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UKCS

I think it makes a mockery of having a UkCS with foreign players from one event only where the points are so disproportionate to all but one other UK event.

Maybe if there were no cash prizes or the cash was limited to UK players only, they might change their minds?

Also whilst they cannot take the IFPA spot, they can still have a major influence on who ends up winning the spot. If you end up playing one of the top 20 players in the world in the knockout rounds, your chances of progressing are significantly less than if you had played a UK player. So being allowed to compete they are going to strongly skew the outcome.

As far as number of events counting is concerned, I agree there should be a minimum but likewise there should also be a maximum ie only your best X number of events count. This is how we ran it when Craig and I first set up the UKCS and ran it for a number of years before passing over to Dan Lewell.

I'm also less keen on weekly leagues counting as they were always excluded previously and were not in the spirit of the UKCS when we set it up.
 
robotgreg said:
I think it makes a mockery of having a UkCS with foreign players from one event only where the points are so disproportionate to all but one other UK event.

Maybe if there were no cash prizes or the cash was limited to UK players only, they might change their minds?

Also whilst they cannot take the IFPA spot, they can still have a major influence on who ends up winning the spot. If you end up playing one of the top 20 players in the world in the knockout rounds, your chances of progressing are significantly less than if you had played a UK player. So being allowed to compete they are going to strongly skew the outcome.

As far as number of events counting is concerned, I agree there should be a minimum but likewise there should also be a maximum ie only your best X number of events count. This is how we ran it when Craig and I first set up the UKCS and ran it for a number of years before passing over to Dan Lewell.

I'm also less keen on weekly leagues counting as they were always excluded previously and were not in the spirit of the UKCS when we set it up.
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100% agree with this

Neil was saying the same last night
 
Tilt_Birmingham said:
100% agree with this

Neil was saying the same last night
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It is crazy that you can enter one comp and have enough to qualify for an event that is meant to encompass achievements over a year. It could mean that someone has entered half a dozen events, performed adequately in all of them, couldn't attend one high WPPR event due to holidays/family reasons etc, yet misses out on the finals to someone who has only entered 1 event.

There surely must be a minimum amount of entries to qualify, otherwise some of the people that consistently support events throughout the country may continually lose out, become disillusioned, and reduce the amount of events they go to, thus harming the pinball scene in this country as a whole.

Just my opinion.
 
I agree with most of what's said above as improvements that could be made.

Also, not to kiss your **** Matt 😂 I think you've run it well this year, with a good qualification method and a finals that sounds really fun.
 
So which events do i need to compete in in 2025 to boost my WPPR rankings??? 👀
I'm currently 21,930th in the world...335th in the UK 😂
Mainly down to the fact i dont play as much as i should! :D
 
Some good points. For me, any chance to play against the best players is the reason that I play competitive pinball, so I think it's fantastic that some of the best in the world want to come and play. It's clearly a massive credit to Matt and making the format happen, I'm not surprised to be honest, another chance at playing the IFPA format that only happens once a year, is something everyone should jump at the chance of playing.

Now, will I be annoyed if Timber knocks me out in the last 16, rather than facing him in the final, no doubt. But ultimately, as the great man says, play better. The person who wins that IFPA spot will have earned it, they may have had a 'nicer' path than others, but winning in this format requires an immense amount of resilience and skill, no matter who you are up against.

Either way, I'm super grateful, to have so many high level tournaments on our shores is something I have always dreamed of, so thank you so much to those people making it happen
 
Most of the National Championship Series have rules set out which make it clear there are no nationality restrictions, and no minimum number of events to qualify. Also most now seem to include all events in the calendar year, though I guess with IFPA rankings limiting things to Top 15 results, there's a precedent for adding an upper limit (though I doubt it would change much in terms of qualification).

All National CS events reserve qualifying slots for ECS/Worlds based on nationality, so those attending out of country are doing so purely for the fun and challenge (oh, and maybe the WPPRs and cash ;) )


There are various UK players who could attend other CS around Europe despite only having attended a single weekend event.

For example, a good DPO showing means Pete, Josh and Nathan can all go to the NCS, along with Jeremy and many of the other top European players.


You're never going to please everyone, and a huge thanks to Matt for taking this all on as I know it is a thankless task for the most part, but having seen the format first-hand, I'm really looking forward to it!
 
cyberkryten said:
Most of the National Championship Series have rules set out which make it clear there are no nationality restrictions, and no minimum number of events to qualify. Also most now seem to include all events in the calendar year, though I guess with IFPA rankings limiting things to Top 15 results, there's a precedent for adding an upper limit (though I doubt it would change much in terms of qualification).

All National CS events reserve qualifying slots for ECS/Worlds based on nationality, so those attending out of country are doing so purely for the fun and challenge (oh, and maybe the WPPRs and cash ;) )


There are various UK players who could attend other CS around Europe despite only having attended a single weekend event.

For example, a good DPO showing means Pete, Josh and Nathan can all go to the NCS, along with Jeremy and many of the other top European players.


