League Rules for Monday Night Pinball

Seattle Monday Night Pinball (generally referred to as just MNP) is a co-ed adult (21+) team league where each team has a host venue (such as a barcade or any other venue that has pinball and serves alcohol), which serves as the team's "home." Once a week for the duration of the season, each team will compete against another team in their league, either at "home" or as the visiting team at their opponent's home venue. Each team will score match points based on the results of the individual pinball games. At the end of each match, the team with the most points will record a win, while the other team will record a loss; a match may also end in a tie, which will record a tie for each team. League standings are determined based on a simple win/loss/tie record with cumulative match points as the main tiebreaker.

L0.02 - MNP Mission

The mission of Seattle Monday Night Pinball is to provide the logistics needed to run a team league that allows pinball enthusiasts from the Seattle metropolitan area to meet each other at the major pinball venues within the area, through structured matches that have teams compete against each other for friendly competition.

L0.03 - MNP Scope

L0.03.0: MNP is about pinball and more specifically, the pinball league. ONLY Pinball. There have been some misconceptions that MNP is a large organization with influence among the various venues in the city. That is not the case. MNP is neither a non-profit organization nor a corporation. Rather, it is simply a group of players who form the MNP Board, and volunteer their time to produce and manage the logistics needed to make the league happen. This includes creating and managing rules, producing the schedule each season, maintaining the software, and ensuring adequate communication among all the captains and players to coordinate a distributed league.

L0.03.1: MNP is open to all players regardless of an individual’s gender bias, social beliefs, political affiliations, mental or physical disabilities, or background. The requirements to play are that a person is over 21 and interested in pinball.

L0.03.2: As such, MNP will not take a stand for or against any issue that isn’t directly related to pinball, even when called upon in social media. Generally those calls will go unanswered. Any individual that is a member of MNP is welcome to express their personal views publicly, but all such expressions remain the view of the individual and do not represent the views of MNP, because MNP is not an entity or organization and as such, does not possess views on any social or political issues.

L0.03.3: The one exception where MNP does take a stand is with regards to the safety of players on league night. Any player that harasses, threatens, assaults, or in any other way poses an active safety risk to other players does risk being suspended or banned from the league. Note that this applies directly to the individual’s conduct during league night and at the league’s pinball venues in general on other nights. MNP does not do background checks on members or venues, and as such cannot guarantee the safety of every person in the league. But if a safety issue is observed and a complaint is filed, then those issues will be reviewed by the board. MNP does not have the resources to investigate any such safety issues that happen outside the scope of the pinball venues served by MNP, and will not take any action against individuals accused if those individuals have not posed any threat or safety risk to MNP players. Rather, such issues should be addressed directly with venues or through the legal system for very serious matters.

L0.03.4: There has also been a misconception that MNP can tell venues what to do. MNP has no authority to impose any restrictions on venues. Furthermore, it is not MNP board that chooses a venue. Rather, captains and their team choose the venue. MNP simply approves the use if they meet the minimum league requirements such as number and quality of pinball machines and open hours. If an individual or team has an issue with a venue, those issues should be taken up directly with the captain who selected the venue, or with management or ownership of that venue. MNP does not have the resources to serve as council, as the board does not include any lawyers nor experts to deal with such conflicts.

L0.03.5: By playing in the league, whether as a roster player or sub, you are agreeing to all official decisions and all rules as describe herein and in the Match Rules. Failure to abide by the rules and decisions could lead to suspension or expulsion from the league. If the terms of the league are not agreeable, you should opt to not play in MNP.

L0.03.6: By choosing to be captain or co-captain, you are agreeing to enforce all official decisions and all rules as described herein and in the Match Rules. Failure to abide by the rules and decisions is a captain code-of-conduct violation and could lead to suspension or expulsion from the league. The lone exception is M5.01.1 for malfunction rulings only.

L0.03.7: Any issue brought to the MNP Board in writing (such as email or text directly to one or more board members) will be investigated. The MNP board will do what it can to understand all sides of any issue before issuing a decision, and will provide a decision that takes into consideration both majority opinion and what is best for the success of MNP.

L0.03.8: Captains who do not agree with a board decision have one appeal avenue. They may bring up their objection to the MNP Captains Group and create a poll. If captains representing more than half of the teams in the league disagree with the decision, the ruling will be reconsidered. Otherwise, the decision is final and players and captains are required to abide by such decisions or be subjected to code of conduct violations.

