Netherlands Championship Series – Official Rules
- Summary
The IFPA NETHERLANDS CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (hereafter NLCS) is an annual flipper competition where the qualification is done over a whole calendar year (from 1st Jan till 31st Dec). All results of the IFPA recognized tournaments which are held in the Netherlands are considered for the qualification of the IFPA NLCS FINAL. At the beginning of the next calendar year the Final will be played by the 36 best players from the qualification and the champion is nominated. You can find the detail rules below.
- Competition Details
2.1. Qualification
Unlike most tournaments in which the qualification takes place at one venue over one or more days, the results of all approved and recognized IFPA tournaments which has been submitted for the calendar in the Netherlands during the current calendar year will be added together for the qualification of the IFPA NLCS.
The top 48 of the qualification are entitled for the finale in the following calendar year.
It is the player’s responsibility to make sure they have an email address on file with the IFPA (www.ifpapinball.com), or they run the risk of not being contacted for participation in the IFPA NLCS FINAL, if they are qualified for. Please fill out an IFPA profile to ensure that we have a way to contact you. If you see a green check within your profile information on your IFPA profile page, this means that we do have a registered email address from you. If you are qualified but you cannot be contacted or you do not want to participate, then the next ranked players will be contacted latest 2 weeks prior the tournament and they will be informed that they could participate instead of you.
Everybody which is qualified for the tournament could participates (no limitation based on the nationality)
The slot for the IFPA European Championship Series is reserved for the best player in the Final, who is listed in the WPPR for Netherlands without being direct qualified for the ECS Finals.
2.2. Tournament location
The date and venue for the IFPA NLCS final will be held on the second Saturday in February of the following year in our club house in Veenendaal. Please note the date may be subject to change. Finalistst will be contacted by the Netherlands Country Director..
The final tournament should be held if possible in the first quarter (1st Jan till 31st March) of the following year (for example, in Feb 2020 for IFPA NLCS 2019).
2.3. Fees
No entry fee for participating in the series. You pay an entry for every tournament in which you participate which may vary and includes a little fee towards the series. Depending on the location the entry may vary and may include drinks and/of food.
If you entitled for the finals the entry fee is € 25 which will completely go into the prize pool. Prizes of this money will be awarded to the players who reach into the semi finals.
2.4. Prizes
The IFPA NLCSL CHAMPION as well as the second and third place will receive a trophy courtesy of the IFPA and a certificate. Additionally non-cash prizes for the first three placed and possibly more will be awarded as well.
- Finals Format
1st Round
All players will be parted into 3 groups of 12 players.From the 36 participants who actually will come to play from the best to lowest rank group 1 will be ranks 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31 and 34. Group 2 will be ranks 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32 and 35. Group 3 will be ranks 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33 and 36. Each player will play one game against each other player in their group and the order and machines will be fixed.
The 4 best players of each group will progress to the next round. If two or more players have the same number of wins after finishing the first round their mutual round will be taken and the winner of that match gets the better rank. If with three players or more there is no difference we will draw their position in round 1. As soon as it makes a difference if you will advance or note a tie-breaker will be played regardless the mutual matches.
2nd Round
Second round will be played as single elimination in best-of-3 mode.
Match A is Group 1 rank 1 versus Group 2 rank 4
Match B is Group 2 rank 1 versus Group 3 rank 4
Match C is Group 3 rank 1 versus Group 1 rank 4
Match D is Group 1 rank 2 versus Group 3 rank 3
Match E is Group 2 rank 2 versus Group 1 rank 3
Match F is Group 3 rank 2 versus Group 2 rank 3.
A machine will be drawn and then the higher ranked player chooses who will start the first game. After this game another machine will be drawn and the player order is the other way around. When a third game is necessary the higher ranked player chooses who will start the third game after the machines is drawn. In this round in each group a same machine will not be played twice.
The winners of the 2nd round will progress to the final round. For the losers the tournament ends.
3rd Round – Semi finals.
Again a single elimination in best-of-3 mode. The pairings are:
Match G = winner A versus winner D
Match H = winner B versus winner E
Match J = winner C versus winner F.
A machine will be drawn and the players have to toss who must start the first game. After this match another machine will be drawn and the player order is the other way around. When a third game is necessary a machine is drawn and once again the players toss who must start the last game. In this round in each group a same machine will not be played twice. The winners of the semi finals enter the finals. For the losers the tournament ends.
4th Round – Final
The final round will be played with 3 players on 3 pinball machines.
Each player must choose one machine on which they will have to start the game. The order who must choose wil be drawn and after a players has chosen a machine the other players may not choose the same machine. After the three games are chosen another draw will take play to decide in which order the three games are played. So all players will play one game as first, one game as second and one game as third player.
Points as follows:
- 2 points
- 1 point
- 0 points
After the three games we have the winner of the IFPA Netherlands Championship Series. If there is a tie, a decision game follows on one machine.
For the final round each player will have the opportunity for 30 seconds of practice time before starting every game of every match. This is to ensure that all players have a chance to get familiar with the machine.
3.3. Winner
The winner gets the title IFPA NETHERLANDS CHAMPION and this title remains valid till the next annual IFPA NLCS FINAL or it will expire after two years if the IFPA NLCS is discontinued.
The slot for the IFPA European Championship Series is reserved for the best player in the Final, who is listed in the WPPR for the Netherlands without being directly qualified for the ECS Finals.
All decisions of the tournament officials regarding winners and prizes are final.
- Rulings and Malfunctions
All rules and error are based on the IFPA Pinball World Championships rules. You can find it here from section V. Please ignore all the sections before, as they are related to the World Championship format.
- General
5.1 Tournament Director and Tournament Officials:
The Tournament Director and Tournament Officials will be announced by the Dutch IFPA Country Director, prior the tournament.
5.2 Contact for inquiries:
The Dutch IFPA Country Director could be contacted via the following e-mail address for inquiries:
nfv.dpo@gmail.com
