TGP Guide

Below is a guide to help with the games played metric to help determine the Tournament Grading Percentage (TGP) value. Please select the format used for your event to help determine what the meaningful game count should be for your results submission.

Please note that TGP stands for both “Tournament Grading Percentage”. This can be both fun and confusing to try and differentiate. We wish everyone the best of luck. As for MGP, we apologize for the time people spent on trying to make that a thing.

If your format is a deviation from these approved formats below, please contact us at ifpapinball@gmail.com to help determine if your format is eligible for endorsement and if so, what the appropriate amount of meaningful games played for TGP should be.

A reminder that any formats that include byes as part of the format will be considered as a deviation from the approved formats below. Please contact the IFPA and we will help make sure it is graded correctly.

If you are running a strikes event, feel free to use this calculator to help you calculate the TGP for the event: https://strikestgp.slapsave.com/

Additional tools to help you calculate the TGP for the event can be found here (courtest of Pete Fifield):

Please note that this calculator is based on running a bunch of simulations. The result can vary every time the simulation is ran. When we review results we will be using this calculator as well, so meaningful games played may vary based on what the calculator shows.

The information on this page refers to general TGP calculations, for additional information including the most recent TGP changes for events click HERE.

Approved Qualifying Formats

– PAPA Style Qualifying (Card Based)

– Best Game Style Qualifying (Herb)

– Pin-Golf Qualifying

– Pin-Bowling Qualifying

– Match Play Qualifying

– Flip Frenzy (Pinball! Pinball! Pinball!) Qualifying

– Strike Knockout (Standard, Fair, Progressive) Qualifying

– Target Match Play Qualifying

– Max Match Play Qualifying

Approved Finals Formats

– Single Elimination

– Double Elimination

– Strike Knockout (Standard, Fair, Progressive)

– Group Match Play

– Ladder Format

– Amazing Race Format

– Flip Frenzy (Pinball! Pinball! Pinball!)

– Target Match Play

– Max Match Play

– Common Playoff Structures (including byes)

PAPA Style Qualifying (Card Based)

• Each meaningful game played will add 4% to the TGP per game counted towards a qualifying ticket.
• If 9 games are available but only 5 games are counted towards your qualifying standing, only 5 games will count as meaningful towards the TGP calculation
• If unlimited qualifying attempts are available, the number of hours of open qualifying will increase TGP by 1% per hour up to 20% for open qualifying of 20+ hours
• If unlimited qualifying attempts are available and number of hours of open qualifying are 20+, each meaningful game played will add 16% to the TGP per game counted.
• Please note this format is not IFPA endorsed unless there is a finals component that involves DIRECT play, made up of at least 10% of the participants
• Please note the qualifying portion of the tournament can be added to the TGP calculation only if that qualifying portion reduces the field of participants by 50% or more

Best Game Style Qualifying (Herb)

• Each meaningful game played will add 4% to the TGP per game counted towards your qualifying points earned
• If 9 games are available but only 5 games are counted towards your qualifying standing, only 5 games will count as meaningful towards the TGP calculation
• If unlimited qualifying attempts are available, the number of hours of open qualifying will increase TGP by 1% per hour up to 20% for open qualifying of 20+ hours
• If UNLIMITED Best Game –> qualifying attempts are available and number of hours of open qualifying are 20+, each meaningful game played will add 8% to the TGP per game counted.
• If HYBRID Best Game –> qualifying attempts are equal to 4X the number of machines used in the tournament, each meaningful game played will add 12% to the TGP per game counted.
• Please note this format is not IFPA endorsed unless there is a finals component that involves DIRECT play, made up of at least 10% of the participants
• Please note the qualifying portion of the tournament can be added to the TGP calculation only if that qualifying portion reduces the field of participants by 50% or more

