I. Quick Overview
The Epstein Cup is an annual pinball competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is organized by the International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA), and is contested every year in conjunction with the IFPA World Pinball Championship.
The tournament consists of 8 players from each side, competing in a set of 3 games. Players earn points for their team based on their finishing positions on these games, with 32 points needed to win the Epstein Cup.
II. Competition Details
1. How to qualify
Unlike most tournaments where the qualification process takes place over a couple of days at the tournament site, qualifying for the Epstein Cup is based on results from all the IFPA endorsed tournaments held over the past 3 years. Utilizing its World Pinball Player Rankings, the IFPA will use the January 1st rankings of the current year to determine the qualifiers for Team USA and Team Europe. The tournament field will consist of the top 8 ranked players on each side out of those players competing at the IFPA World Pinball Championship. Should any eligible player choose not to participate, we will move down to the next ranked player to fill the spot for the respective teams.
For purposes of the Epstein Cup, players from Canada will be eligible to compete for Team USA, while players from Japan and Australia will be eligible to compete for Team Europe.
2. Fees
No entry fee is required from players to compete in the tournament.
3. Prizes
The 8 players from the winning team will each receive a plaque courtesy of the IFPA, with the highest ranking player on the winning team taking home the Epstein Cup until the following year’s match.
III. Machine Selections
Following the IFPA World Pinball Championship practice session, the home team (when IFPA is held in Europe, Team USA will be considered the visiting team, and vice versa) will choose an OLD-MID-NEW game from the list of games to be used in the IFPA World Pinball Championship. The visiting team will have the chance to veto one of those choices. The home team will then make a replacement choice. The home team will then choose in which order they want the machines to be played.
IV. Format of Matches
The teams will play a 4-player, 4-ball game with all 8 players from each side playing a single ball each. The visiting team will play in player positions 1 and 3 while the home team will play in player positions 2 and 4.
Scoring for each game will be as follows:
1st place = +7 points
2nd place = +5 points
3rd place = +3 points
4th place = +1 point
Total Team Score = +5 points
21 points will be scored in total per game, with a maximum of 17 points available to either team.
This same scoring system will be used for all 3 games. Ultimately 63 points will be awarded, so it will take 32 points to win the Epstein Cup.
V. Rulings and Malfunctions
All rulings and malfunctions will be based on the rules for the IFPA World Pinball Championship.
