The Score Card: Pro Circuit Showdowns

Approaching the end of the year, competitive pinball becomes an interesting scene. As some players wind down, many others rush to the biggest tournaments they can find, eager to claim a few final victories before the season ends. While November and December still have noteworthy events, October is an extremely important month in this regard, providing players with an open month before the holidays and inclement weather take hold. Extra pressure is introduced with two of the biggest competitive pinball events of the season, but for those dedicated to competition, October is the best kind of pandemonium.

‍

On this edition of the Score Card, we're diving into two of the most intense competitions of the year, including the Stern Pro Circuit Finals and the Pinball Expo FlipOUT tournament. With both events taking place roughly the same weekend and in the same neighborhood, it's a special slice of the competitive season, as players from around the world all descend onto Schaumburg, Illinois, looking for their moment to shine. These competitions, along with some controversial changes to tournament pinball rules, have made for an interesting past few weeks, so let's unpack it all.

2024-25 Stern Pro Circuit Final

If you've been following The Score Card throughout the year, you're no doubt familiar with the Stern Pro Circuit, but let's recap the basics for those unfamiliar. Each year, Stern Pinball and the IFPA sanction 20 tournaments from around the world, representing that year's Stern Pro Circuit. As players compete in these events, they earn qualifying points, and the top 32 players are invited to the Stern Pro Circuit Final. There, they compete in head-to-head matches, with over $30,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs. This year's Stern Pro Circuit Final (SPCF) was held at Enterrium in Schaumburg, IL, and was the culmination of the 2024 Stern Pro Circuit. As usual, just qualifying for the SPCF is a major feat that requires a ton of skill and dedication, making for a very talented roster of 32 players.

‍

The 2024-25 SPCF was reminiscent of prior years in many ways, but there was one key difference this time that completely changed the vibe: the format. While previous years saw traditional head-to-head matches where the highest score won the match, the 2024-25 SPCF was all about objective-based competition. A speedrun challenge of sorts, players had specific objectives to complete in each match, like starting Bird One Multiball on James Bond 007 or starting Hardwired on Metallica: Remastered. The rules are simple: whoever completes the objective faster wins the match. Whoever wins 6 matches first advances in the bracket toward the grand final. With no need to worry about overall score, speed and accuracy become paramount, resulting in a markedly different experience for players and viewers alike.

This year's competition was streamed live on Stern Pinball's YouTube channel in association with Backhand Pinball, hosted and commentated by Jack Danger and Elizabeth Gieske, offering 10 hours of world-class tournament pinball to enjoy. The early rounds saw players getting accustomed to the new lightning-fast format, battling for ball control where possible, but still flying through objectives in mere minutes. Andrew Lee held an impressive winning streak for the first three rounds, but was ultimately knocked out by Zach 'Zmac' McCarthy in the quarterfinals, as Nic Stein held his four-round winning streak through the quarterfinals with excellent play. In the semifinals, Raymond Davidson bested Nic Stein in a 6-1 series, while Zach McCarthy continued to heat up by beating Carlos Delaserda in a 6-2 series, setting the stage for the grand finals.

‍

The grand finals got off to a roaring start on Metallica: Remastered, where Zach completed the “Start Gravemarker Multiball” challenge in a breezy 32.3 seconds, winning the first match of the series. Zach continued to find his groove by picking up three more wins, clearing challenges like “Start Sparky Multiball” on Metallica: Remastered, “Start Telekinesis Multiball” on Stranger Things, and “Start To Me, My X-Men Multiball” on The Uncanny X-Men.

However, Raymond broke Zach's hot streak by clearing the “Capture a Dinosaur” challenge on Jurassic Park in just 37.9 seconds, putting the series at 4-1. Moving over to John Wick, Zach picked up another win with a 1:01 clear time of the “Start Excommunicado Multiball” challenge, putting him just one win away from total victory. In the end, only the “Start Sentinel Multiball” challenge on The Uncanny X-Men stood between Zmac and the championship. With a blistering clear time of 25.7 seconds, Zach McCarthy put on enormous pressure, and though Raymond earned an equally impressive clear time of 27.3 seconds, it was not enough. Wrapping up with a 6-1 series finish, Zach McCarthy clutched up the 2024-25 Stern Pro Circuit Championship, continuing his extremely impressive season of tournament wins.

