# INDISC 2023 - The Open IFPA World Championship - Finals **Source:** IE Pinball **Type:** video **Published:** 2023-12-20 **Duration:** 89m 8s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM0k4h2Bx28 --- ## Analysis IE Pinball streams the finals of the 2023 INDISC Open IFPA World Championship at Texas Pinball Festival, featuring defending champion Zach Sharpe McCarthy alongside Keith Elwin (11-time major winner), Travis Murray, and Jason Zahler competing for the title. The broadcast covers the first two games—Firepower and Bad Girls—with Keith Elwin winning game one decisively and the tournament still in early stages with significant prize pools including a new Stern Premium Edition pinball machine and $15,000 high stakes competition to follow. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Zach Sharpe McCarthy won the INDISC World Championship last year at age 16, making him the second-youngest world champion ever — _Jeff Teels (Pinball Profile host) and Zach Sharpe in direct conversation during broadcast_ - [HIGH] Keith Elwin has won 11 major championships and more world championships than anyone else — _Jeff Teels announcing Keith Elwin's credentials during broadcast commentary_ - [MEDIUM] Bowen Kerins won the world championship in 2017 at age 12 or 13 on The Jungle Princess — _Jeff Teels discussing youngest world champions; exact age given as '12 or 13' with uncertainty indicated_ - [HIGH] Travis Murray is number 17 in the world and this is his first chance to win a major championship — _Jeff Teels providing player rankings and tournament context during broadcast_ - [HIGH] Escher Lefkoff is the number one player in the world — _Jeff Teols announcing Escher's ranking during finals commentary_ - [HIGH] Jason Zahler won the Pintastic event (Stern Pro Circuit) and won Classics championship at this tournament — _Jeff Teels discussing Jason's credentials and recent wins_ - [HIGH] The tournament winner receives a new Stern Premium Edition pinball machine, trophy, and banner — _Jeff Teels describing championship prizes during broadcast_ - [HIGH] Keith Elwin won an Avengers Infinity Class Premium Edition machine as prize — _Jeff Teels asking Keith about his prize after game one victory_ - [HIGH] Firepower is a Steve Ritchie classic design — _Jeff Teels introducing Firepower as the opening game_ - [HIGH] The tournament has 8,000-9,000 concurrent Twitch viewers — _Jeff Teels acknowledging live chat viewer count during broadcast_ ### Notable Quotes > "It was just such a thrill, such an excitement to get there. It's really hard with such a high caliber of players." > — **Zach Sharpe McCarthy**, early in broadcast > _Defending champion reflects on winning last year's championship and the difficulty of competing at the highest level_ > "These players are playing to become a world champion, to have their name on the banner, to win a Stern Premium Edition new-in-box pinball machine. A lot at stake here." > — **Jeff Teels**, mid-broadcast > _Encapsulates the stakes and prestige of the championship_ > "Once you're at this level, it becomes like almost a coin flip of who can win it because y'all deserve it." > — **Even Steven (Fun with Bonus)**, early broadcast > _Commentary on the competitive parity at world championship level_ > "Bad Girls. For a reason. And that's an unfortunate bad result for Travis Murray." > — **Jeff Teels**, during Bad Girls game discussion > _Reaction to Travis Murray's unexpected zero-point ball due to apparent rule violation or mechanical issue_ > "When he won it on The Jungle Princess, the skateball game. It's legendary." > — **Jeff Teels**, discussing Bowen Kerins' championship win > _References Bowen Kerins' historic championship as youngest winner_ > "He's not only the GOAT, the greatest of all time, he's also an incredible designer at Stern Pinball absolutely." > — **Jeff Teels**, after Keith Elwin's first game victory > _Acknowledges Keith Elwin's dual status as legendary player and game designer_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Zach Sharpe McCarthy | person | Defending INDISC World Champion (2022), age 17, second-youngest world champion, finalist in 2023 championship | | Keith Elwin | person | 11-time major championship winner, former #1 player in world, Stern Pinball game designer, competitor in 2023 finals | | Travis Murray | person | Ranked #17 in world, Oklahoma player, first-time major championship finalist, employee of pinball company | | Escher Lefkoff | person | Current #1 player in world, finalist in 2023 championship | | Jason Zahler | person | First-time major finalist, Pintastic winner, Classics 1 champion, District 82 big winner, ranked #3 in world | | Jeff Teels | person | Host of Pinball Profile podcast, tournament commentator and streamer for IE Pinball INDISC broadcast | | Even Steven | person | Co-commentator from Fun with Bonus podcast, fellow analyst during championship finals broadcast | | Bowen Kerins | person | Youngest world champion ever, won championship in 2017 at age 12-13 on The Jungle Princess | | Karl D'Angelo | person | IE Pinball operator and tournament organizer, credited for streaming and technical production | | Ashley Weaver | person | Women's champion at INDISC 2023, won all three games in finals | | INDISC 2023 / Texas Pinball Festival | event | Four-day pinball tournament featuring multiple events, Open IFPA World Championship, Classics tournament, high stakes competition with $15,000 first prize | | IE Pinball | organization | Tournament organizer and streaming service for INDISC 2023 championship | | Stern Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer; Keith Elwin is a designer for Stern; premium machines used as championship prizes | | Firepower | game | Steve Ritchie classic game used in first final championship game; features spinners, drop targets, locks | | Bad Girls | game | Gottlieb game used in second final championship game; features pool ball targets, multiball, spinners | | Pinball Profile | organization | Long-running pinball interview podcast hosted by Jeff Teels | | Fun with Bonus | organization | Pinball podcast/media outlet; Even Steven is associated with it | | The Jungle Princess | game | Skateball game on which Bowen Kerins won world championship at age 12-13 | | Avengers Infinity Class Premium Edition | product | Stern Pinball machine awarded as first game prize to Keith Elwin | | IFPA | organization | International Federation of Pinball Players; governs world rankings and major championship structure | ### Topics - **Primary:** World Championship Finals Competition, Player Rankings and Competitive Meta, Game Rules and Strategy - **Secondary:** Classic Pinball Machine Design, Tournament Organization and Streaming, Prize Structures and Incentives, Pinball Machine Difficulty and Tuning - **Mentioned:** Player Age and Youth Dominance in Competitive Pinball ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.82) — Broadcast maintains celebratory, enthusiastic tone throughout championship coverage. Commentary is respectful and engaging toward all competitors. Some minor frustration expressed regarding technical issues (Travis Murray's unexpected zero-ball situation, potential officiating confusion) but handled professionally. Overall tone emphasizes spectacle, skill, and prestige of the event. ### Signals - **[competitive_signal]** INDISC 2023 Open IFPA World Championship finals underway with Keith Elwin winning game one (Firepower) decisively, establishing early 4-point lead in best-of-three finals series with points awarded 4-2-1 for top three finishes (confidence: high) — Keith Elwin score of 306,000+ vs Escher Lefkoff 227,000+, Travis Murray significantly behind, Jason Zahler last. Points allocation: 4 for first, 2 for second, 1 for third, 0 for fourth across three games. - **[competitive_signal]** World championship finalists represent elite tier: #1 (Escher Lefkoff), #3 (Jason Zahler), #17 (Travis Murray), and defending champion (Zach Sharpe McCarthy at 16-17 years old); significant skill disparity with lower-ranked competitors still performing at championship level (confidence: high) — Official WPPR rankings cited: Escher #1, Jason #3, Travis #17. Keith Elwin described as 11-time major winner, former #1 player, Stern designer (GOAT status) - **[community_signal]** Strong pattern of youth dominance in elite competition: Zach Sharpe McCarthy won championship at age 16 (now 17), is second-youngest ever; Bowen Kerins won at 12-13; commentators note this as notable demographic trend (confidence: high) — Jeff Teels asks Zach: 'How old are you?' Response: '17. So when you won your world championship last year at 16, were you the second youngest person ever to win a world championship?' Discussion of Bowen Kerins winning at age 12-13. - **[event_signal]** INDISC 2023 is a four-day multi-event tournament series at Texas Pinball Festival including: Open IFPA World Championship finals, Classics championship (won by Jason Zahler, Keith Elwin), women's championship (won by Ashley Weaver), and high-stakes tournament ($15,000 first prize) following finals (confidence: high) — Jeff Teels: 'This is impossible. This is four days of pinball. This is the fifth of six tournaments.' References to Classics 1 and Classics 2 winners; mention of 'high stakes after that where a top prize is $15,000.' - **[venue_signal]** Tournament held at impressive facility in Riverside, California with capacity for multi-day world championship; 2024 event planned for same venue in January (confidence: high) — Jeff Teels: 'you get to come here to this wonderful facility here in Riverside...spectacular. Next January, we'll do it again here in 2024.' Zach Sharpe notes his name on banner 'in the rafters. Like old Pinburgh style.' - **[content_signal]** Large live Twitch audience (8,000-9,000 concurrent viewers) watching championship finals in real-time; broadcast includes detailed rules commentary and player education for new viewers (confidence: high) — Jeff Teels: 'We have so many people watching pinball for the first time' and 'thank you for joining us on twitch 8 000 almost 9 000 viewers right now many watching pinball for the first time this is a legendary tournament' - **[gameplay_signal]** Championship games (Firepower, Bad Girls) demonstrate high rules complexity with advanced strategies: spinners with escalating multipliers, multiball modes, bonus multiplier building, shot sequencing, and risk/reward decisions on difficult shots (confidence: high) — Discussion of Firepower spinner mechanics (100 base, 1000 late), target sequencing, bonus multiplier chains on Bad Girls, right orbit repeat shots building to 50/100/200k incrementally - **[product_strategy]** Stern Premium Edition machines positioned as prestige championship prizes, emphasizing exclusivity and limited availability (new-in-box awards); establishes aspirational product tier for competitive ecosystem (confidence: high) — Championship winner receives 'Stern Premium Edition new-in-box pinball machine'; Keith Elwin won Avengers Infinity Class Premium Edition for game one victory - **[regulatory_signal]** Incident during Bad Girls game where Travis Murray appears to violate three-switch plunger rule or receive unexpected zero-ball outcome; broadcast uncertain about official ruling, suggests possible Jon Norris (likely IFPA official) consultation needed (confidence: medium) — Travis gets zero points after plunge on Bad Girls; commentators confused about mechanics. Jeff Teels: 'Somebody get Jon Norris on the phone.' Discussion of three-switch plunger rule and older