Professional and Amateur Pinball Association


The Professional and Amateur Pinball Association is an organization supporting the game of pinball as a recreational and competitive sport. PAPA is currently a brand owned by the Replay Foundation and is operated by the IFPA under license and is based in the Pittsburgh area.
The main activity of the organization is hosting the annual World Pinball Championships and Pinburgh Match-Play Championship. Each event brings hundreds of serious pinball players from around the world to compete for a number of large cash prizes. The World Pinball Championships run for four days and allow competitors to register in different divisions which accommodate beginners and skilled players alike. Each occurrence of the World Pinball Championships has been denoted by a number; for example, the 2010 tournament is known as PAPA 13.
The Pinburgh Match-Play Championship resurrects the name given to a previous Pittsburgh-area pinball tournament, and has a different structure. Players pay one entry fee and compete in multiple rounds directly against other players for two days, before a day of finals is played in three divisions, along with a consolation tournament for players who do not make the finals.

History

PAPA was originally created by Roger Sharpe, author of the book Pinball! and Steve Epstein, owner of the former Broadway Arcade in Manhattan. After gathering data over about 4 years they developed the league scoring system used in PAPA league play. PAPA 6 was the last tournament organized under the tenure of Steve Epstein. The PAPA organization was transferred to Kevin Martin in January 2004 and its moniker applied to the pinball tournaments formerly held under the name of Pinburgh; PAPA 7 was the first of these, held in 2004.
In September 2004, shortly after PAPA 7, the remnants of Hurricane Ivan flooded the tournament area, ruining 232 pinball machines. However, the organizers managed to restock and rebuild in time to host PAPA 8 in 2005.
In 2012 ownership of all 456 pinball machines with a few other machines was transferred to the Replay Foundation, with the building transferred a year later.
In November 2020, the Replay Foundation announced that it is discontinuing its events and use of the PAPA brand indefinitely, due to the pandemic. It relaunched tournaments under the Pinburgh name in 2024, and licensed the IFPA to run tournaments under the PAPA name.

Tournament format

The format of the World Pinball Championships has changed over time. In the current format, players declare a division and may enter as many times as they like, paying entry fees each time they choose to play. During an entry, a player will choose and play a certain number of games from a predetermined bank of machines. Each game score is assigned a point value based on how it compares to all of the other entries on that same machine: 100 points for the highest score, down to 1 point for 88th place, and 0 points for all lower scores. This point value may decrease over time as more games are played by everyone. An entry's overall score is the sum of these point values; thus, it too can decrease over time.
A player's best entry over the course of the qualifying period determines the player's qualifying score, and the qualifying scores are used to determine the rank of each player. A player's rank may go up or down, even without continuing to play more entries. There is a fair amount of strategy that can be employed to deal with this.
At the end of the qualifying period, the top-ranked players in each division compete in a head-to-head, bracketed format to determine the winners.
The tournament also includes a Juniors division, a Seniors division, and a Classics division that runs on multiple days of the event. In 2014, the Juniors division was changed to be three tournaments run on consecutive days, similar to the Classics division.
In 2015 a D division was added, specifically targeting very new players who had only played a limited amount of competitive pinball. In order to qualify for D division, a player needed to have a world ranking of 7500 or lower.
In 2018 and 2019, and from 2024 onwards the Women's International Pinball Tournament was added in parallel to the Pinburgh event at Replay FX, utilizing the Pinburgh format.

Tournament machine configurations

If possible, the game software of each machine is put into tournament mode. Typically, this means that the rules will avoid
giving random awards, so that scores reflect mostly skill and not luck. Also, extra balls are disabled if the software supports it.
The physical setup of the machines is also configured to make things as challenging as possible. This can be done in a number of ways, for example:
  • Adjusting or removing outlane posts, which make the side drain gaps larger.
  • Increasing the playfield angle. This increases ball speed and makes it more difficult to make shots in the back of the playfield.
  • Making the "tilt" mechanism more strict, allowing less nudging and shaking of the machine.

