6-Time World's Greatest Pinball Player, 7-time Grand Slam winner, and current World #1 [player]Keith Elwin[/player] was interviewed by CNN. Keith will be representing the US at the upcoming IFPA11 World Pinball Championship in Denver as a member of the Team USA Epstein Cup team. Click HERE to watch the video.

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

PLAYER OF THE MONTH – [player]Jon Replogle[/player]
Jon earned a total 262.17 WPPR points in March. This included wins at the IFPA Oursler Fundraiser in Pittsburgh for the Main Tournament (along with a 4th place finish in the Classics tournament), Pre-Pinburgh New Great Valley Lanes tournament, Louisville Arcade Expo's Classics Division (along with a 4th place finish in the main tournament) and at the Ohio Pinball & Gameroom Festival (along with a 2nd place finish in the Classics tournament). Jon's March performance boosted him into being the top ranked player for the Kentucky and Pennsylvania SCS based on the current standings.

BIGGEST MOVER AWARD – [player]Myles Murray[/player]
Myles moved up 13,194 spots by finishing in 2nd and 16th place in the IFPA Python Fundraiser – Cleveland Tournament Main and Classics divisions respectively. This netted Myles 16.30 WPPR points and moved him up to a rank of 2033rd in the world, as well as 29th in the Ohio SCS.

BIGGEST MOVER AWARD – [player]Bernhard Binder[/player]
Bernhard moved up 8801 spots from his 221nd and 156th place finishes in the Main and Classics tournaments at the 2014 European Pinball Championship. Bernhard earned 2.28 WPPR points from this performance and moved him up to a rank of 5640th in the world.

BIGGEST MOVER AWARD – [player]Ian Lang[/player]
Ian moved up 8266 spots from his 8th place finish at the IFPA Oursler Fundraiser in Vancouver, along with 5th, 43rd and 3rd place finishes at the Whopper Wednesday tournaments held during March. Ian earned a total of 5.08 WPPR points from these performances, which moved him into now being the 3406th ranked player in the world. Ian also currently sits in 24th place in the British Columbia PCS standings.

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 March 2014 tournament performance. 

The biggest movers for March 2014 included [player]Myles Murray[/player] from Cleveland, OH, who moved up 13,194 spots by finishing in 2nd and 16th place in the IFPA Python Fundraiser – Cleveland Tournament Main and Classics divisions respectively. This netted Myles 16.30 WPPR points and moved him up to a rank of 2033rd in the world, as well as 29th in the Ohio SCS.

[player]Bernhard Binder[/player] from Austria moved up 8801 spots from his 221nd and 156th place finishes in the Main and Classics tournaments at the 2014 European Pinball Championship. Bernhard earned 2.28 WPPR points from this performance and moved him up to a rank of 5640th in the world.

[player]Ian Lang[/player] from Delta, BC moved up 8266 spots from his 8th place finish at the IFPA Oursler Fundraiser in Vancouver, along with 5th, 43rd and 3rd place finishes at the Whopper Wednesday tournaments held during March. Ian earned a total of 5.08 WPPR points from these performances, which moved him into now being the 3406th ranked player in the world. Ian also currently sits in 24th place in the British Columbia PCS standings.

Congratulations to Myles, Bernhard and Ian, as well as the other players that saw a jump in their ranking from their March tournament performance!

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for March 2014 is [player]Jon Replogle[/player] from Pittsburgh, PA. Jon earned a total 262.17 WPPR points in March. This included wins at the IFPA Oursler Fundraiser in Pittsburgh for the Main Tournament (along with a 4th place finish in the Classics tournament), Pre-Pinburgh New Great Valley Lanes tournament, Louisville Arcade Expo's Classics Division (along with a 4th place finish in the main tournament) and at the Ohio Pinball & Gameroom Festival (along with a 2nd place finish in the Classics tournament). Jon's March performance boosted him into being the top ranked player for the Kentucky and Pennsylvania SCS based on the current standings.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of March included [player]Robert Gagno[/player] from Burnaby, BC with 259.70 WPPR points, [player]Daniele Celestino Acciari[/player] from Italy with 235.69 WPPR points, [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] from Delaware, OH with 212.15 WPPR points, and [player]Jorian Engelbrektsson[/player] from Sweden with 184.00 WPPR points.

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

Where Y'At Magazine in New Orleans published an article on the Mystic Krewe of the Silver Ball down in New Orleans. Included in the article is organizer [player]Mike Perry[/player] (ranked 469th in the world). The Mystic Krewe hosts the PinChurch Open among other tournaments, which is one of the over 1600 IFPA endorsed events held around the world where players can earn WPPR points to qualify for the IFPA World Pinball Championship, as well as qualify for the IFPA Louisiana State Pinball Championship. Click HERE to read the article.

VOX Magazine in Columbia, Moissouri published a piece about the Columbia Pinball League. The Columbia Pinball League is one of the over 100 IFPA endorsed leagues held around the world. Featured in the article and video is [player]Robert Ryan[/player] (ranked 1208th in the world), [player]Adam McKinnie[/player] (ranked 138th in the world) and [player]Josh Noble[/player] (ranked 2322nd in the world). Click HERE to read the article.

The inaugural IFPA European Championship Series is through Event #5 out of 17. Since our last update, the 2014 Oslo Pinheads Open was held in Norway, along with the 2014 Italian Pinball Championship in Italy.

[player]Michael Trepp[/player] has taken a 72 points lead over his Swiss counterpart [player]Robert Sutter[/player] for top position of ECS standings. Full results from the 2014 Oslo Pinheads Open are available HERE. Full results from the 2014 Italian Pinball Championship are available HERE. The current ECS standings are available HERE.

The next ECS event takes players to Spain, where the 2014 Torneo Madrileño de Pinball will be taking place May 17th-18th. Details of that event are available HERE. The entire ECS schedule can be found HERE.

One of Travel Channel's newest shows "Game On, America" will be featuring pinball in next week's episode. 2013 World's Greatest Pinball Player [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] was on hand to show host Sal Piacente some secrets on how to become a pinball wizard. Show airs 10pm EST on Tuesday, May 6th. Click HERE for a synopsis of the show.

The Denver Post recently covered the 2014 Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown in Denver, Colorado. The Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown is one of the over 1600 IFPA endorsed events held around the world where players can earn WPPR points to qualify for the IFPA World Pinball Championship, as well as qualify for the IFPA Colorado State Pinball Championship. Player interviewed included show organizer [player]Dan Nikolich[/player] (ranked 2716th in the world). Click HERE to read the article.