Rules of Play
[To be available on the website http://powertothepinball.com/#league at all times.]
[In the event that the website and these bylaws diverge, the published rules of play on the website will take precedence until the bylaws are updated.]
CCPL adheres to the PAPA/IFPA Tournament Rules whenever possible. Specific rulings may differ at the league manager(s) discretion. Event hosts also maintain discretion over game setup. Ultimately, league manager(s) have final say in all rulings.
Whenever possible, extra balls will be disabled on league night machines. In the event a player earns an extra ball, it may be played by that player in its entirety. If a player plays another player's extra ball out of turn, the offending player will be ruled to have played out of turn and receive a score of zero for that game, and the offended player will NOT receive a compensation ball in lieu of playing the earned extra ball.
All players participating in a CCPL event agree to adhere to the IFPA rules of conduct without exception.
Registration & Dues
Participation in a league section requires registration by expressing interest in playing for a season and presenting league dues. You are not considered registered for a season until both these criteria are met. League dues cover IFPA fees, trophies, prizes, and other administrative costs. As the league grows, and capacity at locations is limited, some league sections will have a cap system in place to make sure that players can still have fun while things can still go smoothly on league night. As required, a waitlist will be maintained if a league section is at capacity.
The league manager will announce when registration is open for the next season. Interested players then declare their interest in playing and present their league dues. League dues will be collected by means announced by the league manager. Registration for a season will typically commence at the last regular season meeting and remain open during the following season until the player cap is reached.
Registration
- League dues for a season are $20 per person, due at the time of registration, and are not pro-rated.
- In order to register you must provide an email address and agree to pay attention to communications from the league.
- Registration is limited to a specific number of players per season and per league section.
- After the player cap is reached, other players who want to register will be placed on a waitlist for the next season.
- Registered players from the previous season will have the opportunity to renew their registration for next season before players on the waitlist.
- If there are fewer players renewing than the cap limit, players on the waitlist will be added in waitlist order.
- If a registered player does not play 50% of the regular season meetings, they may lose their priority registration for the following season and be moved to the end of the waitlist.
- Former members of that league section will be placed higher on the waitlist, above others who are not former members. CCPL recognizes that "life happens" and sometimes a member needs to skip a season or few. At such a time they are able to re-join the league, their past support will give them priority over new members on the wait list.
- A player on the waitlist, regardless of their position on the list or their former member status, will either be removed or placed at the bottom of the list if that player chooses to pass on their spot two times in a row.
Unregistered Players (Guests)
- Unregistered players are allowed at the discretion of the league manager to gauge their interest in possibly joining league or the waiting list, or as a guest of a registered player.
- All unregistered players must be cleared prior to the league night by notifying the league manager(s).
- Registered players are not allowed to bring guests without first notifying the league manager(s).
- The league manager has sole discretion on allowing guests or visitors to participate during a league night.
- Guests will play alongside other players during the meeting, including playing in an assigned group and recording scores as normal.
- Guest scores, although recorded for posterity, will not be counted against registered player scoring and ranking.
- Guest scores will only be displayed while a league night is in progress. After scoring is complete, guest scores will not be visible on the website or in the app.
Regular Season Format and Scoring
On league night, players are put in groups of 3 or 4 players and each player gets one try on each of 4 separate machines. The machines are selected from as many different eras as possible. Practice on tournament machines is not allowed on league nights.
A player point total for the night is directly related to the performance on each machine when compared to all other players and depends on the number of players bested by that player’s score. For example, if 16 players are competing on a given league night, the highest score on that machine for the night will earn 16 points, while the lowest score on that machine for the night will earn 1 point.
This allows both for players with limited experience to get instantly rewarded for a good performance and for players who perform well consistently to get rewarded for their overall performance.
Additional bonus points are awarded at the end of the league night for the following items: “Top Score Bonus” for getting the highest score on a machine (1 point per high score, up to 4 points per meeting), “Top Dog Bonus” for getting the highest combined point total (maximum 1 point per meeting).
Regular season standings will be based on the total points for each player across all 6 weeks for a given season.
League Night Procedure
At the start of each night:
- Each group will sign up on the game above their group name, with the lower numbered group signing up first on any game that has multiple groups listed under it.
- This means some games will start with two groups signed up.
As the night goes on:
- Games will be played in alphabetical order
- When a group finishes their current game, they shall send one group member to sign up on the next game
- Each group will be signed up for only a single game at a time
- Each group will only play that game they are signed up for next, unless directed to do so by the league night manager
- No group shall play on one game while signed up for another, unless directed to do so by the league night manager
- When a group finishes a game, please alert the next group on the list that the game is open
- Groups will NOT just jump on any game that is open
- Each group should always be playing after the same group on each game. Please notify the group ahead of you if they have failed to sign up before your group. Do not jump your turn; you will only cause a bottleneck for everyone else.
- The league night manager reserves the right to modify play order. This will be managed directly by the league night manager and should not be done on an ad hoc basis by groups themselves.
Notes:
- On the league night page (typically displayed on a television or laptop within view of all players), the games are already listed from left-to-right in alphabetical order. This is the order that all groups should be playing their games.
- There is no reason for players to crowd near games while they are not playing. Groups should dedicate a member to monitoring your next game from a reasonable distance so that your group can jump on the game as quickly as possible.
- This system should maximize the speed with which each league night is completed, even if it means that sometimes a single group may wait longer while a particular game is not being played.
Playoff Qualification and Seeding
Playoffs are split into "A" and "B" player pools.
"A" qualifiers must attend at least 50% of the league meetings for their respective section to be eligible. The number of "A" spots available will be dependent on the player cap and participation for each league section. Playoff seeding is determined by the total points accumulated throughout the 6 weeks (i.e., the regular season standings).
"B" playoffs is open to everyone who attended at least one league meeting for the season and did not qualify for the "A" playoffs. The format of the "B" tournament is subject to change and not announced until we know how many "B" players we have in attendance.
League sections should adhere to these playoff options, using https://matchplay.events software:
- 8 qualifiers
- Matchplay 8 player bracket, no byes
- 12 qualifiers
- Matchplay 12 player bracket, top 4 receive byes
- 16 qualifiers
- Matchplay 24 player bracket, top 4 receive byes, include 8 dummy players w/4 seeded 1-4
- 20 qualifiers
- Matchplay 24 player bracket, top 4 receive byes, include 4 dummy players
Playoff Process
- "A" playoffs, or "main" playoffs, are PAPA style, group matchplay.
- Groups of 3 or 4 players will play a three-game match.
- 1st place receives 4 points; 2nd place receives 2 points; 3rd place receives 1 point; 4th place receives 0 points
- Top two from each group advance to the next round, until down to the final 4.
Playoff Rules
- Ties in regular season standings are resolved via single game matches prior to the beginning of the playoff session.
- High seed in the group has first choice of game or position. Next highest seed gets second choice, etc...
- Ties during playoff rounds are broken by a single game, selected by highest seed playing, played for high score.
- Final seeding is determined by the eliminated players playing an additional seeding round of matchplay using the same rules as the main playoff rounds.
- A game may be selected by a player only once for the duration of the playoffs.
- Awards and trophies are given to the top 3 finishers.