2024-25 Stern Pro Circuit Final Winners:

• SPC Champion – Zach McCarthy (Conifer, CO)
• Second Place – Raymond Davidson (Elk Grove Village, IL)
• Third Place (TIE) – Carlos Delaserda (Columbus, OH) / Nic Stein (Davis, CA)

Pinball Expo 2025 FlipOUT

Just a day or so after the Stern Pro Circuit Final, you could find many of the same players competing in the Tilt Amusements FlipOUT tournament at Pinball Expo 2025. Also held in Schaumburg, IL, the FlipOUT tournament is one of the most storied competitions in the community, appropriately hosted at the world's longest-running pinball convention. Part of the 2025 Stern Pro Circuit, the Expo FlipOUT is always a massive affair: this year it drew in over 250 participants, all excited to test their mettle on one of competitive pinball's biggest stages. In addition to the main, open tournament, Pinball Expo 2025 also hosted Classics, Women's, and Junior's tournaments, but we'll be focusing on the SPC-sanctioned main tournament here.

‍

Back in the day, the Expo FlipOUT was all about playing Stern's latest release over and over, but nowadays, there's a bit more variety. Qualifying is “Best Game” format, where players are given 24 attempts at 12 unique machines, all competing for overall high scores on a lineup of Stern's currently produced machines. The big game at this year's tournament was the new Star Wars: Fall of the Empire, but players could also compete on titles like King Kong: Myth of Terror Island, The Mandalorian, James Bond 007, and more. The nice part about the Expo FlipOUT is that everybody qualifies for playoffs, with the top half of qualifiers making 'A Division' and the bottom half filling out 'B Division'.

As usual, Fox Cities Pinball was there to stream all the action live on Twitch, including the A Division playoffs, which was a crazy showcase of top-tier skill in the competitive world. Held across two days, the FlipOUT playoffs are head-to-head, best-of-3 matches, with double elimination to boot. Just as fun to watch as it is to compete in, you'll commonly see players blowing up machines for billions of points, pushing themselves to their limits in the spirit of cutthroat, 1v1 competition. While I squeaked my way into the A Division playoffs, I was quickly knocked out with back-to-back losses, giving me plenty of time to watch the rest of the competition unfold. By day 2 of the playoffs, matches became more and more remarkable, keeping both the players and audience awake in the wee hours of the morning.

After dozens of rounds, it all came down to the grand final: Arvid Flygare vs Logan Henderson. Both players had already played tons of competitive pinball by this point, with Arvid clearing the winner's side of the bracket, while Logan fought his way through the entire loser's bracket for one last shot at victory. Pulling off a huge ball 3 comeback on Iron Maiden and several solid games of Star Wars: Fall of the Empire, Logan reset the bracket, forcing a final match to settle it all. Everything came down to one last match of The Mandalorian, where both players fumbled their first two balls, leaving the entire tournament to one ball of play each. Arvid hit some serious super jackpots across two multiballs, totaling just over 990 million points, leaving a huge target for Logan to take down. Though Logan played his heart out, the pinball gods were not on his side, as a ricochet from a stand up target plopped the ball directly into the left outlane, wrapping up the tournament and making Arvid Flygare the Expo FlipOUT 2025 champion.

Pinball Expo 2025 FlipOUT Winners:

• A Division – Arvid Flygare (Sweden)
• B Division – Matthew Knippen (Manhattan, IL)
• Women's – Jane Verwys (Chicago, IL)
• Classics – Daniele Celestino Acciari (Italy)

WPPR Rules Shift Causes a Stir

The World Pinball Player Ranking points system is one that is ever-changing, with adjustments made to the formula somewhat regularly, often causing a stir for one reason or another. On Halloween, the IFPA announced a WPPR formula change that affected the Amazing Race format, effectively reducing the WPPR points that the format could produce. The reasoning behind this change was because of “format quality”, according to the IFPA, who stated: “We are looking to promote and encourage formats that requires a high quality level of the ‘test of skill’ of the players involved. Often times with Amazing Race, especially in the early rounds, the ‘test of skill’ being judged is based on the ability for a player to pass some insanely low score on a given machine.”

‍

This change was met with a bit of an outcry from some members of the community, who feared that the reduction in WPPR potential would result in fewer Amazing Race tournaments on the 2026 calendar. The IFPA later addressed these concerns in early November with another WPPR formula revision, which re-balanced the Amazing Race slightly, though the WPPR potential remains reduced. The Flip Frenzy format also received a minor change, giving tournament organizers alternative options for playoffs, slightly improving the WPPR potential of the format overall. These changes will not go into effect until January 1, 2026, so it will be interesting to see how tournament organizers adjust to the new rules formula.

Upcoming IFPA Events

With just over a month left in the 2025 competitive season, the schedule is definitely winding down, but there are still a handful of big tournaments left on the list. The Stern Pro Circuit continues in late November at Free Play Florida, then wraps up in December with two final competitions: Pincinnati in Ohio and Winter Bash in Illinois. As always, you can check out the IFPA tournament calendar to find other competitions near you, or the IFPA league page if you're more interested in social play across multiple weeks. We'll be back soon to cap off the season before the IFPA State Championship in January, but until then, stay warm and stay flipping.