KCUR 89.3FM in Kansas City aired a radio piece on the upcoming IFPA Kansas State Pinball Championship to be held at the 403 Club in Kansas City. Featured in the article is 2013 World's Greatest Pinball Player, [player]Zach Sharpe[/player], 403 Club owner and #4 KS seed [player]Artie Scholes[/player] (ranked 743rd in the world), #5 KS seed [player]Marion Richards[/player] (ranked 1091st in the world), #1 KS seed [player]Phil Cridlebaugh[/player] (ranked 194th in the world), and #16 KS seed [player]Baylee DeLaurier[/player] (ranked 3066th in the world). Click HERE to listen to the radio clip. Click HERE to read the article.

The IFPA is excited to announce that our campaign to help raise funds for the Oursler family has been embraced by IFPA endorsed tournament organizers all around the globe. To date we have over 20 tournaments up on the calendar to help raise funds, with more in the planning stages. Check out the links below to participate in an Oursler Fundraiser tournament near you. If you can't participate, always feel free to donate funds to the Oursler's directly HERE.

If you're interested in setting up an event in your area, and wish to include it as part of the IFPA Oursler Fundraiser campaign, please contact the IFPA at [email protected].

Emporium Arcade Bar in Chicago is hosting the Emporium Olympics.

Games will run during the dates of the actual 2014 Winter Olympics. The opening ceremonies will be February 7. It will be the biggest arcade video game competition ever, of all time, in the universe, in Chicago. Seriously!

All games are in! There will be classic game high score competitions, pinball, timed beat-em-ups, sports games, fighting games, EVERYTHING!

The events are listed HERE. There will be ongoing high score competitions running throughout the weeks of the Olympics; tournaments in our fighting, sports and pinball games; and timed runs though the beat em up games until completion.

All players will pay a 1 time $10 entry fee that allows you to participate in as many events as you want. The money will go towards the prize pool.

We are also looking for small business or anyone else that might be interested in sponsoring a team. Teams can enter participants in as many events as they want. Players can compete as independents or join teams.

Registration is now closed for IFPA11, and we couldn't be more excited about the field of participants!

IFPA11 will set a few records, the most amazing being that each of the top 16 ranked players in the world will be in attendance. The previous record was set at IFPA7 when each of the top 5 ranked players participated.

16 countries will be represented, a record for a US-based IFPA World Pinball Championship. This includes Norway which will see it's flag on the World Pinball Champion trophy for the first time. 

Another IFPA record that has been set is the cut line for at-large bids into a US-based IFPA World Pinball Championship. At rank #79, [player]Cesare Datri[/player] from Italy became the last player above the cut line, shattering the previous US-based IFPA record of rank #165 set at IFPA9 in Seattle. The Europe-based IFPA record still stands at rank #66 from IFPA10 after initial registration, although the actual cut line moved to rank #88 after some player cancellations leading up to the tournament.

IFPA9 in Seattle featured a record 7 players that have been crowned World Pinball Champion competing in the same tournament. We're excited that those 7 players are all returning to compete in IFPA11 – Cayle George, Andrei Massenkoff, Keith Elwin, Jorian Engelbrektsson, Daniele Celestino Acciari, Bowen Kerins and Lyman Sheats. In addition, current IFPA World Pinball Champion Jörgen Holm returns to defend his crown, making for a new record of 8 World Pinball Champions under one roof for the first time.

The full field of participants is available HERE.

A reminder that 1 more IFPA11 spot is still available at the Lyons Spring Classic the weekend before IFPA11. Full details for that tournament will be available soon.

The Boston Globe published an article on the upcoming IFPA Massachusetts State Pinball Championship. Featured in the article is #1 MA seed [player]Joe Lemire[/player] (ranked 283rd in the world), 5-time World Pinball Champion [player]Bowen Kerins[/player] (ranked 7th in the world), #3 MA seed [player]Chuck Webster[/player] (ranked 395th in the world) and [player]Mike Engel[/player] (ranked 4052nd in the world). Click HERE to read the article.

blog post courtesy of Dan Spolar

We need your help.

We were approached by the IFPA to help participate in a nation wide fundraising event for the Oursler family to which we replied, “absolutely, how can we help”.

To help raise donations, the Pinball Asylum is going to host a Barry Oursler Fundraiser event on Saturday March 15. This will be an open house event with two pinball benefit tournaments for our guests to participate in.  The goal is to generate funds that well be given to the Oursler family.

Barry Oursler designed a lot of great titles that we all played in the past and are playing still to this day. I know that I have fond memories of playing a lot of his games over the years. Take a look at the list below and you be amazed at all the fantastic machines that were created by Barry Oursler. What an accomplishment!

