The Score Card: Canada's Big Battle and More Majors

Pinball has been on a huge hype wave as of late, fueled by big releases like King Kong: Myth of Terror Island, Dune, and Harry Potter, and this high level of energy has been just as prevalent in the competitive scene as well. In this fourth edition of The Score Card, we're featuring three big-time events, including one of the largest tournaments in the Great White North, an exceptionally quirky Stern Pro Circuit event, and yet another European pinball championship.

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As always, you can find information about upcoming events at the end of this post, but I doubly encourage you to check out those resources with intent. With summer beginning soon, there are tons of local leagues and monthly events to check out, which are often well-attended in the warmer months. Playing in pinball tournaments is just as fun as keeping up with all the exciting results, so get out there and get competitive! For now, here's a look back at the biggest events from the past few weeks.

YEGPin 2025 Pinball & Arcade Expo

YEGPin is one of Canada's premier pinball shows, offering four full days of competition and free play fun for casual and seasoned players alike. This year's show was held from May 15 to 18 at Millennium Place in Alberta, featuring five tournaments, all streamed live on Twitch by Fox Cities Pinball. In addition to the Best Card, Women's, Classics, and Youth tournaments, YEGPin 2025 was also home to the lengthy Match Play Championship, the 8th Stern Pro Circuit tournament of the year.

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In a weekend packed with tournaments, the Match Play Championship was by far the most time-intensive, with over 230 players competing in two days of qualifying rounds before finals began, totaling 40 games of pre-playoff pinball. 28 players fought their way into the prestigious A Division, leading to 4-player, 4-game rounds of Match Play to determine the victor. After a few playoff rounds, the field had been cut down to the last group, with Jared Schmidt (Pittsburgh, PA), Jim Belsito (Murrieta, CA), Gregory Kennedy (Ravenna, OH), Zach “Zmac” McCarthy (Confier, CO) in the final 4.

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Jim Belsito got off to a great start with a win on Abra Ca Dabra (Gottlieb, 1975), rolling the game twice with an impressive 200,000-point score, but Zach McCarthy answered back with two wins of his own on Indianapolis 500 (Bally, 1995) and Cheetah (Stern, 1980). With just one game left, every player still had a shot at clinching the overall win, making the climactic match all the more competitive. Foo Fighters (Stern, 2023) was the last battleground, and every player gave it their all, but Gregory Kennedy had a hell of a game, forcing a tiebreaker for the championship between him and Jim Belsito. The championship on the line, Warlok (Williams, 1982) was the arena to decide it all, as both players fought to keep the ball alive. Though Warlok did its best to screw over anyone who touched the flippers, Jim managed to rip a few lit spinners in the face of constant danger, keeping ahead of Greg and nabbing the YEGPin 2025 Match Play Championship win in the process.

YEGPin 2025 Winners:

• Match Play Championship – Jim Belsito (Murrieta, CA)
• Women's Match Play – Leslie Ruckman (Seattle, WA)
• Classics – Derek Thomson (Alberta, Canada)
• Best Card – Robert Gagno (British Columbia, Canada)

The Amazing Pinball Race 8

The Amazing Pinball Race is a one-of-a-kind tournament and a highlight of the Stern Pro Circuit, held at Tilt Amusements (aka “The Barn”) among the farmland of Ostrander, Ohio. I've had the chance to attend this event for the last two years, and can safely say it lives up to all the hype. As the name implies, The Amazing Pinball Race utilizes the “Amazing Race” tournament format, a favorite among players but lesser-seen due to its complexity. Instead of traditional four-player groups, The Amazing Pinball Race sees players competing in a high-score chase on each machine in a bank. Every player has their go at a given game, and the player with the lowest score is eliminated, the process then repeated until only one is left standing. The action was all streamed live on Twitch by YpsiPinball, and with every player in the hot seat, made for a dramatic showing of competitive pinball.

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In addition to the main Amazing Pinball Race tournament, the weekend also held the Women's Amazing Pinball Race, offering the same format with a bounty of Women's WPPRs. After a timed Match Play qualifying session, 16 players made it to the Amazing Race finals, down from 35 total competitors. Battling on a bank including Harlem Globetrotters On Tour (Bally, 1979), Lord of the Rings (Stern, 2003), Elvira and the Party Monsters (Bally, 1989), Monster Bash (Williams, 1998), and more, two players fought their way to the final Round 15: Beth Shepherd (Avon, OH) and Stacey Moritz (Pittsburgh, PA). A brutally tough TRON: Legacy (Stern, 2011) was the final arena of the race, and Stacey edged out Beth, winning with a 4.6 million point score.

For the main Amazing Pinball Race tournament, there was a Target Match Play qualifying session, placing the top 32 qualifiers in A Division, with the next top 16 qualifiers making it into B Division. While B Division played on the same bank as Women's, A Division had a separate, eclectic batch of games including Attack from Mars (Bally, 1995), Hokus Pokus (Bally, 1975), Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast (Stern, 2018), Blackout (Williams, 1980), and several more. After 28 rounds, 4 players were left in the race, with Neil Graf (Minneapolis, MN) eliminated in Round 29 on Skateball (Bally, 1980). In Round 30, Sterling Mitska (Brooklyn, MI) was eliminated on Attack from Mars, leading to a final battle between Jesse Baker (Cincinnati, OH) and Preston Currie (Fishers, IN). Ultimately, Jesse won out with a 40 million point game on Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast, picking up the tournament win after 31 rounds of racing.

