Tournament Rules and Description:

Quick Look:

Date/Time: May 3, 2025. When show opens 10am.
Date/Time: May 4, 2025. When show opens 10am.
Best Game Qualifying: 10am to 4:00pm
Finals Start: 4:10pm (Projected end time is 5:00pm)
Registration: Register at the door at any time.
Cell phone: To play in the tourney, you *must* have a cell phone or tablet with internet access. (Unfotunately the VFW does not have public wifi.)
Cost: No charge for the tournament, but you must purchase a Show Ticket.
IFPA Tourney? Yes, this is an IFPA tournament.

Format: This is a Blind Herb Style (Best Game) tournament on 12 to 36 machines (number will be finalized day of the tourney) ranging from EM to solidstate to Dot Matrix DMD games, generally a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 split between game types. All games will count toward the standings. You can play a particular game as many times as you would like to get your best score. But once you submit a score for a game, it is locked. If you choose to not enter a score for a particular game, that will count as "zero" for that game.

Note you can not "back date" a score (meaning only the current score on the game can be submitted, even if it's not your best score of the day!) This will make for some strategic decisions: Keep the decent score you just played, or press your luck to try and try to beat it!? When you are satisfied with your score and want to submit it, you must get your score verified by one of the "Orange Shirt" volunteers. And they will verify only the current score that can be seen on the game! Note if there is no orange shirt near, scan the QR code and electronically request someone come to verify your score.

Again, once you have submitted a score for a particular game title, you can not re-submit another score on the same game. In addition, all individual game scores will be hidden (thus the "Blind" Herb style tournament). This prevents someone from "continual play" to try and beat the known top score.

Standings: Scoring is as follows on each game, all games in the tourney will count towards your total score as follows:
1st = 100 points, 2nd place =99, 3rd place = 98, etc. down the list of scores.
Remember all game scores will be hidden (thus the Blind Herb Style), until the end.

Queuing: You can not "hog" a game for your own play. If someone is behind you and waiting to play, invite them to a multi-player game. If that is not possible, when you finish your current game, you must let the person behind you play a game. That is, QUE for the game! Be polite!! Do not be a game hog!!!

Tournament prelims end PROMPTLY at 4pm! That means your score MUST BE SUBMITED BEFORE 4pm. There are NO exceptions to this rule!! It does not matter when you started your game, it only matters that you enter your score (with an orange shirt to verify) *before* 4pm.

Finals: If less than 41 players, the top four finishers will compete in a ladder, four player groups with one player eliminated per round (game), until one player remains. If there are more than 40 players, we will expand the finals to the top eight players. In this case there will be two ladders which will play separately, until there's two people left in each group. Then the two ladder groups combine into a single ladder group of four players. If more than 80 players, and the finals group expands accordingly (the IFPA minimum 10% finals rule.) Top seed picks the game or position. You may only pick a game once the entire finals.

General Rules: We do our best to adhere to the IFPA competition rules with the following addition: "Delayed Response" strategies will result in last place for a player in that round!! That is, reading the scorecard for more than a minute, or leaving for a smoke or bathroom break, or not showing up promptly for your finals round... these strategies to "chill" the other players will not be tolerated, and will result in a last place in that round and thus an elimination.

Ties: Significant ties (ties that determine whether or not you make the finals) will be broken on one full game tiebreaker (Game to be determined by Tournament Staff).

For show ticket information visit: VFW Pinball Show Info