League Info

At Volition Brewing, we have a hungry, dedicated, and growing community of pinball players that we'd like to provide with as many unique and engaging opportunities to come together and play over pints as we can.

Enter: Volition Pinball League (VPL)!

VPL is a beer league all about getting together with friends to enjoy some low-stakes competition centered around two passions that we all share: Pinball and pints! There are no IFPA points up for grabs, no buy-ins per match, no player rankings, nothing to stress about; just a time to come together and enjoy some team-based pinball action while knocking back a few delicious brews!

Season Format

Cadence & League Size

VPL will meet twice monthly at Volition Brewing on Wednesdays for the duration of a given season, on weeks alternating with the pinball tournament schedule at the brewery, making Wednesdays competitive pinball nights at Volition. With our physical space and machine count, we will be capping the league at a total of 6 teams max for our inaugural season while we test our system in order to keep our seasons at a satisfactory length. We may expand the league prior to subsequent seasons, should anything change (including the possibility of involving other pinball locations, if more open up locally that our players are willing and able to travel to).

Season Schedule

Each week that VPL meets will see up to 2 matches occurring simultaneously, thus resulting in up to 4 out of 6 teams playing on any given VPL night. Schedule, exact season length, and team match-ups will be determined once team registration for the league has concluded and we know how many teams we have. The ideal is for each team to play each other team at least one time, which in a full 6 team season, we would be able to achieve over a 4 month duration (with each team playing 5 matches and having 3 Bye Weeks). If we have fewer than 6 teams, teams may be able to play each other more than once in a given season, and any given league night might have only 1 match occurring. If the league expands and contains more than 6 teams, depending on whether we've added other locations or more pinball machines, it is likely that teams will only play a random subset of the other teams.

Team Matchups — Team matchups will be randomly assigned, as will their Home vs Away status. Bye Weeks will be scheduled per team as necessary to allow for matchups to be scheduled according to the required cadence for the season.

League Rules — Basis

VPL's formats and rules are structured based on another very popular, tenured Seattle-based pinball league (Monday Night Pinball, or "MNP"), as it has been around for many years, and most of its practices are tried and true. Similar to MNP, VPL operates using the IFPA/PAPA Rule set, except when a rule is overridden by statements or references in this document. All players are encouraged to, but at the very least team Captains should, familiarize themselves with the rulings found in that document, or at least know when/where to reference it, particularly those sections that address how to handle machine malfunctions or other errors that may come up, as the Captains will act as the first level of referees or "Tournament Directors" (TDs) during a match. If a fair ruling cannot be decided or agreed upon, the Captains from each team may contact the League Commissioner (LC) together to get an official ruling. Players/Captains are encouraged to take photo/video of the game and its scoreboard especially if issues arise, so that consolation balls and score corrections can be properly made where necessary.

Note that any rule not covered in this document defaults to the MNP rules on the subject.

Conduct & Fair Play

Extra Balls, Death Saves & Other Disqualifiers

As is standard in tournament play at Volition Brewing and most locations/tournaments elsewhere, there are certain things that are disallowed during league play, and can result in disqualification of a given round (which would mean the offending player(s) would record 0 points for the applicable round). These include, but may not be limited to:

• Playing Extra Balls (you may skillfully plunge Extra Balls, but after plunging, it's hands off the machine!)
• Performing Death Saves or Bang Backs
• Intentionally plunging or playing other players' balls
• Unacceptably abusing the machines
• Coaching or verbally interacting with an opponent while they are playing their ball (do not attempt to aid, distract, or disrupt your opponents!)
• Harassing other players or patrons at Volition or otherwise making them feel unsafe or unwelcome. VPL is about having fun and playing pinball with friends; don't be a jerk!

Accidents happen, so use your best judgment in any given situation, and give people the benefit of the doubt as the situation affords it. Some of the above, like accidentally plunging another player's ball or tilting through the next player's turn, can in some circumstances be remedied with a consolation ball after the current game is over. That said, game state cannot be replicated, so again, use your best judgment here, but in the end, if things are too complex or nuanced, default to the above types of situations and behaviors resulting in disqualification.

Sportsmanship & Coaching

As with any competitive sport, all players are expected to uphold a high standard of sportsmanship throughout league play. Coaching, strategizing, or providing gameplay advice during match play is strictly limited to players on the same team. Players may not offer guidance, suggestions, or coaching to members of any other teams during matches. This includes verbal advice, gestures, or any other form of communication that could influence gameplay. This rule applies whether a person is present as a player in an active match, or simply as a spectator.

Violations of this rule may result in a warning, score adjustment for the offending player or their team, and/or further disciplinary action at the discretion of league officials.

