXT set of premakeup scores are taken (subject to the 15 game limit of premakeup scores for a player).

If for some reason, all players in a group are not present, then the game choices will be done in this fashion. The premakeup games used will first be chosen from games that all of the players have, if possible. Then games will be chosen from games that more than one player has (for 3 and 4 player matches). If at this point, 5 games are not chosen, then games will be picked at random until 5 games have been chosen for the match. If necessary, ghost premakeup scores will be used here. As far as Total League Points goes, no bonus points of any kind will be given out in a match like this, but the match point scoring is otherwise as if at least one player had been present in the group (match point scoring and Total League Points is discussed later in this document).

To make it easier to obtain premakeup scores, I will allow any league player to play premakeup games when I'm not around to take the scores that day they're played (normally this has been on Friday nights and League nights). If players are going to play premakeup games when not in my presence, they must either do A) or B) described below.

a) Play the games with at least one other League player with all players keeping AND sending me a copy of each player's scores for each game played via e-mail (if you have e-mail) (or giving me a copy if the scores were obtained within a day of the next League meeting) by the next League meeting after which said scores were obtained. For those players who don't have e-mail, you must show me the scores at the next League meeting after the scores were obtained so I can check them against what the other players have given me. In order for the premakeup score to count, all of the scores given to me for that particular game by all players must be identical; otherwise the game will be declared invalid and must be replayed. Example: Players A, B, and C (all league players) play TAF on a Tuesday night (when I'm normally not at 8OTB). Player A gets 20M, Player B gets 50M, and Player C gets 200M. They also play Monopoly; Player A gets 5M, Player B gets 30M, and Player C gets 3M. On Wednesday night, Players A, B, and C would give me a piece of paper that has the scores obtained by each player for both games. Once I verify that each player's record of the obtained scores are identical, the premakeup scores will be official.

b) Play the games against a non-league player, but with a League player not involved in the premakeup game present to verify the premakeup scores obtained and that the games played were legal. The League player will then give me a copy of the scores at (or send to me via e-mail by) the next League meeting after said scores were obtained by the players who did the premakeup games.

WARNING!!! If at any time I find that players are abusing this to their advantage (e.g. playing more than one extra ball in a game, playing a game alone, or submitting unusually high scores (for a particular player's skill level) for a particular game), then this option will be terminated and all premakeup scores would have to be done in my presence in the future.

C. Penalty

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 a particular game to be played that week, a ghost premakeup score equal to 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 four points for that game, unless Player B’s score for the game is less than the normalized score for the game in question in which case nobody receives the extra bonus point. Player A will receive an official score of 0 for the game. For games that Player A has premakeup scores for, the scoring (for a two player match) for Player B is the same as if Player A was present. For three and four player matches, the ghost premakeup score equal to 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).

A player who shows up late on a League night and that player's group is past ball 1 on game 2 (meaning the late player can't get in on game 2) at the time the late player arrives, then the scoring for the late player that night will be treated as if he or she didn't show up at all and the player's premakeup scores or ghost premakeup scores, as appropriate, for the games not played will be used.

Notes regarding players who miss more than three weeks of or uses 15 premakeup games, whichever comes first, during 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.

D. Premakeup Scores on New Games

Several things may occur as a result of a new game (Game X) being brought into the Break during the League season. I'll list them and what is to be done to resolve the issue.

a) A player fails to complete the first set of premakeups before Game X replaces one of the games the player has gotten a premakeup on already (Game Y): The player obtains a premakeup score on Game X and that score replaces the score obtained on the game that was removed.

b) A player has completed one set but failed to complete the second set of premakeups before Game X replaces Game Y: If the first set of premakeups was used before Game X appeared at the Break, then for the second set the player plays two games on Game X and the higher of the two scores will be the second premakeup score for Game X and the score for the third set will be the average of the two scores. If the first set of premakeups wasn't used before Game X appeared at the Break, then the player must obtain a premakeup score on Game X to replace the premakeup score on Game Y for the first set. The second premakeup game on Game X will then go toward the second set and the score for the third set is the average of the two scores.