# Don't Panic Flip: Episode 4 - Taking Han to Endor/Hoth Town

**Source:** Don't Panic Flip  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2018-03-09  
**Duration:** 57m 18s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoW2POlRIrc

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## Analysis

A gameplay session of Stern Pinball's Star Wars: Fall of the Empire showing extended play on multiple missions (Endor, Hoth, Tatooine, Boba Fett sequences). The player demonstrates struggle with specific shot execution, particularly the Death Star shot, while navigating complex mission structures and multiball modes. Notable gameplay elements include the Escape from Boba Fett mode with 'Dick White' shots, hyperspace hurry-ups, and various mission-based objectives across Star Wars locations.

### Key Claims

- [MEDIUM] DeadFlip scored approximately $4.5 billion with 150-160 TIE Fighters on Star Wars — _Host comparing their own performance (109 TIE Fighters, ~869 million score) to another player's session_
- [MEDIUM] There is a hidden message from DeadFlip accessible during the intro screen via specific right and left flipper combinations (15 different hits) — _Host: 'Supposedly during that intro screen, I don't know if DeadFlip was messing with us, but there's a combination of right and left flippers you can hit during the loading screen that enables a hidden message from him thanking you for playing pinball.'_
- [HIGH] The Escape from Boba Fett mode features 'Dick White' shots that light up differently — _Host repeatedly references 'Dick White' shots in Boba Fett mode and questions whether hitting enough of them triggers a Boba Fett fight_
- [HIGH] Reaching 105 TIE Fighters triggers an extra ball award — _Host during Hoth mission: 'So if we do the hyperspace hurry-up, what are we at? Oh, we're at 79 TIE Fighters... What did I... 105. I thought that was enough. Whew. I got extra... Oh, extra ball.'_
- [HIGH] The Death Star shot is located in a position that is visually obscured or difficult to target consistently — _Host repeatedly expresses frustration: 'I cannot hit the fucking Death Star shot' and 'Can't make the Death Star shot'_
- [HIGH] Star Wars: Fall of the Empire has been the primary game played across at least five episodes of Don't Panic Flip — _Host: 'I think this is the fifth episode that's Star Wars' and references consistent play on the machine_
- [HIGH] The host plans to move play to Ghostbusters soon due to struggling with Star Wars performance — _Host: 'There's a Ghostbusters. We'll be moving over to that Papa Duke soon, just because I suck at Star Wars.'_

### Notable Quotes

> "I just watched Deadflip score $4.5 billion, I think, on this, with 150, 160 TIE Fighters. Destroy the game. Just goes to show that I have a lot of room to grow."
> — **Don't Panic Flip host (George)**, mid-session
> _Establishes performance gap and aspirational benchmark; competitive context for Star Wars skill ceiling_

> "I cannot hit the fucking Death Star shot. It's just... not available to me."
> — **Don't Panic Flip host (George)**, multiple instances throughout
> _Repeated frustration with specific shot placement/accessibility, suggesting playfield ergonomics or design concern_

> "Escape from Boba Fett is going to give me a seizure."
> — **Don't Panic Flip host (George)**, during Boba Fett sequences
> _Reaction to visual effects intensity (flashing lights) in the mode_

> "Both love and hate this game."
> — **Don't Panic Flip host (George)**, mid-session reflection
> _Mixed sentiment on Star Wars gameplay experience_