Players may of course coach their own teammates, even during a live ball, but must follow the usual guidelines for doing so:

• The coaching player may not touch or affect the machine or active player in any way
• The active player may not trap and hold the ball for more than 60 seconds while being instructed; instruction may occur for any length and in any complexity during live play, however
• The coaching player must give space and deference to any other match actively being played on neighboring machines and must not interfere with them in any way; failure to observe this may result in the other match receiving compensation balls as/where applicable, and the coached match receiving a 0 score for the associated player if egregious enough (e.g. the coaching player physically bumps into someone playing another match while they try to get a better view of their active player's game)

As with most all the rules for our or any similar league, common sense and a spirit of good sportsmanship should keep you and your team in the clear!

Exceptions to the IFPA/PAPA Rules

See the section on the MNP rules document.

Teams

Registration

Teams must be registered prior to the start of any given season, and must have the following at the time of registration:

• Their full, official roster of players
• Their Captain and Co-Captain decided
• At least the Captains should have contact information for each player on their roster, to enable them to check in with their players prior to matches to determine if anyone needs to miss a match and have a Sub fill in, or to otherwise get ahold of them should league-related questions arise
• Their appointed Player Committee representative
• Their team name

The LC will maintain a private, invite-only document (available only to all league members via email invite) that contains contact information for each team Captain and Co-Captain, along with contact information for the League's Board of Directors and the registered Sub List.

Note that, in accordance with the Team Requirement for Roster Composition mentioned below, any registered Sub that has an IPR rank of 5+ (or the corresponding Matchplay Rank of A+) has had as much indicated on the above mentioned Contact List document for easy reference.

Team Requirements

To promote competitive balance and maintain fairness throughout our seasons, all teams must adhere to the roster requirements defined in this section.

Registered Roster Players

Each team is responsible for maintaining a full, complete roster of 4 official players to be eligible to start a season. Teams with fewer than 4 official, registered roster members by the start date of the season will not be permitted to compete, and if the schedule was already made with that team included, any matches assigned with that team are considered null and void, will not be played, and will not have a result recorded.

If a team's roster drops below 4 official players during the season (e.g. due to a player quitting), the affected team may continue to compete by using Subs, subject to the following conditions:

• The team must actively seek to fill any open roster positions with a new official member as soon as possible
• Note that the new official roster member's rating may not exceed that of the player who left the team; e.g. if an IPR 3 (Rating C) level player leaves the team, they may be replaced with a roster member of up to that same level (and obviously, a player with a lower rank is also valid)
• A team that plays with fewer than 4 official roster members registered on their team for more than 2 consecutive matches will incur the following points penalties from the 3rd match on, until they fill their open roster position(s):
  • Each unfilled roster position will cost the team -3 points per match
  • The team will not be eligible to claim the 5 Bonus Points per match
• Substitutes must not violate the Roster Composition rule outlined below

Substitutes are meant to provide a temporary solution for teams in need, not a strategic opportunity or advantage.

Roster Composition

While we do not employ a ranking system dedicated to VPL at this time, there are rankings assigned to players via both the MNP ("IPR") and Matchplay ("Rating Class") systems for verified player accounts. Some players may not have either ranking, some may have only one or the other. If a player has both and they somehow do not align, the higher rank metric is applied to that player.

• The MNP IPR for a player may be searched via the Player Lookup page of their site
• The Matchplay Rating Class for a player may be searched via entering a player name in the search bar on the homepage, selecting the correct player profile, and then observing the "Rating class" section at the top left of their profile

For our team composition purposes, the equivalency between the two systems will be considered as follows:

In an effort to maintain fairness and competitive balance in the league, and to observe the spirit of the league and good sportsmanship, teams may not stack rosters with an excessive number of highly-ranked players, similar to the Team Rating Cap rule in MNP. For our (much) smaller team and league size, the rule for our purposes becomes:

• Each team may have no more than 2x players with an IPR 5 or above (Rating Class A or above)
• Of those, only 1x player may be an IPR 6 (Rating Class Expert or above)
• This rule is applied to Subs, as well; if a team already has 2x IPR 5+ (Rating Class A+) players, and they are playing in a match where a Sub is needed, the Sub cannot be IPR 5+ (Rating Class A+) as the team composition for that match would thus violate the above rule

New teams will not be permitted to be formed if the submitted players would see the team violate the above Roster Composition rule. The LC will inform the submitting player of this violation, and encourage them to resubmit with a team composition that abides by the above rule.

If a team Captain needs assistance looking up a player in either system to determine their ranking for Roster Composition purposes, they may contact the LC. If a player cannot be found in either system, and thus their ranking is unknown, they will be considered an IPR 3 (Rating Class C), unless and until they are recognized as commanding a higher skill level, at which point the LC may adjust their considered ranking for the purposes of their future participation in VPL. As stated in the MNP rules, any player found to be intentionally attempting to evade these rankings systems or otherwise mislead team Captains or the league for the purposes of sneaking by this Roster Composition rule, such as by the use of aliases or inconsistent names, will be considered an IPR 6, and may be subject to other actions, such as being banned from participating.

