RULES

The Australian Open is an open card-based qualifying and match play final rounds event. During open qualifying, each player may purchase as many cards as they like to attempt to qualify for the final rounds. A point system is used to rank each player’s score on each machine. Those who possess the highest-ranking cards at the end of qualifying will participate in the match play final rounds.

In the final rounds, qualifying players play against each other in multiplayer games. A 3,2,1,0 point system is used to determine who advances to the next round and, ultimately, who wins the division.

The Australian Open will be held on a bank of 12 tournament games. The Open division cards are $20 each with 5 games recorded on each card.

The Australian Classics Championship will be held on older Electromechanical and/or Solid State games. Classic Championship division cards are $20 each with 5 games recorded on each card. Those players who finish in positions 1-16 will qualify for Classics Championship finals. There are no byes in Classics.

Women’s division cards are $20 each with 5 games recorded on each card. The same bank as the Main Event will be used but recorded (when nominated) on the Women’s entry cards. Those who finish in positions 1-8 will qualify for the Women’s finals.

Purchased cards are Non-transferable to other players, and non-refundable.

Cards may be purchased prior to the event or after registration. Cards can be purchased individually or in multiples.

Players will be added to a digital queue for a machine prior to play by either a scorekeeper or by themselves via the tournament website. Each player can only join one queue at a time regardless of machine division. If the machine is open with no queue, they must still be added to the queue by a scorekeeper prior to beginning play to verify available entries. If there is a queue the scorekeeper will call the player when it is their turn if the player is not already present. If the player does not appear promptly, the next person in line may go ahead of them as called out by the scorekeeper. Once a player has completed their game, the player may either choose to have the score counted or to void the entry. If they choose to count the score, the scorekeeper will record the score, which the player should verify. The scorekeeper will then ask the player if they wish to be added to a new game queue if unused entries are available.

At the end of each game, players should wait for a scorekeeper to record their score before leaving the machine. It is the player’s responsibility to ensure that the scorekeeper records the score and to double check the recorded score for correctness. Any player abandoning their machine will be given a recorded score of zero for that play.

Cards are a collection of scores containing a total of 5 scores from unique machines. At any point during play or immediately after play has been completed, the player may elect to abandon their card by notifying the scorekeeper that they wish to void. This will void all the scores recorded on the card, and the card will not be entered into the scoring system. No money will be refunded, but the player has no further obligation to complete the previously in-progress card and is free to purchase additional cards if they wish. Only one card in each division may be opened at any time.

Each player’s best score on a machine will receive a point value based on its rank compared to all other recorded scores. The #1 score earns 200 points, #2 score earns 195 points, #3 score earns 190 points and #4 and beyond earn one less point per position, i.e. 189 points down through 1 point. A player’s overall score for a card is the sum of their four or five ranked machine scores, depending on the division.

Because the rankings will change as new scores are posted on each machine, the overall score of each player may change as the qualifying rounds progress.

In the event of two or more scores on a machine being exactly tied, the highest point value of the tied positions will be awarded for each such score.

Tournament officials will endeavour to provide up-to-date scores and rankings. The overall ranking scores are used to determine which players qualify for the playoff rounds.

FINALS

When qualifying rounds have been completed, a final calculation of entry scores will be made. Those scores will be ranked, and the top unique players in each division will advance to the final rounds.

The determination of final qualifying standings will be made by tournament officials at the end of qualifying hours, and shall not be changed for any reason, including player error or tournament error.

In the event that two or more players are tied on the qualifying bubble, such that not all of the tied players can advance to the final rounds, a tie-breaking procedure will be utilized. A single game will be played on a machine randomly selected from the qualifying bank of the division. The tied players will play, in randomly determined order, in a multiplayer game on the selected machine, and will subsequently be ranked in the order of their scores on that game. If more players are tied than the selected machine will support in a single game, multiple games will be played to accommodate all tied players, in randomly determined order, and the resulting scores will be compared as if they had occurred in a single game on the same machine.

The same procedure outlined above will be used to break ties on the “bye” line.

In the event that two or more players are tied but are not on the qualifying bubble, a simpler tie-breaking procedure will be used in order to save time. Each player’s best game rank will be examined. The player with the highest game rank will be given the highest seeding, proceeding through all tied players, in descending order of game rank.

The machines used for final rounds in each division will be the same as those used in qualifying. Machines can only be selected ONCE per player for the duration of the finals until all available selections have been exhausted. In the event of two or more scores on a machine being exactly tied, the players with such scores will immediately play a tiebreaker game, on the same machine, unless another machine is selected by tournament officials.

Finals Scoring will be 3,2,1,0.

The group that contains the highest-seeded player gets first choice of machine and order of play. The highest-seeded player within each group may choose either the machine to be played, or the order of play. If the highest-seeded player chooses order of play, the remaining players may choose their order, in descending order of seeding, and choice of machine then goes to the next highest-seeded player in the group. Conversely, if the highest-seeded player chooses the machine to be played, then the next highest-seeded player chooses the order of play, with the remaining players choosing order of play in decreasing order of seeding.

If at any point a high-seed player declines to make a choice, the choice is deferred to the next highest-seeded player, as appropriate. The affected group still retains its order of choice among groups, however. If no player in a group will make a choice, the choice(s) are determined by tournament officials, who may or may not choose randomly.

Note that the original seeding of players when entering the final rounds from qualifying is used in every round. At no time does a player’s seeding change from round to round; therefore, the advantage of qualifying in first place can be significant.

No group may select a machine which has already been selected by a group in the same round, nor may they choose a machine on which they have already played in that round (unless machine malfunctions have made this unavoidable; tournament officials may choose to provide additional or substitute machines, however). If the machine selected is currently being played by another group in a previous round of play, the group may wait for that round of play to be completed. For example, if one group is playing a given machine as their first machine, a different group may choose to wait for it as their second machine.

In the event too few machines are available during any round of play, the group(s) with the lowest high-seed players will be forced to wait until a game becomes available. As soon as a game becomes available, as indicated by the scorekeeper, the next highest-seeded group must begin play on that machine. In this situation, choice of order of play will be made by the highest-seed player in the group (unless that player declines, as described above).

When all games have been completed by a group, each player will have a point total for the round. The players with the top two point totals from each group of four players will advance. Significant ties will be resolved using the procedure explained in qualifying.

GROUPINGS FOR FINALS

Qualifiers will play in the groups according to their seeding with top 20 (pending over 40 players in attendance) in finals. The top 2 seeds will receive 2 byes, the players ranked 3-8 receive 1 bye. These groupings will be placed per the following tables: