(later on this page referred to as the Tournament)
Rules of the Tournament:
Notice: This is a free translation of the Finnish "Flipperimestaruuskilpailu Sörkka Pinball Open 2008 Säännöt" page. While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of this translation, the original Finnish rulesheet is applied as the Tournament ruleset, the Jury consisting of only native Finns.
1.THE TOURNAMENT ITSELF
1.1.Purpose of the Tournament: A pinball playing contest between the participants of the Tournament (later on this page referred to as Player or Players).
1.2.The time and the place of the Tournament: Friday and Saturday 23rd and 24th of May, 2008 at the Hämeentie Flipper Cave in Helsinki, Finland. The exact address or other necessary instructions will be sent with the confirming eMail.
1.2.1.Preliminary timetable of the Tournament:
Friday, 23rd of May:
16.00 - 23.00 Qualification round at the Players' own pace.
Saturday, 24th of May:
11.30 Verifying of the present finalists.
12.00 Filling of empty finale slots as described in 6.1.1.
12.01 Quarterfinal round.
12.45 Halffinal round.
13.30 Fullfinal round, positions 5-16.
14.15 Fullfinal, positions 1-4, after which the results and prize ceremony.
1.3.Organiser of the Tournament: SPO2008-committee.
1.4.The Tournament invitation is announced at flipperit.net, flippermarkt.de, pinballz.net, flipperit.fi, and svenskaflippersallskapet.com as well as other media seen fit by the organising committee.
1.5.Intending to take part in the Tournament: Send an eMail to s dot p dot o dot 2008 at wippies dot com . You will be sent back an eMail either confirming your participation or in case the maximum number of Players has been reached, a notice of your possible reserve list status in case of an annullment or that the maximum number of Players has been reached with reasonable certainty.
1.6.Maximum number of Players: 50 first eMailers. By consideration of the Jury participation may be granted for any or all on the reserve list, even if the maximum number of Players may be thus exceeded.
1.7.The right to take part in the Tournament: Any Player, who has paid the participation fee no later than at the beginning of the Tournament. By decree of the Jury, this right may be revoked without reimbursing the fee in any of the Tournament code violations specified later in these rules.
1.8.Participant flashcard: The right to take part in the Tournament is presented by the flashcard containing the Player's Tournament number and a nick consisting of no more than three (3) alphabets and the Player being marked down to the Player list of the Tournament.
1.8.1.Participating under an alias or only the nick is allowed, providing these assumed names are not degrading or contrary to good taste or common courtesy.
1.9.Publicity of the Tournament: By taking part in the Tournament, Players have approved various media taking live or still pictures at the Tournament site and interviewing Players without financial compensation within limits set by the Jury.
1.9.1.The Organiser will not disclose addresses, eMail addresses or telephone numbers of the Players to any third party, with the exception of interview requests of those awarded a prize.
1.10.Admission fee: 20 euro, including entrance. Entrance without taking part in the Tournament: 60 euro. (That's right, mere browsing will be frowned upon.)
1.10.1.The budget of the Tournament: Participation and entrance fees are used towards the prizes and expenses of the Tournament.
2.STAFF OF THE TOURNAMENT
2.1.The Jury of the Tournament consists of a Results Judge and a Technical Judge, who are not allowed to take part in the Tournament if the maximum number of Players is met. Under smaller number of players this may be overruled by an unanimous vote of the Jury, if for instance a meaningful competition cannot take place otherwise. In addition to the Judges, there is a number of Staff, who are allowed to take part in the competition.
2.2.In any malfunction or other unforeseen event not specified by these rules, the Jury should always decide the proper procedure.
3.RESULTS
3.1.Results of the Qualification Round are marked down and calculated on a computer running a well known matrix calculating software.
3.2.Results of the Quarter-, Half- and Fullfinal Round are kept manually on a suitable board visible to the audience in pace with the Tournament.
4.QUALIFYING ROUND
4.1.The Players play on each and every one of the six (6) Tournament Pinball Machines (later on this page referred to as Pin) one and only one game the score of which along with the Player's nick and Tournament number is marked down by the Officials of the Tournament to a protocol kept separetely for each and every Pin.
4.2.No warm-up or practice game is allowed on any of the Tournament Pins at the Tournament.
4.2.1.However, warm-up and practice games are allowed on other than Pins specified in 5.1. or 5.3 or 6.2. within limits set by the Jury.
4.2.2.Several Players at the same time on a Pin: Allowed, only the score counts.
4.3.The Joker: A Player is allowed to renew his or her game on one of the Pins on the Qualifying Round.
4.3.1.The Player's decision to use his or her Joker has to be made immediately after finishing the game the Player considers failed without comparing the score with other than scores of Players playing the game at the same time.
