# Concord Open 2026 Main: Quarter game 2/3 on Bally The Shadow. Streamed from The Flipper Room.

**Source:** DRI374  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2026-05-01  
**Duration:** 30m 5s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx8vJmzqwC4

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## Analysis

Tournament coverage of a quarter-final match at Concord Open 2026 featuring Bally's The Shadow. Four players (Dan, Guan, Nick, and Jade) compete across multiple games. Notable incident: Nick experienced a malfunction mid-game with an ambiguous ball-in-play situation that required tournament director ruling and compensation. Dan maintains a dominant lead throughout.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] The Shadow features a diverter flipper button that controls ramp feed direction on both ramps and affects skill shot selection — _Commentators explain the diverter mechanic during gameplay analysis_
- [HIGH] The Shadow's ball save has no grace period once it stops flashing — _Commentators note strict ball save timing during Nick's early play_
- [HIGH] Conquer Multiball on The Shadow is a two-ball multiball mode — _Commentators confirm 'it's a two ball multi mode' when Conquer Multiball is triggered_
- [MEDIUM] The Shadow's mode start shot from the right flipper is 'probably the tightest shot in pinball' — _Commentator opinion during Nick's gameplay, subjective assessment_
- [HIGH] Williams machines do not allow adding a fourth ball via the buy-in button, which was disabled at this tournament — _Tournament director Jared rules on Nick's comp ball situation_
- [HIGH] The Shadow has drop targets on the back wall of the Battlefield that release if hit too quickly — _Commentators explain mechanic to viewers during gameplay_

### Notable Quotes

> "he's kind of playing pong up there in the top left corner. He wants to hit all of those targets to defeat Khan"
> — **Commentator**, ~1:00
> _Explains core Battlefield mode mechanic to viewers_

> "There's really no grace period on the ball save on this game. So once it stops flashing, that's it. Your turn's over. It's gone."
> — **Commentator**, ~2:30
> _Highlights strict rule timing that impacts player strategy_

> "That mode start. Oh no. Still short and sweet. No, we're out of it."
> — **Commentator**, ~22:00
> _Describes difficulty of the mode start shot_

> "I think the only way of knowing is to open it up and look in the trough if it's registered or not."
> — **Commentator**, ~28:00
> _Response to malfunction troubleshooting, shows uncertainty about ball-in-play status_

> "Nick is getting a comp ball. We are not adding a ball to this game because it is not possible with a Williams according to Jared."
> — **Commentator**, ~32:30
> _Tournament ruling on malfunction compensation_

> "when you get these malfunctions that you kind of wait for long rulings and you kind of just completely get out of the zone"
> — **Commentator (guest analysis)**, ~38:00
> _Reflects on psychological impact of malfunctions on competitive play_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| The Shadow | game | Bally pinball machine featured in tournament; known for Battlefield pong-style mode, Conquer Multiball, diverter ramp controls, and tight mode start shot |
| Dan | person | Tournament player with dominant lead throughout the match; strong playfield control and Battlefield mode execution |
| Nick | person | Tournament player who experienced mid-game malfunction requiring TD ruling; receives comp ball compensation |
| Guan | person | Tournament player in quarter-final match at Concord Open 2026 |
| Jade | person | Tournament player in quarter-final match at Concord Open 2026 |
| Gabe | person | Tournament player; tilts second ball during match |
| Jared | person | Tournament director who makes ruling on Nick's malfunction and comp ball situation |
| Zach | person | Knowledgeable player consulted during malfunction troubleshooting; previously owned The Shadow |
| Concord Open 2026 | event | Tournament held at The Flipper Room; features quarter-final matches; includes rules about buy-in buttons on Williams machines |
| The Flipper Room | venue | Host venue for Concord Open 2026; funds comp ball when malfunction occurs |
| Bally | company | Manufacturer of The Shadow pinball machine |

