Below is an overview of the NWPC rules.

 

The Northwest Pinball Championships is a world class pinball tournament.
It is open to players of all skill levels and ages.

It is a multi-day qualifying tournament followed by a day of finals. During qualifying on Thursday, Friday and Saturday players purchase cards to play games on the tournament machines. Players may purchase as many cards as they like.

Each player's best score on each machine in their division of play is tracked in a computer and those scores are ranked against all of the other competitor's scores on that machine. Players then receive an aggregate of their machine rankings to determine their overall qualifying position in their division. For more information between the card system please refer to the detailed rules document.

​​

At the end of qualifying, a set number of people will be eligible for the finals on Saturday night for the Women's and Classic tournaments and Sunday for Open and Charity tournaments.
                       
The NWPC has several divisions of tournament play. Each of these divisions have separate qualifying and finals and are treated as separate tournaments (The Open and Classics division has a B-division).

​

NWPC Participant Eligibility and Community Safety Policy

​

NWPC PLAYER FAQ

OPEN DIVISION                                                                                                    
Open Division is the main event. It is for players familiar with pinball - From casual players to experienced pinball players.
- 10+ games in this division. Each qualifying card must have 5 out of 10 games. Best 2 cards submitted count towards your qualifying ranking.
- Top 40 qualifiers make the finals, with qualifiers 1-4 receiving a double bye and 5-16 receiving a single bye.
B DIVISION

- Top 8 players with an IFPA ranking of 1,500+ not qualified for the top 40 Open division will compete in an B division final on Sunday.

CLASSICS DIVISION                                                                                    
Classics Division is for all players interested in competing on classic electro-mechanical and early solid states pinball machines.
- 8 games in this division. Each qualifying card must have 4 out of 8 games. Best 2 cards submitted count towards your qualifying ranking.
- Top 40 qualifiers make the finals, with qualifiers 1-4 receiving a double bye and 5-16 receiving a single bye.

B DIVISION

- Top 8 players with an IFPA ranking of 1,500+ not qualified for the top 40 Classics division will compete in an B division final on Saturday.

                        
WOMEN'S DIVISION                                                                                    
Women's Division enable female players to face off at a high level on a dedicated tournament to promote women in pinball.

- 6 games in this division. Each qualifying card must have 4 out of 6 games. Best 2 cards submitted count towards your qualifying ranking.

- Top 8 qualifiers make the finals.

 

Please refer to the IFPA Gender Inclusion Policy.

​

CHARITY DIVISION                                                                                                    

The Charity division return with year with expanded playoff for TOP 24 and no cap for qualifying players. This is another opportunity for players wanting world ranking point and a change to contribute to the Project Pinball Charity with 50% of the earning going to them.
- 6 games in this division. Each qualifying card must have 5 out of 6 games. Best 2 cards submitted count towards your qualifying ranking.
- Top 24 qualifiers make the finals*.

​

The Women's and Charity divisions are sharing the same bank of machines. Please pay attention to schedule.

​

For finals, a player cannot repeat the same machine pick across all the rounds in the finals. The tournament director will track the machine pick to make sure there is no repeated machine choice until that player picked all the games available.
All the games and position shall be picked by the players at the beginning of each rounds for all 3 games in that round.

​

Sunday Classic Revenge Group Strike tournament                                                                                                    

Group progressive 11 strike classic revenge tournament, limited to 48 players. $10 sign up, anyone is welcome, registration open at 10:30AM, close when full or at 30 minutes after it opened, tournament starts at 11AM. Trophy for winner, pay out to top 4, 100% TGP tournament.

                    
COST TO PLAY                                                                                                
Open Division (5 games per card):
- 1 card = $20 

Classics Division (4 games per card):

- 1 card = $15

​

Women's Division (4 games per card):
- 1 card = $15 
​

Charity Division (5 games per card):

- 1 card = $20
​

Tickets/cards are not refundable nor transferable so please plan accordingly.

 

Registration, maximum of 160 players  

​

A $50 registration fee is required to play in any of the tournaments (also required to use free entries).

​

Pinhead package will be priority registration for $125 including registration, 1 card for Open, Classic and Charity as well as our NWPC 2026 Tee-shirt.

​

Registration open Saturday 13th of June at Noon Pacific time for Pinhead package only, standard registration opens on 20th of June. Now through an online ticketing website, see link on main page.
100% refund by July 1st, no refunds post July 1st but please let the organizers know if you cannot make it.

Players must have played one full game by Saturday at Noon to confirm their registration spot. If a player has not played a game by Saturday at noon, the organizers will try to contact the players and if they cannot confirm they are on their way, their reserved spot will be forfeited and the next player on the wait list will be contacted.
If you know you are delayed, please contact the organizers to make sure you will not lose your spot.

​

*If the event has not completed by Sunday MIDNIGHT, it will resume Monday morning at 10AM

 

PRIZE PACKAGE     

Payout percentages are targets and may change based on total entries and sponsor contributions. Actual payout may get rounded up or down at the discretion of the organizers.
                                                                                                   
THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS!

​

Open Tournament Payout:
1st = 17.5% (+/- $2,000 in previous events) + trophy

2nd = 13% + plaque
3rd = 9.5% + plaque
4th = 7% + plaque
5th to 8th each = 3.25% 
9th to 16th each = 2%
17th to 28th each = 1.25%
29th to 40th each = 0.75%

Open B division:
1st = $200 + plaque

2nd = $100 + plaque

3rd = $60 + plaque

4th = $40 + plaque

​

Classics Tournament Payout: 

1st = 17.5% + trophy

2nd = 13% + plaque
3rd = 9.5% + plaque
4th = 7% + plaque
5th to 8th each = 3.25% 
9th to 16th each = 2%
17th to 28th each = 1.25%
29th to 40th each = 0.75%

Classics B division:

1st = $200 + plaque

2nd = $100 + plaque

3rd = $60 + plaque

4th = $40 + plaque

​

Women’s Championship Payout: 

1st = 27% + trophy

2nd = 21% + plaque
3rd = 14% + plaque
4th = 10% + plaque
5th to 8th each = 7% 

​

Charity Tournament Payout (after 50% of the prize pool is removed for charity donation): 

1st = 20% + trophy

2nd = 16% + plaque
3rd = 12% + plaque
4th = 8% + plaque
5th to 8th each = 4% 
9th to 16th each = 2%
17th to 24th each = 1.5%

 

Classic Revenge strike Tournament Payout: 

1st = 34% + trophy

2nd = 28%

3rd = 21%

4th = 17%

For the full in-depth rules, download them HERE.

*The rules for the NWPC are subject to change without notice*

​

Player list:

​