TAPR8 Winners:

• A Division – Jesse Baker (Cincinnati, OH)
• B Division – James Scott (Worthington, OH)
• Women's Amazing Race – Stacey Moritz (Pittsburgh, PA)

European Pinball Championship 2025

Held in Vöcklabruck, Austria from May 28 to June 1, the 2025 European Pinball Championship is one of the five yearly IFPA “Major” tournaments, welcoming upwards of 300 players for a chance to claim the top spot. Not to be confused with the European Pinball Championship Series Final, which we covered in the last edition of The Score Card, EPC2025 is a standalone event that anyone can attend without prior tournament experience. That said, half of the available spots are reserved for some of the best pinball players in Europe, representing the very best of what the region has to offer. Having such a ridiculous amount of talent in one place, the EPC is always home to incredible gameplay moments and this year was exciting as always, with everything streamed live on Twitch by JDL_Pinball.

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In the Women's tournament, over 40 competitors entered, leading to a 4 player showdown finals between Antonella Iannotta (Italy), Zana Hrastovsek (Slovenia), Helena Walter Higgins (Sweden), and Helen de Haan-Verbeek (Netherlands). Slugging it out on three games, including Atlantis (Bally, 1989), Congo (Williams, 1995), and Star Trek (Stern, 2013), Helena took home the win, edging out Zana in the final match.

Things got a bit ridiculous in the Classics tournament, which saw over 350 competitors enter in the qualifying rounds. It all came down to a best-of-five finals between Johannes Ostermeier (Germany) and Viggo Löwgren (Sweden), that went well into the wee hours of the night. The entire series was a masterclass in advanced multiball and wood-chopping through repeatable shots, resulting in a few exceptionally long matches on Swords of Fury (Williams, 1988) and Radical! (Bally, 1990). In the end, Johannes secured the victory with a 3-2 series finish, showcasing some astonishing pinball skill in the process.

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Of course, the Main tournament was the big reason everyone came to play, with a total of 378 players battling for their chance to win an IFPA Major. After a weekend full of qualifying and playoffs, the final two competitors battled in a best-of-seven series, with Johannes Ostermeier facing off against Paul Englert (Germany). Defying expectations, Paul declared open season on the two-time IFPA World champion, taking Johannes to task in a big way. Kicking off a hot streak on Champion's Pub (Bally, 1998), Paul simply did not let up, picking up more wins on No Fear: Dangerous Sports (Williams, 1995) and Creature from the Black Lagoon (Bally, 1992). Finishing his 4-game sweep with a decisive win on The Getaway: High Speed II (Williams, 1992), Paul made pinball history and picked up his first Major championship win.

EPC2025 Winners:

• European Pinball Champion – Paul Englert (Germany)
• Classics Champion – Johannes Ostermeier (Germany)
• Women's Champion – Helena Walter Higgins (Sweden)

Upcoming IFPA Events

As always, there is a surplus of competitive pinball tournaments coming up to check out, with an emphasis on leagues and monthlies as summer arrives. Still, several big-time IFPA tournaments are slated for June and July, most notably the 20th annual IFPA World Pinball Championship, which will be held at the Flippnic in Austria from June 27 to 29. Another of the revered “Major” tournaments, IFPA20 will host 80 players from over 20 countries, with invites extended to a variety of international champions, IFPA series champions, and top-ranked IFPA Pro players. The Stern Pro Circuit continues in July with the Brisbane Masters in Queensland, Australia, followed by The Beast Main tournament in Buffalo, New York at the end of the month.

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If you're in the mood for a pinball and arcade convention, East Coast players can head over to the Southern-Fried Gaming Expo in Atlanta, Georgia (June 20 - 22), while West Coast players should dig in at California Extreme in Santa Clara, California (July 19 – 20). Australian readers can also take a trip to the island of Tasmania for TazPin 2025 (August 2 - 3), a fairly new show that offers dozens of machines on free play. You can also review our more extensive list of upcoming pinball events for other large-scale conventions, expos, and tournaments.

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To find IFPA-sanctioned tournaments that are close to you, use the IFPA Tournament Calendar, which will highlight all the nearest knockouts, competitive weekends, and Match Play events you could ask for. If you want to keep things a bit more casual and social, consider joining a local IFPA league, a surefire way to engage with other pinball fans in your community. To dip your toes in more serious competitive waters, check out the list of IFPA Certified tournaments, which offer the biggest bounty of WPPRs and often draw in the best competitors in the region. By the time you're reading this, King Kong: The Terror of Myth Island should be available in the wild with launch parties aplenty, so go play in a pinball tournament this summer and test your skill against friends and rivals alike.