game mechanics - **[design_innovation]** Broadcast notes significant mechanical differences between Firepower (Harry Williams style) and Bad Girls (Gottlieb style), specifically flipper feel and response requiring player adjustment (confidence: high) — Even Steven/Zach Sharpe discussion: 'These flippers are – this is a Gottlieb game, so these flippers are going to feel different for the players. So it's going to be an adjustment as they move from a Harry Williams game to here.' - **[personnel_signal]** Keith Elwin operates simultaneously as Stern Pinball game designer and elite competitive player (GOAT-level competitor), representing intersection of design expertise and competitive excellence (confidence: high) — Jeff Teels: 'He's not only the GOAT, the greatest of all time, he's also an incredible designer at Stern Pinball' and references to Keith's multiple championship wins and design portfolio --- ## Transcript Just when you think you've seen everything, it's only going to get better. We're in the finals of the Open at Indis. My name is Jeff Teels from Pinball Profile. The guy on the far left is Steven Bowden from Fun with Bonus. And this young man just happens to be last year's champ, Zach McCarthy. How exciting, guys. It's going to be a good finals here. I know. I can't believe one of those two players had to leave. That was such an exciting, the tiebreaker, the tiebreaker into the tie, it was such an amazing thing to watch so far. So it's only going to get better. I mean, these top four players, it's going to be amazing. We're going to go over some of the stats of some of these players you're seeing here. I mean, you know some of the names, maybe you don't know them all, but the achievements these four individuals have are just incredible, and they're about to add another one to one lucky person. What was it like for you, Zach, winning it? I mean, obviously the biggest tournament ever, a world champion at such a young age. What was it like? Oh, gosh. I mean, it was just such a thrill, such an excitement to get there. It's really hard with such a high caliber of players. So just, yeah, it's going to be a really exciting time for one of these players today. It's interesting. Each, I mean, there is no clear-cut favorite. I don't know what you've seen, what you think. Steven, it's anyone's game. It is really anyone's game. Once you're at this level, it becomes like almost a coin flip of who can win it because y'all deserve it. And so they've all made it to the top 40. They've made it to the grind of the multi-day qualifications. And someone's going to be a major champion. Let's see who it is. I'm ready. I'm ready to crown a champion. Let's go. So, Zach, you were here and you get to come in in this wonderful facility here in Riverside. If you're watching at home, you have to come here because it is spectacular. Next January, we'll do it again in 2024. But you got to come in and see your name on the banner. That's something that will last forever. Oh, yeah, definitely. Just a very nice feeling, you know, being up in the rafters. Like old Pinberg style. Like a retired number. Exactly. Well, let's find out where we're going. I want to thank you watching on the stream, on Twitch. I want to thank IE Pinball, Carl D'Python Anghelo, all the techs, the volunteers, the TDs. This is impossible. This is four days of pinball. This is the fifth of six tournaments. We've got another big one after this. Yeah, we've got high stakes after that where a top prize is $15,000. So that's after this. After we crown a champion, someone else is going to make some big cash to take home. So that's going to be great. Oh, I think we're lining up for a game. We're going to start off with a Steve Ritchie classic in firepower. Firepower. Firepower. Firepower. Yeah. All right. Firepower. Zach, what do you like to do here? What's your first mission on this? So you're going to want to do the 1, 2, and 3 drop targets and 4, 5, and 6 as well. That's going to light your spinner on the left and your lock on this left eject right there. Right there. Or I guess I can't. Yep. But, yeah, so that's what their main goal is going to be at the very beginning, just getting that spinner lit. And the numbers will carry over ball to ball should you not complete one through six? I believe so, yes. Also another way to let you kickback, I believe, the three blue targets on the far right. It's tough to hit that one at the bottom, I find. It's a dangerous kind of almost side-to-side shot. Yeah, the sling can kind of get in the way as well as far as hitting it. So, yeah. All right, Keith Elwin, former number one player in the world. Has won more world championships than anyone else. He is an 11-time major winner, and this is a major, as you know so well, Zach. Now, will we be seeing anyone go for the multiball on this at all? Well, lock stealing is an issue, right? I mean, because once you light that spinner, it becomes the shot. So they may not distract themselves with that, and that he could not do much with. I mean, that was other than predict the future, maybe, because that was a very quick drain off that. Zach, these games with the curved outlanes, you know, great players can nudge when you've got a chance. Maybe it's a flat wall. You give it a slap save, and maybe you can get it out of there like we see on the right-hand side. There's nothing you can do on a curved inlane. No, and there's no rubber on the inlane-outlane guide, so it's just going to be very, very hard for them to affect much in that area other than some very big moves. it's certainly you're not you haven't won it in one ball and you can't uh lose it in one ball a bad ball so uh a lot can be done a lot of progress like you were talking about steven once you get that spinner lit and it's nice and juicy it's the power of that spinner yeah and it's and the way it spins like you'll get a whole lot of spins and then the score will wait for it for it to count and it'll scroll up a whole lot of points so you don't really know what you've gotten until the finished spinning you get to be 20 30 40 50 000 in one that one spinner shot so we'll see how dialed that spinner is so so you you want to spin it and make sure you survive because if you drain right after that you're going to quick give some points it might possibly maybe carry over right so we have once again one through six the very exciting uh targets in the middle are flashing that's the first main goal that will get that spinner late on the upper left you see it says a hundred but a thousand when late and that is the power right there yeah if you can get that thousand late and just start using that spinner use it use it use it and your score will quickly climb here we go Jason Zahler first test is to get the ball so we can have a flipper decision all right here we go it's a five and the six generally the middle ones are the more difficult ones has the three now good job all right only two targets to go to like the spinner good move good Oh! That was tantalizingly close to a save. I mean, it looks like he brought it back, but he didn't really nudge it out. He needed to do all of that. He needed to do all of that to try to get that back. He almost did. It's just metal on metal, so you really do need to move it. All right, our third player is going to be Travis Murray. Looks like he's walking up right now. Yeah, he'll take a little bit of a break there because of all that nudging. We'll just a little bit of a rest and let the tilt bob settle. all right so now here comes travis you know have take a little bit of of air you're in the final you know you're allowed to breathe this a little bit before you step up to play a lot of the competitive players certainly know travis murray and how he's excelled number 17 in the world right now i mean we know the other players but this gentleman belongs to be here because consistency is his game he is always doing well in the playoffs is this going to be his first major Let's see. He's already stepped up to multiple levels of pressure to get this far. Absolutely. Multiple levels. Do you believe in that thing when you win a tiebreaker? Uh-oh. That's usually when you win a tiebreaker, things are destined. Momentum. Yep. Let's see what he's got with these targets. How kind will these targets be? Because sometimes the targets are just evil enough to get you. He's trying to shat it over. Just getting a trap. There he goes. trying to get that in lane we saw some successful shatsing if you oh no off there and that was off the joint yeah we saw some successful shatsing as we just saw on on uh flash gordon some players are scared to try it you you don't know if it's going to go up and over as they say you shats too hard but uh travis has no fear when it comes to that absolutely and the number one player in the world escher lefkoff his achievements are unbelievable trying to put another major on the mantle, if you will. Hard punch. Lots of action there. Oh, that was almost an early exit. Oh, and he got the hard blue target. That's important. And he's working directly towards those. He wants that kickback by Liz. Nice. What a slam. What a nudge. Great in lane. Oh, and he got paid by that. I mean, see, that wasn't really him. I mean, you know, he did what he needed to do. He made the great save. Shot the targets like he was supposed to, but the game decided no. So Escher's wonderful to talk to. You know, if he gets a house ball or something, you don't want it on ball three, certainly, but he'll say, okay, that's out of the way. You know what? You get one. That's it. Time to play. He's stepping up for his ball, too. His targets did carry over, so he only needs that five, and there that is. Spinner is lit. Lock is lit. And lock is lit. This is hard settings. Only one lock lit there. So we'll see if he pays attention to it at all. instead of going right for that juicy spinner. Let's see how much it's going to be. We have so many people watching pinball for the first time, and you might see some stats that come up here. Oh, this guy's the number 54 in the world compared to all these other people in the top 20. Well, you're looking at a several-time number one player in the world, 11-time major winner, stern pinball designer of so many of the great games, and to those in the pinball community, the GOAT, the greatest of all time. Absolutely. And we just saw that spinner rip was not very exciting, which means that, I don't know, I'm a little worried that that spinner may not be too juicy for some of these players. Keith was very disappointed in the output of that spinner. Visibly disappointed. So that's going to change some things. All the other players have seen this. He'll take another crack at it. He only needs the one light, though. That'll be exciting if he can get the three. That would be his second lock, I believe, lit. Well, that didn't really give us any information there on the light clip there. Another good save. Still hanging around here. This is going to be a good ball. Oh, what a decision. Nice job there. Keep it under control. He's going to backhand the three here, I believe. Backhand the three, turn on the kickback. Nice stand record. He's going right. He's going for blood. Yeah, that is the game. Forget locks. Spinner all day. He's unchanging in that. He hasn't hit it yet. I mean, we'll see it. I can't believe you just saved that ball. Going with the, not the post pass. I guess we've determined that that does not work. That was a much better spin where you could see it counting up. But in the meantime, he's