Team Captains are responsible for determining and verifying the ranking for any Substitute players that they "hire" to play for them for any given match. If a Sub is fielded, it is assumed that the team Captains have confirmed the Sub does not cause their fielded team to violate the above rule. Should the LC discover at any point that a fielded Sub caused a team to violate the Roster Composition rule, the team will be subjected to the Incomplete Roster penalties, as described in that section. Any team Captains found to be intentionally attempting to evade this rule, much as a player might, such as by using aliases, inconsistent names, or misspelled names for their Subs, will be subject to actions up to and including being banned from VPL. These rules are in place to attempt to provide a fun, competitive playing field for all our players, and trying to circumvent them displays a disregard for the contract that the rest of the league abides by, as well as the players therein, and will not be tolerated.

Note that, should a team exist in a composition that abides by this rule at their formation, and over time, a player or players on that team improve their game and assigned ranking in these systems to become an IPR 5+ (Rank A+) player, this does not violate the Roster Composition rule described above. We encourage everybody to continue to grow and mature as players through their tournament and league play, and would not punish this growth by forcibly splitting teams up.

Player Requirements

The only requirements for a player to participate in VPL are that they are:

• 13 years of age or older
• Not banned from Volition Brewing or pinball events at Volition Brewing

VPL is otherwise open to all players regardless of an individual's gender bias, social beliefs, political affiliations, mental or physical disabilities, or background.

Substitutes ("Subs")

Should a team need any sub or subs on a given league night, the requirements for potential subs follow the same as the Player Requirements listed above, with the additional rule that to be eligible as a sub for the league, a player cannot be an official roster member of any team in VPL. Additionally, and as mentioned in the Team Requirements section, a Sub may not be fielded if they would cause a team to violate the Roster Composition rule. The LC will, following the conclusion of a match, confirm that any Subs fielded for a given team during a given match did not cause this rule to be violated, and if any team is found to have been in violation of the rule, the match results will be adjusted as though they had fielded an Incomplete Roster; that is, they will have the Subs points all set to 0, and the team will not receive their Bonus Points. The LC will contact the Captains of the team in question to discuss this with them and determine if any further action is required.

Subs are not dedicated or otherwise beholden to a given team or teams, nor are they obligated to play for any/all teams. A team does not have "claim" to a given Sub, but neither is a Sub required to be available for every team. In that same vein, it is not the obligation of a given team or team Captain(s) to find Subs, except in the case where they may wish to use someone not on the Sub List (assuming they meet the requirements to play — see above). By this, it is meant that a given team only need find their official roster members — it is the League as a whole that will find and recruit Subs for the league-wide list. Team Captains are, of course, responsible for contacting and "hiring" Subs for any given match where their team requires them, though.

A team is only allowed to field 2 subs on any given league night (50% of the team). If the majority of the official team roster cannot attend a given league night, they will Forfeit the match (see Forfeiture — 2 or Fewer Players).

Size & Structure

Teams will consist of exactly 4 players each, with players needing to meet the requirements outlined above (see Player Requirements).

Captains

One player will be designated as the "Captain" of each team, with a second player acting as the "Co-Captain". The purpose of these Captain roles is to:

• Meet with opposing team Captains to discuss the state of the machines prior to the match start, to make sure everyone is on the same page about any malfunctions, and to agree that games are eligible for league play (e.g. that there is no game breaking issue constantly occurring, such as flippers not working, the game not registering balls draining, etc.)
• Keep the evening moving along during any given match. This includes:
  • Corralling players
  • Making sure your whole team knows when it's your turn to pick or respond to picks
  • Reigning in side conversations if they are substantially delaying the match, etc. We are here to have fun and to socialize, but should make sure we're doing so while also continuing to play our match so that we can be respectful of everybody's time!
• Keeping in touch with the other team's Captains to inform them of when your team's picks (or responses) have been made
• Enter machine names and player names, along with player scores, per game per round, using the provided scoresheet (whether digitally or physically — which the Captains will agree upon prior to match start)
• Act as referees or Tournament Directors (TDs) for any gameplay issues that might crop up, like stuck balls, plunging someone else's ball, etc. Note: Captains from both teams need to be made aware of any issues so that they can agree upon a ruling for how to proceed. Should they not be able to reach an agreed upon course of action, they may contact the LC for a final ruling.
• Refer to the IFPA/PAPA Rule Set for details on the various possible malfunctions and how to handle them
• Coordinate any Substitutes required for any given match if members of their team's official roster are unavailable
• As is stated in the Roster Composition section of the document, team Captains are responsible for determining and verifying the ranking for any Substitute players that they "hire" to play for them for any given match, and those Substitutes must not have rankings that would violate the composition of the team
• Act as liaison between the Board and their teammates for any league communications provided through Captains text threads or other channels

The Captain titles carry no other status above or different to their teammates, and they do not make decisions for the team; teams work as a unit!

The Captain is responsible for all duties unless they are unable to attend any given match, in which case those duties will fall to the Co-Captain. If neither Captain can attend a given match, they should nominate one of their other official roster players that is able to attend the match to be the Acting Captain for the night to keep things running smoothly.

