We're looking to round up some volunteers to help us with hosting the Stern Wrestlemania Pinball Launch Party tournaments.

The date Stern is targeting is February 20-22nd weekend.

If you are interested in helping serve as an IFPA representative for a launch party in your city, please send me an email (ifpapinball at gmail dot com) including the city you live in. We'll then get that information to Stern to try and find a distributor/operator/location owner in your area to match you up with to get the party set up.

IFPA representative duties would include game setup at the site, along with running the tournament portion of the party.

The IFPA is excited to be teaming up with Alice Cooper, Mike Ditka and Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund for a special Pinball Tournament during Super Bowl week at Alice Cooperstown! A portion of the proceeds will directly benefit Solid Rock and Gridiron Greats. If you want to compete, registration and qualifying rounds start Wednesday, January 28th at 5 p.m.! Winners will be awarded on Saturday night the 31st at 6 p.m. followed by a live concert with Dash Cooper and CO-OP!

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.

Get behind Coach Ditka's Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund and "LIKE" Gridiron Support on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/gridironsupport.org.

For the 2014-15 season, the IFPA launched the European Championship Series. 1136 players participated in the 17 ECS events held throughout the year.

While nearly 600 players from the US and Canada will be battling in their various States and Provinces on February 7th, we can't forget about the 32 players that will be competing to become the first ever IFPA European Pinball Champion.

Here are the first round matchups:

1 Daniele Celestino Acciari – 32 Dirk Klaver
2 Michael Trepp – 31 Roland Schwarz
3 Robert Sutter – 30 Greg Mott
4 Roberto Pedroni – 29 Cesare D'Atri
5 Paul Jongma – 28 Giuseppe Violante
6 Franck Bona – 27 Martin Ayub
7 Markus Stix – 26 Marcus Hugosson
8 Lukasz Romanowski – 25 Levente Tregova
9 Jorian Engelbrektsson – 24 Helena Walter
10 David Mainwaring – 23 Philippe Bocquet
11 Norman Heikamp – 22 Jérémy Reynaud
12 Jonas Johansson – 21 Ramon Richard
13 Peter Blakemore – 20 Jan Anders Nilsson
14 Olli-Mikko Ojamies 19 Albert Nomden
15 Linus Persson – 18 Gabriel Ortiz
16 Marcin Krysinski – 17 Martin Janczyk

Besides the prestigious title on the line, those players not yet qualified for the IFPA12 World Pinball Championship will be competing to earn one of the two Satellite Spots available.

We're also excited to announce that the ECS will be back for the 2015-16 season. Details about the ECS can be found HERE.

Vox Magazine from Columbia, MO interviewed Missouri's top ranked player [player]Adam McKinnie[/player]. Adam will be participating in the Missouri SCS coming up in a few short weeks. Click HERE to read the article.

blog post courtesy of Don Johnson

On Saturday January 17th and Sunday January 18th Kidforce Pinball League had thier Winter League Pinball Finals. We had to stretch it over 2 days as our league has grown by leaps and bounds

On the 17th Kidforce Pinball had the Finals for divisions C and D

We had a fairly large turnout for these divisions as everyone competed for the custom pinball trophies, made by Angela Drobka, and that coveted title of Division Champion. The competition was fast and furious as you can see below.

Click HERE to read full details and see pictures

ABC22/FOX44 in Vermont was LIVE at Tilt Classic Arcade and Ale House, home of the 2014-15 Vermont State Championship all morning. Players featured include [player]Steve Daniels[/player](#1 seed), [player]Nick Pizzuti[/player](#4 seed), [player]Jake Blend[/player](#11 seed), [player]Todd Baumeister[/player](#3 seed), [player]Thom Corrado[/player](#8 seed), [player]Joshua Nickerson[/player](#9 seed) and [player]Kaila Fong[/player](#10 seed).

Click HERE to watch all the videos.

The IFPA is excited to announce that the following players have become eligible for the Flippin' With the Greats Grand Final this upcoming March in Las Vegas in conjunction with the IFPA Pin-Masters, to play for a BRAND NEW pinball machine:

AFC North – Cryss Stephens
AFC East – James Swain Jr.
AFC West – Wes Upchurch
NFC North – Robert Gagno
NFC East – Brian Davis
NFC West – Marcus Trevino

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.

Get behind Coach Ditka's Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund and "LIKE" Gridiron Support on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/gridironsupport.org.

blog post courtesy of Francesco La Rocca

FLR: who is he?
Francesco La Rocca, a guy from Italy that moved to the USA in 1996!

At that time NYC had one of the saddest years regarding pinball: The Famous Arcade on Broadway closed and pinball (for the most part) disappeared. Francesco, who had moved to Brooklyn, went around but couldn't find a game that he loved since he was a kid!

