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Pinball Expo 2023 & Freedom to Play Pinball

Freedom to Play Pinball

October 20-21 at the Project Pinball Charity booth
Project Pinball and Inclusive GameWerks are excited to present the most accessible and inclusive way to play pinball!
Freedom to Play Pinball is more than a first of its kind tournament, it’s the groundbreaking event to bring pinball players together and ensure pinball is accessible for everyone!
In this event, all players will be required to use the Inclusive Controller to play the games in the bank. No Nudging or contact to control the ball will be allowed on machines.
There is NO entry fee to play, but donations to support the IFPA sanctioning fee of $1 per player are encouraged

Registration opens: 10am Friday

Qualifying begins: Friday from 11am to 11pm, continuing Saturday from 10am to 4pm.
**Scorekeeper Volunteer Qualifying 11pm-Midnight – Friday
Tiebreakers: 4pm to 4:30
Finals check-in: 4:30pm with the first round beginning at 5pm
Tournament Qualifying Format:
Limited Best Game – 10 Entries
There will be 5 games available for tournament play, only your top 4 scores will count for your qualification score. You must play all 5 games.
Qualifying scoring will be INDISC style 100-97-95-94…
Neverdrains software will be used for the event.
In the event of a tie for the final qualifying spot, or possibly a bye position, there will be a 1 game playoff on a randomly chosen machine.
If there is a seeding tie for any other position, a 1 ball playoff will be played on a randomly chosen machine.
Tiebreakers will be played immediately after qualifying ends.
Finals Format: No less than the top 10% of all qualified entrants will move on to a Group Elimination Match Play Bracket Final.
We will begin with the top 8, but may move to top 12 with 4 byes, or top 16 depending on participation.
All Finals games will be played as 1 player games.
Each group will play 3 games per round.
We will use PAPA scoring. (4,2,1,0)
The top seed in each group will be given selection of Game AND Position in the first game.
The lowest finishers in game 1 will be given a choice of either the next game OR position.
A group may not play the same game more than 1 time in each round.
A player may not choose the same game again until all options have been exhausted.
You must select an open game, not selected by another group.
In the event of a tie for advancement, the highest seed in the tiebreaker game will have a choice of Game OR Position. You will not be allowed to play the 3 games already selected in your round. Ties for the top 4 will be handled the same way.
All players are required to use the Inclusive Controller for all ball control including launching the ball into play and flipper control.
No Nudging will be allowed.
IFPA rules regarding stuck balls and malfunctions will be used.
All extra balls will be off, if you are awarded an extra ball, please plunge it with no flips.
All rulings from Tournament Directors are final.
This is an IFPA Sanctioned event