The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Rookie of the Year for the 2021 season is Mike Weyenberg from Manitowoc, WI. This award is given to the player that earns the most WPPR points in their first year of active play.

With the shortened 5 month season of 2021, Mike was still able to play in 30 events. Michael earned 167.32 WPPR points from these 30 events. Mike participated in his first IFPA sanctioned tournament on August 7th at the D82 Pinball Lucky 13 Tournament. Since entering the World Pinball Player Rankings at that time, Mike has seen his rank increase to 344th in the world.

Mike’s greatest achievement of 2021 was his 3rd place finish in the District 82 Pinball December 2021 League, out of 63 players. Overall, Mike placed in the top 4 at 20% of the 2021 events he played in, a truly remarkable achievement.

Congratulations to Mike, our 2021 IFPA Rookie of the Year!

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Rookie of the Year for the 2020 season is Michael Bair from North, Canton, OH. This award is given to the player that earns the most WPPR points in their first year of active play.

With the shortened 3 month season of 2020, Michael was still able to play in 12 events. Michael earned 23.56 WPPR points from these 12 events. Michael participated in his first IFPA sanctioned tournament on January 10th at the Kidforce Friday Knockout. Since entering the World Pinball Player Rankings at that time, Michael has seen his rank increase to 3305th in the world.

Michael’s greatest achievement of 2020 was his 27th place finish in the Kidforce Collectibles Pinball League Winter Season, out of 165 players. Overall, Michael placed in the top 4 at 42% of his 2020 events, a truly remarkable achievement.

Congratulations to Michael, our 2020 IFPA Rookie of the Year!

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Year for 2020 is Eric Stone from Fort Myers, FL. In the shortened 2020 season, Eric was still able to rack up an incredible 458.24 WPPR points during 2020 (which would put him in the top 50 in the world based on ONLY these 3 months of play). Eric currently sits as the #2 ranked player in the world having moved up from the #12 ranking at the start of the year.

Eric played in 10 events during the 2020 season, winning 6 of them, while finishing in the top 4 in 7 of them. Eric also finished as the IFPA Player of the Month for January 2020.

Eric’s highlights during 2020 included his first Major Championship title, taking 1st place at The Open – IFPA World Championship back in January. He also won the Classics II division at INDISC while finishing in 2nd place in the Classics I division.

The IFPA wishes to congratulate Eric on all of his success throughout this shortened 2020 season!

The IFPA is pleased to announce a new award from the 2019 season, and that’s the Rookie of the Year award. This award is given to the player that earns the most WPPR points in their first year of active play. Our Rookie of the Year for 2019 is Axel Blonde from Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Axel racked up an incredible 366.09 WPPR points during 2019. Axel participated in his first IFPA sanctioned tournament in April 2019. Fast forward 8 months and Axel currently sits as the 226th ranked player in the world, and is the top seed in the upcoming 2019-20 IFPA British Columbia Provincial Championship.

Axel’s greatest achievement of 2019 was his 16th and 9th place finishes at the NW Pinball Championships Main and Classics events, one of the stops on the Stern Pro Circuit during the 2019 season. Overall, Axel won 27% of the 44 events he played in during 2019, while placing in the top 4 at 73% of his 2019 events, a truly remarkable achievement.

Congratulations to Axel, our first IFPA Rookie of the Year! Best of luck to all the players that have yet to start competing on their journey to becoming IFPA’s next Rookie of the Year.

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Year for 2019 is Johannes Ostermeier from Munich, Germany. Johannes racked up an incredible 1231.38 WPPR points during 2019. Johannes currently sits as the #1 ranked player in the world having moved himself up from 5th at the start of the year.

This is where I typically list all of the achievements from the Player of the Year, however it’s the first time in IFPA history that the Player of the Year is also the player that won the World’s Greatest Pinball Player award. We’ll just leave that fact here and move on.

The IFPA wishes to congratulate Johaness on all of his success throughout 2019!

In celebration of the upcoming World Pinball Championship this June, the IFPA will be taking over Italy with a WPPR point bonanza of tournaments for flipper fanatics to enjoy!

World Championship Week starts with the Double Weekend Challenge on June 1st-2nd (Saturday-Sunday) featuring both a Main and Classics event.

