# Pinball Expo 2019 Flip Out Tournament Playoffs - Quarterfinals **Source:** IE Pinball **Type:** video **Published:** 2020-08-07 **Duration:** 78m 17s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpKlrZfR0gM --- ## Analysis Coverage of Pinball Expo 2019 Flip Out Tournament quarterfinals playoffs, featuring commentary on competitive matches and an interview with homebrew game builder Matt Benzik about his custom Crazy Taxi pinball game (Motor City Taxi). The broadcast highlights youth dominance in the tournament, with all four semifinalists under age 18, and showcases gameplay and rules discussion for Elvira's House of Horrors and Sword of Rage. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Motor City Taxi is a fully custom pinball game based on a Spooky Pinball cabinet with a completely custom playfield — _Matt Benzik in interview segment, discussing his homebrew game development_ - [HIGH] There are nine homebrew games in the exhibition at Pinball Expo 2019 — _Matt Benzik stating 'I can't believe that' in response to the homebrew section size_ - [HIGH] All four remaining players in the tournament quarterfinals are under 18 years old — _Sunshine Bond and Roger Sharpe commentary during match coverage_ - [HIGH] Multimorphic P3 has made the barrier to entry into homebrew pinball building 'super low' — _Matt Benzik recommending Multimorphic and Jerry to aspiring homebrew builders_ - [HIGH] Motor City Taxi features a 'smart magnet' mechanic with a semicircle of stand-ups around a magnet — _Matt Benzik describing game mechanics in interview_ - [HIGH] Matt Benzik experienced a wiring fire while streaming a 10-hour continuous wiring session for his game — _Matt Benzik anecdote about hooking up wires backwards during live stream_ - [HIGH] Roger Sharpe's sons Josh and Zach Sharpe are competing in the tournament — _Roger Sharpe introduction by Sunshine Bond, identifying him as father of Josh and Zach_ - [HIGH] Motor City Taxi playfield design features fully round orbits inspired by older Bally games — _Matt Benzik describing design influences and features_ - [HIGH] Matt Benzik spent about two years on initial playfield sketches and six months intensively developing the game — _Matt Benzik timeline for Motor City Taxi development_ - [HIGH] Homebrew community members collaborate online on code and layout design with constructive feedback — _Matt Benzik describing homebrew community practices at Expo_ ### Notable Quotes > "So basically my game is a pinball spiritual successor to Tee'd Off. Crazy Taxi. I'm calling it Motor City Taxi." > — **Matt Benzik**, early interview segment > _Clear statement of design inspiration and game identity_ > "It is basically Crazy Taxi, but instead of being in San Francisco, it's based in Detroit. All your drivers are Detroit musicians, so you can pick Aretha Franklin, jump in her pink caddy, and cruise through Detroit." > — **Matt Benzik**, interview segment > _Key theme and design direction for Motor City Taxi_ > "I made my original playfield sketches about two years ago and then really started cranking up the heat the last six months of actually developing the game." > — **Matt Benzik**, interview segment > _Development timeline for homebrew project_ > "I did a 10-hour straight stream, not advised when you're wiring, and lit some of my wiring on fire because I hooked it up backwards." > — **Matt Benzik**, interview segment > _Anecdote about homebrew building challenges_ > "What we recommend is talking to Multimorphic, uh Jerry at Multimorphic with the Multimorphic P3 he has made the barrier to entry of homebrew super low" > — **Matt Benzik**, interview segment > _Recommendation for aspiring homebrew builders_ > "So all of the remaining four players are all under the age of 18. That is ridiculous. That really is. For a major tournament? Yep." > — **Sunshine Bond**, match commentary > _Highlighting youth dominance in tournament_ > "Generally, when I see teenage boys at a tournament, I get a little afraid. You guys, like, oh, they're here for a reason. They are surprisingly fantastic." > — **Roger Sharpe**, commentary segment > _Commentary on youth player skill level_ > "I mean, these kids have great control. I can't believe they're all under 18. That's just amazing to me." > — **Roger Sharpe**, match commentary > _Observations on player skill across age groups_ > "Absolutely, because isn't that the dream? It so is the dream." > — **Matt Benzik**, interview segment > _Reference to following in footsteps of established designers like Matt Scott Danesi_ > "The homebrew guys here we're all part of a group online so we're always helping each other out with code and layout stuff so we like playing each other's games and giving constructive feedback" > — **Matt Benzik**, interview segment > _Description of collaborative homebrew community practices_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Matt Benzik | person | Homebrew pinball game designer creating Motor City Taxi; interviewed at Pinball Expo 2019 | | Motor City Taxi | game | Custom homebrew pinball game themed after Crazy Taxi, set in Detroit with Detroit musician characters; based on Spooky Pinball cabinet with fully custom playfield | | Crazy Taxi | game | Original video game that inspired Motor City Taxi; released on Dreamcast and Sega Naomi arcade | | Spooky Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer whose cabinet base was used for Motor City Taxi | | Multimorphic | company | Pinball manufacturer known for P3 platform that lowers barrier to entry for homebrew building | | Jerry Stalenberg | person | Owner/founder of Multimorphic; recommended as resource for aspiring homebrew builders | | Pinball Expo 2019 | event | Annual pinball convention featuring tournament play, homebrew section with nine games, and seminars | | Flip Out Tournament | event | Tournament at Pinball Expo 2019 with quarterfinals playoffs featured in this broadcast | | Roger Sharpe | person | Pinball industry figure and father of Josh and Zach Sharpe; commentator for tournament matches | | Josh Sharpe | person | Tournament competitor under 18 years old; son of Roger Sharpe | | Zach Sharpe | person | Tournament competitor under 18 years old; son of Roger Sharpe | | Sunshine Bond | person | Tournament commentator providing game rules commentary for Elvira's House of Horrors and Sword of Rage | | Stephen Alexander | person | Young tournament player under 18, competing in quarterfinals on Elvira's House of Horrors | | Jared | person | Young tournament player from Michigan, under 18, competing in quarterfinals | | Matt Scott Danesi | person | Established pinball designer cited as inspiration for Matt Benzik's homebrew path | | Tee'd Off | game | Spooky Pinball game referenced as design inspiration and spiritual predecessor to Motor City Taxi | | Elvira's House of Horrors | game | Premium Edition pinball game used in tournament match play; features Elvira theme | | Sword of Rage | game | Premium Edition pinball game featured in tournament match play; known for upper playfield gameplay | | Ed Owens | person | Homebrew builder with Ghost in the Shell re-theme at Pinball Expo 2019 | | IE Pinball | organization | Content creator/broadcaster covering Pinball Expo 2019 | ### Topics - **Primary:** Homebrew Pinball Game Development, Motor City Taxi Design and Features, Pinball Expo 2019 Tournament Competition, Youth Player Performance in Competitive Pinball - **Secondary:** Homebrew Community Collaboration and Practices, Tournament Match Analysis (Elvira's House of Horrors, Sword of Rage), Pinball Rules and Gameplay Mechanics - **Mentioned:** Barriers to Entry for Homebrew Builders ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.82) — Strong positive sentiment toward youth players, homebrew community, tournament quality, and game designs. Enthusiasm about emerging generation of pinball players. Admiration for skill and control demonstrated. No significant negative sentiment detected. ### Signals - **[community_signal]** Nine homebrew games exhibited at Pinball Expo 2019 homebrew section, indicating active and growing custom game development community (confidence: high) — Matt Benzik: 'There's like, what, nine homebrew games? I can't believe that.' - **[community_signal]** Homebrew builders form online groups for collaborative code development, layout design feedback, and playtesting (confidence: high) — Matt Benzik: 'we're all part of a group online so we're always helping each other out with code and layout stuff so we like playing each other's games and giving constructive feedback' - **[competitive_signal]** All four remaining tournament quarterfinal players are under 18 years old, indicating new generation of highly skilled young competitors (confidence: high) — Sunshine Bond and Roger Sharpe commentary on age of remaining players throughout match coverage - **[product_strategy]** Established designer templates (Matt Scott Danesi path) being followed by emerging homebrew designers to establish careers (confidence: high) — Matt Benzik: 'You're following the Matt Scott Danesi path. Absolutely, because isn't that the dream?' - **[technology_signal]** Multimorphic P3 platform significantly lowering barrier to entry for homebrew builders by providing accessible hardware/software base (confidence: high) — Matt Benzik recommendation: 'Jerry at Multimorphic with the Multimorphic P3 he has made the barrier to entry of homebrew super low' - **[gameplay_signal]** Tournament gameplay demonstrates sophisticated ball control techniques including cradling, post-passes, backhand passes, and trapping across multiple playfields (confidence: high) — Commentators noting 'great control,' 'excellent ball control,' post-transfers, magna save activation, and upper playfield manipulation - **[design_innovation]** Motor City Taxi introduces 'smart magnet' feature combining semicircle stand-ups with magnetic grab for unpredictable ball behavior on lower playfield (confidence: high) — Matt Benzik: 'I made a feature that I'm calling a smart magnet, where when the ball hits a target, there's a semicircle group of stand-ups around the magnet, and it will grab the ball, whip it around' - **[content_signal]** Live broadcast coverage of tournament quarterfinals with detailed game analysis and expert commentary from experienced players (confidence: high) — IE Pinball video production featuring match commentary with Roger Sharpe and Sunshine Bond - **[event_signal]** Pinball Expo 2019 featuring dedicated homebrew section showcasing multiple custom games and fostering community engagement (confidence: high) — Multiple references to homebrew games exhibited, community members gathering, and feedback/playtesting happening at venue - **[sentiment_shift]** Positive shift in attitude toward young pinball players; established figures like Roger Sharpe expressing surprise and admiration for youth skill levels rather than skepticism (confidence: high) — Roger Sharpe: 'Generally, when I see teenage boys at a tournament, I get a little afraid... They are surprisingly fantastic... It's the next generation' - **[design_philosophy]** Motor City Taxi designed with fast-paced, casual-friendly gameplay emphasizing fun among friends while maintaining complex mechanical depth through smart magnet and orbit features (confidence: high) — Matt Benzik: 'It should be a lot of fun to play, really fast, and a great kind of just playing pinball with your friends, not being too serious, just having a good time' - **[product_concern]** Tournament gameplay disrupted by stuck ball incidents, requiring rules clarification on ball save procedures and restart protocols (confidence: medium) — Ball stuck under flipper on Sword of Rage requiring manual extraction and discussion of how ball save technology would restore gameplay --- ## Transcript Oh, it's us! We're live! I am with Matt Benzik. I found him in the homebrew section because he has his Crazy Taxi pinball game that is so wild. Tell everyone on the internet what your game's all about, Matt. Yeah, so basically my game is a pinball spiritual successor to Crazy Taxi. I'm calling it Motor City Taxi. It is basically Crazy Taxi, but instead of being in San Francisco, it's based in Detroit. All your drivers are Detroit musicians, so you can pick Aretha Franklin, jump in her pink caddy, and Antonio Cruz through Detroit with just the craziest passengers ever. I think one of our passengers is going to be Greg Bone. I'm writing him a script that's just going to be nuts. Wait, straight down the middle, Greg Bone? Yes. He's not a Detroit musician. No, he's going to be a passenger. You pick him up, and he's just going to be yelling things. If you hit the wrong target, he's going to be whining that the ride's too bumpy and just all sorts of stuff. It's going to be so stupid but so much fun. All right, so if you guys don't know, Crazy Taxi is this old video game that was on Dreamcast, I think. Dreamcast and the Sega Naomi arcade system. Yeah, there is an arcade version of it. And you're this taxi driver, and you have to pick up all these passengers, and you have to get them to their destination as soon as possible, and it's such a fun game. So is this completely custom, or is this modded from another game? Is it a re-theme? And what was your process about building it? So basically, it is a fully custom game. It's based in a spooky cabinet, so going off of a known base. But my play field is completely custom. And as far as gameplay, I took features that I liked from other games, like older Bally games with fully round orbits that play really fast. Also, I wanted a jump feature, and I made a feature that I'm calling a smart magnet, where when the ball hits a target, there's a semicircle group of stand-ups around the magnet, and it will grab the ball, whip it around, and do just some crazy things in the lower play field. So it should be a lot of fun to play, really fast, and a great kind of just playing pinball with your friends, not being too serious, just having a good time. So it sounds like you're following the Scott Denisey path. Absolutely, because isn't that the dream? It so is the dream. Oh, my gosh. All right, so how long have you been working on this game? I made my original Playfield sketches about two years ago and then really started cranking up the heat the last six months of actually developing the game. And you have it here this year at Pinball Expo 2019. The homebrew section is awesome this year. There's like, what, nine homebrew games? I can't believe I got that right. Let's name off some of the other homebrew games. Do we have Nightmare Before Christmas? Undertale. We have a re-theme of an old Stern game that's now a Wonder Woman. It's a beautiful re-theme. Ghost in the Shell. Ed Owens, Ghost in the Shell. And then a Party Zone-type game and Castlevania. And who else is there? They've been next to me all weekend, but, like, I'm so tired from this. It's all a blur. That Castlevania back glass is out of this world. It's, like, wood etched, is it not? Yeah, it's a laser etching process. Amazing. And so you were talking about your game catching on fire. Yes. He's like, what? No, it didn't. Tell me about this. It did at one point. I stream and I was streaming wiring it, and I did a 10-hour straight stream, not advised when you're wiring, and lit some of my wiring on fire because I hooked it up backwards. How do you put out a fire in a pinball machine? With all the tears of the money I might have lost if it lit on fire. Okay, for real though, like you can't get a fire extinguisher and blow all your pieces, right? Or you like throw sand on it? What else can you do, spit on it? So basically the wires that did light on fire, I just cut them out and got them away from the machine. So they're not advised. Use a fire extinguisher for all liability purposes, but yeah. So what else have you been doing here at Pinball Expo 2019? team? Playing a ton of Jurassic Park and then the other homebrew games because all the homebrew guys here we're all part of a group online so we're always helping each other out with code and layout stuff so we like playing each other's games and giving constructive feedback on how the design process. So say I wanted to build my own pinball machine and I don't know any of you guys in the homebrew crew how do i get involved to this community and you know feel confident in taking my first steps into building my own game so for that uh what we recommend is talking to multimorphic uh jerry at multimorphic with the p3 platform he has made the barrier to entry of homebrew super low and he's also kind of like the owner of one of our online communities that he can get people in contact, get you involved with the community, and then from there it's just pinball. All right, you heard it. Talk to Jerry. Jerry Stalenberg's awesome. But now it's time to see the next match, so we're going back to you guys over at the commentator booth. Hey, everyone. We're here at the Chicago Expo 2019. I am Sunshine Bond and I am joined with Tracy Abrahams from Austin, Texas. And who are you again? I'm the father of Josh and Zach Sharpe. Oh, I know those kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it looks like we are setting up to play Elvira, the new Elvira game. And it is Alexander who's up. This is ball one. So I get to watch and learn this game since I haven't played it enough. So it looks like he was immediately going for the lock shot. Right. He got