OFFICIAL RULES
I. Quick Overview
The IFPA Women’s European Championship Series is an annual pinball competition with players qualifying throughout the entire calendar year. At the end of each calendar year, the top 16 players will compete for the title of the IFPA Women’s European Pinball Champion.
II. Competition Details
1. How to qualify
Unlike most tournaments where the qualification process takes place over a couple of days at the tournament site, qualifying for the IFPA Women’s European Pinball Championship (IFPA WEPC) is based on results from all of the IFPA-endorsed women’s events held in Europe, with the exception of closed women’s national championships. Utilizing its Women’s World Pinball Player Rankings (WWPPRs), the IFPA will be tracking results from these events, maintaining a custom ranking made up of those filtered results.
It is the player’s responsibility to make sure they have an email address on file with the IFPA, or they run the risk of not being contacted for participation in the IFPA WEPC. Please register your IFPA profile to ensure we have a way to contact you. If you see a green check within your profile information on your IFPA profile page, it means we do have a registered email address on file for you. Only registered players are eligible to participate.
2. Fees
The entry fee into the IFPA WEPC is TBD. This fee doesn’t include the location fee and tournament expenses.
3. Prizes
Winners will receive any cash prizes as cash or check during an awards ceremony shortly following the conclusion of all final rounds. Winners need not be present to receive prizes; prizes will be supplied via postal mail if necessary. All taxes are the sole responsibility of winners. Certain tax forms may need to be completed, as directed by tournament officials. All decisions by tournament officials regarding winners and prizes are final.
First Place will receive the title “IFPA Women’s European Pinball Champion.” This title remains in effect until the next annual IFPA WEPC, or will expire after two years if the IFPA WEPC is discontinued.
A spot to compete in the IFPA European Championship Series finals (to be held at the same location over the same weekend) will also be awarded to the highest WEPC finisher who did not already qualify for the IFPA EPC through the regular qualifying process.
Estimated prize package TBD. Please check back closer to the event date.
III. Format of Matches
1. Seeding of finalists
Once all participants are finalized, the 16 players will be seeded based on their WECS rankings position at the end of the calendar year. In the event that any players are tied with the same amount of WECS WWPPR points, we will look at the overall WPPR rank of those players as of the end of that calendar year.
2. Machines Chosen
The games chosen will be based on what is available at the IFPA WEPC host site. Please check back for details closer to the IFPA WEPC date.
3. Qualifying Format
Head to head, Round Robin, one group with all 16 players. The higher-seeded player chooses position. Top 8 advance, decided by number of wins. All other players will be ranked based on the number of wins.
If players end up with the same number of points at the end of qualifying, a tiebreaker will be played on a random machine to break any meaningful ties (i.e. if multiple players are tied for a spot in finals). The higher-seeded players will choose position first. If more players are tied than the selected machine will support in a single game, then multiple games will be played to accommodate all tied players, as evenly distributed as possible on these multiple games, and the resulting scores will be compared as if they had occurred in a single game on the same machine. When it’s only about seeding for those who advance, the higher-seeded player based on WECS qualifying will be placed higher. The placement in the tiebreaker will not affect the seeding of any tied players who do not advance to the finals.
4. Finals Format
Players will be seeded in a single-elimination bracket based on the number of points earned in the qualifying round.
First round pairings are as follows:
1 vs. 8; 2 vs. 7; 3 vs. 6; 4 vs. 5
Second round pairings are as follows:
1/8 vs. 4/5 winner
2/7 vs. 3/6 winner
Two winners of Round 2 play for the IFPA Women’s European Pinball Championship
Two losers of Round 2 play in the Bronze Match for 3rd/4th place.
Each match will be a best-of-seven. The higher qualified player will have choice of machine or position for the 1st game. In case of the same qualifying position, the higher seeded player will have the choice. The match will alternate between machines chosen by each player, until someone has won 4 games. A machine may not be played more than once in the same match. Once a player verbally announces their game choice, or chooses position, that decision will be locked in and cannot be changed.
The winner of the match advances to the next round, while the loser is eliminated.
The 3rd/4th place Bronze Match will be played as a best-of-three instead of a best-of-seven, using the same rules.
Each player will have the opportunity for 30 seconds of practice time before starting every game of every match. This is to ensure that both players have a chance to get familiar with the machine.
IV. Rulings and Malfunctions
All rulings and malfunctions will be based on the PAPA/IFPA unified ruleset, available here.