List of tournament winners

Pinburgh Match-Play
  • Pinburgh 2011 – Keith Elwin –
  • Pinburgh 2012 – Adam Becker –
  • Pinburgh 2013 – Keith Elwin –
  • Pinburgh 2014 – Jim Belsito –
  • Pinburgh 2015 – Zach Sharpe –
  • Pinburgh 2016 – Keith Elwin –
  • Pinburgh 2017 – Colin MacAlpine –
  • Pinburgh 2018 – Keith Elwin –
  • Pinburgh 2019 – Keith Elwin –
  • Pinburgh 2024 - Jason Zahler -
  • Pinburgh 2025 - Jason Zahler -
A Division
B Division
  • PAPA 3 – A.J. Fried –
  • PAPA 4 – Kevin Kulek –
  • PAPA 5 – Dominic Nardini –
  • PAPA 6 – Tim Morse –
  • PAPA 7 – Andrei Massenkoff –
  • PAPA 8 – Helena Walter –
  • PAPA 9 – Darren Kamnitzer –
  • PAPA 10 – Adam Becker –
  • PAPA 11 – Maurice Pelletier –
  • PAPA 12 – Ed Zeltmann –
  • PAPA 13 – Joshua Henderson –
  • PAPA 14 – Dave Hegge –
  • PAPA 15 – Johnny Modica –
  • PAPA 16 – John Flitton –
  • PAPA 17 – Rod Lawrence –
  • PAPA 18 – Joseph Lemire –
  • PAPA 19 – Steve Zumoff –
  • PAPA 20 – Jordan Tredaway –
C Division
  • PAPA 3 – Kevin Rodriguez –
  • PAPA 4 – Kim Hilker –
  • PAPA 5 – Steve Walker –
  • PAPA 6 – Steve Marsh –
  • PAPA 7 – Russ Wallis –
  • PAPA 8 – Jory Rabinovitz –
  • PAPA 9 – Mark Salas –
  • PAPA 10 – Johnny Modica –
  • PAPA 11 – Mike Clinton –
  • PAPA 12 – Blair Love –
  • PAPA 13 – Seth Lettofsky –
  • PAPA 14 – Chuck Jackson –
  • PAPA 15 – Jay Collins –
  • PAPA 16 – Nick Campbell –
  • PAPA 17 – Jack Benson –
  • PAPA 18 – Levi Nayman –
  • PAPA 19 – Lewis Bevans –
  • PAPA 20 – Bayless Rutherford –
D Division
  • PAPA 18 – Mike Hovraluck –
  • PAPA 19 – Alex Fruzynski –
  • PAPA 20 – Blake Wood –
Junior Division
  • PAPA 3 – Willy McKinney –
  • PAPA 4 – Vincent Chasmer -
  • PAPA 5 – Joshua Sharpe -
  • PAPA 6 – Zachary Sharpe –
  • PAPA 7 – Jake Prince –
  • PAPA 8 – Matt Hogue –
  • PAPA 9 – Ethan Blonder –
  • PAPA 10 – Ethan Blonder –
  • PAPA 11 – Ethan Blonder –
  • PAPA 12 – Justin Ortscheid –
  • PAPA 13 – Justin Ortscheid –
  • PAPA 14 – Escher Lefkoff –
  • PAPA 15 – Joshua Henderson –
  • PAPA 16 – Escher Lefkoff –
  • PAPA 17 – Juniors 1 – Escher Lefkoff –
  • PAPA 17 – Juniors 2 – Escher Lefkoff –
  • PAPA 17 – Juniors 3 – Escher Lefkoff –
  • PAPA 18 – Juniors 1 – Jason Zahler –
  • PAPA 18 – Juniors 2 – Escher Lefkoff –
  • PAPA 18 – Juniors 3 – Jason Zahler –
  • PAPA 19 – Juniors 1 – Aleksander Kaczmarczyk –
  • PAPA 19 – Juniors 2 – Gregory Kennedy –
  • PAPA 19 – Juniors 3 – Ciaran Bernard –
Senior Division
  • PAPA 7 – Ed Hershey –
  • PAPA 8 – Ed Hershey –
  • PAPA 9 – Rick Prince –
  • PAPA 10 – John Reuter –
  • PAPA 11 – Ed Hershey –
  • PAPA 12 – Rick Prince –
  • PAPA 13 – Rick Prince –
  • PAPA 14 – Dave Hegge –
  • PAPA 15 – Paul McGlone –
  • PAPA 16 – Dave Hegge –
  • PAPA 17 – Steve Walker –
  • PAPA 18 – Robert Sutter –
  • PAPA 19 – Phil Harmon –
Classics Division
  • PAPA 7 – Classics 1 – Keith Elwin –
  • PAPA 7 – Classics 2 – Steven Epstein –
  • PAPA 8 – Classics 1 – Ed Hershey –
  • PAPA 8 – Classics 2 – Keith Elwin –
  • PAPA 9 – Classics 1 – Neil Shatz –
  • PAPA 9 – Classics 2 – Keith Elwin –
  • PAPA 10 – Classics 1 – Rick Prince –
  • PAPA 10 – Classics 2 – Bowen Kerins –
  • PAPA 11 – Classics 1 – Neil Shatz –
  • PAPA 11 – Classics 2 – Adam Lefkoff –
  • PAPA 12 – Classics 1 – Bowen Kerins –
  • PAPA 12 – Classics 2 – Keith Johnson –
  • PAPA 13 – Classics 1 – Dave Hegge –
  • PAPA 13 – Classics 2 – Josh Sharpe –
  • PAPA 14 – Classics 1 – Trent Augenstein –
  • PAPA 14 – Classics 2 – Robert Gagno –
  • PAPA 14 – Classics 3 – Keith Elwin –
  • PAPA 15 – Classics 1 – Zach Sharpe –
  • PAPA 15 – Classics 2 – Lyman F Sheats Jr –
  • PAPA 15 – Classics 3 – Zach Sharpe –
  • PAPA 16 – Classics 1 – Frank Romero –
  • PAPA 16 – Classics 2 – Daniele Acciari –
  • PAPA 16 – Classics 3 – Eden Stamm –
  • PAPA 17 – Classics 1 – Bowen Kerins –
  • PAPA 17 – Classics 2 – Cayle George –
  • PAPA 17 – Classics 3 – Keith Elwin –
  • PAPA 18 – Classics 1 – Andy Rosa –
  • PAPA 18 – Classics 2 – Mats Runsten –
  • PAPA 18 – Classics 3 – Jerry Bernard –
  • PAPA 19 – Classics 1 – Bowen Kerins –
  • PAPA 19 – Classics 2 – Keith Elwin –
  • PAPA 19 – Classics 3 – Bowen Kerins –
  • PAPA 20 – Classics 1 – Zach Sharpe –
  • PAPA 20 – Classics 2 – Greg DeFeo –
  • PAPA 20 – Classics 3 – David Riel –
Split Flipper Division
  • PAPA 18 – Josh Sharpe & Zach Sharpe –
  • PAPA 19 – Brett Goodwin & Naiomi Goodwin –
Women's Division
  • PAPA 4 – Ellen Frankel –
  • PAPA 5 – Natalie Baker –
  • PAPA 6 - Alysa Parks –
  • PAPA 19 – Sunshine Bon –