that drop target down, and then he locked the ball. I mean, this game is fairly new. I hear you just go for multiball, right? Just shoot, lit shots, and go for multiball? Well, certainly during your ball save, you definitely want to go for that drop target. Yeah, hit some stuff down before it gets dangerous. Yeah, you definitely want to go for the... But he's definitely setting up his multiball, and then he will probably start his mode, which he just did by going up the center shot. Gotcha. So now he's going to start his multiball. There. There he is. No problem. Accurate. There you go. Fast and accurate. That's okay. Ball save. Right. Yep. He's in multiball, so. And I guess it's flashing shots that he needs to be doing. That's what I hear. I hear you just shoot for flashing shots, right? Is that how you? With the jackpot sequences? That's how I do it. You want to? Okay, good. those red shots. But he also has a mode going, so mode shots are also profitable. All I know is I found that it's a really sweet shot up the center from the left flipper. I think it feels good on both flippers actually. I know that everybody likes doing passing shots, but to do a reverse for the lock area is a very sweet feeling. Yeah. So we have a few people under 18, right? The age of 18, we have some youngsters in this. That's what I've heard. I have clothing that's older than that. The top four, yeah. All young men. Started early. Well, it's the next generation. I love seeing it. That's good. It's making a comeback. Definitely I see growth. He is out of multiball. He is hitting some mode shots now. He is comboing those ramps like no problem. Yep, nobody's good. It's a little easy. Got the sweet shot. So accurate. And that score is increasing with every shot sequence he's making. I mean, what else is there to say when you're hitting the shots just so smoothly like this? Right. Oh, it looks like it is topping out, at least in this setting, at 500. Not insignificant, but... Yeah, he's milking it. Got that house shot. He is so accurate. I don't think I've seen him miss a shot. So all of the remaining four players are all under the age of 18. That is ridiculous. That really is. For a major tournament? Yep. Oof. It's just wonderful to see this. He got another drop target down, so he's working on his multiball again. Trailer trash. I think he's started another mode. Second mode. So help me with this. Mode start is through the center of the cancel, correct? That's right. It's a center ramp. Gotcha. Your first one, you just have to hit it, I think, once. A few times, right? Oh, okay. Okay. Maybe once or twice. and then I think the shots... Open up the house. Yes, and so at each... The next mode that you want, it takes an extra shot to get to. So it gets harder and harder to start the mode. That makes sense. Same thing with the multiball. You have to hit more shots to get the multiball started again. Alignment is truly a master of game rules. So... Good. Deadhead bothering you to distract you. There are green modes on the right. You see where that green shot is blinking? Right over there. Yeah, right there. And he got that started. And you can see on the screen the lady with the curlers. Yep. Purely there to distract you. So I believe that, and I'm very new to this game, so I've just learned some rules, but I think you can stack both the house mode and the green modes on the right together. Nice trap there. One more shot to open the house again. Right. The rhythm here is just marvelous to see. He's got another lock lit. Nice. Just great control. And it does look like he has his multiball ready, so he's going to start another move. Oh, thought he had that one at the end, though. But still a great start. Yeah, a wonderful start, yeah, definitely. And it looks like he may be ready for ball two, where he's staged and all set to go. Yeah, he's got that multiball ready. Right. Jared's stepping up. Jared, a young man who plays in Michigan. Okay. traveled to Chicago and is doing fantastic in this tournament. Yeah, again, none of these four are old enough to vote. It's just miraculous to me. Well, he's old enough to gamble, too, because, you know, pinball is a gambling game, right? Isn't that Mr. Sheridan? Somebody once said that. Oh, okay. Just making sure that's true. Okay. He's got his lock lit. I just feel he's waiting to get like a shot sequence. I've always thought that. You get a couple of shots in a row and you feel that ribbon right now. He's struggling to find it. He's trying to find the shots for sure. And maybe that will get him on his way. Nice little spinner action there. Nice bit of control right there. Definitely. Right into that shot. My goodness. It's getting there. So that's the second ball locked. His multiball is ready, which he's probably going to go for pretty much immediately. Nice nudge. And boom, there it is. Okay. Now, in that case, he did not start a mow. Is it right? Well, his mow is still going. Yeah. You can see that it's still blinking on the orbits. There you go. This is the time to lose all those balls if they're in the way. Like that. Don't worry about it, it's coming back. Right. Got a few jackpots lit. One on that left ramp. Ooh, that was rough. Yep. And you see the spinner was going there. One more. On that right. Ooh, rough. That was tough. He's got that ball. I think a ball's coming back. Yep, got that ball back. Yep. There it is. Outside, right orbit. Right. He got the multiball extend, and I believe he got that from the left out lane. He hit the action button during the spinner, and it extended his multiball. I hear that's what it's good to go for if you're in that mode, definitely. So that was pretty smart play. So we got both orbits. Nice shot. Oof. Right down the center there. That can always be rough. Super jackpot, though. And he's got his double scoring going right now. Nice catch. I mean, definitely catching up. He's at 42 right now, not far behind 45. So, oof. Oh. Well, you know, a bonus. Definitely going to be a tight match here. Yep. Nicely done. As I said, in the beginning, he was kind of struggling to try to find where his angles were. And then he found him pretty fast. And he did, yep. So it's very tight. Well, the layout and the design are such where it really is some sweet shots for people. Yeah, this game feels really good to play, actually. Sure is good. I really like the shots. More things happen. So now we're looking to lock. Trying to soft-clench there. Yeah, his multiball's ready. So he's probably going to be going for his house mode up in the middle. Right. House and you can see that the face is flashing on the ramp so you know it's ready there it is And now he wants to start that that multiball as soon as possible Yeah Well, you gotta save it, you know those slings really deadly. Yeah that left right action will kill you quick How much you can do? Not really. We'll see if Jared waits now since there was a warning rather than jumping right on it. Now, have you played this game now in this bank? Because how's the tilt? You know, I did play it in the main, but my balls did not last long enough for me to even try to jiggle it out or anything. I didn't notice that it was a sneeze tilt or anything. Yeah, I mean, all these games are set up different than what you're used to a lot of times. I'm sure. Nice save. Yep. He's looking for that center shot. Exactly, it's right there. He's at free-fryer level two. All right, that's a ball lock. Nice little dead bounce there. All right, that's it. On happy hour. He started his multiball. Nice. There's a multiball that you can get. That's by hitting the three targets on the left? That's by hitting the three. And then going up the left ramp, right? Exactly, yeah. The three targets on the left and then the left ramp when it's lit. Wow, that multiball did not last long at all. You going to let it rest for a second maybe? No, just going right back into it. I would. would these kids these days mr. Sharpe is so dangerous you know really just fearless now he's getting his multiball ready before he started his mode oh oh man he's on a last morning yeah we'll see what happens it's taking a little moment I'm in here. OK. That's the shot I always hit. I hit that gargoyle like it's nobody's business. Got his mode started. He's got his multiball ready to go. Oh man, he's really lucky that it goes straight down the middle, because that's where it looked like it was going completely. So he's going to have to play this multiball really careful. Because he's already got double danger. You know, when this machine is knocking around a little bit, you can get kind of testy. I mean, this is probably the best time to do it because if you have that ball safe going, you're