Below are the MB Tour™ rules currently in effect. As time goes on, we may update these rules as required, so check back often. If you have any questions regarding these rules, please contact the Tournament Director at bowlmbtour.com. Please note: these rules are subject to change at any time without notice.
These tournaments are scratch events with no handicapping system and sanctioned and certified by the USBC.
Open Division: This is an open scratch division that has no age restriction on entering. Champions from other organizations allowed to bowl, but if you are the holder of more than 2 national titles from any organization considered professional, within the last 10 years from event date, you must compete in the open division, with no consideration given to age status. Youth bowlers must have a parental consent form signed and any monies earned deposited into a Smart account in the bowlers’ name. (Bowlers over the age of 40 will compete within their own age groups during all qualifying rounds, unless they are the holder of more than 2 professional titles within the last 10 years). (Please see rule #8), (learn the specific format used for each competition).
Majors Division: You must be at least 45 years of age for males and 40 years old for females to bowl in the Majors division. (No National Title holders within the previous 10 years from any organization regarded as professional allowed).
All MB Tour™ events will conduct qualifying with age groups added. In the Majors Division the age groups are 45-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70 up, and women’s group. All events will use the overall highest scores and/or the highest overall scores in each group, depending on the tournament format used at each event, to determine who makes the finals. In the open division the age groups will be, open age, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70 over, and the women’s group.
The entry fee is $75.00 for regular tournaments and $125.00 for the end of season Championship. $5.00 from every entry goes towards the year end championship prize fund. The annual Membership fee of $100 begins in January 2023, and are due before you bowl your fourth tournament. Twenty-Five ($25.00) of the annual $100.00 membership fee will go into the prize fund for the Championship. The remainder of membership dues utilized to offset, tournament expenses, entry fee discounts and added monies to prize funds. Membership fees begin in January 2023. Beginning in January of 2023, fully paid members of the MB Tour™ will be able to enter MB Tour™ Open and Majors division events for an entry fee of ($75) Seventy Five dollars. Non members must pay the full entry of ($90 ) Ninety dollars. No discounts are allowed in the Championship event or in already discounted squads, and/or entries.
To qualify for the year end Championship tournaments, you must have bowled in at least 4 events and have your membership dues of $100.00 paid in full.
Check-in time for most events will begin at 10:00 A.M. We will allow late entries up to event starting time. Bowlers will draw for starting lane assignments. No Exceptions. Each bowlers starting lane assignments drawn at the time of check in. Bowling begins at 11 A.M. unless otherwise noted on our Tournament Schedule. 15 minutes of practice provided before the scheduled event start time, where you may practice on your assigned starting pair only. Pre paid bowlers may request to cross or be paired with other bowlers.
Same as #1 Survival format with the following exception. All survival rounds will consist of 2 games including the championship round.
Bowl 1 additional game. The top 16 highest games will advance to the round of 16. (The highest game from the cashers round will advance to the round of 8 skipping the round of 16)
Bowl 1 additional game. The top 8 highest games will advance to the round of 8. The highest game from the round of 16 will advance to the and skip the round of 8.
Bowl 1 additional game. The top 4 scores from the round of 8 will join the seeded player from the round of 16 and advance to the 10Back™ “Live” Stream Show”.
Top five will bowl 1 game with the highest 4 scores advancing. The top 4 will bowl 1 game with the top 3 games advancing. The top 3 will bowl 1 game with the top 2 advancing. the top 2 will bowl 1 game with the highest game determining the champion. The top 5 will draw for lane assignment and starting position in all final rounds except for the championship game lane assignment and starting position, where the highest game from the previous round will have first choice of starting lane. The left lane must begin the final match by bowling 1 frame and then the opponent will bowl 2 frames. They will alternate bowling 2 frames each until the bowler who began the match will finish the 10th frame.
(a) Qualifying in doubles will consist of 4 games across 8 lanes.
(b) Qualifying in team event will consist of 3 games across 6 lanes.
(c) All rounds after qualifying will bowl baker style.
