Join Stern, IFPA and the WWE at the worlds largest toy store, Toys-R-Us Times Square on Friday, August 21st from Noon to 5pm! We will have WWE Wrestlemania Pinball setup on free play for you to enjoy as a part of the WWE SummerSlam Fan Experience! You might even meet a WWE Superstar!

All scores set on the machine at Toys-R-Us during this time are eligible for our "King of the Ring" promotion currently underway. Grand Prize is $500 cash, a playfield trophy and tickets to a WWE event!

Click HERE for details!

(photo courtesy of Zac Wollons)

In the history of competitive pinball, very few (24 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 four times a year. The Pinburgh 2015 final brought together three finalists looking to add their name to this list ([player]Raymond Davidson[/player], [player]Kevin Birrell[/player] and [player]Zach Sharpe[/player]), with [player]Keith Elwin[/player] looking to capture his record 9th Major Championhip and 2nd of 2015.

Following a tiebreaker with [player]Raymond Davidson[/player] on Ironman, it was [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] who became the 25th Major Champion in competitive pinball history. Having been one game away from winning PAPA, IFPA and the EPC over the course of his career, the 800 pound gorilla as being "the best player to have never won a Major" is finally off Zach's back. This was also Zach's 7th top 4 finish at a Major, one of only six players to accomplish this in a career (Elwin, Kerins, Sheats, Engelbrektsson, Acciari are the others).

With his 3rd place finish [player]Keith Elwin[/player] added to his record for the most top 4 finishes in Major Championships, expanding that total to 14. [player]Raymond Davidson[/player] increased his top 4 finishes in Major Championships to 2, while [player]Kevin Birrell[/player] entered the record books with his first top 4 Major Championship finish (the 76th player to do so).

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

​blog post courtesy of Greg Dunlap

All IFPA rules regarding ranking and points will remain the same for these tournaments as any other tournament. The 30 day rule is in effect for this campaign.

CBS affiliate WBNS-10TV in Columbus, OH recently interviewed [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] (ranked 8th in the world) on the pinball comeback. Click HERE to watch the video.

As part of Robert Gagno's dominating victories at both the IFPA US National Pinball Championship and the IFPA Pin-Masters, Robert won the Grand Prize from the 2014 Flippin' With the Greats campaign. His selection was a brand new Stern Mustang pinball machine.

Special thanks to Gridiron Support, Peters Billiards and Stern Pinball for helping us raise money for Coach Ditka's Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund.

Plans are in the works for another FWTG campaign for 2015. As the football season approaches we'll be announcing those details on our site, so stay tuned.

We're nearly halfway through the 2015-16 IFPA State Championship Series season, and we couldn't be more excited about the continued growth of interest in the SCS. The inaugural SCS season saw 5235 players participate, while the 2014-15 season saw that number grow to 6690 players. The 2015-16 season is on pace to shatter that record with 5808 players having already competed within the first half of 2014.

We currently have 35 states included in the SCS, which will all culminate in the IFPA State Championship finals. These finals will all be held simultaneously on February 13th, 2016, with 560 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 2015-16 season.

A reminder that the official satellite spots for the IFPA13 World Pinball Championship will come from the 2015-16 IFPA US National Pinball Championship, and the 2015-16 IFPA European Pinball Championship. The highest finisher in each final that has not yet qualified for IFPA13 will win a free spot into the World Championship.

Nation's Brightest Casting is looking for the best and the brightest to come and compete on their show and they have extended this opportunity to the IFPA player base. 

About the show:
Contestants will come on and face a gauntlet of colossal mental challenges with the chance to win a huge cash prize. People who are great with puzzles, riddles and brain teasers are perfect show for this show!

Anyone interested in applying should email Nation's Brightest Casting at: 

casting@nationsbrightestcasting.com 

Applicants should include the following information in their email: 

Name
City/State
Phone Number
Email Address
Occupation
Recent Photo
How they heard about the casting
Short Bio
A detailed paragraph stating why they feel they are the nation's brightest 

Auditions are held weekly in our LA offices and over Skype!  

**THIS IS A NATIONWIDE CASTING CALL. 

**APPLICATIONS MUST BE 18+ YEARS OF AGE & A LEGAL US CITIZEN.

Stern Pinball, WWE and the International Flipper Pinball Association are teaming up to sponsor a Worldwide High-Score Tournament on WWE WrestleMania Pro and LE pinball machines.

The tournament is open to players around the world and will begin on July 1, 2015 and end on December 31, 2015.

Players can enter by participating in IFPA-sanctioned King of the Ring events:

• Authorized IFPA members will organize sanctioned tournament events.
• The IFPA will establish the tournament settings for the WWE WrestleMania Pro and LE games used in sanctioned tournament events.
• Authorized IFPA members will submit high scores from each sanctioned tournament event to the IFPA.
• IFPA sanctioned events will take place in commercial locations approved by the IFPA. In-home events will not qualify.
• Authorized IFPA members will post high scores and event photos on the King of the Ring Facebook page.
• All photos must include a picture of the player and their score on the DMD, accompanied by the hashtags: #WWEpinball and #kingofthering and include the name, city and country of the location of the event.
• The player with the highest score will remain the King of the Ring until another player tops the score.
• The player with the highest score as of midnight Chicago-time on December 31, 2015, will claim the “King of the Ring” title, trophy, tickets to a WWE event, and $500 in cash.
• The top ten runner-ups will receive WWE pinball related prizes (signed translites, shirts, and more)

Contact the IFPA for more details, and to get your event involved in the campaign! We’ll be keeping a live leaderboard along with any information on upcoming events HERE.

The IFPA European Championship Series is through Event #6 out of 17 for the 2015-16 season.

A trio of Dutch players sit on top of the current ECS standings, with [player]Paul Jongma[/player] having a 16 point lead over [player]Albert Nomden[/player] for top position. [player]John van der Wulp[/player] sits 21 points back. The current ECS standings are available HERE.

432 players have participated in the 2015-16 ECS so far this season, currently up 15% from the player count through Event #6 from last year's ECS.

The upcoming schedule of ECS events is available HERE.

To celebrate the launch of the KISS pinball machine, Stern and the IFPA are teaming up to host 28 launch parties going on across the globe!

Click on the flyer to find the Launch Party nearest you, or visit the IFPA Calendar HERE!

There will be machines set up at each location on free play, with a cash prize tournament also being held throughout the party. Please see flyer for location information, and contact the IFPA at [email protected] should you have any questions.