I. - A. APPLICATION

Each member shall complete and submit the required application to the tournament director prior to entering the tournament. The application is located at thepfl.com. An entry fee may be required to participate in order to off set the cost of the expenses for the tournament and to provide a monetary prize for the winners. Players will not be recognized as officially entered until the payment of the registration fee is received by the tournament director. In some cases, on site registrations will be accepted.

I - B. Prize Money

A cash prize will be awarded to the tournament winner, tournament runner up, and consolation game winner. A consolation game will be played before the championship game of the tourney to determine the 3rd place winner. The prize money shall be based on the number of tournament participants minus expenses for administering the tournament. The prize money shall be based on the following formula:

1st Place - 60% of the payout
2nd Place - 30% of the payout
3rd Place - 10% of the payout.

A full detailed financial report on all expenses shall be submitted to the participants by the tournament director at the owners meeting prior to the official start of the games.

II. - A. GENERAL RULES:.

A General Business meeting will be held the night prior to the official start of the games. All business meetings will be governed by the standard operating procedures found in Robert Rules Of Order. NO TOURNAMENT RULES SHALL BE CHANGED AT THE OWNERS MEETING. Rules, policies/procedures not covered in the 2000 Madden Games handbook may be voted on and approved at this meeting.

II. - B. PROCESS OF MOTIONS

Procedures for the conduct of Business Meetings are:
1. Motions from the floor shall be submitted to the chair for presentation to the assembly.
2. Motions properly seconded will be accepted for discussion, and then put to vote.
3. Proxy voting is not allowed.
4. Motions shall be passed with a simple MAJORITY

II. C. GENERAL CONDUCT OF A TOURNAMENT PARTICIPANT

Each participant is expected to display conduct that of an exemplary standard. Good sportsmanship, League honor, respect and pride is demanded from all members. The tournament director reserves the right to ban any participant from play based on any violations of the code of conduct.

ARTICLE III - COMPETITION

I. A. ORGANIZATION

1. ALIGNMENT

Participants in the tourney shall be group for round robin play by the tournament director. Grouping shall be done based on the order in which ballers sign up and the following other parameters:
1. Like league members are in separate groups.
2. Like franchises are in separate groups.
3. Power matches from previous years are avoided (i.e. Wink vs. Creator)
4. Potential Power Matches avoided. (League champ vs. another League champ)

2. PARITY

In an effort to keep competition balanced, the tournament director reserves the right to move, reassign, or make changes to any round robin grouping.

3. Round Robin Pairings

All groups will have four or more ballers. The tournament scheduling chair reserves the right to reorganize the groups at any time. Groups may be expanded to 5 teams in order to keep an even number of groups. The following guidelines will be used for determining group size:

Ballers	Group Configuration
24 Ballers	6 groups of 4
25 Ballers	5 groups of 5
26 Ballers	4 groups of 4 and two groups of 5
27 Ballers	6 groups of 4 and 1 group of 3
28 Ballers	7 groups of 4
29 Ballers	5 groups of 5 and one group of 4
30 Ballers	6 groups of 5
31 Ballers	7 groups of 8 and one group of 3
32 Ballers	8 groups of 4

The above formula will be used for 32 or more participants.

 

4. Team Selection

Participants may select from any of the 31 current NFL teams available on the current issue of the Madden Software. Classic, modified or code enhanced teams will be prohibited in tournament play.

a. Alternate Teams - Coaches may use alternate teams throughout the tournament at their discretion, however, each coach must designate a primary team for play in the round robins. Thus, when opponents meet in the round robin, like team matchups must be avoided. Any coach selecting an alternate team which in turn causes a like match up (Packers v. Packers) the forestalled coach must resort to his primary team for competition in that particular game.

b. Coaches may use alternate teams at any point during the round robin as long as like matchup are avoided.

c. Tournament Play - Once the single elimination tournament begins, like team matchups are permitted.

I. B. ROUND ROBIN SCHEDULING

1. Scheduling for The Madden Games will be done by the tournament director. Round Robin scheduling shall consist of each baller facing each member of his group at least once giving him a total of 3 games in the round robin series. For Example, in group A the schedule would be very similar to this:

Group A would consist of 4 Ballers: X, DaBlister, Matt P, and 2 Bold.