> "Supposedly during that intro screen, I don't know if DeadFlip was messing with us, but there's a combination of right and left flippers you can hit during the loading screen that enables a hidden message from him thanking you for playing pinball."
> — **Don't Panic Flip host (George)**, late in session
> _References hidden Easter egg in Star Wars software; suggests community knowledge of undocumented features_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Don't Panic Flip | person | Host/creator of the gameplay video; refers to themselves as George; plays Star Wars extensively and plans to move to other games |
| DeadFlip | person | Competitive pinball player used as performance benchmark; scored ~$4.5B on Star Wars with 150-160 TIE Fighters; apparently included hidden message in Star Wars code |
| Star Wars: Fall of the Empire | game | Stern Pinball machine being extensively played; subject of at least 5 episodes; features Death Star shot, multiple mission modes (Endor, Hoth, Tatooine, Boba Fett), hyperspace hurry-ups, multiball sequences |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Star Wars: Fall of the Empire |
| Ghostbusters | game | Pinball machine present at host's location; planned to move play to this machine soon |
| Death Star | product | Central playfield feature in Star Wars; serves as lock mechanism and multiball trigger; host struggles significantly with hitting this shot consistently |
| Endor | product | Mission mode in Star Wars with multiple objectives; Battle above Endor multiball; host completes multiple attempts |
| Hoth | product | Mission mode in Star Wars; includes 'Escape from Hoth' missions with asteroid field navigation and TIE fighter collection |
| Tatooine | product | Mission mode in Star Wars; includes 'Escape from Mos Eisley' and Tatooine Champion objectives; host attempts multiple times |
| Boba Fett | product | Escape from Boba Fett mode in Star Wars; features 'Dick White' shots; associated with intense flashing lights that host finds overwhelming |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Shot execution and playfield ergonomics, Mission mode design and complexity, Multiball and hurry-up mechanics, Star Wars gameplay and rule depth
- **Secondary:** Competitive benchmarking and skill gaps, Easter eggs and hidden features in code, Visual effects intensity (flashing lights), Content variety and machine rotation

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.45) — Host displays frustration with shot execution and specific mode difficulty (Boba Fett, Death Star), but also expresses enjoyment of gameplay features and appreciates successful shots. Mixed feelings explicitly stated ('Both love and hate this game'). Extended play despite repeated failures suggests engagement despite difficulty.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Hidden Easter egg discoverable by DeadFlip in Star Wars code indicating active developer engagement with community and undocumented features (confidence: medium) — Host discusses supposed hidden message in intro screen accessible via flipper combinations; notes uncertainty about whether DeadFlip was 'messing with us'
- **[competitive_signal]** Significant performance variance in Star Wars with top players achieving 150-160 TIE Fighters (~$4.5B) vs casual players achieving ~109 TIE Fighters (~869M) (confidence: high) — Host comparison: 'I just watched Deadflip score $4.5 billion... with 150, 160 TIE Fighters' vs own score of 109 TIE Fighters
- **[design_philosophy]** Death Star shot placement appears visually obscured or ergonomically difficult to hit consistently; host unable to execute despite multiple attempts and expresses repeated frustration (confidence: high) — Repeated statements: 'I cannot hit the fucking Death Star shot', 'Can't make the Death Star shot', 'It's just... not available to me'
- **[gameplay_signal]** Boba Fett mode features intense flashing light effects that create visual/cognitive overload (confidence: high) — Host: 'Escape from Boba Fett is going to give me a seizure' and 'Flashing fucking lights, dude'

