Feb. 26, 2016 tourney: HRC, CBW, Flight2K, CentPk, BH, TotAN, SpSh, Hurr/NGG

According to the newsletter, here's the lineup for the tourney starting on Feb. 26, 2016:

- High Roller Casino
- Cue Ball Wizard
- Flight 2000
- Central Park
- Black Hole
- Tales of the Arabian Nights
- Space Shuttle
- Hurricane on Steam & mobile, No Good Gofers on PSN.

On Steam, this is Space Shuttle's triumphant third* appearance, and Flight 2000's second, and the other six tables are making their first appearance.

The remaining tables that have not appeared in a Steam tourney are:
- Bride of Pin*Bot
- Gorgar
- Black Knight
- No Good Gofers
- Genie
- Dr. Dude
- Phantom of the Opera
- Earthshaker
- Cyclone
- Jack*Bot
- Road Show
- Judge Dredd
- Fireball
- El Dorado (EM)

I hope Farsight doesn't forget about JD, Fireball, and ElDorEM!

* The other tables with three appearances are Twilight Zone and Haunted House.

I have to play CBW for 20 minutes? I might throw up...

Seems like fun

EldarOfSuburbia said:

I have to play CBW for 20 minutes? I might throw up...

Click to expand...

I feel the same way about half of these. But the last tournament lost my interest very fast. Not sure why. I usually try to at least stay in gold, but I didn't really give a ****. Which is weird because it was for a month.

Extork said:

But the last tournament lost my interest very fast. Not sure why. I usually try to at least stay in gold, but I didn't really give a ****. Which is weird because it was for a month.

Click to expand...

Maybe because these tournaments tend to become a grind fest? You play until you get the near-perfect 20mn run.

Last score saved or limited attempts should be mandatory now. Otherwise, tournament results only depend on how much time you spend on it. (for a "normal" player, don't mean Tarek and Co. ^^)

superdan said:

and while we are at it, separate the platforms! iOS should not be lumped with pc should not be lumped with android should not be lumped with PlayStation

Click to expand...

I'm confused... the platforms are separated in tournaments...

I would not like daily tournaments, as either there would be one every day (way too much of a good thing), or I'd have to pay attention to when one was up, and probably miss a bunch. Earlier, I was into the tourney enough to want them to be biweekly... but now I think one week per month is perfect. Actually I don't know what I would change about the current system. Probably ban Space Shuttle from any more tourneys until every table has had three turns , and I think I'd try some other timespans -- 5 min, 10 min, 40 min, 2 hr, whatever -- as it seems to prompt the creation of strategies, which is a big part of these tourneys.

I'd love prizes of course... well actually probably not, as pinball tourney prizes should be pinball stuff -- plastics, magazines, books, stuff that gets awarded at real pinball tournaments -- and I don't think Farsight would understand this.

Tann said:

Maybe because these tournaments tend to become a grind fest? You play until you get the near-perfect 20mn run.

Last score saved or limited attempts should be mandatory now. Otherwise, tournament results only depend on how much time you spend on it. (for a "normal" player, don't mean Tarek and Co. ^^)

Click to expand...

In PC Gold, it seems that people very rarely increase their score more than about once. This is just a gut feeling though -- I've been trying to collect some data that might help to explain how big of an effect unlimited plays is.

But I think last score would be pretty cool, too. Limited attempts only if the limit was high enough. How many attempts per table are you thinking? And are you thinking a limit per table, or total plays for the tourney?

Limited attempts does sound fun as it would make every game much more interesting when there is more at stake. Say 3 tries per table. However I'm not sure time spent has to differ that much. Invitro is probably right, time isn't a big issue necessarily. Might as well be the other way around even, new 3 try format takes more time, or more time spent will make more of a difference. I guess I'm only speaking for myself, but if I only had three official tries, I would probably "practice" out of tourney. Try different strategies and stuff, you could go as far as you want, practicing timed games and whatever.
And then, when would you play those "official" tries? I'd probably wait until the last day or so, to see what scores others put up and stuff. But then again so would probably others as well, much more than now I think. Actually sounds stressful to me. Nah, thinking about it, unfortunately it just opens up other kinds of issues which unfortunately I think would make tourneys appeal less to me in the long run. Even though I feel a limited tries format would probably suit me, I usually play one or two games per table then move along as I think it helps with my real pinball playing (I play real tourneys once a month as well) and restarting makes my approach reckless. The tourney TPA messes with me a little but yeah.
Oh, and then there will be other issues with broken games and stuff. I mean, when would the "official" game try register? At beginning of game or end of game? If it's at the end, how would a force close of the game register? Would it be able to pick that up or will it not count as a try? If it's at the beginning of game, what happens if game breaking bug occurs? Cam stuck? Rollover issues when not draining all balls before end of time? There are all kinds of crappy stuff that can mess games up and with just a few tries it becomes a very sensitive system.
I guess there is no perfect format. But sure, changing up things now and then would probably be fun.