### Signals

- **[competitive_signal]** Dan maintains commanding lead throughout quarter-final match on The Shadow with strong Battlefield execution and multiball scoring (confidence: high) — Dan reaches 754 million by ball three, significantly ahead of other players; commentators note 'huge lead' and consistent high-scoring play
- **[product_concern]** Mid-game malfunction on The Shadow causes ball state ambiguity requiring extended TD ruling; unclear if ball registered in trough or was physically stuck in playfield (confidence: high) — Nick's game halts; commentators and TD discuss opening machine to check trough; speculation about whether ball was truly in play; final resolution grants Nick comp ball
- **[gameplay_signal]** The Shadow's mode start shot from right flipper is identified as extremely difficult and tight; skill shot (10 million) described as elusive (confidence: high) — Multiple commentator references to shot difficulty; players miss skill shot repeatedly; commentator calls mode start 'probably the tightest shot in pinball'
- **[design_philosophy]** The Shadow features unforgiving rule implementation: no grace period on ball save once flashing stops; mean ramp returns; tilty playfield characteristics (confidence: high) — Commentators repeatedly note 'no grace period'; 'tough drain' and 'tilt' issues mentioned; players must be precise with timing and shot control
- **[operational_signal]** Concord Open 2026 follows strict rules regarding ball additions on Williams machines; buy-in buttons disabled; TD has authority to fund games for malfunction compensation (confidence: high) — Jared rules 'not possible with a Williams'; Nick receives comp ball funded by The Flipper Room; discuss disabled buy-in button
- **[venue_signal]** The Flipper Room demonstrates customer service by funding comp ball when game malfunction occurs during tournament (confidence: high) — Commentators note 'TD funded game' and 'Flipper Room funded game' after malfunction resolution
- **[gameplay_signal]** The Shadow allows running multiple modes during multiball; Battlefield points awarded automatically but mode points collected at bonus end (confidence: high) — Commentators explain 'similar to like Adams Family' era collection mechanic; note modes can run with multiball active but arrows pause when not active
- **[community_signal]** Extended rulings and malfunctions negatively impact player focus and mental state during tournament play, pulling players 'out of the zone' (confidence: medium) — Commentator reflects on personal experience: 'when something goes wrong...pulls me out of the focus when I'm in a groove'; guest agrees these situations 'ruin your mojo'

