I. Quick Overview

The Silverball Rumble is an unlimited PAPA card-based ticket qualifying format. During open qualifying hours, players may purchase as many tickets (cards) as they would like to try and qualify for the finals portion. A point system is used to rank each player’s score on each machine. Those who have the ticket (card) with the highest point total at the end of qualifying will participate in the head to head finals.

II. Divisions

The Silverball Rumble will be held on a bank of 12-16 machines. Players who finish in positions 1-24 will qualify for A division finals. Players who finish in positions 25-40 will qualify for B division. If the Silverball Rumble reaches over 240 players with completed entries, finals will be expanded in A division as needed and determined by the TD’s.

Players who are ranked in the top 250 of IFPA at the time of the tournament shall not be eligible for B division finals. If such a player does qualify, the next lower player shall take the spot instead.

There will be a Junior division within the Main division standings. Any players 16 and under that are not ranked in the top 500 will qualify to be put in the Junior standings using the scores from the Main division. Trophies will be awarded to the top 3 Juniors at the end of the Main division finals.

III. Entry Fees and Prizes

Show Entry – A pass to the Pintastic New England show will be required to gain entry to the tournament area of the venue. Passes can be purchased at the venue at the Box Office or purchased in advance at PintasticNewEngland.com.

Tournament Entry – $20 per Ticket (also known as card, and henceforth in this document will be referred to as ticket) purchased at the tournament desk. No unused or incomplete tickets will be refunded. Unlimited entries can be purchased.

Prizes – All players who qualify for either A or B division will receive a cash prize listed in the chart below along with a Pintastic New England pint glass and enamel key chain. Trophies will be awarded for the top 3 in each division. The Pintastic New England show will sponsor the tournament with the above mentioned prizes and a contribution to the cash prize pool. Cash prizes will be broken up into percentages, with first place guaranteed at least a $1000 prize. The actual prize pool will be calculated at the event as entries are purchased and all tournament operating costs such as trophies, IFPA and Stern Pro Circuit endorsement fees, etc. are deducted. All payouts will be rounded to the nearest $5 increment.

Prizes	A Division	B Division
1ST	18%	4%
2ND	13.5%	2.5%
3RD	9%	1.5%
4TH	6.5%	1%
5-8TH	4%	0.5%
9-16TH	2%	0.25%
17-24TH	1%	–

IV. Qualifying Round

Purchasing Entries – Before purchasing any entries, a player must register at either the tournament desk or they can register themselves into the system on the Neverdrains website provided. Once a player is registered, they can purchase as many tickets from the desk as they would like, with each ticket consisting of a string of 5 different games chosen from the bank.

Playing An Entry – To play your entry, you choose a game and can either add yourself to the queue via the tournament website given at the desk, or you can ask a scorekeeper to add you to a queue. If a game is currently open, you still must be added to the queue and have a scorekeeper start you on the game. Once you have finished your game, you will raise your hand and wait for a scorekeeper to record your score. If you do not wait for a scorekeeper and leave your game at any time, the score will be recorded as a 0. It is the player’s responsibility to ensure that the score recorded is correct. Once your score is recorded, the scorekeeper can add you to the queue of a new game or you can add yourself to a queue.

Once you have completed 5 different games, the scorekeeper will ask the player if they would like to submit this ticket and record it into the scoring system or void the entire entry.

A player may only have a single open ticket in progress at any time. An in-progress ticket must be completed or voided before a new one can be started.

Also if at any time a player wishes to abandon a ticket, they may let a scorekeeper know and they will void the entry.

No incomplete tickets can be submitted. A player must play the full 5 games to finish a ticket and be counted in the standings.

Scoring – A ticket is a collection of 5 different games played in a string. You cannot take game scores from one ticket and combine them with another ticket. Only one ticket can be in progress at a time. A player can play and submit as many tickets as they would like to purchase.

Each player’s score on a game will receive a point value based on its rank compared to all other scores entered. The #1 score earns 200 points, #2 score earns 190 points, #3 score earns 185 points and #4 score and below earn 1 less point per position. 185 points all the way down to 1 point. A player’s overall score for a ticket is the sum of the point total from the 5 games played.

Point rankings for games will change as new scores are posted so the overall score for players may change as qualifying goes on.

If any scores on a game are tied the highest point value of the tied scores is what will be awarded for each tied score.

Up to date game scores and rankings will be available to view on the website and display monitors around the tournament area.

Hours – Qualifying times are as follows:

Thursday 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM (Scorekeepers only 10:30 PM-Midnight)

Friday 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM (Scorekeepers only 10:30 PM-Midnight)

Saturday 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

No new games will be started after the cutoff time for each day. Any games currently in progress can be finished and recorded. All tickets in progress will remain open at the end of qualifying each day and can be completed at any time up until the end of qualifying at 2:00 PM Saturday. All queues will be wiped at the end of the day and re-opened at the start of qualifying the following day.

V. Finals

Finals Qualifying – When all qualifying games have been completed at 2:00 PM Saturday and recorded, the tournament officials will tally up all players’ rankings and finalize the players above the cut lines. The players ranked 1st-24th will move on to A division with those ranked 1st-8th getting a bye in the first round of finals. The players ranked 25th-40th will move on to B division finals. There will then be a 1 hour break as we prepare for finals. We require all qualified players to be present back at the tournament area by 3:00 PM. If any qualified player fails to show by 3:00 PM without any notice to tournament officials, their spot shall be forfeited and given to the next player who qualified and is present.

Ties for qualifying – In the event that two or more players are tied on a cut line for making a division or for receiving a bye, a single game tiebreaker will be played on Stars to determine the outcome/position.

