Since the release of WPPR v5.2 for the 2016 season, the IFPA has continued investigating ways to make the World Pinball Player Rankings more accurate for how we rank players across the globe.

These latest changes will be incorporated into WPPR v5.3 which will be implemented starting January 1, 2017.
Please note that for all 2016 IFPA related activities (qualifying for 2016-17 SCS, 2016-17 ECS, IFPA14, etc), version 5.2 will be used for that qualification process.

Below is an overview of changes for the updated 2017 formula:

- For any IFPA endorsed tournament or league with a qualifying portion, only players that participate in at least 50% of the games used in determining those qualifying positions will be included in the final results. Any players that don’t meet this minimum participation requirement should be removed from the results by the tournament director (TD) prior to submitting those results to the IFPA. For example, a Best Game qualifying format where 10 machines are available with the best 7 scores counting towards the player’s qualifying position, any player that plays fewer than 4 machines will be removed from the standings submitted to the IFPA. For leagues, this means that players must participate in at least 50% of the sessions of the regular season to be included in the final standings submitted to the IFPA.

- Certain formats (Selfie Leagues, TOPS Tournaments, etc) rely on players submitting their own results without the verification of a TD or authorized scorekeeper on site. Any qualifying format that includes “unverified” results where a TD, league official, or authorized scorekeeper is not present to record their score, will not have the qualifying portion included in the TGP calculation. The IFPA will classify these qualifying formats as strictly for seeding purposes, with only the finals format counting towards the TGP calculation.

- The TGP will now include games played that are fewer than 3 balls, including timed formats where players are attempting to reach a score or objective as quickly as possible. Any game where it’s possible for the player to finish on the first ball in play, will be calculated at 33% value for TGP purposes. For example, if players have a goal of reaching a certain feature in a game as a way of winning that game or match, the fact that it is POSSIBLE for the player to reach that objective on ball 1 means this will count as 1/3rd of a game played towards TGP. The exception to this rule will be the Pin-Golf format, which will have it’s own set of grading rules (see next bullet points).

- The IFPA is launching the IFPA Tour of endorsed Pin-Golf events. We are now enforcing stricter rules regarding how organizers can score a IFPA endorsed Pin-Golf format tournament, and events must meet this criteria with their course design to award WPPR points as an IFPA endorsed event. The WPPR points awarded for Pin-Golf events will now include a Pin-Golf Multiplier (PGM) adjustment. This metric is used to grade the difficulty of the course. Full details on the IFPA Tour, rules of course design, and the calculation of the PGM adjustment are available here: http://www.ifpapinball.com/pingolf/

For full detailed information on the 2017 formula, visit: http://www.ifpapinball.com/menu/ranking-info-2017/

Any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. Please check back when we announce that WPPR v5.3 has been implemented for 2017 as the details may always change prior to launch.

Both the time and game element of TGP won't be counted.

This qualifying portion will be strictly looked at as seeding.

The 50% participation rule will have a far greater impact on the NYC Superleague.

For the April 2016 results 26 out of the 165 players played at least 50% of the games required for qualification.

The difference in value between a tournament with 165 players and 26 players . . . I won't even go into those details, but it's quite a large margin

We have something better . . . a whole group of people that have a vested interested in making sure that league is worth as little as possible. We have a lineup of volunteers willing to go through the qualifying results of every player that participates to make sure nobody is improperly counted.

You wonder very accurately

Shepherd himself actually came up with the proposal for the rule

The fact that the play is totally unsupervised should impact the value of that event negatively compared to events that are fully supervised with officials, scorekeepers, etc.

The question remains what it will do to coin drop next year. To be successful, at least in our monthly, you have to qualify in the top 4. Anyone outside of the top 4 simply can't win the tournament. That requires a high level of participation during the qualifying process regardless of whether that participation results in adding to the TGP or not. For me to win, I'll be forced to continue to qualifying during the now 'worthless' qualifying period just to have a chance at that A-division prize money/top WPPR's.

I understand every event involves the potential for cheating. I've seen cheating at PAPA. I've seen cheating at IFPA.

This isn't about the potential to cheat. This is about the ability for a TD/designated official to handle any potential malfunctions, rulings, etc. on the spot, and remedy that situation with the player immediately.

Understand the frustration for sure, and figured this was a nice compromise compared to the many people that think this style of tournament should simply be not endorsed, full stop.

That would be a compromise if the argument was "full value vs. no value".

The compromise we made was "Value vs. No WPPR's at all for the tournament".

Allowing that format to continue as an endorsed format where this unverified play can have a significant impact on the results of the tournament is the compromise.

Yet we somehow find a way to grow the player base year after year

Appreciate the concerns ... I think we'll survive this adjustment just fine and the player base will continue to grow.

I have some exciting SCS news to share in the near future once everyone is through the 5.3 WPPR hate fest

It might be our first announcement that actually gets 100% universal praise

I can't imagine anyone arguing that it's not a good thing for the SCS (although Hilton may find a way)

Details to come soon enough.

That was said in jest

So far the response has been far more positive than I expected for sure.

Getting warm! This secret is leaking worse than the next 7 Stern titles

Only time will tell.

For our selfie league here I don't believe it will. Whether our month is worth 6 WPPRs or 12 WPPRs, our group here is mainly interested in the competition. I've failed to reach A division most of the months due to the dedication of our player base.

I can't qualify in A without showing up and playing, so that portion of the selfie league is still the most integral. It may not be worth WPPRs for that part of the process, but I can't beat Zach for the month if I'm sitting in 5th or 6th for qualifying. The only answer I have is to get off my ass, put more $$$ in the games, and keep playing.

