We are excited to announce that all 2024-25 IFPA Women’s State/Provincial/District Championships will be held on Sunday, January 19, 2025. Additional details will be provided when we get closer to the end of the season. Players are encouraged to reach out to their IFPA Women’s State/Provincial/District Representative with any questions regarding your specific Championship. If a representative is not listed for your region and you are interested in organizing a women’s championship, please reach out to the IFPA.

The IFPA’s Women’s Championship Weekend for the 2024-2025 season will be Friday, March 28, through Sunday, March 30, at Port City Pinball in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The full schedule is as follows:

• Friday, March 28: 2024-2025 Women’s North American Pinball Championship
• Saturday, March 29: 2025 Women’s World Pinball Championship qualifying sessions
• Sunday, March 30: 2025 Women’s World Pinball Championship finals

Satellite events hosted by members of the New England pinball community are planned for Thursday, March 27; Friday, March 28; and Sunday, March 30. More details will be available closer to the weekend.

The prize pools for the Women’s State/Provincial/District Championships and the Women’s North American Championship will be funded by a combination of a $20 player entry fee and the money from the IFPA sanctioning fee for women’s events. For the 2024-25 season, IFPA sanctioning funds will be distributed as follows:

• 65% of funds collected will be allocated to the prize pool for that state/province district;
• 25% of funds collected will be allocated to the prize pool for the Women’s North American Championship;
• 10% of funds will be withheld to cover processing fees related to these payments.

Running totals for the North American Championship prize pool and each individual state championship’s prize pool will be added to the Women’s North American Championship Series Standings page shortly.

This distribution model aligns with the open North American Championship Series distribution model, with slight adjustments based on input from our women’s player base and state/provincial/district representatives. Please reach out to your women’s representative or the IFPA Women’s Board with any feedback or questions about the sanctioning fee, as it is new for the 2024-25 season and future distribution is subject to change.

The IFPA and Stern Army organized the Star Wars Global Leaderboard for July 2024!

We’re happy to announce the winners from this contest! Please email ifpapinball@gmail.com for details on how to redeem your prize.

sponsored blog post

Library streaming video service Kanopy is pleased to announce the return of Big Movie Watch! This time, the film club is showing Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game. Based on true events, Pinball is the captivating story of Roger Sharpe, a GQ journalist and real-life pinball wizard who, in 1976, helped overturn New York City’s 35-year ban on pinball.

Borrow and watch the film on Kanopy through your public library* ticket-free from September 5-16, and chat about it with other viewers on the discussion board, or use #bigmoviewatch on social media.

On September 12 at 12pm ET, Roger Sharpe will be joining Jill Grunenwald (IFPA #111376) in a virtual conversation about Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game and his experiences. Register today for this free webinar!

*Not all libraries offer Kanopy. Check with your local library to learn more about their offerings.

In the history of competitive pinball, very few (35 in fact) have had the chance to call themselves a Major Champion. Like professional golf or tennis, the opportunity to join this elite club only happens a handful of times every year. After a 5 year hiatus, the return of Pinburgh brought together one finalist looking to add their name to this list (Aleksander Kaczmarczyk) and three finalists looking to add to their already established legacies (Escher Lefkoff, Zach McCarthy and Jason Zahler).

After qualifying as the #1 seed, Jason Zahler locked up the win after only 3 out of the 4 games were played in the final round to capture his 2nd Major Championship, becoming only the 15th player in competitive pinball history to do so.

With his 2nd place finish, Escher Lefkoff earned his sixth top 4 finish in Major Championships. 3rd place went to Aleksander Kaczmarczyk who earned his first top 4 finish in Major Championships. 4th place went to Zach McCarthy who earned his third top 4 finish in Major Championships.

To view the most current list of Major Championship stats, click HERE.

sponsored blog post

Here are the June 2024 IFPA winners for Player of the Month and Biggest Movers:

Player of the Month:
Luke Nahorniak from Lonsdale, MN (689.35 WPPR’s – MAIN)
Vanessa Ish from Seattle, WA (114.64 WPPR’s – WOMEN’S)

Biggest Movers:
Ian MacDougall from Canada (+30,230 spots)
Russell Lloyd from Canada (+28,811 spots)
Lilly Muska from Spring Grove, IL (+28,121 spots)

These players have now all qualified for the Stern Rewards Program for 2024. Congrats to everyone!

The IFPA is excited to announce that the dates have been set for the 20th annual IFPA World Pinball Championship. IFPA20 will be held June 27-29, 2025, with the 11th edition of the Epstein Cup scheduled for Thursday, June 26th, 2025.

Our host will be Flippnic in Ragnitz, Austria.

We will continue to update details on the event HERE.

blog post courtesy of Louis Marx

On June 29 and 30, 2024, the Titan Pinball Southwest Regional Pin-Masters returned to Free Play Arcade in Arlington, Texas and was streamed live by Try to Tilt Pinball on Twitch.

On Saturday, 94 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 $5000 was awarded to players in both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ divisions.

The 2024 Titan Pinball Southwest Regional Pin-Masters was won by reigning Texas State Champion, Garrett Shahan. This event is an official qualifier for the 2025 IFPA Pin-Masters: World Pin-Golf Championships. Thus, in addition to his prize money and trophy, Garrett earned a discounted entry to that event 2025 IFPA Pin-Masters. This award is contingent on his registration when the event becomes publicly available.

There were a couple of nice surprises unveiled at this event.

• Turner Pinball provided a Ninja Eclipse Pinball machine and onsite support for the entire event.
• Free Play brought in a Stern John Wick pinball machine for the event.

As the title sponsor, Titan Pinball contributed $2000 of that prize pool.

FUN! Billiards & Gameroom Superstore in Mesquite, Texas provided the trophies for the event. Each of the 10 trophies that were awarded was more than two feet tall. In addition to the 8 trophies for the A and B division winners, there were also trophies for the Top Qualifier and for the Hole in One Champion on qualifying day. Garrett Shahan won both, the Top Qualifier and the Hole in One trophies.

The top four in the A Division were:  Garrett Shahan, Clark McCoy, Brian Krivonak, and Ray Ford.

The top four in the B Division were:  Michael Hew, Duane Fair, John Richardson, Krista Warren.

For more information about the IFPA Pin-Masters, go to https://www.ifpapinball.com/tournament_pages/pinmasters/

The IFPA and Stern Army organized the Star Wars Global Leaderboard for June 2024!

We’re happy to announce the winners from this contest! Please email ifpapinball@gmail.com for details on how to redeem your prize.