falling fire. He's at 3X. Look at this bonus. All right. $60,000 coming. All right. That's not bad. Great job by Keith. really build the mountain for everybody to try to climb. That's good to be in the first spot to really put up a nice number. It puts the pressure on them. Now, we mentioned that this is Travis's first chance at a major. This is also Jason's first chance. So we will see if he can join the list. It's a short list, Zach. You're proud to be on it and well-earned, too. He has won things. He was the Pinfest winner. That's part of the Stern Pro Circuit. Earlier this weekend, the Classics won champ. So he can play the old games just as well as he can play the new ones. And the number three player in the world. Good decision there. Excellent. That was going out. That was gone. He didn't do that. Up is good. Down is bad. That's what that was. Oh! He almost brought that back. Just a little bit too much of a nudge there. At least he saved it. At least he brought it back. And, Stephen, you've had a lot of time to see Jason from your time in New Jersey, and you've seen him grow, and he was always a good young player. He's still a young man. Yeah, he's been a great player for a long time. It's a new level now. I mean, he's been dominating us on Star Trek The Next Generation, the game that's here already. I mean, when he was way younger, I mean, putting up multi, multi-billions on it with all of us going around just watching him put up these huge numbers even then. And so now just to see him, what he's doing now on the verge of a major championship. Fans from Oklahoma will be rooting for Travis Murray, an Oklahoma champ, now living in St. Louis working for the pinball company, and his first chance to win a major. See, nothing he can do there. Nothing there, yeah. That's the house. Yeah, that's one for the house. No flips. And that's why we see Escher moving for that left out lane ball save, or left out lane kickback at the beginning of the ball. And thankfully, carrying over, too. Again, the hardest of the two targets. Just needs that top right blue one, which is certainly doable and a safe shot. And then it's time to get that spinner lit, and we'll see what the number one player of the world does. Oh, all right. You spelled fire up there. That gives you your bonus multiplier, which he just did. That's 2X. You get a lot of action from that right top bumper going back up the E, So you'll see players quickly switch to make that one available That's bad because he now used up all those targets if you have to build the house again we come back yeah Now Keith has prepared for this a little bit with his drain so his spinner is only one target away To being relit again, I believe again this this period is waiting for the tilt bob to settle and then also a little bit of patience thank you for joining us on twitch 8 000 almost 9 000 viewers right now many watching pinball for the first time this is a legendary tournament stay tuned you'll see some good things happen spinners lit let's keep target here we go almost gets the lock up there and again switching to get the e open sure enough there it is trying to give a little nudge to get it into the lock yeah he wants it all right come on count it up count it up for him that was pretty good over 25 000 for that spinner there all right we're gonna see him get shots over to the right all right it comes in in lane pass. Very good. Another chance. Oh, a little bit late. There he is. There it is. Oh, so close. We're at 3x. Oh, okay. Alright. Happy birthday. It works. Well, he took two shots that should have got there. Let's pay back. Let's pay back. You're right. Made a call into the complaints department and they refunded his purchase there. Now, if he can shoot that left eject, multiball will begin, I believe. four times 18 where does he go notable oh he doesn't have that lit no he's not going to touch that not with 22 times four on the board 88 000 bonus coming his way count that up from the rich get richer his bonus is a good game that was huge His bonus defeats the other three players right now at the moment. Yeah, it does. All right, so Keith just built a big mountain for everybody to climb now. This is now serious. Okay. Ball three, last ball. Again, with the power of that spinner and what you can build with the bonus in this game, you can definitely catch up, even from that sort of a deficit. Absolutely. Definitely still has a chance for all three players to catch Keith. These players are playing to become a world champion, to have their name on the banner, to win a Stern Premium new in-box pinball machine. A lot at stake here. All right, attempted bailout at the spinner shot. Just to get control. All right. Is he going to follow? No, he goes the other way. Okay. Same result, different pattern. He is trying to put points on the board for seconds also. Ah. Gets $30,000 in bonus there. All right. So he does have second, but... 70. That window is very slim. It seems so huge, how tough this game is playing. It is huge and also slim at the same time. It's like a... Objects appear closer in mirror. Right. All right. Here comes Travis now. Travis at 19, chasing down first 47, and then they keep going after that. Now we'll see if he goes with Keith Stratt, which seemed to be a spinner, or Jason Stratt at that last ball, kind of building up some bonus. 2X is going to be big. Maybe it is a bonus Stratt now. All right, so he's just started with bonus counts. He's only at 3,000 right now. Oh, okay. Trying to get that in lane pass to work. Get some bonus. Oh, all right. Some up and down action. Didn't happen this time on the pops. Changes. Oh, I don't like the way this comes out. that feed. Oh, wonderful. He's going to get to 3X. He does. All right. He has $21,000 in bonus for 24 now. Nice. Get it off the wall. Get it off the wall. Good job, Travis. He's rewarded with control. His bonus puts him at 65. Not enough yet, so a couple more somehow, someway, some more bonus. Mm-hmm. A solid spinner hit right here might be enough with bonus. Or up and down. Okay, up and down. Okay, job one. Get past Jason. Done. Next. I thought he might take a shot at the ball save there on the blue. Nice inlaying. Well done. Would have come in handy there. Not needed this time. Is he going to get another bonus access? This will be huge. Find one more top lane. Catch the ball. Where's the shot going to be? Is he going to do the shots or is he going to take a shot at the blue? What do you think? I imagine right orbit. That's my guess. Okay. because he's one away from the next bonus lead if you're gonna miss the world champ knows oh wow that's gonna make escher do some work to try and get the second every point important ball 16 000 that was work that was great work there every single point here is important to get first place four points second place two points third place one point And fourth place gets zero points. Three game series. Now he's had a couple of unfortunate bounces. So will the pinball gods reward him? Okay. Takes his lock. He's the last player, so that's fine. And I believe that means he could steal the lock from Keith if he gets a third lock. In the top, yeah. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Should get another. Oh, there's X cover here. You got it. And his bonus is now enough to pass Jason. He may pass Jason without bonus. So now next target. He's going after Travis. Didn't get the kickback lit. He's at 99 right now. 100. Just a six left. Takes it. Okay, multiball and spinner are lit. One spinner will put him past Travis for sure. That was a big shot coming. One spinner. He's got him. a little heavier might help that's that's that's 130 but you know what he's got 30 and bonus yep he's got 130 now don't tilt don't tilt that all right that should be enough yep big second place come back come from behind for escher there if you're just tuning in we're playing three games the winner gets four points second place gets two and one point for third place no points for fourth So that will give Keith the four-point lead right now. Escher with two. Travis Murray one. Jason Zoller. This is exciting. This is a world championship. This is a trophy. A banner. A new Pimble Machine. What did you get? I didn't even ask you. I got an Avengers. An Avengers Infinity Class premium. Nice. For those watching, that man who just took first place made that Avengers. He sure did. Yep. He's not only the GOAT, the greatest of all time, he's also an incredible designer at stern pinball absolutely um can he pick a field can you pick a lane so some of the rest of us maybe could have it i know it's like why is he so good how can you be so good everything just seems like the ball just obeys his every whim especially some of the things that he's done in the previous days like classics when he when he tamed stars oh incredible i think i recall that uh right i think you were involved in that yes yeah it was the classics 2 winner and again uh classics one winner jason zoller so he's got zero don't worry about it it's not over yet you know uh seven will pretty much secure you uh at least a tie right uh to to win it all eight eight's the clincher yeah it's a good one too uh this is this is it's not over yep only game one of three yeah so right now we're having what was your past last year when you won I won game one on roller games And then I took third On Oh gosh what game was it It was not mystery castle I can't remember Star something Yeah yeah And then I took first on mystery castle For the win I'm hoping we get some mystery castle It is a little darling here It became the all star last year It was last year's all star We are going to ignore the back blast. We're going to a game called Bad Girls. Little Donna Summer fan. Toot, toot. Beat, beat. This is a good one. How do you play Bad Girls? Well, you have a bunch of pool balls you're going to see on the left side, right? So we've got to complete those. And you'll see the eight-ball target drop. And that's when you shoot it in the left. I wish I had to tell you straight away. I don't. But you'll see in the very up left corner, there they saw something way back there. Yep, flashing. And that is what you're going to want for the multiball. All right. Now also we have some we have some bonus X on the right you see 2x 5x 10x. That's bonus X we're hitting the very target far back there and What else that gonna be but most of the things are gonna go for you can start a quick multiball here by Kind of short plunging using the upper flipper hitting the eight target and then doing the same and there you go But it really about the hurry ups isn it Now there is a skill shot here. It is very tough to make, though. Yeah, very, very tough. It will light the lock immediately. How are you attacking this one, Zach? Oh, gosh, I don't know. I did not play this game all weekend. Four days of pinball. You didn't touch it? No, I did not. Run to the hills. So I'm going to be learning with the rest of us here. The hidden MVP are going to be those spinners when they light the multiball. There's 20,000 to spin, and so if they're nice and juicy, you can see scores go up pretty quickly. You can see the spinners. You'll see it says backspin. It's one on the left and one on the upper right. The inserts are off right now, but they will turn on. And once they are, make quick works of those spinners. Now, these flippers are – this is a Gottlieb game, so these flippers are going to feel pretty different for the players. So it's going to be an adjustment as they move from a Williams