Pin-Golf Qualifying

• The IFPA is launching the IFPA Tour of endorsed Pin-Golf events. We are now enforcing stricter rules regarding how organizers can score a IFPA endorsed Pin-Golf format tournament, and events must meet this criteria with their course design to award WPPR points as an IFPA endorsed event. The WPPR points awarded for Pin-Golf events will now include a Pin-Golf Multiplier (PGM) adjustment. This metric is used to grade the difficulty of the course. Full details on the IFPA Tour, rules of course design, and the calculation of the PGM adjustment are available HERE.
• Please note this format is not IFPA endorsed unless there is a finals component that involves DIRECT play, made up of at least 10% of the participants
• Please note the qualifying portion of the tournament can be added to the TGP calculation only if that qualifying portion reduces the field of participants by 50% or more

Pin-Bowling Qualifying

• Each game played will count as 1/3rd of a meaningful game played towards TGP. This puts a normal 10-frame game of bowling between 3.33 meaningful games played and 4 meaningful games played depending on how many games are played during the 10th frame.

Match Play Qualifying

• • • Each meaningful game played will add 4% to the TGP per game played for Head-to-Head matches
    • Any round with a majority of 3-player groups will have have their meaningful game played count multiplied by 1.5X.
    • Any round with a majority of 4-player groups will have have their meaningful game played count multiplied by 2X.
    • If there are an equal number of 2-player and 3-player matches there is no multiplier
    • If there are an equal number of 3-player and 4-player matches there is a 1.5X multiplier
    • Please note this format does not require a finals component as the qualifying portion already consists of DIRECT play. This is often found in Swiss style formats where there is no separate distinct finals component.
    • Please note the qualifying portion of the tournament can be added to the TGP calculation only if that qualifying portion reduces the field of participants by 50% or more
    • Group play formats that utilize the “Multi-Matchplay” style of play (players play in parallel across multiple machines rather than serially in the 4-player matches) will no longer receive the 2X bonus for 4-player groups, or 1.5X bonus for 3-player groups.

Flip Frenzy (Pinball! Pinball! Pinball!) Qualifying

Flip Frenzy formats, also referred to as Pinball! Pinball! Pinball! format will be graded based on the AVERAGE number of matches played by all players in the field divided by 2. The IFPA recommends using MatchPlay Events software for this format. The software automatically calculates this average for IFPA submission purposes.

Single Elimination

Best-of-1 Matches for entire bracket

• • • 4-5 players –> 2 games towards TGP
    • 6-11 players –> 3 games towards TGP
    • 12-22 players –> 4 games towards TGP
    • 23-45 players –> 5 games towards TGP
    • 46-91 players –> 6 games towards TGP
    • 92-189 players –> 7 games towards TGP
    • 190-350 players –> 8 games towards TGP

Best-of-3 Matches for entire bracket

• • • 4 players –> 5 games towards TGP
    • 5-6 players –> 6 games towards TGP
    • 7 players –> 7 games towards TGP
    • 8-10 players –> 8 games towards TGP
    • 11-13 players –> 9 games towards TGP
    • 14-18 players –> 10 games towards TGP
    • 19-24 players –> 11 games towards TGP
    • 25-31 players –> 12 games towards TGP
    • 32-42 players –> 13 games towards TGP
    • 43-55 players –> 14 games towards TGP
    • 56-73 players –> 15 games towards TGP
    • 74-97 players –> 16 games towards TGP
    • 98-127 players –> 17 games towards TGP
    • 128-168 players –> 18 games towards TGP
    • 169-222 players –> 19 games towards TGP
    • 223-294 players –> 20 games towards TGP

