Enough is enough. Let's vote!

[mklingbeil]

I am making a Notre Dame team that is 3.2 and a Houston Oilers team with custom figures that is 4.0...no big deal.

[Shabby J]

[the french guy]

Why not just create an official faq somewhere, taking count of each usual competition weights?


something like that, but with a "pro" (experienced) point of view :


classic (3.2g-3.3g) :
pro :
work out of box (especially miggle sets/figs range, buzzball figs range)
historic way of playing MF
no need to add weight or modify bases or figs

cons :
can be "bouncy" or inconsistant on some big boards
a lot of leagues preferes 4.0gram class

list of leagues playing under classic class : (...)


heavy : (4.0g)


pros :
more "room" for customizing
works better on some big boards
a lot of leagues plays 4.0grams class


cons :
heavy class athletes can be too strong against classic class athletes, causing incompatibility
need to watch out the weight during the team setup (customizing or training)

list of leagues playing under heavy class : (...)



etc, etc... you get the idea. Lets the beginners make their own point reading that official faq and watching 1) the material they have/plan to buy 2) the leagues and friends they can play with around, without any "that is better than this" argument, peacefully (Lennon, go out of this body now).

In my opinion (beginner oriented, of course), it should be usefull. Remember some examples we saw on that topic : the slot cars, the model railroad, the sport gun competition, etc, etc... other hobbies or sports with many diferent sides/scales/etc... in them always choosed that way, instead of saying THAT is the official something.

[eflfanatic]

Dimitri,

What you are talking about is in the works with the "For Advanced Play" project that will be published at some point. Here is the purpose and mission statement from the Rules Committee that will guide the creation of this publication that has been presented to the MFCA Board of Directors.

MFCA Rules Committee
“For Advanced Play”
Rule Set

Chairman: Chris LeMay


Purpose: To create an “Encyclopedia” of rules and terms used by current and past league and tournament organizers to play the game of “Miniature Football”

Mission: By examining and evaluating the various rules that are currently being used and have been used in the past by league and tournament organizers, we are attempting to compile an “encyclopedia” of terms, rules and game play formats, to give the serious coach of miniature football a guide to use in choosing a league or tournament format to challenge and further develop his skills and coaching abilities. This will also serve as a guide to coaches who wish to organize their own local or regional league or tournament for the purpose of attracting other coaches who may wish to play the game of miniature football in a more competitive environment.

This guide will also attempt to serve as a history of leagues and tournaments and as a historical account of the development of rules and equipment (game boards, figures, bases and other innovative developments) used by league and tournaments to play the game of miniature football.

Introduction

In 1947, the “Tudor Metal Products, Corp.” of Brooklyn, NY introduced the “Tru-action” electric football game. It consisted of a “vibrating” metal game board with football field graphics and 2-D metal miniature football figures that moved on the field, when the electric switch was turned on, to simulate playing a game of real football. There was even a metal miniature quarterback that could pass and kick a miniature felt football.

The rules for playing the game were pretty basic and usually just involved setting players up in basic offensive and defensive formations, giving a running back the ball, and running the board until the ball carrier either scored (by crossing the goal line), was tackled (by being hit by a player of the opposite team), ran out of bounds, (hit the sides of the game board), or, in most cases, turned around and began to run towards the WRONG end zone.

Since that time the game of electric or “miniature” football has seen many advancements, developments, and innovations, in equipment and rules used by coaches to make the game more challenging, realistic, and requiring more skill and strategic planning to effectively win games and achieve the goal of league or tournament “Champion”.

This guide and encyclopedia of rules will help the miniature football coach gain a better understanding of the many ways to play the game and find or develop a rule set of his own to enhance his level of competitive skills.

Totally unrelated to this poll

The purpose of this poll was to help in determining an acceptable weight for players (figure and base) to be used in creating a rule set for future MFCA sponsored or sanctioned league and tournament competetion. I already know we are not going to be able to please everybody with the creation of this rule set and future discusssions on it will spark even more controversy. But one of the goals of the MFCA is to have their own sanctioned league and tournament competetions and I have already sent a proposal for this to the Board of Directors. I have started a thread for discussions on this.

[mantaraydre]

WOLF AND THE MFCA GOVERNING BODY.


At what point can we see the official write up stating 4.0 is the MFCA'S legal "COMPETATIVE WEIGHT CAP ". Lets get out the ink and get it on some trees so we can throw out the next pitch. Lets keep going until we have a list of legal luxuaries !!!!!!!!!


4. a go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mantaraydre

[RavennaAl]

Well, if nothing else, at least we all seem to have come to a general concensus that there are basically 3 weight divisions, 3.2/3.3, 4.0 and unlimited. That is a major accomplishment by itself.

Dimitri, you keep bringing up slot car racing. I don't know how many guys are involved in that hobby, but I would wonder if maybe it would be bigger if a novice knew which size car to start with. I like the HO scale, because I had an Aurora set when I was a kid. Of course, that was before they had race cars and the sets were basically street tracks with stop signs, 4 way intersections and RR crossings. I had a blast with it until my friend got a slot car that was about 3 times it's size. I don't remember what scale it was, but it was a Chapparel race car that had it's rear wing tilt up and down as it went around corners. I thought it was so cool. We had fun with it until another friend got one that was even bigger. We went with him to a hobby store that had a track in the back room and played for a few hours. When I got home, my HO track seemed pretty tame compared to those 2 cars, like I was playing with little toys instead of real cars. Of course, the main drawback to the larger cars is that you couldn't set up a decent track in your house because they took up so much room. So, even at that young age, I could see the angst of trying to decide which class to procede with. Pros and cons for each size, but no guidance from anyone either.

[the french guy]

I tried 1/43, 1/40, 1/32 (anolog an digital), 1/32 "competition" (digital system used for european endurance championship), and h0. I've got 2 tracks at home, a 4 lanes (h0) and a 3 lanes (1/32). I prefer the h0 scale

Ask another guy, he will say he preferes digital 1/32. Another one, analog 1/24. Another one, wood track 1/24 slot racing, another one, 1/40 classic french slot racing, etc, etc...

Usually, when we try to help a beginner in the slot racing forums I go, we ask him 3 things :

the room he has
the budget he has
the other friends or slot racing clubs he has in his aera.


then, we explain him the pros and cons of each scale (for example, h0 scale in france is quite unknown, so if you don't want to order online in USA you'd better choose another scale....other example, if you have a 2m x1meter room, you should choose h0 instead of bigger scales).

Finally, the guy makes his choice with all the informations we gave him. Most of the time, the guy goes naturally to the more fashionable scale of the moment (1/32 scale in europe). Sometimes, he choose another alternative. For me, it's a good guidance.


@Eflfanatic : I didn't understand that that poll was only for the mfca tournaments and ruleset. I believed it was dedicated also for a beginner guide.

Anyway, I tried to defend my foreign newbie point of view, with my little experience in other "technical" hobbies. :o Now I return to...my unlimited customized teams