L0.04 - Version History

L0.05 - Terms

L1.00 - Venue

L1.00.0: Each team in the league has a home venue. The venue must meet the requirements listed in this section.

L1.01 - Requirements

L1.01.0: Venue must have a minimum of 8 machines (8 physical machines) in league-worthy condition. See information below on description of league-worthy.

L1.01.2: A newly opening venue must already be open by the application deadline date. If not, the expansion team request needs to be for an alternate location that is capable of hosting the team, but they can specify their interest to move to the new location when it opens.

L1.01.3: The pinball area at the venue must be big enough to accommodate at least 24 players (20 players plus a few guests).

L1.01.4: No cover charge for venue. Players are expected to pay for play, but should not need to pay anything beyond that. An exception is if cover charge is $5 or less per person and all machines are on free play, on both league nights and when players go to practice.

L1.01.5: Venue must sell at least beer or wine (i.e. must have liquor license). This is a barcade league, not a family league!

L1.01.6: Venue must be open (or willing to stay open) until at least midnight on league nights. If they normally close before midnight, they must be willing to stay open on league nights until the end of the match.

L1.01.7: Venue must be within 20 miles of "Seattle". The geolocation of "Seattle" is defined as the Seattle Public Library, located at 5th and Madison.

L1.02 - League Worthiness of Machines

L1.02.1: All machines that are potentially league-worthy and intended for use on league should be posted on the Venue’s page on the website. If a machine is missing from the venue’s page and the opposing team does not want to use that machine, then it remains out for the night.

L1.02.2: On league night, the captains from both teams should discuss and remove from use any machine that is not league worthy.

L1.02.3: If a machine is powered ON but captains from the two teams disagree on whether or not to include it, then refer to the following board’s guidance, where decision on IN or OUT depends on the reason one of captains thinks the machine should be out, and special rules to apply should the issue occur during a league game. (Remember, any of this guidance should be overridden if captains from both teams agree). This is a reminder that if a team (especially the home team) does not like the fact that a machine is out due to one of the rules here, then contact your operator to maintain the machine. Just because a machine is used one week does not mean it is used the next week if the opposing captains have a different sentiment.

L1.03 - New Venues

L1.03.0: A new venue will be evaluated for possible play upon request to the MNP Board. A board member will visit the venue and approve if it meets the Venue requirements.

L1.03.1: Once a venue is approved, a team can list that venue as their choice for home venue six weeks prior to a season. That venue can also be used as a backup location if an existing venue fails to have at least five working machines.

L1.03.2: If a new venue is not yet open six weeks prior to start of season, then the team must pick a different venue as their home, and make a request to move to the new venue once it is approved. If such a request is not made prior to the season start, then the team will need to wait until the following season to move to that venue.

L1.03.3: A venue may only host one expansion team in their first season (restating L1.01.2).

L2.00 - Team

L2.00.0: Teams consist of at least 8 roster players, and no more than 10. Of these, one player will act as the Team Captain. A second player must be named as a co-captain. A team can hold up to two unfilled positions and use subs until a suitable new roster player is found.

L2.00.1: The team must have a designated venue, which shall host the “home” matches. At least six weeks prior to start of a season, per published deadlines, both returning teams and expansion teams must declare their home venue. Exception: A team that had a home venue, but venue closed or no longer league suitable, can play the remainder of the current season and through the end of the following season before finding a new home venue. While a team has no home venue, M1.01 (see Match Rules for Monday Night Pinball) shall apply for selecting an alternate venue.

L2.01 - Captains

L2.01.0: The team’s Captain and Co-Captain are collectively referred to as the team’s Captains. Captains are responsible for organizing their team and corresponding promptly with the league about rosters, scoring and scheduling. Captains also serve as team representatives in each of the matches.

L2.01.2: Captains must be declared for each team prior to season, as they are given access to Facebook Captains group to help coordinate the season, and special software access for league nights.

L2.01.3: If neither captain can attend league night, a substitute captain must be declared. It should be a roster player with at least one full season played. If there is no such player, then the player with the most experience should be named. Whoever is named should touch base with the opposing team captain prior to the match for a quick tutorial on using the software. Notification, must be declared at least a day ahead of the match, and the board included to enable them access to software.

L2.01.4: Mid-season changes in captains, or a temporary substitute captain, need to be made at least 48 hours prior to the match to the Board, so that appropriate software permissions can be put into place for league night software.

L2.02 - Roster

L2.02.0: Roster changes can be made anytime after the Call for Teams and prior to the last week of the regular season, via the Captains group.