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## Transcript

No hearing aid needed. All right, so we're back in the Dan pics, I'm assuming. Now, let's see what's our order. We have Dan. Dan, Guan, Nick, and Jade. Okay. I'm excited to watch The Shadow. I love this game. It's really fun. Yeah. Mhm. Oh, okay. So, just misses the 10 million skill shot, but we're in the battlefield. Straight into the battlefield. Oh, did he sneak in behind the drop there? Yeah. So, if anyone hasn't seen this before, he's kind of playing pong up there in the top left corner. He wants to hit all of those targets to defeat Khan. And he's making very quick progress on it. Wow. Let's just do the textbook. Very quick 50 mil on that. And we're in our multiball mode. Oh, he whacked it into pawn like just like that or uh he got the side shot for the mode start. Okay. So, it's a two ball multi mode. Oh, okay. Understood. So, he's going to get those points at the end in his bonus. Um let's see if he switches up his Yeah, we're going to do Looks like he's going to light his lock. Maybe not. Nope. 10 million. Okay. So on this game, there's a diverter uh flipper button or a button in front of the flipper button which is a diverter where you can change your skill shot and also change where the ramp feed goes on both ramps. Oh no, no mode points. So uh okay, so only the mode points. He didn't tilt out his pong mode, whatever it's called upstairs. You get awarded the battlefield points automatically. It's just your mode points that will come at the bonus. So he it's similar to like Adam's family where you collect at the end of your fall game from that era. Yeah. All right. That skill shots being a little elusive with people. That's going to come back. Is it a bit of a leaner there? The ball was sort of and there's really no grace period on the ball save on this game. So once it stops flashing, that's it. Your turn's over. It's gone. Gone. Um, and if anyone's not familiar, the your lock is here, and then there's a drop here, which is how you open the battlefield. So you every time you hit those, it's going to return until they're open. Yes. So, you want to be a little careful or gingerly on those hits because it could have a mean return. For the the first lock, you can just lock it automatically, but the second and third, you'll have to hit a drop target and then smack it to start it. But, uh, for your second skill shot, if you pick light lock, it'll take down that drop target nicely for you. So, Nick's leaving it on like con, it looks like. and con. If you miss that skill shot, you spell it on your uh lanes at the bottom. Yes. And then once you've got con spelled, you have con multiball qualified on the side there. Yeah. Okay. He's got his second lock lit. Easy. And he Oh. Oh, I thought it was going to give it back to him to plunge again. I think cuz someone else locked, he got the virtual lock. Oh, maybe that's too bad. Those plunge awards can be lucrative. Yeah, guess when you're playing one player versus four. Maybe you would pick first then. I don't know. I think I would still pick a later position anyway. Yeah, I think at this point That sort of thing doesn't really matter. It's okay. It's coming back. That skill shot has been a little bit tricky to hit, I feel like. All right. So, he's got his battlefield open if he wants to go up there. And his first lock. So, will this eject from the side? Yep. Well, he was ready for it. Oh, that reject is very nasty. Okay, so we're back to Dan and he's just going points. I don't think points is a bad strategy if you're behind. Yeah, I feel like that left a divert ramp is probably a less rejectee than that right side. Maybe it's a shorter little distance to get around the corner. Do you want to cushion that, Cory? No, I'm fine. Thank you. You're fine. All right. I've got cushiony Oh, wow. Look at that. Did I get Look at you guys pink shoes. No one told me about pink shoes day. All of my shoes are pink, Mayumi. You know that. I'll make sure you get the memo next time. Yeah. Okay. So, he's got his con multiball ready for him. Mhm. And he's going to tried but Oh, nice backhand on the ramp. That was a very smooth backhand. Easy. See if he goes for mode start first before Khan or just mode start's a good idea because it releases it in the perfect position to go straight into Khan. But maybe he wants to do another real quick 50 hits towards the battlefield which really he's making it look so easy. I know. This is crazy. He's like, "Yeah, slow it down. Give me some easy feeds to work off of." Yeah. It's funny because it looks really easy, especially when we're watching someone like Dan do it, but it is it is very difficult to control and based on the speed that you use to move that little um device, it can go in different directions and you just have to be ready for it. But like crazy. 60 mil. Crazy. Yeah. Oh, okay. Nice save. And he has his lock lit. He's like, I want my mode start first. Backhand to it. Maybe I don't know. Thinking. Oh, right into con. Okay. And con multiball can be big. Yes. Jackpot's all available. We're already at a ball save, so that might be it. Yep. Oh, wait. No, is there one more somewhere? There it is. Okay, that one was hanging around. Oh, looks like he's trying to go straight into his next multiball. Okay, we have Mongol. Hurry up. Ready at the Orbit. Orbits. Nice collect. That can be big. Okay, so we have our mode going. Can he get the sanctum? Perfect. Have you seen this movie? Nope. Me neither. Have you, Michael? I don't think so. Yeah, it must have. Yeah, maybe. But I don't remember watching it. No. I'm trying to think about the the bank. I haven't seen Water World. I haven't seen Congo. I haven't seen Shadow. Um I've seen two wicks. I've seen two wicks. I've seen one. Okay. So, that ball was trapped in the battlefield, but it released nicely. So, what's interesting is when you go up into the battlefield in multiball, you can't control where the uh device moves. Is this a ball or is that something else? No, that's not a ball. No. Okay. Oh, you think it's a duck ball? I don't know. I I'm not sure. He drained one of his balls on the left out. Okay, that looks like a nut. It's kind of fast in the upper play