Next week brings the IFPA North American Pinball Championship, IFPA Women’s World Pinball Championship and IFPA Pin-Masters to Denver!

As our host, Game Exchange of Colorado is offering a special for the pinball community in conjunction with this event. They are offering $500 off any Monster Bash CE or SE model from Chicago Gaming Company.

Contact Game Exchange HERE for more details.

Monster Bash will be one of the games featured during these championships. Watch the action at https://www.twitch.tv/coloradopinball.

FOX55 in Fort Wayne, Indiana took a visit to Pinball Wizard’s World Arcade. Click HERE to watch the video.

MyBookie.ag is back this season with odds available on the upcoming Stern Pro Circuit Final, IFPA North American Pinball Championship and IFPA Women’s World Pinball Championship. Click HERE to see the full list of odds.

Here are the January 2020 IFPA winners for Player of the Month and Biggest Movers:

Player of the Month:
Eric Stone (325.53 WPPR’s)

Biggest Movers:
Seth Rummel (+19,946 spots), Jake Webb (+18,317 spots) and Austin Goodrich (+14,724 spots)

These players have now all qualified for the Stern Rewards Program for 2020. Congrats to everyone!

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The IFPA is excited to announce that Stern has added Star Wars Pin to the rewards program. A reminder that the 2019 rewards earned by players expire December 31st, 2020.

The following games are now available under the program (subject to change at anytime): Deadpool Pro (in stock), Deadpool Premium (May), Elvira House of Horrors (in stock), Iron Maiden Pro (in stock), Iron Maiden Premium (February), Jurassic Park Pro (April), Jurassic Park Premium (April), Guardians of the Galaxy Pro (March), Star Trek Vault Pro (in stock), Star Wars Pin (in stock) Star Wars Pro (May 2020), Star Wars Comic Book Pro (in stock), Star Wars Premium (May 2020), Star Wars Comic Book Premium (in stock), Munsters Pro (in stock), Munsters Premium (in stock), Beatles Gold (in stock), Black Knight Sword of Rage Pro (in stock), Black Knight Sword of Rage Premium (in stock)

Detailed rules for the $tern Rewards Program, including an updated list of qualifiers, and updated list of rewards available can be found HERE.

The children in the flyer have also been added to the rewards program. The IFPA will take any reasonable offer for either of them.

PU is pleased and proud that the PU-Battle Main Tournament on Saturday is a Stern Pro Circuit Tournament.

Registrations are still possible until 14 February. https://pu-battle.com

The IFPA is proud to announce the return of the IFPA Heads-Up Pinball Championship for 2020! A new twist on competitive pinball, players will be battling head-to-head simultaneously on two different machines of the same title attempting to complete challenges the fastest.

The winner of the tournament will receive a brand new Stern Munsters Premium Pinball Machine.

Registration for the 2020 IFPA Heads-Up Pinball Championship is now OPEN! For details on the IFPA Heads-Up Pinball Championship, check out the Overview page HERE. To register, click HERE!

The 2020 IFPA Heads-Up Pinball Championship is scheduled for Sunday, March 22nd, 2020 at Lagunitas Brewing Company in Chicago, IL. The Heads-Up Pinball Championship coincides with the Stern Pro Circuit Final held the Saturday of that weekend.

Should you have any questions about our qualifying process or to find out more information about the tournament, please contact the IFPA at [email protected].

CBS affiliate KOIN6 in Portland, OR can’t get enough of IFPA Director and former IFPA Women’s World Pinball Champion Zoe Vrabel. Click HERE for more Zoe (and some Colin Urban).

For the second installment of TD101, let’s get into the question of TGP and tiebreakers.

TGP (Tournament Grading Percentage) is the metric we use to determine how many meaningful games were played in a given tournament. When the IFPA initially came up with TGP as a metric, we made the decision that 25 is a reasonable number of meaningful games to be played in a tournament to determine a winner. Anything below that 25-game threshold and we remove some points from the event.

A meaningful game of pinball is one in which at least 3 balls are played in their entirety. Any game in which fewer than 3 balls are played is counted as less than a full meaningful game. If 1 ball is played, the game counts as 1/3 of a meaningful game. If 2 balls are played, 2/3.

In terms of tiebreakers, does a tie breaking game ever count toward the TGP? The answer is no.

Tiebreakers never count toward the TGP because they don’t count as additional games played in the tournament. Instead, the resolution of a tie is considered a clarification of the results. So if you have tiebreakers in your event, those only affect the standings (like whether a player comes 3rd or 4th) and do not contribute to the TGP.

Hope this helps, and thanks for reading!
#TD101