The IFPA Australian Championship Series (ACS) Nationals 2025/26 saw Tasmania represented on the national stage, as our top players travelled to Wollongong, NSW to take on the country’s best.
The ACS is the pinnacle of competitive pinball in Australia, bringing together the top players from each state to compete for the title of IFPA Australian Pinball Champion and a pathway to international competition. Alongside this, the IFPA Australian Women’s Championship Series showcases the country’s top women competitors – with Tasmania proudly represented by Lily McShane.
Tasmania’s representatives for the open ACS this year were Brett Cooke, Tom Fonda, Lily McShane (competing in both), and Royal Murray. Wes Keys and Kev Mills also made the trip to support, reconnect with their old stomping ground, and compete in the side events.
The standout result of the weekend was Lily McShane’s incredible performance in the Women’s Championship. Competing against 23 of Australia’s best, Lily smashed it in qualifying and carried that form through finals to be crowned IFPA Women’s Australian Pinball Champion (2025/26)! 🎉🎉
Remarkably, Lily played 16 hours of pinball on the Saturday, completing ACS qualifying during the day before going on to win the Women’s event that night.
“I had a blast and I’m honestly still in shock to be honest!! Can’t quite believe it. It was such a long day and I was absolutely exhausted and in pain by the women’s final 😅 physically ruined but mentally over the moon and very proud of myself !! ” — Lily McShane
Wes Keys summed up the moment: “The absolute highlight of the weekend was Lily’s outstanding performance. We were all so proud of her. Kev and I watched it on twitch in the beer garden of the pub we were staying in. We were hooting and cheering so much that people came over to ask if we were watching the races and had a big win. They were a bit perplexed when we told them we were watching pinball and our friend had just become the Australian Women’s Champion.”
In the main ACS event, Tasmania also delivered strong results:
Tom Fonda — 17th
Royal Murray — 24th
Lily McShane — 34th
Brett Cooke — 46th
Tom had a standout run, finishing 3rd in his qualifying pool to reach the finals.
Players also competed across a full schedule of side events. Lily backed up her win with even more pinball the next day, earning a 24th place finish (equal with Wes) in the Strikes competition out of 105 players. Wes also made the finals of the Target Matchplay, finishing an impressive 12th out of 78.
“The comps were really well organised and the whole weekend ran really smoothly… we all chatted to lots of people and quite a few are interested in coming down to do the tourist thing and play in some TAPP events,” Wes said.
Across all events, Tasmania represented strongly, with Lily’s national title marking a huge moment for our local scene.
We’re incredibly proud of how all the players performed across the weekend, not just our cohort. Back home, many of us were following along live on Twitch, cheering every moment – with the action up on the big screen at Replay Bar and The Ghetto Pinball League HQ, and plenty of sneaky checks on mobile to stay up to date.
A huge thank you to the hosts and organisers for putting together such a fantastic weekend, and congratulations to all players across the entire field for their incredible efforts. Special congratulations to Escher Lefkoff and Tom Casey for taking out the ACS Championship and earning an invitation to the IFPA World Championship.
We look forward to welcoming our team back and celebrating!
Photo credits: Wes Keys, Tom Fonda, Illawarra Iron Maidens
Also catch some extra photos by the Illawarra Iron Maidens
Following the event, Lily went on a bit of press tour! Appearing on the front page of The Mercury (check it out on the photos tab), ABC Radio, and even national ABC Breakfast News!