# Concord Open 2026 Classics: Final game 3/4 on Bally Paragon. Streamed from The Flipper Room.

**Source:** DRI374  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2026-05-02  
**Duration:** 15m 40s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrk2qpAll2M

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## Analysis

Live commentary from the Concord Open 2026 Classics tournament final game (3/4) on Paragon at The Flipper Room. Commentators analyze player strategy focusing on bonus building, spinner shots, and super bonus multiplier stacking. Multiple players (Scott, Dan, Tom, Justin, Dustin) compete across three balls with varying success, including notable scissor passes and tight saves.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Paragon copy at The Flipper Room has a gate preventing roll-backwards into the beast slayer, which some locations remove — _Commentator discussing machine modifications during gameplay analysis_
- [HIGH] Super bonus carries over between balls in Paragon — _Commentator explaining core Paragon strategy: 'you want to build bonus and get to your super bonus because that carries over, right?'_
- [HIGH] Inline drops in Paragon build multiplier for bonus scoring — _Commentator strategy explanation: 'once you got some pocket change, you want to go for your inline drops there and build your multiplier'_
- [HIGH] Scott achieved a 30x super bonus and 343 point score on ball 3 — _Live scorecard commentary during final ball analysis_
- [MEDIUM] Paragon's bonus camera is particularly satisfying when fully maxed at 5x multiplier — _Commentator opinion: 'I love the bonus camera in this game. It's just so satisfying when you actually when you fill it up and you got 5x'_

### Notable Quotes

> "We love Paragon... It's a little bit of a standing joke, isn't it? But yeah, a lot of people do love Paragon. Yeah. Um I'm not one of those people, but I just think it's very it's very difficult."
> — **[name withheld pending review]**, Opening
> _Sets tone for nuanced perspective on Paragon—acknowledging its difficulty and mixed reputation in community_

> "I love the bonus camera in this game. It's just so satisfying when you actually when you fill it up and you got 5x. It's just like, you know, people start turning around. It's just something wrong with the game, you know."
> — **[name withheld pending review]**, Mid-game
> _Describes compelling game design moment that attracts spectator attention_

> "There's no such thing as gentle Dan, is there? That's kind of my joke. Uh, I can't master a tap pass because I've never had a gentle touch in my life."
> — **[name withheld pending review]**, Ball 3 analysis
> _Playful characterization of player Dan's aggressive tap pass technique_

> "Tom has a tall mountain to climb."
> — **[name withheld pending review]**, Scoring summary
> _Acknowledges Tom's deficit after strong performances by Scott and Dan_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| The Flipper Room | venue | Venue hosting Concord Open 2026 Classics tournament |
| Concord Open 2026 Classics | event | Pinball tournament event; final game (3/4) featured in stream |
| Paragon | game | 1979 Bally pinball machine used as final game in tournament |
| Scott | person | Tournament player with strong performance; leads scoring after ball 3 with 343 points and 30x super bonus |
| Dan | person | Tournament player; known for aggressive tap pass technique; scored 464 on ball 3 |
| Tom | person | Tournament player competing in final four; visibly fatigued after two days of play; trailing after ball 3 |
| Justin | person | Tournament player competing in final four |
| Dustin | person | Tournament player competing in final four; third place after ball 3 |
| Lynn's Arcade | venue | Referenced as location with particularly difficult Paragon beast slayer compared to The Flipper Room's copy |
| Lind | person | Historic pinball designer mentioned in anecdote about Big Lebowski setup modifications |

