We're officially joining the Stern Army! And in celebration of joining the Army, we're bringing back our Critical Hit tournament! All of the machines we'll be using today will be on Stern games!

Entry-fee: $15 Next Level entrance fee + $5 tournament buy in. All machines on Free-Play!

Time: Doors open at 11:30am for registration, tournament starts at noon.

Format: A truly unique format that will blend your skill of pinball along with your cunning of using a bag of tricks up your sleeve! At the start of the tournament, players will get a set of randomized "Critical Hit" cards that grant you the opportunity to potentially change the fate of your pinball game in your favor. Will you use your cards to give yourself an extra edge on a game? Will you use your cards to throw an obstacle at your opponent? Everyone has the the chance to sway the balance of the game, but will you be cunning enough to use the right card at the right time?

Cards have different rarities from Common to Legendary status, with powers like "Darkness - Cover the score display for the entire game.", "Teleport - Swap places with a randomly drawn player from a randomly drawn group.", "Heal thyself - +1 ball added for you alone. Play at end of game.". There may be ways to earn additional cards during course of play, this will be announced at tournament time.

This is a three-strike tournament and play will continue until the last person standing. Bottom 2 players in a four-player group will receive a strike, bottom player in a 3-player group will receive a strike.

Players are not allowed to give their cards to other players. If you still have unused cards when you are eliminated these cards lose all powers and abilities. Will you save your cards until final rounds and risk not using them? Or will you use them to save you from impending 3rd strike doom?

There will also be objectives on each machine. If you obtain the objective in your group you will receive additional cards to play with in the tournament.

We will go through the rules and format of this tournament for all players at the start. For most folks, it's an entirely new format, so we will thoroughly cover all of the game rules and mechanics at the beginning. It usually sounds confusing to most people at the start, but it's a wildly fun format to play!