The league will consist of 6 sessions and a final, spreading meetings out over a roughly four month period.  Sessions will be hosted on set Friday nights by area collectors on dates picked to avoid conflict with other local or major pinball events.  At the limits of the session's host, sessions will include practice and social time in addition to the organized league play.  Snacks & beverage will be provided as funded through league dues.

The league will be capped at 24 players and players compete together for sessions 1 through 6.  After session 6, players are divided into A, B, and C divisions of 8 players each based on their finish (i.e. player 1-8 in A division, 9-16 in B division, 17-24 in C division).  In the event the league has less than 24 players, C division will have less players.  For finals, each division will play a semi-final and championship round of games to establish their division winners.  

Prizes and WPRR points will be awarded based on finishing positions after the finals session.

League fees are $60 per person for season 3.  $25 goes towards the refreshments budget, with the remainder to the general fund.  The refreshments budget is divided equally between the sessions and goes to the session's host to help defer refreshment costs.  The general fund is used for league expenses and cash prizes for the top finishers.  All monies less expenses are paid back as prizes to players.  For season 3, Hosts receive $25 plus up to an equal share of the refreshment budget for reimbursement towards food&drink they provide during their session.

At the start of the session, players are ranked by their adjusted points total.  For the first session, rankings will be established by league officers based on available IFPA rankings, with unranked players placed at the bottom of the rankings.  Based on groupings for that session (see Groupings below), players will be grouped into groups of 3 or 4 players.  Each group will play one game on five different machines with points awarded based on your finishing position on each game.  Points are awarded on each game as follows:

4 player groups

1. First Place - 7

2. Second Place - 5

3. Third Place - 3

4. Fourth Place - 1

3 player groups

1. First Place - 7

2. Second Place - 4

3. Third Place - 1

Each group will be assigned a scoresheet and each group is responsible for recording each player's order of play, score, and the machine played.  Scoresheets will be turned into the league officer at the end of play.

Players will be organized intro groups for match play (See Grouping).  Within their group, players will be ordered as follows:

Player 1 – highest rank
Player 2 – 2nd highest rank
Player 3 – 3rd highest rank
Player 4 – 4th highest rank

The play order for the first game must be played as recorded on the scoresheet with player with highest rank playing first, 2nd highest playing second, and so on.  Players do not chose their play order.

For the next game, players rotate *UP* one position in play order.  So Player 2 (2nd Highest Rank) will play first, Player 3 (3rd Highest Rank) will play second, Player 3 will play third, and Player 1 will play fourth.

This process repeats for each game played, rotating *UP* one position each game.  You will always follow the same player game to game.  The only change is the shift in which player plays first each game.

For each game to be played, the player who is scheduled to play *FIRST* in the match is given the option to pick the machine to play from the machines designated available for the session.  The game selection should be made after completing the prior game.  If the selected player defers their game choice, the next player in play order is given the option to chose, and so on.  The exception to this Machine Selection is the first game of the session.  The first game of the session for each group will always be assigned by the league officer to facilitate a smooth and timely start of the session.

Players may not pick a game their group has already played in that session.  League officers may announce and enforce limits on groups waiting for a game to become available depending on game availability and time constraints for that particular session.

The league will follow the standing IFPA Tournament Rules - see IFPA Rules - for rulings on game malfunctions, player errors, and resolution.  League officers may announce location specific rulings at the start of a session as necessary that may supersede the baseline IFPA rules.

Ranks from week to week will be based on a player's cumulative awarded points.  For Sessions after Session 3, Adjusted cumulative points will be used for ranking players.  Adjusted cumulative points is your total number of points, dropping your two lowest week totals. 

Example:  Player Scores 5, 17, 33, and 32 in sessions 1-4.  Their adjusted cumulative points total is 65 (33+32=65  5, and 17 are dropped)

For ties in adjusted cumulative points, the player with the higher rank position going into the week will remain in the higher position.

Due to the limited access to the collection used for a session, there is no notion of pre-plays, make-ups or substitute scores in case of a player's absence.  In case of an absence, the player will score 0 points for that session.  Players are afforded the grace of missing a session without significant penalty through the Adjusted Total Points system.  In the Adjusted Total Points system, all players have their two lowest session totals dropped from their overall points total.

