The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for October 2013 is current World No.1 [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] from Chicago, IL. Zach earned a total 147.76 WPPR points in October, with victories at both the Pinball Expo Flip Out Tournament and the Danish Pinball Open. Zach also finished in 3rd and 2nd place in the Classics Divisions of each of those tournaments respectively.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of October included [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] from Delaware, OH, with 114.17 WPPR points, [player]Marcin Kisiel[/player] from Poland with 92.69 WPPR points, [player]Josh Sharpe[/player] from Palatine, IL with 87.23 WPPR points, and [player]Roy Wils[/player] from the Netherlands with 86.35 WPPR points.

Congratulations to Zach and the other top WPPR point earners of the month!

After 6 months of qualifying sessions, the Chicagoland Pinball League had their finals this past weekend (July 13th, 2013). 24 out of the 36 players qualified for the A, B and C finals.

In the C division, [player]Mike Vinikour[/player] (ranked 1609th in the world) defeated [player]Bryan Jozwiak[/player] (ranked 1038th in the world) for 1st place. [player]Chuck Czygrn[/player] (ranked 1567th in the world) finished 3rd.

In the B division, [player]Brian Lamug[/player] (ranked 1782nd in the world) defeated [player]Jason Weibel[/player] (ranked 1608th in the world) for 1st place. Proud new father [player]Steven Perotti[/player] (ranked 1504th in the world) finished 3rd.

In the A division, [player]Josh Sharpe[/player] (ranked 15th in the world) defeated [player]Dave Hegge[/player] (ranked 101st in the world) for 1st place. Regular season champion, and current world #1 [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] finished 3rd.

Full results of the regular season can be found HERE. Final standings can be found HERE. Video footage of the final match between Josh and Dave was also recorded. That footage can be viewed HERE.

Coverage of the upcoming IFPA10 World Pinball Championship takes us to Chicago, where the RedEye talked with brothers [player]Josh Sharpe[/player] (ranked 15th in the world) and [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] (ranked 3rd in the world). Both Josh and Zach will be representing the USA at the inaugural Epstein Cup prior to the kickoff of IFPA10. Check out the article HERE.

Last week we announced who will be representing Team Europe in the inaugural Epstein Cup. With IFPA10 registration now officially closed, we're excited to announce that the roster for Team USA has now also been finalized.

Representing Team USA at the 2013 Epstein Cup will be IFPA8 World Pinball Champion and team captain [player]Cayle George[/player] (ranked 3rd in the world), [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] (ranked 4th in the world), [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] (ranked 6th in the world), [player]Josh Sharpe[/player] (ranked 12th in the world), [player]Joshua Henderson[/player] (ranked 15th in the world), [player]Andrei Massenkoff[/player] (ranked 24th in the world), [player]Lyman Sheats[/player] (ranked 22nd in the world) and [player]Jason Werdrick[/player] (ranked 36th in the world).

21 players competed in the February 2013 edition of the Gameworks Monthly Pinball Tournament. [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] (ranked 4th in the world) emerged victorious earning himself $45, and enough WPPR points to move him into 2nd place in the IFPA Illinois State Championship standings.

Zach first defeated [player]Chad Gates[/player] (ranked 4337th in the world) on AC/DC, followed by a victory over [player]Jack Danger[/player] (ranked 2226th in the world) on Avengers. In the semi-finals Zach defeated [player]Scott Danesi[/player] (ranked 1934th in the world) on Family Guy. This led to a final against brother [player]Josh Sharpe[/player] (ranked 12th in the world), and unlike Super Bowl XLVII where older brother John defeated younger brother Jim, Zach came out on top on Soprano’s. Scott Danesi finished in 3rd place defeating [player]Steve Kordek[/player] (ranked 4140th in the world) on Ironman.

Full results can be found HERE. Updated standings for the IFPA Illinois State Championship can be found HERE. The Gameworks Monthly Pinball Tournament is held the first Tuesday of every month, with the next edition scheduled for March 5th.

