The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for July 2014 is [player]Chris Tabaka[/player] from Jackson, MI. CHris earned a total of 139.72 WPPR points in July. This included victories in the Lansing Pinball League, Pinbowl Tournament and National Baby Food Festival Open Pinball Tournament. Chris is currently the top ranked player for the Michigan SCS, and is also currently qualified for Georgia(12th) and Wisconsin(13th).

The rest of the top 5 for the month of July included [player]Kevin Birrell[/player] from Seattle, WA with 98.81 WPPR points, [player]Frank Romero[/player] from Rockland County, NY with 87.09 WPPR points, [player]Martin Ayub[/player] from London with 82.94 WPPR points, and [player]Steve Zahler[/player] from New York with 82.58 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 June 2014 is [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] from Delaware, OH. Trent earned a total of 104.39 WPPR points in June. This included a Buckeye Pinball Association victory, as well 5th/2nd/3rd place finished in the Pittsburgh Pinball Open's Main, Classics I and Classics II divisions respectivately. Trent also had a 2nd and 4th place finish at the 2014 Souther Fried Gameoom Expo's Main and Classics tournament. Trent is currently the top ranked player for the Ohio and Virginia SCS, and is qualified for Georgia(3rd), Pennsylvania(3rd), Maryland(4th) and Kentucky(15th).

The rest of the top 5 for the month of June included [player]Dave Stewart[/player] from Carnation, WA with 86.10 WPPR points, [player]Cryss Stephens[/player] from Pittsburgh, PA with 86.08 WPPR points, [player]Per Ahlenius[/player] from Falun, Sweden with 85.95 WPPR points, and [player]Sergey Posrednikov[/player] from Seattle with 83.79 WPPR points.

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

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for May 2014 is current World Pinball Champion, [player]Jorian Engelbrektsson[/player] from Stockholm, Sweden. Jorian earned a total of 313.27 WPPR points in May. This included wins at not only the IFPA11 World Pinball Championship, but also the Pre-IFPA tournament at 1Up Lodo and the Lyons Pinball Spring Classic. Jorian is currently the top ranked player for the Colorado SCS, and is qualified for Pennsylvania(5th) and Michigan(13th), as well as currently sitting in 19th place in the inaugural ECS season.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of May included [player]Keith Elwin[/player] from Carlsbad, CA with 204.88 WPPR points, [player]Cryss Stephens[/player] from Pittsburgh, PA with 201.70 WPPR points, [player]Daniele Celestino Acciari[/player] from Italy with 192.13 WPPR points, and [player]Jerry Bernard[/player] from Patterson, NY with 148.77 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 April 2014 is [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] from Delaware, OH. Trent earned a total of 134.17 WPPR points in April. This included top 4 finishes at the Doublewide Grill and Slovak Club Pre-Pinburgh tournaments, as well as at the Ohio Pinball & Gameroom Festival Main and Classics Divisions. Trent is currently the top ranked player for the Ohio and Virginia SCS, as well as being in the top 16 for Pennsylvania(2nd), Maryland(4th) and Kentucky(15th).

The rest of the top 5 for the month of April included [player]Fabio Francescato[/player] from Italy with 83.28 WPPR points, [player]Chris Tabaka[/player] from Jackson, MI with 81.46 WPPR points, [player]Dayvv Brooks[/player] from Ava, MO with 74.34 WPPR points, and [player]Eden Stamm[/player] from White Rock, BC with 70.04 WPPR points.

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

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for March 2014 is [player]Jon Replogle[/player] from Pittsburgh, PA. Jon earned a total 262.17 WPPR points in March. This included wins at the IFPA Oursler Fundraiser in Pittsburgh for the Main Tournament (along with a 4th place finish in the Classics tournament), Pre-Pinburgh New Great Valley Lanes tournament, Louisville Arcade Expo's Classics Division (along with a 4th place finish in the main tournament) and at the Ohio Pinball & Gameroom Festival (along with a 2nd place finish in the Classics tournament). Jon's March performance boosted him into being the top ranked player for the Kentucky and Pennsylvania SCS based on the current standings.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of March included [player]Robert Gagno[/player] from Burnaby, BC with 259.70 WPPR points, [player]Daniele Celestino Acciari[/player] from Italy with 235.69 WPPR points, [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] from Delaware, OH with 212.15 WPPR points, and [player]Jorian Engelbrektsson[/player] from Sweden with 184.00 WPPR points.

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

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for February 2014 is [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] from Delaware, OH. Trent earned a total 188.00 WPPR points in February, with the highlight being a victory at the Fairfax Pinball Open. Trent also finished in 12th in the Classics Division. During February Trent also had top 4 finishes at Cincinnati IFPA Oursler Fundraiser, Rowdy Bucks Rampfest Tournament, IFPA Ohio State Pinball Championship, Baltimore DC Championship Series and the Flippin With the Greats Grand Final.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of February included [player]Cryss Stephens[/player] from Pittsburgh, PA with 122.53 WPPR points, Jörgen Holm from Stockholm, Sweden with 103.01 WPPR points, [player]Brian Shepherd[/player] from Westerville, OH with 99.69 WPPR points, and [player]Jason Werdrick[/player] from Park Ridge, IL with 98.63 WPPR points.

