2024 IFPA German Pinball Champion is crowned

The finals of the German Championship Series 2024 were held at Freeplay.ruhr in Herten, Germany, this weekend.

64 players from all over Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Poland and France battled through 20 rounds of Group Matchplay qualification followed by 8 player Group Elimination play-off finals. There was a lot at stake: the title of the IFPA German Pinball Champion, 200% TGP plus 150% event booster, a Play-In Exemption spot for Germany at the IFPA20 World Championship and a ticket to the 2024 ECS Finals.

Axel Vercauteren from Belgium won the title of “2024 IFPA German Pinball Champion” having fought a tight final battle ahead of Johannes Ostermeier from Germany, Paul Jongma from the Netherlands and Stefan Herold from Germany.

Stefan Herold won the 2nd country exemption spot to represent Germany in the IFPA20 World Championship at Flippnic in Austria.

Nico Wicke, finishing in 6th position, won the ticket for the 2024 ECS Finals in Middelkerke giving him a chance to battle for the last European spot at IFPA20.

You can follow the action at both the ECS Finals and IFPA20 on JDL Pinball streaming channel.

We wish everyone a good start to the 2025 Championship Series season.

Win a Zaccaria Farfalla pinball machine in Asheville NC!

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UUFL Invitational is a charity tournament hosted by Level 256 in Asheville, NC between March 18-23 to remember and celebrate their departed friends Frank Hayden (UUF) and Reed Wilson (L). The winner of the tournament will receive a 1983 Zaccaria Farfalla pinball machine ($3500 value) and Level 256 will be raffling off approximately $4000 worth of prizes on Sunday, March 23 from almost 20 sponsors.

All proceeds from raffle ticket sales will be donated to the Asheville Humane Society and the American Cancer Society.

Register for the tournament at https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/173694 and purchase additional raffle tickets at https://www.level256arcade.com/uufl. Winners of raffle prizes will be contacted on Monday, March 24, if not present.
— Tournament Details —

$45 entry fee; $20 admission to Level 256, $25 to the prize pool. Fee includes admission into Level 256 Tuesday-Saturday (also Sunday if you make finals) along with 5 raffle tickets.

200% TGP expected. Unlimited qualifying across 10 arenas with your best two scores counting per arena; top 18 scores counted overall.
Qualifying:
Tuesday, March 18: 5PM-10PM
Wednesday, March 19: 5PM-10PM
Thursday, March 20: 5PM-10PM
Friday, March 21: 5PM-11PM
Saturday, March 22: 12PM-11PM
Finals:
Sunday, March 23: 12:30PM
Best of 5 double elimination bracket finals. Winner receives Farfalla and there will be a cash payout for 2nd-4th (50%/30%/20%).
If less than 32 players, Top 8 will advance.
If 32 – 47 players, Top 16 will advance.

If 48+ players, Top 24 will advance with Top 8 receiving byes.

IFPA celebrates 19th Anniversary!

Today marks the 19 year anniversary since the rebirth of the International Flipper Pinball Association.

On this day in 2006 the AMOA assigned the rights of the then defunct IFPA over to Steve Epstein and Roger Sharpe to see if they could elevate the awareness and visibility of pinball across the globe.

The World Pinball Player Rankings now has over 130,000 players from 49 countries and over 73,000 sanctioned events in the system.

Thanks to everyone for the continued support, but most importantly to the hundreds of volunteers that help the IFPA truly cover the globe in competitive pinball 24/7. We’re looking forward to seeing where we can take things in the years ahead!

Need players for TV interview – Rochester NY – March 6th!

Attention any players in the Rochester, NY area! In advance of the 2024-2025 North American Pinball Championship, local news will be showing up to the Rochester Pinball Collective to cover the event.

TV crew plans on arriving at RPC around 6:10 in the morning.
First segment would be around 6:40am.
Second segment would be around 7:00am.
Third segment would be around 7:40am.
Fourth segment would be around 8:15am.
Fifth segment would be around 8:40am.

Each segment they would like to talk to a different player.

Any interested players, please email the RPC at “info@rocpinball.com”.
All players welcome.
No playing on tournament games.

 

Win a Stern Game at the First Hybrid best-game Tourney!

