The world's top ranked pinball players came together recently to compete for the chance to become the new IFPA World Pinball Champion.

The battle, which took place in Seattle, US, was a battle of champions as three of the top four finishers were the three previous IFPA World Pinball Champions. IFPA5 and IFPA6 World Pinball Champion Bowen Kerins survived a 3-0 deficit to Steve Zahler in his first round of the playoffs to come back and take the match five games to three, and then knocked off three-time PAPA World Pinball Champion Lyman Sheats 4-1 to advance to the Final 4.

Andy Rosa, who was the runner up at IFPA7 took out current world ranked number one Keith Elwin 5-4 in a match that went the distance on his way to the finals. Defending champion Cayle George had the toughest road in the playoffs, surviving matches against Josh Sharpe, Donavan Stepp, Jim Belsito and Bowen Kerins that all went into sudden death.

In the end, it was IFPA7 champion Daniele Celestino Acciari from Italy, who after defeating Frank Romero (4-2), Jason Werdrick (4-2) and Jorgen Holm (4-0), was faced with a rematch of his World Championship match at IFPA7 against Andy Rosa. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead, Acciari eventually defeated Rosa four games to two.

His reward was a matchup with the IFPA8 World Pinball Champion Cayle George. After splitting the first two games on The Shadow and Grand Prix, Acciari took control of the match by holding serve on Medusa followed by a victory on George’s pick Attack From Mars. The players then headed to Bally’s Old Chicago, where just a round earlier, Acciari put up an incredible 245,240 points rolling the game twice against Andy Rosa. Unfortunately following a tough ball 1, Cayle George tilted not only his ball, but also ended up tilting Acciari's ball 2. This interference, albeit unintentional, resulted in George's disqualification from the game, and ultimately the match.

With that, Daniele Celestino Acciari became this year's IFPA World Pinball Champion, bringing the title back to Italy where it will be for the rest of 2012, along with $1,350 cash and a brand new pinball machine from Stern Pinball.