# 2020 Stern Pro Circuit Championship Game 8

**Source:** Stern Pinball  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2023-07-23  
**Duration:** 31m 16s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iufT4RrK-LQ

---

## Analysis

Coverage of Game 8 of the 2020 Stern Pro Circuit Championship finals, a ladder elimination format featuring Jim Belsito, Jason Wardrick, Andrew Rosa, and Colin McAlpine competing on Godzilla Pinball. Jason Wardrick dominates with 107.5 million points, advancing alongside Andrew Rosa, while Jim Belsito and Colin McAlpine are eliminated. The broadcast showcases detailed play-by-play commentary on Godzilla's rule set, multiball modes, and competitive strategy.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Godzilla Pinball was released in 2021 and designed by Keith Elwin — _Host Tim Sexton's game introduction_
- [HIGH] Jim Belsito is ranked 10 in the tournament standings — _Host commentary identifying player seeding_
- [HIGH] The Stern Pro Circuit Championship uses a ladder finals format with elimination and new player entry — _Tim Sexton's opening tournament format explanation_
- [MEDIUM] Jason Wardrick had over 1 billion points total across all games in the tournament — _Host commentary: 'Jason wardrick who has put up over a billion points on this game of Godzilla already in this tournament'_
- [HIGH] The Stern Pro Circuit Championship prize includes a championship belt, new Stern machine, and $5,000 cash — _Tim Sexton's prize explanation in opening segment_

### Notable Quotes

> "I don't buy a lot of LE versions but I have the LE version of that game because it's such a such a fantastic game"
> — **Jim Belsito**, ~1:30
> _Demonstrates high regard for Godzilla Pinball quality despite not typically collecting LE versions_

> "I started playing pinball in 1985. I was actually a video game player uh when Pac-Man came out that's a gummy and all this mess spending too much money on video games and someone said hey you should try pinball you could win free games"
> — **Jim Belsito**, ~23:00
> _Personal background on how Belsito entered pinball via arcade promotion_

> "I've been playing pinball since I was a little kid going to a pizza restaurant with an arcade with my family and but haven't been playing competitively for just over 10 years"
> — **Colin McAlpine**, ~17:00
> _McAlpine's competitive pinball career duration context_

> "I love to see a player divert from a strategy that everyone else is using and having it pay off for them"
> — **Tim Sexton (commentator)**, ~43:00
> _Commentary on Andrew Rosa's successful loop-shooting strategy adaptation_

> "These guys that are in this event we've all been playing together at all the big tournaments uh for quite so number of years"
> — **Colin McAlpine**, ~60:00
> _Reflects tight-knit competitive pinball community and long-standing tournament circuit relationships_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Jim Belsito | person | Rank 10 player in tournament, from Murrieta California, vintage pinball enthusiast, owns LE Godzilla |
| Jason Wardrick | person | Tournament player from Park Ridge Illinois, high scorer in Game 8 with 107.5M points, advances to next round |
| Andrew Rosa | person | Player from Flint Michigan, uses adaptive loop-shooting strategy, advances to next round with strong comeback |
| Colin McAlpine | person | Player from Austin Texas, competed for 10+ years, eliminated in Game 8 finishing 13th place |
| Tim Sexton | person | Host and commentator for Stern Pro Circuit Championship broadcast |
| Keith Elwin | person | Designer of Godzilla Pinball (2021) |
| Godzilla Pinball | game | 2021 Stern Pinball machine designed by Keith Elwin, featured in Game 8; LE version highly regarded |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer producing Godzilla and organizing Stern Pro Circuit Championship |
| Stern Pro Circuit Championship | event | Competitive pinball tournament using ladder finals format, Game 8 featured elimination of Jim Belsito and Colin McAlpine |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Competitive tournament play and rule mastery, Godzilla Pinball gameplay mechanics and strategy, Ladder finals format and tournament structure
- **Secondary:** Player skill differentiation and adaptive strategies, Community relationships and long-standing competition circuits

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.78) — Broadcast is energetic and celebratory of competitive play. Tim Sexton's commentary is enthusiastic and appreciative of player skill. Community bonds are emphasized positively. Only negative element is mechanical frustration expressed by players with tilt warnings and missed shots.

