Qualifying for the inaugural IFPA State Championship Series is now complete, and it's now time for us to find our qualifiers for the 28 different IFPA State Championship finals. These finals will all be held simultaneously on February 8th, 2014, with 448 finalists competing for not only a State Championship title, but also a spot in the first IFPA US National Championship.

The final player count for the 2013 SCS reached 5235 included in the various IFPA State Championship standings (view current standings HERE).

IFPA State Representatives should be sending out emails to the top 50 from each state shortly. Important to note that if the IFPA does not have your email address on file, we have no way of being able to contact you. If you feel you should have received an invitation to one of the IFPA State Championships and did not, contact the IFPA immediately at [email protected], or Click HERE to edit your profile.

Registration for all 28 states closes on Saturday, January 12th at 7pm CST. Any player that has not accepted their invitation by that time will be ineligible to participate.

Remember that no player is allowed to compete in multiple IFPA State Championships. Players that qualify for more than one IFPA State Championship will have to make their choice during this open period of registration. This will mean that many states will go far past the top 16 players in order to fill all 16 spots.

For those states that plan on running a Charity Challenge side tournament, all proceeds will be donated to Kids Fight Cancer, with those proceeds match dollar for dollar by both Stern Pinball and Jersey Jack Pinball.

Any questions about the SCS, or anything IFPA related, please contact us at [email protected]

Updated: As State Representatives alert us to who is attending, we will be updating this page.

The IFPA is excited to announce that the following players have been now qualified for the $tern Rewards Program based on their November 2013 IFPA endorsed tournament performance! These players have until August 15th, 2014 to exercise their reward option.

BIGGEST MOVER AWARD – [player]Layne Sandt[/player]
Layne moved up 10,151 spots by finishing in 1st place at the November Pinball Gallery Monthly Tournament, as well as 5th place at the Black Friday Pinball Tournament. This netted Layne 4.27 WPPR points and moved him up to a rank of 3218th in the world.

BIGGEST MOVER AWARD – [player]Nathan Patterson[/player]
Nathan moved up 9064 spots from his 11th and 7th place finishes at the Shawnee Pinball OpenMain and Classics tournaments respectively. In total, Nathan earned 3.43 WPPR points from these performances, which has moved him up to a rank of 3990th in the world..

BIGGEST MOVER AWARD – [player]Felix Holm[/player]
moved up 6630 spots by earning 2.13 WPPR points from his 111th place finish at the 2013 Swedish Championships. This moved Felix into now being the 5347th ranked player in the world.

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 November 2013 tournament performance.

The biggest movers for November 2013 included [player]Layne Sandt[/player] from Easton, PA, who moved up 10,151 spots by finishing in 1st place at the November Pinball Gallery Monthly Tournament, as well as 5th place at the Black Friday Pinball Tournament. This netted Layne 4.27 WPPR points and moved him up to a rank of 3218th in the world.

[player]Nathan Patterson[/player] from Lenexa, KS moved up 9064 spots from his 11th and 7th place finishes at the Shawnee Pinball OpenMain and Classics tournaments respectively. In total, Nathan earned 3.43 WPPR points from these performances, which has moved him up to a rank of 3990th in the world.

[player]Felix Holm[/player] from Stockholm, Sweden moved up 6630 spots by earning 2.13 WPPR points from his 111th place finish at the 2013 Swedish Championships. This moved Felix into now being the 5347th ranked player in the world.

Congratulations to Layne, Nathan and Felix, as well as the other players that saw a jump in their ranking from their November tournament performance!

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 $20,000 in prizes, including a BRAND NEW pinball machine.

FLIPPIN' WITH THE GREATS will consist of 4 weekly tournaments run at 3 different locations – Modern Pinball NYC in New York, the Silver Ball Museum in Asbury Park, NJ, and the Pinball Gallery in Downingtown, PA. Tournaments will run January 6th-12th, January 13th-19th, January 20th-26th, and January 27th-30th culminating in a Grand Final the day before the Super Bowl on February 1st, 2014 at IFPA Headquarters at MPNYC.

For details on the tournament 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.

