IFPA18 Overview

The IFPA is pleased to announce the 18th annual IFPA World Pinball Championship. It will be held June 1-4, 2023 at Freddy’s Pinball Paradise in Echzell, Germany.

Below you will find important information about the tournament including how to qualify, tournament format, hotel accommodations, prize breakdown and more! Any questions please contact the IFPA at ifpapinball@gmail.com.

WHERE IS IFPA18 GOING TO BE HELD?

Automatic Bid Qualification

Unlike most tournaments where the qualification process takes place over a couple of days, qualifying for the IFPA World Championship takes place all year. Utilizing its World Pinball Player Rankings, the IFPA will use the January 1st, 2023 rankings to determine the qualifiers for IFPA18. The tournament field will consist of 80 players in total. The top 2 ranked players from each eligible country as of 1/1/2023 will receive an automatic qualifying spot into the tournament. Should either of the top 2 players not be able to attend, that country exemption will move down the country ranking list until it is filled. The rest of the field will be made up of the most highly ranked players from the WPPR list, until we have filled 77 spots. For players that cannot attend, spots will be filled by going down the rankings list.

Please note that for the Country Exemption spots, a player must be residing in their registered country for at least a year in order to be eligible. For countries that organize an IFPA Country Championship Series, a player must also qualify for that final in order to be eligible for a Country Exemption spot.

Furthermore, we require that a country has 50 or more players currently ranked within their country to be eligible to award these 2 Country Exemption spots for the IFPA World Pinball Championship.

Additionally, 3 of the 80 spots will be made available, one reserved for the 2022-23 IFPA North American Pinball Championship, one reserved for the 2022-23 IFPA European Pinball Championship, and one for the 2023 IFPA Women’s World Pinball Championship. These satellite spots will be open for any player ranked in the World Pinball Player Rankings as of the end of 2022, but did not qualify for IFPA18 through the automatic bid process. Any player that received an invitation to register for IFPA18 and declined that invitation will be ineligible for this satellite spot. Contact the IFPA for these details.

WHAT GAMES WILL BE USED IN THE TOURNAMENT?

Tournament games will consist of games spanning all eras (Electromechanical through the latest Dot Matrix Display and LCD games). These games will be divided into three groups for tournament play (OLD/MID/NEW). The game list will be published prior to the tournament so participants have plenty of time to get familiar with game rules and develop a strategy beforehand.

FIRST ROUND OF PLAY

The first round will consist of 8 sessions. Players will be divided into groups of 4 and will play one machine chosen at random from each era. First grouping will be 1/40/41/80, etc. Scoring will be 7-5-3-1 for all matches. Following each session players will be put into new groups based off of the most up to date standings.

Starting with session #2 through session #8, groups will be divided by the following:

Session 2: same as round 1
Session 3: 1-20-21-40, 2-19-22-39, etc, also 41-60-61-80, 42-59-62-79, etc.
Session 4: same as round 3
Session 5: 1-10-11-20, 2-9-12-19, etc, also 21-30-31-40, 22-29-32-39, etc.
Session 6: 1-8-9-16, 2-7-10-15, etc, also 17-24-25-32, 18-23-26-31, etc.
Session 7: 1-4-5-8, 2-3-6-7, 9-12-13-16, 10-11-14-15, etc.
Session 8: 1-2-3-4, 5-6-7-8, etc.

At the conclusion of the 8th session, 32 players will advance to the final round.

MATCH PLAY MADNESS

The top 32 players from the First Round will be seeded based on their 8 session point total, and put into a bracket. Players seeded 1-8 will receive 2 byes, while players seeded 9-16 will receive 1 bye through the initial match play round. Players seeded 17 through 32 will battle in the initial round to see who advances to play those players seeded 9 through 16. Final rounds will be a single elimination tournament. Winner advances to the next round, while the loser is eliminated.

PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Thursday
6pm-7:30pm –> Practice Session
8pm-10pm –> The Epstein Cup

Friday
9am – 9:30am –> check in for players
9:30am – 10am –> Announcements/group picture/getting things started
10am – Noon –> Session #1
Noon – 2pm –> Session #2
2pm – 3pm –> Lunch
3pm – 5pm –> Session #3 (this will start 1 hour after the last group finishes Session #2)
5pm – 7pm –> Session #4
7pm – 8pm –> Dinner
8pm – 10pm –> Session #5 (this will start 1 hour after the last group finishes Session #4)
10pm – Midnight –> Session #6

Saturday
9:30am – 10am –> check in for players
10am – Noon –> Session #7
Noon – 2pm –> Session #8
2pm – 3pm –> Tiebreaker Round (if needed)
3pm – 4pm –> Lunch
4pm – 6pm –> First Round (seeds 17 through 32 play)
6pm – 8pm –> Second Round (Seeds 9-16 play the winners of the first round)
8pm – 9pm –> Dinner
9pm – 11pm –> Third Round (Seeds 1-8 play the winners of the second round)

Sunday
8:30am – 9am –> check in for players
9am – 11am –> Elite 8
11am – 1pm –> Final 4 and 5th through 8th match
1pm – 3pm –> Championship, Consolation final
3pm – 3:30pm –> Awards and wrap up

Rounds will always start as soon as possible in an attempt to keep ahead of the above schedule.

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS

Please contact the IFPA at ifpapinball@gmail.com with any questions or comments you may have.