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## Transcript

 Alright. Welcome to another session. Let's try not to let this game kick our ass tonight. We're going Han, who outwits bounty hunters. That was a great start. All right. All right. Yeah, there we go. Let's start Endor right away. Nice little Endor shot. Not a good way to go. Not a good way to start. Let's light the escape probe if I can. That's right. By the way, do not shoot the multipliers from the left side. I think that was a big issue that we suffered from last time. Should have saved that. Just too many spots in the ladder to go away very quickly. All right, what do we need? Okay, that was one. Not what I meant to hit. Wow. I could almost save that. Hmm. Running into focusing issues again. Let's see if we have to disable autofocus. Probably do. Uh, advanced. Camera Control, yep. Disable Auto Focus. And this one, Advanced Camera Control. I guess we have to do that every time? Alright, Auto Focus disabled. Should be better now. Alright. Ah, jeez. Made the Death Star shot there. There. Start some Endor action over here. Man. He'd be able to save that. Hyperspace. That's always fun. Can I play? I'll take it. I thought I had it. I they who take it What would happen if you hit the hyperspace hurry up twice? I guess I won't find out. Wow, that was quick. Where do we need? We need right inner loop. There we go. Right inner loop again. Let's get the TIE fighter. Check out all the trim of the world. 22. That's not bad. We got the same. That'll work. All right, what do we need now? Right ramp. Right inner loop. Left ramp. Kind of sucks I missed that twice. There we go. Alright, looks like we need the right ram. The left ram. Nice. Battle above Endor. Oh, shit. Wow, okay, thank God. Oh my god. So that was flashing. I feel like it was flashing orange-ish. I think I could have added that. Endor missions. Since we completed Endor just then. Let's do that again. Knockout shield generator. That was awful. There's one. Looks like we need right ramp. Nah. That's one. And now we need left. There we go. And we got the hurry up. I think we may have completed that. All right, what do we need now? It says we're on our third. What do we need? Place charges, complete bottom lanes to light hyperspace, collect lit shots. Wow, that sucked. There's a bunch of green stuff flashing. Just go for it. That's awesome. Get better. Get better. That's a better save, at least. Man, there's just a magnet right there at the middle. That was disgusting. Let's keep up with Han. Let's do this. We're going to beat Endor. Alright, let's just shoot it left-right. We're going to knock out the shield generator. We need four green shots to unlock door, and then four green shots to finish the mission. So eight green shots. That kind of explains... I think we've got two. Now we're going to go... It's going to say right ramp. Man. Don't have control. That felt bad. Feels bad. I don't know what lighting that Boba Fett does. Shoot again one. So, right root of right loop. I know we're losing our multiplier, but I'm more focused on missions right now. Got it. Left loop. Come on, Death Star. Nope. Hmm. TIE Fighter... multiball! Dammit. Can't hit anything. I've never hit the loop so much in my life when I don't want to. All right, come on, Death Star. Like that. I mean, it's super easy, right? All right, now we need right ramp. I don't know how many more shots we need. Jesus, that was so not the right ramp. Felt like a good right ramp shot. Man, missed again. Right ramp, come on, we can do this. Thank you. Left ramp. There we go. Left ramp. I mean, that was... Time to... Oh my god, get the fucking Death Star. How many more green shots do we need? Shit. Shit. I feel like it's going down. I'll take it. Here we go. God bless America. Let's pump up our multiplier. We're at 12. Now we're at 13. Thank you All right, video mode. Let's do it. Let's do it. Hmm. Could do better. Could do better. All right, so we've got Endor done. We want to, like, Hoth. There is a blue shot on the table, and we've got a mystery. Let's try the Hoth blue shot. Come on, get up there. Thank you. Alright, Hoth is lit. Alright, Hoth is lit. Let's start Hoth. Nice. So we've only got to do one mission? Oh, navigate the asteroid field. I feel like I've done this before. Are you crazy to follow us, fool? The ultimate surviving list, a 1,138 to 1. Ow. What did I get? 198? 