game to here. What's the one shot you want to avoid? What's the, oh, as soon as you shoot it, you know you're done. That, I don't know, bricking that right ramp looks kind of dangerous. Those posts could be pretty deadly, it looks like. The very target, yeah. The very target, yeah. Now, one thing you could do is you could repeat right orbit. And it would count up those points, similar to how 8-Ball Deluxe does it on the left side. This game does it on the right. You love doing that. Yeah. This game does it on the right. So you've got 50, 100, 200, and it's additive. So it can start building up very quickly if you repeat that right orbit. Now it looks like Keith locked the ball and is now in multiball. All right, we're ready for multiball. Here we go. And meanwhile, that right over is still on for multiball. So he can take advantage of having two balls. Spinner is lit, and you can see it there. It's worth a lot here. Oh, 20,000 to spin. Very target. That did not give him his 2X bonus, but he's not particularly concerned about that. He's concerned about locking another ball. And his right orbit is at 200,000. So, Zach, you didn't play this, but you saw how quickly, as soon as he hit a switch, it ejected that locked ball immediately. You have to be holding up the left flipper or you're too late. Yeah, there's no control on that left return, so it's going to be very, very fast. Okay. All right. We've seen the game plan. I mean, you know, 900,000 is definitely come backable with that right orbit. It's, you know, you're looking over there and you've got 50, 100, and 200. And you can keep shooting that over and over and get multiball and just load it up and keep loading it up. Here comes Jason Zoller. Tough break on the first game. Don't count this man out. Big winner at District 82 in the summer. Free play Florida Classics champ. He won the Silver Bowl Rumble in June. And his Classics win two days ago was he won after two games. So he can certainly do it. Yeah. Do you know something? All of our winners this weekend, Classics 1 in Jason, Keith in Classics 2, and our women's champion, Ashley Weaver, all won all three games in the finals. Does that mean Keith will do it? Three other players would like to try something. Proved your point there. Yeah, not very target. He called that one. That's right. Zach said the danger shot is the very target. And you didn't even play it. You just looked at the play field and goes, that's the danger shot. Yeah. The geometry. Yeah. Geometry. Geometry. It was like evil geometry. I love to do math. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. It was like, who said you wouldn't learn to use geometry in your life? Oh, wait. Right now. What is for cash and prizes? Travis Murray. For plunges? Sure. Okay, and doesn't even take a pot shot at the 8 to lock the ball. Yeah, he's trying to get the skill shot, it looks like. Now, if you're not familiar with this, Travis is doing something called a three-switch rule, where if he does not hit three switches after plunging, it will give him the ball back an infinite number of times. Okay. So I imagine he'll let this dump as well. There we go. Look at how bouncy that center post is. Yeah, that was serious. Did you notice that? Wow. Okay. He let it go and then put it on the left flipper. Let it go on the right. so the players are gonna see that maybe you do some chill maneuvers with that post and really bounce it up because if with the post being that lively if you flip when you should not have flipped this you're gonna bounce it down into the gutter that's right and then it's not gonna be good travis yeah no that's how it skipped travis's turn yeah it hits something it is he has zero points after ball one at least he didn't plunge that would have been the worst that would be If he plunged, he would have been disqualified for playing out of turn. Okay. Looks like he was validated, appears to have. Did the switches carry over? I guess no, but I imagine there must be some measurement for how many times it's been in the plunger's lane. And three is the limit, apparently. Well, the game's not good girls. It's called bad girls for a reason. And that's an unfortunate bad result for Travis Murray. And there was no sound effect between his ball and Escher's. The music didn't even start over. That was scary. That very easily could have gone very bad. What amazed me is, if you think about it, watch the first time he did it. I didn't see his eyes look up to see. He knew the rules. He just plunged again. What if he didn't look up? Yeah. Who does look up? Yeah. Well, I'm glad he wasn't disqualified. It's unfortunate, but he still has a chance of two balls. astro left off just wary of even plunging right now it's like it's like wait what just happened there and i can see that cd's talking as in perhaps should he get a comp ball something went wrong i have a score of zero where's the switch what did i hit why am i losing my ball now you go to the rules maybe i had to talk with a gotley game and it did count it I mean, maybe. Somebody get Jon Norris on the phone. I mean, maybe. I mean, because there are some older games where if you don't hit a switch, it will count the ball. Yeah. Those old, older games. But, hey. I'm guessing it's going to be play on, but it does not hurt to get an official ruling. Absolutely. Got nothing to lose. Mm-hmm. I mean, boy, the strange things you see. I mean, this is definitely a strange event here. Who could have called that? How old are you, Zach? 17. 17? So when you won your world championship last year at 16, were you the second youngest person ever to win a world championship? I was the second youngest person, but who was the first youngest person to win a world championship? That would be this gentleman right here. He won it in 2017. He was the Papa 20 winner, and it was so exciting. Bowen Kerins, he won it on Jungle Princess, the skateball game. It's legendary. A lot of these pinball tournaments are available to watch. You just Google in pinballvideos.com, and you can see pick a game, pick a player. You can see unbelievable archived pinball. And you'll see this gentleman. How old was he at the time, 14, 15? I think he was like 12 or 13. Oh, boy. Yeah. He was so young. I remember he slept with the lights on, if I recall. All right, here we go. We're back into action now. 13. 13. 13. Thank you, Chad. 13. Now, I imagine he's going to work on getting his ball locked, just like the other players have been working towards. And you pretty much have to clear that 7 ball out of the way. It's kind of in the way if you're trying to get there from the bottom right flipper. It can be done, but you're probably going to clip it and maybe lip out and not get the 8. Just a little. Oh, yeah. It was drifting off, and he had to defend against it, and he was rewarded with that. So I know Travis is probably hopefully trying to have a short memory and forget that zero ball, but, you know, you look at what Jason had, you look at what Asher had, okay, it's not. Everything's fine. Even including Keystone. Everything's fine. Again, the right orbit is right there. Everything's fine. I mean, the right orbit is 50, 100, and 200. Just keep shooting it, and you'll get that 900,000 in short order. It's fine. This is a final. You can do it. I hope we see some rack hurry-ups because big, big points there once you drop all the targets. And you'll want to spell re-rack. Now, Keith got his lock. I believe he got a skill shot to light that lock. He did. So he's back in multiball. Watch how fast this comes out. Hold the left hooker up. There we go. Hold it. Right into the sling. He had a quick exit the last time he had multiball. A little longer already. Spinners are lit. You see up top, though. Spinner is lit. Yellow lights there for 20,000 to spin. Okay. Oh! Nice save. That's the angle of that center drain there with a good decision on the flip. We've got only one target left on the rack there, but there's that 50,000 orbit. He can start building that. We'll see what he decides to do. The pops have been pretty safe. We haven't seen anybody drain straight from the pops yet, I don't believe. That was interesting. He chose to post-pass there. the lanes look pretty like you could alley pass it pretty easily so I wonder why he went with that one an alley pass is when you are on one flipper and you let the ball almost drain you flip at the last second and it goes up the other alley so you can switch flippers it's a great move try it if you're playing pinball and see how I mean these players make it look easy it's not easy you drain too late you lose your ball you flip too early you put it maybe where you don't want to and it gets in danger. There's his A ball. Here comes a re-rack bonus. Collects it. He would have to spell re-rack. Gotcha. Never mind. To get it, but he's got two balls to try and do it now. He's got two balls to try and do it. Whoa. So fast. Did that jump over the flipper? It almost looked like it served it on the other side. Re-rack. Three in the middle. he's going for it for sure is one left one left can he see the shot he does 600 bonus there that's huge what you play for that was a wonderful little delayed shot there just to perfectly time it oh wow on the flying alley pass on the fly that wasn't a mistake that was on purpose you've got to be confident to do that lock it again going for more serve it to the right orbit there now time for the lock give me that great shot so back into multiball just that simple to get into multiball although it's very very not simple this is the finals the pressure is on pressure is on but all four of these players are so calm so cool even when things go wrong Most people playing for a world championship You can read the nerves a little bit Show me it anywhere on these four They're fine They fought through so much war and havoc So already they're used to it right now They're pros Now that it's over How nervous were you Zach? Oh I was terrified You didn't show it Well I appreciate that But yeah inside inside. Heart going a mile a minute. Absolutely. And those five pops were the extra ball of water. 