Isthmus out of Madison, Wisconsin wrote an article on the resurgence of pinball in the area. Players featured included [player]Hilton Jones[/player] (ranked 698th in the world – 9th in Wisconsin SCS). Click HERE to read the article.

blog post courtesy of Daniel Spolar

Well, sadly our month long IFPA/ Project Pinball Charity Campaign is coming to close, but we have plenty of good news to share.

Some of that good news is that, we were able to reach more people and had the opportunity to share awareness about our charity and its mission statement and goals across the US and Canada. There were a total of 43 main tournaments, 31+ side tournaments held in one month time. That is just incredible!

Over $20,000 was raised during this IFPA/ Project Pinball Charity Campaign. With this money, Project Pinball Charity has already purchased a brand new Star Trek Pro that will be introduced to a Children’s Hospital in two weeks time. This Children’s Hospital location will be announced soon as we can.

This campaign helped us get out into the communities, to be introduce to a lot of new ideas, new people that want to be involved and of course the discovery of new doors to open.

On behalf of everyone at Project Pinball Charity Group, we would like to give thanks to all the people that helped to make this campaign a huge success.

Our tournament directors- It has been a pleasure working with such a dedicated force of individuals. Thank you for all your help to make sure each of your communities was represented.

Our tournament settings/ establishments- Thank you for opening your places for pinball fellowships to allow great things to happen, to unite your community for our cause.

Our sponsors- Thank you for your willingness to give us the tools to help us as a charity rise to a new level. Stern Pinball, Little Shop of Games, Marco Specialties, Cliffy’s Passion for Pinball, Pinball Life, Titan Pinball, Rottendog Amusements, Comet Pinball, Tilt Amusements, PAPA, IFPA and to all the individual tournament community offerings. If your name should be here but was not listed, we do apologize for our oversight.

Our great partnership with our friends at International Flipper Pinball Association- A tremendous amount of work and coordination by Josh Sharpe and company went into this campaign. Thank you for believing in us and for giving this wonderful opportunity to share our charity and for getting us the tools to connect to communities across the globe.

Our players- your dedication showed us how lucking we are to have people in our pinball community that care like you all do. Your participation was greatly appreciated and we were completely caught by surprise by shear volume of your support.

Our anonymous donors- Thank you for your generous unexpected gifts of kindness.

Our pinball community- Your donations are the fuel to get us to our new goals and give us the ability to approach more hospitals  so we can help more and people, patients and parents through pinball. If you would like to help, you can still take the time to make a donation. Anything from $1 to $5,000 is going to help bring laughter and smiles into children's hospitals around the country. To make a donation, please visit http://wwwProjectpinball.org

Our staff and volunteers- {I would personally like to thank our dedicated staff and volunteers for all their hard work that went into this campaign and their every day support that make this run charity smoothly. We have more busy days in front of us! :^) Daniel Spolar- Senior Director}

Again, we appreciate your help and would like to thank you all for your wonderful support! It is through the continued support from many wonderful friends like you that Project Pinball is able to grow!

Our next charity venue: PAPA Headquarters. Come join us for our “Show your Support” Contest. All you have to do is show your support by wearing your Green Project Pinball while you are at PAPA and we will go around random selecting winners to give a prize to.

You can get more information about our 501(c)3 charity on our site located at ProjectPinball.org or you can find us on Facebook at Project Pinball-Saving the Pinball Machine at the Children’s Hospital of SWFL. Come “Like” our Facebook page to show the children your support.

Best wishes,

From all of us here at Project Pinball Charity

blog post courtesy of Bo Mertins

Wanna play pinball with the happiest people on Earth in the world’s most liveable city and go up against the world’s greatest players all at the same time?

Well look no further because Danish Pinball Open 2014 (DPO2014) is your chance to enter the nirvana of pinball!

DPO2014 is hosted by Denmark’s leading pinball lounge, The Pinlab, at Marktenderiet – one of Copenhagen’s hottest venue and the very same place where the IFPA World Pinball Championships will take place in 2017.

