The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for March 2013 is [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] from Delaware, OH. Trent earned 164.32 WPPR points in March, including a victory at the Ohio Pinball & Gameroom Festival and the Texas Pinball Festival (both the Main and Classics tournament). In addition, Trent had a 4th and 2nd place finish in the Main and Classic tournaments at the Louisville Pinball Expo, the final stop of the 2012 PAPA Circuit.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of March included [player]Bob Matthews[/player] from Thousand Oaks, CA with 110.28 WPPR points, [player]Joshua Henderson[/player] from Plainfield, IL with 108.51 WPPR points, [player]Jason Werdrick[/player] from Park Ridge, IL with 91.21 WPPR points, and [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] from Chicago, IL with 87.76 WPPR points.

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

Last week we announced who will be representing Team Europe in the inaugural Epstein Cup. With IFPA10 registration now officially closed, we're excited to announce that the roster for Team USA has now also been finalized.

Representing Team USA at the 2013 Epstein Cup will be IFPA8 World Pinball Champion and team captain [player]Cayle George[/player] (ranked 3rd in the world), [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] (ranked 4th in the world), [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] (ranked 6th in the world), [player]Josh Sharpe[/player] (ranked 12th in the world), [player]Joshua Henderson[/player] (ranked 15th in the world), [player]Andrei Massenkoff[/player] (ranked 24th in the world), [player]Lyman Sheats[/player] (ranked 22nd in the world) and [player]Jason Werdrick[/player] (ranked 36th in the world).

21 players competed in the February 2013 edition of the Gameworks Monthly Pinball Tournament. [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] (ranked 4th in the world) emerged victorious earning himself $45, and enough WPPR points to move him into 2nd place in the IFPA Illinois State Championship standings.

Zach first defeated [player]Chad Gates[/player] (ranked 4337th in the world) on AC/DC, followed by a victory over [player]Jack Danger[/player] (ranked 2226th in the world) on Avengers. In the semi-finals Zach defeated [player]Scott Danesi[/player] (ranked 1934th in the world) on Family Guy. This led to a final against brother [player]Josh Sharpe[/player] (ranked 12th in the world), and unlike Super Bowl XLVII where older brother John defeated younger brother Jim, Zach came out on top on Soprano’s. Scott Danesi finished in 3rd place defeating [player]Steve Kordek[/player] (ranked 4140th in the world) on Ironman.

Full results can be found HERE. Updated standings for the IFPA Illinois State Championship can be found HERE. The Gameworks Monthly Pinball Tournament is held the first Tuesday of every month, with the next edition scheduled for March 5th.

The Chicago Sun-Times followed up with [player]Jason Werdrick[/player] (ranked 23rd in the world), after he got back from the IFPA9 World Pinball Championship out in Seattle. After finishing session play tied for 3rd, Jason earned himself a bye through the first two rounds of the playoffs. As the bracket started to fill in, Jason would meet eventual World Pinball Champion [player]Daniele Celestino Acciari[/player] (ranked 2nd in the world) in his first match. Jason lost the match four games to two, and finished tied for 9th place at the tournament earning himself $300. Click HERE to read the article and watch the video.

Continuing coverage of the upcoming IFPA9 World Pinball Championship takes us to Chicago, where the RedEye talked with brothers [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] (ranked 6th in the world) and [player]Josh Sharpe[/player] (ranked 10th in the world). The Sharpe brothers, along with [player]Lyman Sheats[/player] (ranked 42nd in the world), [player]Joshua Henderson[/player] (ranked 18th in the world) and [player]Jason Werdrick[/player] (ranked 27th in the world) will all be making their way to Seattle to represent not only the United States, but Chicago at this year's IFPA World Pinball Championship.

Check out the article HERE.

The IFPA and Gameworks teamed up to host their 8th Pinball Tournament of Champions from May 4th-6th. PAPA was also in the house for this event, as it was the 2nd tournament on the newly formed PAPA Circuit for 2012. This added $1500 to the prize pool, along with the chance for players to win PAPA Circuit points to qualify for the PAPA Circuit final in March 2013.

53 players participated for the $3500+ in cash and prizes up for grabs, qualifying on Stern's AC/DC, Ironman, Tron and Transformers.

[player]Zach Sharpe[/player] took home his 3rd Gameworks title in 8 attempts, defeating [player]Derek Fugate[/player] (2-1), [player]Jason Werdrick[/player] (2-1) and [player]Keith Johnson[/player] (2-1) to take home 1st place. The deciding game came down to Tron where both players battled to the very end. After the final end of ball bonus from Keith, he fell just short of catching up to Zach's score (45,328,230 to 45,052,540). With the PAPA cameras rolling all weekend, the action was all caught on tape. Check it out HERE.

Other finalists included [player]Keith Johnson[/player] (2nd-right), [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] (3rd-inner left) and [player]Jason Werdrick[/player] (4th-left).

Full results can be found HERE.

The IFPA and Stern teamed up to host the 6th Launch Party in celebration of Stern's latest release AC/DC. 43 players participated in the AC/DC Launch Party Tournament held at Gameworks in Schaumburg. Each player had one opportunity to play the tournament machine in the hopes of qualifying for the final round. The top 4 scores of the night faced off in a single 4-player game to determine the winner. Finalists included [player]Lyman Sheats[/player](1st), [player]Jason Werdrick[/player](2nd), [player]Penni Epstein[/player](3rd) and [player]Joe Katz[/player](4th). Lyman took home $80, a 1hr. Gameworks game card and a custom AC/DC Grand Champion trophy.