You're never going to please everyone, and a huge thanks to Matt for taking this all on as I know it is a thankless task for the most part, but having seen the format first-hand, I'm really looking forward to it!
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Nice one Martyn, I was readying myself to type up a similar thing. Saved me the trouble, thanks man, I hate doing stuff!

Can understand concerns about a few events skewing overall sense of achievement but that's just a 'problem' of the WPPR system which the Championship Serieses are part of. If you wanted an all British end of year tournament someone could arrange that outside of the IFPA system because you're not really supposed to exclude anyone if you want it to count in the system.

Let and encourage people to play pinball I say. Speaking to those guys wanting to come in person they're just excited about the format really and think it'd be a laugh. It's great that they want to come to UK and participate and everyone involved gets a chance to play against more top quality players.

The spot at the world championships isn't effected, that can only go to a UK player. Certainly withdrawing the prize money for foreigners wouldn't be cool... for various reasons. I doubt anyone is particularly fussed about travelling to another country and paying for hotels for £500 anyhow.
 
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I think more people wanting to take up their place from overseas is all good, and enjoy playing against these guys. Playing against the better players definitely seems to raise my own game.

I think, as @Genotime has said, the issue is with the structure. I've played in the Dutch Open before, but I wouldnt expect to qualify for the Dutch finals based on just one tournament. Maybe it's just the fact that it's called a Championship Series that seems strange, if you don't actually need to compete in a series of comps.

I think the rules for the finals sound awesome, I'm really looking forward to taking part in a format I've never played before, and kudos to @Matt Vince for all the work he has done.
 
I'm not overly concerned with foreign players coming now I know the spot for IFPA can't go to them. That was my only issue as I'd like someone to be with Andy for support at the IFPA

Not bothered about the points or cash either tbh

It could make for an interesting couple of days if they wipe out the likes of @roadshow16 and @Jackpot before the finals
 
Matt Vince said:
No IFPA comp is allowed to exclude entry based on nationality. Let's face it, we have Brits living overseas just as we have others living here.
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That's not what I am saying. I thought entry to the UKCS was originally based only on UK players current ranking based on Whopper points?
 
If you want it more UK based but not about nationality (as you can't exclude based on that), couldn't you have it so you need to have played in a minimum amount of UK events?

I am not fussed by international players coming, I think it's great. I think the main issue is the influence the UK open or UK Pinfest have. I don't think you should be able to qualify by just attending those events.

If you had to do a minimum of 5 UK events in the year it wouldn't be excluding people for their nationality but feel like they've worked for the place
 
Paul said:
So which events do i need to compete in in 2025 to boost my WPPR rankings??? 👀
I'm currently 21,930th in the world...335th in the UK 😂
Mainly down to the fact i dont play as much as i should! :D
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From there, just playing more full stop will get you way further up the rankings, but if you’re specifically choosing tournaments for points then in rough order:

- UK Open
- PinFest
- Probably Neil’s planned new “UK Masters” event - details TBC but that will almost certainly be big points if it comes off as announced
- PBR Turkey Leftovers
- Any other events advertised as IFPA “Certified” - these will all necessarily be multi-day events
- Any large matchplay tournaments (35+ players) will be worth pretty good points - events at Tilt, Special When Lit, PBR, Pinball Office etc.

Playing well is obviously key… because of the points distribution, coming top 3 in a smaller tournament can still often trump finishing midfield or below in a bigger one
 
Currently confirmed as coming to the finals:

Yuen Aw
Joshua Iles
Matt Vince
Paul Englert
Greg Mott
Timber Engelbeen
Craig Pullen
Rich Mallet
Andy Brock
Conrad Chambers
Kurt Louwie
Peter Blakemore
Pete Bennett
Dan Pocklington
Gene Aw
Kirk Sadler
Ed Rojas
Nick Hamill
Ben Moser
Anton Stewart
Jon Carolin

I'm still chasing answers from others and of course waiting for the final standings to be confirmed once we reach the year end.
 
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By the way in case not clear - to clarify the list I was making earlier of interested players was just an expression of interest - people who are emailed by Matt need to confirm back to him to actually confirm attendance.

Good to see lots of interest so far!
 
Tucks said:
I didn't get an email but I'd like to play.

Cheers Yuen
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Cool, you will be a definite qualifier so see you there! I think Matt started with the current UKCS top 50 and is working his way down so you others should get an email soon/in due course.
 
The points from the uk open have skewed the results compared to majority of the other uk events. It’s almost like you have to attend the uk open and do “ok” or better in its 3 comps, to qualify for the ukcs. For all the other comps you have to do a lot more than “ok” to scrape enough points to make it meaningful compared to the uk open points. This makes the ukcs seem like just an extension of the uk open.

To run a proper “Championship series” there perhaps needs to be a number of similar sized cs-qualifying events, all carrying similar points values, that count towards the CS.

to be honest, I can’t see that happening, so we’re stuck where we are.
 
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