Matches

Start Time & Flow

Captains and/or Co-Captains need to be able to be present at Volition by at least 5:30pm (30 minutes prior to match start) on each VPL night that their team is playing. The opposing Captains should meet and discuss the state of the machines, sharing any known malfunctions or errors they've witnessed to determine and agree upon whether any given machine cannot be picked (this should be a very rare instance).

The full roster for both teams should be present by the match start time of 6:00pm, at which point the "Away" team for the night should meet to begin to pick their machines for the first round. Picks should take no more than 5-10 minutes for any given round in an effort to keep the night moving along.

The following table is a sample, ideal timeline for a given match of VPL:

Practicing During a Match

Players are permitted to practice games that are not in use during any given round of a match, so long as the following conditions are met (similar to the Idle Machines ruling for MNP):

• The Practicing Player (PP) is not playing in the current, active round
• The PP's team is not currently meant to be making or responding to game picks
• The PP is not playing on a machine that has been selected for the upcoming round (whether they themselves are scheduled to be playing on that machine or not)
• The PP is not playing on a machine that is right next to a machine that is actively being played in a round, whether for their match or the other running match (if present)

If a player is found to be in violation of the above conditions, they are to be given a warning. If they repeat the offense after being reminded of these rules, it should be reported to the LC for review and further action, including but not limited to points penalties.

All players are encouraged to get to Volition Brewing for practice prior to their match starting, and/or at other times as their schedules allow during the days leading up to a given match. Once a match has begun, with our limited space, time, machine count, and also having to navigate the public, trying to squeeze practice games in can be a challenging and touchy thing. It is allowed per the rules written and referenced above, but generally, it's best to get practice games in during free play hours instead. Nobody wants to be responsible for someone else getting a compensation ball during their match because they accidentally performed too big a slap save on their practice game and knocked into an active player/machine, causing them to drain unduly in their match game because of your practice game. If you're not sure whether you should play a practice game, it's probably best to not.

Choosing Machines per Round

"Home" vs "Away" Team

Each VPL night, one team will be considered the "Home" team for the match, and the other will be considered the "Away" team. The only purpose of this is to determine which team chooses the games (and goes first) in the 1st and 3rd rounds, vs the 2nd and 4th rounds. As teams may play an odd number of matches in the season, depending on the total team count of the league, whether any teams have to forfeit matches, etc., all teams may not have an exactly even number of Home vs Away designations, and may not perfectly alternate between being Home then Away then Home, etc., but the distribution will be made as evenly as possible.

Note: During the playoffs, the team in any given match with the higher seed (based on W/L/T record, then total points, as usual) will be awarded the Home designation.

The "Away" team for a given match will always select the machines in Round 1 and Round 3, and the "Home" team will always select the machines in Round 2 and Round 4. The team who picks the machines in a given round goes 1st (and 3rd, if a Doubles round), and the responding team goes 2nd (and 4th, in a Doubles round).

Game Selection

Teams should meet as a unit in a designated spot in the brewery, away from the pinball machines, thus allowing all teams to view them, and to go up and begin to play them once they have selected their picks for the round. Should we indeed have enough teams to warrant running two matches simultaneously on VPL nights (NOTE: For our inaugural season, we do have enough teams — 6 — that we will be running 2 matches per league night), and as we all share a venue and have only 6 machines, there may frequently be times when the picking teams from both matches want to play the same machines in the same round. The team who finishes their selections first and gets over to their chosen machines, providing coin drop, will have priority on those machines for the round. The other team, if they want to play the same machine(s), may choose at that point to wait for the other match's round to finish, then play their match's round on the previously occupied machine(s), or if they don't want to wait for the doubled-up machine(s) to open up, they may select a different game that was not chosen. Remember, with 6 machines, in any given round, a given match will only use 2 of the 6, meaning there will be 4 other options available to choose from to play immediately. The choice between waiting and picking a different game will be up to the picking team from the other match.

Note that, should a picking team for a given match on a given round choose to switch their pick (i.e. not wait for an occupied machine to open up), and their opposing team has already responded with their player selection for that game, the responding team is able to shift their players around based on the new machine pick.

Teams should use their best judgment when making this decision based on the time of night, whether a game plays particularly long, etc. Additionally, players are required to be respectful of each other, not bickering about picking the same machine, not racing to the machines or shoving each other, stealing credits, etc. If teams do finish picks and get to their machines at the same time, the players should find an amicable way amongst themselves to determine who will play on the machine(s) first, whether it be via a coin flip, one team bowing out, one team deciding to shift their chosen machine to a different game, etc. Bear the above paragraph in mind, should the decision be to shift the pick to a different machine (that is: The responding team may reorganize their players based on the newly chosen machine).

Game Start

Games may not be started until all games for a given round have been selected, and the opposing team has confirmed their response players. That said, once all machines have been selected, the machines need not be started at the same time; just do not start one game of a round before both have been picked, in case it is necessary to switch selected machines, so that the opposing team may respond accordingly.

