Come on up to Kidforce Pinball for the Winter 2024 Showdown! At the end of our casual league we will be running this IFPA-sanctioned card qualifying and strike knockout tournament for big WPPR values and a ton of fun! Just $1 entry fee AND you are not required to play the rest of the league.

QUALIFYING:
Qualifying will last from February 24th through March 1st. February 24th through February 28th will have qualifying from 6pm to 9pm. The 1st will have qualifying from 12-5. After these time slots, no player may begin a ticket but players who are currently playing will be allowed to finish their ticket. The qualifying portion will be scored through a special built Google spreadsheet. Each player will play 6 specified games and receive one point for each player they beat, with bonus points being awarded for 1st (+15), 2nd (+6), and 3rd (+2) place scores on each game. Players must play their games with another player or under direct oversight of a tournament director or league official.
NOTE: Qualifying will not count for TGP, due to the verifications used. The TGP is still 200%.

PLAYOFFS:
The top 40 (or 45 if 90 or more people play the qualifying period) tickets will make the playoffs. Playoffs will be on Sunday, March 2nd. They will start at 11am with doors opening at 10am for warmups and practice. The format will be 8-strike knockout, with 0/1 strikes in 2 player groups, 0/0/1 strikes in 3 player groups, and 0/0/1/1 strikes in 4 player groups. The knockout will continue until one player remains, who will receive a custom Kidforce trophy!! The knockout will include more than just the 6 games in the qualifying bank - it will include 6 additional games from the location to support the knockout for a total of 12 games in the playoff bank.
When there are 8 or less players remaining in the knockout, initial qualifying seeding will matter. The highest seed will get first pick of game (not restricted to old/new) or position, with remaining picks of game or position proceeding in seed order (disregarding the random generation of Matchplay). Once a player picks a game, they may not pick the same game for the duration of the tournament.
TBD: This tournament may utilize a "bye" system. If this system is utilized, the top cut of players (likely top 8 from qualifying) will start with 0 strikes and the rest of the field will start with 1.

ALTERNATES:
Players outside of the top cut are welcome to show up at the appointed finals time. Players outside of the top cut who are present will be admitted into the knockout, in order of rank, to replace any and potentially all players in the top cut who did not show to the knockout.

SIDE POT (optional):
At the beginning of the playoff knockout, there will be a $5 buy-in for a side pot. Other details TBD.

TIES:
It is unlikely players will tie due to the quantity of players and quantity of games. If ties do occur: all seeding ties in qualifying (for players not on the bubble to qualify) will not be broken. If two players tied on the bubble to qualify both show for the knockout, they can both play (even if this would exceed the player cap).

MALFUNCTIONS, DISABLED MACHINES:
If a game breaks or malfunctions in the middle of a game, the tournament director will take appropriate steps to remedy the situation. In the playoffs, if the game cannot be repaired in an appropriate time frame (no more than 20 minutes), the game will be declared disabled, removed from play, and replaced with a same-era alternate from outside of the qualifying bank. In the qualifying portion, the game will be repaired as quickly as possible. Players who did not finish their card will be welcome to wait for the repair or return later in qualifying. If they elect to return and then do not return, their score will be a 0 for that game.

ADDITIONAL RULES:
All tournament director rulings are final. Players may not seek an 'appeal' from another tournament director. In-game rulings will be, on the whole, more lenient than IFPA/PAPA to encourage participation from more casual players.
Rules about player conduct will be strictly enforced - second infractions will result in a disqualification from the tournament.
Abuse of machines will result in a 0 on that game. 3 repeated instances will result in a disqualification from the tournament.
Extra balls will be disabled on all games during qualifying. Tournament games will be set to competition mode where available.
A runaway score rule will be in effect - if a player has a score deemed insurmountable by other players in the group, a tournament director will ‘tap out’ the player. If enough players catch the tapped out player to give the player a strike, the player will receive compensation balls (applied to the same game, if possible) equal to the number of balls they did not play. Final position in the game will be determined based off scores after compensation balls are considered.

GAME LIST:
TBA, mix of all eras.