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2008 NoLimits Rules
Please Note: These are the tentative 2008 rules for NoLimit Pinball, We reserve the right to make any changes before the show. You will be notified by email if you are registered of any rule changes.
No-Limit Pinball Rules
Courtesy of BEK
What Is It?
It's a match-play tournament style. The winner of each game collects
points from the other players, and players are eliminated when they run
out of points. Surviving players move on, with their collected points,
as the cost of play increases over time.
How Does It Work?
Each player starts with 100 points. Games cost an increasing number of
points, beginning from 5 points (see "Initial Risk Schedule" for
details). All players are put into groups of either 3 or 4 players and
play Ball 1 of a game selected by a player. At the end of Ball 1, each
player (starting with Player 1) may choose to increase the number of
points they are playing for; if a player increases, the others just
choose to match the increase, increase even higher, or give up on the
rest of their game. All surviving players play Ball 2. At the end of
Ball 2, each player may again choose to increase the number of points
they are playing for. All surviving players play Ball 3, and the
surviving player with the highest score collects all points risked from
all players. At any time, if all other players give up on ther rest of
their game, the sole surviving player immediately collects all points
risked and that game ends.
Standard Prizes
The standard prizes are award plaques for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd players as well as WPPR (World Pinball Player Ranking) Points for the top 4 Players.
We are also participating in the PARS system, and all matches will be recorded by PARS.
Side Pot
Side Pot is an entirely optional cash prize pool. The cost is an additional $20 above the entry fees. Only those participants that enter the side pot are eligible to win!
At the end of the tournament, the side pot is divided as follows: 1st place gets 50% of the side pot, 2nd place gets 30% and 3rd place gets 20%. This is the based on the rankings of side pot eligible players, regardless of overall tournament rankings.
Since a player loses when they run out of points, the winners will be
the last four players with remaining points.
How To Play A Match
1. Players will be grouped into pairings of 3 or 4 players. Players
will keep their order of play throughout, but cycle through who plays
first. The first player of a game selects the machine to be played.
1a. An important technicality: a player may only choose a game ONCE in
the tournament.
2. All players in a game start with an initial risk according to the
"Initial Risk Schedule".
3. Players will bet an opening bet before starting the game.
4. All players play Ball 1.
5. Each player, starting with Player 1, may choose to increase their
risk, up to (and including) all remaining points.
6. If a player increases their risk, all other players must decide
between 3 options: a) Match the other player's risk. b) Increase beyond
the other player's risk. c) Give up on the rest of their game, and
forfeit any points risked.
7. Players continue until all players are in one of three states: a)
Player has matched the largest player's risk. b) Player has given up,
and forfeited all points risked. c) Player has risked all their points
(see "All In" for more).
8. All surviving players play Ball 2.
9. Each player, starting with the earliest surviving player, may choose
to increase their risk, according to steps 4-7.
10. All surviving players play Ball 3.
11. The winner is the surviving player who a) forces all other players
to forfeit their points risked, or b) has the highest score at the end
of ball 3. The winner earns all points risked. If one or more players
have risked all their points, there may be more than one winner (see
"All In" for more).
12. All players rotate position. The player in 1st position moves to
2nd; the player in 2nd position moves to 3rd; the player in 3rd
position moves to 4th; and the player in 4th position moves to 1st and
selects the next game.
Example
Po, Lala, Dispy, and Tinky-Winky are in a group, all starting with 100
points. Po, as first player, selects Terminator 3. All players risk 5
points initially. Everyone plays Ball 1. Po checks (does not increase
risk), Lalaincreases to 15. Dipsy and Tinky-Winky agree to play for 15,
and Po gives up (losing 5 overall). Lala, Dipsy, and Tinky-Winky play
Ball 2. Lala increases to 30, Dipsy increases further to 40.
Tinky-Winky gives up (losing 15 overall), and Lala agrees to play for
40. Dipsy wins, collecting +60 points (40 from Lala, 15 from
Tinky-Winky, and 5 from Po). After the first game, the scores are:
Dipsy 160, Po 95, Tinky-Winky 85, Lala 60. In the second game,
Tinky-Winky moves to 1st position and picks the next game, as all
players risk 5 points initially again.
Initial Risk Schedule
As the tournament moves on, games will begin getting more expensive.
This is done primarily because players who continue to survive will
have more and more points as others are eliminated, and makes later
games more important to winning the tournament. The initial risk in
every game raises in levels. The level increases every 30 minutes (this
is variable, and corresponds directly to how long the tournament
lasts).
Here is the schedule of levels:
| Level |
Initial Risk |
Time |
| 1 | 5 points | 11:00 am |
| 2 | 10 points | 11:30 am |
| --- LEVEL INCREASE (Level 1) --- |
| 3 | 25 points | 12:00 pm |
| 4 | 50 points | 12:30 pm |
| --- LEVEL INCREASE (Level 2) --- |
| 5 | 100 points | 1:00 pm |
| 6 | 150 points | 1:30 pm |
| --- LEVEL INCREASE (Level 3) --- |
| 7 | 250 points & Sudden Death | 2:00 pm |
| 8 | 500 points & Sudden Death | 2:30 pm |
| 9 | LAST GAME - ALL IN | 3:00 pm |
The last levels are really only realistic for very large tournaments. A
tournament with 10-15 players will typically last to level 5 or 6.
