World Pump Festival

World Pump Festival better known as WPF, is an annual competition/event on the dance game Pump It Up which takes place at the end of each year. Pump It Up is a Korean game that requires physical movement of the feet. The game is open for breakdancing and many people have accomplished this feat by memorizing the steps and creating dance moves to hit the arrows on time. What separates this from other Machine Dance Tournaments is the large amount of prize money on offer and national qualifiers around the world.

At WPF, the best technical and freestyle players are flown from across the world to compete in their respective categories: Speed and Freestyle. As of 2006, a Female Speed category was introduced. The candidates are selected by tournaments held in their respective country by Supporters and Club Leaders - Members of the Pump community who work unpaid for Andamiro, organise tournaments and social events during the year. As well as the competition itself, Andamiro takes players and spectators on a tour of the host country, as a form of Tourism aiming to promote the game as a Sport for Weight loss using videogames and Korean culture to create friendship between players. Previous locations of WPF have been held in Korea at G Star, Lotte World and more recently, Mexico City. Nationals (qualifiers for WPF) in Mexico and Brazil have been held in sports stadiums. Currently, qualifiers for the next WPF will be held in December 2008 and the world competition to take place in the first quarter of 2009.

Competitors in the freestyle category incorporate elements of Locking (dance), Salsa (dance), Funk styles, Popping, Hip hop dance, breakdance and Street dance into performances. It has become the norm to make a routine using Choreography while facing the audience.

Sponsorship

 * Andamiro will provide a round trip flight, hotel, meals, transportation and tour at WPF for national winners.
 * Spectators wishing to travel also have accommodation and all expenses covered (except their flight).
 * The total prize money on offer for 2005: $ 129 000, 2006: $146 000 and for 2007 it is $148 000.
 * When an athlete wins prize money, 30 percent of the money should be given to his or her club.

Tournament Categories
Speed category: Rankings based on high scores. Normally technical players, in order to better focus on timing and pattern reading, will minimize any extraneous body movement during gameplay. These players are commonly referred to in the Pump Community as "Speed" players. Speed entrants (both in the male and female category) will practice the game on the most difficult songs/highest difficulty levels in an attempt to perfect their scores.
 * Preliminary ~ Quarterfinal (M, F): Crazy
 * Semifinal ~ Final (M, F): Nightmare
 * Male: use of the bar is forbidden
 * Female: use of the bar is permitted

Free Style category: Pump players will choose to incorporate complex or flashy techniques into their play movements, and develop intricate dance routines to perform during a song. Freestyle players tend to choose songs on lower difficulty levels, so that the player is not restricted in their movements by large quantities of required steps.


 * Performance Part (20 points)
 * Technical Part (40 points)
 * Stage Impact Part (20 points)
 * Judge's Evaluation (10 points)
 * Machine Score (10 points)

Supporters and Clubs
A Supporter is a person who is the main point of contact between their respective country and Andamiro Korea. Any events and tournaments held require a written report with photos/videos sent to Andamiro, in exchange for prizes and recognition of athletes to enter WPF. A Club Leader is the person in charge of their respective club and should use their best efforts to maintain a close relationship with their Supporter.
 * Clubs are normally (but not exclusively) town specific and focus on events in their area.
 * Club certification is based on specific criteria:- A minimum of 15 members who have already registered with an account and profile photo on www.piugame.com, hosting of regular activities, active posting on club forums etc. Official status is given after evaluation.
 * When a certified club submits a proposal to hold local events to Andamiro's marketing team, the company will fully support the club to help with successful events (prizes for tournaments and money to help with PA systems, renting of floorspace etc. if requested).
 * As of 2007 a minimum of 10 officially recognised clubs are required per country to validate them for WPF (150 club members).
 * Excellent club organisers can be designated as jurors in competitions for selecting national team members and also the WPF competition itself. If this is the case, Andamiro will pay for all WPF jurors expenses, like WPF athletes.
 * Andamiro gives prize money two times a year to the club’s treasurer for club activities.
 * Events for the general public such as promotional activities should be notified to the company.
 * Members who make a forum post, upload a picture/video or high score for the home/arcade versions of the game receive points. These can be exchanged in the online store for T-Shirts, Sweatbands, Visors, CD's/DVD's and signed MP3 players by Banya (musical group).
 * The official list of 2008 Supporters.
 * The official list of 2007 Supporters.
 * The official list of 2006 Supporters.

