The IFPA is excited to announce that Stern has added Led Zeppelin Pro to the rewards program. For any interested players, August 2021 is the estimated availability date for current orders. Any questions please contact us at ifpapinball@gmail.com

Detailed rules for the $tern Rewards Program, including an updated list of qualifiers, and updated list of rewards available can be found HERE.

Season #2 of the ICR Pinball Championship is down to the final 8! Congrats to the follow players that have advanced to the quarterfinals:

Bill Mason, Mariusz Tkacz, Joe Lemire, Escher Lefkoff, Mario Kertels, Shaun Russell, Jeff Teolis, Nate Grant

The quarterfinals of the playoffs will be held between now and April 30th. Follow along the progress by checking out the playoff bracket HERE.

In addition, qualifying for Season #3 of the ICR Pinball Championship is underway! This third season of 2021 will be based on activity from April 1, 2021, and we will lock in those qualifying standings as of July 1, 2021. The IFPA will continue to contribute $1 per player to the prize pool for each season we continue to run the ICR Pinball Championship.

For full details on the ICR, please click HERE.

To join the IFPA ICR Group on Facebook click HERE.

To join our IFPA ICR Discord click HERE and connect with other players to organize IFPA Challenge Matches.

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Stern Pinball is calling all pinheads, flippers and pinball enthusiasts!

As Stern moves forward with future Stern Heads-Up Pinball Invitationals (SHUPI), they are looking for the best and the brightest to come and compete on their show and they have extended this opportunity to the IFPA player base.

If you are ready to share why you should be a contestant on a future SHUPI, upload a video HERE.

Submission Guidelines:

Please submit a tape 3-5 minutes in length. No need to edit or add music, we are just looking for your amazing personality to come through on raw footage. We want to showcase the diverse stories of the pinball community and encourage pinballers of all backgrounds to apply.

IMPORTANT: At the beginning of the tape, please hold up a piece of paper that can be easily read through the camera with the following information: your name, your age, your city, your email address and your phone number. We recommend printing out a piece of paper with this information typed in large font. Please also start off your tape by saying these items aloud. If we don’t know how to contact you, we can’t cast you!

Show us your life! Show us your machines! What does pinball mean to you? How is it a part of your life? How has it affected your life? What does your family, loved ones, friends and coworkers think about your flipper lifestyle? Why do you think you should be on this show?

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284 players participated in 5,525 matches in Season #2 of the IFPA Challenge Rankings (ICR) system from 1/1/21 through 3/31/21, with 64 qualifiers now advancing to the ICR Championship.

Bill Mason from Huntersville, NC enters the Championship as the top seed, battling for his share of $284 in prizes.

The first round of the playoffs will be held between now and April 9th. Follow along the progress by checking out the playoff bracket HERE.

For full details on the ICR, please click HERE.

To join our IFPA ICR Discord click HERE and connect with other players to organize IFPA Challenge Matches.

The IFPA is excited to announce that plans are underway for a new matchplay tournament to help fill the void that Pinburgh has left behind. Through the help of IFPA volunteers across the country, plans for IFPAburgh include the ability to accommodate up to 1500 players, with a prize package of over $400,000.

The IFPA is creating 5 separate Regional Qualifiers across the country. Registration for these 5 qualifiers will open on the same day, with no player able to participate in more than one qualifying event. Players can however participate in any one of the regionals. The maximum number of participants in each Regional Qualifier will be 300 players.

WEST Regional –> Museum of Pinball, 700 S Hathaway St, Banning, CA 92220
MIDWEST Regional –> District 82 Pinball Arcade, 800 O Keefe Rd suite f, De Pere, WI 54115
SOUTHWEST Regional –> Starfighters Arcade, 4840 E Jasmine St #102, Mesa, AZ 85205
SOUTHEAST Regional –> Pinball Asylum, 13831 Jetport Commerce Pkwy, Fort Myers, FL 33913
NORTHEAST Regional –> The Sanctum, 290 Pratt St, Meriden, CT 06450

Some details for each Regional Qualifier:

• Entry fee will be $250 per player. No prize money will be awarded at the Regional Qualifier, however prize money will be paid out to ALL finalists.
• Stern Pinball is sponsoring the Regional Qualifiers by contributing a NIB Pro pinball machine for the top qualifier of each Region.
• The top 10% of the finalists from each of these Regional Qualifiers will advance to the IFPAburgh Championship (maximum of 150 finalists in total).
• Each Regional Qualifier will use the same qualifying format as Pinburgh – 2 day event – 5 sessions per day, 4 games per session.
• Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required to participate in any of the IFPAburgh Regional Qualifiers.
• Masks will be mandatory at all IFPAburgh Regional Qualifiers.

Working with our partners over at PAPA, the finals will be held at the Pittsburgh Pinball Dojo, 2 N Balph Ave, Bellevue, PA 15202.

More details to come later this year!
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April 2nd update . . .

This was an April’s Fools joke! We want to get through this pandemic and begin sanctioning events again before we embark on any new IFPA campaigns. However, the idea of working with organizers around the globe to organize satellite events to feed an ultimate championship, all featuring the Pinburgh Match-Play format we love is definitely something we plan on exploring. This would be far more likely to include events all over the World (not just the US). We will keep everyone posted as things develop.

For any American Pinball owners of Houdini, Oktoberfest or Hot Wheels that have a moment, we’re looking to help API analyze the gameplay audits from the collective players base out there to see the frequency of how often various features are started. If you’re interested in helping, please shoot an email of the audits from your game to “ifpapinball@gmail.com”

If you happen to be an IFPA ranked player, please send your player ID number as well in the email.