Stern has been working with China to introduce pinball to the millions of potential players out there. The IFPA is looking for a representative to accompany Stern on a trip to China to help generate interest in the game. They are looking for someone to do demonstrations and to educate players with the help of a translator.

If anyone has any interest in becoming a poorly compensated consultant for a couple of weeks out in China please contact the IFPA at ifpapinball@gmail.com.

The third edition of Torneo de Pinball de Sant Jordi was a wonderfull day of pinball in an amazing location in the Island of Mallorca. 8 pinball machines where located in a old country house, near to the Mallorca Airport. The building looked like it was set up just for pinball. The machines were Black Knight 2000, Whirlwind, Dr Dude, Party Zone, The Who’s Tommy Pinball Wizard, White Water, Road Show and Champions Pub. 24 players (3 from France, 3 from Italy and the rest from the island or the spanish inland) had a lot of fun playing the machines, listening to music, having lunch outside with a delicious BBQ and cooling off in the pool on the back. Groups of four where created, and each group had to play one single game in any machine. After all games where played, every pinball had his own standing, giving 50 points to the top position, 49 to the second and so on decreasing until the last one. The player with most points ADDED FOR ALL THE MACHINES ENDED UP THE WINNER, WHO WAS the spanish number 1 Julio Vicario Soriano. The second position was taken by the organizer Pedro Díaz Gual, while Nicola Pierobon ended up third. Very nice home-custumed plaques were awarded to the top three, before going back to more pinball for the rest of the day.

The machines behaved perfectly for all day, making the event a must for the future for all the participants. Everybody is invited to the next year edition.

In April 2006, the IFPA attempted a fun experiment to try and rank the world’s greatest pinball players. A little over five years later, and the World Pinball Player Rankings has truly become a phenomenon within the competitive pinball community. We’re pleased to announce the goal we set of having 10,000 players ranked by the end of 2011 has just been reached. With these players coming from 30 different countries, competitive pinball truly is a global sport that only continues to grow at a rapid pace.

We’ve also seen incredible growth in the number of tournaments popping up all over the world. We’re uploading nearly 40 tournament results a month, which is about 3 times the amount of tournaments we were uploading during the first year of the WPPR system.

The IFPA wishes to thank everyone in the competitive pinball community for continuing to support everything we do to spread the world about our incredible sport to the masses.

64 of the World’s greatest players traveled from 16 countries to compete in the 8th Annual International Flipper Pinball Association’s World Pinball Championship. After nearly 3 days of the most intense competitive pinball experience the world has to offer, there could only be one World Pinball Champion. After defeating Michael Trepp from Switzerland (4-1), Tobias Lund from Sweden (5-3), and Zach Sharpe from the USA (5-3), Cayle went on to defeat Andreas Harre from Germany (4-2) to become the new World Pinball Champion. Zach Sharpe defeated Patrik Bodin for 3rd place.

The IFPA is proud to announce that Keith Elwin has finished at #1 on the World Pinball Player Rankings, thus earning IFPA’s top honor as the 2010 “World’s Greatest Pinball Player”. No single tournament victory will ever secure this title for a given year. Only consistent play at the highest level over the course of multiple years leads to players reaching the pinnacle of the World Pinball Player Rankings. During 2010, Keith posted his 3rd consecutive PAPA A division victory. He also won the Pin Pin 101 Tournament, Lyons Pinball Spring Classic, California Extreme, and a sweep at the NW Pinball Show in Seattle. Overall, Keith won 32% of the events he played in, while placing in the top 4 at 64% of his 2010 events, a truly remarkable achievement. Keith will be given his award at the IFPA8 World Pinball Championship, scheduled for May 27-29, 2011 in Sweden. Congratulations to Keith, and best of luck to everyone on the upcoming 2011 season.