2025 Australia Championship Series
Day 1: Thursday 19th of March
IPC Max Matchplay:
đŸ“… Thursday 19th of March 6pm-9pm (Rego from 5pm)
$30 Buy in - Prize: 1st- 4th.
Tournament Format:
Max Matchplay is a dynamic pinball tournament format where players compete in a series of head-to-head matches, aiming to rack up the highest number of wins. Matches are automatically generated to ensure balanced pairings, and the tournament continues until a set number of rounds or a time limit is reached.
Duration: 14 or 15 matches*
Player Order: Balanced
Arena Assignment: Balanced
*Depending on how long each round is and the amount of time left.
Tiebreakers: If there is a tie, an additional game will be played on a randomly selected machine, with randomly generated playing ordered.
IPC Best Game:
$30 Buy In - Prize money 1st - 8th
Duration:
Thursday 6 pm-10 pm
Friday 10 am-10 pm
Saturday 10 am-10 pm
Sunday 10 am-5 pm
*Finals following ACS finals + Strikes on Sunday Afternoon.
Scoring: PAPA (100/90/85/84...)
Overall max attempts: 32
Attempts on each arena: Unlimited
Number of arenas counted: 12
Number of Best Games: 2
Total number of Arenas: 8*
*depending on the number of games sourced
Day 2: Friday 20th of March
IPC IFPA Group Matchplay:
đŸ“…Friday 20th of March 10am - 10pm (Rego from 9am)
$30 Buy In - Prize money 1st - 8th
Tournament Format: Group Matchplay
Rounds: 8 rounds of group match play, 2 games per round.
Scoring: IFPA, linear scoring, no bonus points to the winner.
4 Player Group
1st place: 7 Points
2nd place: 5 Points
3rd place: 3 Points
4th place: 1 Point
3 Player Group
1st place: 7 Points
2nd Place: 4 Points
3rd Place: 1 Point
Seeding: Random, players are seeded randomly at the start of the tournament
Player pairing: Balanced pairing, players will be randomly paired with previously unfaced opponents.
Playing order: Random, players will be randomly assigned a play order.
Arena assignment: Balanced Categories 1 modern, 1 older.
Tiebreakers: In case of a tie, an additional game will be played on a randomly selected machine, with randomly generated playing ordered.
Finals Structure:
*Depending on the number of attendees the
Finals can range from Top 16 to Top 32 finals.
If Top 32 finals:
1st-8th receive a double bye.
9th-16th receive a bye.
Best of 2 match each round, the highest 2 scores from each group advance.
The top 2 seeds pick the arena, and the first pick gets to decide if it’s Game 1 or Game 2.
IPC Best Game Continues:
đŸ“…Friday: 10am-10pm
Day 3: Saturday 21st of March
ACS Qualifying:
đŸ“…Saturday 21th of March 10am - 7pm*
Pool A: 1,8,9,16,17,24,25,32,33,40,41,48,49,56,57,64.
Pool B: 2,7,10,15,18,23,26,31,34,39,42,47,50,55,58,63.
Pool C: 3,6,11,14,19,22,27,30,35,38,43,46,51,54,59,62.
Pool D: 4,5,12,13,20,21,28,29,36,37,44,45,52,53,60,61.
5 Rounds of 3 matches per round.
The top 6 from each pool will advance to the elimination stage.
See Aussie Arcade for information: https://www.aussiearcade.com/topic/98594-ifpa-acs-womens-acs-state-championships-2025-26/
*Approximate finish of Qualifying.
IPC Target Matchplay:
Saturday 21st of March 10am - 6pm (Rego from 9am)
$30 Buy In - Prize money 1st - 8th
Tournament Format: Group Matchplay
Target Matchplay: is a flexible and fast paced pinball tournament format where players race to reach a set number of total points. Points are awarded based on performance in each match. Players are grouped automatically to ensure balanced competition, and standings update in real-time. The tournament continues until a player or multiple reaches the target score.
