68 players competed in the 3rd annual IFPA Pin-Masters, the World Pin-Golf Championships held in Las Vegas. Players competed across 9 pin-holes on Friday and Saturday, with the top 16 players advancing to the finals based on their cumulative 18 pin-hole score.

Jim Belsito shot a 6 in the finals to best Jason Werdrick (2nd), Keith Elwin (3rd) and Johnny Modica (4th) to take home to the title of Pin-Masters Champion.

Full results of qualifying and playoffs are available HERE.

blog post courtesy of Marc Bell

In the first of what will be regular Player Features, we visit Paul Jones in his home town of Wollongong, south of Sydney Australia. We wanted to capture the person behind the pinball table, and get a glimpse into the background of one of Australia’s fastest rising stars. Winner of the Australian Championship Series 2015, held in Brisbane Queensland, Paul has quickly risen up the Australian rankings with a very solid performance every time we see him play.

You can see the Player Feature on Paul by visiting: http://gamethesystem.co/pauljones

A little about the site: A new pinball community focused website, we aim to promote the events, people, and stories that surround this rapidly growing past time. In Australia we have seen a massive expansion of the player base over the last few years, and the level of competition and resulting outcomes and stories. With representatives across the country, we aim to tell these stories by involving the community and encouraging the conversation via highly engaged individuals and groups. It’s a fun and exciting time to be involved in pinball!

For those interested in following the action, the 2016 IFPA Pin-Masters is streaming on the IEpinball Twitch Channel.

Click HERE to watch the stream.

Click HERE for the live standings.

The top 16 players after 2 rounds will advance to the finals to be played Sunday morning.

Finals starts at 10am, check-in at 9:45am.

Novice finalists include –

Derek Thomson, Anna Wolk, Priyanka Kochhar, Sal Ayoob, Kevin Nickel, Craig Sengstock

16 finalists for the Women’s World Pinball Championship, along with 37 finalists for the US National Pinball Championship began competing at 10am and continued nonstop until past 10pm when the winners were crowned.

Huge congratulations to the new Women’s World Pinball Champion Zoe Vrabel from Portland. She played 27 out of a maximum 28 games in her four rounds of play, including winning three game 7’s to advance through the championship.

The new US National Pinball Champion is Adam Lefkoff from Colorado. Adam defeated the representatives from North Carolina, Quebec, Maryland, Washington and finally 4-time Major Champion Lyman Sheats representing Illinois to capture the crown.

Congrats to Zoe and Adam! They have been added to the IFPA Hall of Fame!

Today starts March Madness in the NCAA world, but also in the pinball world.

The 3rd annual IFPA US National Pinball Championship and inaugural IFPA Women’s World Pinball Championship but kick off today. Practice starts at 10am Vegas time, with matches starting at 11am until we crown our champions.

Check out the action LIVE at http://www.twitch.tv/iepinball!

Nationals Bracket is available to follow HERE!

Women’s Bracket is available to follow HERE!

Best of luck to all the finalists!

We’ve been so busy with IFPA related activities that we forgot to mention that February 27th, 2016 marked the 10 year anniversary since the rebirth of the International Flipper Pinball Association.

On that day in 2006 the AMOA assigned the rights of the then defunct IFPA over to Steve Epstein and Roger Sharpe to see if they could elevate the awareness and visibility of pinball across the globe.

The World Pinball Player Rankings now has over 39,000 players from 41 countries, and the events being run by the IFPA continue to expand. Country Championship Series have started in Australia, Austria, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, to go along with the continued series in the US and Canada.

This week will kick off an insane month with the inaugural IFPA Women’s World Pinball Championship, 3rd annual IFPA US National Pinball Championship and the 3rd annual IFPA Pin-Masters. Shortly thereafter the 13th annual IFPA World Pinball Championship will be taking place in Pittsburgh featuring the 4th annual Epstein Cup.

Thanks to everyone for the continued support, but most importantly to the hundreds of volunteers that help the IFPA truly cover the globe in competitive pinball 24/7. We’re looking forward to seeing where we can take things in the years ahead!

Team USA currently holds the Epstein Cup for another month before it is once again up for grabs at IFPA13 in Pittsburgh. 8 players per side earn the right to represent their country in this prestigious event, so let’s take a closer look at the rosters for both sides.

Team USA includes current PAPA World Champion Keith Elwin from Carlsbad, CA, current Pinbugh Champion Zach Sharpe from Chicago, 1-time Major Finalist Robert Gagno from Burnaby, Canada, 1-time Major Finalist Trent Augenstein from Delaware, OH, 2-time Major Finalist Sean Grant from New York City, current IFPA European Pinball Champion Cayle George from Seattle, WA, 2-time Major Finalist Andy Rosa from Flint, MI and Super League extraordinaire Francesco La Rocca from New York City. The 8 members of Team USA 2016 have accounted for 11 Major Championships along with 34 Major Championship Top 4’s.

Team Europe includes current European Pinball Champion and 2015 World’s Greatest Pinball Player Jorian Engelbrektsson from Sweden, current IFPA World Pinball Champion Daniele Celestino Acciari from Italy, 1-time Major Champion Jörgen Holm from Sweden, 3-time Major Finalist Mats Runsten from Sweden, 1-time Major Champion Roy Wils from the Netherlands, 1-time Major Champion Paul Jongma from the Netherlands, 1-time Major Champion Robert Sutter from Switzerland and 1-time Major Finalist Markus Stix from Austria. The 8 members of Team Europe 2016 have accounted for 10 Major Championships won along with 32 Major Championship Top 4’s.

For more details on the event, click HERE.

We’re less than a week from the 3rd annual IFPA US National Pinball Championship. Out of the 42 potential players, we’re currently expecting 38 to participate. This is definitely subject to change, but here is a preliminary list of the first round matchups:

(7)Jason Scheffelmaer-KS vs. (26)Pierce McLain-DC
(8)Kevin Stone-VA vs. (25)Travis Maisch-WA
(9)Will McKinney-AZ vs. (24)Brett Emerson-OK
(10)Brian Dye-WV vs. (23)Sal Ayoob-NV
(11)John Kremmer-BC vs. (22)Dominic Nardini-RI
(12)Josh Tidmore-TX vs. (21)Joe Kosack-MD
(13)Adam Kiesler-QC vs. (20)Jody Jodon-NJ
(14)Andy Cobb-OR vs. (19)Barry Brdar-ON
(15)Timothy Enders-WI vs. (18)Atticus Palmer-FL
(16)Brian Hill-OH vs. (17)Eric Fisher-GA
(32)Matt Wenger-MA vs. (33)Todd Baumeister-VT –> winner plays (1)Jason Werdrick-IN
(31)Doug Parsons-NS vs. (34)Adrienne Black-LA –> winner plays (2)Karl Deangelo-CA
(30)Kevin Kuntz-NC vs. (35)Heath Ashley-SC –> winner plays (3)Lyman Sheats-IL
(29)Luke Nahorniak-MN vs. (36)Drew Donohue-KY –> winner plays (4)Adam Lefkoff-CO
(28)Jake Erskine-ME vs. (37)Ryan James-AB –> winner plays (5)Greg Poverelli-NY
(27)Jeff Douglas-MO vs. (38)Ethan Bent-SK –> winner plays (6)Joe Lemire-NH

Pinball Sales Australia, the Sole Importer and Distributor of Jersey Jack Pinball Machines from the USA to Australia conducted an interview with IFPA President Josh Sharpe. Click HERE to read the article.

Press of Atlantic City newspaper had an article on the 2014-15 New Jersey State Pinball Champion Ken Rossi. Click HERE to read the article.