500,000 he got from the right orbit. It was five clicks. Now should Escher win this? Let's just say Escher wins this. Whoa, what a move off the center. I remember the two of you walking out of here and you're holding the trophy. He wanted to see it and he dropped it and broke it. He did. Just keep that in the back of your head. Hey, can I see that? And totally. Just like, yeah. Absolutely. Throw it away. Throw it on the ground. Go Lonely Island on the thing. See, the post-pass is not really working, so that's why they're going alley. Back to the shats. Yeah. Now, is this his second rack, Steve, that's lit on the eight? Yeah, this is. He's already got one done. Oh, no. Super shat. Wow. It went all the way around. sometimes your alley pass is just a little too clean. Like usually they go up and over, not up and to the other end lane. That's some English. While it is a pool game. Start a re-rack hurry up again. He's hitting more targets. He's putting more points in the hurry up. Another multiball for Keith. Wow. Multiball just a little bit more security. Now, don't look now, but he's got four million on the board. What a good use of the center post. Holy moly. Now his re-rec has timed out. Look at this replay. And it's not even a lot of movement from that little point. Okay, I'll let it go. Beautiful. Thanks for the replay, Carl. Like that's while juggling a ball. I can believe it with one. So much concentration. So much to think about to keep everything under control. But, again, remember, this is the man who tamed Sars. Yeah, that's true. Any man can do that. He can do anything. Power out. He's going to get a round of applause here from the people watching, I'm sure, at home on the stream. Wow. We are in Riverside, California, in SoCal. InDisc, it stands for It Never Drains in Southern California. And it is the tournament. There's so many great ones on the Stern Pro Circuit, but this is a major. This is one of the world championships, and it's open to anyone. That's the great thing about this. You know, you think of whatever sport you play. If I want to play golf and I'm pretty good at golf, I'll never get to play against the Tiger Woods or any of the great players. But here, you can actually play against these champions that we're seeing here. That's what's so exciting about the sport of pinball. He was not rewarded with that. He did get a tilt. It's Hill. I'm putting money down. I'll say it right here. Who's taking bets? Travis will have a better ball, too. Any takers? I sure hope so. No? Wilkie full-plunged this. I'll give three to one odds. What's the odds of him full-plunging and not even soft-plunging at all? Just getting on with it. No takers. Oh, money to be had. No. No sale. There will not be a short plunge. No. But you know what? Huge ball by Keith, no question about it It's not over It's not over at all We saw people putting up 7, 10 plus million on this game in qualifying, so it's certainly possible It's a two ball multiball, it's not like you have to lock three Yep Well he did it I want a round of applause once he gets some points Will you get some points Travis, please He's not taking that chance No, he's not Oh, massive very target. That's nice. Getting his bonus X up. An infinite financial better ball, Stephen. Yeah. He has any points on the board. This is already better than what has occurred. All right, Orbit. Come on, right, Orbit. Nice shot. Again, these pops, we're not seeing any dirty returns from the pops. No jinx. Oh. I could feel the jinx happening. Sorry. I'll take that back. Woo-hoo. Careful with your alley pass there. Commentator curse is what Stephen was talking about. So, yeah, bops are interesting, let's just say that. After the game, we'll give you the stats on whether they were safe or not. And it appears while Keith was going for re-racks and multi-balls, Travis is focused on that right orbit. Yeah, goodness, we're 200,000 right now. Well, if you play 8-ball deluxe, that's certainly a strat, isn't it? It is. It's almost like a mirrored version of 8-ball deluxe here. That's what Stephen does. I've played Steven Bowden so many times. All he does, left orbit, left orbit. Again, this is additive. Now it's 250. And look, he's found that shot every time he's went for it. And now it's 500,000. The extra ball is lit. No play extra balls, but it awards points, and it's 500,000 for this shot. Very target before he does it. Oh! All right. Yeah. Huge round of applause here. That is a nice ball, and it showed on the path how to get back into the game. It's a little bit of work. It's definitely there. Just keep shooting it. As you're stepping up, it's player four. Again, cannot thank you. Thank you for watching. The streamers, please follow Sub. You will enjoy incredible pinball on this channel on IE Pinball. Good job, Balak. Now I'm wondering when Escher is going to transition to shooting new orbits. I mean, now that the spinner is lit also, we haven't really seen any testing of the spinners yet so far in this match. It's going to be hard for him to shoot that right orbit in multiball, as I believe you can outstage this era of games. Nice spinner rip. And again, the staging is having the right flipper raise while having the left flipper, having the right lower flipper raise while the upper flipper is lowered to try and give him some space. It's tough to do. but it's very important for a lot of games with multiple flippers in the newer in the newer games we might get a chance to see that don't look now he's got 800 000 there's no spinners he's got a million now those spinners are very nice enjoying good pop action up and down sure we'll take three points no patience very good There is a pop bonus that's maxed at 610,000. So now he has cradle separation here. Still a multiball. Okay, now he just wants to get control of this in the transition back to single ball play. He's okay. That looked like a very target shot, maybe. And he's back into control. He's fine, yep. He's got the drop target down. Can he lock a ball? Nope. That's safe. Good bailout. Yeah. Post pass is getting very untrustworthy now. And again, one target on the rack. That three. Wow. That counted twice. That counted twice. Yes. That was huge. Oh, didn't quite make it. Not there, not there. Big points on the right orbit here. Bottom, he wants to lock a ball and then go for the three. Pierce out. Right over is 250 and the next one after that will be the extra ball for 500,000 You know what he's doing on each slipper. You knew that was coming. All right, there's the extra ball lit Okay, trying to lock a ball here and yeah it up all right That's your half designs I'm taking over first left flipper up and Shot at that three shot at the three get the rear act on get the re-rack at your right orbit here we go re-rack started he only needs four letters on there can he get the e-rack oh it's a huge re-rack bonus come on he has the extra ball clean for 500 000 1 2 3 4 5 there it is this is worth 3 million if you can re-rack it 3 million for the ac oh come on somebody turn on the ac let's go let's get the hot in here two letters. Alright, one set. Hurry up. Still running. Still going. Two million. Oh, only one more. Get it, get it, get it. It's still counting down. Alright, here it is. For two million. Not quite. For a million, seven. Still good points. That's fine. He's working on that orbit, too. Bumpers will pause the clock a little bit. Still worth a million. Oh, those top place with each worth 250 000 a piece wow a little hidden mvp up there see just got it count it he's taking the lead and i think he's got we're back all right that's just feeling it now now we have the lead just a little bit more comfortable just a little bit more now he gets to put pressure on on zach you're watching right now i'm going i want to play this don't i right i can't yeah as soon as this is over i'm gonna be right over there i know it it's it's a fun game Yeah. All right, he wants to get control. Now he wants to get up. There it is. Hit the eight ball. Hit the eight ball. Nice dig. He did. Special. Give me points. It looks like that special. Is that special lit for game now or for ball? Looks like he's going to remain for points. He needs the C once again. He got the C. The eight is up now. Five clicks. 500,000. All right, here we go. Reracking time. Reracking bonus is small right now. This is the longest, most efficient productive multiball we've had so far. Whoa, whoa, whoa. He even survived the commentator's curse on that. There was no such thing, Steven. Yep. That was a single ball comment. What happens in multiball is the player's choice. It like thank you Oh he just missed the R Oh there it is He got it He got it 700 He got the rerun Got another 500 This just in This kid good That is point efficiency right there. Again, you're never out of this game. Oh, nice dig there. Yeah, no kidding. I thought he was going to let it take the bounce. Why bother? Another multiball. Here we go. Put the hammer down, Escher. Let's go. All right. another extra ball one two three four five five a thousand that's okay everything's fine it's like okay i'm just gonna lock another one that's fine 11 million for escher let's go okay just wants to take that eight ball target down the upper left lock is lit Very target at 10x too Followed by a good post pass Did you see that? Yeah That was one of the better post passes we've seen this game People have been doing the alleys But Escher's like I still got this in my arsenal Oh just like that Hold it up Hold it up Wow Oh very target smash Get it Okay now the very target's lit for 50,000 He's got 10x bonus Oh wow His bonus is maxed out And a good shot there Gonna keep working on that right orbit Yeah. This is some control. Fantastic play. Off the center. Off the center. The center post, he still lives. And Rerack is re-going again. If you're watching this and you're wondering about pinball, you can see why this is a game of skill. I mean, just incredible hand-eye coordination. Oh, did he get it? Not quite. That's it. 1.2 mil. 1.2 plus the 500,000 again. And I've lost count of the multiballs. Is it three? Is it four? Oh gosh, it seems like it just keeps going. I'm sure we'll see another one. Quick lock here. Yep, it's open. The door's open. Oh, that was fine. He had no worry on that. That was great. Wow. He was not worried at all about that. He knew that was coming back. Look at that little smile. Hard not to hold that in. Escher plunging 17 and a half million Now that was one where he needed to keep the foot down Now Zach, when you're playing in this competition And you're not Escher and you're watching this What's going through your mind? Are you thinking, okay, that's how you do it? Or are you like, oh boy, I mean, great ball But that's going to be a tough hill to climb What do you think? It's hard, yeah You know, mental game is a huge part about pinball of being able to keep focused regardless of what your opponents do and do what you need to do. All these players have it, obviously, to get here. But, yeah, it's kind of an unseen skill for a lot of these players. Are you conscious of their score in Ball 1, in Ball 2, or does it only matter in Ball 3 when this is your last chance? It depends on the game. Sometimes you want to change your strategy in order to go for something that's maybe more risky or that may be a little bit safer. I imagine some of these players may not be able to take a safe strategy on this game with that ball. Now, yeah. So you're saying if you see a score like that, I guess you have to take that risky strategy for sure. Yeah, it's good to be conscious of where your other opponents are. By the way, I mean, the chat's watching this. I'm just making notes for myself. How do these kids do it? Keith on the comeback trail here. You know he can do it, so. Yeah, this old kid's got still some game left in him. Semi-retired competitive player. Whenever he comes out, it's, you know, for the World Championships. Now, his REREC bonus starts at $2.8 million instead of Escher's, which were like $500K, except for his first one, right? Yeah, his first one was in the $3.5. At the time I looked up, it could have been higher. Yeah. So maybe there's a way to build that up. Good choice there. Nice nudge. You get a little wiggle room. Yes, there's a tilt bob in it. 2.8 million collect. Big collect. Oh, a little bounce over. And there's a spinner you don't really see very much at the top there. Yeah, those 20,000 spins can really start paying off. It adds up very quickly. Oh, good choice. Bail out of there. Save the ball. Another good return from the pop, sir, Steven. Just playing that out. And we're back in control here. Now another cradle separation here. He's trying to try to separate both balls and get them all to control. Ah, yeah. Even he had to have a little chuckle at that result there. But back to step one. Let's lock a ball and get another multiball because we always can. Yep. It's going to be a grind no matter what. Nice shot