Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What are the World Pinball Player Rankings?
A: The IFPA has created the World Pinball Player Rankings (WPPR) to establish the first official rankings system of pinball players throughout the world. Similar to many other professional organizations' rankings systems (NASCAR, PGA Tour, ATP Tour, etc.) players accumulate points at the events they participate in. All officially endorsed events are taken into account and points are awarded according to the players finishing positions. The points awarded for each event are related to the strength of the field based on the players that compete. Every annual tournament is worth at least 25 points to the winner. Every player in the World Pinball Player Rankings is worth "x" amount of points based on the ranking of that player when entering the tournament. The higher a player is ranked in the WPPR system, the more points that player brings to the value of the tournament.

Q: Why does pinball need a ranking system?
A: The World Pinball Player Rankings offers the competitive pinball community a great way to compare themselves to their peers. It was designed to help bring together the many tournaments and leagues being held around the world, giving players an incentive to play more competitive pinball. It was also created to raise awareness for competitive pinball outside the general pinball hobby. Additionally, we thought it was a cool idea to track tournaments across the world, see who was playing where and how they are doing.

Q: What is the difference between the IFPA World Pinball Player Rankings and PAPA's PARS rating system?
A: The WPPR ranking system is designed to rank players based on how they perform in tournaments and leagues, while PAPA's PARS system is used to rate a players skill based on head to head match play. The WPPR system takes the entire tournament field into account when calculating and distributing the WPPR points earned, while PARS only looks at a single match between players, regardless of where or how it was played. Like any system, both have their advantages and disadvantages. We experimented with a PARS type system during the initial years of the World Pinball Player Rankings, but discovered that it was difficult for it to work with all tournaments and felt it didn't meet the goals that the IFPA wanted to accomplish.

Q: How does an event become endorsed by the IFPA, and eligible to award World Pinball Player Rankings points?
A: The IFPA only recognizes open divisions of play to be included in the World Pinball Player Rankings. If certain players are prohibited from playing based on age, gender, skill or personal reasons, those results will not be counted. This includes B-divisions, Novice divisions, Women’s divisions, etc. The IFPA also requires that any endorsed tournament be listed on the IFPA Calendar a minimum of 30 days prior to the event being held. A website where players can find out additional details about the event is also preferred.

Q: When are the rankings updated?
A: The World Pinball Player Rankings are updated when ever we receive results from a tournament director. We strive to update the rankings and tournament information as quickly as possible. If you are wondering why a tournament result isn't in our system, ask us!

Q: Why is the IFPA limiting the number of events counted?
A: Starting in 2008, the IFPA rankings will only count the top 15 events for a given player. This is to limit players from increasing their world ranking simply by playing in more events. While those players that do play in more IFPA endorsed leagues and tournaments still have an advantage to increasing their world ranking, we are able to more accurately reflect the current world ranking of players with this 15 event limit. Starting in 2009, we will also no longer be counting "periodic" tournaments (like those that occur monthly) as separate events. Instead, these events will be accumulative over the calendar year and be listed as 1 event on a players' "Top 15" list.

Q: My monthly tournament has more people than some yearly tournaments, why is it worth less?
A: Local tournaments are a huge part of the growing competitive pinball scene. However, treating local tournaments the same as a true distinct annual events starts to hurt the ranking system and some the goals the IFPA wishes to accomplish. One of the main drawbacks is that it does not encourage players to travel outside what is available locally to move themselves up the world rankings. Additionally, we want people to attend more pinball events, so limiting the impact of these periodic local events is an important part of the WPPR formula.

The way the points work is that every event is allocated a base value of 25 points for a calendar year. The number of times an event is held then dictates the value of each of the individual events: 5 meetings per year = 20% each, 10 meetings per year = 10% each, 2 meetings per year = 50%, etc. This is to keep the 'local' events from impacting the integrity of the world rankings, making the larger annual events more important in determining where those players are ranked in the world.

An additional rule with what we call "periodic" events is that the value is either divided by the number of tournaments held in a calendar year, or 4, whichever is greater. This is to limit those periodic events that start in the latter portion of a calendar year from being over valued. These events are worth 25% value each, regardless of the fact that they are only played once or twice in the first year.

Based on the established frequency of an event being held, it is possible for the IFPA to waive the minimum 25% value of these periodic events. For example, leagues that have 2 seasons per year are worth 50% each, even though the general 'periodic' rule would have those results valued at 25% each.

Tournament directors do not need to know in advance how many times they will hold an event for a particular year. The WPPR formula dynamically handles this calculation and adjusts the value per tournament appropriately throughout the year based on how many times it sees results uploaded in the system.

Q: Why is there only a 3 year rolling window? Shouldn't that tournament I won in 2003 still mean something?
A: The rankings are meant to determine who is the best pinball player, right now. While a tournament win in 2003 is great, it doesn't represent how a player is currently performing. If you are going to be labeled the best, recent accomplishments need to count for more than past accomplishments. Most major rankings have some sort of rolling window. We decided to use three years since we have limited events per year and not everyone can attend a high percentage of events. Additionally, due to the new ranking system, your 2003 results do impact future rankings in 2004, 2005, etc.

Q: Why are there weightings to the rankings?
A: Much like the previous answer, it's all about what you are doing currently. We put different weights behind accomplishments over the last 3 years, but we weigh them so they do not overshadow recently results.

Q: Why are some events worth more than others?
A: For 2009, our system is based on a calculation with some base rules. One of these rules was to add 25 more base points to PAPA, EPC and the IFPA tournaments. We feel that these events are the "Majors" within the pinball tournament world and should rewarded as such. These are special events and we feel they should be rewarded as such.

Q: What about tournaments hosted at leagues events?
A: New for 2009 is the inclusion of league results. Since there are many, many styles of leagues, there was no easy way to accommodate them all, so we took the easy way out. Each league just submits their final results, which could be based on a season, a tournament or a combination of both. How this is done is up to leagues — we just want the final list.

Q: The rankings are weighted towards the North American players and everyone else is at an disadvantage.
A: We try to make the rankings fair to everyone. Tournaments are sorted into two classes: Major and everything else. If there is a 30 player tournament in Las Vegas, Vancouver, Austria or Tokyo — they all start with the same base points. Many confuse the fact that North America has many tournaments where other countries, like India, may have only a few or none at all. Unfortunately, there really isn't much we can do about this and it's just the reality of the current state of things with competitive pinball. Hopefully, more events will begin to popup worldwide to give others the chance to compete. It is unfair to weigh rankings in other countries heavier, simply because they have few chances. The qualifying system for the World Pinball Championship does take this into account by setting aside 2 spots for each eligible country. This allows those players that may not be as high on the global list to qualify by focusing on being highly ranked on their country list.

Q: I really do not like the rankings and do not wish to participate in the them.
A: Just like any ranking system, there will be individuals who disagree with how it is being done. If you wish for your name to be removed the rankings, please let us know and we'll remove you. Remember, the goal of all of this is to help promote competitive pinball and we really do not wish to see anyone go. A reminder that only ranked players are eligible to qualify for the IFPA's annual World Pinball Championship.