May 2026 Staffing and Organizational Announcement

The IFPA is proud to announce three new members to the team: Leslie Ruckman, Stephanie Traub, and Claire Lickman!

Leslie Ruckman

Leslie started playing pinball when she got knocked out of her first and last Killer Queen tournament. She’s always had a competitive edge from her swimming days to barista and latte art competitions, so it didn’t take much for pinball to pull her in. Once she started playing pinball competitively, she was hooked. Unable to stay in one place for too long, Leslie has been lucky to be a part of the lovely pinball scenes in Chicago, California, and now Seattle.

Stephanie Traub

Stephanie Traub started playing competitive pinball in 2016 after enjoying it casually her whole life (her first memories of pinball involve searching for machines in hotel arcades on vacation in the late 80s and early 90s). She has since become a mainstay in her local competitive scene in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area as a tournament/league director and competitor. She is currently the IFPA Virginia state representative and previously served as the first IFPA Women’s District of Columbia representative. When not playing pinball, Stephanie enjoys traveling for music festivals (dance music is her favorite) and escaping reality in tiki bars.

Claire Lickman

Claire has been playing pinball competitively since 2021. She jumped in feet first, organising tournaments with her boyfriend at their home, Pinhaus, and across the UK. This evolved into growing a community in East Anglia and the East Anglian Pinball league. She is a lead organiser for the East Anglian Pinball Open. She loves the competitive element to pinball as well as creating fun, inclusive events where people enjoy themselves. Some of Claire’s proudest pinball moments was winning the UK Pinfest Ladies tournament in 2024 and 3rd place at WEPC in 2026. Claire is excited to encourage more women and new talent into pinball, and to host WEPC in 2027.

We have updated our IFPA Staff page with these new bios.