Update #2: Forward progress! I have the app displaying a couple of records which is a great start. I talk about it more here.

---

Update: I am constantly updating my design document, which includes interface mock ups at j.mp/p9pvTY. Please review the document for more details and continue to make suggestions below.

---

Yesterday I got inspired about how a tablet based app could work for managing a tournament. You could carry it around to each machine to enter scores, and it could generate leader boards after each round. Since I have never ran a tournament I could use some feedback from those that have. Here is a list of features I think the app would need:

• Select Tournament format.
  
• Enter pinball Machine Names.
  
• Enter Player Names.
  
• Tournament Match Up Generator.
  
• Display match ups by: Player, Round, (or possibly graphical bracket chart).
  
• Enter Player Scores for each round.
  
• Display a Leader Board after each round.
  
• Tournament Results Submission to the IFPA for WPPR inclusion.
  
• In Tournament Changes: Player dropout, Machine replacement.
  
• Data Redundancy: requires internet connection and/or local network backup location.
  

---

iPad and Android Tablet Support
I plan to support both Android and iPad tablets because I don't want anyone to have to buy a tablet they aren't already likely to have access to (ie. already own or can borrow). I have already done some preliminary research into cross platform development tools, and it looks like this should not be a problem.

iPhone, iPod Touch, & Android Phone Support
I will evaluate the possibility of small screen support for this app. At this point I think a tablet is more appropriate for this purpose, so this is where I am going to start.

Multiple Phases of Development
Currently I am in the "Planning Phase". During the planning phase I will be documenting the desired features, describing how everything should work, and taking note of any reference materials. I will also be researching development toolkits and figure out how much this is all going to cost me. :-)

The "Advanced ideas" are possible Phase II features. The goal for Phase I is to get the app into a usable state to prove the feasibility. In Phase II we can start adding features to make the app easier to use.

Timeline
This could will take a long time to develop for the following reasons: 1.) I am a stay-at-home dad with a 3 and a 5 year old, who will leave me limited time to dedicate to this project. 2.) I will have to learn almost everything as I go along: I was a website developer 5 years ago, I have never developed mobile apps, and I am not an expert in the programming language I will use. 3.) I will only work when I have free time and while I am motivated to do so. ;-)

Costs of Development
It is going to cost me some money to develop this app. I looks like it costs $99 per year to become an Apple iOS (iPad) developer and it also costs $25 (one-time?) to publish and Android app to the market. Plus I may have to purchase some development tools. There are a couple of free cross platform toolkits, and if one of those will work well for our needs then I will use it. However, I don't want to use a free kit just because it is free. I would like to make this app work well and have a pleasant and easy to use interface. So, I may need to spend a little more money on a quality toolkit. I am telling you this because I will need to try to recoup my costs, which means I will need to charge a bit of money for this app.

Help!
I need your feedback on the feature set! I also need tournament / league managers to share the details on what you use to manage and score the leagues. I need your spreadsheets, scoring formulas, and any other software you may use. And I need info on how the WPPR points are calculated for submission to the IFPA.

This is excellent Brian! Post this to RGP to see what you may find out from others or if someone has already done some of the legwork on this. You may find a group of people interested in developing something like this that could be used anytime, anywhere! I could see this being used for all kinds of tourneys, one week - play at your leisure for location pins (play these 6 games, submit your scores), multi-week tourneys (these weeks' pin is :XXXXX, next week's pin will be : XXXXXX or for league play like our league where you could just let the app do the work.

Brian,

This is a great idea and something that would make my life significantly easier on tournament nights. I am willing to provide support to help get this project moving forward. I think that it would be best to set up a small meeting with those of us who regularly run tournaments so that we can sketch out our needs and wants for such a software package.

Yesterday I got inspired about how a tablet based app could work for managing a tournament. You could carry it around to each machine to enter scores, and it could generate leader boards after each round. Since I have never ran a tournament I could use some feedback from those that have. Here is a list of features I think the app would need:

---

Machine Names

• Simple idea: text input field.
  
• Advanced idea: the app could grab a master list of machines from the IPDB to be stored on the tablet and used to populate the machine names.
  