The tourney is on the website now (http://www.pinballarcade.com/Tournaments/) and says start time is Saturday 1:00 AM for those in EDT like me (UDT/GMT-5:00), and ends on Friday, March 4, at 7:00pm.

(I'm too lazy to start TPA and see if the times match.)

invitro said:

The tourney is on the website now (http://www.pinballarcade.com/Tournaments/) and says start time is Saturday 1:00 AM for those in EDT like me (UDT/GMT-5:00), and ends on Friday, March 4, at 7:00pm.

(I'm too lazy to start TPA and see if the times match.)

Click to expand...

You weren't invitrod anyways

Extork said:

You weren't invitrod anyways

Click to expand...

I don't think anyone wants to be invitrod, even myself...

invitro said:

I don't think anyone wants to be invitrod, even myself...

Click to expand...

Invitrod - the act of being so *****y that cows feel the urge to stampead on your ***.

I could really use a friday night.......what an odd start and stop is that how it has always been?

JustinCamp said:

I could really use a friday night.......what an odd start and stop is that how it has always been?

Click to expand...

I just checked, and in TPA the message says the tourney starts at 1:00 AM PST.

The tourney has started anywhere from 10am to 8pm ET, I think always on a Friday, since it's been on PC. So this time is odd, whether it's 1am or 4am ET.

invitro said:

In PC Gold, it seems that people very rarely increase their score more than about once. This is just a gut feeling though -- I've been trying to collect some data that might help to explain how big of an effect unlimited plays is.

Click to expand...

PC players are not relevant. ^^ Too much crazy digital pinball wizards (that's why I specified that I didn't mean Tarek, Dizzer, Vikingerik, who are able to put a stratospheric score when they want...)

But I think last score would be pretty cool, too. Limited attempts only if the limit was high enough. How many attempts per table are you thinking? And are you thinking a limit per table, or total plays for the tourney?

Click to expand...

I started a poll about that this past summer : http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/10368-Time-for-new-tournament-rules

Last score would be the simpliest solution to implement in the game. It would still be possible to grind, but once a good score is reached, the player would think twice before trying to improve it again.

However, my personal choice would be 3 or 5 attempts by table, or 80 attempts to share between all 8 tables (like 80 coins IRL ). So like IRL, every game will count, with the real tension of a real pinball tournament.

In the way the TPA tournament currently works, if you have a crappy game (like it can happen often IRL), there aren't any consequences. You simply start a new game, and "allons-y!". Or you can directly quit, and start a new game. And this, as many times as you want.

Not really what I call a "Tournament".

Looks like Central Park has been replaced with Cyclone

Tann said:

PC players are not relevant. ^^ Too much crazy digital pinball wizards (that's why I specified that I didn't mean Tarek, Dizzer, Vikingerik, who are able to put a stratospheric score when they want...)

In the way the TPA tournament currently works, if you have a crappy game (like it can happen often IRL), there aren't any consequences. You simply start a new game, and "allons-y!". Or you can directly quit, and start a new game. And this, as many times as you want.

Not really what I call a "Tournament".

Click to expand...

I hope you're kidding about PC players... the other platforms have players who are at or almost at their level, Voof and Toolinit, etc. etc., at least those guys get scores close to the big three PC players.

In the many PAPA/Pinburgh tourneys I've played in, you can try to qualify for the final ~17 as many times as you want, it just costs extra money, which was pretty small (compared to the cost of travel & hotel anyway). I haven't played in one in ten years though, it might have changed. Which "Tournament" are you comparing with?

Perhaps it's an idea that the Top 10 players for every table in each tier on each platform are to play a shoot-out, 1 game start each, at their leisure in the week following the tournament. That should satisfy the serious players.

tourney is up!