The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for June 2012 is current IFPA World Pinball Champion, [player]Daniele Celestino Acciari[/player] from Italy. Daniele earned an incredible 251.33 WPPR points in June, winning not only the IFPA9 World Pinball Championship, but also the NW Pinball Championships Open Division. He also finished in 4th place in the Classics Division at the NW Pinball Championships, and earned a 2nd place finish at the Pre-IFPA tournament at Full Tilt.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of June included [player]Bowen Kerins[/player] of the US with 226.35 WPPR points, [player]Cayle George[/player] of the US with 187.41 WPPR points, Jorgen Holm of Sweden with 161.55 WPPR points, and Lyman Sheats of the US with 154.34 WPPR points.

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

64 of the top ranked pinball players from 12 countries came to Bainbridge Island just outside Seattle to compete for the chance to become the new IFPA World Pinball Champion.

The Battle in Seattle was truly a battle of champions, as 3 of the top 4 finishers were the 3 previous IFPA World Pinball Champions. IFPA5 and IFPA6 World Pinball Champion [player]Bowen Kerins[/player] survived a 3-0 deficit to [player]Steve Zahler[/player] in his first round of the playoffs to come back and take the match 5 games to 3, and then knocked off 3-time PAPA World Pinball Champion [player]Lyman Sheats[/player] 4-1 to advance to the Final 4. [player]Andy Rosa[/player], who was the runner up at IFPA7 took out current world ranked #1 [player]Keith Elwin[/player] 5-4 in a match that went the distance on his way to the finals. Defending champion [player]Cayle George[/player] had the toughest road in the playoffs, surviving matches against [player]Josh Sharpe[/player], [player]Donavan Stepp[/player], [player]Jim Belsito[/player] and [player]Bowen Kerins[/player] that all went into sudden death.

In the end, it was IFPA7 champion [player[Daniele Celestino Acciari[/player] from Italy, who after defeating [player]Frank Romero[/player] (4-2), [player]Jason Werdrick[/player] (4-2) and Jorgen Holm (4-0), was faced with a rematch of his World Championship match at IFPA7 against [player]Andy Rosa[/player]. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead, Acciari eventually defeated Rosa 4 games to 2. His reward was a matchup with the IFPA8 World Pinball Champion [player]Cayle George[/player]. After splitting the first two games on The Shadow and Grand Prix, Acciari took control of the match by holding serve on Medusa followed by a victory on George’s pick Attack From Mars. The players then headed to Bally’s Old Chicago, where just a round earlier, Acciari put up an incredible 245,240 points rolling the game twice against [player]Andy Rosa[/player]. Unfortunately following a tough ball 1, [player]Cayle George[/player] tilted not only his ball, but also ended up tilting Acciari's ball 2. This interference, albeit unintentional, resulted in George's disqualification from the game, and ultimately the match.

With that, Daniele Celestino Acciari became this year's IFPA World Pinball Champion, bringing the title back to Italy where it will be for the rest of 2012, along with $1350 cash and a brand new pinball machine from Stern Pinball. Acciari's World Championship victory capped off an incredible week of tournament performance in Seattle. Starting with a victory at the NW Pinball Championships, along with a 4th place finish in the Classics Division, Acciari then took a 2nd place finish at the Full Tilt Pre-IFPA Tournament. In total Acciari racked up over 250 WPPR points for the week, which will likely propel him to becoming the #1 ranked player in the world depending on how the rest of 2012 plays out.

Full results can be found HERE.

Continuing coverage of the upcoming IFPA9 World Pinball Championship takes us to Seattle where GeekWire talked with reigning IFPA World Pinball Champion [player]Cayle George[/player] (ranked 2nd in the world). Also interviewed is IFPA Director [player]Roger Sharpe[/player] (ranked 294th in the world).

Check out the article HERE.

Continuing coverage of the upcoming IFPA9 World Pinball Championship takes us to San Diego, where UT San Diego talked with current #1 ranked player [player]Keith Elwin[/player]. Other IFPA9 qualifiers interviewed included [player]Todd MacCulloch[/player] (ranked 129th in the world) and reigning IFPA World Pinball Champion [player]Cayle George[/player] (ranked 2nd in the world).

Check out the article HERE.

Continuing coverage of the upcoming IFPA9 World Pinball Championship takes us to Seattle, where NBC affiliate KING5 Seattle talked with qualifier and host [player]Todd MacCulloch[/player] (ranked 128th in the world), IFPA Vice President Zach Sharpe (ranked 6th in the world) and defending World Pinball Champion [player]Cayle George[/player] (ranked 2nd in the world) who won last year at IFPA8 in Sweden. Also shown in the video are IFPA9 qualifiers [player]Julie Gray[/player] (ranked 134th in the world) and [player]Raymond Davidson[/player] (ranked 67th in the world).

Check out the video HERE.

Seattle's Pinball Zine, Skill Shot recently published an article in Skill Shot 23 about the IFPA's World Pinball Player Rankings. Check out the article HERE.

Players interviewed included current IFPA World Pinball Champion, and #2 ranked player [player]Cayle George[/player], [player]Jeff Gagnon[/player] (ranked 92nd), [player]Raymond Davidson[/player] (ranked 68th), [player]Julie Gray[/player] (ranked 134th) and [player]Maka Honig[/player] (ranked 69th).

