The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for April 2016 is Bowen Kerins from Salem, MA. Bowen earned an insane total of 394.96 WPPR points in April (along with 25 PAPA Circuit points for the sometimes 3-time, sometimes 5-time World Champion). This included the following results:

Bowen is currently ranked 11th in the world and is in the top qualifying position for the 2016-17 Massachusetts SCS, 2nd in Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and 4th in Florida.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of April included 0-time PAPA World Champion Zach Sharpe from Chicago, IL with 371.23 WPPR points, Jim Belsito from Murrieta, CA with 308.01 WPPR points, “Sharpe-Dream-Crusher” Robert Gagno from Burnaby, Canada with 271.21 WPPR points, and “Other-Sharpe-Dream-Crusher” Daniele Acciari from Italy with 245.23 WPPR points.

Congratulations to Bowen and the other top WPPR point earners of the month!

Since the release of WPPR v5.2 for the 2016 season, the IFPA has continued investigating ways to make the World Pinball Player Rankings more accurate for how we rank players across the globe.

These latest changes will be incorporated into WPPR v5.3 which will be implemented starting January 1, 2017.

Please note that for all 2016 IFPA related activities (qualifying for 2016-17 SCS, 2016-17 ECS, IFPA14, etc), version 5.2 will be used for that qualification process.

Below is an overview of changes for the updated 2017 formula:

• For any IFPA endorsed tournament or league with a qualifying portion, only players that participate in at least 50% of the games used in determining those qualifying positions will be included in the final results. Any players that don’t meet this minimum participation requirement should be removed from the results by the tournament director (TD) prior to submitting those results to the IFPA. For example, a Best Game qualifying format where 10 machines are available with the best 7 scores counting towards the player’s qualifying position, any player that plays fewer than 4 machines will be removed from the standings submitted to the IFPA. For leagues, this means that players must participate in at least 50% of the sessions of the regular season to be included in the final standings submitted to the IFPA.
• Certain formats (Selfie Leagues, TOPS Tournaments, etc) rely on players submitting their own results without the verification of a TD or authorized scorekeeper on site. Any qualifying format that includes “unverified” results where a TD, league official, or authorized scorekeeper is not present to record their score, will not have the qualifying portion included in the TGP calculation. The IFPA will classify these qualifying formats as strictly for seeding purposes, with only the finals format counting towards the TGP calculation.
• The TGP will now include games played that are fewer than 3 balls, including timed formats where players are attempting to reach a score or objective as quickly as possible. Any game where it’s possible for the player to finish on the first ball in play, will be calculated at 33% value for TGP purposes. For example, if players have a goal of reaching a certain feature in a game as a way of winning that game or match, the fact that it is POSSIBLE for the player to reach that objective on ball 1 means this will count as 1/3rd of a game played towards TGP. The exception to this rule will be the Pin-Golf format, which will have it’s own set of grading rules (see next bullet points).
• The IFPA is launching the IFPA Tour of endorsed Pin-Golf events. We are now enforcing stricter rules regarding how organizers can score a IFPA endorsed Pin-Golf format tournament, and events must meet this criteria with their course design to award WPPR points as an IFPA endorsed event. The WPPR points awarded for Pin-Golf events will now include a Pin-Golf Multiplier (PGM) adjustment. This metric is used to grade the difficulty of the course. Full details on the IFPA Tour, rules of course design, and the calculation of the PGM adjustment are available HERE.

For full detailed information on the 2017 formula, click HERE. Any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us at ifpapinball@gmail.com. Please check back when we announce that WPPR v5.3 has been implemented for 2017 as the details may always change prior to launch.

The 2016 IFPA Flippin’ With The Greats Hall of Fame Series was created to elevate the awareness and visibility of pinball by generating earned media coverage and corporate partnerships. Tournament organizers and participants will showcase pinball as a competitive sport, and as leisure time entertainment for skilled and novice players alike.

The IFPA has partnered with Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Center and Mike Ditka’s Gridiron Assistance Fund to help to raise money and awareness for their respective charities, while bringing the competitive pinball experience to their Rock & Roll and NFL Fans!

