New Information and an IFPA Statement on the OBX Fall Flippers Incident

Kineticist·article·analyzed·Dec 4, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 (batch) · $0.007

TL;DR

IFPA releases statement and evidence defending OBX handling; claims shared responsibility, rejects bigotry allegations.

Summary

Following the OBX Fall Flippers incident involving alleged harassment by a Flippers Arcade employee, the IFPA releases detailed Slack screenshots and a statement from Andy Bagwell defending the decision-making process and rejecting accusations of bigotry or discrimination. The statement emphasizes shared organizational responsibility for failures in communication and guidance to the event organizer, while acknowledging online harassment and bullying directed at IFPA leadership. The analysis concludes that IFPA leadership acted in good faith despite handling challenges poorly.

Key Claims

The harassment incident was perpetrated by Flippers employee Becky Connell
high confidence · Kineticist article, attributed to author reviewing evidence
IFPA confirmed the OBX event could continue and would be sanctioned during the event itself
high confidence · Andy Bagwell statement in article
IFPA staff participated in the event the weekend after the incident
high confidence · Andy Bagwell statement in article
IFPA leadership received private support from players including members of the trans community who fear public retaliation
medium confidence · Andy Bagwell statement; notes private support unverified in public record
The entire IFPA organization must accept responsibility for OBX failures, not just one person
high confidence · Andy Bagwell statement in article
Screenshots were authorized to be shared by Josh Sharpe without knowledge or consent of all parties involved
high confidence · Author's note in article

Notable Quotes

“I do not believe either was actively working towards goals of discrimination, silencing viewpoints, or, frankly, bigotry of any form.”
Kineticist author (Colin) @ article body — Core thesis: IFPA leadership acting in good faith despite poor communication outcomes
“The OBX decision was a total failure on the IFPA as a whole. The women members of the staff were not willing to allow that blame to be laid at their feet as well.”
Andy Bagwell @ statement in article — Key admission of institutional failure with explicit note about gender dynamics within IFPA leadership
“Those players stayed and participated because they were told the event would be sanctioned by the IFPA.”
Andy Bagwell @ statement in article — Establishes that IFPA communications directly influenced player participation decisions
“Josh and Adam are not bigots, and neither am I.”
Andy Bagwell @ statement in article — Direct rebuttal to online accusations of bigotry against IFPA leadership
“The people pushing this hatred campaign online are either being misled or willfully malicious, and it needs to stop.”
Andy Bagwell @ statement in article — Frames online criticism as a 'hatred campaign' and calls for accountability from critics

Entities

IFPAorganization Josh Sharpeperson Andy BagwellpersonAdam BeckerpersonBecky ConnellpersonOBX Fall FlipperseventFlippers ArcadevenueColinperson

Signals

?
community_signal: IFPA leadership releases detailed evidence package and statement to defend handling of OBX incident and counter bigotry allegations; signals attempt to restore community confidence after sustained criticism
high · Andy Bagwell statement: 'I think that the only fair thing to do at this point is lay everything out to be seen and judged.'
?
community_signal: IFPA leadership claims sustained online harassment, bullying, and 'hatred campaign' by critics; notes fear among supporters (including trans community) to speak publicly
medium · Andy Bagwell: 'They have all also shared the same sentiment, that they are afraid to post that support publicly because they will be targeted'
?
industry_signal: Core disagreement over IFPA sanctioning decisions during/after harassment incidents; questions about institutional accountability and decision-making authority
high · Andy Bagwell: 'The IFPA failed the organizer...The entire IFPA organization must accept responsibility'
?
competitive_signal: Dispute centered on IFPA's sanctioning confirmation during event despite ongoing harassment incident; conflicting communications to organizer and players
high · Andy Bagwell: 'IFPA confirmed the event could continue and would be sanctioned to this organizer during the event. IFPA staff onsite even confirmed to players that asked that the event would still be sanctioned.'
?
industry_signal: IFPA acknowledges shared institutional failure in handling incident, with explicit note that female staff members resisted accepting blame individually