L2.02.1: Roster changes may be made at anytime throughout the season. Roster changes must be made more than 24 hours before a match; otherwise players involved will fall under the substitution rules. Roster changes made within 24 hours, will be applied after the match.

L2.03 - Restrictions (Team IPR)

L2.03.0: In an effort to maintain competitiveness throughout the league, team restrictions are used to prevent a team from loading up with too many top players, and helping distribute the top players to different teams across the league. For roster members, team restrictions are reconsidered each time there is a roster change. The new roster cannot violate the team restrictions, otherwise the change is not approved by the league.

L2.03.2: A team is considered an IPR Grandfathered team if the Team IPR of the roster players exceed the Team Cap. This occurs as a side effect of re-computing the IPR with some of the roster players improving their IPR. A team will not forcibly be split-up if they go above the Team Cap, but they do become subjected to additional rules to keep the team in-tact, as defined here. These rules have been informally known as the IPR Grandfathering rules.

L2.04 - Expansion Team

L2.04.0: A new team may apply for acceptance into the league, and must meet the requirements listed in this document. Deadline to apply is approximately six weeks before season starts; the date will be published on the website prior to each season. An existing team that is requesting a move to a new location must also meet the venue requirements listed in this document, and must apply for the change by the same expansion team deadline date.

L2.04.1: The spots are limited, and MNP will not necessarily wait for everyone to apply; thus even though a deadline date is specified, applying early does increase the chances of earning one of the expansion slots. If there are not sufficient qualified teams applying by the deadline date, the league may choose to not expand.

L2.04.2: The proposed captain or co-captain for a new team is responsible for submitting the team expansion application, and individual players interested in the team are responsible for individually signing up. Provide as much advance notice as possible to one of the board members of your intent to create a team. This will allow the board to inform you of any upcoming changes or concerns that can affect your expansion application.

L2.04.3: The application is to be emailed by the proposed captain to seattlemnp@gmail.com, and must include the following:

L2.04.4: Expansion teams are not guaranteed; the application will be reviewed by the board and a determination made. Reasons for not granting an expansion team could be issues with experience of captains, problems with the selected venue, limitation of number of teams in the league and schedule, confidence in the roster players selected, or any other reason that creates a concern for accepting the new team into the league. In order to maximize chance of success for an expansion team application, the prospective captains should contact the league commissioner as soon as possible to discuss plans and ensure all concerns are addressed before the application deadline.

L2.04.5: Proposed Captains and Co-Captains should also request to join the MNP Captain's Facebook Group as Facebook messaging and Groups is the primary means for keeping in touch with captains.

L3.00 - Player

L3.00.0: A person may substitute, or become a roster member for any team, at any time throughout the season, with the following restrictions.

L3.00.1: A player banned from one or more venues may still play in MNP, but will require a sub for any matches scheduled at a venue to which the player is banned. Furthermore, a player may not play as a roster member nor as a sub, for a team that has a home venue to which the player is banned.

L3.01 - Conduct and Boycotts

L3.01.0: There is a conduct section in the Match Rules for Monday Night Pinball (M6.00 - Player Conduct). The player conduct described there should be honored any time playing at a Monday Night Pinball venue.

L3.01.1: Forfeit rules are in place for extraordinary situations where a team makes every effort to field a team, but cannot. A forfeit for any reason that is related to the opposing player(s), venue, or team, is considered a boycott. Any coordination among two or more teams to take the same forfeit action is considered a boycott. Any captain or player who encourages other teams to boycott may also be subjected to penalty, even if their team does not play the team or venue they recommend boycotting. We do respect that captains and teams may have grievances against other venues. Those teams are encouraged to find alternate means of demonstrating their dissatisfaction that does not affect the rights of the players on the opposing team or the league. For grievances against individuals on the opposing team, those need to be brought up to the MNP Board. The board will review, and take action if necessary. Their decision is final and binding. Failure to abide by such decisions will incur a penalty.

L3.02 - Solo Players Looking for a Team

L3.02.0: Players who are interested in joining a team should asked their local bar tender about their team captains. Captains form and maintain their team's roster. It is a team captain's decision, not a league decision, on any player joining a specific team.

L3.02.1: Players looking to substitute of join teams are encouraged to joing the MNP Player Recruiting Facebook Group, where they can monitor for captains looking for players, or post themselves to indicate availability and preferred venues or geographic areas.