Monday June 3rd brings us the Hot Monday Tournament. Details of that event is available HERE.

Wednesday June 5th brings us the Mid-Week Pin-Golf Cup. Details of that event is available HERE.

The 7th edition of the Epstein Cup where the 8 best players from Europe battle the 8 best players from North America will happen Thursday night, June 6th.

Finally, Sunday, June 9th, IFPA’s World Championship Week concludes with the crowning of the new World Pinball Champion.

For any questions regarding any part of IFPA’s World Championship Week, contact the IFPA at [email protected].

The IFPA16 field is nearly set, with 62 out of the 64 players locked in. The IFPA European Pinball Championship and IFPA North American Pinball Championship Satellite spots will both be up for grabs in February/March to fill the final 2 spots.

A record 22 countries will be represented at IFPA16, along with 17 players in the field that have won a Major Championship at some point in their career (Keith Elwin, Jorian Engelbrektsson, Daniele Celestino Acciari, Raymond Davidson, Cayle George, Franck Bona, Albert Nomden, Zach Sharpe, Robert Gagno, Jörgen Holm, Colin MacAlpine, Jim Belsito, Robert Sutter, Adam Becker, Escher Lefkoff, Levente Tregova, Andrei Massenkoff).

At rank #48, Fred Richardson from the US became the last player above the cut line.

Check out the field HERE.

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Year for 2018 is Trent Augenstein from Delaware, OH. Trent racked up an incredible 1578.18 WPPR points during 2018. This beats the previous record of points earned during a year of 1425.50 (also by Trent in 2017). Trent currently sits as the #6 ranked player in the world having held that spot from the start of the year.

Trent was the IFPA Player of the Month in June, July, August and September of 2018 having won 32 of the 90 tournaments he played in during 2018, while finishing in the top 4 in 58% of them.

Trent’s highlights during 2018 included a 3rd place finish at the IFPA15 World Pinball Champinoship, along with 2nd place finishes at the Texas Pinball Festival , 24 Hour Final Battle at The Sanctum, Buffalo Pinball Summer Open (Classics), 1st place finishes at the Pincinnati Matchplay Tournament, The Amazing Pinball Race and Pinball at the Zoo. Trent earned his 3rd career top 4 Major Championship finish with that 3rd place IFPA15 finish.

The IFPA wishes to congratulate Trent on all of his success throughout 2018. The IFPA posts this with the caveat that there are still 71 sanctioned events left on the IFPA calendar, and it’s likely that Trent will play in most of them.

This weekend marked the 1-year anniversary of the PAPA 20 World Pinball Championships. That week Zach Sharpe earned himself 352.28 WPPR points solidifying his world No. 1 ranking position for the remainder of 2017. The time has come where the WPPR points earned at all of the PAPA 20 events have dropped in value by 25%, which in Zach’s case was a drop of nearly 90 WPPR points.

Between that and the stellar start in 2018 for Raymond Davidson, Raymond has reached the No. 1 spot in the World Pinball Player Rankings for the first time. Already in the first quarter of 2018, Raymond has chalked up victories at the IFPA US Nationals and the INDISC Classic tournament, as well as a 7th place finish in the INDISC Main tournament.

The race the rest of the year to see who will capture that No. 1 spot at year end and claim the title of “World’s Greatest Pinball Player” should be a great one. While there is no PAPA 21 scheduled for 2018, Raymond as well as Zach Sharpe and Cayle George will all be in attendance at both IFPA15 and Pinburgh 2018.

Best of luck the rest of the season, and congrats to the Bone Collector for this achievement.

The IFPA15 field is nearly set, with 62 out of the 64 players locked in. The IFPA European Championship and IFPA US National Championship Satellite spots will both be up for grabs in March to fill the final 2 spots.

18 countries will be represented at IFPA15, along with 12 players in the field that have won a Major Championship at some point in their career (Adam Becker, Andrei Massenkoff, Cayle George, Colin MacAlpine, Daniele Celestino Acciari, Escher Lefkoff, Jim Belsito, Jorian Engelbrektsson,
Lyman Sheats, Raymond Davidson, Robert Gagno and Zach Sharpe).

At rank #66, Lyman Sheats from the US became the last player above the cut line.