From the IFPA page, “Famous pinball designer Barry Oursler is seeking donations for treatment for himself and his wife Donna. In February 2013, Barry was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. The treatments and prescriptions are not covered 100% by insurance, so the bills are piling up. Last July, Donna was diagnosed with kidney failure. As a result, she must receive dialysis 3 times per week.”

Direct IFPA Link: http://www.ifpapinball.com/help-barry-oursler-campaign

If you would care to donate to the Barry Oursler Fund before the Asylum tournament you can do so here: http://www.gofundme.com/6fgkt0

How you can help:

Come to this Fundraising event.

We could use your help to get Barry Oursler designed pinball machines to the Pinball Asylum and setup for use in the two benefit pinball tournaments. All the proceeds will be donated to the Barry Oursler Fund.

Plus, we need to get sponsors and/ or prizes of any kind that can be used for raffles, giveaways or to be used for tournament prizes. We appreciate anything to help raise donations.

The two tournament formats:

Ten Token Barry Oursler Themed Tournament: Fee $40 donation- Ten chances to get your highest qualify score on five machines. Your score will be rank and given points for each machine, then the points totaled. The top 4 totals will be given prizes for their achievement.

The Barry Oursler Tribute Tournament: 3 for $10 donation- Qualifying will start at 11am to 5:30pm Finals to begin at 6:30.

Here is the List of Barry Oursler designed titles. Please post your name below and the game you would like to bring to the Asylum. The Pinball Asylum is located in Fort Myers, Florida.

You can also contact me direct at [email protected]

You can see us at http://www.pinballasylum.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/#!/PinballAsylum 

The final week of the month long Flippin' With the Greats tournaments has ended and we have our final qualifiers that will advance to the Grand Final to be held Super Bowl weekend at Modern Pinball NYC.

Here is the current list of players that have advanced to Grand Final:

PRO DIVISION
Group 1 – Sean Grant, Steve Zahler, Dominic Nardini
Group 2 – Alberto Santana, Joshua Senzer, Trent Augenstein
Group 3 – Francesco La Rocca, Jody Jodon, Chris Newsom
Group 4 – Steve Epstein, Jason Zahler, Ken Martin

NOVICE DIVISION
Group 1 – Josh Boerman, Dave Plaisted, Tim Sexton
Group 2 – Paul Sundue, Keven McKee, Wes Hollis
Group 3 – Mikey Gabbard, John Szilagyi, Jerry F. Kroboth
Group 4 – Henry Manjarres, Kyler McKee, Matt Minton

Total money raised for Grdiron Support has now reached $4260!

Best of luck to all the competitors at the Grand Final!

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

The Philadelphia Inquirer published an article on the Pinball Gallery in Downingtown, PA. The Pinball Gallery runs a bunch of IFPA endorsed events including monthly tournaments, leagues and is also participating in the Flippin' with the Greats campaign for Gridiron Support. Featured in the article is Pinball Gallery owner [player]Bill Disney[/player] (ranked 1676th in the world), [player]Michael Petuhoff[/player] (ranked 4436th in the world), IFPA President [player]Josh Sharpe[/player] (ranked 24th in the world), [player]Kathleen Barone[/player] (ranked 4612th in the world), [player]Brian Mills[/player] (ranked 2396th in the world), [player]Jay Robinson[/player] (ranked 372nd in the world), [player]Rick Prince[/player] (ranked 447th in the world) and [player]Gabe Patterson[/player] (ranked 2005th in the world). Click HERE to read the article.

Week #3 of 4 of the month long Flippin' With the Greats tournaments has ended and we have our next batch of qualifiers that will advance to the Grand Final to be held Super Bowl weekend at Modern Pinball NYC.

Here is the current list of players that have advanced to Grand Final:

PRO DIVISION
Group 1 – Sean Grant, Steve Zahler, Dominic Nardini
Group 2 – Alberto Santana, Joshua Senzer, Trent Augenstein
Group 3 – Francesco La Rocca, Jody Jodon, Chris Newsom

NOVICE DIVISION
Group 1 – Josh Boerman, Dave Plaisted, Tim Sexton
Group 2 – Paul Sundue, Keven McKee, Wes Hollis
Group 3 – Mikey Gabbard, John Szilagyi, Jerry F. Kroboth

Total money raised for Grdiron Support has now reached $3540!

Best of luck to all the competitors on Week #4 which starts up today, where will be looking for last batch of finalists to join the winners circle at the Grand Final in the playoff for a brand new pinball machine!

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