Simple is fine to begin with, but the pull down menu in the Pinball Map is nice. Machine names aren't really that important for every tournament type. I just use the field on my forms so that I can can keep track of if a match has started and where those players are. I don't actually send that data into the WPPR.

Player Names
I suspect we may need to enter the players WPPR Rank in addition to their name. I need more info on how player ranking weights the competitors WPPR points.

• Simple idea: text input field(s) to be manually entered.
  
• Advanced idea: the app could grab a master list of players from pinballrankings.com for population and rank info.
  

Simple is fine to start out with. The WPPR takes care of everything relating to rank, we just submit names and where they placed with respect to each other. Pulling the info off of the site would be cool but I don't think that it matters much. Long term, what I'd like to have is a registration "kiosk" that a player could walk up to, type in their name and print out a name / player number badge. But, lets leave that for version 2.0 or 3.0.

Actually, for version 1.0 you can skip the names and just enter in the number of players. I can match up player numbers on the sign in sheet when I submit it to the WPPR.

Tournament Formats
How many different formats are there? So far I have come up with the following formats and I know there are many more.

• Zero Elimination (like our league).
  
• High Score (single machine -- launch party style).
  
• Single Elimination. (Phase II?)
  
• Double Elimination. (Phase II?)
  

Tournament Match Up Generator (Phase II?)
Generate player match ups for each round of the tournament.

My preference would be to start with Single / Double Elimination first because that's what I use at Nickel City. It also means that we don't have to worry about entering in scores from individual games.

Player Score Entry

• Simple idea: select the machine name and select the player name(s) and enter their score(s).
  
• Advanced idea: the round & machine would be chosen, but this requires an additional feature to the app in which the player match ups are stored in the app by round.
  

Score entry matters in some tournament styles, such as for a launch party, but not for all of them. For single / double elimination I don't record the scores anymore; we just record who won and who lost. The WPPR doesn't care about individual scores on games.

Leader Board

• Simple idea: The leader board would be displayed on the tablet and written by hand onto a wipe off board.
  
• Advanced idea: If an Internet connection is available then the leader board could be uploaded to a public website and/or Emailed to someone. This Leader Board could be displayed on a projector by another computer on site.
  

Putting the brackets up on a screen or projector would be a nice to have. But not needed for the first version.

Tournament Results Submission (Phase II?)
Optionally submit a report to the IFPA via Email, FTP, etc. in the required format for WPPR inclusion.

I just send an email to Josh Sharpe with the names and how each player placed.

Costs of Development
It is going to cost me some money to develop this app. I looks like it costs $99 per year to become an Apple iOS (iPad) developer and it also costs $25 (one-time?) to publish and Android app to the market. Plus I may have to purchase some development tools. There are a couple of free cross platform toolkits, and if one of those will work well for our needs then I will use it. However, I don't want to use a free kit just because it is free. I would like to make this app work well and have a pleasant and easy to use interface. So, I may need to spend a little more money on a quality toolkit. I am telling you this because I will need to try to recoup my costs, which means I will need to charge a bit of money for this app.

I can provide support up front if that helps.

Help!
I need your feedback on the feature set! I also need tournament / league managers to share the details on what you use to manage and score the leagues. I need your spreadsheets, scoring formulas, and any other software you may use. And I need info on how the WPPR points are calculated for submission to the IFPA.

I'll send you the spreadsheets that I use.

Complications?

• How does it complicate things when you have an odd number of players? Does a player ever have a bye?
  

Yes in the first round there can be a bye, the spreadsheets that I use will show you how this works.

Ron,

I'd like to keep this project on the down low for now. I'm hoping the handful of people experienced with running tournaments in the club can get me started. The less cooks the better, right? ;-)

Besides there's nothing worse than getting everyone's hopes up for something and then listening to them complain why it wasn't done a week after it was announced. Don't be surprised if this could take a year to develop.


Zach,

Great feedback, Thanks! Your spreadsheet(s) will be very helpful. Sometimes you guys make these spreadsheets sound complicated. I look forward to seeing if I can come up with a solution to make tournaments a little easier to run, which in turn could mean more people will run tournaments. :-)

I ought to be able to scrounge up $125 if that is all it takes. If I end up having to purchase a quality cross platform toolkit, then I will consider your offer. Thanks.

