12/14 C-Bar Casual Flow Tourney

[Dropshot]

C-Bar
2880 SE Gladstone St. Portland, OR 97202
Phone: (503) 230.8808


Okay, so a few things to know ahead of time so they won't all need to be explained before we start. First off the payouts!!

Based on 28 people:

1 $120
2 $70
3 $50
4 $20
5 $10
6 $10

Based on 36 people:

1 $160
2 $80
3 $60
4 $40
5 $10
6 $10

So we are going to be using either a 28 player matrix, 36 player matrix, 40 player matrix or 44 player matrix. Everyone must sign up prior to 7:00pm or let me know you are on your way. Once we start filling in the matrix it will be very tough to start adding late players. Like Cascadia people will be playing 4 players games with different players each time. If there are more than 28 but less than 36 there is a good chance you might be playing with someone more than once, sorry. Scoring will be 4, 2, 1, 0. If in any case there is a bye in your group (only 3 players) the scoring will be 4, 2, 1. Top 6 will move on. We think there are most likely going to be ties for qualified positions, all of which are very crucial, as you will see later. So there will be a 1 game playoff for any tied qualifying score on a random machine.

Finals

We are going to have head to head best 2 of 3 in the first round, pitting 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5. Top seed will get to pick two machines. The two winners will then join 1 and 2 in the finals where it will be three 4 player games set up the way described below.

Now that we have the top 4 figured out they going to play a 3 game series with scores (4, 2, 1, 0) being the same as before. This is where rank is important, before any game is played the 3rd highest player (either 3rd,4th, or 5th seed depending on who advances) gets to choose a machine, then 2nd highest player (2nd seed) gets to choose a machine and finally the 1st seed gets to choose a machine. Now that the 3 machines have been chosen the top seed can choose machine (of the 3 picked) or position, followed by 2, then 3, 4 or 5. After the first game has been played the winner of that game gets to choose machine (of the 2 left) or position followed by who got second, third and then 4th. Same goes for the 3rd game, where I would assume whoever wins game 2 would choose position since there is only 1 machine to choose from. After the 3 matches whoever has the most boints wins! I hope this all makes sense.

The way sign up works, please sign up as soon as you arrive, entry is $10. Once 7:00 comes around and registration closes it will take another 15 minutes so to set everything up. This doesn't really need to be known but I will explain how it we are doing it. When you sign up you will randomly write your name on any of the 44 spots on a piece of paper, once everyone has signed up the paper will be unfolded and reveal what number you are 1-44. So let's say we have 28 players though, well we will go through and write in player 1, 2, 3, 4 and then nobody got number 5. We will then go to the first number over 28, so 29 becomes 5. then 6, 7, nobody got 8, the next number over 29 will be 8. Get it? No? It doesn't matter, it will all be taken care of for you.

A side note, mostly for Steve. If a ramp isn't registering I don't care. Especially for this format. We need all the machines in, and the game will be playing the same for everyone.

Other than that, this is gonna be sweet! Be sure to try and show up early. I think there is going to be $1 PBR special for all pinball players. Also, for those that it matters C-Bar is all ages until 10:00pm so feel free to bring the little ones.

[ROM]

Sweet.

[Legs]

boo, too close to christmas. i'ma be out of town.

[ROM]

We can drink hot apple cider (with whiskey)!

[Opto]

Sounds fun - can we make it an ugly Xmas sweater tournament?

[ROM]

.

But frankly, any sweater will do. Most important: don a sweater.

[PatC]

Did I just hear ROM volunteer to bring sweaters for everyone?

[FHF]

[Opto]

Why not have those spots be designated as always having that format? 3 spots @ 4 events per year = 12 events = 1 casual flow tournament per month. I think most folks wouldn't mind a $10 entry once a month - especially if you're playing 4 games during qualifying. Would just need to figure out the percentage of folks who would advance (25% seems about right). Also - we could do 2 out of 3 in the finals format to save time.

I bet if we had a default 24 person and 32 person matrix sheet printed up w/ numbers for games, it would be fairly easy to get started. If there's only 20 people, you'd use the 24 person matrix and whenever you had a group of 3 (due to a missing person) you'd score 4,2,1 - no?

[Dropshot]

Noah's in charge. I retire. That's exactly what Fred and I discussed last night. Another time saver is no Stern machines at C-Bar or Slabtown. And at GK we can just keep the Stern's out of the mix.

[Opto]

If you guys can help me get the default matrix sheets together - I'll be glad to run the monthly casual flow tourney. It's been a while since I've helped out anyways. I may hit some of ya'll up for help

[Dropshot]

We are going to make the matrix for 16,20,24,28,32, and 36. I think it would need to be capped at 36. Also, originally stated was that 12 would move on. That might be too many, especially if there are only 20 people. I figure the fewer that move on the more rounds we can actually have, which means more guaranteed play for all players. Maybe top 6 (top 2 get a bye) with 24 or less. Anything over 24 we could take top 8. That way it's about 25% that move on, which seems right.