DPO2014 is part of the IFPA European Championship Series and will be featuring 24 top-notch pins, including titles such as Mustang LE, Metallica Premium, Avatar Pro, AC/DC Luci, Stern Star Trek Pro, AFM, TAF, CFTBL, TZ, JM, INDY500, FH, STTNG, IJ, RS, DM, Taxi and FB.

Last year’s DPO saw an impressive lineup of players from all over the world, including 4 top 10 players: IFPA 2013 World Champion, Jörgen Holm, world no. 1 (at that time), Zach Sharpe, European champion 2013 and former PAPA World champion, Jorian Engelbrektsson, and world no. 9 (at that time), Mats Runsten.

DPO2014 will take place on October 25th 2014 and is open to all nationalities but is limited to 64 contestants. Dinner is including in the ticket and you will be able to buy lunch, snacks and beverages at the event.

Ticket are available from July 31th from Billetto.dk: https://billetto.dk/dpo-2014

Hallelujah and hope to see y’all!

The Pinlab Crew

Any questions? Drop us a note on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pinlab.dk) or email our event manager at bme@nordicevent.dk

Photo – The final four from DPO2013: ZAC (winner), JOE, MCR and ELK

​The IFPA and Gridiron Support are teaming up to host a series of pinball tournaments to raise money for Mike Ditka's Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, while giving the chance for players to compete for WPPR points and over $30,000 in prizes, including a BRAND NEW pinball machine.

This year we are taking things to the next level, with customized IFPA player medallions, a National Campaign of Flippin' With the Greats Tournaments, as well as the introduction of the Flippin' With the Greats League.

FLIPPIN' WITH THE GREATS will consist of both a league where IFPA members can support their favorite NFL team, as well as a nationwide campaign of tournaments held during December 2014.

For details on the FWTG LEAGUE, including how to register, format, prizes and more, click HERE.

For details on the FWTG tournament series including registration fees, format, prizes and more, click HERE.

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.

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

We're halfway through the 2014 IFPA State Championship Series season, and we couldn't be more excited about the growth of interest compared to 2013. Last year the IFPA saw over 5200 players compete in the SCS, and this year is on pace to shatter that record with 4762 players having already competed within the first half of 2014.

We currently have 31 states included in the SCS, which will all culminate in the IFPA State Championship finals. These finals will all be held simultaneously on February 7th, 2015, with nearly 500 finalists competing for not only a State Championship title, but also a spot in the IFPA US National Pinball Championship.

View the current SCS standings HERE.

For those players north of the US border, the IFPA Canada Provincial Championship Series is also currently in progress. Current standings for the Canada PCS are available HERE. A reminder that the Provincial Champions will also qualify to participate in the US National Championship starting in the 2014 season.

We are also excited to announce that the official satellite spots for the IFPA12 World Pinball Championship will come from the 2014-15 IFPA US National Pinball Championship, and the 2014-15 IFPA European Pinball Championship. The highest finisher in each final that has not yet qualified for IFPA12 will win a free spot into the World Championship.

The IFPA is excited to announce that the following players have been now qualified for the $tern Rewards Program based on their April and June 2014 IFPA endorsed tournament performance! These players have until August 15th, 2015 to exercise their reward option.

BIGGEST MOVER AWARD – [player]Ben Allen[/player]
Ben moved up 7741 spots by finishing in 23rd place at the KCB Turns 21 tournament. This netted Ben 0.78 WPPR points and moved him up to a rank of 10,117th in the world. Ben also sits in 221st place in the Washington SCS.

BIGGEST MOVER AWARD – [player]Jonas Ingerlund[/player]
Jonas moved up 7668 spots from his 86th and 61st place finishes at the 2014 Stockholm Holm Main and Classics tournaments, along with a 26th place finish in the June Stockholm Pinball Manadstavling. In total, Jonas earned 1.27 WPPR points which moved him up to a rank of 7841st in the world.

BIGGEST MOVER AWARD – [player]Jeff Anderson[/player]
Jeff moved up 3905 spots from his 8th and 20th place finishes at the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show Main and Classics tournaments. Jeff also competed in the NW Pinball Championships Main and Classics tournaments finishin in 47th and 38th places. Jeff also had a 7th place finish in the Another Castle Arcade Edition Launch Tournament, and 1st place finish at the June Flip Flip Ding Ding Periodic Tournament. These results netted Jeff 31.04 WPPR points for June, which moved him up to a rank of 1337th in the world. Jeff also sits in 28th place in the Washington SCS.