BTW, do you have a tablet by chance? iPad or Android?

After some searching tonight, I came across an existing Pinball Tournament Manager software for Windows, written by Scott Danesi. It is limited though, as it only supports High Score style tournaments. Plus, you have to carry a laptop around with you. I really feel like the tablet is the way to go here.

I have done some further revisions on the design document which I have moved to Google Docs. I have also added a couple of interface mock ups here: http://j.mp/p9pvTY...

Some Sunday morning thoughts...
Most tourneys use tourney software -- CAX used Adam Lefkoff's (on a networked laptop.) Some solutions also support game queuing assignment to keep the tourney running efficiently. Maybe ask around at IFPA to find out what the big tourneys use, then evaluate and improve while porting to a tablet device.

There's pin-talk about integrating iphone/ipads with scorekeeping using OCR to take pictures of scores, along with players faces or UPC wristbands or some form of player ID. I'm not aware of any tourney using a fully integrated iPad/iPhone score capture. There's a few obstacles in implementation, especially with older games that have score rollovers, and of course lighting and speed.
The paper-trail method has advantages in that scorekeeping issues have a "hard-copy" version for reference to resolve disputes.

CAX had a minor dispute that was quickly cleared by the paper trail. Any fully electronic solution has to have a reliable backup to avoid scorekeeping disputes.
Can you imagine a server crash and all your scorekeeping and OCR pictures disappear?

Since the iPad doesn't do a stylus you'll have to have something that's faster than writing on a scoresheet -- time yourself (and several other friends) accurately copying 4, 9-digit numbers to a scoresheet and that'll be your time to beat.
If you're not faster than this electronically then tourney players will start whining about slowing down the tourney...

Maybe an improvement in transferring scoresheets to the database is in order -- generate a standardized scoresheet format that is easily OCR'd into the tourney database. This would reduce the drudgery of database entry to "scan scoresheet and drop in the scoresheet pile." Any OCR/scoresheet errors are easily rectified manually.

That is some really helpful information Randy. Honestly, I am approaching this project with very little experience in participating in tournaments, and zero experience actually running a tournament. So I really need all of this feedback. Hey, do you know of a resource that defines the most common types of tournaments?

Most tourneys use tourney software -- CAX used Adam Lefkoff's (on a networked laptop.) Some solutions also support game queuing assignment to keep the tourney running efficiently. Maybe ask around at IFPA to find out what the big tourneys use, then evaluate and improve while porting to a tablet device.

It was my understanding that there really isn't any software to run a tournament. I found Scott's (high score) Tournament Manager and a couple of local league websites that appear to keep their league scores. Do the big tournaments use custom in-house only software? Does anyone else make software anyone can use?

I would consider working with with someone on a tablet app that is a client of their central server. Or I might create something like that of my own down the road. But I want to start small.

There's pin-talk about integrating iphone/ipads with scorekeeping using OCR to take pictures of scores, along with players faces or UPC wristbands or some form of player ID. I'm not aware of any tourney using a fully integrated iPad/iPhone score capture. There's a few obstacles in implementation, especially with older games that have score rollovers, and of course lighting and speed. The paper-trail method has advantages in that scorekeeping issues have a "hard-copy" version for reference to resolve disputes.

My target will probably be initially for smaller local tournaments (a "Small" Pinball Tournament Manager). Once I have something more basic working perhaps My target will probably be initially for smaller local tournaments (a "Small" Pinball Tournament Manager). Once I have something more basic working I could potentially start working on a second "Large" Pinball Tournament Manager app that implements more of these steps.

I considered OCR for the score displays, but quickly ruled it out as it would be too complicated for the software to determine which number goes with which player. I would welcome experimentation with it some day.

QR codes (or any kind of scan codes) could be used on players name badges which should be easily scanned by the tablets. For what purpose though? I suppose that would be a way to speed up player checkin at the beginning of a large tournament where the players have preregistered and preprinted their pass.

