The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for September 2016 is 6-time Major Champion Jorian Engelbrektsson from Sweden. Jorian earned a total of 134.12 WPPR points in September. This included the following results:

Jorian is currently sitting in 2nd place in the 2016-17 ECS standings.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of August included Dave Stewart from Carnation, WA with 133.55 WPPR points, Raymond Davidson from Mukilteo, WA with 127.01 WPPR points, Robert Gagno from Burnaby, BC, Canada with 114.26 WPPR points, and Cesari Datri from Verona, Italy with 106.16 WPPR points.

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

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for August 2016 is Steven Bowden from Franklin Township, NJ. Steven earned a total of 185.50 WPPR points in August. This included the following results:

Steven is currently qualified in 6 different states for the SCS, including Georgia(1st), New Jersey(1st), New York(2nd), Kentucky(3rd) and Pennsylvania(15th).

The rest of the top 5 for the month of August included Trent Augenstein from Delaware, OH with 122.67 WPPR points, John Flitton from Canada with 94.68 WPPR points, Adam Becker from Keswick, ON, Canada with 94.57 WPPR points, and Greg Poverelli from New York with 76.99 WPPR points.

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

Keith Elwin may have just won his 9th Major Championship, but he has more importantly been named the IFPA Player of the Month for July 2016!

Keith earned 196.76 WPPR points during July, including 138.14 points from his Pinburgh 2016 victory (the 3rd most WPPR points earned at any tournament in history). Keith also won California Extreme in July for an additional 58.62 WPPR points. With that July activity Keith reclaimed the world #1 spot from Zach Sharpe following the posting of those Pinburgh results.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of July included Karl DeAngelo from Fontana, CA with 168.58 WPPR points, Steven Bowden from Franklin Township, NJ with 157.25 WPPR points, Raymond Davidson from Mukilteo, WA with 133.51 WPPR points, and Jason Werdrick from Park Ridge, IL with 117.99 WPPR points.

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

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for June 2016 is Chris Chinn from Seattle, WA. Chris earned a total of 117.02 WPPR points in June. This included the following results:

Chris is currently in the top qualifying position for the 2016-17 Washington SCS.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of June included Steven Bowden from Franklin Township, NJ with 115.99 WPPR points, Bob Matthews from Thousand Oaks, CA with 105.21 WPPR points, Germain Mariolle from Redmond, WA with 95.47 WPPR points, and Aaron Metz from Morgantown, WV with 90-72 WPPR points.

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

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for May 2016 is Albert Nomden from the Netherlands. Albert earned a total of 121.64 WPPR points in May. This included the following results:

Albert is currently ranked 33rd in the world and is in the top qualifying position for the 2016-17 ECS.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of May included Trent Augenstein from Delaware, OH with 113.26 WPPR points, Steven Bowden from Franklin Township, NJ with 96.02 WPPR points, Jorian Engelbrektsson from Stockholm, Sweden with 90.74 WPPR points, and Germain Mariolle from Redmond, WA with 87.84 WPPR points.

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

With the 2016 season nearly half done, we couldn’t help but notice how close the race for the IFPA’s “World’s Greatest Pinball Player” title is. Many years it was simply Keith Elwin sitting alone “Tiger Woods style” at the top spot (often enough that the trophy is still named the “Keith Trophy” on all of our internal IFPA documentation).

We’ve seen a few two-player races develop over the past 10 years that we’ve crowned the “World’s Greatest Pinball Player” title, including a 7.92 WPPR point squeaker in 2013 with Zach Sharpe finishing just ahead of Keith. This was then bested in 2014 when Jorian Engelbrektsson finished ahead of Keith by 7.58 WPPR points (the tightest race we’ve had so far).

While we have gotten used to some entertaining races in the past, this year brings us something we haven’t seen before . . . a FOUR player race for #1! These Four Horseman include 6-time WGPP Keith Elwin,  3-time WGPP Jorian Engelbrektsson (current EPC champ), 1-time WGPP Zach Sharpe (current Pinburgh champ) and Daniele Acciari (current IFPA champ) who has not yet finished a year in the #1 spot.

While the last few weeks have seen some shifting of the #1 spot (Zach, Jorian and Daniele all have tasted #1 during that time), the real test will come after all of the 2013-2015 events on everyone’s resume decay out by the end of the year. After a win at the Lyons Spring Classic last week, Zach currently sits on top, holding a 40 point lead over Jorian, a 42 point lead over Daniele and a 48 point lead over Keith.

Some big point drops are coming as tournaments pass the 1/2/3 year mark with respect to age. We took a look at some of the bigger movements we’ll be seeing on the calendar coming up soon:

August 2016 features the 1-year mark for Pinburgh 2015 results. Nobody is hit harder than Zach, who will lose 34.58 WPPR points from his victory. However, Jorian and Keith will also be hit by this decay, losing 17.44 and 27.02 WPPR points respectively. Having missed Pinburgh 2015, Daniele’s WPPR point total is not impacted at all.