Detailed rules for the $tern Rewards Program, including an updated list of qualifiers, and updated list of rewards available can be found HERE.

The IFPA is pleased to announce that the following players saw the biggest jump in their world ranking based on their June 2014 tournament performance. 

The biggest movers for June 2014 included [player]Ben Allen[/player] from Seattle, WA, who moved up 7741 spots by finishing in 23rd place at the KCB Turns 21 tournament. This netted Ben 0.78 WPPR points and moved him up to a rank of 10,117th in the world. Ben also sits in 221st place in the Washington SCS.

[player]Jonas Ingerlund[/player] from Sweden moved up 7668 spots from his 86th and 61st place finishes at the 2014 Stockholm Holm Main and Classics tournaments, along with a 26th place finish in the June Stockholm Pinball Manadstavling. In total, Jonas earned 1.27 WPPR points which moved him up to a rank of 7841st in the world.

[player]Jeff Anderson[/player] from Renton, WA moved up 3905 spots from his 8th and 20th place finishes at the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show Main and Classics tournaments. Jeff also competed in the NW Pinball Championships Main and Classics tournaments finishin in 47th and 38th places. Jeff also had a 7th place finish in the Another Castle Arcade Edition Launch Tournament, and 1st place finish at the June Flip Flip Ding Ding Periodic Tournament. These results netted Jeff 31.04 WPPR points for June, which moved him up to a rank of 1337th in the world. Jeff also sits in 28th place in the Washington SCS.

Congratulations to Ben, Jonas and Jeff, as well as the other players that saw a jump in their ranking from their June tournament performance!

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for June 2014 is [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] from Delaware, OH. Trent earned a total of 104.39 WPPR points in June. This included a Buckeye Pinball Association victory, as well 5th/2nd/3rd place finished in the Pittsburgh Pinball Open's Main, Classics I and Classics II divisions respectivately. Trent also had a 2nd and 4th place finish at the 2014 Souther Fried Gameoom Expo's Main and Classics tournament. Trent is currently the top ranked player for the Ohio and Virginia SCS, and is qualified for Georgia(3rd), Pennsylvania(3rd), Maryland(4th) and Kentucky(15th).

The rest of the top 5 for the month of June included [player]Dave Stewart[/player] from Carnation, WA with 86.10 WPPR points, [player]Cryss Stephens[/player] from Pittsburgh, PA with 86.08 WPPR points, [player]Per Ahlenius[/player] from Falun, Sweden with 85.95 WPPR points, and [player]Sergey Posrednikov[/player] from Seattle with 83.79 WPPR points.

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

Every sport has had legendary rivalries: Bird-Magic in basketball, Palmer-Nicklaus in golf, Ali-Frasier in boxing.

In pinball we have Elwin-Kerins. These two sit at the top of the pinball world, having 12 Major Championship victories between them (Elwin-7, Kerins-5). Rarely do these two giants get to face off head-to-head, but with Elwin emerging as the California State Champion and Kerins emerging as the Massachusetts State Champion, they entered the first IFPA US National Championship as the #1 and #2 seeds.

After defeating Walt Wood (CO) 4-2, Sean Grant (NY) 4-2 and Paul Madison (MN) 4-1, Keith Elwin punched his ticket to the finals. Bowen Kerins defeated Jason Scheffelmaer (KS) 4-0, Cryss Stephens (PA) 4-3 and Andy Rosa (MI) 4-0 to punch his ticket. What followed was an epic match worthy of our sport's first US National Championship, with both Keith and Bowen matching eachother blow for blow during the final. On the line was $1000 cash and the title of "US National Pinball Champion".

Special thanks to [player]Garrett Hays[/player] for editing the video and to [player]Adam Lefkoff[/player] and [player]Mark Steinman[/player] for providing the commentary. Click HERE to watch the video.

In the Black down in Australia published a piece on the resurgence of pinball in the Travel and Leisure section. Check out the article HERE.