The Vending Times has an article in their upcoming December issue covering the opening of IFPA HQ at Modern Pinball NYC. In advance of the Flip Off Hunger event starting this Saturday the article was released online.
IFPA Co-Chairmen Steve Epstein and Roger Sharpe are interviewed, as well as Modern Pinball NYC co-owner Steve Zahler.
Click HERE to read the article.
This coming November will mark two years since we discovered the nearly destroyed Spider-man pinball machine at Chrissy Brown Hematology and Oncology unit at The Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida. The Project Pinball organization was born that very day.
How It All Began:
Our charity all started because the parents of a patient named Jimmy donated a Spider-man pinball machine as a gift to the Children Hospital of Southwest Florida. My better half discovered the machine which was non-operational and desperately in need of parts and repairs too numerous to list.
The pinball community came together by donating of money, time, labor, parts, kind words of support and spreading the word about our cause. From your generous donations, we were able to restore the machine to fine working condition in only six weeks. There was about 108 hours of labor just for the repairs. We worked feverishly to get it back to the kids just in time Christmas! It was truly amazing to see the faces of the children as they saw their Spider-man being returned. It was certainly an uplifting moment.
Steve Edwards is the newly crowned Australian champion and the winner of a brand new Avengers PRO pinball machine. The Australian Timezone Supanova Pinball Championship culminated at the Grand Final held at Supanova Pop Culture Expo this Sunday. On the photo, Steve receives the trophy cup from an Australian actor Liam McIntyre. In his other hand is a certificate of ownership of Avengers PRO pinball machine provided by Amusement Machine Distributors. The players could qualify throughout the year at over 50 pinball locations around the country as well as at the Supanova events. We estimate that over 2500 people were involved in this championship. The Australian Pinball League is delighted about the partnership with Timezone Australia and the Supanova Pop Culture Expo. We have exposed pinball to over 180,000 predominantly young people throughout the year and saw some new young talents succeeding extremely well in the competitions. It leaves no doubt that the future for pinball is bright.
America's Playable Arcade Museum in McLean, IL has applied for a business grant from Chase Bank to expand the museum. They must receive 250 votes by NOV 15 in order to qualify for the grant.
Please see their message below:
Simply click on this link and VOTE for my museum to receive this grant from Chase Bank:
That's all you have to do!
This is a contest put on by Chase to grant money to 12 different small businesses. I need 250 votes in order to qualify for the next round. But I would really, really like to overwhelm them with far more votes than that.
This grant would allow me to:
The buzzing Supanova Pop Culture expo in Brisbane on Nov. 8 to 10 will be the centre of the universe for the best of the best pinball wizards around the country. The Australian Timezone Supanova Pinball Championship comes to the final stage on Sunday where the best players of this country will meet at the National Grand Final to win a brand new Avengers PRO pinball machine. This most anticipated event is a result of grilling qualifying tournaments held in over 50 locations across Australia and qualifying tournaments and State Finals held at Supanova Expos earlier this year.
The Australian Pinball League and Amusement Machine Distributors are very proud and excited to team up with the Supanova Pop Culture Expo and Timezone Australia to be able to deliver one of the most social and light hearted competitions to a new generation of pinball fans.
Qualifying for the inaugural IFPA State Championship Series now only has 2 months remaining. We currently have 28 states included in the SCS, which will all culminate in the IFPA State Championship finals. These finals will all be held simultaneously on February 8th, 2014, with 448 finalists competing for not only a State Championship title, but also a spot in the first IFPA US National Championship.
The player count currently stands at 4531 included in the various IFPA State Championship standings (view current standings HERE).
We wanted to take this opportunity to address a few frequently asked questions we've been receiving as the year winds to a close:
1) Once we close the 2013 standings (typically the first week of January), we will be sending invites out to players from each state. It is extremely important that you have an email address on file with the IFPA, so fill out an IFPA profile ASAP if you are interested in competing. If we have no way of contacting you, you will be skipped in the standings. Click HERE to edit your profile.
2) Players will have ONE WEEK to respond after the invitations are sent as to whether they are interested in competing or not. A non-response will be treated as a negative response after this one week deadline.
3) No player is allowed to compete in multiple IFPA State Championships. Players that qualify for more than one IFPA State Championship will have to make their choice during that one week period of registration.
4) We will continue going down the standings list of each state in order to fill all 16 qualifying spots. This may involve us going down to 30th, 50th or even 100th place, but we will go as far down as possible to fill the field. We will be sending alternate qualifer invites to players outside of the top 16, so please respond as soon as possible whether you are interested in competing.
Any questions about the SCS, or anything IFPA related, please contact us at ifpapinball@gmail.com
PBS in Arizona recently published a piece on D&D Pinball in Tucson. D&D Pinball will serve as one of the hosts for the inaugural IFPA State Championship Series championship playoffs this upcoming February. Click HERE to view the video and read the article. Current standings for the IFPA Arizona State Pinball Championship can be found HERE.
The London Ontario pinball league just began in February of 2013 and just finished its regular season in October. Playoffs will be held in November. We played on a monthly basis and had anywhere from 15-20 players on average. 34 players attended the final league night and was the record by far! We had a total of 56 different players play in the league overall so we have learned quickly that the demand for pinball in London is here.