Match Format & Breakdown

A "match" is a collection of competitive games played between 2 designated teams on a given VPL night.

A match consists of 4 Rounds of play, and each Round type offers a different number of Total Potential Points (TPP), based on how the players perform.

Scoring

Doubles Rounds

A Doubles Round consists of 2 players from each team playing against each other in two team-based games, trying to both beat the individual player scores of their opponents, and trying to get a cumulative score that is higher than their opponents' cumulative score.

For each individual opponent player that you beat in a Doubles Round, you earn 1 point. If your team's cumulative score is higher than your opponents' cumulative score, you earn 1 Extra point. Thus, a single Doubles game in a round is potentially worth a maximum of 5 points: 2pts + 2pts + 1pt Extra.

Example: Team A is made up of players A1/A2/A3/A4. Team B is made up of players B1/B2/B3/B4. It is Round 1, which is a Doubles Round. All 4 players from each team participate in each Doubles Round, breaking into two groups per team. Team A sends players A1 and A2 to play against Team B's B1 and B2 on Deadpool. Team A's players A3 and A4 go to play against Team B's players B3 and B4 on Jaws.

When their games finish, these are their scores on the machines, as well as their total points earned:

Deadpool

In this game of Deadpool, player A1 earned 2 points: 1 for beating B1's score, and another 1 for beating B2's score. Player A2 earned 1 point for beating player B2's score. Player B1 earned 1 point for beating player A2's score. Player B2 earned 0 points, as they did not beat either A1 or A2's scores.

Team A earns the Extra point, because their (A1 and A2's) cumulative score of 16,000,000 is higher than Team B's cumulative score of 12,000,000. So, walking away from this game, Team A will have earned 4 points (A1 earning 2.5, A2 earning 1.5 — the Extra point is split amongst the winning players) and Team B will have earned 1 point (B1 earning 1 point, B2 earning 0 points).

Now let's look at the example game on Jaws.

Jaws

We have some close scores! Player A3 earns 1 point for beating player B4's score. Player A4 earns 1 point for beating player B4's score. Player B3 earns 2 points, 1 each for beating player A3 and A4's scores. Player B4 earns 0 points, as they didn't beat either scores from Team A's players.

Team B earns the Extra point, as their cumulative score of 106,000,000 just beat out Team A's cumulative score of 105,500,000. So, walking away from this game, Team A will have earned 2 points (A3 earning 1 and A4 earning 1), and Team B will have earned 3 points (B3 earning 2.5 and B4 earning 0.5 — the Extra point is split amongst the winning players).

For that round, the 10 TPP were distributed in total as follows: Team A took a total of 6 points (4 on Deadpool, 2 on Jaws), and Team B earned a total of 4 points (1 on Deadpool, 3 on Jaws).

Going into Round 2, Team A is narrowly in the lead.

Singles Rounds

A Singles Round consists of 2 players from each team playing against each other in two head-to-head games, trying to beat the individual scores of their opponents, ultimately hoping to double their opponent's score to take the Extra point away from their opponent, earning it for their team instead.

If you beat your opponent's score in a Singles Round, you earn 3 points, and your opponent earns 1 point. If, however, you double (or more) their score, you take the 1 point from them as an Extra point for yourself. Thus, a single Singles game in a round is potentially worth a maximum of 4 points: 3pts + 1pt bonus.

Example: We have the same team makeup and matchup as in the first round (the Doubles Round in the example above). Now in Round 2, a Singles Round, Team A sends A1 to play a Singles game against Team B's player B4 on Stranger Things, and A2 goes to play B3 on Terminator 2. The other two players on each team will be sitting out this round, and will rotate in during Round 3 (the next Singles round).

When their games finish, these are their scores on the machines:

Stranger Things

Player A1 beat player B4 in their Singles game, earning them 3 points off the bat. Then, they check whether the winning player's (A1) score is greater than or equal to double the losing player's (B4) score. In this case, the losing player's score doubled is only equal to 29,000,000, so they were unable to avoid being doubled in this round, which means instead of B4 earning their 1 point, they earn 0 points this round, and player A1 — who doubled them — earns that 1 point as an Extra point instead. So, walking away from this game, Team A's player A1 earned all 4 points (3 for winning, +1 bonus for doubling their opponent), and Team B's player B4 earned 0 points (they lost their point for getting doubled).

Tough break for B4! Now let's look at the example game on Terminator 2.

Terminator 2

Team B fared better in this game, with their player B3 beating Team A's player A2 with 9,000,000 over 5,000,000! Player B3 earns 3 points for the victory, but, they did not double A2's score (5,000,000 * 2 = 10,000,000), so player A2 walks away with 1 point, and prevents B3 from taking it.

For that round, the 8 TPP were distributed in total as follows: Team A took a total of 5 points (4 on Stranger Things, 1 on Terminator 2), and Team B earned a total of 3 points (0 on Stranger Things, 3 on Terminator 2).