field. Okay, nice jackpot from that upper flipper. Yeah, he's playing it like he's told it now. So, how do you um relight your jackpots? I think he has to get that side shot. Well, he just got one on the side. The double drain. Okay. But he's making progress toward the the final battle. Yes. And he didn't lose his bonus this time. So, you can see an 87 mil bonus. Big. He's already at 655 on ball two, which is huge. Okay. Yeah. So far it looks like 10 mil. You didn't need that bonus on the first ball. No. Sorry I interrupted. I need every bonus. All right. He's like battlefield time. All right. Let's see if he can do it as quickly as Dan did. Yeah, sometimes the play is just do nothing. Just let the bumper work itself. And well, the other thing that's kind of hard to see is that that back wall of targets are drops. So if you do it too quickly, it will release it back into the playfield from the back. Mhm. All right. Okay, we're in con the battlefield. No, nobody else seems to have problem with that except us. So that's why we're here. Yeah, that's why we're here. I don't think he completed it. Did he? He did. Oh, he did. Yeah, he did it and then it released and he went straight into con. Okay. I saw the release into con. Okay. Settle that. So, he has a lot of jackpots lit up and that's it. Done. Okay. Battlefield back open. gets a lock. The nice thing is I feel like you can hit that lock shot from either flipper and then battlefield for me was more comfortable on the right. Yes, absolutely. Okay, So now he'll get 60 million if he completes the second one, I believe, cuz he got 50 the first time. We'll see. You're like, I don't get that far. He No, I don't know off the top of my head. 60. Okay. Yeah, just like that. Seriously, he just kind of looks up like Yeah, I get like I get like 10 hits max and that that's it. Oh, that's not going to be nice. Okay. All right. And that was nice. He kind of like he knew he couldn't save it. He didn't risk his bonus. Just let it drain. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's a But that was a huge ball, too, as well. I think he started that ball with only 4 million. Mhm. A single digit score for everyone else besides them. So, have you seen the shadow? No. Okay. No. All right, Nick setting up his con lanes before he plunges. Let that drain. Get another con letter, the spell for that plunge. So, his con is now qualified. Doesn't have to do the skill shot to get it. Mode start. That was such a smooth like right into the mode start. That is probably the tightest shot in pinball. That mode start. Oh no. Still short and sweet. No, we're out of it. Okay, so after this times out, he can do the con multiball if he wants to. Uh I think he's concerned cuz he's still in the mode, but he has one ball is the issue. Oh, and the screen. I don't know if it's supposed to do that. Weird. I don't think it is. No. I don't know. Seems a little Can we get sketchy? Yeah. Let me see if I can find somebody. Oh, he's there. He's perfect. He's there already. He's going to go ask some uh some advice, looks like. Give me a second. Yeah, Zach used to have one of these, so he might have the required experience to Zach is a very knowledgeable second opinion. Mhm. Because like if if it's a play on, I mean, he will be stuck in this mode forever, right? Until it drains. Oh, okay. And that's not ideal. Yeah. I don't know what he can Oh, yeah. progress cuz that sanctum is lit, but I don't know what it would give him if he hit that. Would that just be It looks like it's liter I don't know. Now we got Gabe over here, too. Mhm. Gab's like, "Don't throw out my goo. I want to keep this. Actually, no. Gabe is also in a same position as Nick. They've got like 8 million. So maybe he does want to be thrown out. I think the only one who does not want it to be thrown out as Dan at this point with his huge lead. Yeah. Is it possible that there's a ball stuck somewhere? It No, we saw it drain. It's only two. Was that just a two ball? It's only two. Yeah, for this mode it's uh it's just two balls and I don't know if the screen is supposed to be like this. I don't know either. But I don't think it is. Can we like tap it? Give it a little some love taps and see. Let me go tap it. Yeah, go tap it. Yeah, put me in, coach. Oh, all right. Oh, wait. What's What's going on? Yeah, but it's just like is the ball like have have the ball registered in the trough, right? Aimless pinball is asking that in chat and that was sort of my concern as well. So, I think the only way of knowing is to open it up and look in the trough if it's registered or not. Mhm. Yeah. He's going to burn a transistor soon, so better figure out what to do. It looks Are they googling? Are they asking chat GPT? Let's see if it's on Discord. Is he asking somebody? Probably on the on the IFPA Discord is ruling. Yeah, we we don't think there is a ball stuck there. There was kind of the debate before, right, that there's supposed to be a ball sitting there somewhere, but I don't know what that is. No, I I thought it was, but No, it just looks like the top of a of a nut that is used to fasten the playfield. Okay. I don't think there's an actual I don't think that's a ball because we noticed that earlier. All right. Looks like Jared is explaining the options. Can anyone read his lips? No. I'm not a lip reader and my hearing's not great either. Okay, let it go. Okay, now what happened? Oh, the ball ended up there. Okay, so is that going to be a comp ball for Nick? I don't I don't know if I would. I mean, if the TD told him to drain it, I don't know. We're going to have to wait and see. That was an interesting ruling. Would he get I think I'd rather have two balls separately like just take my score after that first ball or and just play two balls together instead of playing a I don't know. We'll see what happens. Yeah. All right. Let's see if I can get a report from Nick. I'm going to go sneak and ask. Miami is our boots on the ground reporter. Ooh, 70 mil for that condem. Hopefully he got his 70 mill. Oh, that's a collect at the end, I believe. Oh no. Okay, he got it. Okay. Yeah, I would let that sit for a bit. Yes, that was a big move that we just saw. Proper shove. I don't know if that was intentional or just overdid it a little bit. Um I mean I think that was intentional. Was that intentional? It was intentional. Yeah. But it wasn't intentional to tilt it. Yeah. You thought you were going to get away with that? It's been a little tilty. All right. Dan fears no tilt, Bob, and steps up. Well, I mean, he's got such a huge lead right now going into ball three. Um, and he's already got some points. And uh, Nick is kind of in trouble here getting kind of shafted by that malfunction. So, we'll see. Right into con. All right, we're ready for con. All right. So, and right out of con, that was quick. That was a nice loop bonus. Shadow loop bonus. 