For archival purposes, here is the e-mail sent to Season Three Grand Finalists:
Hello friends! If you’re reading this, you are slated to play this weekend at NPC Season Three Grand Finals! Let me congratulate you on your year and thank you for playing and attending Grand Finals. We’re so excited to be at GameCraft this weekend. This e-mail contains information about the tournament and times, but please let me know if you have a question you don’t see answered below or need more info.
Most importantly, if you can no longer make Grand Finals this Saturday, please let us know as soon as possible! We will work with your site admin to see if we can fill your spot. Thank you!
We will reference the Grand Finals page a lot in this e-mail. A lot of additional detail is presented on that page: https://npcpinball.org/season-three-grand-finals/
Where and when: Grand Finals is at GameCraft Arcade: 168 Center Street, Suite 106, Southington, CT. Doors will open Saturday at 9am for players and guests. The largest parking lot is right in front of GameCraft, between Smokin’ with Chris and the rest of Factory Square, but more parking is available around the building. Please register with Jordan or an admin when entering GameCraft so we can check you in.
There is no door fee for finals, and games will be on token drop. We will direct you at registration regarding tokens.
A reminder that GameCraft is 21+ (all competitors will be allowed on Saturday if under 21 with an appropriate guardian). Guests are welcome, but they should be over 21. There is plenty of room for guests, and not all games will be used for finals.
You will be allowed to practice on games from the time doors open until 9:45. At 9:45, we will call for practice games to end so we can do announcements and final roll call. Tournament play will begin as close to 10 AM as possible. If you are not present at 10 AM, you will be put in a group and have your ball plunged after 1 minute. If you are not present at the start of the second round you will be removed from the tournament. Please make sure to be on time, as we have a lot of pinball to be played, and many of you are traveling a great distance to join us!
Tournament format: 8 rounds of 4 player match play qualifying alternating between short and long playing games. Full tournament details on rounds and pairings are on the Grand Finals page, and the pairings have been made for those first 4 rounds – feel free to review the pairings on that page or watch the draw video.
There will be a brief pause before round 5 as we identify the top 4 teams and separate them for the 5th round. After the 5th round, we will have roughly a 1-hour break to run the top 2 team finals. This should be roughly around 1 PM. Tournament officials will communicate the restart time and it will be put on matchplay on the tournament banner. There are plenty of food options around GameCraft, and outside food is welcome in. The top 2 teams will play the team finals at the time of the break, so it is possible your break may be very short. Please plan by having food/beverage with you, or planning for outside food. No practice will be allowed during team finals, but it will be possible to practice between the conclusion of team finals and the restart time. All of this will be communicated at the top of the matchplay tournament and by any tournament official. Please don’t be late for the restart. We will move to 1 minute plunges as outlined above.
After the break, we will play the final 3 rounds of qualifying, and the top 16 will immediately move on to finals. This should roughly be around 3:30 pm. Again, please see the finals page for details on the finals format. If you make the top 16 you are winning money, please make sure you see Derek before leaving to get your money!
Other Quick Notes:
- Friday at 6PM, there will be a 4 Fair Strikes tournament at GameCraft hosted by Dagmar Haecker. Signups start at 5:30, and play begins at 6. Please note: This is during GameCraft’s normal open hours, so it will be 21+, no exceptions. The tournament page and info is here: https://www.ifpapinball.com/tournaments/view.php?t=119958
- Don’t forget to play Fantasy Grand Finals! Pick who you think the top 4 teams will be, and what teams the final four individuals will be from to win prizes. Details are here: https://npcpinball.org/s3-fantasy-grand-finals/
- Payouts: all on the finals page as listed above.
- Wanna know who you’re playing in the first 4 rounds? It’s on the finals page, see the draw video or the output file!
- I’ll be at GameCraft Thursday and Friday testing and tweaking games (so say hi if you see me!). As of right now, I don’t have the final game list or which will be considered long or short. It will be updated on the tournament as soon as it’s solidified: https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/272106
- We will have stream coverage on Saturday courtesy of the GameCraft twitch channel! Let your friends and family know to keep an eye out for you, and cheer you on! https://www.twitch.tv/gamecraftarcadebar
Any other questions, please let me know. We’re so excited to be heading to GameCraft and celebrate another amazing NPC season. Thanks to the crew at GameCraft for hosting us, our incredible site admins for making the season happen, and for all of you for playing with us this season. Let’s celebrate and put a bow on Season Three!
-Derek