not going to try to nudge the machine a lot. You're going to let it calm down a little bit. Exactly. Just don't need to get too physical. Very nice in lane for both those balls there. He's definitely playing this on the fly. Yes he is. That's old school. Yeah, sometimes you just have to go with being in the zone there and just, if you've got the feel for it, do it. Well, there's so many shots that are lit. Right. You really want to hit as many as you can. Just keep going. Just chuck them out. But if you can hit the sequence on the ramps, if nothing else, it buys a little bit of time from right to left and left to right. He had a very nice drop catch to get it back in control there. Yes, nice. All right, here we are. Got a handle on it now. Now back up the center. Yep, back up the center. He's got one more shot, maybe two more shots to get that mode started. Never go halfway up a ramp. I think right now he's just trying to. That is a tough shot to try to do that on the back end. Yeah. All right, house is open. All right. Nice recovery from that. Yep. Okay, he trapped it. That's good. And boom there you go That the shot do four of those house modes that gives you a little mini wizard multi Oh, okay. So you definitely always want a mode going so that you can get to that mini wizard. Thanks, I'm learning. If I had a pen, I'd be taking notes. You should play pinball more. It's a good hobby. It's a good hobby. Okay. I'll try to get into it. It's pretty wholesome. So I've heard. He's also got his green mode going. I wish I knew what the official, I mean, what the official name of those modes are. Yeah, you would know way more about this than me. So he's got another deadhead taunting him. Right. Taunting him too much, I guess, there. Great ball. Yeah, pretty solid. Very nice. Good. And a decent lead. Yeah, a little stubble. Alexander has some work to do. I mean, these kids have great control. I can't believe they're all under 18. That's just amazing to me. Right. Generally, when I see teenage boys at a tournament, I get a little afraid. You guys, like, oh, they're here for a reason. They are surprisingly fantastic. Well, it's the next generation. Yeah. Yeah. They play pinball in diapers, pretty much. Well, I just like watching the skills and the approach to playing. Yeah. For younger players versus some of the old-timers. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of basic rules that they're all following. A lot of good post passes. Yep. A lot of good traps. Very good ball control here. And he's aiming for that lock shot. There it is. Just keep building up that multiball. I think he got his multiple added. He did. Now he has to make some hay. So we have, is it four jackpot slit here? So you have the outside loop, the center shot, and the two left shots, the loop and the ramp. Now, Sunshine, you know more about this game than I do. Can you tell me what these are right here? I actually don't know what those are. Oh, okay. Yeah. These are all different. I think they have to do. Flashing white lights. Oh, those are flashing lights. I hear those are important to tell you things. I think that the more you hit the ramps, the more they're worth. Yeah. And so those little blinking dots will show you your progress on the ramps. I think there's also ones that show you progress towards the orbits because the orbits increase in value as well. Gotcha. Well, all I know is these jackpots are still alive. Plus underneath that other flipper there. Now, Alex did have two multiballs going at the same time. You can stack the main multiball with the junk in the trunk multiball. So, I mean, he's caught up. Yeah, but he's got to keep going. He's got those slings going fast. Yeah. So, I mean, this is a very attainable lead. Looks like about $20 million. Yeah. I mean, knowing the first ball, how they all hit 40-something, right? Yeah, they did. You can definitely surpass them. They were both at $45 million on the first ball. Yeah. Well, let's see if he's up to the challenge. Is this ball three? Yep. I believe so. Yep. All right. So start a multiball and hope you get enough jackpots. I don't know how close he is to his next multiball, but he's definitely going to want to go up the middle for his mode. Now is that one until unhappy hour? Is that what that's saying up there? So we've got a floating head up there. Yeah, so those green modes, they carry over. You can start them on the first ball and they stay. And that's the deadheads, right? The green on the right? Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, on the right. And that's like in the little crib there. Yes. Where you knock the door and then you shoot it in there. All right, got a warning. Going to let it chill for a second. All right, just go right for that little ramp then. That's it. He started his mode. So he's got a really good shot here One point to you for the jackpot looks like he may have started his Gosh, I'm not quite sure. Oh, you know what? This is his fourth mode. So he started his mini wizard Yeah So this is why he's in a multiball all of a sudden this is great Oh, I was really hoping he would save that one. He is getting there. Those middle drains can be so mean. And there he is. What a great comeback. Yes, great. Way to go. Well done, Jared. That was beautiful. Great. All right, do we know our next game? What do you think he's going to go for? I mean, it's Alex's pick because he was the loser of the game. Right. So I'm not quite sure. So he picks game, the other picks order? Or he can pick position. I mean, he can pick game or position, but most people opt for game. Yeah, they know what their strongest. I mean, unless you don't have a preference. And then, okay, I don't care what game I wind up playing. Well, yeah, sure. These kids are so good. They're like, whatever. I know on all. Yep. So how has your Expo been, Roger? Have you had a good time here? You know, I have. This has been unusual for me. I was out of town at a different convention, an overlap. I got in late last night, so today was my first day, and I didn't compete. And it gave me a chance to really experience Expo in a totally different way than I had over the previous years. It's been a blast. Well, that sounds great. Having a chance to watch my sons a little bit. Yeah, that's good. Sitting in on some of the seminars and walking on the floor and trying to play a game here and there. That sounds a lot more relaxed. I guess so. Now we're watching... Black Knight. Oh, Black Knight. It's the game. Sword of Rage. And I know you guys have been having a great time. And this is a premium. Oh, yeah. Is this a warm-up ball? Nope. I think that they go straight into it. Okay. Got that lock shot like it was nothing. I played this game a couple of times in Pittsburgh. This game always just brutalizes me. I cannot get a handle on this game specifically. I just like the smoothness of the shots. But again, it's a question of what are the rules and what am I hitting and when? And does it make sense? Now he immediately got into a multiball. Yeah, that was just intense, how he hit those lock shots like it was nothing. Well, that's the upper play field. That's the upper play field, exactly. You've got to get it in there just right. He was working the magna save there. Activated the magna save, yep. Give me the original black mag. I can shoot those locks all at once. Fertilizing nice. Trying to separate there. Nice carry. Nice separation. Very good. Wow. Excellent. A little backhand. Pass it. Okay. I mean, everything is really attainable for the player when you think of all the key shots. And he started his other multiball. Great feed into those lanes, too. He is playing so efficiently. My goodness. Some good work up on top. Trying to trap. Oh, got those two. Three, four. Oh, wow. What a separation that was. That was just a piece of art. Trying to get two on two, I believe. So two on the left, one on the right? No, I think he's got three on the right. One on the left. And he's asking. Some kind of a ruling? He's asking a question, certainly. Okay, it looks like there's a ball stuck right there. I see it. There you are. Yeah. All right, so help me, guys. Thank you for calling in. What is the Ryan Policky now? So they have... It starts all over again. Well, they're going to get the ball unstuck and put it down, and then the ball... The game has a ball save. I believe all of those balls are going to go back into play as soon as the doors close. Oh, okay. If there's any time for that to happen, I guess that would be perfect. And his score will still be there? Yes, absolutely. Gotcha. So, yeah, thanks to technology. I was about to say that. Thanks to technology, all of those balls are going to go right back