These rules are subject to membership review once we have 10,000 members.  At that time, a member will be eligible to submit recommended changes and vote on permanent adoption of the rules. They are intended to allow us to initiate the tournament and give it an opportunity to grow. Once the tournament is in place, rule change recommendations will be accepted and submitted to the general membership for adoption or rejection. Additional formats, variations and Divisions may be added in the future if enough of the members wish them.

1. Participation

1.1. Participation in the Pot Bowling Tournament for the United States and its territories is limited to League Bowlers over the age of 18 for cash prizes, all ages for free events.

1.2. Participation in the Pot Bowling Tournament for the rest of the World is limited to League Bowlers whose recognized governing organizations are in alignment with United States Bowling Congress (USBC) rules and must be over the age of 18 to participate in any event where there are Cash prizes.

2. Refusal Rights

2.1. World Wide Sports Promotions,LLC reserves the right to refuse entries submitted from any Bowling center or any bowler for any reason.

3. Divisions, Sub-divisions, Categories

3.1. World Wide Pot Bowling consists of, but is not limited to, two Divisions, four Sub-divisions and three Categories of competition

3.1.1. The Divisions are:

· Team Pot Bowling

· Singles Pot Bowling

3.1.2. The Sub-divisions in each Division are:

· State or Province

. Bowlers compete only within their own State or Province within a Country.

· Time Zone

. Bowlers compete only within a time zone, but across countries.

· Country

. Bowlers compete only within a country.

· World.

. Bowlers compete from every country that is in alignment with USBC sanctioning requirements for League play.

NOTE: The Tournament will commence with only United States Sub-division available. The other Sub-divisions will become available as soon as there is enough interest.

      3.1.3. The two Categories within each Sub-division are:

· Winner take all – Highest score plus ties share the ‘Pot’.

· One winner for every forty participants

    3.1.4. Bowlers may choose one or two Categories to compete in.

4. Entry Fee

4.1. Until we have determined the program is consistant, bug free and running smoothly, there is no fee but no prizes either.    

4.2 The cash fee entry will be $6 initially. Cash prizes will be awarded at 80% of entries. We have the ability to add higher entry fees which will expand the size of the Pot. There is a $6 entry fee for each of the possible combination of events.

4.3 The cash events will not begin until we have tested the program thoroughly.

5. Singles Pot Bowling Division

5.1. Singles Divisions will be open to any qualified league bowler who has signed up for at least one Team event.

5.2 Singles events will be limited to scratch bowlers with averages beginning at 200.

5.3 Singles events will begin after the successful implementation of the Team events.

5.4 Payouts for each game plus series high score will be awarded.

5.5 Format for Singles Division is the same as Team Division with the following exception:

5.5.1. Scoring for Singles is strictly Pincount.

6. The Pot

6.1. The ‘POT’ is 80% of entry fees.

7. Prize Distribution

7.1. All prize distributions, scores and teams will be public records and accessible to anyone wishing to see them.

7.2. Bowlers not wishing to have their Series average, scores or prize winnings in the public domain should not participate.

7.3. Formula for prize distribution is based on the sum of the numbers. See section 13’s for detailed description.

8. Definition of Terms

8.1. Winner – Any person scoring well enough to share in the ‘POT’.

8.2. Roster – The list of Bowlers signed up to compete in a Pot Bowling event.

8.3. Average – The average pincount a bowler scores in 10 frames of a game of bowling

8.4. Series Average – 3 times a bowlers average -The average pincount a bowler rolls in three games based on a history of a bowlers league play. Once posted, the Series Average will be maintained based on the Series pincounts submitted in tournament play.

8.4.1. Averages will be carried to 6 decimal points.

8.4.2. Averages greater than 6 decimal points will be rounded up.

8.5. Series pincount– The total pincount rolled in three games during League play. This is the number the league bowler submits to the Pot Bowling Tournament.