Target points: 40 points
Rounds: No set duration
Scoring: IFPA, 7/5/3/1.
Seeding: Random
Player pairing: Swiss Pairing
Playing order: Random
Arena assignment: Balanced Matches
Tiebreakers: In case of a tie, an additional game will be played on a randomly selected machine, with randomly generated playing ordered.
Finals Structure:
Finals: Top 16, 1st-4th: no strikes, 5th-10th: 1 strike, 11th-16th: 2 strikes.
Number of Strikes: 4
Strike type: Fair strikes: 0/1/1/2
Number of strikes in three-player groups: 0/1/2
Player Pairing: Balanced
Player Order: Random
Arena Assignment: Balanced
ACS Women's Finals:
đŸ“…Saturday 21th of March *7 pm - 11 pm (Starting after ACS Qualifying)
*Format to be confirmed
The Top 4 players in each group once all games are completed will advance to Group Matchplay finals. In the event of a tie for 4th place in a group, a single-game tie-breaker will be played to break the tie.
Finals will be contested as a 3-game Group Matchplay, with the Top 2 players in each Semi-Final group advancing to the final 4. A further 3-game match will then be contested to determine the first-ever Women's ACS Champion.
See Aussie Arcade for information: https://www.aussiearcade.com/topic/98594-ifpa-acs-womens-acs-state-championships-2025-26/
IPC Best Game Continues:
đŸ“…Saturday: 10am-10pm
Day 4: Sunday 22nd of March
ACS Finals:
đŸ“…Sunday 22nd of March 10 am - 6 pm*
The elimination stage will be played as a best-of-seven head to head elimination bracket (or race to 4 wins). Players will be ranked by most pool stage points, then by original ACS seed.
See Aussiearcade for more information:
https://www.aussiearcade.com/topic/98594-ifpa-acs-womens-acs-state-championships-2025-26/
IPC Strikes:
đŸ“…Sunday 22nd of March 10 am - 6 pm
$30 Buy in - Prize: 1st - 8th.
Tournament Format: Strikes
Strike system: Players accumulate strikes based on their performance in each round. The goal is to avoid strikes.
Strikes Allocation: Traditional strikes.
4 Player Group
1st place: 0 Strikes
2nd place: 0 Strike
3rd place: 1 Strike
4th place: 1 Strikes
3 Player Group
1st place: 0 Strikes
2nd Place: 0 Strike
3rd Place: 1 Strikes
Elimination: Players are eliminated once they accumulate a total of 6 strikes.
Rounds: 1 game of 3 or 4 player group match play per round.
Seeding: Random, players are seeded randomly at the start of the tournament
Player pairing: Swiss pairing, players will be paired against players with the similar win-loss record.
Playing order: Random, players will be randomly assigned a play order.
Arena assignment: Balanced, attempts will be made to assign an arena that has been played the fewest times by all opponents.
IPC Best Game Continues:
đŸ“…Sunday: 10 am-5 pm
IPC Best Game Finals:
đŸ“…Sunday 22nd of March, Following the completion of ACS Finals + IPC Strikes
*Approx 6 pm - 10 pm*
Finals Structure
The top 16 players will advance to the finals, which will take place on Sunday, 22nd after the completion of ACS Finals + IPC Strikes.
Finals will feature double-elimination head-to-head matches, played in a Best of 5 series for Winners. (First to 3 wins)
Loser bracket will be a Best of 3 series (First to 2 wins)
The lowest-seeded player will have the privilege of selecting the first arena, while the opponent decides the player order. For subsequent games, the loser of the previous match will select the next arena, and the previous winner selects the player order.
If an arena is already being played, you may wait until it is available if they are on the last ball, otherwise another arena must be selected. An arena cannot be selected multiple times in the same head-to-head series.
Once a player verbally announces their game choice or position, the decision is final and cannot be changed.
*Games list subject to change*