Yes, the fixed ending time is a great plus. Makes it much easier to plan your day.
Here are my thoughts on âpinball pinball pinball,â worth every one of my two cents:
I can see why people like it. You play constantly, you donât have to wait for the power players to finish their epic matches, and the unpredictability of your next game/next partner adds some entertaining variety. That said, I donât like it very much.
Iâve had two experiences playing a PPP tournament. The first was a small one that I also ran. I tried out the format after a friend who had played it elsewhere highly recommended it. I wouldnât do it again. I like to be able to play in my own tournaments, but without a dedicated helper to just run PPP without also playing, it doesnât work well. I had a big sign describing what to do with numbered steps, but people were still messing up (we ended up with extra people in the âqueueâ even though a game was free and should have had someone on it, for instance). Players would also wander off to get a drink or whatever instead of returning to the queue right away like they were supposed to, which would screw up the queue. I have to conclude that a PPP tournament really wonât âself runâ without someone there to manage the queue. And when I take the trouble to put on a tournament, I want to get to play in it. 
My other experience was as a player in someone elseâs (again pretty small) tournament, and that was a lot better (they had someone dedicated to managing the queue and telling people where to go). I still wasnât wild about it for two reasons. First, luck being the fickle lady that she is, there was one very good player who ended up playing the same very novice player a ridiculous number of times. I realize thatâs just what can happen in a quasi-random draw situation, but itâs a bit annoying. Second, and more important, I have suspicions that some players were gaming things â as in, hanging back to let others reach the queue first based on who they saw at the front of the queue. Iâm sure 90% or more of players wouldnât do that kind of thing but unfortunately I think thereâs a temptation there thatâs too much for some.
To conclude, I would play in a PPP tournament again, even though itâs not my favorite format â but I would not run one again.
I agree on the organisational aspect. You need a dedicated score keeper and queue manager. For events with more than twenty competitors, two people are a good idea, one to manage the queue and call out to players, and another to enter results into a spreadsheet or whatever. (We keep two sets of scores too; one hand-written and an electronic one. Thatâs useful in case there may have been a typing error.)
I havenât seen any issues with people trying to game things. We use simple cards with numbers on them. The queue is managed by simply putting the cards onto a table and shuffling them along as the queue progresses. Generally, we have the opposite problem: people end up near enough running to the queue after a game to get their first, because getting a large number of games played is important for having a chance to win. If you are really worried about people gaming the system, just put the queue behind a sight screen, or maintain it on a laptop out of immediate view.
In both tournaments I played in, the queue was visible in that it was literally just who was standing there (or sitting in a designated spot), so you could see who was standing up front. Clearly they werenât organized in the same way youâre describing.
In the second case where I suspected people were gaming things, it was a tournament where the great diversity in skill meant it certainly made a huge difference who you played. Waiting an additional 30 seconds to play a novice instead of one of the top players would most certainly have been advantageous.
Making people physically stand in the queue is awkward. Using cards works just as well and allows people to chat, have a bite to eat, etc, as long as they are within ear shot.
The way we work re-joining the queue is that you walk up to the score keeper. (Sometimes there is a short queue to get your score recorded too, if a few games finish nearly simultaneously.) At that point, there really is no option of hanging back. Thatâs because the people who finish a machine walk up together, as a pair. Remember, one of the two has to go back to the machine he/she just played, but the other one goes at the end of the queue and wants to get back into that queue ASAP, whether the other player wants to play the person at the head of the queue or not.
Making people walk up as a pair to record the score also acts as insurance against accidental mis-reporting of scores, because each player gets to check that the game, winner, and loser were recorded accurately. (It is a good habit for the score keeper to repeat back what he just heard: âStar Trek, winner 17, loser 23, 23 goes back to the machine.â It helps to avoid errors.)
So, even with the queued cards in plain sight, there really is no problem with people trying to not join the queue to gain an advantage. Of the two players, there is always one who wants to get back as quickly as possible.
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