Weekly Tournament

The Grass Roots Tournament season runs from September 1 through May 31. The Box Car Peggers is a Division I club, allowed to play 25-36 local tournaments during the season. We play all 36 each season. Note that all official local tournaments are two-person (Singles) matches. During the summer, we continue to play Singles and/or Doubles matches, but these are informal as the results do not count toward Official ACC Grass Roots standings.

We play our weekly local tournament on Monday evenings at the Denny's Restaurant, 122 Sunrise Avenue (corner of Douglas Boulevard and Sunrise Avenue) in Roseville. The club is most appreciative of Denny's for allowing us the use of their overflow room each Monday evening and players are encouraged to support Denny's through the purchase of food and beverages during the evening. Games are played in strict accordance with the Official ACC Tournament Rules during the season. The weekly dues are $2.00 which goes to club expenses, supplies, and awards.

The weekly tournament begins at 6:15PM. Note that you must be entered not later than 6:00PM to participate in the tournament. As a player in the tournament you will fall into one of four categories:

  • Member: a member of the Boxcar Peggers. This is your home club, so you are eligible for all pools, club awards, and you will receive national points if you score 12 or more Game Points. Only Members are eligible to compete for any of the club's multi-tournament events, such as the Points Championship.
  • Traveler: a member of the Grassroots Traveler's Club. You are eligible for all pools, club awards, and you will receive national points if you score 12 or more Game Points.
  • Visitor: a member of another Grassroots Club. You are eligible for all pools and club awards, but will not receive any national points, regardless of your score
  • Guest: not a member of any Grassroots Club. You are just "checking out" this club. ACC rules allow you to be a guest at a club no more than two times during the Tournament Season. After these two visits, you must join the club (and the ACC if you are not already a member) in order to continue playing. As a guest you are may participate in the pools if you so desire.

At this point, you may be asking, "How does the tournament work?" Here's a brief outline of what you can expect for a Singles tournament:

  1. You'll stop at the entry table, draw for a seat, pay your $2.00 entry fee, and receive a score card. Please take a moment to fill in your complete name, the date, and ACC number (if you have one) in the spaces at the top.
  2. You'll next be given the option of entering any of the pools in which you would like to participate. The available pools are more completely described later on this page. Remember, participation in any of these pools is totally optional, you may choose not to participate in them at all. If you do participate, your card will be marked to indicate that fact.
  3. Find your assigned seat (shown on your card) and place your card and any other personal items at your seat. If you need help locating your seat, ask the Tournament Director. Don't be concerned if another player is involved in a "just for fun" game using your seat.
  4. When the starting time approaches, the Director will ask everyone to take their seats. As necessary, the Director will move people to fill in gaps at the tables. If you are moved, you may be asked to change the seat number you've been assigned.
  5. Announcements will be made, the results of the previous week's tournament will be read, and standings in the club for the year will be read. The number of players participating will be announced and the anchor(s) for the evening will be identified. An anchor is a player sitting in a fixed seat. He or she does not change seats through the tournament. If there is an odd number of players participating, one player will "sit out" each game, but all players will end up playing nine games.
  6. You'll play your game against the player across the table. At the end of the game, the score will be agreed upon and recorded on each card. If any problems arise during the play of your game, stop playing right away and call for a judge, a player who has studied the ACC rules and passed an examination on those rules. Usually two judges will come, explain the rule(s) involved and make a decision as to how play should continue. The judge's decision is final.
  7. The winning player receives two Game Points for a win by 30 pegs or less; three Game Points for a "skunk" (a win by 31 points or more). The losing player receives no Game Points. The spread (margin of victory) is recorded as a positive number for the winner, a negative number for the loser. If the spread is less than ten points, please include a leading zero (enter '07' not just '7'). You will initial the opponent's card; the opponent will initial your card. If you need help in properly recording the score on your card, just ask. Usually your opponent or a neighboring player will be able to help you. The Director is always available to help. If there is a disagreement about the score to be recorded or a mistake must be corrected on the cards, call for a judge.
  8. If you were "skunked," that is to say you lost by more that 30 points, it is time to feed the "skunk pot." Put a quarter into the piggy bank, ring the bell, and take a ticket. Leave one part of the ticket in the cup and keep the other part of the ticket for the drawing at the end of the night.
  9. When the games in the round are completed, you will move one seat to the right. If you just played your game against the last (or only) anchor, you'll move around to the first non-anchor seat on the other side of the table. It is helpful at the beginning to note who the player on your right is. You will follow that player throughout the tournament.
  10. This rotation will continue until you have played all nine of your games. Note that if there have been any players sitting out, it may be necessary for you to play a tenth game to allow a player who still needs a ninth game to complete his/her card. If you are asked to play a tenth game, that game will not count on your card. Only your first nine games count.
  11. When you are done playing, complete your card by entering your total Game Points, Games won ,total plus points, and total minus points in the spaces provided. The difference between your total positive and total negative spread points is your net spread. This can be positive or negative. Please remember to record a plus or minus sign on this total. If you need help in completing your card, ask a more experienced player, a judge, or the Director.
  12. Sign your card and have another player (usually your final opponent0 verify your scores and be sure that player initials the card as the verifier.
  13. Congratulations! You are done. Turn your card in at the entry table and if you were in any of the optional pools or hold skunk tickets, stick around and wait for the awarding of the prizes.
  14. Come back again next week!

At the end of the tournament, the scores are tallied, winners are announced, awards are made, and the Club Statistician uses the completed cards to update the official Grass Roots records for the season and our website. Once the scores are recorded, the Grass Roots organization awards local points for the current season to all members scoring 12 or more Game Points in that tournament.

Off Season

During the "off" season (June 1 through August 31) we continue to meet and play each week just for the fun of it. No official recording of points is made of games played during this Summer period nor are national points awarded. We do play with all of the optional pools during the summer. During the Summer we play a mixture of standard two-person (Singles) matches and various forms of Doubles (Partnership) matches. Guests are welcome and may play as often as they desire during the summer.

Note that the rules are relaxed a bit during the summer to allow newer players to learn and improve their game.

Optional pools

Note: You must be at least 18 years of age to participate in any of the optional pools.

  • High Hand: a pool that goes to the high hand for the night, up to 24 (the club provides separate awards for 28 and 29 point hands). Note that the high hand award goes to the last person scoring that hand during the evening. In other words, if you get a 24-point hand in your first game, but someone else gets a 24-point hand later in the evening, that person will take control of the award and will receive the pool (assuming there isn't yet another 24-point hand later in the evening). Entry fee is $1.00.
  • Graduated Pool a pool that pays the top 25% of the players participating. First place goes to the player with the highest Game Point, second place to the second highest Game Point score, and so forth. In the case of ties in Game Points, there is a tie-breaking procedure that is followed. Entry fee is $5.00.
  • Winner Take All a pool that goes to the highest Game Points score for the evening among the participants in the pot. In the case of a tie in Game Points, there is a tie-breaking procedure that is followed. Entry fee is $5.00.

Skunk pot

We also play with a skunk pot. The club seeds the skunk pot with $2.00. Every time you get skunked, you must put a quarter in the skunk pot and take a ticket. At the end of the evening, a winning ticket is drawn and if you hold that winning ticket, you get the contents of the skunk pot. Participation in the skunk pot is not optional.

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