
Home \| Schedule \| Maps \| Results \| Join Now \| Rules \| History \| Links \| PrePay \| News \| Robinson Award

Rules & Formats

NABI Chicago Rules & Formats

Membership & General Information

The official "NABI General Tournament Rules and Policies" manual is available at any NABI tournament site. Each member is given a copy when they join. Below are excerpts from the manual.
Members of the PBA or LPBT - past or present - national or regional, are not permitted to join our club. Former Senior PBA members that never won a regional or national event may apply for membership 24 months from their last Senior PBA event.
Membership is open to men & women that have published USBC averages of at least 42 games that have never had a final published average higher than 205. New members must provide written proof of current year averages.
Any member that wins a scratch tournament or whose Masters average on the other tour reaches 215 or above, must report this occurrence and will be graduated from our club.
Members must be at least 20 years old to participate in any events outside of Chicago.
The tournament director reserves the right to reject any membership application or re-rate any entry - at any time.
Members may receive the prepaid entry rate by maintaining an amount equal to the prepaid entry rate in the NABI operating account. These funds will be returned to the bowler upon request. Membership dues that are not paid prior to 12/31 each year will be automatically deducted from those funds unless a refund is requested prior to the 12/31 renewal deadline.
*all advertised prices reflect a 5% cash discount rounded to the nearest dollar (average effective discount of 4.76%). ONLY CASH AND CHECK PAYMENTS RECEIVE THIS DISCOUNT.
Personal checks may only be written at the tournament site only by those members that have funds in the prepay account equal to the amount of the check. All other personal checks must be received at least 7 days prior to the tournament they wish those funds to be available for. Any returned check will result in a $30 fee and permanent loss of check writing privileges. Failure to remedy the shortage within 1 week, will result in suspension and reporting to the USBC.
Our membership dues run from 12/31-12/31 each year, and are not prorated. New member cash dues are $20, and annual cash renewal is $20 if paid by 12/31 each year - $25 if paid late. These rates will channge in 2011 to $22 for on time renewals and $30 for late renewals.

Averages

Entering average = Highest of: current league, 21 or more games OR past 2 seasons high USBC published average, but 1 of the three, must be for a minimum of 42 games. The director reserves the right to make adjustments based on the center & league that the averages were established in.
A member will bowl at his/her entering average until they accumulate $300 in tournament winnings, or until their actual pin fall is 20 pins or more per game higher.
If at any time a members true pin fall is 20 pins or more higher than their entering average, that member will receive a temporary adjustment of half of the difference.
The director reserves the right to exclude any game for average purposes. To prevent bagging, based on the performance of the club as a whole for that event, scores that are significantly lower (percentage-wise) than the rest of the club will be entered into your history at your tournament average for that weekend. If a tournament official determines that you intentionally failed to deliver a shot to the best of your abilities - in addition to your disqualification & suspension, you will have 100 pins added to that game in your average history.
Once a bowler joins, his/her future league averages will not effect their tournament average unless;
- A member has a current season league average of 42 games or more that is 20 or more pins higher (10 if it is a USBC Sport league) than their current NABI Tournament average will have their tournament average adjusted so it is within that range. It is each member's responsibility to report this prior to bowling in any NABI Chicago event. We understand that the tournament conditions that our members roll on each week are more challenging than the traditional 10 to 10 league shot, but the 20 pin margin is more than fair when compared to the USBC sport average conversion chart.
- over 90 days pass since they last entered a NABI tournament
- they bowl less than 21 NABI tournament games per calendar year
- they let their membership expire.
- If any of the red items occur, and they have a league average over the past 3 seasons that is higher than their entering NABI average, they will be adjusted half the difference.

Handicap

Handicap is 90% of the difference between your entering average and 205, with a maximum handicap of 62 pins per game. Each time a member does not cash at a regular event, he/she will receive 3 additional "plus pins" added to their handicap.
They will accumulate those plus pins until they cash or until January 1st each year.
Cashing bowlers loose their plus pins on a sliding scale, based on how much they win.

BOWLNABI.COM Invitational entry requirements

To be eligible to bowl in the BOWLNABI.COM Invitational, you must:
- Due to the severe problems with the economy, and NABI DFW's decision not to particapate, the BOWLNABI.com Invitational will not have a minimum games bowled requirement. Any NABI member current in membership dues and otherwise in good standing will be eligible for this year's Invitational.

NABI WEEK Eligibility

To be eligible to bowl in any event held in Las Vegas each summer at NABI Week, you must:
Be a NABI Member prior to June 5, 2010.
Enter 1/3 of the events scheduled after the Year End Championships through the weekend immediately preceding NABI Week AND bowl a minimum of 30 NABI Chicago tournament games over that same period.
For NABI Week 2010, existing members will need 8 tournaments & 30 games.
For those that Join NABI in 2010, you still need the 30 games, but 1/3 of the tournaments scheduled will be:

Date Joined	# Needed
1/1-1/23/10	8
1/24-2/14/10	7
2/15-3/14/10	6
3/15-4/18/10	5
4/19-6/05/10	4

NABI Week 2010 dates have not yet been officially announced by the National Office.

