2025 DFW League Standings

The League Championship is brought you by NELSON'S FIREWORKS.
As our sponsor, Nelson's Fireworks is MATCHING the prize pool so, if we sell out, there will be $1920 in prize money.

The championship will be hosted by:
The Godfather of DFW Pinball, Mr. Don Merki
on Saturday January 10, 2026 at NOON in Denton, Texas
(Doors will open at 11:30 AM for check in and warmup time.)

Detail Notes:
(1) INVITES TO THE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP: TBA (should be early December time frame)
You have 72 hours to respond to a league finals invitation - if late but you still want to attend, please READ the rules/instructions near the bottom of this page for next steps!

(2) Behind the scenes, there are 7 levels to the SORT methodology in the stack ranking algorithm.
So, "Total" is only the FIRST level of the algorithm's sort order.

(3) People displayed  with total points of  "Zero" means that they were picked up by the 5th place "tiebreaker" listed in my algorithm, but have not yet placed top 4 in an event.

(4) To play in the league finals, a player must play in THREE (3) or more DFW Pinball League Tournaments this year.
The 'Eligible for Finals' column on the spreadsheet shows NO for anyone who has played in TWO or less tournaments.  

(Standings are updated through ALL EVENTS for 2025 - these are the FINAL standings).

THE DFW PINBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP is an
Unsanctioned Invitational Championship event.

We intend to play this event in January every year.
The 2025 Championship, to be played in January 2026 is:

BROUGHT TO YOU BY NELSON'S FIREWORKS / https://www.nelsonsfireworks.com/ !

For the 2025 Championship (January 2026):
$35 per person to play.
$30 from every entry is going directly into the prize pool with the remainder covering expenses.

THE PRIZE POOL IS BEING MATCHED BY MONEY COMING FROM OUR GENEROUS SPONSOR, NELSON'S FIREWORKS!

You are playing for a travelling perpetual trophy and MONEY!
What is a travelling perpetual trophy? It’s a trophy that the winner keeps for ONE YEAR and, then, at the next championship, passes it on to the next winner! Your name will be on the trophy forever!
To receive the trophy, the winner must sign a form indicating that they will return the trophy next year, in the same condition in which they received it.

THE WINNER IS RESPONSIBLE AND REQUIRED TO ADD THEIR PLAQUE WITH THE YEAR AND THEIR NAME TO THE TROPHY WHEN THEY WIN. Doing this should cost the winner less than $20 and LOUIS has the contact who does the engraving - so its EASY.

*** Payout example ***
If all 32 spots are filled and paid for, these would be the payouts:
1st Place -> $800
2nd Place -> $550
3rd Place -> $350
4th Place -> $220

As I have time, throughout the year after, I will publish a scorecard HERE, ON THIS PAGE, showing where people stand at that time...

Eligibility Criteria (subject to change as needed):

We start by looking at ALL players who placed in the top 4 in A Division at all events during the year, having played in 3 or more DFW League Events.
The spreadsheet shows ALL players with top 5 finishes - not just those who played in 3 or more events. 

Side events ARE counted as long as they are PART of the DFW League Event - for example - there were 3 side tournaments at the Abilene Showdown in February 2024. I only ran ONE of those. Garrett Shahan ran the others. Since Garrett's were part of the DFW League event, The Abilene Showdown and all of the side tournaments, are "each" included in our count.

Only DFW Pinball League events count towards league standing.
Our calendar shows a lot of events for other hosts as well (like Carpool Pinball). They do not count towards the league standings.
Carpool Pinball events do not count unless specifically sponsored/co-run by the DFW League (as was the case for the weekend of WPPRs).

We will sort initially based on how many top four appearances a person has during the year.
--- If there are 32 or less total people, we invite them all (knowing that some may be alternates).
--- If there are more than 32 people, we invite the top 35 (alternates), expanding the invite list if/when people decline based on the following tiebreaking criteria:

(1) Number of A Division 1st place finishes during the year.
(2) Number of A Division 2nd place finishes during the year.
(3) Number of A Division 3nd place finishes during the year.
(4) Number of A Division 4th place finishes during the year.
(5) Number of A Division 5th place finishes during the year.
(6) Alphabetic Sort in the spreadsheet 

Note that if next.matchplay.events (Matchplay) and the IFPA website disagree on positioning, we will use the Matchplay rank.
For example: if 3 people tie for 5th place, matchplay will show them all in 5th place. IFPA does averaging, so they will show 6th place.
In those cases, the players will all get credited for 5th place results.

If there is anything questionable, we may also look at:
(7) Number of overall appearances in the A Division Finals throughout the year, sorted by IFPA Rank as of the date that I choose to do our last yearly update (try my best to hit it on December 31).
(8) If we don't have 16 players (minimum), for whatever reason, then we will expand the invite in a "fair" manner to be determined by Louis Marx and Ken Kemp at that time.

The same criteria will be used for tiebreakers in regards to the initial seeding for each person.
Players will be invited (and can choose to decline) - if this happens, the next highest ranked player will be invited.
When the invites are sent out, an announcement will be posted in multiple locations to be looking for the invite.

If / when a player ACCEPTS, Louis will provide them the address of the venue.

Invitations to the event may be sent out as early at the first day AFTER the final 2025 DFW Pinball League event.
That date would be December 7, 2025.

Louis Marx or Ken Kemp will send out the invites via any or all of the following methods (in non-ranked order):
(1) Text Message
(2) Facebook Messenger
(3) Email
(4) Phone Call

They are only required to use ONE of these methods but may use ALL at their discretion.

If they do NOT have a valid contact method for you, then you cannot be invited. Please make sure they have your contact info.

ONCE INVITES ARE SENT OUT, POTENTIAL PLAYERS WILL HAVE 72 HOURS (3 DAYS) TO REPLY BEFORE THEIR SPOT WILL BE GIVEN TO THE NEXT AVAILABLE PLAYER.

If a player confirms intent AFTER 72 HOURS (3 DAYS) and their invite has already gone out to the next available player, then they must wait until that next available player replies:
--- If that next available player declines, then the original invitee can have the spot.
--- If that next available player accepts, then the spot is gone (so reply on time!!)

This wonderful event idea was conceived together by Ken Kemp and Louis Marx.