### Signals

- **[event_signal]** 2020 Stern Pro Circuit Championship Game 8 broadcast featuring competitive ladder finals format with documented results (confidence: high) — Full tournament game documentation with player names, scores, advancing players, and elimination results
- **[competitive_signal]** Adaptive strategy evolution: Andrew Rosa shifts from ramp focus to loop-shooting strategy mid-game, gaining competitive advantage (confidence: high) — Tim Sexton commentary: 'love to see a player divert from a strategy that everyone else is using and having it pay off for them' as Rosa executes repeated loop shots for 2M+ point returns
- **[competitive_signal]** Jason Wardrick's dominant performance (107.5M points) establishes clear scoring lead and tournament advancement position (confidence: high) — Consistent high-value multiball execution and mode completion; final ball score substantially ahead of second-place Andrew Rosa

---

## Transcript

welcome to another exciting episode of the stern pro circuit championships I'm your host Tim Sexton here to guide you through all the action the stern pro circuit Championship is an exciting ladder finals format this means starting with four players we eliminate the last place player and bring in a new player until we're down to just the final two the winner of that game wins a championship belt a brand new Stern Pinball Machine and also a five thousand dollar cash prize let's take a look at our field Jim belsito from Murrieta California my name is Jason wardrick I'm from Park Ridge Illinois Andrew Rosa II Flint Michigan hi my name is Colin MacAlpine I'm from Austin Texas in each match the top seeded player has the opportunity to choose the game or choose their order on the game I choose Godzilla I have one in my house um I don't buy a lot of Le versions but I have the Le version of that game because it's such a such a fantastic game the game selected for this match is Godzilla pinball released in 2021 by Stern Pinball and designed by Keith elwin and now we are in our top 10 with Jim belsito Rank 10 joining us for this game of Godzilla his selection here in the stern pro circuit Finals game number eight Jim plunges and misses all the skill shots takes a danger and finally gets a trap on the left flipper so it could be worse shoots the right ramp and shoots the left ramp so he has his battle ready at the scoop shoots the right ramp again passes the ball over and shoots it in the scoop so I guess he didn't like shooting in the fly he preferred to take the shots in the ramp bounce it over and then shoot it into the scoop and Jim will be selecting his very first mode and he goes with Gigan and why not he has not missed a ramp shot yet Jim try to do a drop catch it didn't quite work for him and now he's got the ball a little bit out of control makes a half ramp there takes a danger again the ball is heading towards the left out lane and uh he made a bad read as the ball came down in the middle take his left flipper up to not flip his right flipper and the ball bounced off the rifle thread down into the drain Jim there looked a little uncomfortable in his first game trying to get his body into the position so you can see the shots he needs to he wasn't quite ready there didn't get the plunge he wanted still you can get back into a battle and hopefully get back into this game now eight games in we've got the nice and warmed up Jason wardrick who has put up over a billion points on this game of Godzilla already in this tournament Jason Takes the 500 000 Point skill shot to give him a little bit of ball save time that'll expire now shoots the right ramp shoots the left ramp and we'll Chase and go yep one time ready for the scoops Jace is selecting his mode here he chose with Gigan to shoot the ramps starts with the right ramp and he will pass it over and probably make eight right ramp shots in a row three shots out of eight done for Jason he's taking really good bumps there oh he misses a ramp shot shoots a spinner shot on the fly it makes a great live catch to get the ball trapped on the left flipper again fourth ramp shot he's now halfway through the mode she lights his power up takes a danger just to stop the ball shoots up to the Mechagodzilla spinner and rotates it so Mecha Godzilla is in its next phase now he takes his 2x Ally gets Rodan to join the battle Jason makes a great livestock shadow that Scoops he's very familiar with that team now seven million points for that guy again ramp eight million two more left if we could do it in the amount of time he has nine million I don't think he has enough time for the last shot he doesn't it expired so Jason will need to get back into that battle to finish it which also means his destruction jackpot will only be lit at One X so 7 million with double scoring running if he hits this he'll have 14 and a half million as his destruction jackpot value shot early there around the tail of shot yeah he's not gonna worry about it whoa tried to shoot the scoop hit the papa bear and then off the mega Godzilla visor straight to the left outline 46 million points for Jason not his best start on Godzilla but puts him ahead of gym he of course really would have liked to get that destruction jackpot and finish that Gigan mode but spent a little too much time when he missed the ramp trying to recover and just by a little bit ran out of time to complete his Gigan battle player three coming up here is Andrew Rosa coming back yeah Andrew's played a couple games it's been playing pretty comfortably takes just the little short skill shot only 250 000 points but gets him just a tiny little bit of ball save just that little bit of security he may need besides to shoot some loot don't see players do this that often but it's the points I mean it can