After many many years in 2010 while playing Backgammon on the internet he met Joe Oesterling, a guy in New Jersey that also in his profile said he was playing pinball! So Francesco approached him and he told Francesco about a league going on in Dunellen, NJ and one in NYC. So immediately he went to search and after he found the person in charge of the league in NYC (Bob Sovatsky) he joined the league where he met lot of people that still now play together with him and a little while after that he played the 1st tournament at the show in Allentown, PA where at that point one of Francesco's favorite machines was released: Iron Man. After that Francesco realized that someone needs to make pinball more visible and thanks mostly to the "Don" of pinball in NYC, the famous Pinaholics Allen Cihak that had pinball machines in bar and pizza places, started to organize tournaments and his own league in Brooklyn together with Joe Said! Between 2011 and 2013 Francesco started to travel all over the USA to play in tournaments hitting over 70 events and 20 different states, including one tournament in his house on his favorite machine World Cup Soccer that he owned for a while along with Avatar (thanks to Joe Said that he had to move and so wanted someone to "take care" of them)! On the same year Kris Medina in NYC had the brilliant idea to combine people together to form teams on a Monday night and play pinball together: Pinball NYC brought pinball everywhere in the city and still now is one the the most important thing in the city to gather people to play pinball in different bars and locations in 3 boroughs and FLR has never missed a season and has won multiple times with his team.

Then at end of 2013 something big happened in NYC. A few of the people that Francesco had in his tournaments decide to put together their money, skills, knowledge and everything to bring back pinball to the city and no one could imagine that the owner of THAT Arcade on Broadway would be one of them: Steve Epstein founder of the IFPA. He and Steve Zahler, co-owner and a top player in the world, Allen Cihak provider of the pinball machines, Alberto Santana who used to work in that Broadway Arcade and Eddie Cramer, master technician and restaurateur, with his wife Dahlia, master of themed parties, and Francesco himself put their lives in that place that is also now the IFPA HQ in the world: Modern Pinball NYC, a place with over 30 pinball machines where you pay one price to play all of them with no coins or tokens required!

IFPA: The objective of the International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) is to elevate the awareness and visibility of pinball across the globe and generate media coverage and corporate backing to bring the sport of competitive pinball back into the spotlight.

Who could do that?

In 2014 Francesco went to his limits and beyond to become "Master of Tournaments" if such a title existed!

Last year Francesco played in 110 tournaments (using all possible formats!) and in those he met 1700 players; he directed 60 of those tournaments in NY, NJ and MD and on his own tournaments 200 different players were present and 65 of them were introduced for the 1st time to an official tournament. At least half of those players had their best tournament in terms of WPPR points during one of his tournaments.

Francesco was able to bring competitive pinball in over 30 new places in NY or NJ.

His life, his weekends, his food, his drink they all revolve around one simple word: PINBALL

2015 started with a big goal for Francesco: making the Modern Pinball Super League the Best in The World!

Francesco, with the help of the people working there at Modern Pinball and with Koi Morris, Steven Bowden, Frank Romero, Joe Said, Ken Rossi, John Ehlrich owner of Reciprocal Skateboards and Jackbar, and the huge Pinball NYC community, is very confident he will succeed.
Happy Pin 2015

Few Statement of few of those people :

Steve Zahler Co-Owner of Modern Pinball NYC
One of the first tournaments I ever attended was run by Francesco at the now defunct Satellite Lounge in Williamsburg Brooklyn (now "Jackbar"; a fantastic bar and great place to play pinball). Francesco is a truly dedicated pinballer and his love for the game is evident from participating in countless tournaments around the country to running the majority of pinball competitions in the tri-state area. He has introduced pinball to numerous individuals and has engaged them through his contagious enthusiasm. It is this reason I approached him to join us at Modern Pinball NYC. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do to in the name of resurrecting this fun activity and beloved American pastime."

Steve Epstein Co-Owner of Modern Pinball NYC
Starting Modernpinballnyc is an important undertaking  trying to bring pinball to a new player, young people of all ages, whom may by the time they reach maturity may never see pinballl in all its glory. The team including our general managers Francesco and Alberto and techs Eddie and Pat are key to this endeavor. I want to thank them for their dedication and passion that will make modern a huge success. 

Debra Rymer NYC Pinball Player
Thanks Francesco for doing all you do to promote pinball and run tournaments. I think people may not say enough how much this is appreciated

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 100 players in the World Pinball Player Rankings as of 1/1/2015. Based on the interest of the top 100, 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 at both the 2014-15 IFPA US National Pinball Championship and the 2014-15 IFPA European Pinball Championship.

The IFPA12 World Pinball Championship is sponsored by Stern Pinball, Jersey Jack Pinball, Raw Thrills, Farsight Studios, Betson Enterprises, Marco Specialties, Planetary Pinball Supply, Bay Area Amusements, Tilt Amusements, Play Meter Magazine, GameWorks, Zen Studios, Pinball Center, Specialty Coin, Happ Controls, Color DMD, Game Exchange of Colorado, the Amusement and Music Operators Association, the American Amusement Manufacturers Association and the Professional and Amateur Pinball Association.

With the 2014 pinball season coming to an end, 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 2014.

We're proud to say that the total number of players the IFPA is now ranking at the end of 2014 is 29,369. This represents a 34% growth from the end of 2013 where we had 21,882 players. In addition, the number of players that played in an IFPA endorsed tournament during 2014 was 13,353, up 36% from the number of players that were active during 2013.

We’ve also seen incredible growth in the number of tournaments popping up all over the world. Total number of events for 2014 was 2454, up 53% 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.