into play. They're going to get all plunged back in. So he didn't lose anything. That's good. And it was good integrity to. Well, now we'll see if we can cradle everything the exact same way that he had before. He ran off a couple balls there, but still got a few in play. He still has plenty to play with. Definitely. Oh, yeah. I mean, when you trap it like that on the left and you're still working that upper play field. He is playing that top play field so well. Oh, I love that catch. That post catch. All right. Nice. Didn't want that one to leave. Okay. Oh. Wow. Wow. That is just incredible. Okay. That was good play. So physics apparently mean nothing in this game, right? True. You're just digging it out from a hole like that. Got the ball safe out of it. So that's how you do it. You trap it on the left and you just work that right flipper up there. Just work the top. Just keep on going. Yep. Send it back. Wow. What? That was a lucky pass. Oh, wait. I'm sorry. I couldn't even see what just happened there. Yep. It went below the flippers and popped right back up. Yep. All right. Just sheer momentum. That's good. Nice backhand. I mean, we're still player one, ball one here. That's all right. He's got it. All right. Wow. Wow. He got his add-a-ball. He got his add-a-ball just in time. My goodness. Nice post catch. So, Sunshine, what is he essentially trying to go for besides upper play field? Well, you notice that he's playing on the upper play field. So, you just want to keep getting that long shot, right? And in order to do that, he has to be staging that flipper because he's got that flipper on the bottom cradled. So, he's just trying to get back up to the top. Yes. Like it's nothing. So that he can hit those green shots again. but I don't have a lot of experience with premiums. My rule of knowledge is more pro-based. Gotcha. But it's certainly safer to play up there than it is down on the bottom. Definitely. He's getting some good points. Oh, my goodness. He got a super jackpot. Got $30 million there, $30.4. That's not an easy ramp to hit up there. Nice separation. So we can see why he picked this game. Yes. I mean, he's just playing it expertly. Wow. It's all right. We had a lot of time with that multiball there. Well, the part that impresses me is in the middle of everything, getting the ball hung up. Yes. You tend to lose some focus. and kind of lose a little bit of your rhythm, he doesn't miss a step. Right. And he was mindful of where all the balls were. Yes. Like he knew he had a stuck ball. Sandworm, 2 mil. So we're at 169 mil right now. Ball one, player one. It is amazing. He is in his mode, the sandworm mode. And I think he's just trying to go for those locks again. Yep. And there he goes. Only two shots left. Goodness gracious. His add-a-ball is ready. Yep. Nice little pass there. Wants more control. Is he going to give it to Ronald? Sorry. Not phased by anything. Now it's time to lose them, you know. Don't worry about them too much. It's really great play. I mean, it's just crazy to me. He's cradling, and he's working those in lane lights, too. So he's staging this flipper on the right. Definitely. No problem with cradling down below. Beautiful separation there. He makes it look so easy. Yep. Nice shot. What else is there to say? And he's working on his other multiball during this multiball. He's backhanding that lock shot, and then he locks his ball. And that left ball stays safely cradled. It's excellent ball control. Yep. All right. It's fine. Very nice. Just right up, right back where we started. Yep. Rinse and repeat, right? If you know what works for you, you know, don't switch it up. Beautiful. And I have to comment, when I first saw the game, just all of the graphics and animation is just gorgeous. Yeah. It really is. And if you've been on the floor, that they have over there is pretty fancy schmancy. He was skillfully draining to get the balls back up there on the upper play field. That's his home up there. Yes, it is. He feels very comfortable. Yep. See, I see a lot of people not worrying about lighting lanes a lot of times if they're just concentrating on the balls and play or cradling or whatever. He's getting those lanes lit, like it's nothing too. Yep. I mean, very good at multitasking here, very good at cradling and shooting the play field. I have a feeling he's got this game at home. I don't know. What do you think? Not necessarily. Yeah? Well, if you think of many of the angles on this, it really is reminiscent of Black Night 2000. So, some of the shot sequences. He's looking around, so I'm wondering. I think he's wondering where should I go next, and I don't know if this area there. Oh, there's a ball stuck underneath his upper flipper again. Yep. Good little upper flipper. Yep. I was just below that. Right here. Yep. There it is. So we're doing the same thing we did a few minutes ago. Rinse and repeat, you said, sunshine, so we're going to rinse and repeat. It's still on ball one. Believe it or not. Yep, right there. He's still doing his lovely staging and working that upper play field. Yeah. My goodness. And I think he did a post-transfer while he was working the balls up on the upper play field. That one. Okay, we got rid of our circles. Good. Right after the ball save. Oh, man. He almost lost both of them. Yep. Oh. And? Does he get them both back? No. Yeah. I think he got his edible. Yep. I think the edible, all you have to do, I think, is hit the... Those left targets. There's two targets over here. And so if you're fast enough and he could, you know, it was still in the gray spirit. If you know what you have to aim for in the nick of time. Yeah. Gotcha. So you think his multiball is over, but guess what? He hits those targets and keeps it going. And the nice thing for him, the way he's playing, everything is getting fed back to the top, which is where he wants to be anyway. Yes. Okay. And here we are again. I'm looking out if there's another trap ball under that upper flipper there. No, Paul is constantly looking. I was doing the same thing. Just constantly looking out for that now. It's happened twice. Bad middle drain there. You know, I think Alex knows what he's doing. No, yeah. I mean, why are we even here, really? This is just... We don't have to watch out for that. He's watching out for it himself. It's just a comfort level. And again, I mean, these are young people. There you go again. Right up there. I'm so fascinated how right flipper-centric this ball has been. Yes. The right flipper doing most of the work. The left flipper being some insurance. Wow. Beautiful. This is really like a ballet we're watching here. Well, in some ways it's a tutorial. And while that ball was in the pops, he did a post-transfer really quick. so that it would be available again. He always wants his right flipper to be available. Go through the sequence again on top I mean not that he doesn know what he doing when it comes to staging Obviously we saw that Definitely can work the staging very nicely He just makes it look so easy I know My goodness. Nice little loop around. Feed it back there. Yeah, he also has the Magnesave look on the right. I mean, I don't think he really needs it, right? I was going to say, not that he could need it. Hey, you know what? It doesn't hurt to have it. Right, definitely. It's a nice security block here. Oh, beautiful. Very nice jump over, my goodness. That's all right. That's all right. He'll probably start another multiball before we know it. All backhanded, he has the lock lit. All right, 286. He is really close to his black knight mode. There it is. You're going to have to finish your sentence. Here's another. Well, I saw it was blinking. He had all his knight letters. Okay. So that's how this started this time. Yeah, you collect all those knight letters to start this particular multiball. All right. You got it out. So I'm kind of curious if you can stack other multi balls with this or not. But I guess we'll probably find out. I think so. Just a nice touch up here. Right back up there. waste no time. Nice little bouncy bounce, go right back to the tip of the flipper there. He's looping it. He's doing loops up there instead of trying to lock balls, he's trying to loop it. That's where the points are. Now the real increase in each loop. Boom. Three mil. Wow. It's really, it is increasing. I just noticed. Loops all day. That was a big one. That was a little bit of a slow feed, but you got to ride it back around. It's crazy. Bounce back up. Go back at it. So this is going to be a game of stamina at this point. Yeah, right. It is definitely a marathon. Well, the wonder on top is he really knows, like right there, just below the bottom of the tip, and he's still able to get it going and then stage it. Well, he doesn't have to stage it right now because there isn't a ball cradled. No, but I just meant in terms of getting a shot on the sweet spot. It kind of reminds me of the, you know, on the Wizard of Oz game, how you do the loops up there. It kind of reminds me of that. So have you been, sunshine? I've been good. I've been good. Lots of tournaments to play here at Expo. Oh, look what just happened. All right. Well, we're back at it. Back to ball stack. Third time's a charm. Hopefully, they'll be the last. Another, you know, just a slight pause. This isn't a foolproof game that we're all playing here, you know. Some things will happen like that. It's pinball. It's pinball, as they say. Well, this is going to be running all night. 