get much higher later in the game but just hitting it you know if you're comfortable with that shot maybe do it he goes for it again but does not make it around the loop there yes I take some big shots I reckon Godzilla has that ready for his next phase if he wants to shoot that magnet and uh just kind of Pops the ball up into the scoop with the battle it so like everyone else so far he is taking Gigan as his first mode since you tried to one time the ball out of the scoop feed didn't do anything but it wasn't too dangerous for him and Andrew is a guy who likes to make the combos back and forth and looks like I suspected that of him shoots the easier right Ram ah now he's bouncing it over well into the mechan Godzilla magnet bounces around the loop the hard way really nice nudge for better because I got the left out lane and there's another jet fighter destroyed by shooting that Loop another Talent shot Andrew takes his first danger there on a move he needed to make to prevent that ball from going in that lane no post on that Inland no no rubber on that inland it's just not making his Gigan combos the way he wants but he has his locks running out of his building more Loop shots another loot shot a third Loop shot ball gets a little too faster to make the fourth Loop in a row but takes his first lock so the answer is just taking the shots available to him he's not playing as meticulously as we saw Jason play but this game is giving him points because he's managing to hit a lot of shots up to 26 million so far only one second left on his guy get mode time right now and he's gonna be out of time there immediately back in the scoop gets the boxer out late award he did not look like he wanted that award but here with his option taking the Godzilla multiball jackpot increase he could get to two more shots Indian Godzilla multiball unless he makes a big move like that until this is a special report so Andrew leaves the camera rig shaking a little bit takes a tilt um didn't really go any further in the game other than getting more Godzilla multi-brawl progress than Jason but he is ahead of gym right now with just 2.5 million now we have Colin MacAlpine coming back as player four he decided after Jim selected Godzilla he would be the last player take a look at what the players ahead of him did and he decides to take a little short plunge she has just a little bit of ball saver a late shot to that left ramp and oh that ball is really out of control makes our great wiggle safe to get it back in but tilts and the trouble started for calling there after he made that left ramp shut a little bit late he made a read on the flipper a little too late that the ball is not gonna stay Pop the ball out of control and then that sent it over to the outline area it's a great save to get it back but just not enough of that tilt Bob I mean really hard to make a save like that with no rubber on the inlay post I've been playing pinball since I was a little kid going to a pizza restaurant with an arcade with my family and but haven't been playing competitively for just over 10 years and now here comes Jim belsino stepping back up to the game foreign typical gym belcito routine and he decides to plunge it a little bit shorter that time which gives him the ball save he wants however he's not have a ball in control like he would want and wow that ball just goes straight through the middle six million destruction jackpot available for him head out a little bit early takes a tilt warning just getting that ball off the right side wall oh he took a little bit of an extra nudge there to get the ball over the left flipper finally gets a trap though so Jim is now finally with the ball trapped but two tilt warnings gone already Jim's deciding to take some shots at Mechagodzilla one more shot to the magnet whoa a little bit late and oh wow just by reacting to that shot the game tilts he shot the post right between the spinner and the scoop sending the ball right down the middle he reacted to it but just a little more than the game wanted tilts him after two balls just 6.9 million points that's gonna be really tough for Jim to come back from and although neither Jason nor Angie Rosa started with too many points I mean a good ball here will put them in really good shape of this game started playing pinball in 1985. I was actually a video game player uh when Pac-Man came out that's a gummy and all this mess spending too much money on video games and someone said hey you should try pinball you could win free games so I think Comet was a new game of the day and started playing that's like oh and uh seemed to have an act for it now we have Jason wardrick stepping back up to ball two on Godzilla probably surprised to find himself with such a big lead just 46 million points but he'll take it and he'll take a skill shot same skill shot as before and he decides to stay in Tokyo he really wants to hit that last shot at guy again get that mode completed another amazing perfect live catch from Jason out in the scoop finally with the final blows just three million points plus a 3 million point finishing bonus Gigan has been defeated Godzilla Now controls Tokyo and Jason can decide to change his City if he wants so she will after the power up of course and he's going with the Godzilla multiple of his jackpot over to London Jason has his locks lit he does not have a ball lock that was left over from Andrew Rosa three seven and a half million points for completing Tokyo there it's another free 5 million for switching cities and it looks like he is going to shoot his ramps gonna try to pass it over to the right ramp right flipper to shoot the left ramp ah take another Godzilla power up while he's at it there's a drop catch but he flips it back to the left side of the