Detroit Pinball League

These are the proposed revised rules for Detroit Pinball League (DPL) for 2008/2009. The rules committee has met and proposed a few enhancements to adapt for our upcoming second season. The proposed changes are highlighted in this document. We will post the revised rules and will consider comments from the league membership before the rules become finalized. The Rules Committee has the authority to change rules and oversee judging.

Member selection will be favored by collection and hosting ability. We will need hosts more than players, so the larger collection will always win over a player that cannot host a meeting. This league will be in the Detroit metropolitan area to limit any attendance problems. It will be presented to locals first rather than someone who will travel regardless of distance.

League Meetings 

League meetings will be held once a month thru the months of October - May.  Meetings will be on the 3rd weekend of the month, but can be changed by the host one week forward or back with proper notice. The hours of the meeting will be from 6 p.m.-12:00 a.m. with doors open for practice and inspection of games at 6:00 p.m., and match games beginning at 7:00 p.m.  There will be a vote taken at the first meeting to decide whether or not a December league night will be held.  For the vote to pass, at least 75% of the league members must agree to the change.

Any meeting night that falls into the weekend of any major or local pinball show, or a qualified holiday will be changed by the host to accommodate league members one week before or after 3rd weekend. If host wants to have meeting on holiday weekend, members must be the 75% majority of voting yes or no on the said holiday weekend. 

Host requirements and rights

We will need host for the meetings. In addition to the standard league codes and rules, the host may have additional requests that must be adhered to by everyone.  If you would like to host a meeting, we please ask that your game room will be able to handle 20 players.Proper seating arrangements and rest areas must be provided so people don’t interfere with other players still in their round.
  1. Host MUST own 5 completely playing games to host.*
  2. Host should be able to start accepting league players at 6p.m.
  3. Host will supply all plastic cups and bowls for munchies
  4. Host will also supply ample tables or trays to hold drinks and munchies
  5. Host will supply ashtray(s) outside
  6. All smokers, including host, will smoke outside
  7. Host will turn on overhead white lights where available.  If the lights have dimmer switches, the host will set the brightness to a level that provides ample ambient light for the games.  The brightness level is not to be adjusted by others after league play starts
  8. A league official will come one hour early to check the set-up of the games.

* All games will be required to meet the Standard Requirements of the league (described below) for league play.


Standard Requirement for host games

  1. All playfield switch's must work at time of power up
  2. All games will be clean
  3. All games must be level left to right
  4. All games will have no major issues or non working features
  5. All flippers must be adjusted correctly and level
  6. All flipper holds must work (i.e. flipper can cradle ball, if it is supposed to)
  7. All games will have extra balls turned off **
  8. All games with Ball Chase (i.e. ball is added, if one is stuck or missing) must have it disabled
  9. All games must have 'Buy In' turned off
  10. All feature lamps must work, along with GI lighting
  11. All games must score 4 players, except EM machines that will not support it.
  12. If equipped, games must be on Tournament setting/play. Otherwise, Medium/factory settings, with extra balls turned off.
  13. If equipped, "ball save" will be turned off, except on games where needed (e.g. Doctor Who center drain design flaw)
  14. All games will have tilt bob in place and working.
  15. Any adjustment other than factory adjustment will be disclosed by the host if it alters game play in any way.
  16. Machine keys must be available
  17. If equipped with Midnight Madness (e.g. Junk Yard, Congo), turn it off, or set clock so that it will not start during league times.
  18. All games will be set on 'Free Play,' 3 balls per game.  However, EM games may be set on 5 balls per player and may include add-a-balls when appropriate.  The set-up for EM games will be pre-approved by the League judges..
  19. Each game will be set with two tilt warnings (may be less on older machines).


** EM games with no adjustment will be allowed to play 5 balls. The 4th and 5th ball will be plunged only, with no flipping or nudging. Any extra balls will be plunged with no flipping or nudging.