Since the league started we have really spread the pinball love well and a ton of pinball machines have been purchased from league members in the recent months including two new stern star treks and two purchase orders for Medieval Madness remake. We have personally witnessed several members go from "interested" in pinball to mildly obsessed. We had 5 different hosts in total (4 or more machines required in our league) but there are another 4-5 hosts in the making now.
Rome – Daniele Acciari is the “King of Rome” of sport pinball. Finally, after three days of competition, where the players have been challenged by 6 new Stern, he won for the third time the 4th Rome Pinball Tournament, defeating in the final the Frenchman, ex European Champion Frank Bona. Cesare d'Atri ended in the third place. One game of the final was played on the brand new and long-awaited Star Trek, a pinball machine produced by Gary Stern, present at Enada to watch the tournament. A side tournament was also run on this machine, with the victory of Giacomo Sorcecchi. The tournament took place in the contest of Enada Roma, opening pinball to the public attention and to the media, that are more and more interested to this discipline. In a press conference held during the festival, Alessio Crisantemi, IFPA Italia president, had the opportunity to make few statements about it, talking about "Sports pinball in Enada: do not forget the entertainment". Alessio Crisantemi, explained what will happen in Rimini next year where the European Pinball Championship will be organized: “More than 30 lovers of all ages took part in this event in these three days of Enada Roma. They have been only a representation of a lot of players that during the year take part at the initiatives of IFPA Italia. Pinball is a fun and socialization time, for this reason we organize this tournament as part of Enada that represents the entertainment field, pure entertainment, as the pinball machine is. Sports pinball is an activity represented in 25 countries around the world with an international ranking with 20.000 players. Here we talk about it because the European Pinball Championship 2014 will be organized in partnership with Sapar that will sponsor the event. It will be held in the days of Enada Rimini, being extended up to 23 of March with an expectation of 200 players".
The International Flipper Pinball Association is pleased to announce the opening of the organization’s official headquarters at Modern Pinball NYC located at 362 3rd Avenue between 26th and 27th Streets in the heart of the city’s Gramercy Park.
Steve Epstein, Co-Chairman and IFPA Co-Founder, and Steve Zahler have taken the wraps off their latest venture. With Mr. Epstein’s more than 35 years of experience as the owner/operator of the world famous Broadway Arcade in the heart of Manhattan and Steve Zahler’s technical and retail marketing expertise, both are ready to elevate the pinball experience within the walls of Modern Pinball NYC. As the premier interactive showroom, Modern Pinball NYC will celebrate the best machines from a variety of eras and stage special events and charity fund raisers along with pinball leagues and tournaments.
“I am incredibly excited to get back into business,” stated Mr. Epstein. “It is something that I have wanted to do for a very long time ever since we closed the doors on The Broadway Arcade, but I was never able to get the right site or the necessary support. If I had not met Steve Zahler three years ago I do not believe the dream of getting back in the game would have happened. He brings not only an immense passion for pinball, but the technical expertise of a super programmer that will transform our location into a unique pinball experience. With the addition of Al Cihak (The Godfather of NY pinball) who makes the perfect marriage of passion and exceptional operating and Eddie Cramer who adds the dimension of a top pinball restorer, Francesco LaRocca, Alberto Santana, Kevin McHugh and Steve Bowden as Tournament Director, the team is complete. We have the whole package, operations, technical know-how, and the best in competitive experience. We are proud to represent the IFPA in all ways.”
Asked whether events will be held at the facility, Mr. Epstein replied, “There will definitely be leagues and tournaments on a regular basis but, more so, will be the outreach for special promotional programs and other events all with the express purpose of exposing pinball to a much broader and growing audience. Modern Pinball NYC will showcase the best that is pinball and to have the IFPA headquarters based here is icing on the cake.”
The International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) was created with the express purpose of encouraging, supporting and endorsing competitive pinball throughout the world. The organization provides oversight and assistance to not only establishing pinball leagues, but also tournaments (over 450 events are being held annually) and other promotional activities.
“The staggering and explosive growth of the entire worldwide community of pinball players and enthusiasts has been nothing short of remarkable since we re-launched the IFPA just a few years ago. And the future has never looked brighter for pinball with tournaments and leagues taking place around the world on an almost weekly basis,” states Roger Sharpe, Co-Chairman and IFPA Co-Founder. I could not be happier for Steve Epstein and Modern Pinball NYC because I know it is going to become the must visit place for everyone in the tri-state area.”
The World Pinball Tour of IFPA endorsed events feature over $500,000 in cash and prizes given away each year. With twenty-five international country directors, the IFPA has additionally created the first official player ranking system, which awards points based upon player performance. The World Pinball Player Rankings (WPPR) includes over 21,000 players from 40 different countries. And these numbers keep increasing with the revered entertainment attraction—pinball—continuing to draw in men, women, boys and girls—all looking to embrace the timeless battle of man versus machine.
To be notified of Modern Pinball NYC's grand opening day, upcoming tournaments and events, special promotions and discounts, 'Like' their Facebook page at:https://www.facebook.com/
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