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Australia to decide National Champions this weekend

The countdown is now on to this weekend’s ACS and first-ever Women’s ACS tournaments here in Townsville.
64 of Australia’s best are about to battle it out to determine the next IFPA Australian Champion. Players are split into 4 Pools of 16, with the
Top 6 players in each group advancing to the finals.
All Pools have been added to a “tournament series”, so players will be able to check out in real time where they are positioned overall against all other players.
This year will also see the first ever Australian Women’s Champion crowned, being played in it’s own stand-alone time on Saturday night. 16 of Australia’s best women will battle it out in 2 groups of 8, with each player playing each of their group opposition twice. Top 4 in each group will advance to finals.
The events will also be streamed across the weekend over on the Pinhead Twitch TV channel:

2025 IFPA Pin-Masters: World Pin-Golf Championships – Over $20K Prize Pool!

The 2025 IFPA Pin-Masters: World Pin-Golf Championships are scheduled for March 7th-9th, 2025 at the Rochester Pinball Collective in Rochester, New York.

Registration is now available HERE!

With 75 players registered we currently have a prize pool of over $20,000 to be shared by the top 24 finalists.

Spots still available for anyone interested!

Full details of the event are available here:
https://www.ifpapinball.com/tournament_pages/pinmasters/

Should you have any questions about our qualifying process or to find out more information about the tournament, please contact the IFPA at ifpapinball@gmail.com.

2024-25 IFPA North American Pinball Championship – FINALISTS

As the dust settles from NACS Day, we’re excited to announce the participants for the upcoming IFPA North American Pinball Championship. The champions from every State/Province/District get invited, with the runner-up serving as the only available alternate. The list below is the current seeding based on player confirmations of attendance. The top 6 seeds will receive a bye in the first round. Click HERE to view the bracket as it looks right now.

The IFPA North American Pinball Championship will feature nearly $55,000 in cash and prizes. This is in addition to the $150,000 awarded on NACS Day across the continent. Similar to the State/Province/District level, every participant in the IFPA North American Pinball Championship will walk away with a cash prize.

1 Jason Zahler 30 Alex Kelley
2 Zach McCarthy 31 Drew Sych
3 Jared August 32 Josh Riggle
4 Daniele Celestino Acciari 33 Braden Gentry
5 Luke Nahorniak 34 Mike Casselman
6 Bowen Kerins 35 Geoff Davis
7 Eric Stone 36 Brian Dye
8 Dalton Ely 37 Casey Fowler
9 Colin Macalpine 38 Christopher Dewitt Jr
10 Jack Slovacek 39 Dwayne Smith
11 Jack Tadman 40 Adam Abeyta
12 Daniel Rone 41 Cody McQuiston
13 Richie Terry 42 Cam Harrahy
14 Adam McKinnie 43 James Adamson
15 Galvin Morgan 44 Spencer Imboden
16 John Kottmann 45 Eddie Underhill
17 John Shopple 46 Preston Pywell
18 David Riel 47 Steve Drabik
19 Joe Lemire 48 Josh Pidskalny
20 Nick DeStefano 49 Rene Hilbach-Barger
21 Nick Mueller 50 Trenton Kent
22 Donavan Stepp 51 Jason Burleson
23 Miles Grant 52 Craig Pennuto
24 Trent Augenstein 53 Adam Durling
25 David Daluga 54 Jamie Woodward
26 Drew Cedolia 55 Jerry Valentine
27 Jared Eshelman 56 Joey Braaten
28 Mike Havens 57 Brett Cranwell
29 Connor Mulberry 58 Jaden Shaddick

A Message From the IFPA

The IFPA supports trans and nonbinary players in the competitive pinball community, and we want to make our stance on gender at women’s events very clear. Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Nonbinary identities exist and are valid, and nonbinary players who wish to participate in women’s events should feel welcome to do so.

We expect IFPA-sanctioned tournaments and leagues to be free from homophobia, transphobia, and all other types of discrimination. This applies to both open events and women’s events. Tournament and league directors are encouraged to enact codes of conduct that reflect the PAPA/IFPA Complete Competition Rules related to player conduct (see Section III) and may do so at their discretion.

Please see our Gender Inclusion Policy for more information about eligibility in women’s events. Pinball is for everyone. 

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IFPA and Stern Army winners for Avengers: Infinity Quest!

The IFPA and Stern Army organized the Avengers: Infinity Quest Global Leaderboard for January 2025!

We’re happy to announce the winners from this contest! Please email ifpapinball@gmail.com for details on how to redeem your prize.