In case of an absence, the group the player would be assigned to will play as a group of three instead of four.  If there is more than one person missing from a group, league officers will regroup players to eliminate any two player groups (See Grouping below)

At the start of each session, all players are ranked based on adjusted points (See Ranking Players above).  Each session has a mapping of ranks to six four player groups.  The model starts with a wider spread of ranks playing together at the start, and converging to adjacent ranks playing together in session 6.  If only three of the four players in a group are present, the group will play on as a three player group (See Scoring above).  If less than three players are present, the league officer will regroup adjacent groups to best fit players playing as close as possible to the session's rank mappings and all groups having three or four players.

Session 1
Group1 - 1, 12, 13, 24

Group2 - 2, 11, 14, 23
Group3 - 3, 10, 15, 22
Group4 - 4, 9, 16, 21
Group5 - 5, 8, 17, 20
Group6 - 6, 7, 18, 19

Sessions 2 and 3
Group1 - 1, 6, 7, 12
Group2 - 2, 5, 8, 11
Group3 - 3, 4, 9, 10
Group4 - 13, 18, 19, 24
Group5 - 14, 17, 20, 23
Group6 - 15, 16, 21, 22

Session 4 and 5
Group1 - 1, 4, 5, 8
Group2 - 2, 3, 6, 7
Group3 - 9, 12, 13, 16
Group4 - 10, 11, 14 15
Group5 - 17, 20, 21, 24
Group6 - 18, 19, 22, 23

Session 6
Group1 - 1, 2, 3, 4
Group2 - 5, 6, 7, 8
Group3 - 9, 10, 11, 12
Group4 - 13, 14, 15, 16
Group5 - 17, 18, 19, 20
Group6 - 21, 22, 23, 24

At the end of the 6 sessions, adjusted points total will determine divisions and seedings for finals.  The top 8 players will be placed in "A" Division, the next 8 will be placed in "B" Division, and the remainders will be in "C".  Players will be seeded 1-8 based on their adjusted points total within their respective division.

In the case of absences, the next lower player from the same division moves up to fill the open spot.  Absent players are moved to lowest seeds.  Example:  In B Division, Bob is seed 5, Ken is seed 7 and both are absent for finals.  Bob is moved to 7th seed, Ken is moved to 8th seed, remaining 6 players continue as seeds 1-6 based on their adjusted points total.

Each division will complete in two rounds of play, a semi-finals and championship round.

Semi-Finals

• The semi-finals round will be two groups, each playing a set of three matches scored using the standard FNT four or three player scoring (7,5,3,1 or 7,4,1)

• Top seed in each group gets game pick and first choice of play order, followed by second seed picking their play order, third picking their play order

• A player can not pick the same game more than one time, including both semi-finals and championship rounds

• Top two point finishers for each semi-finals group will advance to the winners group for the championship round. Other finishers are sent to a losers group for the championship round

• Ties will be broken by the higher initial seed

Championship round

• The Championship round will be two groups, each playing a set of three matches scored using the standard FNT four or three player scoring (7,5,4,1 or 7,4,1).  The winners group establishes finishers 1 through 4.  The losers group establishes finishers 5 through 8.

• All seeding in the championship round are based on relative rank between players based on the initial seeding at the start of the session (no reseeding based on semi-finals totals)

• Top seed in each group gets game pick and first choice of play order, followed by second seed picking their play order, third picking their play order

• A player can not pick the same game more than one time and can not pick a game they picked in the semi-finals round

• Ties will be broken by the higher initial seed

Final overall Rank will be be determined as follows:

• Division A players will be ranked 1-8

• Division B players will be ranked 9-16

• Division C players will be ranked 17-x

• Within each division, rank will be determined by their final position after the championship round with the winners bracket being position 1-4, followed by the losers bracket

• Any absent players are ranked in their respective division below all players who were present for the finals (ties based on rank after session 6)

Results will be reported to the IFPA based on these final rankings.

The prize pool is funded through a portion of league dues and through sponsorships.  It is our goal to pay all monies (less expenses) back to the players through the prize pool.  Expenses include league necessary costs such as IFPA fees, bail, and exotic cars.

Cash Prizes will be awarded to

A Division - 1st, 2nd

B Division - 1st, 2nd

C Division - 1st

Exact payouts will be announced prior to Finals session.  The principle is to payout in round amounts, favoring better finishes.  Sample payouts from Season 2

A Div:
1st - $175
2nd - $100
B Div:
1st - $100
2nd - $60
C Div:
1st - $50