Zach’s consistent ability to NOT win PAPA will also hurt him coming up in August. He will lose 17.99 WPPR points from his 3rd place finish at PAPA17 when that tournament passes the 2-year mark. Keith’s PAPA 18 victory has already gotten the 1-year decay hit with PAPA moving from August to March starting in 2015.

Moving to October, and the 2015 European Pinball Championship will pass the 1-year decay mark. Both Jorian (1st place) and Daniele (5th place) will lose 29.84 and 19.81 points respectively. In addition Daniele finished in 2nd place in the Classics tournament at EPC 2015, which will cost him another 11.22 points.

For Jorian, after defiling the Star Trek machine at the 2014 Pinball Expo Flip Out tournament (in some alternate universe he is STILL playing), those results pass the 2 year decay mark. This will cost Jorian 16.89 WPPR points.

Doing all the math, here is where these four stand, accounting for all point reductions that are due between now and the end of the calendar year:

Zach Sharpe –> 937.37 WPPR points
Daniele Acciari –> 896.03 WPPR points
Keith Elwin –> 878.48 WPPR points
Jorian Engelbrektsson –> 832.67 WPPR points

With the season not even half over, there is of course plenty of tournaments left to shake things up. This includes TWO Major Championships (Pinburgh 2016 and EPC 2016). It’s likely that both Daniele and Jorian will compete in both, while Zach and Keith only have Pinburgh left on their ‘Major’ calendars. Beyond the Majors, each player has their own backyard events worthy of top resume stuffers. We’re excited to see how this race shapes up and will be sure to update this race, especially after we get through Pinburgh 2016 at the end of July.

Best of luck to Zach, Jorian, Daniele and Keith. They have no doubt separated themselves from the pack over the last few years as the greatest players in the world.

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for April 2016 is Bowen Kerins from Salem, MA. Bowen earned an insane total of 394.96 WPPR points in April (along with 25 PAPA Circuit points for the sometimes 3-time, sometimes 5-time World Champion). This included the following results:

Bowen is currently ranked 11th in the world and is in the top qualifying position for the 2016-17 Massachusetts SCS, 2nd in Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and 4th in Florida.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of April included 0-time PAPA World Champion Zach Sharpe from Chicago, IL with 371.23 WPPR points, Jim Belsito from Murrieta, CA with 308.01 WPPR points, “Sharpe-Dream-Crusher” Robert Gagno from Burnaby, Canada with 271.21 WPPR points, and “Other-Sharpe-Dream-Crusher” Daniele Acciari from Italy with 245.23 WPPR points.

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

The IFPA is pleased to announce our Player of the Month for January 2016 through March 2016:

January 2016 –> Trent Augenstein from Delaware, OH (146.39 WPPR points)
February 2016 –> Nicklas Lindahl from Sweden (92.46 WPPR points)
March 2016 –> Cryss Stephens from Pittsburgh (179.51 WPPR points)

Congratulations to Trent, Nicklas and Cryss, along with the other top WPPR point earners over these months!

The IFPA13 field is nearly set, with 62 out of the 64 players locked in. The IFPA European Championship Satellite spot is being determined right now, while the IFPA US National Championship Satellite spot will be decided in a few short weeks.

18 countries will be represented, a record for a US-based IFPA World Pinball Championship. This includes Thailand which will see its flag on the World Pinball Champion trophy for the first time.

IFPA13 shattered the previous world record for the cut line for at-large bids into any IFPA World Pinball Championship. At rank #52, Adam McKinnie from the US became the last player above the cut line, shattering the previous US-based IFPA record of rank #79 set at IFPA11 in Denver and the Europe-based IFPA record rank of #66 set at IFPA10 in Germany. The cut line has since moved a bit as we’ve had 3 players cancel since IFPA13 registration closed.

IFPA13 also breaks another record by featuring 15 players in the field that have won a Major Championship at some point in their career.

The full field of participants is available HERE.

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for December 2015 is [player]Steven Bowden[/player] from Franklin Township, NJ. Steve earned a total of 114.80 WPPR points in December. This included the following results:

Steve is currently ranked 2nd in the world (for at least another day or two) and is in the top qualifying position for the 2015-16 New Jersey and New York SCS, 5th in Illinois and Pennsylvania, as well as 15th in Connecticut.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of December included [player]David Riel[/player] from Pittsburgh, PA with 110.78 WPPR points, [player]Dave Stewart[/player] from Carnation, WA with 109.08 WPPR points, [player]Francesco La Rocca[/player] from New York with 107.69 WPPR points, and [player]Per Schwarzenberger[/player] from San Francisco with 106.60 WPPR points.

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