L4.00 - Season

L4.00.0: There are two seasons per year (Spring and Fall).The regular season consists of 10 weeks of play.

L4.00.2: If a week is canceled for any reason (eg weather) and there is a spare week at the end of the season, then all regular scheduled weeks continue on date per schedule. The postponed week will be played as week 11, and playoffs pushed one week, with finals now on that makeup date.

L4.01 - Groups

L4.01.0: For the entirety of the regular season of play, the league is split into multiple groups, with each group standings considered separately for playoff berth. Teams within a group do not necessarily play each other. Groups are random collections of teams that are geographically disparate and represent a cross section of skill across the league, and could change from one season to the next for any reason. The main criteria for allocating teams to the same group is that they share a majority set of common opponents, thus their records are comparable more than teams with completely different set of opponents.

L4.02 - Standings

L4.02.0: League standings are maintained based on win/loss/tie record, with cumulative match points recorded as the first tiebreaker. A tie is worth half the value of a win.

NOTE: Since match points earned is used to break ties, it is important to play every game during match play. Do not end a match early simply because one team has earned enough points to record a match win.

L4.02.1: At the end of the regular season, if two teams have the same record and same number of match points, then their head-to-head result will be considered to break the tie. If they did not play each other, their record vs common opponents will be used to break the tie. If still tied, their points vs common opponents is used. If still tied, the league will flip a coin. Only ties that affect playoff berth or seeding will be broken.

L4.03 - Playoff Seeding/Bracket

L4.03.0: The MNP Playoffs will declare two winners, an overall Grand Champion, and a B Bracket winner. The B Bracket (also referred to as simply B) is made up of 4 of the teams who do not advance past the first round of the playoffs (see L4.03.5). All teams that do advance beyond the first round is referred to as the A Bracket (see L4.03.4).

L4.03.1: Each group is ranked separately. The remainder of this rule applies to 32 or more teams. (Due to league growth, rules applying to less than 32 teams have been suppressed, but can be revived if the league's side were to be reduced.)

L4.03.2: Playoffs consist of four weeks of play. Week 1 is Bracket Round. Week 2 will have the A Quarter Finals and B Semi Finals. Week 3 will have the A Semi Finals and B Finals. Week four will be the A Finals.

Note: per rule L4.00.3, no more than two matches will be scheduled at the same venue. If the seeding results in more than two teams from the same venue as the home team, the lower seeded home team must select a neutral venue, or play at the visiting team's venue. This decision must be declared at least 5 days in advance of the scheduled playoff match.

L4.03.4: The A Quarter Finals will consist of the winners of Bracket Round. The 8 teams are seeded per L4.03.3, then pairings are 1st Seed vs 8th Seed, 2nd Seed vs 7th Seed, 3rd Seed vs 6th Seed, and 4th Seed vs 5th Seed. The teams seeded 1st through 4th are the home teams.

L4.03.5: The B Semi Finals will consist of four of the teams losing in the Bracket Round. The four teams selected to play will be the four teams with the lowest average team IPR throughout the season. For this B Semi Finals, seeding will be done by lowest average season team IPR, such that the lowest value gets highest seed, second lowest gets the second seed, and so on. Pairings will be 1st Seed vs 4th Seed and 2nd Seed vs 3rd Seed. The teams seeded 1st and 2nd are the home teams.

L4.03.6: The A Semi Finals will consist of the four winning quarter finalists. Again teams will be seeded by their regular season record. The pairings are 1st vs 4th, and 2nd vs 3rd. Teams seeded 1st and 2nd are the home teams.

L4.03.7: The B Finals will consist of the two winning teams from the B Semi Finals. The team with the lowest average season team IPR is the home team.

L4.03.8: The A Finals night will consist of all four teams that played in the Semi Finals. The two winners play each other for the league championship. The other two teams play each other to determine 3rd and 4th place.

L4.03.9 The A Finals night is held at an independent location that is not home team for any of the four finalists. For purposes of what team selects 1st or 2nd, the team with the better record in each finals match will be considered the home team, even though the venue is not their home venue.

L4.03.10: The neutral venue for finals is selected by the MNP board using the following rules, if a single venue is used for both finals matches:

L4.03.11: Based on the above rules, the MNP board identifies the two neutral venue for the finals. The MNP board shall make the choice whenever two venues are 'tied' for highest priority (such as they both hosted 3 seasons ago, so in theory after equal priority from the perspective of how long ago they hosted).