401, and we're not even done with the first player. Yeah, I've got to wonder. He plays at 50 mil. Oh, there, he got it out. I've got to wonder what Jared is thinking right now. He's thinking I've got a lot of stuff to do. Yeah. A little intimidating. And back to multiball. Well, I mean, this is what makes it interesting, especially when you get towards the end when you're at a more level playing field. I mean, you really had to work to get to where you're at. So you're probably going to have one win and one loss, and then the last game kind of decides. It can be. A lot of times, yeah. But you never know. Some people can do it in two games. Yeah. Beautiful. Beautiful. Okay. How about going back up to the top? Yeah, let's go back up to the top. Let's start another multiball. Let's lock some balls up there. I mean, that is beautiful where it's rolling. It's just getting right at the tip. So for the people at home, Sunshine, Why don't you describe right here all these flashing shots, what he's trying to go for, since we all know he's just going for the upper playfield. Well I mean obviously he's been going for this shot because that feeds it right back up to the upper playfield. So that's typically the shot that lights the mode, which you can start over here. Okay. Which is next to the lock. Which is now lit, you'll see, right here. And the mystery is also lit there. But he's really interested in just going up to the upper play field over and over and over again. He keeps throwing those multiballs and keep hitting those loops and keeping that lock. And then when he's in multiball, then he's working on his other multiball. Right. Wow. He's got his add-a-ball. Right. All right. This is something to enjoy. I mean, there's obviously a reason why we are here, top four. Yeah. Very beautiful in lane there. Another great separation. Whatever happens, if Alexander moves on, I have a feeling I know what game he's going to pick. If it ever comes to that. Right. Although, honestly, I would be a little... If you know you're going to play a game for so long, I'm just exhausted I'm just exhausted just thinking about it but you know he's a young man he has more stamina than I have but also in all honesty it's been effortless for him yeah I mean everything has been I mean it's very smooth wow rough middle drain there but bravo my goodness my gracious nearly half a bill I think that's the best ball I've ever seen wow that was great so ball one player two is about to begin. Okay, Jared. Jared's stepping up. He's got a little bit of wood to chop. Yeah, definitely. Just a tan. But you know what? He could know this game just as well as Alexander. He's got stamina as well. He's trying to find that lock shot. Yep. He's trying to backhand that shot back up to the play field. He's got his mode lit. Trying to find the right timing there to get it in. Yep. But he's going for the... Right back up. He's trying to go back up to the top. Sometimes it can be very dangerous the way he shoots it right back at you. There it is. Got the loop. There it is. Got it in. Okay. He found it. just right. Oh, no. Well, this is now four. It looks like a MagnaSafe to me. I just thought I'd incorporate it. Got it out. All by himself. Good. Sometimes you can flip it out and sometimes you can't. That is tough. Do you want a backhand on that? Yeah. That is tough. Well, you know they say it only takes one ball. Obviously, we just saw that. Right. So. All right. Right back in there. I was about to say something, but I just knew it would just go so smoothly right back in there. Oh, he tried to put us back up there. And. So how about you, Mr. Sharp? How's your weekend going? It's been great. I had a chance to see my sons. I got to see one of my grandsons today. Oh, very nice. Under 18 as well. Fall is stuck. Try to flip it out again, maybe. We'll see. Definitely doesn't want to mess with it too much. There it is. There it is. Back to the lock. How old is your grandson, Roger? Benson was here today. That's Zachary and Crystal's son, who just turned one. God, I guess a couple of months ago now. Oh, wonderful. Yeah. And what's his GC? score then. I'm wondering. I'm waiting to see. I'm waiting to see when Josh brings both Charlotte. My First Pinball Machine, the book. That's what you guys read at bedtime? Absolutely. Tell the Tales of Mr. Tilt. Trying to get some control there. Started to slide back into there. Backhanded it beautifully. And have you guys enjoyed your time already? Yeah, we both made it to women's finals. Yeah, that was great. It was very nice. This is my first Pinball Expo. Not my first time in Chicago, but I love Chicago. Yeah, so I was like, you know, let's go for Maine. Let's do women's. Let's see what I can do. Did you play any classics? I did not. I really like classics. I really like, you know, the older games. But I didn't want to put too much on my plate for my first time here. Sure. Well, I'm glad that there was a women's tournament and everybody enjoyed it. It was fun. It's just getting bigger and bigger for sure. It is. When that ball is ran, we have the ball save. I know the IFPA has set up all sorts of different directors and what have you. Oh, yeah. I just signed up as one myself. That's why I mentioned it. Fantastic. Just started the Bells and Chimes in Austin. Go Bells and Chimes. Very nice trap. Beautiful. Nice little pass. Probably wants to separate. Trying that right now. And bounce over. Beautiful. Like it was nothing. Nothing to it. Yeah, the ball control is outstanding. Just do that. A little Magnesay. He used his Magnesay. Good. And backhand. Backhand to do the lock shot. That is a sweet shot by the way. Lock the ball. Ball save is available. I really love that post catch. And, what about the ball? There it is. No problem, ball save. I'm loving to watch that top. Oh, my goodness. Slows it down nicely. Very nice, too. It does. I mean, it is masterful. Like that. Just bounce it back up. We'll get it right back up there. It's fine. Very nice. He's still working on that lock. That's all right. Oh my goodness. Nice nudge in out of the out lane. The lock is lit as well. I think this is his third lock. And he's going to backhand it. Right there. It's safer to backhand sometimes. It really is on that shot. Yeah. A couple of times I've played the game. His add a ball is ready. And a skillful drain right there. So he can get the ball back up on top, which is his favorite place. That's where he lives. He's got his ball stuck problem again. Which the other ball is going to knock out? Yeah, I think he's trying to use that. He's hoping that he can get it free with the flipper, but he may not be able to. The ball almost did. I think he might. It's jumping a little bit. Now, keep in mind how difficult this is. He's staging this. Yes. You know? This is not another button. He's using one button to control both of those flippers. Yeah. I mean, if you think about it, you could hit a ball right back up there, see if that second ball could maybe nudge it out. I think that the tournament director is going to come through his rest. Since it's been resting there for such a long period of time, I think you have to go back in and you have to get that ball out of there and start it all over again. It's all good. It is, it is. It looks like he's got his, I believe that is his mode shot blinking right there. Okay, I was going to ask what that was. Thank you. I'm not familiar enough with the premium to say whether you can, I mean, it's blinking, so I assume that you can get it started while you're in the multiball. Oh, in terms of overlapping. Yeah, I'm not quite sure how that stacks exactly. It's hard to see because you don't really have the entire plate bill in front of you at actual size. So we're just looking at a screen. You don't see exactly what that's linking. I don't know this game that well, to be honest. I know the shots. Yeah? I just don't know what's worked. So I wonder