### Signals

- **[gameplay_signal]** Paragon strategy revolves around bonus building, spinner shots for bonus cashing, super bonus multiplier stacking, and inline drop multiplier progression. Players balance immediate scoring against long-term super bonus carryover. (confidence: high) — Commentators explain: 'building bonus...spinner usually cashes in a lot of bonus...get to your super bonus because that carries over...inline drops...build your multiplier'
- **[venue_signal]** The Flipper Room's Paragon has a gate preventing backwards roll into beast slayer. Some locations remove this gate and other playfield components to alter difficulty. (confidence: high) — Commentator: 'one of the nice things about this copy is there is the gate here, so you can't roll backwards into the beast slayer. Like I know some uh locations do remove that.'
- **[venue_signal]** Different Paragon copies have different behavior characteristics; The Flipper Room's beast slayer is described as 'kinder than most,' particularly compared to Lyn's Arcade's version. (confidence: medium) — Commentator: 'This beast I feel like is kinder than most...By most, I'm really talking about Lyn's Arcade...it just goes in there with a vengeance'
- **[event_signal]** Concord Open 2026 Classics uses Paragon as final game (3/4) in tournament. Tournament includes both qualifying rounds and main event; final four consists of four players competing across multiple balls. (confidence: high) — Stream title and commentary: 'Final game 3/4 on Bally Paragon' and 'Tom has played amazing for two days straight...two long days of qualifying while also trying to qualify in the main'
- **[competitive_signal]** Tournament fatigue observed in late-round play. Tom particularly fatigued after two days of competition, nearly tilting machine. Commentators also fatigued. (confidence: high) — Commentator: 'Tom almost just got himself a DQ...I think somebody's desperate to get some sleep for tomorrow' and 'I didn't even make it to midnight last night and I'm exhausted today'
- **[competitive_signal]** Scissor passes (shooting both flippers simultaneously) increased in frequency as tournament progressed to higher rounds. None in early rounds; three different scissor passes observed in this final game. (confidence: high) — Commentator: 'There were no scissors at all in the first couple of rounds...the higher up you come...this is our third scissor. All different players, too'
- **[gameplay_signal]** Paragon widely recognized as difficult game despite mixed affection in community. Standing joke about its difficulty among players. (confidence: high) — Commentator opening: 'It's a little bit of a standing joke...but I just think it's very it's very difficult'
- **[content_signal]** Concord Open 2026 Classics tournament being streamed from The Flipper Room with real-time play-by-play commentary and strategic analysis. (confidence: high) — Title: 'Streamed from The Flipper Room' with detailed live commentary of tournament final game
- **[historical_signal]** 1979 Bally Paragon selected as final game for contemporary tournament, indicating continued relevance and competitive viability of classic 1970s machines in tournament play. (confidence: high) — Bally Paragon (1979) used as final game in 2026 tournament; commentators discuss design details and competitive strategy extensively