4.3.2.Utilizing the Joker will be marked down on the Player's flashcard by puncturing a specified field or by other means available.
4.3.3.After deciding to use the Joker, the score of the latter game will be marked down as the Player's score for that Pin, whether higher or lower than the score considered failed by the Player.
4.3.4.No compensation is given for an unused Joker and unused Joker will not precede in case of an even comparision score or their respective sum.
4.4.Results of the Qualifying Round: Pin scores of Players are put in ranking order from the highest to the lowest. The highest score on each and every Pin is represented by a comparision score the same as the number of the Players and the next ones in order are given this comparision score subtracted by one (1). Players reaching an even Pin score will be given the same comparision score and the next Player this score subtratced by two (2) or in case of multiple even Pin scores, subtracted by the number of these even scores. These comparision scores for each and every Pin are added together for each Player and the Players positions are thus determined by the descending order of sums of these comparision scores. Ranking order of players reaching the same sums of comparision scores is determined by their respective grand totals of scores on each six (6) Tournament pins. The final ranking order of the Players not qualified for the final rounds is thus determined.
4.4.1.If ranking order of two or more players reaching position sixteen (16) or better can't be determined by their respective sums of comparision scores and their grand totals of scores described in 4.4. their respective order shall be determined by e.g. flipping a coin to determine their finale slots.
4.4.2.Should the random procedure described in 4.4.1 determine if a Player will enter the final at all, let the finale slot be determined by playing pinball the way the Jury decides.
5.TOURNAMENT PINS
5.1.Pins of the Qualifying Round: Before the Tournament, the Jury has chosen within available, different enough, and considered trustworthy, three (3) Pins manufactured in or before the year 1987 and three (3) Pins manufactured in or later than year 1988. These Pins are visibly marked with letters A,B,C and E,F,G as well as spare Pins D and H for each categories. All these eight (8) shall also be used for quarter-, half- and fullfinal rounds with the exception of the fullfinal match for positions 1-4, where a Pin not played formerly in the Tournament will be used.
5.1.1.The manufacturing year of a Pin is determined by the time this Pin has first been publicly displayed. If needed, website http://www.ipdb.org is used as reference.
5.1.2.Should more than these Pins be needed, they shall be marked from letter I onwards.
5.2.Pins are set to operate the same as possible for each and every Player, either choosing "Tournament Mode" in the menu or by other means eliminating excess strokes of luck.
5.2.1.As a general rule, the Pins are set on three (3) balls per Player. However, on a Pin the ruleset of which is more meaningful with five (5) balls per Player, this setting may be used. Also the Pin on the final round match for positions 1-4 may be set to five (5) balls per Player.
5.2.2.Extra Ball is eliminated, whenever technically possible. If not, extra balls are awarded and a Player may use them for his or her advantage.
5.3.The need to play any of the spare Pins is announced to the players in the case of a malfunction specified in 5.5.
5.4.Scoring malfunctions: Minor technical scoring errors are not taken into account. In case of a greater error, the Jury will decide if a Player has to renew his or her game. In this case, the renewed score is taken into account, whether greater or lower than the first score.
5.4.1.Score reel on an EM Pin stops between numbers: Score is interpreted in favor of the Player on that particular reel not adding a step to the next higher reel in case of a 9 and 0, but only if it seems to be a minor and one-off malfunction, otherwise the breakdown rule specified in 5.5. is applied.
5.4.2.Score display on a SS Pin appears to have non-numerical characters: If these are only of minor importance, score is either interpreted in favor of the Player if a missing segment in the display is not detected. In case of a greater importance, the breakdown rule specified in 5.5. is applied.
5.5.A Pin breakdown amidst the Tournament not allowing comparable scores for all Players: The Jury will decide, considering the timetable of the Tournament and practical possibilities for a renewal on a spare Pin, to either do so or leave the scores of the broken Pin out of account.
5.6.Pin breakdown or malfunction interrupting a Player's game, but the operation of the Pin can be restored: Player is allowed to renew his or her game and if the score of the interrupted game can be interpreted, also choose whichever score is better, the score of the interrupted game or the score of the renewal.
6.FINALS
6.1.Finale slot:With the number of Players greater than thirtyone (31), sixteen (16) best Players of the qualification round determined primarily by the descending ranking order of their respective sums of comparision scores and secondarily by their respective grand totals of scores. With the number of Players less than thirtytwo (32), there will be either four (4) or eight (8) finale slots, no less than four (4), but not more than half of the number of Players.
6.1.1.Reserve finale slots: With the number of Players greater than thirtyone (31), Players qualified from seventeenth (17.) through twentieth (20.) have a reserve final slot in case of a no show finale Player. With eight (8) or four (4) finale slots there will be two (2) reserve slots.