[Opto]

Sounds good - we could also skip the lower placing playoffs for non paying spots by ranking based on seed . Then have a single game playoff for 3rd/4th, 5th/6th down to the lowest paying spot. Or just ties for 7th, 9th or whatever the non payout spots end up being.

[Dropshot]

I think ties for non-paying spots would be fine. Probably would have been fine at Cascadia too.

[Dropshot]

So here is what I am thinking. Top 6 move on to the finals. 6 plays 3 and 4 plays 5. Best 2 of 3, top seed gets to choice of machine or position, the winner gets next choice. The winners of those 2 match ups then join 1 and 2 for a 4 player final on 3 games. Top seed gets first choice of machine or position, winner does for the next game. Payouts will be for the top 4 based around 1st $100 2nd $60 3rd $40 4th $20. Those payouts would work for a 22 person competition. 1st will never go under $100 in this format.

Any other thoughts or ideas?

[FHF]

Yeah, I think that all sounds good. I like the idea of going back to a four player game for the final match. Kind of wish we had done that at the cascadia cup. Anyhow, the one thing I have been thinking about is whether only playing four rounds would cause a bunch of ties that might take forever to work through. Just for reference, here are the top twelve finishers at the Smackdown. boints are cumulative across rounds... sorry, the formatting is kind of screwed up

Round four is in bold. two-way tie for third and a 3-way tie for 6th. That was actually a four way since whoever came in 22nd had 10 boints in round four.

P R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8
1 4 8 12 14 16 20 24 28
2 4 8 12 16 20 22 22 26
3 2 4 8 12 16 20 24 25
4 2 6 8 12 12 13 15 19
5 4 5 6 10 12 13 15 19
6 4 8 9 10 11 15 17 18
7 1 5 7 11 12 13 17 18
8 1 3 5 5 7 9 13 17
9 4 8 8 9 13 13 15 16
10 2 3 5 7 11 11 12 16
11 4 6 10 10 10 14 15 16
12 0 1 2 6 10 12 14 16

[Dropshot]

What if we take top 8, any ties that do not effect what round you play in can be decided by flipping a coin*. Top 2 are in the finals 3 and 4 get a bye. 5 and 8 6 and 7 play head to head. Winners then play 3 and 4 in head to head matches. The winners of that are in the final group then. My guess is the top 2 will most likely win out, or come very close. Given that during most weeklies if you win 4 matches you are most likely in the finals I don't see a problem with the top two seeds in the money right off the bat.

*1 and 2 can play a game during the other matches to determine who is #1. Which really is the only one that matters in the final 4 group since they will have first pick of position or machine. Other than that it is who ever wins the previous match and rank is pointless at that point. If there are ties for 2nd 4th or 8th (the only other ones that really matter due to byes and actually making it in) then we will have a 1 game playoff between who ever is tied

[FHF]

yeah, that might be too much for a weeknight though. i mean, that would be three games (quarter finals), three games (semi finals), then three four player games (finals). That's a lot of games. Even if every game took 10 minutes, you're looking at a two hour final (12 consecutive games). I think that it needs to stay with the top 6. It's just that ties seem very likely. If it's heads up for (3-6, 4-5) I could see people wanting to have a one game playoff, but if 3 through 6 play three four player games then I could see a coin flip working fine for any ties. Still would have a playoff for 6th seed though (in the event of a tie). Also, 1 and 2, but as you mentioned that could happen during the semi's.

Hmmm, although two heads-up best of three matches would go faster than three four-player games (i think?). I say make it single games for ties, then keep the heads up semifinals into the four player finals like you described. I bet the qualifying will be about two hours and the finals will be about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. That would wrap it up by 11pm.

[Dropshot]

It's staying heads up after qualifying until the final 4. So basically it is 1 round of heads up 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 playing best of 3. Then the winners join 1 and 2 for a 4 person 3 games series and the final boints (4,2,1,0) will decide the cash payouts.

That is fine going with only six, but we should have a 1 game playoff for any and all ties then. I would put this format (6 players, even with ties) at about an 1 1/2 hours to complete. That includes beer breaks, smoke break (between rounds, not games), bathroom breaks. Even if you were to pick the longest games. I think as long as any weekly ends by midnight at the latest it's okay. It has happened only a few times at Stern happy places and most end before 10. So the occasional late running tournament isn't that bad. GK is where it will get questionable, especially once people find out how great casual flow actually is. What happens if 48 people show up to a casual flow, do we still only take top 6? Or do we have to bump it to 8, or even 12 to keep the 25%ish thing going?

[Jeri]

Night Moves will be in there later this week. I think the final round should be on this!

-Jer