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

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for January 2014 is once again [player]Andrei Massenkoff[/player] from San Francsico, CA. This makes two months in a row for Andrei! Andrei earned a total 112.64 WPPR points in January, sweeping the Pacific Pinball Open Main and Side tournaments, as well as finishing in 3rd and 7th place respectively in the 2014 INDISC Main and Classics tournaments.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of January included [player]Keith Elwin[/player] from Carlsbad, CA with 81.64 WPPR points, [player]Al Thomka[/player] from Pittsburgh, PA with 70.62 WPPR points, [player]Kevin Birrell[/player] from Seattle, WA with 61.32 WPPR points, and [player]Robert Gagno[/player] from Burnaby, BC with 60.75 WPPR points.

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

Registration is now closed for IFPA11, and we couldn't be more excited about the field of participants!

IFPA11 will set a few records, the most amazing being that each of the top 16 ranked players in the world will be in attendance. The previous record was set at IFPA7 when each of the top 5 ranked players participated.

16 countries will be represented, a record for a US-based IFPA World Pinball Championship. This includes Norway which will see it's flag on the World Pinball Champion trophy for the first time. 

Another IFPA record that has been set is the cut line for at-large bids into a US-based IFPA World Pinball Championship. At rank #79, [player]Cesare Datri[/player] from Italy became the last player above the cut line, shattering the previous US-based IFPA record of rank #165 set at IFPA9 in Seattle. The Europe-based IFPA record still stands at rank #66 from IFPA10 after initial registration, although the actual cut line moved to rank #88 after some player cancellations leading up to the tournament.

IFPA9 in Seattle featured a record 7 players that have been crowned World Pinball Champion competing in the same tournament. We're excited that those 7 players are all returning to compete in IFPA11 – Cayle George, Andrei Massenkoff, Keith Elwin, Jorian Engelbrektsson, Daniele Celestino Acciari, Bowen Kerins and Lyman Sheats. In addition, current IFPA World Pinball Champion Jörgen Holm returns to defend his crown, making for a new record of 8 World Pinball Champions under one roof for the first time.

The full field of participants is available HERE.

A reminder that 1 more IFPA11 spot is still available at the Lyons Spring Classic the weekend before IFPA11. Full details for that tournament will be available soon.

As the 2013 season winds down, we couldn't help but notice how close the race for the IFPA's "World Greatest Pinball Player" title is between 6-time World's Greatest Pinball Player and current world No.1 [player]Keith Elwin[/player], and IFPA10 runner up [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] currently sitting in the No. 2 spot. How close is it?? The IFPA takes a closer look!

Keith's current 5.61 point lead is deceiving in that it doesn't take into account the points each player will be losing before the end of year (based on our 100/75/50/0 decay as tournaments age). The IFPA did a quick analysis, and based on our calculations using today's rankings, if Zach and Keith sat out the rest of the season, Zach would finish at 849.57 WPPR points besting Keith who would finish at 845.01. This margin of 4.56 WPPR points would be the closest in the history of the IFPA's World Pinball Player Rankings.

A big piece of this puzzle will be solved after Pinball Expo, coming up the week of October 16-20th in Chicago. Beyond that it will be up to the travel schedules of both players to see if there will be any more opportunities to improve their WPPR total before year end.

Will Keith make a trip to Riverside to play in the Pinball at the Lake Match-Play Classic? Will Zach's european tour continue to be successful, with a stop at the Dutch Pinball Open coming up November 2nd?

Best of luck to both Keith and Zach as they play for the 2013 title of World's Greatest Pinball Player! We couldn't be more excited to see how things play out!

The IFPA is excited to announce that the following players have been now qualified for the $tern Rewards Program based on their August 2013 IFPA endorsed tournament performance! These players have until August 15th, 2014 to exercise their reward option.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH – [player]Keith Elwin[/player]
Keith earned a total 136.11 WPPR points in August, over 107 of which came from his PAPA 16 2nd place finish in the A division, along with an 11th, 10th and 6th place finishes in the Classics tournaments.

BIGGEST MOVER AWARD – [player]Shaun Rowe[/player]
Shaun moved up 8395 spots by earning 4.24 WPPR points from his 2nd place finish at the August Emporium Monthly Pinball Tournament in Chicago. This boosted Shaun into now being the 3599th ranked player in the world.

BIGGEST MOVER AWARD – [player]Dan Woodske[/player]
Dan moved up 6216 spots from his victory at the Beaver Brewing Company Taproom Championship, 129th finish in the Classics III division at PAPA 16, and a 19th and 37th place finish at Pin-Butt-Palooza in the Main and Classics tournament respectively. In total, Dan netted 27.58 WPPR points from his performances, which has moved him up to a rank of 1149th in the world.

BIGGEST MOVER AWARD – [player]Jared Guynes[/player]
Jared moved up 4526 spots by earning .71 WPPR points from his 42nd place finish at the Ultimate Arcade House Party tournament. This moved Jared into now being the 8147th ranked player in the world.

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