Most tournaments qualify you in an afternoon. A state championship qualifies you over an entire year — every rated tournament you play in that state quietly adds to a standing, and where you land on December 31st decides whether you're in the room the next spring. The series belongs to the IFPA, the body that ranks competitive pinball worldwide. Here's exactly how the race works, who makes the cut, and how a champion gets crowned.
The IFPA keeps a separate ranking for every state and province, built only from the IFPA-endorsed tournaments held inside that state during the calendar year. Play a monthly at your local barcade, a league night, a big destination event — if it's in the state and it's endorsed, the points you earn go onto that state's board. It's the same WPPR points that drive the world rankings, just filtered to one place.
Two details that decide a lot of seasons:
Only your best 20 in-state events count. Just like the world rankings, your standing is your top 20 results in that state — so a 21st tournament only helps if it beats one you've already banked. Volume alone doesn't win it; quality does.
You can qualify where you don't live. Points are counted where the tournament is, not where you are. Travel to enough events in a neighboring state and you can qualify there too — players have even qualified from outside the country.
When the year closes, the top 16 players in each state's standing earn a seat at that state's championship final. Bigger, busier states get a wider door:
One player, one championship. Nobody can play in more than one state final — so if a traveling player qualifies in three states, they pick one, and the IFPA slides down the other two boards to the next eligible name. That's why the real qualifying line often sits a spot or two past #16: the bubble moves as the field settles.
The championship itself is a live, single-elimination playoff held the following year, usually in the winter or spring. The qualifiers are seeded by their end-of-year standing — #1 plays the lowest seed, and so on down the bracket. Ties in the standing break by overall world rank; a tie right on the bubble is settled by a play-in game.
Every match is a best-of-seven, the higher seed choosing machine or order first, until someone reaches four wins. Win the bracket and you're the State (or Provincial) Champion for the year — and champions earn an invite to the IFPA North American Championship, where the state winners meet.
See your own state race — live, free, no account. House Ball tracks where you stand in your state's championship standing right now, how many points sit between you and the cut, and who's already qualified. Look up any player's race, in any state.