Format – A division finals will be played on the same bank of games as qualifying. A division is a head to head bracket with each head to head match being the best of 7. The first person to reach 4 wins over the other player moves on to the next round. Final round match for 3rd and 4th place will be a best of 5.

B Division finals will be held in the WMPC room adjacent to the tournament area and played on the games in that room. Those games will be available all weekend for people to have time on them. B division finals are for prizes and trophies only. The outcome of finals will not determine overall tournament standings. B division is a head to head bracket with each match being a best of 3. First player to reach 2 wins moves on to the next round.

Bracket and Matches – Finals will follow a traditional 24 player bracket. Matches will for each round will play out as follows:

A Division

Round 1

Match 1-9th vs. 24th

Match 2-10th vs. 23rd

Match 3-11th vs.22nd

Match 4-12th vs. 21st

Match 5-13th vs. 20th

Match 6-14th vs. 19th

Match 7-15th vs. 18th

Match 8-16th vs. 17th

Round 2

Match 9-1st vs. Match 8 winner

Match 10-2nd vs. Match 7 winner

Match11-3rd vs. Match 6 winner

Match 12-4th vs. Match 5 winner

Match 13-5th vs. Match 4 winner

Match 14-6th vs. Match 3 winner

Match 15-7th vs. Match 2 winner

Match 16-8th vs. Match 1 winner

Quarter-finals

Match 17-Match 9 winner vs. Match 16 winner

Match 18-Match 10 winner vs. Match 15 winner

Match 19-Match 11 winner vs. Match 14 winner

Match 20-Match 12 winner vs. Match 13 winner

Semi-finals

Match 21-Match 17 winner vs. Match 20 winner

Match 22- Match 18 winner vs. Match 19 winner

Finals

1st/2nd place-Match 21 winner vs. Match 22 winner

3rd/4th place-Match 21 loser vs. Match 22 loser.

B Division will be a traditional bracket with 16 players.

Round 1

Match 1-1st vs. 16th

Match 2-2nd vs. 15th

Match 3-3rd vs. 14th

Match 4-4th vs. 13th

Match 5-5th vs. 12th

Match 6-6th vs. 11th

Match 7-7th vs. 10th

Match 8-8th vs. 9th

Quarter-finals

Match 9-Match 1 winner vs. Match 8 winner

Match 10-Match 2 winner vs. Match 7 winner

Match 11- Match 3 winner vs. Match 6 winner

Match 12-Match 4 winner vs. Match 5 winner

Semi-Finals

Match 13-Match 9 winner vs. Match 12 winner

Match 14-Match 10 winner vs. Match 11 winner

Finals

1st/2nd place-Match 13 winner vs. Match 14 winner

3rd/4th place-Match 13 loser vs. Match 14 loser

Game Selection – Each round, the highest seed player has first choice of either game or play order. Whichever they choose to pick, their opponent then picks the other one. Then the 2nd highest seed player has the choice of game or play order on any remaining unselected games and so on until all groups are picked. After the first game, the loser of that game then gets choice of game or play order.

At no time during finals can a player pick a game currently in use. Each round a player can only pick each machine a single time.

The original seed of players going into finals is what is used every round to decide who gets first game choice. At no time during finals will a player’s seed number change.

Winners and Final Placement – In the final round, the winner of the last match will be crowned the Grand Champion and the loser will take 2nd place. The winner of the 3rd and 4th place match will take 3rd place and the loser will take 4th place.

Following the final matches, an awards ceremony will happen and prizes and trophies for all divisions will be handed out.

All other positions for players in finals will be determined by the round they went out in. The players all going out in the same round will be ranked by the number of wins they received against that opponent. No ties will be broken beyond that for final standings.

Any player who qualified for A division but did not show or play in finals will be placed one spot below the last place player from finals in their qualifying division.

Overall tournament standings for all players outside of A division will be submitted based on qualifying positions.

VI. Machine Notes

Settings – Any changes to a machine in significant ways will be posted on said machine, such as physical modifications to shots or layout beyond factory adjustable posts and lane guides. Any modifications to a game’s software beyond factory menu adjustments, such as modified ROMs or tournament patches, will also be posted.

Extra Balls – During qualifying, any game that has extra balls still turned on, those extra balls shall be allowed to be played. During finals, those extra balls will no longer be allowed. A player must plunge their extra ball. They will be allowed to use flipper buttons to set up any lane change etc. for a skill shot, but once the ball has been plunged they must walk away. Any player who steps up to a machine and plunges another player’s extra ball will be DQ’d for that game.

VII. Player Conduct

Behavior – Any player who is found to be disturbing, or harassing any other players or staff, or is found abusing machines and equipment for the tournament will be given a warning. This includes use of profanity and other outbursts and behavior. If said player is warned a second time, they will be removed from the tournament permanently.

Exploiting a game – Any player found taking advantage of a machine outside the normal scope of its features for their benefit will have that game voided. Examples of such behavior would be:
● Extra flipping to constantly trigger a mis adjusted or stuck switch
● Playing while a rubber has broken and is obstructing an outlane

Delays – Any player found intentionally delaying a game or the start of a game or round will be warned. A second offense will cause them to be removed from the tournament permanently. Players will have 10 minutes between the completion of a round in finals and the start of the next round to use restrooms and get anything they may need. Once a round has begun, no player shall be permitted to leave the tournament room for any reason unless they first ask a tournament official and are granted to do so. If a player is found leaving the room during a round, they will be warned the first time and removed from the tournament the second time.

VIII. Game Malfunctions and Rulings

Any other rulings or game issues that arise and are not covered explicitly in these rules will referred to in the latest version of the combined IFPA/PAPA ruleset located at: https://www.ifpapinball.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PAPA_IFPA-Complete-Competition-Rules-2021.04.06.pdf

Tournament officials can be contacted at ctpinsanctum@gmail.com