TOURNAMENT RULES

This is the complete set of rules applicable to the Pinball News UK Pinball Open tournament, the Pinball News UK Pinball Team Tournament and the Pinball News UK Pinball Kids Tournament (collectively known as "the Tournament"). The interpretation of these rules along with any resolution of matters not covered by these rules is at the sole discretion of the Tournament organisers whose decisions in the matters are final. They shall, however, attempt to behave in what they believe to be a fair and equitable way at all times.

Entry to the Tournament requires a payment. The UK Pinball Open costs £5 per person, the UK Pinball Team Tournament costs £10 per team and the UK Pinball Kids Tournament costs £1. Multiple entries are only permissible in the UK Pinball Kids Tournament.

Entries can be purchased at the Tournament Desk or at other locations as nominated by the organisers. Purchase of an entry permits the holder to play one game in the Tournament during the published play times subject to exclusions as indicated below. Only one ticket may be used at a time although competitors to the UK Pinball Kids Tournament may purchase as many tickets as they wish. All tickets must be paid for at the time of purchase and no refunds will be made for unused tickets. All competitors enter the Tournament and play the games at their own risk and accept liability for any injuries they may receive or inflict on others.

If the competitor is aged 13 or under, they can opt to enter the UK Pinball Kids’ Tournament. Proof of age may be required to enter the Kids’ Tournament but the UK Pinball Open and UK Pinball Team Tournament are open to all ages. Having purchased their entry competitors should wait in line until the game or games become available and then step up to the game when directed to do so by the Tournament steward.

Competitors must not practice or play on tournament machines except as part of the tournament. All games must only be started by an official Tournament steward. Games not started or restarted by, or under the instruction of a steward will be invalid.

The selection of games is not fixed and may change from day-to-day or during the day. If a game has to be removed during the course of the Tournament, a substitute game will be provided and existing scores equalised by applying a scaling factor determined by the organisers. If this happens, the scores achieved on the replaced game will be changed to reflect the equivalent scores on the replacement game.

Competitors should play their nominated game to the best of their ability with good conduct and without cheating or unfairly influencing the score. The organisers shall decide what constitutes good conduct and cheating. Any competitor deemed to be in breach of these rules may be warned or disqualified and their score adjusted or discarded.

If a mechanical or software fault develops during the course of the game, the competitor must attract the attention of a steward who will attempt to resolve the situation. If the ball becomes stuck, the competitor may attempt to free it at the risk of tilting the game. Otherwise they should attract the attention of the steward who will attempt to free it and place it in a dead area of the game such as the shooter lane or in a ball trap so the competitor may continue play.

If the chosen machine becomes inoperable or the competitor's score has been unduly affected during the course of the game, the machine will be taken out of the Tournament until the fault can be repaired and the competitor will be offered the choice to wait until the game is fixed or to play on an alternative machine. In either case, the score achieved thus far on the faulty game will be discarded.

Tilting the machine during a game will result in the loss of the competitor’s current ball. Slam tilting will result in the game ending and, if in the opinion of the organisers this is due to poor conduct by the competitor, the competitor may be disqualified and their score discarded. No refund will be given for any unused tickets.

No extra balls will be awarded during the tournaments. If, for any reason, the machine awards an extra ball, the competitor should attract the attention of a steward who will oversee the extra ball. The competitor may use the flipper buttons to set up a skill shot and then plunge the extra ball. They may not touch the machine after that for the duration of the extra ball except to replunge it if a ball saver is activated.

If a competitor mistakenly plays an extra ball (meaning they hit either or both flippers, or bump the machine at any time during the extra ball, except as noted above), they must stop playing as soon as the error is recognized and they may not play their next ball. If they are on their last ball then their final score is calculated as 80% of their total score.

If a competitor is recognized to be playing an extra ball, is clearly told so, and does not stop playing the ball within 10 seconds, they receive a score of zero for the entire game instead of only losing the next ball.

When the competitor has completed their game they must attract the attention of the steward who will record their nominated game, score and player number. When this has been done the competitor must check the details to verify that they are correct. Once this has been completed, no discussions about the correct recording of these details will be entertained. The details will, in due course, be passed to the Tournament Desk where they will be entered into the computerised scoring system. This may not happen immediately after the recording of the details by the steward.

The qualifying round of the Open Tournament will end at the announced and posted time. At the end of the qualifying time, players may continue to play any games already started but no further games may be started. Unused tickets do not qualify for a refund.

When all games have been completed and scores recorded for the Open Tournament, a list of the 19 qualifiers for Sunday's final rounds will be published and shown on the display screens. Those competitors placed 10-19, along with those placed in positions 20-24 should report to the Tournament Desk by 11am on Sunday morning. Those in positions 1-9 should report to the Tournament Desk by 1pm on Sunday. Any competitor who fails to report by the indicated time may be excluded from further participation and their place given to another competitor.

Once the tournament closes, the competitor with the highest score on the game used for the Kids’ Tournament will be declared the winner of the UK Pinball Kids’ Tournament. Prizes shall be awarded to the top four competitors in the Kids’ Tournament.

The same rules of conduct apply to the final rounds of the UK Pinball Open as in the qualifying round.

Prizes shall be awarded to all finalists in the UK Pinball Open as shown in the Prizes section of this site.

If there is any ambiguity or confusion over the meaning or interpretation of these rules or any matters not covered elsewhere in these rules, the decision of the Tournament organisers shall prevail at all times.

Good luck, play well and have fun.