6.1.2.Losing the finale slot: A Player qualified for the finals, but not present when the finals begin will be replaced with best available Player not qualified for the finals as described in 6.1.1. If a Player with a reserve slot is not available, this slot shall be left empty.
6.2.Course of the finals: The finals consist of quarterfinal round (6.2.1.), halffinal round (6.2.2.) and fullfinal round (6.2.3.). However, with eight (8) finalists the quarterfinal round is omitted as well as the halffinal round with four (4) players. An applied final rounds scheme will be made regarding the main principles of the regular sixteen (16) Player scheme.
6.2.1.Quarterfinal: On Pin A shall play the Players having reached positions one(1), five(5), nine(9) and thirteen(13); on pin B shall play the Players having reached the positions two(2), six(6), ten(10) and fourteen(14); on Pin C shall play the Players having reached the positions three(3), seven(7), eleven(11) and fifteen(15); as well as on Pin D shall play the Players having reached the positions four(4), eight(8), twelve(12) and sixteen(16) or their respective replacement Players each as Players 1-4 in the aforementioned order. Players with the first and second best scores of each match shall enter the halffinal's A division (positions 1-8) and Players with the third and fourth best scores shall enter the halffinal's B division (positions 9-16).
6.2.2.Halffinal: On Pin E shall play the Player having reached the best score of the quarterfinal's match on pin A, the second best on pin B, the best on C and the second best on D; on pin F shall play the second best on A, best on B, second best on C and best on D; on pin G shall play third best on A, fourth best on B, third best on C and fourth best on D; as well as on pin H shall play fourth best on A, third best on B, fourth best on C and third best on D, each as Players 1-4 in the aforementioned order. Players with the first and second best scores on both games of the A division shall enter the fullfinal's match for positions 1-4 and Players with the third and fourth best scores on both games of the A division shall enter the fullfinal's match for positions 5-8; as well as Players with the first and second best scores on both games of the B division shall enter the fullfinal's match for positions 9-12 and Players with the third and fourth best scores on both games of the B division shall enter the fullfinal's match for positions 13-16.
6.2.3.Fullfinal: On a Pin announced not earlier than at this point of the Tournament shall play for positions 1-4 the Players having reached the first and second best scores in the halffinal on pins E and F; on pin C for positions 5-8 shall play the Players having reached the third and fourth best scores in the halffinal on pins E and F; on pin B for positions 9-12 shall play the Players having reached the first and second best scores in the halffinal on pins G and H; as well as on pin A for positions 13-16 shall play the Players having reached the third and fourth best scores in the halffinal on pins G and H. 6.3.Pin malfunctions on finals are dealt with accordingly to the respective situations of the qualifying round.
7.PLAYING IN THE TOURNAMENT
7.1.Disrupting the Tournament: A Player purposefully disturbing other Players or the Tournament, may be shut out of the Tournament by decree of the Jury.
7.1.1.Excess tilting: Tilting that induces a Tilt for the next player (the so-called Master Sergeant Niskanen's aftertilt) is interpreted as disrupting the Tournament specified in 7.1. as well as is a Slam Tilt induced by tilting, hitting, kicking or lifting a Pin.
7.2.Delaying the Tournament: A Player delaying the Tournament purposefully may be either shut out of the Tournament or instead of this disqualified regardind the Pin, on which the delaying took place by decree of the Jury.
7.2.1.Stopping the ball shortly by flippers must not be regarded as purposeful delaying. Timing out a mode is thus allowed.
7.2.2.More than one Player on a Pin, Player is up, but not present: The Official supervising the game shall plunge the ball. Games with Autoplunger may be set to shoot after 60 seconds.
7.3.Inflicting damage to Pins or other property will cause the Player to be shut out of the Tournament.
7.4.Forceful play: Some nudging is allowed when practical. Bangbacks or Death Saves cause the game to be disqualified.
7.5.A Player takes advantage of a Pin malfunction: Allowed within minor importance. Otherwise the breakdown rule specified in 5.5. is applied.
7.6.If a forbidden action by a Player has only minor importance to the final results, the Jury may instead of shutting out of the Tournament or disqualifying a game issue a warning or change a shutout to a game disqualification.
8.PROTEST
8.1.Has no place in a gentlemen's game. As the ancient quakers or was it students of technology put it: "A protest is grotesque." However, should a Player resort to it, the protest has to be presented to the Jury as soon as the reason for a protest is present along with the Player's opinion on how the Jury should react to the protest.
9.RESULTS
9.1.Results are presented as soon as the Tournament is over and they are calculated.
10.PRIZES
10.1.Prizes are dealt as the finale of the Tournament.