League members will follow Player Code of Conduct and any additional requests from the host.

Player Code of Conduct

  1. No food or drinks on any machine at any time, players must use designated areas.
  2. No smoking in any indoor function, smoking area will be provided outside.
  3. BYOB (Beverage, soda, beer, etc.)
  4. Small dish or snack to pass is required. Mandatory $5 food (pizza, etc.) donation to the host is required.
  5. Follow any additional requests of the host.
  6. Attend all meetings and be on time (see attendance rule)
  7. If requested by the host, there will be no vulgar language.
  8. Be respectful to the host family and their children, cussing with children will not be permitted at any time.
  9. Be respectful to host's neighbors and their property, keep your outside activities quiet and clean.
  10. Clean your own mess, the host isn't your mother.
  11. Present yourself right and be prepared to play (e.g. don't come to meeting blasted)


Player rules

These rules are set to protect our host games. We have no time for anyone who tilts our machines abusively or other machine misuse. Abrasive slap saves, banging of the glass and screaming to distract other players will not be tolerated.
Player will be considered for removal from the league, for three hard fouls in any one season. Hard fouls are described below.

Hard fouls for the following:
  1. Slam Tilts
    1. Player forfeits all points in round
    2. Remaining players will finish round on same game 2. Tilting another players ball will result in hard foul (accidentals don't count) -- If victimized player has ball tilted, victimized player resumes scoring after match is over and adds a one ball total to their score
    3. Third offense of vulgar language (see ***) (the prior soft foul becomes a hard foul)
    4. Abuse of machine


Soft fouls for the following:
  1. Tilting after ball is drained
  2. Second offense of vulgar language (see ***)

Three fouls in any one night, player will be asked to leave and forfeit all points from that meeting.

  1. *** If requested by host, no vulgar language will be tolerated; otherwise, vulgar language is permissible.
    1. First offense = warning
    2. Second offense = soft foul
    3. Third offense = hard foul
    4. Fourth offense = evicted until next meeting, all points lost for that meeting
  2. The players in your match of a round will be your judge when tilting the ball. Any abuse of the machine will not be tolerated. Normal tilting during play will not yield a foul, unless deemed extreme and deserving of one.
  3. Player#1 from the match is to keep score, the score card must be signed or initialed by another player in that round
  4. All rounds will begin at the same time after all scores are turned in from the prior round.
  5. The host and league officials will select the 5 games to be played.
  6. Attendance policy
    1. First offense = no gains but no losses in scoring
    2. Second offense = 0 points and 0 percentage for that week
    3. Third offense = 0 points and 0 percentage for that week
    4. Forth offense = league officials will review the situation, with possibility of removal from the league
    5. There will be no pre played rounds or make up rounds
    6. If a player calls and says he will be late, that player will receive the 4 points (last place) for any rounds missed, but that player must play in the third round to qualify for those points.  Being late will count towards that player's number of offenses for the season.
    7. After a round is started, a player cannot join. He will have to wait to the next round.
    8. A player who is late (after league play begins) twice will receive an absence against his card but no penalized points if he finish's his round on schedule
  7. No coaching other players while game is started
  8. No distracting the other players (definitely no scream-ball!)
  9. No flash cameras during league play directed at machines or players
  10. Talking smack amongst non-playing members is always welcome
  11. There will be no games in between rounds on games scheduled to be played for that night. If a player elects to play a non-league game, he must immediately end that game when the next round begins. If a player does play a league game in between rounds irregardless of whether on not he has played that game already during league, he will be given one warning during the first two weeks of the season. After the first warning or after the second week of the season, the offending player will receive 4 points for the next round to be played that evening.
  12. There will be no practice games played on adjacent games to the ZEN games.  These games will be turned off during optional zen play.
  13. Each player will give a total of $5.00 donation to the host on league night for food and supplies.  The donations will be collected prior to the start of league play.

