This year the tournament will be in its own building with extended hours outside of the normal show hours. Registration and all tournament administration will be done at this building at the tournament site. All entries must be paid in CASH ONLY!

With special thanks to Karl DeAngelo, we are once again using his Drains Tournament Manager software to run all three tournaments. Players can register themselves for our main tournament as well as queue themselves up on games! – https://www.neverdrains.com/gspf2022

We need volunteers!

When you volunteer, you make the tournament successful! You also earn 5 free entries to the main tournament. These entries are in addition to any purchased entries, increasing your maximum entry count to 35.

Tournament Volunteer Sign-ups

Please see the details for each event for up to date information including times and entry fees.

All details are subject to change up until the start of the event!

Streaming Info!

Thanks to the efforts and commitment of Rick Deml from Elk Grove Pinball, we are planning to stream all three events this year!

Coverage will coincide with the running time of the Friday Target Match-play, Saturday Women’s event, and our Stern Pro Circuit Finals on Sunday.

Elk Grove Pinball on twitch.tv

https://www.neverdrains.com/gspf2022

  • $20 for 10 entries
  • $20 rebuy for an additional 10 entries (max 2 rebuys per player)
  • 5 free entries with 2+ hours of scorekeeping
  • Maximum entries: 30 without scorekeeping, 35 with scorekeeping
  • Initial buy: 10 entries @ $20
  • Additional buys: 10 entries @ $20 (max 2 per player)
  • 5 free entries with 2+ hours of scorekeeping
  • 30 max entries without scorekeeping, 35 with scorekeeping
  • Entry buys are CASH ONLY
  • One entry equals one play on one machine
  • You are required to enter a game queue before proceeding to play an entry on any game
  • 12-game qualifying bank
  • Your combined ranking on 5 different machines determines qualifying place
  • Top 24 players advance to MAIN Division finals
  • In the event that we get over 240 players, the top 23 players will automatically advance to MAIN finals with the 24th spot being the “wildcard” with a play-in at the beginning of the finals
  • Play-in spots will be allocated until we reach 10% (rounded up to the next player) of the player total
  • Next 16 eligible players advance to NOVICE Division finals (IFPA 100+ restricted)
  • Finals are match-play with 3 games per round and 4-2-1-0 scoring
  • Rulings will adhere to the PAPA/IFPA Tournament Rules as closely as possible
  • By buying an entry and playing in the tournament, you agree to abide by the IFPA Player Conduct Rules
  • IFPA Sanctioned Event
Qualifying
  • Friday
  • 10:00am-10:00pm
  • Saturday
  • 10:00am-10:00pm
Finals
  • Sunday Check-in
  • 9:30am-10:00am
  • MAIN Finals
  • 10:00am
  • NOVICE Finals
  • 10:30am
Games List (All games subject to change without notice.)
  • Hot Wheels
  • Iron Man
  • Godzilla (Stern, LE)
  • World Cup Soccer ’94
  • Jurassic Park (Stern, pro)
  • Rack ’em Up
  • Genesis
  • Laser Cue
  • Attack from Mars
  • Robo-War
  • Demolition Man
  • Grand Prix
Awards & Prizes
Top Qualifier2.5% of prize pool
MAIN 1st place25% of prize pool + Trophy
MAIN 2nd place15% of prize pool + Trophy
MAIN 3rd place10% of prize pool + Trophy
MAIN 4th place7.5% of prize pool + Trophy
MAIN 5th-8th4% of prize pool
MAIN 9th-16th2% of prize pool
MAIN 17th-24th1% of prize pool
NOVICE 1st place2.5% of prize pool + Trophy
NOVICE 2nd place2.0% of prize pool + Trophy
NOVICE 3rd place1.5% of prize pool + Trophy
NOVICE 4th place1.0% of prize pool + Trophy
NOVICE 5th-8th0.75% of prize pool
NOVICE 9th-16th0.50% of prize pool

100% of entries go towards prize pool, minus IFPA/Stern Pro Circuit fees. Actual values determined at conclusion of the event and may be rounded to the nearest $1 or $5 increment.

  • Maximum of 32 players
  • 8-game bank
  • $40 entry per player – CASH ONLY
  • Target of 25 points with 3-2-1-0 scoring (3/2/1 for 3 player groups) 
  • First player to 25 points wins, no playoffs
  • 12 rounds maximum, most points wins if target not reached
  • Automatic tie breakers except for first place, single-game tiebreaker to determine the champion if needed
  • Initial seeding for first round pairings by IFPA rank on the day of the event
  • Tiered-swiss pairings initially, followed by pure swiss pairings for later rounds
  • Rulings will adhere to the PAPA/IFPA Tournament Rules as closely as possible
  • By buying an entry and playing in the tournament, you agree to abide by the IFPA Player Conduct Rules
  • IFPA Sanctioned Event
Friday ONLY
  • Registration/Check-in
  • 12:00Pm-12:45PM
  • Start Time
  • 1:00Pm
Games List (All games subject to change without notice.)
  • Black Knight: SoR (pro)
  • Spider-Man (Stern)
  • Walking Dead (prem.)
  • Avengers: IQ (prem.)
  • Ghostbusters (pro)
  • Joker Poker
  • Total Nuclear Annihilation
  • Game of Thrones (pro)
Awards & Prizes
1st place50% prize pool + Trophy
2nd place25% prize pool + Trophy
3rd place15% prize pool + Trophy
4th place10% prize pool + Trophy

100% of entries go towards prize pool, minus IFPA fees. Actual values determined at conclusion of the event and may be rounded to the nearest $1 or $5 increment.

