No-Limit Pinball Rules

Courtesy of BEK

What Is It?

It's a match-play tournament style. The winner of each game collects points from the other players, and players are eliminated when they run out of points. Surviving players move on, with their collected points, as the cost of play increases over time.

How Does It Work?

Each player starts with 100 points. Games cost an increasing number of points, beginning from 5 points (see "Initial Risk Schedule" for details). All players are put into groups of either 3 or 4 players and play Ball 1 of a game selected by a player. At the end of Ball 1, each player (starting with Player 1) may choose to increase the number of points they are playing for; if a player increases, the others just choose to match the increase, increase even higher, or give up on the rest of their game. All surviving players play Ball 2. At the end of Ball 2, each player may again choose to increase the number of points they are playing for. All surviving players play Ball 3, and the surviving player with the highest score collects all points risked from all players. At any time, if all other players give up on ther rest of their game, the sole surviving player immediately collects all points risked and that game ends.

Prizes

Prizes are based on entries, so we can't say how much they are. The top 4 earn prizes:
Since a player loses when they run out of points, the winners will be the last four players with remaining points.

How To Play A Match

1. Players will be grouped into pairings of 3 or 4 players. Players will keep their order of play throughout, but cycle through who plays first. The first player of a game selects the machine to be played.
1a. An important technicality: a player may only choose a game ONCE in the tournament.
2. All players in a game start with an initial risk according to the "Initial Risk Schedule".
3. All players play Ball 1.
4. Each player, starting with Player 1, may choose to increase their risk, up to (and including) all remaining points.
5. If a player increases their risk, all other players must decide between 3 options: a) Match the other player's risk. b) Increase beyond the other player's risk. c) Give up on the rest of their game, and forfeit any points risked.
6. Players continue until all players are in one of three states: a) Player has matched the largest player's risk. b) Player has given up, and forfeited all points risked. c) Player has risked all their points (see "All In" for more).
7. All surviving players play Ball 2.
8. Each player, starting with the earliest surviving player, may choose to increase their risk, according to steps 4-7.
9. All surviving players play Ball 3.
10. The winner is the surviving player who a) forces all other players to forfeit their points risked, or b) has the highest score at the end of ball 3. The winner earns all points risked. If one or more players have risked all their points, there may be more than one winner (see "All In" for more).
11. All players rotate position. The player in 1st position moves to 2nd; the player in 2nd position moves to 3rd; the player in 3rd position moves to 4th; and the player in 4th position moves to 1st and selects the next game.

Example

Po, Lala, Dispy, and Tinky-Winky are in a group, all starting with 100 points. Po, as first player, selects Terminator 3. All players risk 5 points initially. Everyone plays Ball 1. Po checks (does not increase risk), Lalaincreases to 15. Dipsy and Tinky-Winky agree to play for 15, and Po gives up (losing 5 overall). Lala, Dipsy, and Tinky-Winky play Ball 2. Lala increases to 30, Dipsy increases further to 40. Tinky-Winky gives up (losing 15 overall), and Lala agrees to play for 40. Dipsy wins, collecting +60 points (40 from Lala, 15 from Tinky-Winky, and 5 from Po). After the first game, the scores are: Dipsy 160, Po 95, Tinky-Winky 85, Lala 60. In the second game, Tinky-Winky moves to 1st position and picks the next game, as all players risk 5 points initially again.

Initial Risk Schedule

As the tournament moves on, games will begin getting more expensive. This is done primarily because players who continue to survive will have more and more points as others are eliminated, and makes later games more important to winning the tournament. The initial risk in every game raises in levels. The level increases every 20 minutes (this is variable, and corresponds directly to how long the tournament lasts).
Here is the schedule of levels:
Level Initial Risk
----- ------------ 
1 5 points
2 10 points 
3 15 points
4 25 points
5 40 points
6 60 points
7 100 points
8 150 points
9 200 points
10 300 points
11 400 points
12 600 points
13 800 points
14 1200 points
15 2000 points
The last levels are really only realistic for very large tournaments. A tournament with 10-15 players will typically last to level 9 or 10.

All In

This is no-limit pinball! You can risk all your points anytime. If you do this you are considered "all in" and are in for the rest of the game. You should probably only do this if you are going to win, of course. If you are "all in", other players may still risk more points than you have, but you are not eligible to win their excess points. In other words, if you go "all in" for 60 points, the best that could possibly happen for you would be to win 60 points from each other player. This is the "main pot" and all other players can continue risking for a "side pot". If you are "all in" you are only eligible to win the "main pot" while everyone else is eligible to win BOTH pots. The same applies to initial risk: if you don't have enough points to match the initial risk, you're automatically "all in". Time to win or die. Other players can continue to increase their own risk against one another, creating a "side pot" against only one another.

Example

You're in a 3-way bout with Keith and Lyman, and have 50 points left at Level 4. The initial risk is 25. Keith has 275 and Lyman has 325 coming in. After Ball 1 you and Keith are nearly tied, with Lyman behind. Keith increases his risk to 75 -- you can give up, or go "all in". You go "all in" and Lyman increases further to 150. Keith matches the 150. So, there is now a "main pot" of 150 (50 for each player) and a "side pot" of 200 (the 100 extra that Keith and Lyman bet above you).
There's no further betting, and you end up losing to Lyman. You're eliminated, and Lyman collects both pots. But if you'd won, you would collect the main pot . Here's what that looks like:

Start Initial Ball 1 Ball 2 Total Win Net Result
----- ------- ------ ------ ----- --- ----------
You 50 25 25 0 50 150 +100 -> 150
Keith 275 25 125 0 150 0 -150 -> 125
Lyman 325 25 125 0 150 200 + 50 -> 375

Regrouping

Initially all players will be grouped into 4 players per game, with as many 3-player groups as needed so that no group has less than 3. Regrouping occurs after an elimination whenever: 1. Any group falls below 3 players. 2. The total number of players falls to a multiple of 4. If a group falls below 3 players, the remaining 2 players will be split to existing 3-player groups if possible. If not possible, a player will be chosen at random from a 4-player group to make a 3-player group. When the total number of players falls to a multiple of 4, a 3-player group will be chosen at random to be broken up, individually joining other groups so that all remaining groups are 4-player groups.

Gameplay Rules

There are no extra balls. If you accidentally get an extra ball, let us know, and we'll fix the problem. Do NOT play it, it's unfair to your opponents. Games will generally be set a little harder than they are in normal play, in order to expedite the tournament and make it challenging.

Machine Problem?

No way, that'll never happen. Heh heh. When this happens, let us know. If something small happens and you can work it out between you and your opponents, that's even better. Just be nice about it, don't pressure anyone into something they clearly don't want. What IS a problem? A flipper fails, a shot stops registering completely, a shot won't stop registering, a ball gets stuck... things like that. What ISN'T a problem? A kickout doesn't send the ball where you expect it. A ball falls into the outlane instead of the inlane. A kickback doesn't work quite right. Things that are PINBALL-like do not count as problems. What will we do about problems? It depends. If it's something that keeps the game from working, we'll generally start you over on a new game. If it's something that can be fixed right away, we'll generally give you an extra ball at the end of the game. It's "generally" because no set of rules can cover everything, and we want to make sure we're fair to all players.

Boring Details

Initial seeding will be random. There may be as many as three 3-player groups in the beginning, depending on the number of players. There is no disadvantage to a player in a 3-player group versus a player in a 4-player group. Don't be unsportsmanlike. No swearing, really loud noises, intimidation, you know all that. We reserve the right to kick you out without a refund if we think you deserve it.