Pinburgh 2012: How It Works

This is a quick summary of how the Pinburgh Match Play format works. For complete details, please refer to the official rules. If you still have questions, send us an e-mail.

Pinburgh features guaranteed match play for two full days for each and every participating player, regardless of skill level. As a player, you will spend Friday competing in a series of four-player groups (occasionally three-player). For each session, you will be seeded based on your performance up to that point. Expect to spend approximately ten hours playing pinball competitively on Friday.

On Saturday, you will be assigned to the A, B, or C Division based on your play up to that point. Some players will have pre-existing restrictions which may require them to be in the A or B Division, regardless of how well they play on Friday. You will then spend another ten hours playing in another series of four-player groups, which will determine whether or not you qualify for finals play on Sunday. In the C Division, your record from Friday will be discarded, but for A and B Divisions, your record is cumulative over both days.

On Sunday, there will be a double-elimination consolation tournament for players who didn't make it into the finals. The Pinburgh finals will be very similar to the finals of the PAPA World Pinball Championships.

$100 gets you into the tournament and guarantees you 20 or more hours of pinball! Tokens are sold in rolls of $10, and each roll pre-purchased will result in a $15 donation to the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society (rolls purchased on-site result in a $5 donation). Each roll of tokens will include an ultra-rare token only available at Pinburgh, and you should expect to spend a minimum of $20 (two rolls) while competing. You can also elect to pay another $100 into a Sidepot, which will be awarded to the top 4 finishers in the A Division who participated in the Sidepot. Go for it!

Yes, the facility will be open to spectators, with no admission fee! There will be over 200 pinball machines available for token play, with 50% of on-site token sales going to charity. Come on out! Bring your friends!

If you have any other questions, keep browsing the site, including the official rules. If you are still stumped, send us an e-mail.