The Southern-Fried Gaming Expo is pleased to host pinball tournaments throughout the weekend of the event. There will be plenty of opportunities for both the serious competitive pinball player and the casual fan to have fun, compete, and (hopefully) win prizes!
Since our inception, we’ve been a cornerstone event in the competitive pinball arena. Over the years at SFGE, top-ranked tournament players and casual fans alike have competed in our world class tournaments. In 2019, the Southern-Fried Pinball tournament returns to offer players a chance to win cash, prizes, IFPA points, and pinball glory throughout the weekend! All events will be IFPA-sanctioned events, unless specified. Players must have an SFGE membership to participate.
Tournament 1: Two-Day Pingolf
Participants will play nine qualifying “holes”. Each hole will have an objective score to reach. All holes will have progressive scoring (variable strokes added depending on how close the player came to reaching the objective score for that game up to 10 strokes per hole). Once a group has finished playing out its round, players will select a “hole” to be replayed in an attempt to improve their score. Players wishing to qualify Friday must register and be ready to start the course by 9:30 PM Friday evening. All attempts will be made to have players in groups of 4 (Minimum of two players is required to play the course). Players wishing to qualify Saturday must be registered and ready to play by 2:30 PM Saturday. No late registrants will be allowed to participate. Participants may attempt the course as many times as they like as long as the course is begun by the cut-off times (any rounds not completed by midnight Friday/5 PM Saturday will have remaining hole scores maxed out for entry purposes). Fee is $20 per participant. There will be an option to purchase two additional replays (at the end of the original 9 hole playthrough plus 1 hole replay) for a $5 donation to the Project Pinball Charity. The finals field will be comprised of either the top 24 players based on final stroke count for the course or the top half of the field should less than 48 people compete. Ties for qualifying position will be determined first by number of holes-in-1/2/3. Any remaining ties for qualifying spots will be determined by a one-ball game on a machine to be determined by the tournament director.
Finals for the Pin-Golf Qualifier will be held Saturday night. We will aim to begin this by 7:00 but the time may be adjusted later based on Knockout/Strike tournaments. Finals starting time will be advertised in the tournament area by 5 PM. Finals will be run as matchplay events on three game banks pre-selected to represent multiple eras of pinball. Scoring for the finals rounds will be PAPA style 4-2-1-0. Two players will drop from each group until we have the final four. Top eight qualifiers (given a 24 player field) will receive a bye during the first round.
Prize pools will be awarded based on the number of participants. $1 for each registration will go directly to IFPA for processing, $1 to Project Pinball Charity, and $2 from each registration fee will go to defray minor repair costs during the tournament. Any changes made to the format, rules, or event will be announced at the beginning of the tournament.
Tournament 2: Fair Strike Knockout tournaments
There will be two completely separate Fair Strike Tournaments – one Friday beginning at 6 PM and one Saturday beginning at 10 AM. Players will play in matchplay groups of four (when possible). Each player has 7 strikes to work with. Strikes will be determined by place on each game: 1st – 0 strikes, 2nd/3rd – 1 strike, 4th – 2 strikes (3 player matches will award 0-1-2 strikes). Matches will be determined using balanced pairing. With 7 strikes each person is guaranteed at least four matches though most players will get to play many more matches. Matches continue until a winner is declared. In the event the top three spots (or more) are tied, we will continue playing until 1-2-3 places have been determined. Each tournament (Friday and Saturday) is completely separate so players can choose to participate in both (at the expense of participating in the Pin-Golf qualifier). Fee for these tournaments will also be $20 per participant.
Prize pools will be awarded based on the number of participants. $1 for each registration will go directly to IFPA for processing, $1 to Project Pinball Charity, and $2 from each registration fee will go to defray minor repair costs during the tournament. Any changes made to the format, rules, or event will be announced at the beginning of the tournament.
Marco Specialties Women’s Pinball Tournament: Sunday @9AM
There will be a specific Women’s Division Six-Strike Fair Strike Tournament beginning at 9 AM Sunday. Players will play in match-play groups of four (when possible). Each player has 6 strikes to work with before they are eliminated from the tournament (out on 6th strike). Strikes will be determined by place on each game: 1st – 0 strikes, 2nd/3rd – 1 strike, 4th – 2 strikes (3 player matches will award 0-1-2 strikes). Matches will be determined using balanced pairing. With 6 strikes each person is guaranteed at least three matches though most players will get to play many more matches. Matches continue until a winner is declared. In the event the top three spots (or more) are tied, we will continue playing until 1-2-3 places have been determined. Thanks to Marco Specialties for contributing $250 to add to the prize payout!
Fee for the tournament will be $15 per participant which includes the IFPA $1/player fee, $1 donation per player to Project Pinball and prize pool.