All 5 of these players will be competing in IFPA9, the upcoming World Pinball Championship being held just outside Seattle starting 6 weeks from tomorrow.

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

World Championship Week starts with the NW Pinball Championships, the official IFPA Satellite event for IFPA9. Taking place June 1st-3rd in Maryville, WA, tournament directors [player]Cayle George[/player] and [player]Eden Stamm[/player] have created an event of the highest quality, offering one of the largest prize pools available in the US. As the official IFPA Satellite event for IFPA9, there is ONE spot available to get into the field of 64 players and play for the right to be crowned World Pinball Champion. Full details of the NW Pinball Championships can be found HERE.

After allowing players a chance to recover on Monday, the IFPA will be back in action Tuesday, June 5th with the Pre-IFPA Shorty's Tournament. Held at the famous Shorty's arcade in the heart of downtown Seattle, IFPA Canada Country Director [player]Eden Stamm[/player] will be serving as tournament director. Full details including schedule, format, entry fees, prizes will be available soon. Learn more about Shorty's HERE.

World Championship Week continues Wednesday, June 6th the IFPA moves on to Full Tilt Ice Cream in Ballard, where we will be hosting the Pre-IFPA Full Tilt Tournament. Top 10 world ranked player [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] will be volunteering as tournament director for this event. Full details including schedule, format, entry fees, prizes will be available soon. Learn more about Full Tilt HERE.

Saturday, June 9th, the Northwest Pinball & Gameroom Show will be hosting an IFPA tournament with qualifying from 10am through 4pm, and finals to follow right after. Full details of the tournament is available HERE. Full details about the Northwest Pinball & Gameroom Show are available HERE.

Finally, Sunday, June 10th, IFPA's World Championship Week concludes with the crowning of the new World Pinball Champion. Hosted by former NBA great [player]Todd MacCulloch[/player] and sponsored by Stern Pinball, Jersey Jack Pinball, AAMA, AMOA, Marco Specialties, Pinball Life, Gameworks, Play Meter Magazine, Raw Thrills, Betson, Pinball Center, Farsight Studios, Zen Studios and Planetary Pinball Supply, the IFPA9 World Pinball Championship will feature the most competitive field of participants in pinball tournament history from 12 countries, including 7 former World Champions. IFPA9 will be happening all day on Friday and Saturday as we work the field down from the 64 qualifiers, to the 8 finalists that will be competing Sunday morning for the World Championship. Full details for IFPA9 are available HERE.

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

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for March 2012 is former World Pinball Champion, [player]Daniele Celestino Acciari[/player] from Rocca di Papa, Italy. Daniele earned 131.38 WPPR points in March, finishing in 1st place at the Stern AC/DC Launch Party Tournament in Rome, 1st place at the Spring Pinball Tournament, 1st place in both the Main and Classics divisions at Pinb-Owls Nest 2012, along with a 2nd place and 5th place finish at the Les 24H Du Mans Flipper in the Main Tournament and Classics Tournament respectively in France. 

The rest of the top 5 for the month of March included [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] of the US with 83.63 WPPR points, [player]Michael Trepp[/player] of Switzerland with 79.77 WPPR points, [player]Cayle George[/player] of the US with 72.54 WPPR points, and [player]Nick Zendejas[/player] of the US with 70.89 WPPR points.

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

29 people competed in this year's 2012 Amusement Expo tournament out in Las Vegas. Utilizing the Pin-Golf style format on Stern's latest game AC/DC, players played 3 pin-holes in an attempt to get as few strokes as possible. The top 4 players qualified for the finals, with the next highest 4 finishers ranked under #250 qualified for the Novice Finals.

[player]TJ Beyer[/player](ranked 1435th in the world) defeated [player]David Burrier[/player](ranked 1075th in the world), [player]Shelley Paule[/player](ranked 1013th in the world) and [player]Roger Sharpe[/player](ranked 342nd in the world) to win the Novice Finals. Current World Pinball Champion, and world ranked #2 player [player]Cayle George[/player] defeated [player]Zach Sharpe[/player](ranked 9th in the world), [player]Bob Matthews[/player](ranked 30th in the world) and [player]Nick Zendejas[/player](ranked 215th in the world) to take home 1st place in the Masters Division. Full results of the tournament can be found HERE.

The Amusement Expo tournament is one of the nearly 350 annual IFPA endorsed tournaments where players can earn World Pinball Player Rankings points, and qualify for the IFPA World Pinball Championship.

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for February 2012 is current World Pinball Champion, [player]Cayle George[/player] from Seattle, WA. Cayle earned 55.83 WPPR points in February, finishing in 3rd place at the Pinbrew Tournament, along with a 3rd place and 2nd place finish at the Rose City Showdown in the Main Tournament and Classics Tournament respectively. 

The rest of the top 5 for the month of February included Jörgen Holm from Sweden with 53.52 WPPR points, [player]Michel Dailly[/player] of France with 49.51 WPPR points, [player]Robert Gagno[/player] of Canada with 48.00 WPPR points, and [player]Aaron Nelson[/player] of the US with 47.26 WPPR points.

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