12 million that time? That's not awful. I'll get to choose another Hoth mission. Escape from Hoth. Oh, cool. Thank you. It's going to come down to this Death Star shot. Let's see if we can hit the mystery. Oop. That had some serious spin on it. Um... So if we do the hyperspace hurry-up, what are we at? Oh, we're at 79 TIE Fighters. If that initiates it, we might get our second one. What is it, 103? So that would give us 80. I'd have to get... If it gives us 83, I would have to get 22. I think that's doable. Oh my god, just give me the ball. All right, here we go. What did I... 105. I thought that was enough. Whew. I got exa... Oh, extra ball. Maybe that's what it was. It's not that you get a... another multiball. It's that you get extra ball. Okay, so we got an extra ball. I knew something happened at 105. We'll take extra ball. That's beautiful. Pretty light show. Let's hit that TIE fighter. Since we can't hit the effing Death Star. Yeah, that obviously... Now we hit the TIE Fighter, but it's... What the hell do we need? Okay, cool. We just lit the Death Star. Just gotta hit it one more time. Oh my god, we almost got it! I'm getting really close to my monitors over here. I moved the shit out of the system. Okay, let's see if we can backhand it. Nope. Try again. Hmm, that was... Hey! That's okay. We'll start the lightsaber duel. Oh, wow, we really need to go far left to put it back, huh? Wow. super cool man this is just gorgeous this is beautiful I hope you appreciate this oh my god alright so what do we got we got Hoth done Endor done we can't initiate the Death Star because I can't hit the fucking Death Star shot we're in a duel right now we've got 40 seconds this is our extra ball this is it Fun mode. What are we at? 600? Let's go 5% max score. Oh my god. Get in there. Extra time. I don't need the multipliers right now. I need right ramp. I'll take it. Oh my god, I cannot hit the Death Star shot. It's just... not in me. Almost lost it there. There. I think I just need one more shot. It's not there. Did not get it. But I did get a mystery. Hopefully it starts Death Star? Is that even... Okay, relit mystery. Wonderful. Oh, no. Hey, look at that. Oh, we need all three missions of the Death Star. Oh my god, right down the middle. Ugh. Alright. 869. Bleh. 109 TIE Fighters, though. That's my best so far. Still not great. I just watched Deadflip score $4.5 billion, I think, on this, with 150, 160 TIE Fighters. Destroy the game. Just goes to show that I have a lot of room to grow. And all we've been playing so far is Star Wars. I think this is the fifth episode that's Star Wars. I mean, behind me, you can't see it all that well, but it's there. There's a Ghostbusters. We'll be moving over to that pretty soon. just because I suck at Star Wars. Mess with the angle. There we go. God bless America. I can't believe. Went right down the middle like that. Well, next one. Let's see what the Boba Fett stuff is. Light Escape from Boba Fett. That's fine, I guess I'm not purposefully going out. Yeah, I guess I kind of was. Okay, shoot left ramp three times to light Endor, force targets to light Mystery. It's not telling me what to do. To light Extra Ball, 89 more TIE Fighters, complete five more missions. The Confederate destroyed one. Oh, cool. Okay, Force. Light Mystery, Light Escape, Light Video Mode, Double Lighter, Light Saber Duel. Youngling, 125. Master, 25. Spare Level, Level Total. Pass the Jedi Multiball. Victory Medals. Luke, Strong with the Force, Increased Score, and Light Saber Duel. Okay. All right. Hero Missions. I don't know. There's a lot going on. Oh, here we go. So we need to do three on the Death Star. Huh. Oh, I wonder if that says one and three. Those aren't matching up, man. A lot of these are already lit. That's weird. Oh, that's why I only have to do one on all the other missions. Okay, so I just have to do two on Tatooine. I just have to do three on Endor. And I have to do one on Hoth. Okay, let's do that. So I wonder... I wonder... So a lot of these went white. A lot of the shots went white when I selected... What's his face? Boba Fett? So I wonder if I make enough of those shots, somehow I fight Boba Fett? So the missed shot for the Death Star kills me. God, what a good shot. Okay, well I'd escaped from Boba Fett. Okay, so we all went fight again. So we've got There's one. Now we need the right loop. There we go. Oh my god, this is so hard. Far left loop. Nope. There we go, got it. Okay, now I just need... Missed it Do I have to do that all over again I went right down the middle. All right. Let's stack them here. Child's play. Oh, this is still all messed up. Damn it. Both love and hate this game. Yeah, seriously. Escape from Boba Fett is going to give me a seizure. Wow. Really? Missed on both of those? Not one of the white ones. But I take it that the white thing wasn't far off. I have to hit all the white shots. Jesus. Wow. That went right in there. Alright, let's do it all over again. There's one. Missed it. I guess I'll take my hyperspace area. There it is. All right. Left ramp, right orbit. Oh, my God. Flashing fucking lights, dude. Why am I doing this? Let's do it again. I kind of want to see what it looks like. Faulty. Wow. Great timing on that. No count shield generators. There's one. He's going for the right loop. On right loop. Right loop again. Right loop. Whatever, I'll take it. We're going right ramp. Fly fighter. Death star. It's right there. I don't know what ball that was. Probably last one because it was awful. Yep. Game still good? Seems to be lined up okay. Awful reflection. Supposedly during that intro screen, I don't know if DeadFlip was messing with us, but there's a combination of right and left flippers you can hit during the loading screen that enables a hidden message from him thanking you for playing pinball. Kind of fun. Just got to see it. No idea what that code is. But it is 15 different hits. Alright. Letting Tantoo meet. Wow. Kind of a successful post-transfer. That was my poor attempt at the right scoop. So Tatooine is still lit. What is remove right out lane from danger? Oh, that's what the escape is. The escape is this little guy right here. So lighting that means I can't lose that way. That candidate. Sometimes, man. Uh-oh. Still kind of want to light Tatooine, right? Got it. Escape from Mos Eisley. Use ramps to build value before time runs out. Collect value on... something. Come on. You see a shot in the game. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. So I think I collected. escape from Mos Eisley, so I just have to hit that shot. It wasn't... All right, let's hit it. All right. just have to hit it and then we get the multiball. Um, I guess let's do the pie fighters. Alright, here we go. We got this. Thank you. And we get mystery. Escape from Tatooine. Shoot left ramp to escape, right ramp and hole will build. Wow, am I in full modes here? Thank you. All right. Shoot left ramp one more time to lay in the door. There we go. Knockout shield generator. Jesus. There's four. Five. Oh my god, I hit that shot. That's my first missed shot in like six balls. There's two. What do I need? Right ram. Right orbit, I guess. I meant. Oh, haha! Ah, yeah. Tatooine Champion. 516... times an 1154. I think we got time. One more game? You think we got one more in us? One more. Let's light those Tatooine missions again, so we can get to that one really easy. Two are already done for us, right? That was a good try. That was weird. That slowed down at the edge of the flipper. Sorry, blaming the flipper. Missed it again. Missed it again. I guess I'll just... Still missed it. We got it this time. Nope. There we go Oh God so close Nope, not even close, Jesus. Yeah, that was a pretty big move. Okay. Why am I even doing that? I was going for Tatooine. Surprisingly, that was too much. Use the Force. Alright. So tattooing is still lit. I cannot hit the fucking mystery shot. Hyperspace area. Wow. Right down the old mill. It's just me, or is that like four balls? Ah. Seems like Boba Fett with the white shards can pretty much combo with anything. Yeah. I'll take the save. That was just bad. It's funny, as I say that, you know, maybe there's some shots that I can't make, but it seems like I can't make any shots. Can't make the Death Star shot, can't make the Tatooine when I want to, let's do that. Oh my god, that was the shot! Nope, too much. That was way too much. All the way around, huh? Nothing? Both times, huh? Alright, hyperspace. Just give me a pantouine. Nope. Huh! Good save. Fun nut. God, I really don't like playing the Boba Fett thing. Thank you. Oh my god. What was that? 15 shots? One of them finally gets there? Light extra ball? Ha! Now it hits it accidentally. I'll take the extra ball. Oh, seaboard shots. One. I hit that. I want everybody to know I hit that. Two. Thank you. Escape a ward Collect Jesus Come on, Stern Get the timing right on that shit Okay, so I just have to hit Tatooine one more time To trigger The Tatooine escape multiball We gotta move this over just a bit Nope. God, the flashing light is amazing. Extra ball. Are we still in this mode? Nope. Thank you. Oh my god, I just have to shoot Tatooine. I don't want to light him again. I'm done with that. Do I care about lighting the hyperspace? Light the ender missions. Here we go. Here, this is the shot. Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh, that was only ball two. 134, not a lot. Too far. Do you believe this? I mean, I do. I'm not a good player. Alright, come on. We can do this. I know I said one more. But one more one. Screw tattooing. Come on, end it. We can do this. Let's just get to be a better player. Okay, fine. Yeah. Meant it. Is that the Ewok show? I didn't even see that. Stupid TIE fighters. Come on. We got 27 out of that. No, I guess since I did the plus 5, we got 22. But 22's not bad. Great. Something? Oh, is that not a Death Star shot? Hmm. That was a Death Star shot. All right, looks like we need right ramp. Totally missed. Let's save it. Ball three is 64. I need to place two more charges, it looks like, which is... I can't tell. And now we'll do the extra TIE Fighter and TIE Fighter multiball. TIE FIGHTER multiball! Are you kidding me? Hey, we finally actually got the mystery. All right, so I just got to hit left ramp to initiate to initiate Endor Multiball and complete the Endor Saga. Here we go. Battle above Endor. I can't tell if that's orange. I guess when it shows up red, it probably means orange. All right, that was it. you guys have a good night this was George from don't panic flip which is something you saw me do a bunch out here so I'll get better and the force will be with you always

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 5f0f364b-8b93-4ff3-a174-99639fe8413e*