Going into Round 3 (which is another Singles Round, with the other two players from each team that didn't play in this Round 2 playing instead), Team A has increased their lead, now with a total score of 10 to Team B's total score of 6. Team B still has two rounds to turn things around, but they've gotta hope for some better bounces!

Match Scoring

Team Captains are responsible for managing the VPL Match Scoresheet* for each played game in their matches. Unique scoresheets per match will be created and shared with the Captains from both teams for a given matchup, with each Captain and Co-Captain having Edit access to the Google Sheets scoresheet provided. Captains should manage entering names and scores for their own teams.

Note: An official web app for VPL is in development by the LC, time permitting. The hope is to have it done by Season 2, but for the time being/until it is ready, the spreadsheets or manual sheets will be used to record matches and track season(s).

At the end of the match, after all 4 Rounds have been played by a given pairing of teams that were scheduled to play against each other, their total scores are compared. The team with the most points will earn a win, while the other team will earn a loss. A match may also end in a tie, in which case each team will earn a result of Tie. VPL team standings (and ultimately Playoff entry — see that section for more) are determined based on Win/Loss/Tie records, with total summed points earned in matches as the initial tiebreaker. Winning is good, but really winning is better! As such, matches should not be terminated early if one team has recorded enough points already to mathematically guarantee their win; each team still wants to play for as many total points as possible to improve their position in the overall season standings.

Captains are responsible for both agreeing to the results as recorded, then Confirming the results on the spreadsheet*, and should elect one of them to submit the scoresheet to the LC for review and entering into the record for standings. If the digital version of the scoresheet was used, no separate submission is required; it will be available in Google Drive for the LC to review and approve. If a physical copy of the scoresheet was used, the submitting Captain may take a clear photo showing the entire scoresheet, and can text or email that to the LC.

Note: The standings tracker will automatically update with the results of a match that used the digital spreadsheet, once both teams have Confirmed the results in the appropriate dropdown cell of the spreadsheet.

Full Roster Bonus Points

Each match, each team may be eligible to be awarded 5 Bonus Points* to their total score at the end of the night if they brought and played the entirety of the match with a Full Roster of 4 players. A "Full Roster" is fielding (a) 4 players with (b) at most 50% (2 of 4) of those players being Subs. If a given teammate or teammates can't make a particular match, the team is responsible for finding substitute players to take their place(s) for the match so that everybody can play as normal.

Note that the players who began the match must be the same players who finish the match; players cannot be swapped out mid-match (that would be treated as an Incomplete Roster or a Forfeiture, depending on the number of players who dropped or tried to swap).

Note: There are some exceptions to eligibility for these 5 Bonus Points, even when fielding a full roster of 4 players, including certain conditions for fielding Subs in Playoffs, or failing to comply with the Registered Roster Players rules.

Incomplete Roster

Play On — 3 of 4 Players

If, for whatever reason, a team cannot find a sufficient number of valid subs and comes to a match with only 3 of the 4 players that constitutes a Full Roster (in the following examples, they are referred to as Team A), or if a player has to leave mid-match for any reason, the match can and should still occur, but the incomplete team will forfeit the points their missing player could have earned to the other team, and will not earn the 5 Bonus Points that are granted at the end of the match for having fielded a Full Roster (the other team does not get these points, they are just not earned by the incomplete team).

The structure of the rounds for the match will be mostly the same, with two exceptions:

• One of the Doubles games in Round 1 and Round 4 will be a 3 player game, with 1 player for Team A playing against the standard 2 players from their opposing team (note that this 3 player game can score 3 points for Team A at most, with an automatic 2 points to the opposing team)
• One of the Singles games in Round 2 or Round 3 will not occur; one of the Singles rounds will only have 1 game being played between Team A and their opposing team (note that this unplayed game will score 0 points for Team A, with an automatic 4 points to the opposing team)

See the following table for a breakdown on TPP differences for Incomplete and Full teams per round, as well as information on the exceptions that are applied to each round.

Note that, should a player need to leave mid-match for any reason, the match will shift to using the above exceptions to play, where the absent player will (a) score 0 points in any yet-to-be-played rounds, and (b) the team will not earn the 5 Bonus Points that would have otherwise been granted for fielding a Full Roster.

Forfeiture — 2 or Fewer Players

If a team cannot field at least 3 players (composed of roster members and/or up to 1 valid sub), and a timely reschedule of the match is not possible, this will be considered a Forfeiture, and the opposing team will score 50% of the Total Match Point Potential (TMPP) before the Full Roster Bonus points are applied, which is 18 points (36 TMPP / 2 = 18). If the opposing team was able to field their Full Roster, they will also receive their Full Roster Bonus of 5 points on top of the 50% TMPP received, which would earn them a total of 23 points for the match. The forfeiting team will score 0 points for the match.

If a team is found to be kingmaking (that is, strategically forfeiting to affect any given team's potential to earn full points and thus manipulate the season standings), disciplinary action including (but not limited to) expulsion from the league may occur.

