Date: Thursday 14th May – Sunday 17th May 2026.
Qualification: from 10:00, registration starts at 09:00

General:
- Tournament format is planned for 384 Players.
- The Austrian Pinball Masters it he ECS Tournament in Austria and is eligible for a TGP Booster.
- Qualification takes place over Thursday and Friday and Finals are played on Saturday and Sunday. Please inform us at registration which day of qualification you prefer, we try to consider it best possible.
- 96 players out of all groups qualify for the final stages.

Qualification:
- Participants get divided into four 6 hours long timeslots A/B/C/D.
- Timeslots A/B play on Thursday and timeslots C/D on Friday.
- Austrian Pinball Masters Classic Qualification shall be played on the same day but at the other time slot (e.g. Main in morning, then Classic in afternoon/evening)
- Each timeslot consists of 5 groups á 16 participants (6 a 384)
- Each group is allocated a dedicated bank of machines and plays a Round Robin format -> 15 games in total
- Top 4 in the group qualify for the finals stages. Top 1 receives a bye. The second qualifier of each group will play 1 high score game on a designated machine to receive one of 12 remaining byes. The 5th places in each group will play 1 high score game on a designated machine to receive one of 16 remaining spots in the Finals
- In case of equal amount of wins, a tiebreaker for the advancement to the finals and the byes in the group (for 1st & 2nd) will be played directly after the group has completed all their matches. Tournament Director defines machines for tiebreaker from the groups´ machine bank
- If Position 3 and 4 have the same number of points in a group then the result of the direct play defines the position (not relevant for bye or Finals).
- A Dedicated Tie Breaker machine is available for the 5th Positioned in the group to see who will participate potentially in the Finals

Finals:
- Single Elimination Best of 7
- For seeding of Finals the following will be considered between the groups in the priority as mentioned
1. Rank within the qualifying group
2. Number of points in the qualification
3. Seeding from IFPA
- Selection of machines in the final rounds 1-3 is based on available games on the “Game Board”
- Players must return the chosen machine tag immediately after concluding the match and choose a new game from the available ones. This practice is aimed at eliminating waiting times on Saturday.
- On Sunday, waiting is allowed, and board is there to show which games are in the Finals
- Each machine can be chosen once per round in a player pairing