8.6. Individual Score – The difference between a bowlers Series Average and the Series pin count they roll. An example:

Bowlers average is 150. Series Average would be 3 times 150 or 450. The bowler rolls a 500 series in League play. The Series pincount submitted is 500. The individual score would be 50; 500 minus 450.

8.7. Team Score – The sum of the individual Scores on a team. This is the score used to determine whether a team is in the money.

8.8. Category – United States, World, State or Province, Timezone or Region. We will begin with just the United States. Each of these is a separate event

8.9. Day of the week – Bowlers can only compete in an event that occurs on the same day their league is held. Each of these is a separate event

8.10 Division – Team or Singles – each of these is a separate event.

8.11 Fee – Fees can range to whatever the member want them to be. We can hold $6 events, $10 events, any amount the members choose to compete for, so long as there are enough of them to warrant the addition of different fee levels. Each of  these would be a separate event

8.12 Ratios – We will begin with 2. Winner take all and 1 team winner for every 40 teams. We can add different ratios too. As we grow, we could have a 1 in 50, 1 in 100, 1 in 250 and so on. Each of these would be a separate event.

8.13 Time Zone – We can hold events within time zones.  Each of these is a separate event.

8.14 Additional Tournament types –

8.14.1 Special - Special events like Champion of Champions, Events held in resort locations, etc

8.14.2 Sponsor – Events held by Sponsors. Examples could be – events held between all houses owned by a particular corporation with special prizes. Events held by  sponsors awarding automobiles as prizes, etc.

8.15. Event – An event is a combination of the above listed elements. If all of these elements are activated, we could be holding 30 or 50 events on a daily basis.

9. Signing up for events after registering one time

9.1. A bowler may belong to more than one league in any house.

9.2. A bowler may bowl in more than one house.

9.3. Bowlers will signup on the date they are bowling on the signup sheet at www.potbowlers.com

9.4. To signup for an event, find your House number (HID) in the menu button, and enter it in the signup button page. Then select the tournaments you would like to submit scores for. Thats it.

9.5. An event day will begin at 12 am EST and run for 24 hours.

9.6. SSN is required by the IRS for 1099 reporting purposes when a bowlers winnings exceed $600. No award will be issued until the SSN is provided. This may be mailed in, or you may submit it online during registration.

9.7 Bowlers will us their USBC ID as their Pot Bowling ID. Just as you use your USBC ID to identify you in any other tournament.

10. Scoring

10.1. Score is determined by subtracting total pincount rolled from the average maintained by www.potbowlers.com

10.2. Pot bowling averages will be carried to 6 decimal points and will be calculated by the rule of 7's.

10.3. Bowlers may submit Series Pincounts up to 1am the following day, Eastern Standard Time of the day of an event. Scores rolled after 1 am est. cannot be posted until a bowler signs up for the following days events.(temporary rule for now)

11. Creating the Teams

11.1. Teams will be created using a method which ensures equity for all skill levels and teams

11.2 The team assignments will ensure that  all teams are very close to equity.  One of the reasons we are running all the events for free is for members to get comfortable with this method.

11.3. Teams will be created once all bowlers on the roster have submitted scores.

11.3.1. For Country events, the teams will be created at noon of the day following the event in the timezone of the state/province furthest West geographically.

11.4. Bowlers on the Roster will be placed on teams by the computer based on the series average maintained for them and their Ranking on the roster for that event on that day.

11.4.1. Total Team entering averages will be prominently displayed once the teams have been created.

11.4.2. It is possible that out of the total number of bowlers on a roster, when we make the teams, there could be one, two or even three bowlers left over, not enough to make a team. A method to handle those bowlers has been established temporarily pending acceptance of the final rules.