After publishing a story leading up to the IFPA9 World Pinball Championship a month ago, RedEye Chicago just released a follow up piece on the growing popularity of the sport. Featured in the article is [player]George Gomez[/player] (ranked 4321st in the world), Vice President of Game Design at Stern Pinball. Also featured is [player]Bowen Kerins[/player] (ranked 4th in the world), [player]Josh Sharpe[/player] (ranked 12th in the world), and [player]Mike Miller[/player] (ranked 2156th in the world). Click HERE to check out the article.

64 of the top ranked pinball players from 12 countries came to Bainbridge Island just outside Seattle to compete for the chance to become the new IFPA World Pinball Champion.

The Battle in Seattle was truly a battle of champions, as 3 of the top 4 finishers were the 3 previous IFPA World Pinball Champions. IFPA5 and IFPA6 World Pinball Champion [player]Bowen Kerins[/player] survived a 3-0 deficit to [player]Steve Zahler[/player] in his first round of the playoffs to come back and take the match 5 games to 3, and then knocked off 3-time PAPA World Pinball Champion [player]Lyman Sheats[/player] 4-1 to advance to the Final 4. [player]Andy Rosa[/player], who was the runner up at IFPA7 took out current world ranked #1 [player]Keith Elwin[/player] 5-4 in a match that went the distance on his way to the finals. Defending champion [player]Cayle George[/player] had the toughest road in the playoffs, surviving matches against [player]Josh Sharpe[/player], [player]Donavan Stepp[/player], [player]Jim Belsito[/player] and [player]Bowen Kerins[/player] that all went into sudden death.

In the end, it was IFPA7 champion [player[Daniele Celestino Acciari[/player] from Italy, who after defeating [player]Frank Romero[/player] (4-2), [player]Jason Werdrick[/player] (4-2) and Jorgen Holm (4-0), was faced with a rematch of his World Championship match at IFPA7 against [player]Andy Rosa[/player]. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead, Acciari eventually defeated Rosa 4 games to 2. His reward was a matchup with the IFPA8 World Pinball Champion [player]Cayle George[/player]. After splitting the first two games on The Shadow and Grand Prix, Acciari took control of the match by holding serve on Medusa followed by a victory on George’s pick Attack From Mars. The players then headed to Bally’s Old Chicago, where just a round earlier, Acciari put up an incredible 245,240 points rolling the game twice against [player]Andy Rosa[/player]. Unfortunately following a tough ball 1, [player]Cayle George[/player] tilted not only his ball, but also ended up tilting Acciari's ball 2. This interference, albeit unintentional, resulted in George's disqualification from the game, and ultimately the match.

With that, Daniele Celestino Acciari became this year's IFPA World Pinball Champion, bringing the title back to Italy where it will be for the rest of 2012, along with $1350 cash and a brand new pinball machine from Stern Pinball. Acciari's World Championship victory capped off an incredible week of tournament performance in Seattle. Starting with a victory at the NW Pinball Championships, along with a 4th place finish in the Classics Division, Acciari then took a 2nd place finish at the Full Tilt Pre-IFPA Tournament. In total Acciari racked up over 250 WPPR points for the week, which will likely propel him to becoming the #1 ranked player in the world depending on how the rest of 2012 plays out.

Full results can be found HERE.

Continuing coverage of the upcoming IFPA9 World Pinball Championship takes us back to Chicago, where WGN Radio 720AM talked with [player]Josh Sharpe[/player] (ranked 10th in the world). Click HERE to listen to the interview.

Continuing coverage of the upcoming IFPA9 World Pinball Championship takes us to Chicago, where the RedEye talked with brothers [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] (ranked 6th in the world) and [player]Josh Sharpe[/player] (ranked 10th in the world). The Sharpe brothers, along with [player]Lyman Sheats[/player] (ranked 42nd in the world), [player]Joshua Henderson[/player] (ranked 18th in the world) and [player]Jason Werdrick[/player] (ranked 27th in the world) will all be making their way to Seattle to represent not only the United States, but Chicago at this year's IFPA World Pinball Championship.

Check out the article HERE.