there. That quickly, we're back in the multiball again. And Escher, as great as ball two is, he knows I'm not out of the clear yet with any of these players. Now, it is nice with him being fourth that he will know, hopefully, exactly what he needs if he needs to play. But, yep, any of these players can definitely still win this game. And what you're talking about is, okay, maybe I don't have to be as risky. Maybe I do the right orbit strat. Exactly. I need a few million. That's how I get there, as opposed to dangerous lock shots, perhaps. Great spinner shot there. You know, I joked about Travis having a better second ball, and who wants to take that bet? The bet was, how many multi-balls will we see in this game from these four players? I have lost track. Hundreds, it feels like. We're over ten. Yeah. Keep working on the re-rack and also his orbit. The balls are fighting to come down that orbit. He's making points on that orbit. Absolutely. Trying to trap off a one. That's what Keith always did. He wants that shot. A day ball. Rerack ready. It's only a million. Start building. Get those targets. It goes up. Just the R at the bottom. Late shot. He got it. All right. One and a half million on the board. Nice. Slowly, he's starting to take that ax to Escher's score. There is a hidden one on the far left over that. That is 12 million for Keith right there. You said he's taking that ax, so a lot of people watching, what is that a reference to? Is it chopping wood? Just chopping the wood, yeah. Chopping towards that score. Yeah, exactly. Can't thank you for watching. I know a lot of you are watching pinball for the first time. We have a lot of dedicated enthusiasts who are in the chat, and thank you very much. You're seeing the world championship here with four incredible players. working on that very tight you can get it up get that maximum bonus of 10x if you can shoot it one more time meanwhile i was working on another rack you know this bonus points when you first start playing pinball you see the ball you hit the ball but you're seeing what these great players shimmy save wicked shimmy you're seeing great players why is he holding that up he wants control That's one of the first things you learn is, okay, I'm in multiball. Just control the ball. You want control for all your shots, but look it. He's safe by holding that ball. If he needs to flip it, he'll flip. Okay, once again, Keith at 12 million, chasing 19. Oh! There's pretty big rubbers there on the in-lane, out-lanes to give it a good nudge. Yeah, those in-lanes don't look too awful. This would be a deadly game without rubbers on them. Oh, absolutely. I'm scared to imagine what that would look like. What's the number he's at? I assume it's one. Is it 12? That's 12. That is 12 million. We're running out of digits. Looking for another pass to try to start another multiball. Somebody get an abacus. We might need some scoring here. All right. Rerack time. All right. That's another 500,000 for Keith. That's those five clicks. Who wants a multiple? Oh, you would? Here you go. Let's start another re-rack. Soft ones. Take a crack at the... No, because there's so many points up there. Top lane is 250,000 up there. Yep. That's guaranteed where you don't have to... You're not sure you're going to get the re-rack. Exactly. Okay. And he is only two away. Needs a raw. Needs an aw. Give him an A. There it is. You got it. 1.3. That's the... Wow. Nice way to get out of it. He's still alive. I wonder if he's going to lock a ball here. Maybe start another ball. You think that might be the plan? I don't know. I'm not sure. Will he go for the eight ball? Here's like it. I'll take an orbit into a top lane. Oh! Whoa! Hello, everybody. Wake up. Do you know how fast you're driving? Keep your flipper raised. Be prepared. Still needs to get in that 8 ball. Made some room. He's going to have the rare multiball, Steven. Yeah, right? He's got the 7 out of the way. It's been at least 30 seconds since we've had a multiball, Zach. Now Keith is 2 million away to catching Escher's score. Escher still has another ball after this though. Yeah. Oh! Oh! Oh! He's a nice comeback, but he's a little bummed. He might have had a chance on the right flipper there. That was the look I think. We're going to have a bit of a moment here. We're going to wait for this to count down just to be absolutely certain that nothing happens. Don't accidentally press the start button. Press the start button, right. So this is going to count all the way down to zero. Yeah. We don't need our initials. He might put them in. Let's see. Uh-oh. Yeah, let's see. Careful. Careful, careful. There you go. All right. All right. Oh, look how close he was. 29.5. Or was that 19? 19.5. 19.5. Still a great score. Great score. This would be epic to see. Jason Dollar, who can do it? Just give this a ride. Yeah, we saw Keith do it. We saw Escher do it. Jason could totally do it as well. Travis decided to play ball too. So he's got it in his arsenal. Absolutely. Time for some 20 million grind. Let's do it. Let's do it. Nice choice. Sometimes it pays not to flip. You saw it there with Jason. A little pop action. Oh, that was very dangerous. No. All right. So everything's safe from the pops. We're fine. Everything's fine. Good points there. Good points. Nice. Good job bouncing it over. Oh, he hits it clean. Target down. Yeah, he hit it with the seven up. That's a very accurate shot. Oh! Oh! That will end Jason's chance at becoming a major champion. Still no shame in being Final Four. Absolutely. The math is not there for him to be a world champ. It is for this gentleman, Travis Murray, and also, of course, Escher Lefkoff. Careful already. Nice. Careful, please. Take that big rubber hop. He was nailing it. That was his path, wasn't it? Yeah, he's been going right orbit all day. No multiball. Oh. Yeah. That's tilt and Escher takes this one down. Escher will be at six points. So will Keith. Keith will be at six points. Travis will be at two with a chance for a second place tie at best. This is between Keith and Escher, two people who have won world championships. Wow. It's been so long ago, but if I recall, didn't Escher have like a freaky bad first ball? Yes, he did. You remember that? Yeah, I remember that. Prior to the 30 multiple. That was many years ago when that happened. But again, you saw the reaction. Oh, okay. No problem. It's out of the way. That's the bad one. And you see Escher putting in the initials for ADG, initials of Dean Grover, who is a Colorado local who passed away only a few weeks ago. Yeah, yeah. Sad to see Dean leave us. Anyway, legend for sure. And near and dear to so many people like yourself in Colorado. And definitely the Lefkoff family, not only Escher, but Adam as well, too. Absolutely. Thank you for joining us. This little trophy is part of what we're doing. What are we trying to win here, Zach? We're trying to win a world championship. There are only three majors in pinball. This is the first in the calendar year. There's another one coming up in May in Germany. We're all going to be there. We've been lucky enough to qualify, and they only take the top 80 players in the world. They take two from each country. Steven Bowden will be there. Zach McCarthy will be there. I'm Jeff Teolas. lucky enough to be there from as a representative of canada it's a little it's not as hard as uh maybe colorado where all the legends play um but it still counts you got a ticket that's all you need a chance and then funny enough the other majors right before that the european pinball championship so a lot of pinball action you should go to ifpa pinball.com if you want to find out just click under tournaments calendar ifpa calendar um what got you into pinball zach oh gosh i was born into it. You know, my parents had the games when I was born, so I've always been playing. I think my first tournament was when I was four or five years old, and I just fell in love with it. And Stephen, I know it's a few years ago, but... Yes, many, many years ago I discovered how much I loved pinball over playing the video games that were in the arcade. The fact that I could nudge the game and affect the little world, little universe in there. Not much in nudging a game of Centipede. It doesn't kind of work that way. Not in our K cabinet. It doesn't really work. But isn't it amazing? Once I saw that I could affect the path of the ball, and no, it's not cheating. No, no, no. It's necessary. You can see not only is it skill, it's necessary. Not only do you have to nudge well, you have to nudge not too much because you've seen the tilt. You've seen what too much nudging is. Yeah. And so it's that delicate balance that's part of what makes this game so skillful. And isn't it funny how we love it as a game, but now it's kind of part of our careers or hobbies or certainly we travel. You're working at Comet Pinball in Lyons, Colorado. A lot of the great LED lights and so many things that Ryan Wenger and his staff do. Steven has been working with American Pinball. Legends of Valhalla. Well, who's the major voice of Legends of Valhalla? I think it might be Jeff Teolis. No idea what you're talking about. The voice of Odin. Oh, really? Legends of Valhalla. I did not know that. That is Jeff Teolis, who is the voice of Odin on that game. And we are definitely appreciative of that. I'm such a fan of pinball. And, you know, from years of doing radio, I thought, well, maybe I can do a little podcast and do this thing called Pinball Profile, where I talk to people like yourselves and people in the hobby. And it can be the greatest players. It can be casual people just finding out what got them into pinball. And then, you know, the podcasts have grown and grown. There's so many on the pinball network. I do one with my friend Martin Robbins from Australia. It's nice to be able to do a podcast with somebody on the other side of the world when we do Final Round. And there's so many good ones out there. So you can, people just, when you first get into pinball, you just get hooked and you want more and more and more. And we're seeing that. You like that. Yeah, absolutely. Just play as much as you can. And that's why we're glad that all of you, many of you are seeing this for the first time. We're seeing what type of a game this is. Yeah. And, I mean, you know, if you want a decent facsimile of it, you have pinball effects. You have pinball arcade. but then come and try the real thing. Something about it physical. Something about the real thing. I mean, the kick out isn't always the same every time as it is on a computer program. You can get used to how the ball kicks out on a computer program, but come here and try that. And it may be different at 8 a.m. than it is at 2 p.m. And you're going to have to adjust. Who can adjust quickly to how things change in the game? Well, that's why I like seeing someone like Zach. As we get ready to go to Flash Gordon. Oh, boy. Flash Gordon. Speaking of adjusting. Yeah, yeah. Oh, boy. This is a 1980 ballet game. You might remember the B movie that was Flash Gordon with the great Queen soundtrack. This is a legendary pinball machine, Zach. It's so much fun. And what do you think when you look at Flash Gordon? I feel fear. That's what I feel. This game is notorious for just being brutal. So I didn't touch this one all weekend either. So I don't know. We'll see. It's easy to find ways to drain. Look at the inlanes, outlanes. Look at how low that bar is, which says it's probably going to find the out lane. That's a pretty big-looking gap