IFPA Certified Tournaments

IFPA Certified+ events –> This classification of event has an Event Booster value of 150%. Certified+ require the following attributes:

  1. 128 rated player minimum.
    • Explanation: The tournament’s IFPA results are used to determine this player count. Players must either be in the top 250 or must meet at least 50% of the qualifying requirements to be included in the tournament’s IFPA results.
  2. Qualifying portion of the tournament must consist of one of the following approved formats:
    • LIMITED Best Game/Card Qualifying – minimum 20 hours of qualifying time, minimum 5 games being counted, entry total must be at least 2X the amount of machines being used.
    • HYBRID Best Game Qualifying – minimum 20 hours of qualifying time, minimum 5 games being counted, entry total must be exactly 4X the amount of machines being used.
    • UNLIMITED Best Game/Card Qualifying – minimum 20 hours of qualifying time, minimum 5 games being counted.
    • Match Play Qualifying formats (4-player groups) – minimum of 20 qualifying games.
    • Head to Head Qualifying formats – minimum of 40 qualifying games.
  3. No other qualifying formats are eligible (Flip Frenzy, Pin-Golf, Knockout/Strikes, Pace Match Play, etc)
  4. 24 finalists minimum.
  5. No player may receive a bye beyond the round of 16 finalists.
  6. Maximum length of the tournament is 4 consecutive days.
  7. Finals for the top 24 cannot start on the same day that Qualifying starts.
  8. Finals portion of the tournament must consist of one of the following approved formats:
    • PAPA style match play rounds (minimum of 3 games per round)
    • IFPA style head-to-head play (minimum best of 5 matches per round).
  9. All game choices during finals must be made by the players.
    • Explanation: This includes tiebreaker games to determine who advances to the next finals round. This rule does not apply to tiebreaker games for qualifying to get into finals or for receiving a bye.

IFPA Certified events –> This classification of event has an Event Booster value of 125%.

  • Certified requires all of the attributes from the above Certified+ list except for the 128 rated player minimum (item “a”).

Please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] with any questions.

For a list of upcoming Certified Tournaments, go here.

If your event was approved for sanctioning and you wish to have it added to the Certified calendar please contact us at [email protected] to have it reviewed.