12. Maintaining Averages

12.1. Established USBC Book averages will be accepted from a bowler at initial registration. 

12.2. Series Averages will be maintained based on Pot Bowling Tournament participation only.

12.3. Series Averages will be maintained for the Pot Bowling Tournament  regardless of the leagues they bowl in or other tournaments they submit scores from

12.4. A Bowlers average will be calculated using a weight factor of 7 events. An example, A bowlers initial book average is 151. Three times that is 453. They roll a 500 series. 6 times 453 is 2718. Add the 500 equals 3218. Divide 3218 by 7 equals 459.714285  This new average will carry the decimals out 6 places. This will assist in determining more accurately a persons ranking in the roster, there assignment to teams and reduce ties.

12.5. A bowler in the money and in the top ten percent twice in a 2 month period from the same league will assume the winning series score of the last winning event as their average for future events.

13. Determining the prize amounts

13.1. Basic Prize Amount (BPA) – This is the heart of our prize distribution system. It is the smallest unit awarded to teams in the money. It works this way – lets just use low numbers for our example,10 teams. Lets also say that the pot was $10,000. To determine the BPA we sum the total number of teams in the money. 10 plus 9 plus 8 plus 7 plus 6 plus 5 plus 4 plus 3 plus 2 plus 1 equals 55. We divide $10000 by 55. That’s going to give us the BPA of $181.82. Lets say there are NO ties. Top score gets 10 times the BPA, that’s $1818.20. The second highest score would get 9 times the BPA - $1636.38. Third highest score gets 8 times the BPA - $1454.56, 4th highest gets 7 times the BPA - $1272.74. 5th gets 6 times BPA -$1090.92, 6th gets 5 times BPA - $909.10, 7th gets 4 times BPA - $727.28, 8th gets 3 times BPA - $545.46, 9th gets 2 times BPA - $363.64 and 10th gets the BPA of 181.82. The computer can handle this no matter the number of winners.

13.2. What about ties – We have never had a tie in the thousands of simulations we have run so far. If this should occure, We simply add the BPA’s to the number of teams that score the same and divide that total by the number of teams. Let’s say there were 2 teams that scored highest in the previous example. We add the prize BPA’s 10 plus 9. 19 divided by 2 is 9.5. Each team would get 9.5 times the BPA – $1727.29. Say the 2nd highest score is shared by three teams so they get 8 plus 7 plus 6 which equals 21. 21 divided by 3 = 7. 7 times the BPA of $181.82 equals $1272.74. Lets say third highest score is posted by only one team so they get 5 times BPU $909.10. Lets say the last 4 teams had the same score so they share the remaining pot divided by 4 equals $454.55.

13.3. All teams share their winnings equally among the team members. In the first example $1818.20 would be divided by 4 so that each team member received $454.55.

14. Awarding of the ‘Pot’

14.1. You will be sent your winnings via Electronic means. For those winning over $600, we will confirm your score with your league secratary. This allows us to verify scores which may be bogus.

14.2. Winner take all

14.2.1. Only one winning score. All teams that roll the highest score split the pot equally. If only one team rolls the top score they win it all.

14.3 One winner in 40.

14.3.1. The number of places is determined by the total number of teams divided by the Category ratio. An example:

If we have 2520 teams and the Category is 1 team winner for every 40 teams, then 63 teams are in the money (2520 divided by 40).

14.4. Ties: The numbers of teams posting the same score share the purse for those places equal to the number of teams tied. An example:

If two teams tied for the highest score, each would share the purses for 1st and 2nd place. If three teams tied with the highest score they would share 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. If 2 teams posted the second highest score in this example, then they would share 4th and 5th place money and so on through the Categories until all places are accounted for. This prevents a situation where a team that scored low is awarded more of a prize than others scoring higher, only because they were not tied. TIES WILL BE VERY RARE!

15. Bowling outside the US.

15.1. Bowlers outside the United States must provide potbowlers.com with information concerning the Bowling Centers within their countries during registration.

15.1.1. Leagues in countries outside of the United States must be aligned with sanctioning rules of the UNITED STATES BOWLING CONGRESS (USBC) in order to compete beyond their borders.

16. Bowler Acceptance.

16.1. Bowlers must agree to these rules prior to signing up for the Roster and competing in a Pot Bowling Tournament event.