Registration is now closed for the inaugural IFPA Women’s World Pinball Championship and we couldn’t be more excited about the field of participants!

The IFPA went down to women’s rank 24 to fill the field of 16 participants, with 4 countries being represented. The tournament will be held in conjunction with the IFPA US National Pinball Championship out in Las Vegas on March 17th, 2016.

These 16 women will be competing for $800 in cash, along with the title of “Women’s World Pinball Champion”.

Full details of the championship are available HERE.

The current Women’s Rankings are available HERE.

blog post courtesy of IFPA Italia

Roberto Pedroni rules in Milan having two successes in two tournaments during the same weekend. Everything happened within the Showroom Morlacchi where the player from brianza has first won the title of Champion of National Circuit ICS 2015 defeating Daniele Acciari in the final match.

And to crown it all, the next day he also won the tournament Mad 4 Pinball defeating, in this case, a much wider competition, taking into account the approximately 65 participants from all over Italy.

In Mad’s final match, Pedroni has easily defeated the other finalist Paolo Gogni, real revelation of the competition, who in the quarterfinals eliminated the very unlucky Acciari, that so does not go beyond the fifth position.

Third place for Gabriele Tedeschi from Rome, more and more confirming to be a great level player.

These are the final results in the final match of the National Circuit ICS:

1,Roberto Pedroni
2,Daniele Acciari
3,Cesare Datri
4,Fabio Francescato
6,Enrico Giorgio De Stefani
6,David Della Ianna
6,Daniele Baldan
6,Pablo Iacoponi
12,Fabrizio Amiconi
12,Gabriele Tedeschi
12,Matteo Filippin
12,Giuseppe Violante
12,Pierangelo Villa
12,Paolo Luise
12,Alberto Olivero
12,Danny Iuliano

750AM The Game in Portland, OR had IFPA Oregon State Rep [player]Greg Dunlap[/player] on their Local’s Only show to talk about the upcoming IFPA Oregon State Pinball Championship. Click HERE to listen to the interview (starts at 20 minutes in).

CBC News in Nova Scotia talks with [player]Danny Baldwin[/player] about the inaugural IFPA Nova Scotia Provincial Pinball Championship. Click HERE to listen to the interview and read the article.

The Las Vegas Informer posted our press release on the 2015-16 IFPA State Championship Series. Click HERE to read the article.

The IFPA is proud to announce that registration for the 12th Annual IFPA World Pinball Championship is now open! For more details check out the registration page HERE!

The initial invite list is open for the top 120 players in the World Pinball Player Rankings as of 1/1/2016. Based on the interest of the top 120, we may extend the invite list additional spots so please monitor the registration page at your leisure. Should you be interested, please send payment to the IFPA as your way of committing to attending the tournament. Should you not be interested, it is equally important that we know, so please send an email to the IFPA stating you will not be available to participate.

Should you have any questions about our qualifying process or to find out more information about the tournament, please contact the IFPA at ifpapinball@gmail.com.

Two of the 64 spots will also be available for the highest ranked finisher not already in the IFPA field. One is reserved for the 2015-16 IFPA US National Pinball Championship and one is reserved for the 2015-16 IFPA European Pinball Championship.

The IFPA13 World Pinball Championship is sponsored by Stern Pinball, Jersey Jack Pinball, Heighway Pinball, Nitro Amusements, Zen Studios, Raw Thrills, Planetary Pinball Supply, Bay Area Amusements, Brady Distributing Company,  Color DMD, Double Danger Pinball Accessories, Tilt Amusements, Betson Enterprises, Raw Thrills, Farsight Studios, Game Exchange of Colorado, HyperPin, Play Meter Magazine, Suzo Happ, Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown, the Professional and Amateur Pinball Association, the Amusement and Music Operators Association, and the American Amusement Manufacturers Association.

With the 2015 pinball season officially behind us, the World Pinball Player Rankings continues to show no signs of slowing down within the competitive pinball community. We wanted to take a quick look back at the growth we’ve seen during 2015.

We’re proud to say that the total number of players the IFPA is now ranking at the end of 2015 is 38,651. This represents a 32% growth from the end of 2014 where we had 29,369 players. In addition, the number of players that played in an IFPA endorsed tournament during 2015 was 16,436, up 23% from the number of players that were active during 2014.

We’ve also seen continued growth in the number of tournaments popping up all over the world. Total number of events for 2015 was 2727, up 11% from last year.

The IFPA wishes to thank everyone in the competitive pinball community for continuing to support everything we do to spread the world about our incredible sport to the masses.

Final details are now in place for the Cooper’stown Pinball Party Showdown, with the addition of a 1970 Gottlieb Flip-A-Card pinball (plus Alice 1970 “Easy Action” CD) as a prize choice in the “Coop’s Classics” Pinball Tournament.

Alice has been busy autographing Rock & Roll memorabilia for skill and raffle prizes, while his “Solid Rock” Charity Facebook page reports – Alice is planning to come!

