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 in an invitational championship for the title of the IFPA Women’s European Pinball Champion.

That championship consists of round-robin style qualifying, after which the top 8 players advance to the final rounds of head-to-head matches until a winner is determined. This means a TGP base value of 128%, along with a 150% event booster.

II. Competition Details

1. Date and location

April 10, 2026, at Lund Pinball Academy (Vårvädersvägen 4I, 222 27 Lund, Sweden)

2. 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.

Players must have a registered IFPA profile to be eligible to compete in WEPC. This ensures that the IFPA has a way to contact them. 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.

3. Fees

The entry fee into the IFPA WEPC is €25, which does not include the location fee.

Both the entry fee and the location fee are payable through the registration page at the time of registration. Cancellations are refunded 100% of their registration fee, but refunds will not be provided for no-shows. Alternates who register but do not make the cut will receive a full refund once the qualifying fee is set and be added to the waitlist. Should a player drop from the qualifying field, the next player on the waitlist will have 48 hours to accept their spot.

4. 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.

The estimated prize package for the 2025-2026 season is as follows. Additional prizes may be awarded at the discretion of the event organizers.

1st place → €500 plus trophy

2nd place → €285 plus trophy

3rd place → €185 plus trophy

4th place → €100 plus trophy

Trophies are LP-sized picture vinyls including a different pinball-related song on each LP.

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.