there in the middle, and those pop bumpers are so low. Oh, there's another way to lose it. Oh, look at the ramp. What if I go up the ramp halfway and come back down? Well, pass on to the next player. That's usually what happens. Let's go to some quick keys of the game here. We have those right in-lane drop targets. There are three drop targets you see right stacked on top of each other. Those hide the multipliers of 2X and 3X. and also the extra ball target that's behind them, you're allowed to play one extra ball on this. You're allowed to earn one extra ball in this game. As you get to 3X, the 4X is the three targets up top. You see one, two, and three. So people wondering, how are these games being chosen? Well, we've been qualifying all weekend long, and where you are seated, the higher seed gets to pick the game. So this is a game that was picked by Keith Elwin. We have a bank of several games, and the man stepping up right now chose this classic. We will have a winner for sure because it'll be either Keith, it'll either be Escher. Travis has a chance to tie for second. Yes, that is a possibility. There could be a tiebreaker, just not for first. It certainly makes the third game exciting because we mentioned earlier in all the other three playoffs, the person won all three games. It was kind of anticlimactic going into the final game. Not the case here. Not here. And you see Keith already has two and three upstairs already lit. If he gets number one, that will light the 2X play field in the center saucer and give him a quick 50,000. What a save. Whoa, what a save by Keith. He's a magician. Let's see if he tries to go back upstairs and pick off that one. He could also work on that lower center drop target to light the spinner. Lots of options on this game. Now he is opting to try to post pass rather than do an alley pass like we saw in that tiebreaker with Kaylee and Travis. You flip early, you hit the post right below the slings, and it usually just kind of drifts over. It's a really quick flip here. We'll see if he does it here. See what he works on. Is he going to work on this? Goes for the ramp. He got the one. What kind of a ball path was that? But he collected it. 2X play field, 15 seconds. Let's go. Is he going to go back up top? He's getting targets. Those are big points. Those are doubled. Those are double value. Two more shots on that right side, and he's got an extra ball. And 3X. This is big. This is going to pay him a lot. 2X play field. Can he collect balls? It's not big enough right now. Not quite yet, but he's going to keep working on it. Nice. And I drop the wall. Okay. Back to those inline drop targets on the far right side. Yeah. Only 3X. and then there's a target hiding behind there. Now the extra ball is lit. If he can get that target, he will get the extra ball. There it is. He has it. Each player can only get this once. So Keith's getting it right now, right out of the way. Now Keith also has his mini bonus, which should reward $50,000 in the ball. All right, he got that for completing the 1, 2, 3 upstairs. Yep. Which now his 4X multiplier is up there too. He only needs one target to get that 4X. Is he going to take a clear ramp shot? because it will... That's what it looked like. That's another way to get up there. Another ram. Oh, yeah. He knows he didn't even try to nudge that. He's like, I'm fine. Everything's fine. Everything's good. Got an extra ball. Now, one thing you have to be careful on this type of game is if you lose your ball and you tilt really aggressively, that could be dangerous. Yeah, tilt-throughs are a possibility on this game, and that would be a disqualification from the game, an instant zero. So you end your ball, you tilt so hard that it actually tilts the next player? Oh, boy. I don't want to see that happen. Let these men play. All right, so Keith is on the path to another set of multipliers maybe. Oh, the game wanted to end the ball early, but no, Keith is still under control. Post pass here. No, back to the rear. Working on those chops again, it seems. Oh! Yeah, that was a strange little half spin, a little strange spin on those targets. Decent start, almost 500,000. Great start. Travis. Going to give it his all here to have a shot at second place. A tie for second. A little test of the tap pass there. See, it was warming up the flipper there. You know what I'm looking at? Well, I watched him earlier. This was if you been watching us this was the tiebreaker game that got him into the finals against Kaylee George another world champion We had nine world champions here in the round of 16 Nine. Crazy. Crazy. There were two in each group of four. Three in one of the groups. It was nuts. Alright, Escher. He knows what's on the line. Look it up. There's the scores. There's 491. Here we go. Nice in lane there. Take the in lane. Thank you very much. Who do I owe for that? Thanks. Back up top. Oh, and right back down. And a great catch, though, to get everything under control. Let's see that pattern again, but maybe not come down as quick. Nope, not yet. Drops. That was late. That was an attempt at it. Another in lane. Okay. Okay. bit of a bail there, needed to do that. Back under control now. The only way to win the target is without the spinner. And the spinner is nice. Let's see him get that thousandth spin. Okay, that's one of the three targets. This time, this is going to be going down to the lower playfield, yep. The next time he goes on that saucer to go back up, you're right, it alternates. Mm-hmm. Good target. Oh! He got an ugly feed out of that. He made the perfect shot, and it just had a weird little rattle inside there that said, yeah, we're going to leave right now. All right, so Jason has seen the plan. Jason knows the plan. And you see Jason elected to go first. I've seen Jason so many times. You know what? He's not afraid to go first. Some people like to see the score. This kid loves to go first and maybe almost put the competition behind. All right, let's see him go for the inline drop targets. There's one. All right, how's he going to get the ball to the other side? No, he went straight targets. That was straight for the left side targets. He can light the spinner doing that. Now, those targets also will award the super 100,000 bonus. Is that correct? He would have to get not only those four lights lit, the two inlanes, And also on the right, there are two lights. That's right on the right side there. You have to get all of those lights to make $100,000. So it would be difficult for him to do so. Difficult. Oh, no. Makes the shot to light the spinner and never gets a crack at it. Whoa. Yeah, not you. Run away, Travis. Run away. Run away. Do not plunge out of turn. Thank you very much. You don't want that now. Look at his shirt. Power in lane. This is what you need. We saw some power inlanes. Yes, we did. Esh has ordered that shirt, I believe. He just needs the two upstairs to get another 50,000 and light 2x play field again. Oh, that was dirty. The ball tried to climb back in play. Hello, power in lane. Where is it? Here's my power in lane. Again, testing the tap pass. You're right, Steven. Get the one. Get the one. Oh, no. Get control. You got to wait until the arrow flashes on there. So he hasn't had his extra ball yet. So maybe he can get a few. All right. Good in lane there. All right. One. Now, you guys are going to tap it over? Oh, wow. Too much. Too much. Too much. Now it seems like the second in line is the more dangerous one We've seen I think both Jason and Escher die from it Yeah, Escher, it was a weird rattle I was shocked to see it exit like that Under control Now he has a lot of the lights lit to light the 100,000 I mean, if he Oh no If he completes Oh boy What a decision Oh Wow Oh man Help us Oh, help us navigate another power. There's the power in lane. Catch it. Woo. Is he going to shats? He's been doing that. Yes. Don't go up and over. Catch. In lane. A little late. Here comes the shats. In lane. In lane pass. Had to make a save there. Nice. All right. Another in lane pass coming. For sure. Just don't go too high. Too high. All right. Oh Poor guy Well It's only ball two Escher Lefkoff You know yeah He got the two inlanes But he got robbed He got the two inlanes But he got robbed on the in line He did They find a way to even things out sometimes Nice save Back to the in lines I imagine A little early So many ways get burned this game yeah oh again a little flipper lethargy on the flippers there a little that's the flippers themselves be a little slower there so you can't you can't get away with a lot of slap saves if you can we won't have a walk-off that sure we'll have to climb back for the world championship All right, so Jason's stepping up. He can get two and three. Lucky shot, Earthling. Two X play field. Here we go. 15 seconds. Put the points on the board, Jason. Now's the time. Let's do it. Work on those in lines on the right there. Big points. Come on, more. Oh, that was straight down off of the bumpers. I mean, that's the one straight down the middle. Yep, yep. Hard to save those ones without tilting. No amount of nudging is going to save that one. So now Keith Elwin stepping up for a possible championship clinching ball. He only needs the two to light another 50,000 and 2X play field at the center saucer. That's upstairs there. He's trying to plunge this as soft as possible so he can get a good shot at the two, which he gets. Great shot. Oh, it didn't settle. Oh, boy. Now, don't look now, but he has almost all of the lights to like the 100,000. If he gets the left in lane, he'll have it. And that left drop target appears. Yeah, the left in lane and the left drop target. Went for that target. Went for it. Oh, boy. Good job. No flipping that. That looks like that's what he's going for. Starting 2x. And 2x. There it is. Oh, man, if he can even complete the drop targets in these 15 seconds. All these points are going on the board. This is huge. He's going to get paid a lot here. Oh, nice nudge. He made that in lane happen. He did. That target does not want to go down. It does not want to go down. 2x play field over. 2x is over but he has his 50,000 mini bonus he can get a 100,000 super bonus by getting the left in lane and that top drop target on the left how much will he make Escher work there's a drop ok same shot again in lines good bounce over oh that target will not go down they call that a bally brick for the competitive players. It just seems to pop. He got it. He got it. He got it. 100,000. 3x playfield lit. If he can get in that center saucer. Good catch. It's huge. He already has the lead. He's falling to that saucer. There you go. 3x. Coming up next. Spinners lit. Couldn't get up and around. Alright. Inline target. Nice, nice decision there. What a decision. Oh, will it land? Oh. Great sound on that spinner. Well, you can get a good shot going. There you go. 4X now. Oh, nice. Complete the left side drops for 5X. There it is. There it is. 3X play field, 15 seconds. If he could collect bonus here, that would be huge. Or rip spinners. Anything, yeah. Oh, he was going for the bonus collect. It's going to be over soon. The bonus collect is a shoot that goes all the way up and around back into the shooter lane. Oh, great ball. Wonderful ball, wonderful. 