Travis (TMK) - Lafayette, IN
At one point I was ranked 408th in the world in pinball. I drove all around the country within a 6 hour radius spending thousands of dollars and playing in as many tournaments as I could, trying to raise my ranking. In the past doing so was almost a necessity as tournament locations were allowed to hold only one point earning event a year. I would consider myself a ‘B’ level player. (Pinball players can sometimes be ranked A-E).
I stopped playing in 2016 when the ranking system began ranking players based on population more than skill. Although it is true there are elite pinball players that competing against is similar to facing NBA legends in basketball, the change in the ranking system included a MASSIVE emphasis on the number of people playing in a tournament. This led me and at least an entire city of people within my state to completely stop playing, as to many, the ranking system became false and fraudulent passed about the 300th position.
Just as an example of what the 2016 changes meant...A ‘B’ player in a small town could compete in a tournament against 13 other ‘B’ players, finish 2nd in the tournament, and receive a reward for defeating the 12 other ‘B’ players of .6 points. At the same time however, there could be someone who had never played pinball once in their entire life who happened to be on a first date in another location who decided to try and play some pinball to try to break the ice with their date. In doing so they decided to play a pinball machine for the first time in their life. In doing this they noticed a sheet of paper attached to the machine they played advertising a, “Selfie league.” They played some games, took a, “Selfie,” and then jokingly entered their name and picture as a selfie tournament qualifier.
Well, it just so happened that this place located in a large city happened to have quite a few people who had never played pinball before and many of them decided to enter their names into the selfie qualifier as well. Most of them did so without realizing there was a thing called a, “Finals night,” let alone having any intention of participating in the finals night. 120 people in this location all qualified for the selfie tournament, with only about 13 of them being real tournament players. But because of the new ranking system, that person on the first date who cared nothing about the tournament who happened to finish 21st received 2.4 points. So according to the new ranking system, that person on the first date that defeated a multitude of low E level players and jokingly entered into a tournament they cared nothing about is 4 times more skilled than the second place finisher that battled against 13 B level players and defeated 12 of them. In other words, ranking points became based on population and not skill.
So OK, they fixed the rankings a little bit and now players have to have played in so many tournaments to count towards the point total.
So why am I writing this?
The reason I am writing this now is because in January of this year I decided to play pinball again in events held within my hometown only. Many people from all over the country have asked me about going to play in tournaments outside of my hometown. But when I decided to return again at the beginning of the year I made the decision not to leave town, not to play for points, not to try and raise my ranking, and not to, like so many people do, ultimately wonder about why I was paying thousands of dollars a year driving around the country trying to keep up with a fraudulent ranking system that rewards population over skill.
Do I have a “better” idea for a ranking system? No I don’t. And no I don’t have to. I don’t know how to engineer a car either, but I guarantee you if a car doesn’t work properly, and it doesn’t accurately do the basic function it is designed to do correctly, I’m having no part of it. Due to the current ranking system not accurately doing its basic function correctly, I now do not want to be a part of pinball past going out three times a month and competing in events within my hometown.
And honestly, even that is slightly tainted, as I know the State Championship Series, which allows the best players throughout the year in each state to compete for decent cash prizes and a trip to compete in Nationals is based on the same flawed ranking system. And because of that, the majority of the players in five of the six cities within my state have no chance of realistically competing in the SCS under the current ranking system. The SCS should be for the best players, but, as I will explain in a bit, there are average players in one city with a MUCH greater chance of getting into the SCS than even above average players in the other five cities.
There are about a dozen players from the five lowest point producing cities that are good enough to consistently place at the top of the tournaments held in their hometowns that could result in them receiving some decent points. Whether they are decent enough points to qualify for the SCS though, in many instances, no they are not. And for the other 60+ players, they have no chance what-so-ever to qualify for the SCS because the ability to obtain points is not there for them. Unless of course they decide to make 5 to 14 hour drives and pay literally hundreds to thousands of dollars throughout the year for food, gas, mileage, and lodging. And of course, when those kinds of choices pop up, the question becomes, “Is it worth all that?” And to 98% of the 60+ it isn’t.
Based on the first two months of 2019, the projected yearly rankings point totals available for the four main cities within my state are...240, 270, 630, and 1,500. And please keep in mind there are also two other cities that have players that have had such significant drops in points that I am not even listing them here as one receives about 60 points a year and one decided to stop playing in sanctioned events all together.
Now maybe it’s just me, but when the E level 40th place finisher of a tourney in the city producing 1500 points a year receives more points (reflecting they are more skilled) than the B level 4th place finisher in the city producing 270 points a year, even though the B level 4th place finisher would, without a single doubt in the entire known universe, completely destroy the E level 40th place finisher on any game in existence 9 times out of 10, there is an obvious problem with the current ranking system.
It is my belief that the rankings are a total fraud past about the 300th mark. And because of this, it is my choice to play in hometown events only, care nothing about the fraudulent system, and let others waste hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars taking part in what I and several others perceive as an irrelevant ranking system.
I believe what may ultimately happen in my state is a couple of the Michael Jordan and Larry Bird types that happen to live very close to the 1500 point city will drive over and dominate that city’s reoccurring player field. From what I see, having played against several of the world’s top players in several tourneys, that city’s reoccurring player field features maybe one low A player, four or five B players, and several C-E players. This will make it very easy for the high A players that live close to come in and take the largest cash prizes in the SCS that the 1500 point city worked so hard to build up.
Hopefully after being robbed blind, the 1500 point city will calm it down a bit on the tourneys. Although the, “Prestige,” of being, “Ranked,” so high might be enough for them to keep it going. Unfortunately, all to the dismay of the 60+ players from the other five cities that will never have a shot at SCS competition.
The current ranking system promotes, “Playing more pinball,” kinda, it also causes many reoccurring players to hold less tournaments or stop playing all together. It also does not accurately do what it is designed to do, and that is rank players based on skill. Passed about the 300th spot which doesn’t consist of the players that travel around the entire world playing year round in major tournaments for big dollar prizes, it ranks common players based on population density and where they live and how much money they spend as opposed to how skilled they are. And that is why I play locally only.