Playfield now way into slingtown all the way around the tail of shot and the left little turnaround spinner let's still out of control still of the slingshots into the laser cannon Target finally tries to set it up the left though great live catch oh just shooting up the middle now he just wants the ball trapped on the right flipper whatever bailout take the lock shot gives him the chance oh it does not give him a chance for the skill shot because the ball is already in the lot and from that left side to right side he is not getting the same kind of bump he gets from the other quarter there will be a second lock so this will give him a chance to get a little bit of ball save on the skill shot let that bounce over and then oh just a little early again he continues to hit the bridge uh captive ball instead of the left ramp or from a trap no he misses again chasing just once he just wants to get one mode started before he starts his multiball really blow up his score if he can do that still no tilt warnings for Jason on this ball still making early shots to the left ramp there's a really great pass from the left over to the right and there is a nice clean shot up top but now he cannot start his mode he is blocked by Tank attack multiball which he want to take just get it out of the way he will take it here so now Jason is in the first multiball of the game tank attack multiball uh like any multiball it can be worth a lot of points if you make a lot of shots to keep the ball alive for a long time but this is not your highest scoring multiball because of the limit just two balls and also not a lot of shots available at any time and like that he is out of tank attack multiple but he can now shoot his scoop with that mode total coming across to start his mode um or you can shoot up the middle for his destruction jackpot uh or he can shoot the same place Jim shot instead it sent the ball out the left out lane leaving Jason with just 107 and a half million points after Paul too still he's way ahead in the lead and he will need Jim belsino to come pass him on the next ball in order for him to play Andrew Rosa is player three steps back up to Godzilla currently in second place with just 28 million and you've played a very out of control ball one but right away he just Nails the destruction jackpot shot not an easy shot it's blocked a little bit and that will not make a destructive jackpot and he's not gonna go for it in the grace period of time very worried about that ball coming out from that feed takes a huge move double danger does not tilt you know Andrew at that point was just fed up he's like you know what I just need points this game is going to be rude to me why don't I be rude back I think they've made their piece now they're all friends again and now the game will give him an easy layup into the Godzilla multiple shot which he does not take decides to take a backhand to the spinner Andrew just uh decides oh he'll just Ricochet off the side of the rotating Targets on the right go up into the Godzilla multiball and start that so Godzilla multiball we'll start with many shots of length as you make more jackpots value of the jackpots continues increasing Additionally the color of the arrow indicates the multiplier available on the jackpot shot so starting at just 500 000 points there but shooting a shot over and over again now that left ramp up to Yellow 2 million and all the jackpots will continue growing as you make their shots over and over again eventually a Super Jackpot will light in the middle at the building and shooting it to the middle give you the points shooting it another way will give you more points but we won't get to see that because Andrew is Godzilla multiball engine nearly instantaneously and he goes into effect and Godzilla multiball saying out loud he didn't know he had it ready which is interesting because it looks like he was aiming for it when he actually had it Angie now playing a second multiball in a row Mechagodzilla jackpots are available on the play field you have to alternate between shooting and jackpot shot and then shooting the Mechagodzilla visor which it looked like he hit there but it didn't give him one there oh he's shooting the middle one that's not good there he goes she's the one on the outside and then two balls Escape right down the middle so another very low scoring multiball for Andrew Rosa it's a lot of work to get those multiballs set up so I typically want to play a little bit better than Andrew has in those multi balls at this level of competition it's just gonna go back to battling Gigan he has five ramp shots left and like all players having a lot of trouble making that left ramp right now but Andrew is having no problem with these loops wow 480 000 times five for that loofah one he's actually getting now really good points for his loops starting Loops from this shot there is now even double value of what it was before so that was a two million making that shots and gets his double scoring going so maybe Andrew's figure out a new strategy just shoot Loops over and over again I mean it is a way to win now he'll shoot the right ramp while guy gets running get back into the mode and there he goes makes a combo so that shots where 10 million instead of the 5 million if you just shot the right ramp 12 million now now this will put him ahead of Jason wordrick with just those three Gigan shots went for another ramp shot there but hit off The Flipper back into the loops plus just Fighters plus a super talent for eight million points 14 million for the last shot at Gigan and now what's the edge you're gonna go for he's running jet fighters he's running the power line attack and he's running into a right out lane which will end his ball but not before he takes first place over