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## Transcript

part. Yay, Paragon. We love Paragon. We do. Yeah. It's a little bit of a standing joke, isn't it? But yeah, a lot of people do love Paragon. Yeah. Um I'm not one of those people, but I just think it's very it's very difficult. It is. Yeah. And uh the two things that players usually focus on. It's building bonus, right? A lot of things builds bonus, but ripping the spinner usually ripping the spinner usually cashes in uh a lot of bonus. And you want to build bonus and get to your super bonus because that carries over, right? And once you got some pocket change, you want to go for your inline drops there and build your multiplier. Wow, that was a nice dig. It looked like he got caught on the insert and it was close to draining, but he got it out. Oh. Oh, wow. Yeah, very tight. That was That was great. Very grippy rubber. That's That will do it. And a nice spinner rip. Mhm. Oh, we need another Oh my god. And that tilt bulb in this game. Yeah. Um I haven't really seen anyone tilting this one a lot. Um one of the nice things about this copy is there is the gate here, so you can't roll backwards into the beast slayer. Like I know some uh locations do remove that. Do you know any locations that remove that? Yeah, I think I know one. Yeah, they remove a lot of things from their games. Yes. Um Yeah. One of the funniest uh removal stories I have is that um I was talking about the big Lowski with a with a friend who owns a big Lowski and he's like dead into it. And I kind of explained how Lind had set up the big Lowski, right? And they kind of removed the the top rubber, you know, on the you know the car up there. There's like a long rubber there. They they just removed that, right? Oh, and while I was telling the story to my friend, he was he was drinking a White Russian and he was just like just like spat it out. It was just hilarious. But yeah, I digress. But it was Speaking of that was a great ball from Tom. He had a a few great saves. 2x bonus. Mhm. Not quite. No super though. No. Um, do you want to get the Oh, where is it? I'm not sure. Uh, not quite as big a ball as Dan, but like not a bad place to be for ball one. I know. Um, a lot of players really are trying to get that super bonus early. Oh, that was a twofer. I have not seen that before. Did he did get both? That was a twofer. That How is that even physically possible? Unsure. Oh, backhand while at it. Why not? Oh, let's go. There we go. Yeah. Yeah, that was beautiful. And it says on the backlash there that the extra ball and special are 25 and 50k. So yeah, that can be really big. I definitely want to have some bonus on the board here now because Yeah, cuz cuz what's the point of a 5k if you don't have any bonus points? No. There we go. Oh, super bonus. Super bonus. We have our first super bonus. Yeah, this is big. Oh, nice. Nice defense there. Beautiful. We like it. Oh, wow. Oh my gosh. Yeah. But didn't drain in the beast slayer, so that was nice. Down the little waterfall. That actually has a really nice feed to that uh right flipper, which is nice. Yeah, I know. I I know a game which doesn't have that. Yeah, me too. That was almost a scissor. That was almost his second scissor of this round. There we go. Oh, nice. 25 and some pocket change. Oh, the drop start coming back up. Yep. Now he's going to want to do it all over again. Oh, 30 super bonus. Love to see it. It's uh kind of hard to even remember that this is ball one. It is ball one. And it's going to be 300k on the board for this. Nearly. I love the bonus camera in this game. It's just so satisfying when you actually when you fill it up and you got 5x. It's just like, you know, people start turning around. It's just something wrong with the game, you know. Uh 268's huge huge ball one. That's basically my average final score on this. Yeah. Nice little tap pass to 2x already. Was that a tap pass on the fly? It was, wasn't it? I think you did a tap pass on the fly. Um, No, that was just a bounce pass. Nice. Okay. So, Justin's thinking, "Yeah, I saw you, Scott. I can do that, too." Yeah. Yeah. So, he's through the drops and uh now we're going to work on the bonus. Yeah. Somehow I would start I would work on the bonus first, but I guess whatever works. He's working on the bonus a little bit at a time. Yeah, that's not going to reach far. No, he had like 9,000. Yeah. Oh, it's not you, Tom. Tom almost just got himself a DQ. Good thing he caught that. Yeah. I think somebody's desperate to get some sleep for tomorrow. I think we all are, actually. Like I didn't even make it to midnight last night and I'm exhausted today. Yeah. Same. Golden cliffs to victory. Golden cliffs to victory is what Dan just said. Oh yeah. Oh, little tap pass, but a little too much. Twox. Nice dig. Come on. Now you're allowed to play, Tom. I think Tom's going to be relieved when this is all over. Oh, this is this is our third scissor. All All different players, too. There were no scissors at all in the first couple of rounds. It's just like the higher up you come. And it's just like, oh, I think um Oh, it's hilarious. Oh, poor Tom. Seriously, poor Tom. But however, this is the this is the final four. Like, he has played amazing for two days straight. So, I think, you know, it's natural to get uh a little bit tired by the end of this. Two long days of qualifying while also trying to qualify in the main Uh well, all right, we're going into ball three. And really, anything can happen. Dan, Tom, and Dustin are all pretty close to each other. Any one of them is going to need to put up a really big ball to catch Scott at this point, but very doable. All All of these guys are such great skilled players. Oo, get out of there. Nice. Oh god, that was stressful. Yeah, it is. Nice. Nice into the 2x. Let's build some bonus. Dan, his His tap passes are a little more powerful. They're going a little further up. There's no such thing as gentle Dan, is there? That's kind of my joke. Uh, I can't master a tap pass because I've never had a gentle touch in my life. gentle. Let's get up that spinner. Come on. Oh, okay. All right. Nice. That was a nice rip. Good rip. We got us some super bonus. Another one. Yeah, I mean it's all it needs to do. Just max at this point. Max the bonus. Max the bonus I wasn't going to say it. No one can blame me for dinner. No, no, no, no. All right. Yeah, I might have jinxed it. No, no, no. I mean, already this is going to be a pretty big bonus. I don't think that's going to be enough, but let's see. Well, what was it sitting at? 30 something, right? He passed the spot for sure. Big. This is huge. 464. Yeah. Okay, Tom has a tall mountain to climb. Mhm. And Scott had a blazing ball one and a house ball, too. So, I That hat must have seen some action. Yeah. So Scott does have um his 30 super bonus. So Oh, that's right. Yeah. So Oh, so he just need to 5x that and he's done basically. Yeah, that that's it. Yeah, that's it. Because that's a Yeah. 30 5 is 150, right? Yeah. That is math that I'm willing to do on stream. That was a nice little rolling tap. Old beast. A beast. Oh, this beast I feel like is kinder than most. Mhm. And by most, I'm really talking about Lyn's Arcade. Yeah. I mean, the thing is it's just like it just goes in there with a vengeance and Oh, okay. so fast you don't even see it happening. Oh, that wasn't enough for Scott. That puts him at 343. So, that's at least going to put some points on the board for Dan. Yeah. Well needed. Yeah, for sure. And that kind of creates a pretty interesting No. Yeah. Okay. So, it's got already it's already in good shape. Yeah. The thing is it's I thought the point distribution would be a little even, but no. No. Okay. So, a third for Dustin, a last for Tom. Well, this does make things a little bit interesting.

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v5)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-08-04 | Item ID: c0c5357f-1fd5-46b8-859b-b162300075c3*