WPF Images and videos
YouTube videos
 * Visitor submitted images and official video summary from WPF 2006
 * WPF Summary
 * Free Style Session
 * Black from Brazil
 * Skato from Mexico
 * Legal from Brazil
 * Flor & Simba performing a couples routine
 * Pump freestyle video on the street

2007 Results

 * Freestyle
 * 1. Korea (Dae Cheon Kim & Go Seok)
 * 2. Korea (Kyeong Seok Seo & Kyungho Kim (Lee Cein))
 * 3. Ecuador (Los Garotos)
 * 5. Argentina (Loe Gonzales & Gaston Lazarte)
 * 6. Italy (Roco Mendola)
 * 7. Chile (Kuest & Palta)
 * 8. Mexico (Marco Antonio Burgos & Jesus Alberto)


 * Female Speed
 * 1. Taiwan (Amy)
 * 2. Mexico (Nayeli)
 * 3. Chile (Celia)
 * 4. Argentina (Danielita)
 * 5. USA (Lara)
 * 6. Mexico (Priscilla)
 * 7. Mexico (Carmen Torres)
 * 8. Korea (Heejung Jang)


 * Male Speed
 * 1. Chile (Xuma)
 * 2. Ecuador (Kike)
 * 3. USA (Jboy)
 * 4. El Salvador (Walner)
 * 5. Mexico ("Wero")
 * 6. Taiwan (Yiang Shu Cheng)
 * 7. Italy (Roberto Pedroni)
 * 8. Spain (Yota)
 * 9. Korea (Lee Chang)
 * 10. Colombia (Degok)
 * 11. Mexico (Victor Lara Perez aka "Gorras")

2006 Results

 * Total Winning Nation - Mexico


 * Speed Field (Male)
 * 1st Place/Mexico - Armando Zamudio Verduzco aka "Wero"
 * 2nd Place/Mexico - Victor Lara Perez aka "Gorras"
 * 3rd Place/Korea - Lee Chang
 * 4th Place/Korea - Choi Kwon Sik
 * 5th Place/Chile - Alejandro Daniel Rios Ortiz
 * 6th Place/Argentina - Ignacio Julian Veliz Martin
 * 7th Place/Ecuador - Carlos Monar
 * 8th Place/US - Jboy Davis


 * Free Style Field
 * 1st Place/Korea - Lee Cein & Suo Kyoung Suk
 * 2nd Place/Brazil - Fabricio Rangel Velloso Orsolin & Lucas Rodrigues de Souza Barros
 * 3rd Place/Colombia - Diego Fernando Castro Vargas & Kaori Sanmiguel
 * 4th Place/Mexico - Flor Amelia Carrera Villabazo & Omar Hatzel Salazar
 * 5th Place/Malaysia - Tan Kean Kiat & Tan Yew Seng
 * 6th Place/US - James DeVito & Rick Huber
 * 7th Place/Ecuador - Andres Rivadeneira
 * 8th Place/Italy - Matteo Favarelli & Mouhcine Elkhanfari


 * Speed Field (Female)
 * 1st Place/Mexico - Rosario Nayeli Garcia Aragon
 * 2nd Place/Argentina - Daniela Mohamed
 * 3rd Place/Korea - Kim Mi Hee
 * 4th Place/Brazil - Sabrina Freire
 * 5th Place/Chile - Celia Margarita Escudero Castillo
 * 6th Place/Taiwan - Shen, Shiou-Hwa
 * 7th Place/Peru - Gisella Tolentino Diestro
 * 8th Place/Korea - Lee Hyang Jin

2005 Results

 * Total Winning Nation - Mexico


 * Free Style Field
 * Mexico - Flor Amelia Carrera Villabazo & Omar Hatzel Salazar "Simba"
 * Brazil - Lucas Rodrigues de Souza Barros "Legal"
 * Korea - Ye-Won Song & Hyo-Jeong Kim


 * Battle Station Field
 * Mexico - Erik Kyre
 * Argentina - Raul Jimenez


 * Speed Field
 * Korea - Chang Lee
 * Mexico - Armando Zamudio Verduzco aka "wero"