(This can be a multiple squad event with re-entries allowed)
All Squads - All entrants will bowl 3,4,5, or 6 games of qualifying with 50% of players advancing (including the players from other groups and other squads) to the survival round competition on Saturday. All survival round finalists will bowl 1 game with the field cut to the top 64, 32 or 16 bowlers depending on entries. Survival round #1 will begin after the conclusion of the final qualifying squad. * In multiple squad events, all non-advancers from the other qualifying squads may pay an additional discounted entry fee (If they bowled any of the previous squads and missed the cut). The bowlers who advance from the survival round will immediately draw for lane assignment and bowl a 1 game match against the bowler who draws the opposing lane assignment. The high score from each elimination bracket will advance to the next round bracket competition and immediately draw for lane assignment. This process will continue until we determine a champion.
All bowlers will bowl 3,4,5,or 6 games of qualifying with the top 1:5 advancing from the overall entries, plus 1:4 from each age group. All finalists will compete in their own age group, until a group is down to 1 player. The finalists will bowl 1 game with the top half of players with the highest scores advancing. If an odd number of players exist, the bubble bowler’s (see rule #22), also advance within their group. When a group is down to 1 bowler, but other groups have multiple bowlers, that bowler will join the next closest lower age group to finish competition. If a lower age group reduces to 1 bowler, and no lower age group is available to join, they will move to the next highest age group. Age groups in the open division determined as follows, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70 over, and women’s group. Age groups in the Major’s division determined as follows, 45-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70 over, and women’s group.
Re-Entries: For multiple squad events. *Any player may purchase a discounted entry into the next squad if they have already bowled a previous squad and did not advance to the finals.
Bracket Action: will be available at each event. Brackets action will be $10 per bracket. Brackets will use games 1, 2 and 3 for the first set of brackets and games 3, 4, 5, to determine winners of the second set of brackets in the 5 game qualifiers. Brackets will use games 1,2 and 3 and 3, 2, and 1 (reverse) in the 3 game qualifiers.
Side Pots: will be available at each event. Side pots offered will be high game each game, totals, and perfecta. The perfecta winner decided by the best 2 game series from all games bowled.
Progressive Mystery Game: will be available at all events. we will draw 1 number the first game from 150 to 300. if you have the same score as the number drawn, you win. All ties split monies. If nobody has the same score as the number drawn, the monies carry over to the next qualifying game. This continues until we have a winner. If there is no winner by the last game, we will draw numbers until we have a winner. All drawings will be determined in the tournament office with witnesses and no announcements made until after qualifying to reduce bowler interruption.
7. Survival Elimination Rounds. Exceptions to Rule 6. – Once the cutline for the finals is determined, additional bowlers outside of the cut line will join the finals round by Groups:
8. Groups.
Open Division: Open to all Bowlers. Champions from other organizations allowed to bowl, but if you are the holder of more than 2 national titles from any organization considered professional, within the last 10 years from event date, you must compete in the open division, with no consideration given to age status.
Group 1: Open Group (O) 39 and under plus, all bowlers not in another group.
Group 2: Major’s Group (M) (40-49) 1:4 ratio to advance to elimination.
Group 3: Senior Group (S) (50-59) 1:4 advance to the elimination.
Group 4: Super Senior Group (SS) (60 to 69) 1:4 advance to elimination.
Group 5: Super Duper Senior Group (SDS) (70 and older) 1:4 advance to elimination.
Group 6: Women’s Group (W) 1:3 Women will advance to elimination. If 3 or more Ladies (L) are in the field, they can only qualify from the Ladies group (L). If 2 or less Ladies are bowling, they enter as (O), (M), (S), (SS), or (SSS) depending on their age (see rule #8) and must qualify from that group.
Majors Division: Must be 45 or older to enter. (No National Title holders within the previous 10 years from any organization regarded as professional allowed).
Group 1: Major’s Group (M) (45-49) 1:4 ratio to advance to elimination.
Group 2: Senior Group (S) (50-59) 1:4 advance to the elimination.
Group 3: Super Senior Group (SS) (60 to 69) 1:4 advance to elimination.
Group 4: Super Duper Senior Group (SDS) (70 and older) 1:4 advance to elimination.
Group 5: Women’s Group (W) 1:3 Women will advance to elimination. If 3 or more Ladies (L) are in the field, they can only qualify from the Ladies group (L). If 2 or less Ladies are bowling, they enter as (O), (M), (S), (SS), or (SSS) depending on their age (see rule #8) and must qualify from that group.