The scoresheet for a Forfeiture match does not need to record scores; just record the names of all the players fielded for the team that was able to play, and indicate that the other team had to forfeit. The LC will manage the points in the standings from there.

Playoffs

Qualifying

In a full 6 team season, the top 4 teams will qualify for the playoffs, based on the following priority:

• Win/Loss/Tie record, then
• Total season points, then
• Official roster member attendance

If teams are still tied after considering each of those metrics, tiebreaker matches will be scheduled.

Schedule

The playoffs will ideally immediately follow the final match of the regular season, on the next available VPL night, where all official roster members from all qualified teams are available to play. Should there be a need to hold Qualifying Tiebreaker matches, the start of playoffs may be deferred to accommodate, but should be scheduled as soon as possible.

Format

We use a playoff format known as the Page system.

In the Page system, 4 teams qualify, and there will be 3 rounds of play, with 4 matches total.

• Round 1
  • Qualifiers 1 (Q1) — Seed 1 (Home) vs Seed 2 (Away)
    • Loser goes to Qualifiers 2
    • Winner goes to Finals
  • Elimination Match (EM) — Seed 3 (Home) vs Seed 4 (Away)
    • Loser takes 4th Place
    • Winner goes to Q2
• Round 2
  • Qualifiers 2 (Q2) — Loser of Q1 (Home) vs Winner of EM (Away)
    • Loser takes 3rd Place
    • Winner goes to Finals
• Round 3
  • Finals — Winner of Q1 (Home) vs Winner of Q2 (Away)
    • Loser takes 2nd Place
    • Winner is the Season Champion

This system offers some recognition for strong regular season performances, while maintaining wide league engagement and dynamic paths to victory for all involved — without any free rides. Some key points that should make for an interesting and dramatic playoff run:

• Early matches pit like-seeds against each other, offering intense, tight challenge from the start
• Regular season performance is recognized for the top seeds in that one will advance to the Finals after Round 1, while the other gets a second shot, but, they have to face the tougher of the lower seeds, who will be coming in hot off a first round win...
• It keeps more teams engaged deeper into a slightly extended playoff run, where every seed has to play hard to earn their way to the Finals

We'll try this format out for Season 3, and after all is said and done, I'll collect any feedback from the league about it, and we can determine whether this feels like a better fit that we'd like to keep around, or if we want to re-evaluate.

Substitutes in Playoffs

We appreciate our Subs to no end, but, people who committed to play on a team for the season deserve the chance to compete for the title of Season Champion, and to play against other full teams in the league, and as such, teams are compelled to field their entire official roster of players during playoffs unless absolutely unavoidable, as well as during any playoff-adjacent matches, such as in the case of Qualifying Tiebreaker matches. The LC and Location will work to the best of their abilities and available options with the qualifying teams to find and schedule dates that work for all parties if the proposed schedule does not work, scheduling separate match dates (within reason) if need be in order to accommodate.

Ultimately, if absolutely unavoidable, or if something should come up at the last minute that prevents any official roster members from playing, Subs may be included (per the standard rules for Sub quantity and eligibility) at no penalty to the fielding team, so long as (1) the team needing a Sub made every possible effort working with the LC, Location Advisor(s), and opposing team's Captains to reschedule the match, (2) any Sub is of equal or lower rank than the player they are filling in for, and (3) any sitting player is doing so for a legitimate reason (e.g. illness, injury, out of town, etc.). Should any one of those circumstances not be met, the team fielding Sub(s) will forfeit their +5 Bonus Points for the match.

If all teams involved (as well as the Location) agree, as with regular season matches, a playoff match may be rescheduled in the event that a player is suddenly unable to attend, to prioritize the full official roster getting the chance to play, but this may only be done if the reschedule date does not excessively delay or overcomplicate the conclusion of the season (as determined by the Board of Directors). Teams, via at least their Captains, are responsible for observing the schedule that is shared with the entire league through multiple channels far in advance, and determining whether or not there is a conflict with any of their team members for any of their scheduled matches (or potentially scheduled playoff matches). If the LC is not informed of any conflicts within 2 weeks of the schedule being distributed (or adjusted, should any adjustments be necessary mid-season), then there will be no conflicts assumed, and should something arise down the road, it will be treated as a last minute issue, which does not guarantee the ability for the league or the Location to accommodate a reschedule (though, as always, we will do our best).

No Ties During Playoffs

Ties are not recorded during playoff matches; if any given matchup in the playoffs, whether Semi-Finals or Finals, results in a tied score after the match is over, an additional Doubles round will be played with each team choosing 1 of the 2 machines to be played that round (e.g. both teams act as "Home" for one game and "Away" for the other). The actual Home team selects a game first, then the actual Away team selects their game. After both games have been entered into the scoresheet, the actual Away team (for the match in general) must select and enter their players for both games, after which the actual Home team responds with their player selections on both games. Repeat additional Doubles rounds in this exact fashion until the tie is broken and a winner is determined.