All In
This is no-limit pinball! You can risk all your points anytime. If you
do this you are considered "all in" and are in for the rest of the
game. You should probably only do this if you are going to win, of
course. If you are "all in", other players may still risk more points
than you have, but you are not eligible to win their excess points. In
other words, if you go "all in" for 60 points, the best that could
possibly happen for you would be to win 60 points from each other
player. This is the "main pot" and all other players can continue
risking for a "side pot". If you are "all in" you are only eligible to
win the "main pot" while everyone else is eligible to win BOTH pots.
The same applies to initial risk: if you don't have enough points to
match the initial risk, you're automatically "all in". Time to win or
die. Other players can continue to increase their own risk against one
another, creating a "side pot" against only one another.
Example
You're in a 3-way bout with Keith and Lyman, and have 50 points left at Level 4. The initial risk is 25. Keith has 275 and Lyman has 325 coming in. After Ball 1 you and Keith are nearly tied, with Lyman behind. Keith increases his risk to 75 -- you can give up, or go "all in". You go "all in" and Lyman increases further to 150. Keith matches the 150. So, there is now a "main pot" of 150 (50 for each player) and a "side pot" of 200 (the 100 extra that Keith and Lyman bet above you). There's no further betting, and you end up losing to Lyman. You're eliminated, and Lyman collects both pots. But if you'd won, you would collect the main pot . Here's what that looks like:
Start Initial Ball 1 Ball 2 Total Win Net Result ----- ------- ------ ------ ----- --- ---------- You 50 25 25 0 50 150 +100 -> 150 Keith 275 25 125 0 150 0 -150 -> 125 Lyman 325 25 125 0 150 200 + 50 -> 375
Sudden Death
Should tournament play last longer then the scheduled allocated time,
the tournament will enter sudden death mode. The initial risk for each
round will be adjusted to the lowest remaining players point total.
This will be re-adjusted for each remaining round.
Regrouping
Initially all players will be grouped into 4 players per game, with as
many 3-player groups as needed so that no group has less than 3.
Regrouping occurs after an elimination whenever: 1. Any group falls
below 3 players.
2. The total number of players falls to a multiple of 4. If a group
falls below 3 players, the remaining 2 players will be split to
existing 3-player groups if possible. If not possible, a player will be
chosen at random from a 4-player group to make a 3-player group. When
the total number of players falls to a multiple of 4, a 3-player group
will be chosen at random to be broken up, individually joining other
groups so that all remaining groups are 4-player groups.
Gameplay Rules
There are no extra balls. If you accidentally get an extra ball, let us
know, and we'll fix the problem. Do NOT play it, it's unfair to your
opponents. Games will generally be set a little harder than they are in
normal play, in order to expedite the tournament and make it
challenging.
Player Etiquette Rules
VERY IMPORTANT: Please Follow These Rules:
- NO EXTRA BALLS
Please plunge any extra balls that you receive. You may not touch the flipper buttons or nudge the machine during this time.
- NO DELAY OF GAME
Maximum 5 second flipper hold time during single and multiball play.
- NO BANGBACKS / DEATHSAVES
Abuse of the machines will not be tolerated.
- GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP AT ALL TIMES
Absolutely no purposely distracting or sabotaging other players
Any players found in excessive violations will be removed from the tournament without refund.
Machine Problem?
No way, that'll never happen. Heh heh. When this happens, let us know.
If something small happens and you can work it out between you and your
opponents, that's even better. Just be nice about it, don't pressure
anyone into something they clearly don't want. What IS a problem? A
flipper fails, a shot stops registering completely, a shot won't stop
registering, a ball gets stuck... things like that. What ISN'T a
problem? A kickout doesn't send the ball where you expect it. A ball
falls into the outlane instead of the inlane. A kickback doesn't work
quite right. Things that are PINBALL-like do not count as problems.
What will we do about problems? It depends. If it's something that
keeps the game from working, we'll generally start you over on a new
game. If it's something that can be fixed right away, we'll generally
give you an extra ball at the end of the game. It's "generally" because
no set of rules can cover everything, and we want to make sure we're
fair to all players.
Boring Details
Initial seeding will be random. There may be as many as three 3-player
groups in the beginning, depending on the number of players. There is
no disadvantage to a player in a 3-player group versus a player in a
4-player group. Don't be unsportsmanlike. No swearing, really loud
noises, intimidation, you know all that. We reserve the right to kick
you out without a refund if we think you deserve it.

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P3Tournament and Professional Pinball Player's Association
are not affiliated with the Pinball Wizards Convention or Flippin' Out.
Visit the Pinball Wizards Convention Website (our host) / Contact Us
Tournament Software and Website Design by Myth Productions
All images (c) 2008 unless otherwise noted. Website contains photographs of Williams and Bally machines. Artwork copyright by their respective manufacture.
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