Note. All positions will be determined by the final scores and tie breakers of bowlers after all squads have concluded.
9. Regular Elimination Rounds. There may be 5 or more rounds of eliminations including the Championship match. The top fifty percent of highest scores for each round will advance and the bottom fifty percent of lowest scores will not advance. This process will continue until 2 bowlers remain for head-to-head Championship Match. The number of lowest scores for each round will be determined based on the size of the field and announced prior to the start of eliminations.
10. Year End Championship will use format #2.
11. Scoring changes. Another competing bowler or tournament staff member must witness all scoring changes.
12. Ties. In the event of a tie, the bowlers will bowl a 9th and 10th frame roll off to determine the winner. If there is still a tie, the process will repeat until a clear winner is determined.
13. Re-racks. There will be 2 re-racks allowed per game. The tournament Director must approve additional re-racks.
14. Scorecards. Everyone is responsible for filling out their own scorecard and returning it to the tournament office at the completion of bowling. Any incorrect scorecard could result in a disqualification. Bowlers must verify and sign their own scorecard and each scorecard must include a signature from another player on the same pair of lanes who verified the scores as correct.
15. Dress code. All entrants must wear a bowling shirt with the bowler's name on the back of shirt. Collared and mock neck shirts are ok. Competitors may wear dress slacks, Capri's, shorts, skirts or skorts. Length of skirt, skorts or shorts must be below the bowler's fingertips when they are standing, and their arms are hanging down at their side. No denim jeans or patch pockets allowed. Bowler's clothing shall be neat, appropriate, and clean. Bowlers shall present a neat appearance in both clothing, hygiene, and personal grooming. All bowlers must be in acceptable attire when they are in the tournament bowling center, except when bringing in equipment prior to the start of the tournament and removing equipment at its conclusion. Blue jeans, basketball shorts, jogging shorts, cut offs and sweatpants not permitted, except during loading and unloading of equipment. No hats allowed while bowling. Hats allowed when not bowling. All tournament bowlers must be prepared for photographs or interviews on camera at any time during the tournament, including practice sessions. The Tournament Director shall have discretion to approve or reject questionable apparel.
16. Cheating. Any cheating is automatic disqualification with no refund. Bowlers could be subject to suspension from the MB Tour™ and or USBC.
17. Equipment and accessories. All bowling equipment and accessories used in competition, must be U.S.B.C. approved, and available to a worldwide release. Equipment can be spot checked and must be legal in all aspects. Any equipment deemed illegal, will be subject to removal from competition, with a warning given to bowler.
18. Conduct. We expect all participants to behave in a professional manner. We will not tolerate behavior causing property damage of any kind. Should an offense occur, a fine, suspension and restitution to the bowling center may happen.
19. Rule Interpretations. U.S.B.C rules will govern any rules not covered by these by-laws. The Tournament Executive Director will have the final say on all disputes and interpretations of our Tournament Rules.
20. Fines. Could be a warning, monetary fine, disqualification or suspension.
21. Lane Courtesy. The Majors Bowling Tour will use the professional two pair courtesy for every event. For example, if you are up to bowl on lane7, you must wait for a bowler on lane 5 or 6 to your left and lane 9 or 10 to your right. Then its your turn and the pairs to your left and right must wait for you. It is easy, fast, organized and offers proper etiquette to your fellow competitors.
22. Final Decisions Regarding Groups. Tournament Director has final decision as to any dispute over which group a bowler enters.
23. Equipment/Bowling Balls. All bowling balls must meet U.S.B.C standards and specifications. Any equipment deeded legal for use in U.S.B.C. league competition is permitted for use in all MB Tour™ events.
24. Professionalism. Contestants must conduct themselves in a courteous and professional manner at all times. Swearing, and unprofessional hand gestures will not be permitted. Any illegal conduct, or anything to deemed to be abuse by the tournament director, towards the tournament staff, host center staff or participants is strictly prohibited. Any bowler found to have violated this rule can be subject to disqualification of tournament with forfeiture of entry and/or banned from competing in future MB Tour events. This could include a lifetime ban.