L4.03.12: The final four A teams and final two B teams receive MNP trophies to hold onto for a season. The trophies must be returned at the start of playoffs of the next season for redistribution. If a team wants something to keep to memorialize a win, they are welcome to create their own trophy or plaque for more permanent display at their home venue. Funds for that must come from the team players or the venue.

L5.00 - Board of Directors

L5.00.0: The MNP Board is made up of the General Commissioner, and a number of Board Members.

L5.01 - General Commissioner

L5.01.0: The MNP Board is led by the General Commissioner. It is the responsibility of the General Commissioner to ensure the league continues to occur twice a year, with a Spring and Fall season.

L5.01.0a: Any eventuality not addressed by the Monday Night Pinball League Rules, Match Rules, or IFPA rules, is at the discretion of the General Commissioner.

L5.01.1: General Commissioner Requirements

L5.01.0a: Must have 2 full seasons of experience team captain; or 1 full year as Board Member.
L5.01.0b: Must not serve as team captain at the same time as General Commissioner.

L5.02 - Board Members

L5.02.0: Board Members are selected by the General Commissioner, in order to create a functional board to handle all aspects of the league, including logistics, operations, judgements, rule changes, marketing, disciplinary action, and any other duties or tasks.

L5.02.1: There is no minimum nor maximum number of members defined; it is up to the General Commissioner to select the most effective collection of volunteers to serve as the board.

L5.02.2: The General Commissioner can add or remove Board Members at will.

L5.03 - General Commissioner's Term

L5.03.0: The General Commissioner's term is indefinite, however can be terminated through any of the following actions:

L5.03.0a: The General Commissioner voluntarily steps down
L5.03.0b: The active Board Members vote of non-confidence in the General Commissioner.
L5.03.0c: The Team Captains vote of non-confidence in the General Commissioner.

L5.03.1: Voluntary Step Down

L5.03.1a: The General Commissioner appoints an Interim General Commissioner.

L5.03.2: Non-confidence vote by Board Members

L5.03.2a: Non-confidence vote by active Board Members (excluding the General Commissioner) must be unanimous.
L5.03.2b: The General Commissioner is removed immediately.
L5.03.2c: The Board Members are responsible for appointing an Interim General Commissioner.

L5.03.3: Non-confidence vote by Team Captains

L5.03.3a: A captain, meeting the requirements to become General Commissioner, may initiate the non-confidence process.
L5.03.3b: A captain must initiate the non-confidence process on the Captain's group (currently hosted on Facebook).
L5.03.3c: The non-confidence process must include at least 3 days of discussion within the Captain's group, before a vote can take place.
L5.03.3d: Any captain or board member, including the General Commissioner, may post or respond in favor or against the proposed vote.
L5.03.3e: After the discussion period, a vote will take place within the Captain's group.
L5.03.3f: Captains and Co-captains vote.
L5.03.3g: Each team gets one vote.
L5.03.3h: A NO vote is a vote to retain the General Commissioner.
L5.03.3i: A YES vote is a vote of non-confidence in the General Commissioner.
L5.03.3j: If a single captain votes, that counts as a vote for the team.
L5.03.3k: If both captains vote the same way, it is counted as a single vote.
L5.03.3l: If both captains vote, but opposite to each other, it will count as an abstain.
L5.03.3m: A team that abstains, counts as a NO vote.
L5.03.3n: If 51% or more of all teams vote to remove the General Commissioner, then the General Commissioner is removed immediately. If the league consists of 30 teams, 16 or more teams must vote YES to remove.
L5.03.3o: Upon removal, the captain who initiated the non-confidence process, becomes appointed Interim General Commissioner.

L5.04 - Interim General Commissioner

L5.04.0: Only a person eligible to serve as General Commissioner, may be appointed as Interim General Commissioner.

L5.04.1: If an Interim General Commissioner is appointed with enough time prior to the start of the season, the Interim Commissioner has one month to define the method that will be used to find a permanent replacement, and two months for the permanent replacement to be named and begin their role. That permanent replacement could be themselves.

L5.04.2: If an Interim General Commissioner is appointed mid-season, the Interim General Commissioner immediately takes over league operations and the board, and change board members as desired per L5.02.

L5.04.2a: At the conclusion of the season, the Interim General Commissioner follows the process outlined in L5.04.1.

L5.04.3: An Interim General Commissioner may step down, or be replaced, according to the same rules as a General Commissioner.

L0.00 - Overview

L0.01 - Summary