The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for August 2013 is 6-Time "World's Greatest Pinball Player" [player]Keith Elwin[/player] from Carlsbad, CA. 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.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of August included 5-time World Pinball Champion [player]Bowen Kerins[/player] from Salem, MA with 119.78 WPPR points, current World #1 [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] from Chicago, IL with 107.75 WPPR points, [player]Donavan Stepp[/player] from Lakewood, CO with 101.00 WPPR points, and 2-time World Pinball Champion [player]Daniele Celestino Acciari[/player] from Italy with 81.39 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 April 2013 is current World Pinball Champion [player]Daniele Celestino Acciari[/player] from Italy. Daniele earned 172.82 WPPR points in April, including a victory at the Pre-Pinburgh Doublewide Grill tournament, and an insanely impressive victory at the inaugural PAPA Circuit Final. In addition, Daniele won one of the Classics Divisions at the Michigan Pinball Expo. With his performance during his trip out to the US, Daniele is actually qualified for both the IFPA Pennsylvania and IFPA Michigan State Championships, sitting in 2nd and 8th place respectively.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of April included [player]Cryss Stephens[/player] from Pennsylvania with 165.90 WPPR points, [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] from Chicago, IL with 150.07 WPPR points, [player]Joshua Henderson[/player] from Plainfield, IL with 134.74 WPPR points, and [player]Keith Elwin[/player] from Carlsbad, CA with 126.65 WPPR points.

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

Registration is now closed for IFPA10, and we couldn't be more excited about the field of participants!

IFPA10 will set a new record for most countries represented in the history of any pinball tournament with 19. Included in the field are the two previous IFPA World Pinball Champions, [player]Daniele Celestino Acciari[/player] (IFPA7 and IFPA9 World Pinball Champion), and [player]Cayle George[/player] (IFPA8 World Pinball Champion). Both Daniele and Cayle will be serving as team captains for the inaugural Epstein Cup battle between Europe and the USA.

Another IFPA record that has been set is the cut line for at-large bids into an IFPA World Championship. At rank #66, [player]Alain Boulieu[/player] from France become the last player above the cut line, destroying the previous record of rank #126 set at IFPA8 in Sweden.

The full field of participants is available HERE.

A reminder that 1 more IFPA10 spot is still available at the IFPA Satellite Tournament in Rodenbach the weekend before IFPA10. Full details for that tournament will be available soon.

 The IFPA is proud to announce that Keith Elwin has finished at #1 on the World Pinball Player Rankings, thus earning IFPA's top honor as the 2012 "World's Greatest Pinball Player". No single tournament victory will ever secure this title for a given year. Only consistent play at the highest level over the course of multiple years leads to players reaching the pinnacle of the World Pinball Player Rankings. This is the 7th time that the IFPA has crowned the World's Greatest Pinball Player, of which Keith has won top honors 6 times.

During 2012, Keith reclaimed the title of PAPA World Pinball Champion earning himself an incredible 123.12 WPPR points in total during PAPA weekend counting his Classics Division performance. Keith also swept both the Main Tournament and Classics Division at the inaugural It Never Drains In So. Cal Pinball Tourney, as well as winning the Modern Division at California Extreme and Classics Division at this year's Pinball Expo Flip Out Tournament.

Overall, Keith won 29% of the events he played in, while placing in the top 4 at 67% of his 2012 events, a truly remarkable achievement. Keith will be given his award at the IFPA10 World Pinball Championship, scheduled for May 31-June 2, 2013 in Germany. Congratulations to Keith, and best of luck to everyone on the upcoming 2013 season in the race for #1.

The IFPA is pleased to announce that our Player of the Month for August 2012 is [player]Keith Elwin[/player] from the US. Keith earned all 123.17 WPPR points during the PAPA 15 World Pinball Championships. His 7th/2nd/2nd finises in the three Classics tournaments combined with his 4th PAPA title in the last 5 years netted him the second highest WPPR point total for a single tournament in the history of the World Pinball Player Rankings (second to Keith's previous performance at PAPA 13).

The rest of the top 5 for the month of August included [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] of the US with 114.79 WPPR points, [player]Cayle George[/player] of the US with 95.97 WPPR points, [player]Bowen Kerins[/player] of the US with 78.21 WPPR points, and [player]Joshua Henderson [/player] of the US with 77.09 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 July 2012 is [player]Julio Vicario Soriano[/player] from Spain. Julio earned a victory in each of the tournaments he played in during July including the Caja de Cristal Pinball Open, Pinball Party Night Valencia and the Torneo Espanol de Pinball, netting him 85.65 WPPR points.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of July included [player]Adam Lefkoff[/player] of the US with 77.03 WPPR points, [player]Keith Elwin[/player] of the US with 69.13 WPPR points, [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] of the US with 66.51 WPPR points, and [player]Trent Augenstein[/player] of the US with 57.87 WPPR points.