what's going on here and what the delay is. I don't know. I mean, he's still trying to jar it. loose with the flipper, but I think it's in there. I really do. And since it's not like the old days at Papa where we take off the glass and say here, we'll put it on this flipper. It looks like we have Tim Sexton. He's gonna take a look. Excellent. I'm just wondering if something has pitted up there or something has happened with just the base where the ball was sticking. I wonder if they're going to actually try and fix it. I don't know if they can fix it. I mean, obviously this is going to go into the ball save and he's going to go right back to where he was. Well, and you can't fix it in the middle of the game. I mean, once you start, I mean, both players. have massive what's are on the same same plane okay we're right back to it right Catapult, multiball, add a ball as if you needed it. All right. Okay. So obviously he made that shot which now has lit the others. Yes. Pretty much everything is lit here. Everything's blinking. What is the difference between the blue and the red in Sunshine? You know, I kind of suspect that the red shots are part of the multiball and the blue shots are part of the mode, but I'm not entirely sure. There is a ball right here, a flail, and I see him trying to hit that and get it going. You can see it's moving now. and if he hits it again, I think at some point he hits it enough times, it will let him back up on the way. I was just going to say, it goes back up. Exactly. The knight has to stop you from constantly going up there somewhere, right? Yes, exactly. So it's blocking him from the upper play field. You can see it's moving now again. He says, so what? So it's more and more difficult to get up there. And it's really a sequence of shots from what I understand and what I've seen. Of whether or not it's going to let you through, block, or be turning back so it's back in your face the way that is. I mean, if this is any time to have three balls on the left flipper, I mean, what wouldn't you do? All right. No problem. We still have a few to work with. It's a nice separation there. No problem. He wants two on the left, though. Exactly. He wants two on the left. A little bouncy. Oh, and we lost one. Oh, he lost two. Oh, my goodness. Okay. All right. But now he's back to where he wants to be. He can do it. He can hit it right back up there. And he got a super jackpot right there. Right back into that Okay Only 9 million for that multiball Well that Well there were two multiballs stacked Wow Great save That was just one of them. If he loses his bonus. Oh, I know that back last. Yeah, that was. Ransom. Huh. This is vaguely familiar. Yep. 5X bonus. Flail is millions. So this looks like a bit of a wizard mode to me. Yeah, it's basically hit a bunch of great shots. From Black Knight 2000, which I can speak to. Yes, that was everything is lit. So the extra ball is lit. Do you know how many points that gives you since, obviously, extra balls are turned off for the tournament? I would assume it's either 10 or 15, which tends to be kind of standard. Yeah. On certain games, but don't quote me on that. That was beautiful. Beautiful. Goodness gracious. All right. He's back to trying to lock a ball. See, I feel like we can't even do commentary, because when we're trying to start a sentence, he immediately hits those shots. It's like we can't even discuss because he's right on top of it. He does play faster than we talk sometimes. Right, my goodness. He really does in terms of what some of the new methods are. Light the Magna Save here. He got his Mystery. He hit the Flail. He hit the Flail again. and now he can go up to that upper play field again and lighten his mode. Ooh. Oh. Missed off the magazine. Ball two. Wow. My goodness. Bravo. 6X. That brings it to. A little under 700. Wow. Yeah, solid. Not too shabby. Pretty good. For everybody watching, they now get to see strategy. Yeah. And what to do and how to do it. How to work the up-to-date field. It's a great tutorial, sitting here and watching. I take my hat off to them. Yeah. So, if I'm Jared walking up to this machine. Yeah, what is going through your head right now? Are you intimidated? No. No? I think you're going up and saying, look, I know what I'm able to do. Yeah? Let me go. And in some ways the pressure's off. Yeah? To some degree. I mean, if it was much closer, but now it's like I got nothing to lose, let me go see what I can do. And this is also the second game. Second game. If it was the third game, then you would definitely be feeling it. Yeah. Like, oh, my gosh, this is it. Then it's time to really crank it out. But to some degree, you know, you just kind of put your hands up in the air and go, well, I'm going to do the best I can, and hopefully game three will go my way. Yeah. Well, and potentially, depending on how you guys play it, maybe he's already thinking, all right, what game do I want to play? I'm sure he's thinking about it. What's going to be my Black Knight sort of rage? Exactly. And what's going to be a game that maybe has some different geometry? Right, yeah. Because you step into a different game, those angles can be way different. And if you're used to how several games are set up, you walk into another one and it's something slightly off, and that means the other is going to be slightly off and slightly off. That was a nice post-transfer in the middle of the multiball. Yep. It looks like he's got maybe a ball stuck. Oh, there it is. Again? He had it behind the flail by accident. Oops. Oh, my gosh. I'm not quite sure what that was. It looked like an airball. Yep. Like it just jumped. I think it did. So can we backhand for the loss? We knew that one was going to that left. Yeah, he's still trying to hit that flail so that he can get back up top. No, I knew. I just didn't know if it was open. If he goes from the lock shot, where do I get kicked out? If I'm coming in here, where does that go? Does it go back up or does it come back down? If you're talking about this shot right here? Right. Can I get to the top going that way? No. No, there's no way to get up to the top from there. Really, this is the path to go back up to the play field. I didn't quite see how that ended. I mean, that's not a bad fall to end on, though, really. No. How it ended was he just stopped. I mean, this is the mercy rule. Yeah, the mercy rule has been put into mercy. Yeah. Trent was like, this is good enough. All right. So one versus one. This third game will decide. And it is Jared's pick. Right. And we'll see what he does. I'm going to have some more tea. Well, that's a great idea. So I see a lot of youngsters, especially wearing headphones while they're playing. I know you do that. I do on occasion, yes. Thank you for calling me a youngster. I appreciate that. But, I mean, I see that more often with, like, especially, like, younger kids. Like, I never, like, think to do that. I just, I feel like I have to be, like, in the game, you know, and not, like, separate outside anything. Guys, it's been real. Ah, we're leaving. We're talking about younger kids. We've got to get this old man out. We've got a young kid coming in. Bravo. Thank you, Roger. Thank you. It was a pleasure. Pinball Roll T is leaving the booth. And do we have a change in the guards? I'm sorry, there's somebody who knows game rules. Thanks, guys. It was great to talk with you, Roger. Thank you so much. All right, come on up, Zach. Hello. Zach Parks joining us. Hello. Maybe you can talk about... Put your microphone up to your mouth there. Yep. Introduce yourself. All right. Hello. My name is Zach Parks. I'm from Chicago. So this is my hometown tournament. Yeah. Let's watch some Beatles. Beatlemania. Game three on the Beatles. Yeah. Jared's pick. Cool. All right. So it's one to one. This will decide. Yeah. So, yeah. So I see a lot of people going definitely for multiball and serve ball. Yeah. Is that the basic strategy we're going to see here? Yeah. So you have a guaranteed multiball ball three if you plunge correctly. So you're going to see both players get multiball. Jared is starting with his pop bumper mode. I feel a lot of people go for the pop in the beginning. Yeah, it's definitely a lot of points. You want to get that little, when you plunge you want to get it either in here, right? There's also a skill shot down here. Yep. You can also soft plunge up to here. well try to draw on there and then you want to shoot it right back up here right those are all those skill shots that you can aim for definitely so a quick ball there for jared um not much maybe we can move the camera before the next ball is plunged kind of move the machine there Yeah. Let's see if Carl