The Professional and Amateur Pinball Association (PAPA) 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! (E.P. Dutton 1977) and Steve Epstein, owner of the former Broadway Arcade[1] in Manhattan.[2] After gathering data over about 4 years they developed the league scoring system used in PAPA league play.[2][3] 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.[4]
In 2012 ownership of all 456 pinball machines with a few other machines was transferred to the Replay Foundation,[5] with the building transferred a year later.[6]
In November 2020, the Replay Foundation announced that it is discontinuing its events and use of the PAPA brand indefinitely, due to the pandemic.[7] It relaunched tournaments under the Pinburgh name in 2024,[8] and licensed the IFPA to run tournaments under the PAPA name.[9]
Tournament format
The format of the World Pinball Championships has changed over time. In the current format, players declare a division (A, B, or C, with A being the most skilled) 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 (for example, five out of a possible nine 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 (typically several days), the top-ranked players in each division (the actual number varies) compete in a head-to-head, bracketed format to determine the winners.
The tournament also includes a Juniors division (16 years or younger), a Seniors division (50 years or older), 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[8] the Women's International Pinball Tournament (WIPT) 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 (by adjusting the legs on the cabinet). 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 (USA) – (3/20/2011 – PAPA World Headquarters, Scott Township, PA)
Pinburgh 2012 – Adam Becker (CAN) – (4/1/2012 – PAPA World Headquarters, Scott Township, PA)
Pinburgh 2013 – Keith Elwin (USA) – (4/11/2013 – PAPA World Headquarters, Scott Township, PA)[10]
Pinburgh 2014 – Jim Belsito (USA) – (3/30/2014 – PAPA World Headquarters, Scott Township, PA)
Pinburgh 2015 – Zach Sharpe (USA) – (8/2/2015 – David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA)
Pinburgh 2016 – Keith Elwin (USA) – (7/30/2016 – David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA)
Pinburgh 2017 – Colin MacAlpine (USA) – (7/29/2017 – David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA)
Pinburgh 2018 – Keith Elwin (USA) – (7/28/2018 – David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA)
Pinburgh 2019 – Keith Elwin (USA) – (8/3/2019 – David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA)
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