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

Give [player]Keith Elwin[/player] a challenge that has anything to do with pinball and chances are he rises to that challenge more often than not. This past weekend was no different as Keith was faced with trying to extend his consecutive months streak atop the IFPA’s World Pinball Player Rankings to 25. Following a victory in the Modern Division, and 2nd place finish in the Classics Division, that’s exactly what Keith did, walking away with 69.24 WPPR points from that performance, and putting himself 27.08 WPPR points back ahead of [player]Daniele Celestino Acciari[/player] for the #1 spot.

However, another challenge awaits Keith during the month of August as extending his consecutive #1 streak to 26 months is once again in jeopardy. Before the end of August Keith will lose 83.31 WPPR points when his PAPA 12 results decay to over 3 years old, his PAPA 13 results decay to over 2 years old, and his PAPA 14 results decay to over 1 year old. Meanwhile, Daniele will only be losing 4.37 WPPR points during August, which means that while Keith sits back atop the world rankings for now, he has quite a deficit to make up at the upcoming PAPA 15 World Pinball Championships.

Keith is going to need to earn at least 81.04 WPPR points at PAPA to maintain his #1 ranking through September 1st. Having accomplished that in 3 of the last 4 years, is this something that Keith will be able to pull off once again? We will soon find out as PAPA starts in just a little over a week.

Let's also not forget world No. 3 ranked [player]Cayle George[/player], who quietly will only sit 12.07 WPPR points behind Keith factoring in all the August decay. Factoring in the WPPR points that Cayle will be losing through August, if he earns 92.65 WPPR points or more at PAPA, he will jump both Keith and Daniele to claim the No. 1 spot for the first time. While that is a steep hill to climb, it is possible for a player to walk away with well over 100 WPPR points at PAPA between the A and Classics Divisions.

We're excited to see how things shake out. Best of luck to Daniele, Keith and Cayle!

On July 12, 2012, the 2011 results from California Extreme dropped 25% in value for being over year one old. That decay has caused the first shakeup at the #1 spot in the past 24 months when [player]Keith Elwin[/player] reclaimed the #1 spot from then world ranked #1 player [player]Jorian Engelbrektsson[/player]. This time around it’s 2-time and current IFPA World Pinball Champion [player]Daniele Celestino Acciari[/player] from Italy moving into the #1 spot for the first time.

Historical World Pinball Player Rankings records are only kept monthly, so it is still possible for Keith to extend his #1 ranked player streak to 25 months before August 1st hits. Keith will be at the 2012 California Extreme tournament with a chance to increase his WPPR point total before the calendar turns. Before the end of the month Keith will actually lose another 5.09 WPPR points when the 2010 California Extreme results decay to over 2 years old, which will put him at a 12.96 WPPR point deficit behind Daniele. With Keith's worst event on his top 15 resume being worth 29.18 WPPR points, Keith is going to need to earn at least 42.14 WPPR points at the 2012 CAX tournament to reclaim the #1 spot.

Will Keith get the job done, or will Daniele be starting a #1 streak of his own? We will soon find out as the tournament is coming up in a few short weeks.

Looking at past CAX results, Keith has earned over 42.14 WPPR points in each of his last 4 trips to the tournament. What may shake things up this year is CAX being a part of the 2012 PAPA Circuit which could make for a much tougher field of competitors compared to years past. All we know is this battle is far from over!

The North County Times recently talked with current #1 world ranked player, [player]Keith Elwin[/player]. Keith recently was top qualifier at the IFPA9 World Pinball Championship, finishing with the second highest point total in IFPA World Pinball Championship history. After a bye through the first two rounds of the playoffs, Keith lost in an epic 9 game battle to eventual 3rd place finisher [player]Andy Rosa[/player]. Click HERE to read the article.

The IFPA is pleased to announce that for the third time in five months, our Player of the Month for May 2012 is once again [player]Trent Augenstein[/player], from Delaware, OH. Trent earned 92.59 WPPR points in May, winning both the Pinbowl Tournament in Michigan, as well as the Silver Ballroom Open in St. Louis.  Trent also finished in 3rd place at the Gameworks Chicago Tournament of Champions.

The rest of the top 5 for the month of May included [player]Josh Lehan[/player] of the US with 59.50 WPPR points,  [player]Andy Rosa[/player] of the US with 49.32 WPPR points, [player]Keith Elwin[/player] of the US with 48.84 WPPR points, and [player]Zach Sharpe[/player] of the US with 44.83 WPPR points.

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