  • Maximum of 32 players
  • 8-game bank
  • $20 entry per player – CASH ONLY
  • 4/2/1/0 scoring (4/2/1 for 3-player groups)
  • Highest point total after 10 rounds advances to finals
  • Single round, 3-game match play finals for top 4
  • Tie breakers to determine top 4 as needed
  • Initial seeding for first round pairings by IFPA rank on the day of the event
  • Swiss groupings additional rounds
  • Rulings will adhere to the PAPA/IFPA Tournament Rules as closely as possible
  • By buying an entry and playing in the tournament, you agree to abide by the IFPA Player Conduct Rules
  • IFPA Sanctioned Event
Saturday ONLY
  • Registration/Check-in
  • 12:00Pm-12:45Pm
  • Start Time
  • 1:00Pm
Games List (All games subject to change without notice.)
  • Black Knight: SoR (pro)
  • Spider-Man (Stern)
  • Walking Dead (prem.)
  • Avengers: IQ (prem.)
  • Ghostbusters (pro)
  • Joker Poker
  • Total Nuclear Annihilation
  • Game of Thrones (pro)
Awards & Prizes
1st place50% prize pool + Trophy
2nd place25% prize pool + Trophy
3rd place15% prize pool + Trophy
4th place10% prize pool + Trophy
5th place$20

100% of entries go towards prize pool, minus IFPA fees. Actual values determined at conclusion of the event and may be rounded to the nearest $1 or $5 increment.

Sponsored by:
Frequently Asked Questions

If you encounter a stuck ball or other issue while playing, raise your hand and wait for a scorekeeper or tournament official to come assist you.

DO NOT leave your game unattended and please trap the ball up as necessary until you are assisted.

During qualifying, there are no time restrictions with this tournament format. Your time commitment is dependent on how many entries you purchase and which games you choose to play in the qualifying bank. Each game will have a queue of players waiting. If you choose to queue for a game that has a long line, your time commitment will increase. If you choose to queue on games with shorter lines, your time commitment will be less. You need to play at least 1 entry on 5 different machines to get a meaningful score.

During Finals, each round takes approximately 2 hours. Depending on how far into the finals you advance, be mindful that it could take a majority of your Sunday during show hours.

You may queue for games any time during the open qualifying hours, either through a scorekeeping volunteer or via the tournament page (the link will be available at the time of registration). Each player will be given a player ID and a pin number to be able to self-queue during qualifying.

You are required to enter a queue before proceeding to play a game entry in the tournament.

Qualifying – Limited Best-Game Qualifying

Qualifying is a limited best-game format. You may play an entry on any game of your choosing from the entire bank of tournament games. One entry equals one play on one machine.

To play an entry, add yourself to the queue using your smartphone and the player number/password combination given to you at registration, or find a friendly scorekeeper and get entered into your chosen game’s queue. At any given time there should be at least 2-4 scorekeepers around the game bank. They will be monitoring things and have a tablet in their hands.

When your spot comes up in the queue (after the previous player on the game has had his/her score recorded), a scorekeeper will call your name. Please be ready to play when your turn comes. 

If you are not ready to play your game, you may be skipped and removed from the queue!

Once you complete your game, stay at the machine, raise your hand, and wait for a scorekeeper to come record your score. You may choose to keep or void that score, depending on whether it is an improvement over your other score on that game or other factors.

If you encounter a stuck ball or other issue while playing, raise your hand and wait for a scorekeeper or tournament official to come assist you.

Proceed playing all your entries in the same manner on various games. Your qualifying position in the tournament is based on your 5 best game scores out of the full bank of games. You must play at least 5 different games out of your entries to get a meaningful qualifying position!

The top 16 finishing players from qualifying will advance to the MAIN Division finals.

The players finishing in positions 17-32 from qualifying will advance to the NOVICE Division finals.

NOVICE Division finals is IFPA 100+ rank-restricted, meaning that no player inside the top 100 can qualify for the NOVICE Division finals and the next player in qualifying rankings will be eligible.

MAIN Division and NOVICE Division finals will play at the same time on Sunday and each round will proceed until the final round of 4 is completed for each.

Finals will be played in a match-play format with 3 games per round and 4-2-1-0 scoring.

In each round, groups of 4 players will play a 4-game match. After each match, the top score on a machine will receive 4 points, 2nd place 2 points, 3rd place 1 point, and last place zero points.

At the end of the match, the two players with the most points will advance to the next round and the bottom two will be eliminated. In case two or more players in the same group finish with the same amount of points and two players haven’t advanced from that group (i.e., there is a tie-break to advance), a tie-breaking game will be played on a machine of the tournament director or co-director’s choosing.

Final rankings will be determined by the number of points obtained in the round that the player was eliminated, plus the result of the advancing tie-breaker, and non-advancing ties will not be broken.

Any kids tournament will be ran separately. This page will be updated with details if a kids tournament is planned.