CAX had a minor dispute that was quickly cleared by the paper trail. Any fully electronic solution has to have a reliable backup to avoid scorekeeping disputes. Can you imagine a server crash and all your scorekeeping and OCR pictures disappear?

Yes, data redundancy would be critical. At a small tournament I expect a wipe off board would be used to display the standings and match ups (so everyone can use the board to see where they stand and where to play next).

Since the iPad doesn't do a stylus you'll have to have something that's faster than writing on a scoresheet -- time yourself (and several other friends) accurately copying 4, 9-digit numbers to a scoresheet and that'll be your time to beat. If you're not faster than this electronically then tourney players will start whining about slowing down the tourney...

Actually Styli are available for all capacitive touch screen tablets for $10-$20, if you chose to type that way. On my Android tablet I use a keyboard called Tablet Keyboard which has a nice number pad in the middle of the screen for fast number entry. :-)

In the spirit of speeding things up I was considering using the tablet camera to take a photo of the scores, which would then be displayed on the score sheet entry page for reference. This would allow the scores to be entered while the next game began play (after all if you already know the order in which the players played, all you need is a clear photo of the scoreboard). Everyone should be able to wait for a photo or two. ;-)

Maybe an improvement in transferring scoresheets to the database is in order -- generate a standardized scoresheet format that is easily OCR'd into the tourney database. This would reduce the drudgery of database entry to "scan scoresheet and drop in the scoresheet pile." Any OCR/scoresheet errors are easily rectified manually.

Thank you again for sharing your insight Randy!

I will have to give this some more thought later... we scored some free Padres tickets and are about to take the boys to their first ever game. So sorry if my thoughts are a bit scattered and rushed. :-)

My goal is to create an app that fills a need that is not currently being met. So I am going to step back for a bit and dig further into research. I am starting to realize there are more software solutions to Tournament Management than I had originally suspected.

I want to make sure it will be worth my time to create yet another tournament management software solution. Or perhaps it would be better to team up with an existing software team to create an Android/iOS app which works with an existing system.

I have now discovered the following software:

• Scott's Pinball Tournament Manger
  For simple high score tournaments.
  
• Pinball Tournament Scoring System
  Developed for large tournaments, such as the Madrid Pinball Tournament, TMAP.
  
• National Pinball League: Tournament & League Toolbox
  In development. Details are sparse.
  
• Tournament Planner
  Generic Tournament Software.
  
• High-Score
  A private arcade/pinball tournament web based software. (Small)
  

When I came across the generic "Tournament Planner" software it hit me that tournament bracketing is not limited to Pinball! I then started searching for tournament type definitions. Then I came across the Tournament article on Wikipedia and a site that provides printable bracket charts. I am sure the Wikipedia article will provide a lot of great help on the terminology.

• Tournament: Wikipedia
  • Single Elimination, Knockout Tournament
    This is the format The High Dive used in the qualifying rounds for the San Diego Pinball Club 1st Anniversary Tournament. The top 4 players from the qualifying rounds played a 4 player final match. This brings up the question of how to allow for custom tournament formats. :-(
  • Double Elimination, Knockout Tournament
    This is the format used by Zach at the Nickel City tournaments.
    
  • Round Robin, Group Tournament
    If I understad this correctly, this is the format used by our league last year.
    (more info: Group tournament ranking system)
• PAPA Tournamet Format
  • Official Rules
• Print Your Tournament Brackets
  

Wow that was a lot of reading! But, I think I have a much stronger grasp on how these tournament types work.

---

P.S. I have the following thoughts on data redundancy.

Ideally a backup of the tournament data would be stored elsewhere, in the event of theft/loss/failure of the score keeping device. Solutions to this will be evaluated in later phases of development. Potential backup location options:

• Central Tournament Server (tournaments.brianhanifin.com?).
  
• Personal FTP server (log in supplied by user).
  
• Personal DropBox account (log in supplied by user).
  
• Network share (only if the WiFi is present and a share is available).
  

I would consider Google Docs another place to save backups.

I would consider Google Docs another place to save backups.

I could not backup the data file there, but I might be able to export a status report. But if that is all I am doing I could more easily send an Email to the tournament manager. Thank you for the ideas though! :)