To give their respective fans a chance to get in on the Cooper’stown Pinball Showdown fun, Alice and Coach Ditka have made a limited number of Tournament entries available Online – ( bit.ly/1Zxp6Ec ).

This FWTG Tournament features 2 player skill “Tiers” – “A” & “B” Divisions – with awards and prizes for ALL player Skill levels.

Top prize in the Main Tournament will be a NEW Pinball Machine!

For more information, call Vicki @ 612-999-FWTG (3984)

A quick reminder that there are TWO components of the Flippin’ With the Greats campaign:

1) The FANTASY LEAGUE – A “League” where IFPA members can support their favorite NFL team (and win cool stuff) by simply buying an IFPA medallion Personalized with the Player’s name, IFPA #, and the NFL team they support.  Great prizes will be distributed to League Participants throughout the season. Click HERE for more details.

2) The TOURNAMENT SERIES – A Nationwide series of tournaments to be scheduled throughout the NFL season culminating in the SUPER BOWL Pinball Party at Alice Cooperstown in Phoenix, Az. Click HERE for more details.

The Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund (GGAF) is a non-stock, non-profit 501(c)3 organization, providing financial grants and “pro bono” medical assistance to retired NFL players in dire need.  The organization focuses on the humanitarian side of post-football related issues, which include coordination of social services to retired players who are in need due to a variety of reasons including inadequate disability and/or pensions.

Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, also. Solid Rock’s primary mission is to make an everlasting difference in the lives of teens by helping them meet their spiritual, economical, physical, and social need.  Alice Cooper’s Rock Teen Center offers a safe, engaging environment during non-school hours –a time when they are most vulnerable to drugs, violence, and gangs. Maintaining a teen’s worst enemy is too much time on their hands Solid Rock provides the music, arts, vocational programs and fellowship that challenge teens to discover their passion through music, dance, self-expression, and creativity. Learn more at www.alicecoopersolidrock.com.

Support and Follow our 2015 Flippin’ With the Greats Pinball Campaign and “Like” Gridiron Support on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/gridironsupport.org

Qualifying for the 3rd annual IFPA State Championship Series is now complete, and it’s now time for us to find our qualifiers for the 35 different IFPA State Championship finals. These finals will all be held simultaneously on February 13th, 2015, with 560 finalists competing for not only a State Championship title, but also a spot in the second annual IFPA US National Championship.

View the final qualifying standings HERE.

IFPA State Representatives should be sending out emails to the top 50 from each state shortly. Important to note that if the IFPA does not have your email address on file, we have no way of being able to contact you. If you feel you should have received an invitation to one of the IFPA State Championships and did not, contact the IFPA immediately at ifpapinball@gmail.com, or Click HERE to edit your profile.

Registration for all 35 states closes on Sunday, January 17th at 7pm CST. Any player that has not accepted their invitation by that time will be ineligible to participate.

Remember that no player is allowed to compete in multiple IFPA State Championships. Players that qualify for more than one IFPA State Championship will have to make their choice during this open period of registration. This will mean that many states will go far past the top 16 players in order to fill all 16 spots.

Any questions about the SCS, or anything IFPA related, please contact us at ifpapinball@gmail.com

As State Representatives alert us to who is attending, we will be updating the registration page HERE.

For our Canadian friends, the PCS registration page is available HERE.

This latest documentary on pinball offers a chronologic survey of the development of pinball machines from the first coin-operated games to our contemporary high tech pins.

The DVD is divided into five chapters. Pinball History ~ rise and shine of the silver ball chronicles how pinball evolved from the game of bagatelle, and rapidly grew during the depression years to become a mass-market low-cost form of entertainment. Viewers are taken on a journey through the invention of many pinball features now considered commonplace such as pop bumpers, return lanes, score reels and flippers.

The second chapter is titled Pinball Technique ~ the lights are flashing, the bells are ringing and shows how a pinball machine actually works.

The third chapter is called Designers and Artist ~ pinball art and pinball design. At the beginning of the pinball era, the constructive design of the machines seemed more important than their aesthetic appeal. However, through the decades focus shifted more and more towards artwork, and artists became as important as technical engineers.
Chapter four: The Man and their Machines ~ pinball-mania and pinball-maniacs. Playing pinball is one of the most challenging competitions between man and machine, which requires utmost concentration, amazing skills and first-class fitness. As well as some luck of course.

The last chapter is titled The Silver Ball rolls on ~ pinball-revival and pinball-future. Pinball continues to electrify millions. New locations and businesses are opening their arms to the charms and allure of the game. The surge in the popularity of pinball over recent years is unparalleled, as both the young and the young at heart are rediscovering the joys and challenges that today’s machines elicit with a choreographed experience unlike any other.

Same Player Shoots Again features interviews with Raphaël Lankar of the Paris Pinball Museum, game designer Steve Ritchie, and former Dutch Finance Minister and pinball fan Gerrit Zalm.

Same Player Shoots Again is available directly from the makers through their website
www.pinball-dvd.com