Gen Z arcade fans are embracing a familiar favorite: pinball. Players like 19 year old Jason Zahler started at age 3 and is now ranked the number one player in the world. NBC’s George Solis has the story. Click HERE to watch.
We are pleased to announce the PAPA 21 World Pinball Championships, a Memorial for Suicide Awareness in memory of Lyman F. Sheats, Jr.
The last PAPA World Pinball Championships were held in April 2017, and since that time, we have lost Lyman to suicide. The legendarily challenging format of the World Pinball Championships made this Lyman’s favorite tournament, which he won in 2004 and 2006 (he also won the earlier PAPA 3, which used a different format), while consistently reaching the finals in almost every year. This tournament now honors his legacy in the pinball world, as well as his memory as a person.
The event will be held September 5-8, 2024, at Enterrium in Schaumburg, Illinois. This is a charity event that we hope will be rewarding for players, while honoring Lyman’s memory and raising money for suicide awareness.
Pre-registration is not required but is encouraged. Full details are at https://lfs.papa.org/ and we encourage anyone interested to spread the link.
With the 2023 pinball season officially behind us, the World Pinball Player Rankings continues to show no signs of slowing down within the competitive pinball community. We wanted to take a quick look back at the growth we saw during 2022.
We’re proud to say that the total number of IFPA sanctioned events for 2023 was 10,302. This represents a 33% growth from the end of 2022 where we had 7,724 IFPA sanctioned events on the calendar. Total player attendance at those events was 246,414, up 37% from 2022.
In addition, the number of unique players that played in an IFPA sanctioned tournament during 2023 was 32,767, up 32% from the number of players that were active during 2022.
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.
sponsored blog post
The Frederick News-Post posted an article about competitive pinball. Click HERE to read the article.
On June 24 and 25, 2023, the Titan Pinball Southwest Regional Pin-Masters returned to the North Texas. The event returned to Free Play Arcade in Arlington, Texas and was streamed live by Try to Tilt Pinball on Twitch.
On Saturday, 86 players competed on an 18 “hole” pin-golf course to qualify for the finals. The top 24 players competed in the ‘A’ division finals on Sunday. A total of $4400 was awarded to players in both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ divisions.
Titan Pinball contributed $2000 of that prize pool. Titan Pinball also paid $500 for the trophies that were awarded. With Titan Pinball paying for the trophies, that limited expenses and thus, more money went into the prize pool.
This event was won by 17-year-old Jack Revnew of Conroe, Texas. As an official qualifier for the 2024 IFPA Pin-Masters: World Pin-Golf Championships, Jack earned $1000 in cash and a discount on entry to that event, which will be held in early 2024.
There were also trophies Hole in One trophies for the qualifiers and for the finals. Garrett Shahan won the Hole in One trophies for the qualifiers and Jack Revnew won the Hole in One trophy for the Finals.
For more information about the IFPA Pin-Masters, go to https://www.ifpapinball.com/tournament_pages/pinmasters/
CTV News in Winnipeg Canada published a piece on IFPA18 participant Jack Tadman. Click HERE to watch the piece.
Ilta-Sanomat news in Finland published a piece on IFPA18 runner-up Markus Virtanen. Click HERE to read the article.
Bracket for finals available HERE.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL
Johannes Ostermeier vs. Markus Virtanen (5-4)
Johannes won on Dark Rider, The Shadow, Road Kings, Indianapolis 500, Corvette
Markus won on The Addams Family, Paragon, Space Station, Godzilla
CONSOLATION FINAL
Jason Zahler d. Markus Stix (2-1)
Jason won on Avengers, Dolly Parton
Markus won on Space Station
QUALIFYING STANDINGS:
https://next.matchplay.events/tournaments/101543
STREAM:
https://www.twitch.tv/jdl_pinball
GAME LIST:
https://www.ifpapinball.com/ifpa18/games/
| Rank | Name | Points |
| 1 | Jason Zahler | 3143.85 |
| 2 | Escher Lefkoff | 2982.11 |
| 3 | Zach McCarthy | 2919.53 |
| 4 | Arvid Flygare | 2544.06 |
| 5 | Viggo Löwgren | 2483.97 |
| 6 | Raymond Davidson | 2249.32 |
| 7 | Timber Engelbeen | 2073.21 |
| 8 | Jared August | 2060.91 |
| 9 | Paul Englert | 1958.77 |
| 10 | Johannes Ostermeier | 1933.49 |
| 11 | Daniele Celestino Acciari | 1906.66 |
| 12 | Gregory Kennedy | 1874.90 |
| 13 | Derek Thomson | 1810.49 |
| 14 | Luke Nahorniak | 1766.97 |
| 15 | Neil Graf | 1701.83 |
| 16 | Eric Stone | 1699.58 |
| 17 | Jack Slovacek | 1684.24 |
| 18 | Dalton Ely | 1645.03 |
| 19 | Peter Andersen | 1562.28 |
| 20 | Bowen Kerins | 1549.39 |
| 21 | Tim Hansen | 1522.53 |
| 22 | Josh Sharpe | 1518.07 |
| 23 | Carlos Delaserda | 1509.68 |
| 24 | Germain Mariolle | 1498.74 |
| 25 | Cayle George | 1468.69 |
Carlos Delaserda
Columbus, United States