Best-of-5 Matches for entire bracket

• • • 4 players –> 8 games towards TGP
    • 5 players –> 9 games towards TGP
    • 6 players –> 10 games towards TGP
    • 7 players –> 11 games towards TGP
    • 8 players –> 12 games towards TGP
    • 9-10 players –> 13 games towards TGP
    • 11-12 players –> 14 games towards TGP
    • 13-14 players –> 15 games towards TGP
    • 15-17 players –> 16 games towards TGP
    • 18-20 players –> 17 games towards TGP
    • 21-24 players –> 18 games towards TGP
    • 25-29 players –> 19 games towards TGP
    • 30-34 players –> 20 games towards TGP
    • 35-41 players –> 21 games towards TGP
    • 42-49 players –> 22 games towards TGP
    • 50-58 players –> 23 games towards TGP
    • 59-69 players –> 24 games towards TGP
    • 70-82 players –> 25 games towards TGP

Best-of-7 Matches for entire bracket

• • • 4 players –> 11 games towards TGP
    • 5 players –> 13 games towards TGP
    • 6 players –> 14 games towards TGP
    • 7 players –> 15 games towards TGP
    • 8-9 players –> 17 games towards TGP
    • 10 players –> 18 games towards TGP
    • 11 players –> 19 games towards TGP
    • 12-13 players –> 20 games towards TGP
    • 14-15 players –> 21 games towards TGP
    • 16-17 players –> 22 games towards TGP
    • 18-19 players –> 23 games towards TGP
    • 20-21 players –> 24 games towards TGP
    • 22-24 players –> 25 games towards TGP

Double Elimination

Strike Knockout (Standard, Fair, Progressive)

We will be using this link to calculate the value of all Strikes tournaments:
https://strikestgp.slapsave.com/

This goes for events that are played until only 1 player remains, or as a qualifying portion of an event where the tournament is played until a certain number of players remain.

Group Match Play

General rule is +2 meaningful games played towards TGP for every game played when a round contain a majority of 4-player groups. Rounds with a majority of 3-player groups are +1.5 meaningful games played towards TGP for every game played. Tournament Directors are welcome to run any amount of games per round for this format. Please note if your finals format contains byes to go to the Common Playoff Structures (including byes) section below.

Group play formats that utilize the “Multi-Matchplay” style of play (players play in parallel across multiple machines rather than serially in the 4-player matches) will no longer receive the 2X bonus for 4-player groups, or 1.5X bonus for 3-player groups.

Ladder Format

https://laddertgp.slapsave.com/ is available to calculate out your meaningful number of games played for TGP.

4 player groups, 1 player eliminated per round until one player remains

• • • 4 players –> 5 meaningful games towards TGP
    • 5 players –> 6 meaningful games towards TGP
    • 6 players –> 7 games towards TGP
    • 7 players –> 8 games towards TGP
    • 8-10 players –> 9 games towards TGP
    • 11 or more players –> 10 games towards TGP

3 player groups, 1 player eliminated per round until one player remains

• • • 3 players –> 3 meaningful games towards TGP
    • 4-5 players –> 4 meaningful games towards TGP
    • 6 or more players –> 5 meaningful games towards TGP

2 player groups, 1 player eliminated per round until one player remains

• • • 2 players –> 1 meaningful games towards TGP
    • 3 or more players –> 2 meaningful games towards TGP

Amazing Race Format

Amazing Race has all participants playing 1 machine, with the player finishing in last place being eliminated. Assuming this event is played until only 1 player remains, meaningful games towards TGP is one less than the total number of players participating in the race. For example, a 16 player race would be +15 meaningful games towards TGP.

Flip Frenzy (Pinball! Pinball! Pinball!)

Flip Frenzy formats, also referred to as Pinball! Pinball! Pinball! format will graded based on the AVERAGE number of matches played by all players in the field divided by 2. The IFPA recommends using MatchPlay Events software for this format. The software automatically calculates this average for IFPA submission purposes.

Target Match Play

The number of rounds counting towards TGP are the number of rounds it takes for the first player to reach the target.

For qualifying the number of rounds counting towards TGP will be based on the average number of games played for all qualifiers.

Max Match Play

The number of matches played by all players will be the number of meaningful games counted towards TGP.

Common Playoff Structures (including byes)

Below is a picture cheat sheet showing some of the more common playoff structures, including many popular bye structures that exist.