What is tournament feature/mode of a pinball machine?

[pinflipper]

What are the features of a tournament mode on a pinball machine? A
lot of new Sterns have this and I've never thought about why it's
there or what it does until now. Excuse my ignorance. :-)

Thanks,
KS

[seymour-shabow]

Post by pinflipper
What are the features of a tournament mode on a pinball machine? A
lot of new Sterns have this and I've never thought about why it's
there or what it does until now. Excuse my ignorance. :-)
Thanks,
KS

New Sterns let you (as a location) run a tournament, the machine will
keep track of entries and who is in the lead, you can set it to cost
more, etc. not sure if it makes you have different rulesets (probably).

-scott CARGPB#29

[g***@gmail.com]

My understanding was that it took away some of the randomness of
awards, as well - to sort of give every player the same chances. I
could be wrong and this could just be specific to other MFG'ers
implementation.

-Gregg B.

[David Pinball Wizz]

Post by g***@gmail.com
My understanding was that it took away some of the randomness of
awards, as well - to sort of give every player the same chances.  I
could be wrong and this could just be specific to other MFG'ers
implementation.
-Gregg B.

Tournament mode is normally a setting so every random award is for
each player the same. So in competition this is fair.

Stern has this also (tournament play) and now uses this term also for
a seperate score entry and with a possible price pot for the person
with the highest score after a certain amount of time.

David

[John Wart, jr]

Some MFGs require a game be in 'tournament mode' to accept free play
operation
Some MFGs use tournament mode to remove randomness for more equal gameplay -
you shoot this target, the 'special' is now set at 10k points etc

Post by pinflipper
What are the features of a tournament mode on a pinball machine? A
lot of new Sterns have this and I've never thought about why it's
there or what it does until now. Excuse my ignorance. :-)
Thanks,
KS

[Lloyd Olson]

TOPS, Tournament On Pinball System on the newer Stern pins is a way to have
kind of two games in one. Normal pinball, and a tournament you can enter.
Tournament is harder rules, no extra balls and you can't win games. The
tournament can be set to run any length of time, one through ten balls, and
cash or other prizes. It's to help the ops and locations get more out of the
same game. Keeps interest longer and play up. LTG :)

Post by pinflipper
What are the features of a tournament mode on a pinball machine? A
lot of new Sterns have this and I've never thought about why it's
there or what it does until now. Excuse my ignorance. :-)
Thanks,
KS

[Kyle Wren]

In article <07a9543d-bc73-4783-a53b-***@l42g2000hsc.googlegroups.com>,
pinflipper says...

When we have league play in The Ohio Pinball League we make it mandatory that
games be set for Tournament Play ahead of time (if the game is new enough to
have such a setting). I know all the WPC era WMS games seem to have it as well
as the later Sterns. We also dictate that all extra balls be turned off, but
that's a separate issue.

Tournament Mode takes all the "random chance" shots on a game and makes them
spit them out in the same order for each player that is playing. So for instance
on TZ each time a player hits the scoop they will start modes in the same order
as all the other players. That way if there are modes that are more points
lucrative than others it's fair for everyone competing during that game. I
actually kind of like the randomness of the games so I usually go around after a
league date at my house and turn the tournament mode back off, I know some folks
leave it on all the time.

Some of the later Sterns have a tournament system called "TOPS" built into them,
but I believe this is unrelated to the regular "tournament mode" setting that I
have described.

Hope that helps!

Post by pinflipper
What are the features of a tournament mode on a pinball machine? A
lot of new Sterns have this and I've never thought about why it's
there or what it does until now. Excuse my ignorance. :-)
Thanks,
KS

[beaver]

Thanks guys. I have wondered this also.

Edward Cheung CARGPB26

Post by Kyle Wren
pinflipper says...
When we have league play in The Ohio Pinball League we make it mandatory that
games be set for Tournament Play ahead of time (if the game is new enough to
have such a setting). I know all the WPC era WMS games seem to have it as well
as the later Sterns. We also dictate that all extra balls be turned off, but
that's a separate issue.
Tournament Mode takes all the "random chance" shots on a game and makes them
spit them out in the same order for each player that is playing. So for instance
on TZ each time a player hits the scoop they will start modes in the same order
as all the other players. That way if there are modes that are more points
lucrative than others it's fair for everyone competing during that game. I
actually kind of like the randomness of the games so I usually go around after a
league date at my house and turn the tournament mode back off, I know some folks
leave it on all the time.
Some of the later Sterns have a tournament system called "TOPS" built into them,
but I believe this is unrelated to the regular "tournament mode" setting that I
have described.
Hope that helps!

Post by pinflipper
What are the features of a tournament mode on a pinball machine? A
lot of new Sterns have this and I've never thought about why it's
there or what it does until now. Excuse my ignorance. :-)
Thanks,
KS

--
Kyle Wren - CARGPB #27
"Worst... Ball... EVER!!"

[phishrace]

Just to clarify a little, there are two competition settings under the
standard adjustments menu on newer Sterns. These are separate from
TOPs tournament settings. Basically they take out randomness for
multiplayer games and allow a player to start a game in 'tournament
mode' even though the game isn't running a TOPS tournament. Read the
(downloadable) manual for more details.

If your too lazy to read, try this on your newer Stern: Hold the left
flipper button in for a few seconds before starting a game. If it says
COMPETITION MODE READY... PRESS START NOW on the DMD, your game has
one of the competition modes enabled. Quickly press the start button
and see how you do. PAPA is in just a few weeks. Plenty of time to get
in competition form.

-phish

[Kyle Wren]

In article <d71afe1e-7223-41c2-a695-***@i20g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
phishrace says...

Yep, the WMS games work the same way. There is one menu setting that basically
forces the game into tournament mode for all players. Then there is another
setting (assuming you turn off that first setting) that will allow "player
selectable tournament mode" which I think is done the same way as is described
below. By default I believe tournament mode is usually "off" and player
selectable tournament mode is "on", but I'm not completely sure. We don't chance
using the second option during league so we always set it with the first menu
option on all games.

Post by phishrace
Just to clarify a little, there are two competition settings under the
standard adjustments menu on newer Sterns. These are separate from
TOPs tournament settings. Basically they take out randomness for
multiplayer games and allow a player to start a game in 'tournament
mode' even though the game isn't running a TOPS tournament. Read the
(downloadable) manual for more details.
If your too lazy to read, try this on your newer Stern: Hold the left
flipper button in for a few seconds before starting a game. If it says
COMPETITION MODE READY... PRESS START NOW on the DMD, your game has
one of the competition modes enabled. Quickly press the start button
and see how you do. PAPA is in just a few weeks. Plenty of time to get
in competition form.
-phish