Maybe that's a good indicator that 92% of the players who have ever accidentally found themselves in the midst of a pinball tournament, don't put much value in your points and don't feel much of an incentive to donate $1 to a prize pool that is realistically only attainable to a select number of players?

Can't you get Mexico to pay for the State/National prize pools?

OK, that seems on the level.

Now it's just up to the Tournament Directors to decide whether or not their 2018 events are IFPA Sanctioned or not, correct?

Out of curiosity how do tournaments for other games of skill such as bowling, fishing, darts and pool, exist in WI? Do they operate without entry fees and/or payouts?

There's some stuff in here (from 2000) but most of it is historical (and quite hysterical even).

"Some games involving chance have been permitted due to the amount of skill involved
in playing them. Pinball machines were permitted, but a 1935 attorney general’s opinion held
that they could be considered illegal gambling devices if players were awarded anything of
value based on points accumulated (24 OAG 536). Chapter 91, Laws of 1979, specified, however,
that the awarding of immediate free replays would be considered legal."

https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lrb/research_bulletins/rb_00_01.pdf

On the other hand, this memo which appears to be from the WI Division of Gaming states:

"Conversely, if an activity predominately involves skill, then it would not meet the statutory definition.
Skill based games would include paying to guess the number of marbles in a jar, pool, darts, bean bag
toss, etc. and would be legal for individuals, businesses, non-profit organization’s to conduct without any
license requirements."

http://www.doa.state.wi.us/Documents/DOG/Charitable/Raffle/Raffle%20Frequently%20Asked%20Questions.pdf

I'm a bit baffled on how "guessing the number of marbles in a jar" would be considered more of a game based on skill than pinball?! Is there an International Marble Guessing Association out there or should I create one? www.IMaGA.org is available...

There is other possibly pertinent information about accepting online payments ("Can I sell tickets on the internet?") and events in bars ("Can bars to Meat Raffles and play Bingo?") in this document, but I'm not a law-talking-dude.

Lots to figure out before machine-learning robot pinball players start entering tournaments and winning all the top prizes.

By looking at their website, the main purpose of the IFPA seems to be first and foremost, supporting and directing attention to competitive pinball otherwise known as tournaments, aka "pinball as a sport".

It's probably a misnomer to say that their primary goal is to "increase pinball's exposure", but instead a secondary and slightly less (but still very) important goal.

At least that's my impression from visiting and reading through their website.