Every point matters. Every person matters.
On Sunday, November 8, at Triangle Pinball Collective, we're celebrating the possibilities of pinball, with a one-day charity tournament in a format not seen since the '90s, where every point matters.
This is an open Punk Rock Pinball Association tournament. Players of all genders are welcome, and the standings will count toward the Raleigh-Durham PRPA leaderboard.
The proceeds after PRPA fees will be donated to Point of Pride, a charity that provides financial aid to trans people in need of health care.
There will be 5 hours available for qualifying, from 2-7pm. The top 8 players will advance to the finals in the evening.
The Score Card format: How it works
This is a card format with a throwback twist. When you buy a card, you select 6 games to play (2 classic, 2 DMD-era, 2 new), and play one game on each.
Every machine will have a multiplier posted on it. Your final score comes from adding up the score you got on each machine, times its multiplier. We're choosing the multipliers to balance the games based on past results from Triangle Pinball League.
If you're unsatisfied with your results, you can buy another card (raising more for charity!)
For example: Your card could include a game of Stars (x1300), Eight Ball Deluxe (x200), Congo (x0.35), TRON Legacy (x8), Jurassic Park (x1), and Iron Maiden (x0.9). Consider shooting for the 100,000 point special on Stars, which would be the equivalent of scoring 130 million on Jurassic Park!
This is approximately the format that was used for PAPA pinball tournaments in the early '90s, and the idea of running a modern tournament with it came from solar_espeon of The Pinball Primer. Of course, card formats switched to the system we know now, where you get points based on your ranking out of all players, because it's much easier to balance. But there's something fun and intriguing about the possibility of one huge game that makes a huge difference in your score.
Score-based finals
The distinct players with the top 8 cards will advance to the finals, which are two rounds of 4-player matchplay. The top three seeds will each choose a machine, which must be from different eras.
Instead of players scoring 4/2/1/0 for the game, their game score will once again be their score on the machine, times the multiplier. In the first round, the two highest total scores advance to the finals.
Entry fees and prizes
The cost to players is $10 per card. $5 will go to Point of Pride, and $5 will go to the prize pool.
Triangle Pinball Collective has also generously offered to contribute $5 for each player, of which $4 will go to Point of Pride and $1 will go to PRPA dues.
Players who volunteer for at least 2 hours of scorekeeping will receive a free card entry.
Tentative game banks
- Classics: Stars, Viking, Quicksilver, Eight Ball Deluxe, Spooky, Taxi
- DMD: Creature from the Black Lagoon, White Water, Congo, Theatre of Magic, TRON Legacy, Star Trek
- New: Jurassic Park, Iron Maiden, Avengers: Infinity Quest, Pokémon, Dune, Fallout
What are the multipliers, and how are they determined?
The multipliers come from Triangle Pinball League's statistics, comparing machines by their average score and what a great (90th-percentile) score looks like.
Suppose you choose a game you're good at, so you have a 75% chance of playing an average game, and a 25% chance of playing a great game. We choose multipliers that make your expected score approximately the same across all machines.
The multipliers will be finalized closer to the tournament date, so that we have more data from this season of TPL about how the machines are playing, and any data at all about Fallout.
Essential tournament info
Triangle Pinball Collective is located inside the Flight Deck NC bar, at 9521 Lumley Rd, Morrisville, NC 27560.
The tournament is on Sunday, November 8, with qualifying from 2pm to 7pm, and match play finals starting around 7:30pm. Entries are $10 per card.