League Format and Game Play

The league is set up for 20 players. Each meeting you will play 5 machines set up and working according to league rules. These matches will be round robin play as selected by random drawing at the beginning of the night. There will be a sixth position round also known as the put up or shut of round every night. The first night's positions will be based on the previous season's results except for new players who will be placed according to the first night's scoring. The position round will consist of 3 or 4 player matches with the 4 player matches assigned to those players at the lower side of the league average standings. You will be matched with a variety of league players every meeting. All games will be awarded points for 1st thru 4th place. All scores from games will be combined and put into an average for member ranking, tiebreakers and such.
  1. 1st place 9 points
  2. 2nd place 7 points
  3. 3rd place 5 points
  4. 4th place 4 points

Determining league average and rank in the league

Members will be ranked based on their league Average (League Points divided by Rounds Played times 100)
In places where there is a tie the following rules are used to break the tie:
  1. The player with more wins.
  2. The player with more second place finishes.
  3. The player with more third place finishes.
  4. The player with more fourth place finishes.

Statistics distribution Updates to scores and rankings will be sent out 1 week before the next scheduled meeting. The website will be updated within two weeks after the meeting.

Game play

The player order will be in reverse order of the player ranking. In other words, the best ranked member will be player #4, the second best ranked member will be player #3, and so on.

Visitors or alternates

League members must check with the host, *before* inviting anyone that is not a league member. If the host has room, and the host agrees, visitors may be invited to attend and play. Visitors may fill out a foursome, but visitors will not take any league points. League points will be distributed only to the league members.

Playoffs and finals – DRAFT - / Subject to change

The player’s worst week will be dropped, including any absence that results in 0 points. Then point averages will be used for the final seeding bracket for the finals (Points per week)
The top 4 seeded players after the April meeting will automatically advance to the playoffs. The remaining players will compete in a standard five round robin format.  The four automatic qualifiers will be player numbers one through four on the random game number selection slips so that no match will contain more than one automatic qualifier.  The automatic qualifiers' scores will not count in the scoring for the qualifying rounds.  The four top scorers in the qualifying rounds will be seeded fifth through eighth in the the final bracket play. In case of a tie, the tie-breaker system from the regular season will be used to determine seeding.

The bracket play will place the highest seed player in a match against the lowest seeded player in each round. The second seeded player will play the next lowest seeded player in each round and so on down the line for the third and fourth seed players. Each match will consist of a two out of three competition with the highest seeded player choosing the game to be played in the first and third game and with the lowest seeded player choosing the second game to be played. The lowest seeded player will chose who is player one and who is player two for games one and three. The league champion will be the player who wins his three rounds in the bracket play on the final night of the season.

Trophys for the first and second place finishers of the tournament and the regular season may be awarded based on the supply of used pinballs that can be gathered.

Mechanical failure

If a ball becomes stuck in game play, it will be set back into the shooter lane, if auto plunger is used and the power interrupt is not working, the ball will be set on the right flipper. Game will not resume until the glass is on and the door is closed.

If game dies during rounds, another game will be selected from the secondary selection by the league officials. All unfinished rounds from the dead game will be discarded, and a new round will begin on a backup game.

Rules judges/officials

There will be three people acting as judges for the evening to make sure all scores are being kept in a fair and concise manner. John White, Scott Freeman, and Mick McDonald will be the judges. If one of them is absent, then the host will be the third judge.

Any questions or suggestions should be directed to John White (jdubbbs at gmail.com) or Scott Freeman (sfreeman196492MI at comcast.net)

Original rules (Ver.1.0708) written by John White, Scott Freeman and Mick McDonald with help from the Chicago Pinball Mafia rule set 2006.
Rules revised  ( Ver.2.0809) by rules committee for the 2008/2009 season.
Credits include Eric A, Howard Lajiness, Parker Thomas as rules committee and John White ( President ) Scott Freeman ( VP/Secretary ) and Mick McDonald ( Webmaster )