TGP update plans for 2026!
Back in 2015 we made a change to the WPPR formula that introduced the concept of Tournament Grading Percentage (TGP). Prior to that metric, every tournament format was worth the same amount, whether that was a 1-ball high score contest, or a 20 round group matchplay with finals extravaganza. The idea behind the TGP metric was to use it to help judge the quality of the format used for IFPA sanctioned leagues and tournaments, so higher quality formats could be worth more WPPR points. The more meaningful games played in determining the winner of an event, the higher the quality of that event.
Over the years we’ve seen the competitive player community find ways to maximize TGP as quickly as possible, leading to events getting more WPPR points for their effort. This often leads to choices being made that lessen the quality of the event. These choices have included formats that maximize playtime and minimize downtime (1-ball games, Multi Matchplay, Flip Frenzy, Max Matchplay). These choices have also impacted the setup of machines, both physically and through software adjustments, along with impacting the titles of machines that are included or excluded from tournament play.
Rather than continue this cat and mouse game with organizers trying to answer the decade old question of “Which format gets me the most WPPR’s in the shortest amount of time?” we felt it was finally time to make an update to the TGP calculation that answers this question for good.
With respect to direct play formats, the IFPA will no longer be counting the number of games played in determining TGP. We will instead be switching to a time-based TGP metric for these events, regardless of how many games are actually played. Events will now be worth +1% TGP for every 4 minutes the tournament lasts. To help show how this will work, let’s look at the following event: https://www.ifpapinball.com/tournaments/view.php?t=82159
This was a 4-round group matchplay qualifying event, with a 3-round group matchplay final. Under the current system this event is worth 56% TGP, regardless of how long the tournament lasted.
Under the 2026 rules, this tournament would be graded as follows:
The qualifying rounds lasted 02:28:50, while the final rounds last 01:06:47, for a total tournament time of 03:35:37. These 215 minutes would equate to 53.75% TGP, which we would round up to 54%.
We’re hopeful that this will push organizers to go back to thinking about “FUN” first in their format decisions versus ways to simply optimize TGP, often at the expense of the enjoyment of their players.
April 2nd update . . .
After working through all the feedback we received today regarding this change, we’ve decided to postpone implementing this one for the time being. Happy April 1st everyone!
finally, i am glad we will have a real system that reflects true skills now!
Exactly! We can finally go back to the good ol’ days when we were allowed to play our EBs.
Does this affect finals formats as well? Are we still prevented from eliminating less than half of the competitors in a round of playoffs and it not counting? How does this affect Amazing Race Formats where the first round takes forever and the last round is super fast because there’s fewer people playing in it? What about concurrent matchplay finals. Still as challenging, if not moreso, but doesn’t take as much time and you’re still getting multiple games in. I’d argue, it’s significantly harder to play 1 ball on 3 separate games back to back, and then repeat it for ball 2 and then ball 3 than it is to play one game at a time. This system once again harms the smaller markets and smaller venues as we try to compete with the mega church wpprinflation that large markets have by virtue of geography and their pinball privilege.
But now a small venue with one game can just run a tourney for 24 hours straight and out TGP the wpprinflation mega churches
April fools?
Great! Now, events with the most broken-down games (“we’re still trying to find the bug”) will get higher TGP than ones with never-need-fixing games. The longer ***** ****** takes for his between-ball breaks, the more valuable the event. The slower the TD is at dealing with stuck balls, the higher the TGP. There’s gotta be even more ways to milk this. Lots more “ooh, that was a hard nudge, better let the machine settle . . . ” Always fun to see your 4/1 posts. 😉