Time	Game Monitor	Match Up
11:00 AM	A	X vs. DaBlister
11:00 AM	B	Matt P vs. 2 Bold
12:00 Noon	H	X vs. Matt P
12:00 Noon	I	DaBlister vs. 2 Bold
2:00 PM	E	X vs. 2 Bold
2:00 PM	F	DaBlister vs. Matt P

The TWO teams with the best record shall advance to the single elimination tournament. The other teams are welcome to watch the action, sightsee, go home, or get some side games going.
In the event of a tie, (more than one team is 2-1), the teams that score the most points in the round robin series will advance. It is not possible for more than one team to go 3-0 in a group.

 

 

2. All Games shall be played according to the scheduled dates and times and established by the tournament director.

3. As a courtesy coaches should be at the tournament site at least 15 mins. prior to a scheduled kickoff.

4. Each team is responsible for submitting it's statistics to the Chief Statistician immediately after the completion of a game.

I. C. SINGLE ELIMINATION BRACKET SCHEDULING

Based on 32 participants in 8 groups, the tournament tree would appear as shown below:

Players will be seeded by the overall best tournament record and point differential. For example:

1 Seed - 3-0 - 55 point differential
2 Seed - 3-0 - 48 point differential
3 Seed - 3-0 - 42 point differential
4 Seed - 3-0 - 36 point differential

Also, the teams with the lower records would be seeded at the bottom of the tournament bracket.

13 Seed, 2-1 - 34 point differential
14 Seed, 2 - 1 - 26 point differential
15 Seed, 2 - 1 - 14 point differential
16 Seed, 2 - 1 - 4 point differential

In order to accommodate more than 32 participants, byes may be added. With the addition of more groups, byes may be added to accommodate traditional tournament bracketing. The byes would go to the top 4 seeds. Thus you would have 5 v. 20, 6 v. 19, 7 v. 18, 8 v. 17 and so on. The top seeds would be placed in the brackets where they would play the lowest ranked opponent. For example, in 5 v. 20, if 5 won, then 1 would not play 5 he would play the lowest seeded winner. Let say in this example that 20 won, then 20 would be matched vs. #1. This is similar to the NFL Wildcard system.

I. D. ROAD TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP

In order for a baller to make it to the championship game, he must play at least 3 round robin games, a first round, quarterfinal, and semi final tournament game for a total of 6 games. The Championship would be game 7.

II. - A. GAME PLAY

1. HARDWARE

Competition shall occur on a PSX Unit.

2. SOFTWARE

Official Madden Games Sanctioned Tournaments can only be played on the most recent version and latest updates of John Madden Football by EA Sports.

3. GAME LENGTH

Round Robin games shall be scheduled at six (6) minute quarters. The first round, quarterfinal, semifinal games of the single elimination tournament shall be scheduled at eight (8) minute quarters. The Madden Games Championship shall be scheduled at ten (10) minute quarters. Included in each game shall be a five minute half-time. Only if BOTH teams agree to forego the use of a half-time period, shall the game continue without interruption. If both opponents agree, the tournament director will schedule media time outs where appropriate for games broadcast via internet or any other media.

4. Game Settings

Game Settings shall be defined as - any feature that may be adjusted to manipulate the overall performance of the game itself. These settings may be identified as, but are not limited to: Skill Level, Camera Angles, Player Sizes, Game Speed, Weather Conditions, Momentum, Injuries, Fatigue, Penalties, Artificial Intelligence, and any other features not listed herein that may be manipulated as deemed so by the tournament director. Games not played according to the prescribed settings shall be considered null and void if revealed during a tournament game at any point before the start of the third quarter regardless of the score. After the kickoff of the second half, all games must be played in its entirety and those results shall be made final, regardless of the appropriateness or inappropriateness of any game setting. This includes but it not limited to weather conditions, camera angles, skill levels or any other setting as properly defined.

Skill Level -- All tournament games shall be set to and played on the All Madden Level.
Camera Angles - The official view for all tournament games shall be the Madden Classic Cam
Other Game Settings -- All tournament games shall be played with the following game settings:
Weather - Fair
Game Speed - Fast
Player Size - Huge
Instant Replay - Off
Penalty Levels - Default

All other game settings remain at the default levels. Games will NOT be restarted due to the instant replay being left on.