40 mil. Battlefield's open. Let's see him complete another battlefield. Oh, that sucked. Tough drain, but he's still in the lead. Still in the lead. Big bonus. 24 mil. That puts him at 754, which is huge. Mhm. And if he holds that, it puts him at six points going into Oh, did this is game three? No. Why does it say game three of three? It put us on to Walking Dead already. I think you picked the This is game two. This is game two. Yeah. Uh, so we cannot add a fourth ball. That's why I thought we were on Walking Dead cuz it said it there. I must have read it. Are you sure? I don't know. I'm not sure about anything these days. Okay, so uh Nick is getting a comp ball. We are not adding a ball to this game because it is not possible with a Williams according to Jared. And uh Nick was like, "What about the buyin button?" And that's uh disabled unfortunately. Gotcha. Thank you for the uh report back. You'd make a great investigative journalist. Thank you. All right. And we're in multiball. Did we uh start mode? I don't think so. I didn't see you because I was paying attention to what you had to say. Thank you. I always listen to you. I feel heard. Thank you. Priority. Oh, nice. He's getting loop. Okay. Oh, he had a he had one ball still waiting up there. That's not good. Didn't tilt. get a bit of bonus. That puts him in second place right now. Mhm. Nick with the tallest mountain to climb, but we've seen like a lot of these big points in just one ball. So, it's definitely doable. Nick's a super skilled player as long as he's not rattled by the situation at hand, which I'm often rattled by everything. It's just ball two. Yeah, this is ball two for got two balls locked. Nice tap pass. That's going to come back. Spelling con again. And we're going to he's currently got rough. Okay. But fresh game coming up to him. Yeah. and they took a first on game one, right? So, yeah, but that these kind of things just kind of ruin your mojo a little bit, you know, when you get these malfunctions that you kind of wait for long rulings and you kind of just completely get out of the zone, right? Yeah. That's like for me as a player something I struggle with like when something goes wrong, I'm like it pulls me out of the focus when I'm in a groove. Yeah. Because all of a sudden you need to start thinking about, oh, what's the ruling on this? What will the TV say and get engaging in conversation that is just like this is not this is not what I want supposed to do, right? Yeah. Just want to play pinball. Yeah, that third ball should be coming back. Oh, there it is. And we are in con multiball. So, he's going for his jackpots. He still has a few lit. He's got one lit on the right ramp. The lock shot is lit. And we've got two shots for vengeance. He's going to hopefully switch that diverter to get that right shot. He's got one more flashing ring. There we go. Stay in. Be nice ball. Okay. Oh, we can move that up there. Oh, interesting. Nice. Oh, the super jackpot's up in the battlefield. Interesting. I don't play this roving on very much. Okay, so there we go. Okay, so Oh no. Does he have a grace period on that? What? He didn't get it. Oh, it's roving but it's not. Oh, there it is. There was a grace period. 100 mil. Look at that. Okay. Gets another lock. Just like that. That puts him into second, right? Oh, not yet. Okay. Not yet. 15 mil. I would take it. Yeah. Points or points at this point. Oh, okay. He's good. Oh, that battlefield return. But he learned his lesson on that last tilt. Let it Let's see what the bonus does. Is that gonna be enough? Oh my god. What a heartbreaker. Heartbreaker. Okay. So, what is uh happening with the Nick's going to play a single ball and he's already got a third of a credit. Okay. I mean, I think Jared's gonna coin this up. Oh man, that was a heartbreaking. Oh, I see Jared with keys. Yes, I think he was going to credit him. Very nice. Oh, a TD funded game. Oh. Oh, the flip a flipper room funded game. Yep. Okay. Tilt cost a second. Did Gabe tilt? Gabe tilted his second ball. Yeah. Oh, man. Okay. All right. Straight into it. He's not waiting around. He's like, "Let's do this. Let's get this over with. I would lock that ball. Get it. Get that back on the plunge." Okay, we got a mode. Nice. Wow, that just shot it out to the right flipper. Oh, all right. Just double danger. Yeah. Oh, is he going to go vengeance here? Is that moving the ramps around? Khan multiball is lit. Oh, very brave bump over and right into con. Very brave. Oh, wow. Okay, so we still have the hit Farley mode, I think, going. Yes. Oh, you can have modes running with the multiples. Yeah. Yep. I believe we're not going to There's no there's no red arrows out. No, they pause. They pause. It's not blinking on the center. Is it on? Is it one of the center modes? No, the modes had all the arrows licked. Oh, sorry. Yeah, you need to switch to penny. Sorry. Nice catch. I mean, we saw a very big uh super jackpot collect on this, so I think he might want to try and mimic what Gabe did if he can keep the multiball going. Beautiful tips. Oh my god. All right, we're cradled. Trying to get the loop. Those drop catches so so quickly. I know. Oh, wa. NextG. It's just incredible. They they should teach this in physics classes. Yeah. Like, all right. Now we're moving to Walking Dead. Yes. Uh I mean it was a great ball. Great game. Singular if you got to play a couple of those.

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v5)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-06-06 | Item ID: 52331271-df3f-48ce-8bf5-f8d9cb231e33*