Once again, players will be competing for WPPR Points, as well as thousands of dollars in cash and prizes, including a brand new pinball machine.

The IFPA/FWTG Charity Tournament Circuit consists of two rounds: 1) Regional qualifying tournaments scheduled throughout the year across the country, and 2) a “Finals” round and Pinball Party hosted by Alice Cooper’stown in Phoenix, AZ. The finals round will be a two day match play (groups of 4) tournament (see “Series Final” below).

For full details click HERE.

The IFPA is pleased to announce that the following players saw the biggest jump in their world ranking for January, February and March 2016. 

January 2016:
Richard B Stemson from Vancouver, Canada (up 9614 spots), Mike Welsh from San Diego, CA (up 7387 spots) and Mike Bartolo from Toronto, Canada (up 7328 spots).

February 2016:
Jason Forrest from Halifax, Canada (up 13,431 spots), Terri Lynn Delk from Oakland, CA (up 12,747 spots) and Michael Senff from Springfield, MO (up 10,651 spots).

March 2016:
Alec Jensen from Seattle, WA (up 15,429 spots), Gustav Gillberg from Stockholm, Sweden (up 12,871 spots) and Tim Stanley from Boulder, CO (up 9821 spots).

The IFPA is pleased to announce our Player of the Month for January 2016 through March 2016:

January 2016 –> Trent Augenstein from Delaware, OH (146.39 WPPR points)
February 2016 –> Nicklas Lindahl from Sweden (92.46 WPPR points)
March 2016 –> Cryss Stephens from Pittsburgh (179.51 WPPR points)

Congratulations to Trent, Nicklas and Cryss, along with the other top WPPR point earners over these months!

blog post courtesy of Stephanie Lesser

Pinball Coach is info-on-the-go for pinball players. It lists events & places to play, contains game info, rules & tips, images, short demo videos, and fun pinball trivia. As more Information is gathered from a variety of sites and players, your app will be automatically updated.

Now available in the Apple and Google play stores!

This app’s for you, if you…

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…want to know about the skill-shot, getting multi-ball, jackpots, extra balls, etc. before you play
…would view short pinball demo videos

August 2010 –> 8,000 players ranked
10 months later . . .
June 2011 –> 10,000 players ranked
15 months later . . .
September 2012 –> 15,000 players ranked
11 months later . . .
August 2013 –> 20,000 players ranked
18 months later . . .
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WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Daniele Acciari vs. Josh Sharpe (4-2)
Daniele won on The Addams Family, Indy 500, Harlem Globetrotters, Avengers
Josh won on Wizard, Robocop

CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP
Julio Vicario Soriano d. Jim Belsito (2-0)
Julio won on Surf N Safari, Time Fantasy

Bracket available HERE.

Game list available HERE.

Josh Sharpe d. Julio Vicario Soriano (5-3)
Josh won on Harlem Globetrotters, Robocop, Avengers, Flash Gordon, Indy 500
Julio won on Party Zone, Cirqus Voltaire, Wizard

Daniele Acciari d. Jim Belsito (4-0)
Daniele won on The Addams Family, Indy 500, Whirlwind, Indiana Jones

5th through 8th place match:
Adam Becker – 15 points
Lyman Sheats – 13 points (won tiebreaker)
Jon Replogle – 13 points
Andrei Massenkoff – 7 points

Bracket available HERE.

Game list available HERE.

Jim Belsito d. Jon Replogle (4-2)
Jim won on Indy 500, Wizard, Whirlwind, Genesis
Jon won on Harlem Globetrotters, Attack From Mars

Daniele Acciari d. Lyman Sheats (4-1)
Daniele won on The Addams Family, Surf N Safari, Cirqus Voltaire, Harlem Globetrotters
Lyman won on Ironman

Josh Sharpe d. Adam Becker (4-2)
Josh won on Robocop, Flash Gordon, Avengers, Quicksilver
Adam won on Wizard, Metallica

Julio Vicario Soriano d. Andrei Massenkoff (4-2)
Julio won on Whirlwind, Party Zone, Meteor, Wizard
Andrei won on Dirty Harry, Indy 500

Bracket available HERE.

Game list available HERE.