14 teams competed in the 2014 PinBrawl World Team Pinball Championships, held Wednesday August 13th at PAPA HQ. After 3 qualifying rounds, IFPAPA (Sponsored by MPE), made up of [player]Doug Polka[/player] (ranked 1018th in the world), [player]Mark Steinman[/player] (ranked 215th in the world), [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] (ranked 3rd in the world) and [player]Josh Sharpe[/player] (ranked 20th in the world) earned a spot in the playoffs by winning POD #2.

In the Semifinal round IFPAPA (Sponsored by MPE) defeated Stoned Drunk! 70-47, and followed that up with a 64-53 victory in the Finals over the defending champion Beavis and the Pin-buttheads. [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] earned top honors as PinBrawl 2014's Most Valuable Player, earning 83 MVP points over the course of the tournament. Full results can be found HERE.

PinBrawl 2014 is underway! We have 14 teams battling for the four spots in the finals. Click HERE to follow the results live as the matches end.

World’s Leading Maker of Arcade-Quality Pinball Adds New Games
and Merchandise to the IFPA Rewards Program

MELROSE PARK, IL – August 12, 2014 – Stern Pinball, Inc. (SPI), the world's oldest and largest producer of arcade-quality pinball games, announced in cooperation with the International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) exciting changes to the $tern Rewards Program. The program rewards dedicated players by providing them with the opportunity to use their rewards to purchase new Stern Premium games and other Stern merchandise at special IFPA prices.

In addition to AC/DC Premium, both Star Trek Premium and Metallic Monster Premium have been added to the lineup of eligible games available for purchase under the program. All games purchased through the $tern Rewards Program will include a custom certificate and t-shirt exclusive to the program.

Qualifying participants will also be eligible for discounts at the Stern online store which features a wide range of Stern and $tern Rewards Program merchandise exclusive to the IFPA rewards program.

Pinball players around the world can qualify for the program by participating and performing in IFPA-sanctioned pinball events. Top-ranked players, most-improved players, and player-of-the-month earn rewards points in the annual program.

The eligibility requirements for 2014 have been expanded to include players that finish in the top 1000 of the IFPA’s World Pinball Player Rankings at the end of the calendar year.

For More Information

To learn more about the $tern Rewards Program, visit the IFPA website at www.ifpapinball.com/SternRewardsProgram

About Stern Pinball, Inc.

Stern Pinball, Inc., headquartered just outside Chicago, Illinois, is the oldest and largest producer of arcade-quality pinball games in the world.  Stern’s highly talented creative and technical teams design, engineer and manufacture a full line of popular pinball games, merchandise and accessories.  Recent Stern titles include Mustang, Star Trek, Metallica, The Avengers, X-Men, AC/DC, Tron, Transformers, Avatar, Iron Man, Batman, Spiderman and many more!  All of Stern’s pinball games are crafted by hand and assembled by Stern’s expert team. Both pinball enthusiasts and casual players around the globe enjoy Stern’s games.  For more information, please visit www.sternpinball.com. 

About the IFPA

The International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) was created with the express purpose of encouraging, supporting and endorsing competitive pinball throughout the world. The organization provides oversight and assistance to not only establishing pinball leagues, but also tournaments and other promotional activities. The IFPA has been able to bring together over 26,000 players now ranked (World Pinball Player Rankings) by competing in over 1600 leagues and tournaments taking place across the globe every year. The World Pinball Tour of IFPA endorsed events now features over $500,000 in cash and prizes given away each year.

Pinball players in the UK are now able to participate in an exciting new nationwide contest, with the launch of the IFPA UK Championship Series.

All the results from IFPA-sanctioned tournaments within the UK during the calendar year will count towards the IFPA UK Championship Series, including every main and side tournament. 

At the end of the year, the 20 top-ranked players will qualify for the national Series Final to be held the following January or February.  The Series Final will take place in different parts of the country each year, and will feature cash prizes to be won in every round, as well as cash and trophies for the top four players.

Every result from UK tournaments played so far this year has already been included in the rankings, giving the remaining tournaments an extra level of excitement with those qualifying places for the Series Final at stake.The IFPA UK Championship Series was devised by Craig Pullen and Greg Mott, and realised with the assistance of the IFPA’s Country Director, Martin Ayub. 

Full rules, schedules and current rankings are now available on the IFPA website at: ifpapinball.com/ukcs

​With the Flippin' With the Greats League and NFL Preseason officially underway, the IFPA and Gridiron Support are excited to announce that we will be filling the NFL Preseason with prizes that will be raffled off every week for FWTG League members.

The first prize to be raffled off on August 14th at 9pm CST will be a set of 3 Hall of Fame GGAF Medallions featuring players Dan Hampton, Steve Largent, and "Mean" Joe Greene, all with matching serial numbers. All FWTG League members at that time will be eligible for the prize.

Detailed pictures of these medallions along with the custom IFPA medallions can be viewed HERE.

A reminder also that the player leading each division at the end of the preseason will win the "Preseason MVP award" and earn a spot into the Grand Final and play for a NIB Pinball Machine. Currently [player]Tim Zollner[/player] leads the NFC West, with all other divisions currently up for grabs. Updated FWTG standings are available HERE.

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

Gridiron Support is currently offering a Preseason 10% discount on "Tier 1" and "Tier 2" IFPA/FWTG personalized League Medallions. In addition, Gridiron Support is offering special "group" sales discounts on Medallion orders of 3 or more. Call Vicki (Gridiron Support) at 612-999-FWTG (3984) for more information!

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.

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 [email protected]

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.