Another new tournament for 2008 is the final of the UK Pinball League.

Over the past nine months, pinball players and families across the UK have been coming together at fellow League members' homes for fun, chat, social and competitive pinball play in a relaxed atmosphere.

Now the 2007/8 League is coming to its climax where the best performing players from all five of the UK's regional leagues meet for the grand finale at the UK Pinball Show.

They are:

*Players who receive automatic qualification for the UK Pinball Open

All the players have pre-qualified from the Scottish, Northern, Midlands, South West and London & South East regions but if you're not amongst them, don't forget the 2008/9 season starts soon after this show, so get in contact and find out about League meetings near you. You don't need to be a wizard since the League is all about having fun and meeting new people while enjoying a few games.

For those playing in this year's final here are the rules.

RULES

This year the league final will be a stand alone event on the Saturday and not form part of the Open.  

There will be 20 finalists shown above who have qualified from the regional leagues as follows:  the top 5 from South East, top4 from Midlands, South West and Northern and top 3 from the Scottish regions.  

The format of the final will be very similar to a league meet:

• All finalists will play a 4 ball game on the same 5 machines and then be ranked against each other with 20 points awarded to 1st place on each machine down to 1 point for 20th.
  
  
• Normal league rules will apply ie  each machine will be set up in tournament mode and with no extra balls.   
  
  
• Points for each machine will then be added up and these totals used to determine the outcome of the league final; there will be no further semi final or final.  

In the event of a tie, the ranking will be based on which player got a higher score out of the two players concerned, on more of the 5 machines. With having 5 machines in the final (subject to not losing any) then this will always allow a tie to be resolved.  

In order to be as fair as possible to all finalists from different regions, the machines to be used in the final will be (subject to availability) the most commonly played machines at all league meets since the league started.  

The league finals will take place at the same time as the Team Tournament on Saturday, starting at 11am. 

In order to allow players to compete in both competitions, the league finalists will be split into 2 pools of 10. The 1st pool will play the league finals whilst the 2nd pool can play in the Team Tournament and then swap over. 

The split of finalists between the two pools will be purely based on fitting in with the Team Tournament.  

• Within each pool, there will be 5 rounds in which each finalist will play a 2 player game with one of the other finalists.
   
• Each round will not be started until all games from the previous round have been completed.
  
  
• Scores will be recorded at the end of the round once all games have been completed.  Each player should check that their score has been accurately recorded before a new game has been started.
   
• After having played one machine, the finalists will play another 2 player game on a different machine until after 5 rounds each player will have played one game on each of the 5 machines.
  
  
• In each of the 5 rounds, you will play your 2 player game with a different player which will be predetermined.  

However, how you do against the other player in your pair is largely irrelevant as the outcome will be based on how you did compared to the other 19 finalists and the 20 to 1 points allocation as referred to above.  

In the event of a malfunction, every effort will be made to resolve the problem as fairly as possible to both the player concerned and all other competitors such that no player gains an unfair advantage or suffers an unfair disadvantage. 

However, due to the nature of pinball and some games with progressing modes, it may not always be possible to return the player to the position they should have had prior to the malfunction, but every effort will be made to be treat all competitors fairly.  

The rules below are here to try to formalize how to deal with these situations but common sense will be used to ensure as fair a result as possible.  

• In the event of a malfunction, the player should contact the tournament director (league co-ordinator) to highlight the problem.     
  
  
• If the malfunction results in the player not being able to continue his game, he will be given the choice of either keeping the score or starting a new game.  However, he must decide before starting the new game and cannot choose the better score.  
  
  
• If the malfunction results in an unfair loss of a ball, the player must continue their game but will be allowed to play one ball of a new game and the scores from the 2 games will be added together.  
  
  
• If the malfunction results in an unfair award of extra points, then the player can choose to have an amount subtracted from their score representative of the extra points gained unduly if possible to estimate (to be determined by the tournament director following consultation with other league officials) or to restart their game.  
  
  
• It is the responsibility of each player to ensure that they play balls in their game and not the game belonging to other player in the pair.
  
  
• If a player does play the wrong ball, they should make every effort to transfer over as quickly as possible to the other player but the player whose game it should have been, will have to continue as best they can. 
  
  
• In any instance, the tournament director should be contacted to explain the situation. 
  
  
• At his discretion the tournament director may allow the player affected to play another ball (as above) but unless due to malfunction, the player will not be able to restart their game altogether.  
  
  
• Machines which suffer recurring malfunctions will be replaced subject to availability and scores from that machine will be voided.  If a replacement is not available then the scores will be based on 4 rather than 5 machines.  
  
  
• Once started, no player should restart their game unless authorized to do so by the tournament director. 
  
  
• Anyone considered to be actively trying to gain an unfair advantage through playing other players' balls, restarting their game without approval, unduly distracting or physically interfering with another player is at risk of being disqualified at the tournament director's discretion.  

However, in all areas requiring judgment, the tournament director will consult with other league officials and the decision reached will be final.

For more details about the UK Pinball League final, or if you have any queries, please contact the Tournament Organiser Greg Mott here.