Main tournament

The tournament is open to anyone who wants to compete with the best pinball players in the world. We have a maximum number of participants set to 175 (see Registration). All players are first playing a qualification round, to get a place in the playoffs on Sunday. The playoffs boil down to a final round deciding who is to become the European Champion 2007. Please note, women and men compete on the same conditions and therefore we do not separate them into different classes. However, to encourage more women to play we give the best woman a price.

Changes 2007-06-10: Added more information on how the qualification and playoffs are to be carried out. Changes are marked in red. Note that the final and possibly the semifinals will be videotaped and live feeded to a big screen. The recording might also be included in a british documentary.

The Qualifying

Each player gets to play 5 random machines from the qualifying bank, two credits on each machine. The best result on each machine is then measured against the other players that played the same machine and qualifying points are awarded based on how well you rank compared to the others. Your total amount of qualifying points on the five machines you play gives you your total qualifying score. This score is ranked in comparison to all the other players' total qualifying score. The players having the 48 highest total qualifying scores make it to the playoffs.

The qualifying points from a single machine are awarded as follows:

Rank	Qualifying Points	Rank	Qualifying Points	Rank	Qualifying Points
1	100	11	37	21	10
2	85	12	33	22	9
3	78	13	29	23	8
4	72	14	26	24	7
5	66	15	23	25	6
6	61	16	20	26	5
7	56	17	18	27	4
8	51	18	16	28	3
9	46	19	14	29	2
10	41	20	12	30	1
				>30	0

Qualification round

1) Two players typically qualify at the same machine at the same time, i.e. they play two 2-player games. The order of play is: For the first try the lowest player-number starts and for the second try the order is reversed.
2) If you can motivate (to an official) why a specific machine is inappropriate for two-player games, you can be allowed to play one player at a time, i.e. one-player games.
3) No practicing on the machines is allowed.
4) The scorekeepers start games and write down the scores. The players do not!
5) The 48 best players advance to the playoffs. In case of a draw, the players are ranked according to the best individual position on any of their qualifying machines. If there is still a tie and the tie is regarding 48th or 24th place they play a deciding game on a random machine. Start order is decided by a coin flip. In all other undecided draws the qualification rank is decided by coin flip.
6) Be there well ahead of the start of your qualification round.

The Playoffs

Playoffs

1) A practice round of one minute per player is offered before each game is played.
2) Choice of starting order (or position in the final) begins at the player with the highest qualifying rank.
3) Make sure you are in the playoffs area well in time for your matches.
4) At the first round of the playoffs, where Q25 to Q48 play, there will be a "call out". If any player is missing, the highest ranked non-qualified player takes Q48.

Round 1

Qualifiers 1-24 get some extra sleep Sunday morning as they do not have to play the first round of the playoffs. Q25-Q48 are divided into eight groups of three according to the following:

Group	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3
1	Q25	Q40	Q48
2	Q26	Q39	Q47
3	Q27	Q38	Q46
4	Q28	Q37	Q45
5	Q29	Q36	Q44
6	Q30	Q35	Q43
7	Q31	Q34	Q42
8	Q32	Q33	Q41

One player from each group will advance to the next round. Each group plays three games where the player with the highest score gets 3 points, the second gets 1 point, and the last player gets 0 points. The player in the group with the most total points after three games has qualified to the next round (the other two are out). If one player wins the first two games the third game is excluded as the player has already secured the advancement. In the case of an all even result (4p vs. 4p vs. 4p), the player with the highest qualifying rank advances.

Round 2

Q1-Q24 and the eight winners from Round 1 pair up to play head-to-head matches best of three. The games are randomly selected. The winners of each pair, that is 16 players, advance to Round 3. The pairings are:

Pair	Player 1	Player 2
1	Q1	R1-G8
2	Q2	R1-G7
3	Q3	R1-G6
4	Q4	R1-G5
5	Q5	R1-G4
6	Q6	R1-G3
7	Q7	R1-G2
8	Q8	R1-G1
9	Q9	Q24
10	Q10	Q23
11	Q11	Q22
12	Q12	Q21
13	Q13	Q20
14	Q14	Q19
15	Q15	Q18
16	Q16	Q17

Round 3

Again, head-to-head matches, best of three on random machines. The eight winners advance to Round 4.

Round 4

Head-to-head matches, best of three random machines. The four winners advance to the Final Round!

Final Round

The four players play a 5-ball match on a pre-selected machine. The winner of this match is the European Champion 2007!