Topics

OBX Fall Flippers incident and IFPA responseprimaryCommunity harassment and online discourse managementprimaryIFPA decision-making transparency and institutional accountabilityprimaryAllegations of bigotry and discrimination in tournament governanceprimaryIFPA leadership credibility and public trustsecondarySlack communications and internal evidence disclosuresecondary

Sentiment

neutral(0)

Transcript

web_scrape · $0.000

Like what you're reading? Get pinball news, analysis, and deep dives delivered to your inbox. Get pinball news, analysis, and deep dives delivered to your inbox. After review and combined with all the other context I have about this incident, regarding the IFPA’s decision-making and motivations for certain communications decisions, a lot more is clear to me now. The logic Adam shared throughout the discussions seems straightforward and easy to follow. At no point does it appear that Adam was acting in bad faith or in a discriminatory or unreasonable manner. Though both Josh and Andy Bagwell are mostly silent in the Slack screenshots, I do not believe either was actively working towards goals of discrimination, silencing viewpoints, or, frankly, bigotry of any form. Knowing all of this now, it’s tough to re-examine some of the discussions on the IFPA Discord and elsewhere, which sometimes crossed into bullying and harassment of members of the IFPA team, others with differing views on how the sanctioning process should be handled, and those affected by the harassment incident and its immediate fallout. I still find the incident at Flippers Arcade, perpetrated by Flippers employee Becky Connell, reprehensible and awful, and I wish we didn’t live in a world where that kind of treatment of others was commonplace. But I do believe that everyone involved in handling that situation from the IFPA side was doing their best in a challenging and stressful situation. These images were provided to me by Andy Bagwell (IFPA Director), Adam Becker (IFPA Director), and Josh Sharpe (IFPA President). Alongside the images, Andy Bagwell, with the support of Adam and Josh, had this to say: “I've stayed quiet and watched all of the discourse, and having now seen my own local players call Josh and Adam (and the IFPA) bigots I realized I can't stay quiet anymore. Josh and Adam are not bigots, and neither am I. I think that the only fair thing to do at this point is lay everything out to be seen and judged. The OBX decision was a total failure on the IFPA as a whole. The women members of the staff were not willing to allow that blame to be laid at their feet as well. One person is not to blame, the IFPA failed the organizer. All of the IFPA. The organizer was immediately in contact with the IFPA after the incident and rightfully trusted us to guide them. The IFPA confirmed the event could continue and would be sanctioned to this organizer during the event. IFPA staff onsite even confirmed to players that asked that the event would still be sanctioned. Those players stayed and participated because they were told the event would be sanctioned by the IFPA. IFPA staff participated in the event that weekend after the incident. The entire IFPA organization must accept responsibility for those failures. We have received a ton of private support on our decision with OBX, from players of all genders, including the trans community. They have all also shared the same sentiment, that they are afraid to post that support publicly because they will be targeted by the people that have been attacking Josh and Adam. I would encourage those people to speak out and show that support publicly, whether or not you have reached out to us yet. The people pushing this hatred campaign online are either being misled or willfully malicious, and it needs to stop. The attempts at communication up to this point were attempts to be civil, the response to that has been anything but. So again, I think the best course of action at this point is to lay out everything and allow you to make your own determinations. I do not think that the minds of the people who are made up on us being hateful bigots will change, but this is more about showing the community at large that we are not that.” Note: These screenshots were authorized to be shared and published by Josh Sharpe without the knowledge or consent of all parties. After publishing some names have been redacted at the request of those individuals. Any safety reports by individuals were made public prior, e.g. here and in widely shared public Facebook posts. Colin is the chief pixel pusher at Kineticist. He's a lifetime gamer who became enamored with pinball after taking in a family copy of the 1979 classic Joker Poker (the EM version). Since then he's bought, sold and repaired many machines, competed in all kinds of tournaments, and contributes to This Week in Pinball, the New Robert Englunds Pinball League, and Pin-Masters of New Robert Englunds. Previously, Colin spent over a decade working in marketing for agencies and tech startups. He also started and ran a music blog, happy hour website, and wrote a regular craft beer review column for Central Track in Dallas. Once aspired to be an artsy film director.