THE BEAST - (4 tourneys) - Stern Pro Circuit - July 30-Aug. 2/26 at Pocketeer Billiards, Buffalo, NY

Name: THE BEAST - (4 tourneys) - Stern Pro Circuit - July 30-Aug. 2/26 at Pocketeer Billiards, Buffalo, NY
Start: 2026-07-30T14:00:00-04:00
End: 2026-08-02T19:00:00-04:00
Location: Pocketeer Billiards and Sports Bar

Schedule

Thu, 30 Jul, 2026 at 02:00 pm to Sun, 02 Aug, 2026 at 07:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Pocketeer Billiards and Sports Bar | Buffalo, NY

Once again, proudly part of the Stern Pro Circuit in 2026!
THE BEAST (year 4) will once again be held at the massive Pocketeer Billiards, 2444 Clinton St., in Buffalo, NY.
Weekend passes for THE BEAST are $99 and go on sale on Thurs, April 16 at 6pm ET online at www.pinballprofile.com/thebeast and on the Facebook event page. There is NO limit to the number of players! The confirmations are done manually to avoid transaction fees for you, but if you paid you're in! Payment (via Venmo for US players or PayPal for outside USA). For those who pay before Friday, May 1st at 6pm ET, you will receive an early bird bonus of 14 FREE game entries (a $40 value)! The registration fee covers usage of Pocketeer Billiards' pinball machines (turned to free play in tourney area), IFPA fees, Stern Pro Circuit fee, delivery of other machines, software, trophies, other tournament expenses, and the remainder is put into the prize pools for Main, Classics, and Women's.
BEAST BOOSTER tickets for $250 (limited to 20) go on sale at 5pm ET on Thurs., April 16th, which is one hour before general sales. These BEAST BOOSTER tickets include weekend pass, 40 free entries ($100 value), a BEAST t-shirt, a special larger limited edition BEAST poster signed by artist Joel de Guzman, plus an additional hour of exclusive qualifying during the Saturday volunteer hour...in which BEAST BOOSTER players that hour receive their ENTRIES FOR FREE!
What's happening at THE BEAST?
- top 40 make playoffs in Main & Classics, plus top 8 for B Division (IFPA ranked lower than 200)...AND (new) top 4 for C Division
- 2 Certified+ events!
- register for Women's only (just $40 and includes ALL entries), if you can't do the whole weekend
- an hour of FREE practice time on ALL machines on Thurs., July 30 from 2-3pm.
- purchase a shirt for THE BEAST ($25) and receive 3 free entries ($10 value)!
- Crazy 8's optional event returns Sunday, August 2nd from 11am-5pm ($25).
Division restrictions for Main/Classics
(based on overall IFPA ranking):
A: top 200
B: 201-1500
C: over 1500
For THE BEAST Main and Classics Tournaments players can purchase unlimited entries to play individual games on their respective tournament machines (Herb style format). The Women's event ($40) is a HYBRID tournament on 8 machines, in which all players will receive 32 total entries.
Each player's best score on each machine is tracked and those scores are ranked against the other competitor's scores using the Never Drains software for Main & Classics), MatchPlay for Women's. Players receive an aggregate of their machine rankings on their required number of games in each tournament to determine their overall qualifying position. Tickets for both Main and Classics are priced at 3 for $10, 7 for $20, or 20 for $50, 45 for $100 (cash sales only at the Event, although you can purchase these online before the event starts). ALL money from paid tickets goes into the prize pools. All playoff finalists for THE BEAST Main, Classics and Women’s receive cash prizes and awards based on their finishing position. Final payouts are determined by their tournament’s prize pools based on number of playoff players and paid entries. There will also be random prize draws and a 50/50 draw throughout THE BEAST.
THE BEAST Main Tournament features up to 20 LCD, DMD, and solid state pinball machines. Qualifying happens all day both Thursday (starts 3pm) and Friday, and Saturday until 8pm. Your top scores on 10 different machines determine your ranking. At the end of qualifying Saturday night, the top 40 players will play in the “A” playoffs, beginning Saturday evening including all significant tie-breakers. The next 8 who are “B” division eligible will play for the “B” championship on Sunday. The next 4 who are “C” division eligible will play for the “C” championship on Saturday night. Cash prizes for top 40 in “A”, top 8 in “B”, top 4 in “C”. This IFPA Certified+ Main tournament is scheduled for 300% TGP with the boost (if 128 players or more).
THE BEAST Classics Tournament features up to 12 EM and solid state pinball machines. Qualifying happens all day both Thursday and Friday, and Saturday until noon. Your top scores on 8 different machines determine your ranking. At the end of qualifying Saturday morning, the top 40 players will play in the “A” playoffs, beginning Saturday afternoon including all significant tie-breakers. The next 8 who are “B” division eligible will play for the “B” championship starting in round 2 of "A" playoffs. The next 4 who are “C” division eligible will play for the “C” championship starting in round 3 of "A" playoffs. Cash prizes for top 40 in “A”, top 8 in “B”, top 4 in “C”. This IFPA Certified+ Classics tournament is scheduled for 294% TGP with the boost (if 128 players or more).
THE BEAST Women's Tournament features 8 machines. Cost is $40. Qualifying happens all day both Thursday and Friday. Each player will receive 32 total entries for this HYBRID event. Your top scores on 8 different machines determine your ranking. At the end of qualifying Friday, (up to) the top 12 players will play in the playoffs, beginning Saturday morning at 10am. Cash prizes each playoff player. With at least 24 players, this will be at least 156% TGP.
Crazy 8's ($30) Sunday event 11am-4:30pm. Limited entries on up to 16 machines (all eras). Top 8 games (best game) count. Top 8 make Ladder match finals on Classics machines at 4:30pm. These will go on sale on site on Friday, July 31 at 10am. 80 players max. No refunds for signing up and not playing.
Refunds are: 90% until May 30. 75% in June. 50% until July 10.
All players & staff must adhere to the IFPA Conduct Code and IFPA Diversity & Inclusion Code.