The IFPA is pleased to announce that for the second month in a row our Player of the Month for November 2013 is current World No.1 [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] from Chicago, IL. Zach earned a total 96.39 WPPR points in November, with a victory at the Dutch Pinball Open, and second place finish at the Southern Pinball Festival.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of November included [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] from Delaware, OH, with 89.56 WPPR points, [player]Jon Replogle[/player] from Pittsburgh, PA with 89.41 WPPR points, [player]Roberto Pedroni[/player] from Italy with 88.52 WPPR points, and [player]Marcus Hugosson[/player] from Vetlanda, Sweden with 82.34 WPPR points.

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

Cityscape:Indoors – WFUV Radio 90.7 interviews MPNYC owners Steve Epstein and Steve Zahler as part of their Bring it On, Cabin Fever! segment. The interview starts at the 9 minute, 30 second mark. Click HERE to hear the interview.

EUROPEAN PINBALL CHAMPIONSHIP BOOM OF ENROLLEMENTS AT THE EUROPEAN SPORTS PINBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ITALY, AND IT ALREADY REGISTERS A RECORD

The European Sports Pinball Championship introduces itself to Italian people as a record edition. After the opening of the enrollements that took place at midnight on Saturday, December 14th, in a few hours 250 players have been registered. And, among these, about 200 are foreign players. This is an absolute record for the European Pinball Championship – that will be held in Rimini, 21 – 24 March 2014, for the first time in Italy – that had never reached before the goal of two hundred participants.

We knew that players from all over the Continent would have received the debut of the European Pinball Championships in Italy with great interest, because they shown great enthusiasm, but honestly no one could expect a success of this kind already at the opening of the enrollements, when the event is three months away," Alessio Crisantem, President of IFPA Italia, explains. "Certainly, the fact that of having organized a top-level event, thanks to the contribution of Tecnoplay and Rimini Fiera, which are partners of the event – he adds – and the fact of being hosted by an excellent location as the Rimini exhibition center, in the setting of Enada Spring, are factors that influence a lot the visibility of the event and which have increased the enthusiasm of the audience. But what is certain is that, now, we are only at the first step, and the best is yet to come. And we also expect a great response from public and visitors, and not just from players. Because the European Championship will be held in public, so anyone can come and admire the show of sports pinball, absolutely for free."

The European Pinball Championship 2014

The European Sports Pinball Championship will take place in March for the first time in Italy. Rimini fair will host the most important competition of the Old Continent – thanks to a partnership between IFPA Italia and Rimini Fiera SpA – which will open its doors to competitive pinball on the occasion of Enada Spring 2014. The European Championship, in fact, is one of the side events of the next Enada (hence the sponsorship of the event and of the National Association SAPAR who is the organizer of it), and for this reason it will be held from Friday, March 21, 2014 (last day of Enada, which starts on March 19) until the following Sunday, March 23. But during the fair, in the two previous days, IFPA Italia and Tecnoplay – Official partner of Italian sports pinball – organize another “warm-up” tournament in view of the European one, which is also valid as side tornament of the EPC,  that is to say offering the free enrollement to the event for those who won the Spring Pinball Tournament of Enada.

A tribute to the Made in Italy

With the opening of the enrollements for the European Championship 2014, IFPA Italia also presents the official T -shirts of the event (graphically made by Gn Media), offering a tribute to the Made in Italy of pinball: that is to say to the historical Italian pinball production of Zaccaria family. In the image of the t-shirts of the event, in fact, we can see a reference to the decal of the unforgettable pinball "Pinball Champ '82", a real success of '80s that  won the players at the time and that is still appreciated (and sought-after) between the collectors all over the world. The idea of the tribute, proposed and developed by IFPA Italia, derives not only to celebrate the association with the Zaccaria family – still close at present to the world of pinball through Tecnoplay – but also and above all to enhance the  Italian tradition and manufacture, taking advantage of the debut of a top-level competition in Italy and a few steps from the head office of Tecnoplay Itself.

All information on the European Championship are available on: www.ifpaitalia.it and on the international website of the event: www.europinball.org

The Today Show highlighted the resurgence of pinball live on their national broadcast this morning. Representing IFPA HQ were [player]Jason Zahler[/player] (ranked 1007th in the world) and [player]Maxine Zahler[/player] (ranked 5944th in the world), the children of Modern Pinball NYC Co-owner [player]Steve Zahler[/player]. Click HERE to see the video.

FOX5 in New York City is getting in on the media frenzy at IFPA HQ. Interviewed is IFPA Co-Chairman [player]Steve Epstein[/player]. Click HERE to watch the video and read the article.