Note: The tracking spreadsheets for the Playoffs have an additional tab on them called "Tiebreaker Matches". This tab contains another Doubles Round, with the special rules as written above indicated on it. This tab and its round are only to be used in case of a tied Final Score after 4 rounds of regular Playoff play. If, after this 5th round of play, the Final Score is STILL tied, please record additional Doubles Rounds in the same manner manually or in empty cells, and inform the LC. The Standings sheet will be updated by the LC after Playoffs matches are completed, including any necessary tiebreaker rounds, to get its information from the appropriate cells to account for said tiebreaker rounds.

Winner Prize(s)

The team that wins the Finals match will be declared the Season Champion. Each Season Champion will get their team name and season information engraved on a VPL Champions trophy that stays on display at Volition Brewing.

In addition, every team that participated in a given season will have their team name, full roster, and season placement recorded on a commemorative season plaque that hangs on the wall at Volition Brewing.

Season Wrap Party & Awards Ceremony

There will be a Season Wrap Party & Awards Ceremony scheduled for as soon as possible after the Finals match to present the Season Champions with their trophy, and all teams any other awards or prizes that may be earned. All teams and subs are invited and encouraged to attend the party and ceremony to congratulate the winners and each other on a well-fought, fun season, and to look forward to the next! Following the short awards ceremony, there may be other events planned (such as special tournaments), or at the very least we'll plan to hang out at Volition and have a good time for the rest of the evening.

As we grow the league and settle in, we'll continue to work on the Season Wrap parties to try and make them as awesome an event as possible! If you have any ideas or feedback for the Season Wrap parties, please don't hesitate to contact any of the Board of Directors members listed below.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is the governing body of the Volition Pinball League. The Board has final say on all rulings and matters pertaining to the league as a whole, and is advised by the Player Committee.

The following is the current Board of Directors and their contact information.

As stated in the MNP documentation, the LC cannot serve as a team Captain while they are the LC.

Any eventuality that is not addressed in these (or those referenced) rules will be at the discretion of the LC. They can be contacted during any league night to help resolve or provide a ruling for any issue that may crop up, and may act as liaison between teams and the Board Members.

Jamie Haines serves as a Board Member in her capacity as Location Advisor. Jamie and Lucas Haines, as the owners of Volition Brewing where league matches are held, will handle any determinations that crop up during or around VPL which involve the brewery, its property, operations, name, etc. This includes issues that require involvement or contact with the operator of the pinball machines at the brewery, as the Haineses are the POC with the operator. Breaking from the statement made in the MNP documentation, the Location Advisor does not provide rulings or other operating duties within the league, outside of those related to their business at Volition Brewing.

Player Committee

The Player Committee (PC) is an advisory body designed to represent the interests of all registered teams in league-wide discussions and decisions, to provide input on proposed rule changes, and to promote even greater transparency and collaboration within the league as we continue to grow.

Composition

The PC shall consist of one appointed representative per registered team, to be appointed at the discretion of their individual teams. This representative:

• Does not need to be a team Captain or Co-Captain; any official roster member may be appointed as their team's PC representative
• Must, as a general rule of thumb unless otherwise requested and approved, be reliably available to respond to league communications (including discussions, votes, inquiries, etc.) via text, phone, email, or other group messaging within 48 hours to have their input recorded in order to ensure that league business is not unduly delayed
• Must be an active, official roster member playing in the season during which they serve on the Committee

Role & Responsibilities

The PC shall have the opportunity to:

• Review and discuss rules changes, additions, or other amendments to the league's operations
• Submit feedback or recommendations to the LC and Board of Directors
• Raise concerns or suggestions on behalf of the teams they represent
• Vote on league-wide issues as requested by the Board

Advisory Authority

The PC shall act in an advisory capacity to the Board of Directors, and is not itself an official governing body, in that final authority on league decisions, including rules and policy changes that the PC advises on, remains with the Board of Directors. However, the Board is expected to give good-faith consideration to all recommendations and suggestions put forth by the Committee's majority.

Meetings & Communication

The PC will convene as needed, with members able to join any physical meeting either in person or virtually (live). Meetings may be called by the LC, any member of the Board, or by a majority of the Player Committee members. A quorum of conducting business shall be a simple majority of current Committee members. Members are expected to respond to any league communications within 48 hours of receiving notice unless a different response period is explicitly stated or requested and approved; failure to respond within the allotted time will be recorded as an Abstention for the representative's team. Abstentions do not count toward any total when determining majority or consensus.

Service Term

Representatives serve for the duration of the season for which they were appointed, and must be reaffirmed (or replaced) for each season that their team registers. The LC reserves the right to request that a team appoint a new representative if the current representative is continuously unresponsive or otherwise fails to meet participation expectations.

Rulings Quick Reference

• IFPA/PAPA Rule set (How to handle Game Malfunctions, etc.)
• Monday Night Pinball Rule set