Dress Code

All members must adhere to the National Dress Code, which include wearing a collared shirt with the NABI logo permanently attached to either sleeve, or either side of the upper front of the shirt. It also must have the members full name permanently attached on the back, in lettering of at least 1½" in height. Appropriate slacks, jeans or skirts may be worn. The following are not permitted: hats, sweat pants or other gym type attire. Locally we permit walking length shorts & skorts from the week after Easter through Labor Day each year.
New members have 30 days from when they join to get a shirt lettered. However, they do have to wear a collared shirt to any event bowled during that 30 days.

Equipment

It is the responsibility of each member to ensure that his/her equipment meets USBC standards. Random spot checks are made at the tournament site. If any ball is found to be illegal, the bowler will forfeit any prizes won.

Expected Behavior, Fines & Suspensions

You are to present your current NABI membership card at Tournament Check-In. Multiple violations could incur a $1.00 fine.
Food, drink, powder, rosin, easy slide (or anything else that leaves dust) are NOT ALLOWED in the settee/tiled area. These items must be kept back on the concourse. Violations will incur a $1.00 fine per offense.
Wearing your bowling shoes outside the bowling center is prohibited.
Obscene language in any form is NOT ALLOWED. Violations will incur a $2.00 fine per offense - this is DOUBLED if you drop the F*** bomb.
Dress code violations (see "Dress Code" above) will incur a $5.00 fine per day.
Unsportsman like behavior and/or conduct detrimental to the club will result in disqualification from an event without refunding of fees, and depending on the severity and TOTALLY at the discretion of the Tournament Director could result on a suspension ranging from 1 event to a LIFETIME BAN.
- Some examples are: cheating, bagging, disparaging and/or racist comments made to others, fighting, recruiting for other tournaments, or any other behavior that prevents your fellow club members from enjoying our tournament.
Throughout the year, your Directors give out "NABI Bucks" for various accomplishments. These funds are provided by your Directors, and are NOT subsidized by the prize fund portion of your entry fees. Any bowler that commits an offense serious enough to warrant suspension, will forfeit any "NABI Bucks" he/she has on account at the time of suspension, and they will not be eligible for that year's "Robinson Award Shootout".

Tournament Formats

Each weekend is a separate tournament. 100% of all prize money is paid out at each event.
We have three basic formats that make up the majority of our events.
- Regular events:
  - These events feature 2 or more qualifying squads that consist of 3-games. One of every 5 entries advance to the finals from each qualifying squad (the total number of entries of that squad is divided by 5, the quotient of that equation is the number of bowlers advancing - this number is not rounded up)
  - All bowlers advancing to the finals are guaranteed to cash in our events. The finals format is determined by the total number of bowlers that advance to the finals.
    - 0-19 finalists: This is single game elimination with half of the field advancing after each game. At the directors discretion, an extra bowler may advance to the next round to even out the field.
    - 20+ finalists: All finalists bowl 2 games, with the top 1 of 5 advancing to seeded match-play.
- Sweeper events:
  - These events are score only - "beat the board" type tournaments that normally consist of 3-games.
  - If multiple squads are available, bowlers can cash more than once - but can only once in the top 3 spots.
  - At a one day sweeper:
    - with 2 squads: the bowler that posts the high handicap score on the 1st squad of a sweeper, can finish no lower than second place in the prize money.
    - with 3 squads: the bowler with the high handicap series on the 1st squad will win paid entries into the 2nd & 3rd squad.
  - At a two day sweeper, bowlers from each day are guaranteed to cash. A cut is determined each day, and the scores from each day's cut list are combined to determine the final standings and cashing order.
  - Starting in 2010, some sweeper events will feature Top 3 match play. The bowler with the high score on the 1st squad will earn the #1 seed, and the next two highest scores of the day will earn the #2 & #3 seeds. They will bowl one game head to head, with the winner advancing to face the #1 seed in the championship match.
- Holiday/Special events:
  - These events are generally held on holidays or special occasions and consist of 3-game qualifying and 3-game semifinal rounds. More than one squad may be included in a cut at these events.
  - All bowlers advancing to the semifinals are guaranteed to cash at these events.
  - The advertised number of semifinalists will advance to the finals of these events - generally 5-16

These are our regular Tournament Formats. Throughout the year we run other special formats as outlined in our flyers. Only bowlers with a local Chicago area book average are permitted to enter our events. Traveling NABI members are only permitted to enter our "Bowlnabi.com Easter Open" & "DeRosa Regional" events. Members from the Tennessee, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa and Ohio clubs that are not currently offering events in their local areas, may temporarily transfer their memberships to the Chicago club until such time that their local clubs are operating again.