can... No, he cannot. Okay. Right back into it. That's fine. We've seen enough of it. We're going to play. All right. So, Alexander is choosing the loop mode. Okay. But she definitely knows how to do it from that bottom right flipper there, not only just the upper right. Ooh. Is that coming back? Is that just... It is. Just in the nick of time. Wow. That was a good grace period there. All right. Level three, drive my car. I thought it was just gone. Sometimes these machines can be forgiving. Oh, wow. Well, I just jinxed you. I'm really sorry about that. Okay. Wow. It did a weird bounce. Yeah, that's one of those moments in pinball where you're not sure if the slingshot is going to fire or not. I feel like that's been happening with me on the Beatles, too, where I feel like, is it going to be like maybe an old-school EM game, which is kind of the vibe that they were going for, where it just slides right past it, as opposed to knocking it back. Got that loop going. Yeah, he's got the loop going really well. That is some sweet loops. Nudge it to the right there. Beautiful. That's a nice nudge. Nice little save. Nice little save. Right, back up. Not enough momentum, but... Oh, tilt. Oh, got the tilt. by spinning disc. Yeah, that was definitely the spinning disc that ended him right there. That's why they put it there. So we're going to move the machine or the camera. The machine moves quite a bit there, so we're going to give it a break. Carl to the rescue. Thank you kindly. So we've got player two, Alex, stepping up soon. I think he's letting that silt bob settle a little. Definitely. Definitely want to be able to have your full nudge capabilities. Oh, it's so important. For the Beatles. Yeah, especially on Beatles. Yeah. That spinning disc can be deaf, definitely. I mean, you think it's going to end up so nicely, either to the very left or the very right, and then it'll just go whoop. It's really, it's chaos. You know, this is just a little chaos thing. and it puts so much spin on the ball. Oh, yep. So the ball just, it's just going a little crazy. Yeah, it's very dangerous to hit these drop targets right here. There's four, I can't touch the screen here, it's not working. Okay, well, there's a, right above that spinning disc, there's four drop targets, and if you hit those, sometimes it just drops on that disc. So he's working on his spinner mode. Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. So I was playing the spinner mode as well, and I know that some people do not like it, but the spinner was spinning really nicely. Oh, yes. It was all right. That was an insane save. And gets an inland. Wow. He's going right back into the pops. That can be kind of dangerous. That machine moves. Okay, he's in a cradle. Give it a second, Amy. Oh, no. just right back. Oh! Very difficult game to control. But this just feels like maybe, it's not like the exact opposite of Black Knight, but my gosh, the contrast in the game styles. I mean, this just seems so quick and out of control. And Black Knight was just. Yeah, I mean, Black Knight can shoot the ball, you know, with that spinning mechanism there. It can just shoot the ball right back at you. But with that wheel up there. I mean, it can be fast. That will just knock it in every which direction. So he started his multiball mode all my loving. He's got those balls in play and the jackpot is on the loop, yes? Yes it is. And it's lit. And you light that by switches so the best way to do that is by the spinner. And there's opportunity to add balls as well in this game. So right now it's not lit So you would be hitting the spinner right here. Is that right? And also, is addable, is lit? On the question mark, stand up. I don't know if this. The screen's not really working for this. Yeah, we can't do the touch screen mechanism here. Yeah, it's not working. Okay. Well. It's on the left. Thank you, Kylie. The person with the computer did it. Okay. So just below the left three bank. Yes, where it says fab, it's just below that. Very nice. He's got his jackpot lit. Yeah, so he has addable lit and he has his jackpot lit. Really nice jackpot shot. We can see why Jared picked this game. Wow, that was a great save. Nearly down the middle. And he gets his...oh, he didn't. Had he already gotten his addable? Because he shot the mystery. Wow, what a save that was. Got that loop going. Would it still be blue if it was collected? I don't know beetles well enough to say. Oh, yes. It looks as if the add-a-ball was used right at the very beginning of the multiball. Got that. And then we have an out-lane drain. Okay. All right, so trap up. Take a breath. See what you've got to do here. Okay, so on the left behind the fab three bank, He'll have a shot worth... Worth how much? It would have been worth 1.2 million points he missed out of there. Still a very, very great ball right there. Somehow did not lose his bonus. That was amazing. So this is kind of a style of the old games. So it's very low scoring. That's a solid 3 million. Yes, that's a good score. Definitely. 3 million would not mean much in other games. Totally catchable. Yes, definitely, for sure. So we'll see what Alex can do here. So Alex will start his multiball here. And then see what he can do. Is the jackpot lit right from the beginning of the multiball? It is not lit. I think you need, so it'll like show it lit, but when you shoot it around there, it doesn't award your jackpot. So I think you do have to light it. Work up to it. That was a great save to keep all of them. It seems to be pretty easy with three balls in play to hit all those switches enough times to get that jackpot lit. He had a nice spinner shot there to light it. Oh my gosh. What a save that was after losing that last one. Wanted to keep. Okay, so we're trapping both. his ability to just pay attention to both balls in play. I know. The multitasking involved. Oh, a last second jackpot. That was huge. Yes. Wow. So what's the plan now? So now he's trying to shoot the fab targets. The slingshot's dangerous. But we got it. And collect his song jackpot. Trying to do a post transfer. successfully. So he's running into that fab on the left there. Is that correct? Yeah, so there's a blue flashing. Oh, he almost had it. Almost. Alright, so he has two drops down, so I think you can hit it. Boom! He got it. 810,000 points. That was huge. Okay. Do we know how much the extra ball is worth? Or where you collect it? So the extra ball is on the inland. Okay. I don't know how much it's worth. And how do you light your next mode? So you have to shoot, I think it's two banks to drop targets. I think you have to spell Fab Four. Wow, what a good slap. No way that stays up. Oh my gosh. That was insane. That was insane. I'm sorry. I just blinked. What just happened? That was... Literally insane. And he's still alive. That... I do not want to see the bonus, Lou. That could have been the end of his life right there, and he got it. For sure. I mean, the thing is, you have to... You try to go for it, you know? Oh, he's so close. I think he has it in bonus. Is there a way to trap up and see how much bonus you have? He's just going. He's just going. I mean, he's caught up. Oh, my God. But he's not going to want to make any kind of saves here. The slings are firing. He's flailing away. You know, it's really hard to tell, too, how much you need because it's so low scoring, you know? Like, you have to just keep playing until you definitely pass your opponent. 20,000 points away. No, now we're 4,000. You just can't tell? And I think that drop target banked it. And you did. Wow. Bravo. That was outstanding. Congratulations. Wowee. Beautiful play there at the end to get it. Yeah. Very nice. Versatile player, you know? Adapted his style very quickly. Yeah, going from a very stop and start game to, you know. Something where the wheel's going to throw your ball around and you just have to make sure you're ready for it. No, it's so beautiful. Wow. Okay. So a great tournament by Jared. Absolutely. Wow, what a great showing. Definitely. Hopefully he's happy. I mean, they should all be very proud of themselves that they've made it this far. There are many, many people in the main. Many people from all over. Tough road. There are like 40 top 250 players. in this tournament. Like, getting fourth place is definitely nothing to be ashamed of. Yeah. So we're going to switch over to our next commentators. I've been Tracy, along with Sunshine. Yes, thanks for sticking with us and watching some great pinball. Thank you. And I'm going to go play some more. I believe you are going to as well. Awesome job. Thanks so much. _(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: bce4d9d6-2bc0-42f9-88cb-084ee13ff26f*