It's the tic tac toe method. Every breakdown you can think of better meet that 50% threshold.

So that means you have to play 2 out of the 3 machines, AND play at least 1 out of the 2 games on that machine for the player to count as 'fully participated'.

We can create a custom ranking based on city of the tournament no problem

I posted this on Tilt Forums, but thought it was worth posting here as well regarding the imminent DEATH OF SELFIE LEAGUES. It's always important to keep perspective on how the changes actually impact the players participating. There's always a race towards assuming this change is going to grossly alter the universe of the WPPR system forever, when in reality we're talking about peanuts.

Anyway, here's my TF post:

This is about making the world rankings more accurate, and the selfie leagues are simply overvalued for "what they are". It's taking advantage of a system that's built around events being organized and run by volunteers who spend countless hours, money and energy putting something on.

Compare that to the "effort" it takes to run a Selfie league, which for me is entering a score from my phone at my leisure, and finding a clever comment to post on Facebook along with posting a picture . . . and showing up for 90 minutes once a month to run a final. It's really a f*cking joke (and I say that because I created it, and I still think it's awesome, and I still think it has a place in this wide world of competitive pinball . . . just at a reduced value based on the play where that TD is putting in that time/effort/energy like they have to do for every other tournament on our calendar).

If we wanted to help out operators we would value all Selfie leagues at 100 points minimum. If we wanted to help boost the business of JJP we would offer a 5X multiplier in WPPR points for any tournament that uses a JJP game in the lineup. Unfortunately the benefits for the operator from WPPR's is more of a collateral damage sort of thing rather than the goal of the system.

Right now our SSL averages about 10 WPPR points a month. Anyone that finished outside of the top 4 got less than 2 WPPR points for their performance. Next year our TGP will go from 64% to 24%. The winner will be getting ~4 points instead of 10, and anyone outside of the top 4 will see a drop of LESS THAN ONE WPPR POINT each month for this change. For anyone in the bottom half of the field, we're talking HUNDRETHS OF A POINT difference.

If that less than one WPPR point difference is going to ruin everything for operators, TD's, players, kids, puppies, etc, then someone needs to prioritize where WPPR's fall in their life.

Cheers to Hilton ... Who got one extra year of selfie league WPPRs over the rest of us

http://www.ifpapinball.com/2017-ifpa-nationalswomenspin-masters-championships-head-to-dallas/

The big announcement is that courtesy of Stern Pinball, the 2017 National Pinball Champion will receive a brand new Stern pinball machine as top prize!

Never keep your comments to yourself . . . I live for this sh*t

I know Marcus is helping us fill the bank of 12 machines needed, but we are definitely looking for some help on this (especially for some modern games). Shoot me a PM if you have a game that you wouldn't mind donating to the cause and I can make sure Marcus is aware as he's putting things together from the ground out there.

No . . . the $100 fee is for that state to be part of the SCS for a given year. It builds the prize pool for those that are able to participate in Nationals. We have seen some luck getting a local business to sponsor the SCS for a given state by funding the $100 Nationals fee. The entry fee from the state players can then go back 100% to those players. Might be worth looking into up in WI for you guys.

We're simply able to now offer a prize pool of $9000-9500 for Nationals compared to previous years of $4000-4500.

With the top prize going to National Champion we'll be able to spread that cash around deeper to the other finalists.

Looking for 4

Convince the AMOA to have their industry trade show in Wisconsin

We're only moving to Dallas because that's where "real work" takes me.

2018 the AMOA is moving us back to Vegas.

You might have a better chance sweet talking him than I do, or have Dani talk him into it

They make Zach and I work hard for their support and sponsorship. Fortunately we don't mind.

I'm not sure where Nationals is held has any impact on the growth of the sport as a whole.

IMO the media attention that we're able to generate throughout the SCS and Nationals campaign does far more to move the needle.

From an industry perspective tying it to the industry's biggest trade show is also an important factor. Stern's belief in the importance of competitive pinball has only been increased based on the excitement we're able to generate by being an industry function. If the timing worked better my preference would be to have it on the show floor itself.

Only needing 12 machines the PHOF has been 'fine' for us. Having IFPA5 there and getting 60 games ready .... I'll agree that was insane.

Looking forward to the Dallas contingent next year, and there's a chance we move to Flipperspiel for 2018. I've never been but have heard great things about that location.

I have a hall pass from the wife to move the World Championship around . . . I don't have that same hall pass for Nationals.

All she knows is that I have to go on my annual business trip for work for the Spring show, and yeahhhhhh there's also some pinball 'stuff' going on as well, but it's definitely not a "pinball trip"

May she never read Pinside and find this post!

There will be some year where something comes up and it ends up in my basement.

2018 actually poses some real issues I've put off dealing with. The trade show is typically in that mid-late March time frame, and I just found out the dates are like mid-late FEBRUARY for 2018.

With SCS day typically that second weekend of February, it makes it really challenging to run Nationals the weekend after and ask everyone to find their was to Vegas on such limited notice

Appreciate the offer . . . I'm more likely to shift everything back in the schedule to accommodate the trade show so we can still utilize that industry exposure.

The second likely possibility is to team up with Level 257 here in the suburbs where we run our Super Selfie League and have them donate some space for us to bring in 12 games from local collectors to pull this off. This assumes they are still open for business and flying high with pinball nearly 2 years from now, which is never a certainty.

The one part where you hosting fails includes me having to let my wife know I have to head up to Wisconsin for 'something', after just being out of town in Vegas for work

Haha now that's something I might be able to work with