MFPL Overview

Michigan Flippers Pinball League has no entry fee and is a welcoming place to play pinball! Players of all ages and skill levels are welcome to join at any stage of the season.

During the season, players will be invited to play 8 total qualifying sessions. The sum of all the points earned in a player’s top 6 sessions will determine seeding into the playoffs.

The top 16 players will be invited to compete in the finals.

For remaining players, their point total across their top 6 sessions will determine their standing.

Session Format

Every session, players will play 8 randomly selected games.

Each game will be played with a group of 3-4 players with a similar win/loss record for that session. This way, folks always play opponents with a similar skill level.

For each game played, players will be awarded points based on their placement in that round.

At the end of the night, a session-winner is determined by the sum total of points. There will be no tie-breakers for session results.

Format Overview

A player’s league ranking will be determined by summing the 6 best sessions from each player. There will be 8 total regular league sessions (meaning each player can drop two from their ranking).

A session is worth 0 points for any players not in attendance.

At the end of the regular season, the top 16 players will be invited to the playoffs. Any other players will have their final rank determined by the ranking from the regular season.

If there are ties for the top 16 slots, they will be broken by a single head-to-head match with all tied players on a random game from the finals pool.

If there are ties for other ranking, there are considered insignificant ties and players will share the same season placement.

Playoffs Format

The playoffs will be played “ladder” style, followed by a four-way finals. This was chosen because it simultaneously guarantees that well-performing players from the regular season cannot drop more than 2 spots in the final rankings and allows any player from the top 16 to potentially win the season.

How the ladder works

The players ranked 13-16 will play a game. The bottom two players are eliminated, and the remaining two players then climb to a four-way match against players 11 & 12. This continues for 6 rounds, after which there will be only four players left.

Game and play order selection during the ladder

During the ladder, the highest-seeded player in a match will choose two games.

The second-highest player in a match will veto one game.

The winner of the previous ladder match will chose their play position.

The second-place of the previous ladder match will be second to chose their play position.

Then the highest seeded-player picks their play position, and the second-highest player will play with the remaining position.

If at any time a player would rather pick play position than participate in game selection, they may do so. In that case, their game selection option would pass to the next-to-act player.

How the finals work

The four remaining players will then play a 3-game finals, with 3/2/1/0 scoring. Unlike the regular season, the finals will not have any bonus for a first-place finish.

Game and play order selection during the finals

The first game, action order will be set as: top-seed, second-seed, winner of ladder, runner-up of ladder. For all following matches, action order will be set by the placement from the previous game regardless of overall standings in the finals or tournament seeding.

The game/order selection process will otherwise be the same as in the ladder: first-acting player chooses two tables, second-acting player vetoes one table, third-acting player gets position choice, and so on.

No double-picking games

A player may not pick any game that they have picked already in any stage of the playoffs (unless it was vetoed the first time they picked it).

For example, in the ladder, John picks Game of Thrones and AC/DC. His opponent, Mary, vetoes AC/DC. They will play Game of Thrones for that round. If John reaches the finals, he may not pick Game of Thrones again, but he may pick AC/DC again.

During the ladder, a player may still end up playing the same game multiple times if it is picked by their opponents. During the finals, three different games must be played.

Prizes & Accolades

We will probably have no cash prize for winning this league (because there is no entry fee). However, we are going to strive to provide a trophy or award for at least the top 3 players.

All participating players who attend at least 4 sessions will gain International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) ranking points, with more points for better-performing players.

Except where discussed here, we’ll follow the rules & guidelines provided by the IFPA. This is a friendly league; we will try to enforce rules fairly and may ask players if they can reach a consensus regarding any issues prior to having an official ruling.

PLAYER CONDUCT

This tournament is run at an operating family arcade. In addition to the normal IFPA conduct, players will receive penalties for any behavior which could disrupt normal arcade patronage/operations.

KEEPING MACHINES PLAYABLE

Note: these rules have been edited for clarity. This does not come up often and we do not expect to need these rules; they are only here to prevent disagreement in an extreme scenario which impacts multiple players

We do not always have access to open a machine during play. This means we do not necessarily have the ability to safely move machines back into position after a big nudge. To avoid this, any player who moves a game into an unplayable position is responsible for fixing it during their own ball or bonus.

If a player moves a machine into an unplayable position (for example, into a wall) and fails to fix it before the next player’s ball, a tournament organizer will make a ruling. Reasonable efforts will be made to allow the machine to be played, this might include shifting nearby machines.