with some Scrappy play getting the loop points you love to see a player divert from a strategy that everyone else is using and having it pay off for them so now Colin kalpine is looking to get in the mix here he was not doing well after ball one and he's had to wait a long time for Jason and Andrew playing their multiples Colin now out of ball same time and into uh till warning time tries to take another shake out of the right out lane but no rubber on that in Lane post it just was not having it and another tilt for Collins so crawling is just not having a great time he missed one shot to the right ramp and just couldn't recover from it so Jim steps back up to the game starting his process of wiping his hands off and testing the flippers and wiping his hands and testing the flippers and back to wiping his hands still at wiping his hands back to the flippers back to the plunge and takes a nice short plunge for the skill shot and a nice trap on the left flipper and decides to shoot the right ramp so maybe he's going to get his multiball it which he does now in Two Shots and it looks like Jim's gonna be thinking about that multiball doesn't have to move it there and the ball comes back in for him there's his first lock there it is took a little a little extra time to kick it up there but it's fine for Jim gives him another opportunity to plunge for his skill shot a little kind of loot pass and there's a late shot to the building which is uh dangerous for Jim here but finally decides on the Fly Just backhanded up into the lock shot again and that'll lock his second ball so Jim's decision do I take a shot at that scoop which killed me last time or do I just need to be culinary or do I just need to shoot Godzilla multiple Jim's decided I don't know what Jim's choice is you the viewer don't know what Jim's choice is but we will see very soon but it might depend what the ball does so Jim's gonna go back for that same exact plunge same pass over the left flipper and into the scoop a little bit of a bounce shot there but Nails it oh he's gonna move he's gonna travel to a different city wow he does he moves changes City six million points Carnage bonus collected uh Godzilla is not a control of Tokyo so he does not get that extra five million points nor the extra bonus X but I guess he just really wanted to change cities before getting into multiball Jim's hyping himself up talking about what he could do in multiball let's see a gym three Bowser to come out from the building there and now we are in Godzilla multiball with unboosted jackpot starting at 250 000 for a jackpots but he has made some quick work of some jackpots so far Super Jackpot for 12 million that's not bad at all and he has a heat ray Readiness button so if he gets a chance he can hold his button down oh he gets an ad wall there which is great for him for him some more ball safe that Ball's coming back hold the button down to spot all the shots around the Playfield wow two balls on the outside uses the heat right now spots a bunch of jackpots but that will be the end of Godzilla multiball uh uh where's this ball going off the post and not into too much danger round the tail up and he gets a trap on the left foot so Jim has uh the game going a little bit now he's got super spinner seven point a couple million points there thing that grab did not actually grab his ball it's up to 60 million points uh win for a shot into the scoopo and made it off the pot bumper well we take the Godzilla multiball power up now he's gonna go with Mechagodzilla that's a little closer to him right now and he's gonna go for the Mega Wild wow this is a tough one but it can be worth a lot of points only one shot late at a time in this this mode starting with the left ramp which Jim does not make from that flipper he's gonna go for mega Godzilla now a couple Target shots away and then up the spinner again to start that multiple takes a double Danger on that big slap save and out the left out lane so no shots made in mega launch leaves megalon in control of London currently Jason we're trick and Andrew Rosa are moving on to the next round Jason will plunge off here Andrew will plunge off here and also leave Colin MacAlpine here's Jason there goes Jason you got the ball saved though so plunge again uh of course it plunges in the magnet grab so this will take another 10 seconds and and there goes the Bell okay bonus is coming there count now Andrew plunges the ball and that will drain all right now in the hot seat Colin McAllen Park I want a strain out the left out lane turn out the right out lane tilted trying to save both of them Colin takes a Passover the left flipper has a trap now in the left flipper decides to shoot the right ramp I'm a little surprised that he's not going for a battle here but it looks like he may want to bring in a power at first maybe he's going for just some jet fighters if he gets four of those he can light his 2x scoring and then play the mode at 2x scoring uh he's slowly making some progress also to lighting his Godzilla multiball wow he shoots the middle so I think that tells me he wants to go for Godzilla multiball all right goes to the right ramp again that lights his power up oh it tries to shoot up the middle but the game rejected on him and with that finish Colin MacAlpine winds up in 13th Place let's hear what Colin had to say yeah all these guys that are in this event we've all been playing together at all the big tournaments uh for quite so number of years and yeah so it's uh it's been a good run stick around we're going to be following the entire Stern pro circuit Championship let's see if any of these players can make it all the way to the finals foreign

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 5c14df23-86a5-4ba7-8a02-652477b3011a*