5X mini bonus. Bonus $100,000 for the World Championship. We're not done. But boy does Escher have a hill to climb He sure does Keith Elwin is his Ming Now Escher will have the potential for an extra ball Which he's probably going to need If he wants to get that 1.4 million Nice save Great perfectly done He doesn't want this down No Another good save Almost went right down the middle Control. Drop. Power in lane there. Wow. Power in lane. There's a definition of a power in lane. Oh, and a tap pass. Great tap pass. Okay. Catch it. There we go. Right. Back into control. Good tap. Wow. Another in lane. Another in lane. He has paid somebody. There is definitely money has exchanged hands. No, no, no one laid the arrow. Out of tokens. So Travis will take third place here, but it is not over yet. Escher is going to be trying to go for first. This is it. Now you're saying Escher has not used his extra ball, correct? He has not used his extra ball. And if he can get that second ball, then he'll have a shot at this. What I love about Escher, you know, he knows what he has to do. He's got a plan every time he steps up. It's not just flailing. He's like, okay, this is how I get there. Oh, give him the ball. Okay, he has the ball. He has a flipper decision, okay. At the World Championships earlier in May in Florida, it was Escher who actually knocked out Keith Elwin. Will it happen again? Okay, extra ball is lit. This is big. Post? Yes. Yep. Don't want to alley up and over. Big. Got it. Collects it. All right. Now he needs to be a good setup. Need a good setup ball here to set up for his extra ball. Now let's go. Not even taking a chance at those drops. Just get me up top. Oh, good in lane. Oh, he brought it back in. Well earned. 4X if he can hit that one. He wants it. Oh, the reach. Yes, he reached it. Okay. This is going up top. Get another crack at it. Back up. Oh. Oh. It is not over yet. No. Here comes his extra ball. Nope. As you're turning off the game next to him. Good call. Was that Tron going crazy? Yeah. Mystery Castle. Mystery Castle. Okay, Asher. Here we go. You know you can do it. Here we go. Get the two. Light the 2X play field. That'd be a good step in the right direction. Is it going down? Going down. Zach, you've been here before. Scary. You know this feeling. I do. He lit the 100,000 with the 3x playfield. Couldn't get both at once. There's only one more drop target in there for the 3x. Can't get another multiball, but look at that. If you can get in that saucer. 3x playfield. So what he's doing right now is dropping the targets first. All right, here we go. Going upstairs. And he's got the spinner lit. Going upstairs. Complete the drop targets. Complete the drop targets. All right, downstairs. Big points here. He's already at 790. Big spinner. Into the two. Big. He got it. He got the two, and that's going to pay him a triple. This could be huge. There's a collect bonus up top. The blue light, there's so much. This is going to count for a while. Oh, my God. This is going to slowly count for a while. We're not yet. Where it stops, nobody knows. Get up there! There's another way to get there. Get the blue. This is still going to be counting for a while. This game owes him a lot of points, and it's going to slowly count this up. World Championship. Oh, he hit it. He hit it. Go, go, go, go, go. 15 seconds again. Multiply play field, double play field. Oh, where are we? Spinner shot. So close. Yes, double play field spinners. Wow. He's owed 100 and another 50,000. He's owed. Oh, my God. Where are we? Wait, that's 13-6. He gets 13-6 plus bonus. Got to come down to two eggs. He got it. Whoa! Whoa! He got it. By 6,000 points. By 6,000 points, he wins it. Oh, my God. Oh, my goodness. He wins it. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Asher Levkov Is your Indus 2023 World Pinball Champion By 6,000 Points You can't get any closer than that Unbelievable We have got trophies And cash and prizes to give away And a championship to award Coming up pretty soon Stay tuned Right after this We have high stakes where we're going to give away $15,000 in cash to the winner and also many thousand dollars from first through eighth place. So stay with us. Right now we are arranging the trophy presentation to our new, once again, world pinball champion, Escher Lefkoff. Very well done. Very well done. Wow, he brought that back. We were going to be watching that replay for a long time coming. I know I'm going to watch that replay. That was amazing. That showed you grace under pressure and how he was able to come back from so many points down, from over a million down, and just making all of that. He did the plan. Get the extra ball. Right? Get the extra ball. Set it up. Get the double. Get the triple. Get paid. Just perfect execution on that last ball. Perfect execution. All right. And now we're going to go to Jeff Chios pretty soon, who's going to award the trophy presentation. Once again, after the presentation, we will be having high-stakes pinball where the winner will receive $15,000 in cash. Over to Jeff Teolis. That is a world championship, and what a finish on Flash Gordon. Four incredible players, all champions, including a person who won the Classics one earlier. He is number three in the world. That might just go up. His name is Jason Zoller. Jason, come on over here. Congratulations on making the Final Four. Thanks, Jeff. I'll take that any day. It's true, right? The competition is so difficult. Yeah, it was an honor, honestly. It was such an honor to play the GOAT and the number one ranked player in the world at the same time. It was just one of the best matches I've ever played in, honestly. I think we're going to see you there many more times, maybe even this year, maybe at the World Championships in Germany. Who knows? That's the goal. I just paid a couple of days ago to go to Germany, so who knows? Maybe. We've got something for you. It's probably the first of many, a placket in disc. Fourth place. Congratulations, Jason, and thanks for giving us such great entertainment. Thanks, Jeff. Okay. All right. I'll pass you along because Travis Meary is going to come in here. Thank you, Jim. That's for you, sir. Travis from Triple Drain Podcast, a little plug there, and the Pinball Company. Let's talk about how you got there. That incredible game on that machine against Kaylee George. That was an epic game. Yeah, that was just, that was crazy. Because when I first started playing competitive pinball, Kaylee George was one of the first players that I ever watched. And it's just, it's just amazing. Like the whole day is just overwhelming. I mean, there's not much more to say. I just, I want to thank my family, my mom, my wife, my kids. I mean, just all the sacrifices that they make for me to be able to do something like this. It's just, this is one of my main goals, just to make top four at a major. It's just, it's an incredible feeling, and I'm blessed to be here, and even better being surrounded by everybody here. I mean, everybody in pinball is great. If this is your first time watching competitive pinball, this is definitely some top-tier talent, and there's a lot of top-tier talent that was not in the top four. Way better than what I am, trust me. It's pretty amazing. He's a top-20 player in the world, but he's so consistent, and it just keeps getting better and better, and experience is how it happens. and it just starts by coming to an open event like this. Yes, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, just joining a league, a local tournament, or just looking up on YouTube, YouTube videos. I mean, the whole nine yards, there's just sky's the limit for sure. Travis, thanks again. Thank you, Jeff. Great job. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. All right, buddy. What a finish he had to watch. He made this gentleman work. Bring on Keith Elwin here. Keith, congrats, buddy. I know you wanted it, but, Asher, I mean, you've seen it happen so many times against him i had zero confidence i didn't care like when you were done i put up one almost 1.5 and you're like oh the door's open oh yeah i totally choked that game away but uh you can't sleep on him so no i love watching the battles by the way we were talking about it on chat these two you could watch play a hundred times it's probably 50 50 and and you know we see asher come out on this uh we know what happened in may and if uh uh that this was the major world championship in Florida and it went to nine games, back and forth and back and forth and here we are again. Yeah. Deja vu. It is. You can't put them away. It's tough. Oh well. I want to thank you for everything you do with Stern Pinball, your great designs on your current game, Godzilla and Avengers, the Bond LE, of course Jurassic Park and Iron Maiden. I mean, your expertise as a player for so many years has now turned into making great games and you are an absolute treat to this hobby and thank you for providing us such wonderful entertainment. No problem. So long as I enjoy it, I'll do it. Okay, I've got something for you here from Jim Belcido. There you go, second place. Thanks, Keith. And congrats again on the Classics 2 win. Thank you. Thanks very much. The champ, the world champion. He's done it before. Three-time world champ, Escher Lefkoff. Look at this guy. Be careful that don't fall down. Let's see it. I'll give you a hand here. with you. That is so exciting, but you're so calm when you walk up there, and I know you're looking. No matter what the score was, you always have a plan. Yeah, I mean, on Flash Gordon, I knew my plan was to get my extra ball on ball one, and then on ball four, it was I don't know what my plan was. It was to just play. And Bad Girls, it was the first time I ever played it. I had a quick tutorial from a few people around and the answer was to shoot the eight ball target and that's what I did and I did it a lot of times. Well you had a difficult first ball but again you know okay I'm gonna let that slide. Warm-up ball, warm-up ball. Warm-up ball but you play all the time you're like okay that's the bad one out of the way. Yes I say that to you all the time where it's you know you got a house ball I got a bad ball it's okay you got it out of the way because you're gonna flip next ball yeah and then you put up five six multi-balls something like that on the second one yep and keith nearly came all the way back i i mean i wouldn't want to win it any other way than with against Keith Elwin and him playing his absolute best and uh i don't know what else to say that's not if you're watching not even 20 years old a three-time world champion did it in 2017, what were you at? 13? Yeah, 13 was my first one. It was my second one. The second one, not the third. The big championship as well, too, right? There's been several major championships. You won it all at Free Play Florida years ago. Yep. It just goes and goes. It's my second world championships. Expo, you've won Pinball Expo. Yep. You forget so many. Yeah, I've been playing a long time, and this is a wonderful experience. I want to thank everyone at Indus for running an awesome event. And thanks to Carl for streaming it. And thanks to everyone for watching and supporting pinball and keeping this hobby alive. And, yeah, I appreciate you all. Thank you for the great entertainment. Your world champion, Escher Lefkoff. All right, we're going to take a very quick timeout. We have got more competitive pinball. A lot of players have put in $500 each to play in the high-stakes tournament. So we've got a $15,000 prize pool. And we're going to be watching that coming up. So eight players getting down to four. One will win it all. It'll be happening soon here on IE Pinball. _(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 45e4ff4f-f25c-4a31-9de6-95a59447c604*