If a game is still unplayable after a reasonable effort, a tournament organizer will attempt to move the shifted game back into a playable position. If this cannot be done without causing a tilt warning, the active player can choose:

1. Play the game in its condition
2. Tilt out the ball and play a compensation ball

At the TO’s discretion, failures to maintain equal playability of games can result in a warning. Multiple incidences or egregious failures to maintain playability may result in a penalty. An “egregious failure” is leaving a machine unplayable intentionally, or failure to move a machine back when it would be risk-free to do so (for example, on Whoa Nelly where there is no post-ball bonus, players should always ensure the game is in a reasonable position prior to the end of their own ball).

• First offense: -2 points for session of the incident
• Second offense: -4 points for the session of second incident
• Third offense: -6 points for the session of the incident
• Fourth offense: A pattern of unsportsmanlike behavior will result in ejection from the season.
• Any offense: if leaving a game in an unplayable position created an unfair advantage/disadvantage that could not be avoided, a TO may disqualify the offending player from the round instead of a point penalty.

CASUAL GAMES

Tournament players are welcome to play between sessions, but they must not play games adjacent to any ongoing tournament match. In addition, players should not delay tournament progress because of a non-tournament game.

BACK-TO-BACK MACHINES IN SESSION PLAY

Because machines will be randomly selected by Matchplay software, it is possible to be assigned the same game multiple rounds in a row. If any player in a group has just played a machine, any player in that group may request a randomly re-selected machine.

OCCUPIED MACHINES

It is possible a machine will be occupied by regular arcade patrons. If this is the case, the affected group will be randomly assigned a new game, excluding any tables which were played by any player in the affected group in the previous round.

In the playoffs, a game may not be selected in the pool if it is occupied by a regular patron at the time of selection. We will not be delaying the finals waiting for machines to become unoccupied. However, if a league player is playing a non-tournament game on a machine, they will vacate if needed.

MALFUNCTIONING MACHINES

We will not have staff available for hotfixing machines. We will do our best to ensure only games in reasonable working order are in the tournament pool.

If there is a significant malfunction which impacts a game more than twice during a single round, a new machine will be drawn and players will start over. Otherwise, we will be using IFPA guidelines to give compensation balls in the case of major malfunctions.

PLAY ORDER 

We do not have any games in our pool which have play-order advantage such as ball lock steals.

If a player accidentally plays an opponent’s regular ball, that player will receive 0 points for the round. The player who lost their ball, can choose to either step in and play the ball from its current state (if possible) OR choose to play one compensation ball after the game is concluded.

A player who accidentally plays out of turn order for the first ball will be given a warning on their first offense, and an automatic disqualification (0 points) for future offenses during the league.

If a game is added mid-season which has a play-order advantage, no warning will be given for play-order mistakes on that machine, even for a first offense.

EXTRA BALLS

We are unable to turn off extra balls. To save time, players must plunge out extra balls without playing them. A player may use any combination of the flipper buttons to set up the ball, but may not hold a flipper while plunging nor touch the game at all once the ball has left the shooter lane.

In some cases, a game may fail to validate the playfield during an extra ball. An opponent may announce they are stepping up to validate the playfield any time after the first 10 seconds of an extra ball. This means they will step up to the machine and use a flipper to hit the ball up to three times with the goal of hitting any switch on the playfield.

If a player steps away from the machine and allows their extra ball to be played by another player, BOTH players will receive a disqualification (0 points) for the round. All players are responsible for ensuring extra balls are disposed of properly.

GENERAL COURTESY

Please follow these common-sense expectations. If you are a parent playing with your children in the league, please make a reasonable effort to ensure your kids also follow these expectations:

• Stand out of line-of-sight: Do not stand where an active player can see you. This means stand behind players, not in front of them or directly to the side.
• Don’t rage slam machines: It’s okay to be frustrated. It’s not okay to push the game out of position or strike it aggressively.
• Don’t distract players: It’s okay to chat near an active player, but do not talk to an active player. You can respond to an active player if they speak to you first. You may warn a player if they are unknowingly breaking a rule, for example, if they are playing with a stuck ball during multiball.
• No active coaching: once a player has plunged their ball, no other person may help them by providing instructions, guidance or game rules. Coaching may resume once a player has turned away from the machine and is no longer touching it. This means you may warn players if they accidentally step away from a machine before their ball ended or if they failed to plunge an extra ball.
• Watch your opponents: You are responsible for watching an opponent to see if they break any rules during play. Many players may not know the games they are on, and therefore may not even be aware if the machine is working as expected.
• Be kind
• Help new players