5. TEAM ROSTERS

Teams shall play with rosters included in the software when the game was shipped. Manipulated, enhanced or modified rosters are prohibited for use in the Madden Games.

6. USER PROFILES/MEMORY CARDS

a. Profile Cards - Teams may use user profiles in order to expedite the setting of audibles and substitutions.
b. Substitutions - Players may be substituted freely on either side of the ball at the discretion of the coach.
c. Custom Plays - The use of Custom Plays on offense or defense are prohibited in the Madden Games.
d. Team Playbooks - A coach may implement a game plan from any of the 31 standard team playbooks shipped with the current version of the game.

7. GENERAL DECORUM

a. Coaching, suggestions, or helpful hints whether verbally or by gesture, are not allowed during a tournament game. Violators shall be referred to the tournament director for possible disqualification from the tournament.

b. Walking in front of the game monitor (TV) while the game is in progress is considered a MAJOR infraction of tournament decorum and may result in that individual being referred to the tournament director.

c. Audibles and game substitutions are permissible at the start of the game, and at half-time without penalty. Audibles and Substitutions set at any other time will require the said coach using a time-out. A coach has a maximum time of 60 seconds to set audibles/substitutions once the time out has been called. This does not include the time allotted on the play clock. Opposing players SHOULD allow for privacy during the setting of audibles.

d. Smoking is prohibited inside the arena of all tournament events.

e. As a courtesy coaches should arrive to their scheduled games at least 15 minutes prior to kickoff.

8. GAME STOPPAGE

1. Inadvertent/Advertent Game Stoppage
Any player stopping the game at any point during the game whether adverting or inadvertent must call a time out. Once a time-out has been called, a player has a maximum of sixty (60) seconds to spend that time-out in whatever manner so desired. In the event that the player committing the infraction does not have any time outs remaining, the following must occur:

a. If the player committing the infraction is on defense he must take a mandatory encroachment penalty until the offense receives an automatic first down.

b. If the player committing the infraction is on offense he must take two mandatory delay of games. (a 10 yard loss) If the stoppage causes the offense to relinquish the ball to the opponent (i.e. fourth down situation or turnover), and the offending player is now on offense, that player must take four stop clock plays to relinquish the ball back to the opponent.

c. If this infraction is at the end of a game whereby the consequences cannot be enforced, the game shall be referred to the tournament director. The Director shall issue a resolution as to how the game shall end, or if it is to be replayed and that decision shall be FINAL.

3. Half-time./Two Minute Warnings - Included in each game shall be a five minute half-time. Only if BOTH teams agree to forego the use of a half-time. Period, shall the game continue without interruption. If both opponents agree, the tournament director will schedule media time outs where appropriate for games broadcast via Internet or any other media. The two minute warning may be used as an additional time-out to be used as the player wishes. Thus, the two minute warning may be used as any other time-out. (i.e., to substitute, change audibles, or as a period to rethink strategies, revue play books...etc.)

3. Audibles and Game substitutions - Are permissible at the start of the game, and at half-time. Without penalty. Audibles and Substitutions set at any other time will require the said team using a time-out. A coach has a maximum time of 60 seconds to set audibles/substitutions once the time out has been called. This not include the time allotted on the play clock.

9. GAME MALFUNCTIONS

In the event of a game malfunction that is determined to be unavoidable, the game shall be reset using the situation set up feature.

a. To perform a situational set up, the game will be set from the exact time, score, possession and field position in which the game was interrupted.

b. If the malfunction occurs before the half, and a half-time possession is affected, the opposing team must relinquish the ball by punting to the opposition to correct possession changes.

10. Overtime

In the event a game is tied at the end of regulation, the game will extend into a sudden death overtime period. If a winner is still not declared at the end of the first overtime period, the game shall be extended into a second overtime period using the situational setup feature to create a 2nd, 3rd or as many overtime periods as needed. The situational setup overtimes shall adhere to standard overtime rules used regular game play.

III. - Addendum's/Amendments

Additions or amendments made be made to this handbook by the tournament director when no other procedure is outlined. The general membership may also vote and make amendments to the games handbook. No changes will be made to the handbook that have already been voted and approved prior to the start of the annual owners meetings.