# 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 --- ## Analysis Live stream commentary from the Concord Open 2026 Classics tournament finals, game 3 of 4, played on a Bally Paragon machine at The Flipper Room. Commentators discuss gameplay strategy, player performance, and specific mechanical quirks of this Paragon copy, including bonus building, spinner shots, and drop targets. Final scores show Scott leading with strong ball performances. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] This Paragon copy has a gate that prevents balls rolling backwards into the beast slayer, a feature some locations remove — _Commentators discussing playfield modifications and citing specific location differences_ - [HIGH] The bonus camera in Paragon provides satisfying visual feedback when filled to 5x multiplier — _Commentator describing audience reaction to bonus displays during gameplay_ - [MEDIUM] Scissor shots (simultaneous flipper catches) became more frequent in higher tournament rounds — _Commentators noting three scissor shots observed in final four compared to none in early rounds, attributing to player skill level_ - [HIGH] Scott achieved a 30x super bonus multiplier and strong scores on balls 1 and 2, leading the final round — _Live play-by-play commentary with specific score callouts (464 points on one ball, math showing 30×5=150 potential)_ - [MEDIUM] Dan is known for powerful, aggressive tap passes compared to other players — _Commentator noting Dan's tap passes travel further and contrasting with their own gentle-touch struggles_ ### Notable Quotes > "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." > — **Commentator**, Early > _Establishes Paragon's reputation as difficult and divisive among the pinball community_ > "I was talking about the Big Lebowski with a with a friend who owns a Big Lebowski and he's like dead into it. And I kind of explained how Lind had set up the Big Lebowski, right? And they kind of removed the the top rubber... he was drinking a White Russian and he was just like spat it out." > — **Commentator**, Middle > _Anecdote about location modifications to games, illustrating how operators customize machines; also shows designer intent vs. operator practice_ > "It says on the backlash there that the extra ball and special are 25 and 50k. So yeah, that can be really big." > — **Commentator**, Mid-game > _Technical game rule knowledge showing how bonus multiplier context affects scoring strategy_ > "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." > — **Commentator**, Mid-game > _Positive feedback on Paragon's visual/audio design for bonus completion; audience psychology observation_ > "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." > — **Commentator**, Mid-game > _Character observation about player Dan's playing style and personal reflection on skill development_ > "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." > — **Commentator**, Late-game > _Analysis of scoring strategy and math required to win, showing strategic importance of bonus multipliers_ > "And this beast I feel like is kinder than most. Mhm. And by most, I'm really talking about Lyn's Arcade." > — **Commentator**, Late-game > _Acknowledgment of location-specific machine variance; references Lyn's Arcade as a known tough venue_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Bally Paragon | game | 1979 Bally pinball machine being used as game 3 in Concord Open 2026 Classics finals; described as difficult but beloved by some | | Concord Open 2026 Classics | event | Tournament finals being streamed, final four of competition in progress | | The Flipper Room | venue | Location hosting the Concord Open 2026 Classics tournament, streaming the finals | | Scott | person | Tournament player leading in the final four with strong ball performances, 30x super bonus, 464-point ball, and 343-point closing ball | | Dan | person | Tournament player known for powerful tap passes; played final four round on Paragon | | Tom | person | Tournament player in final four; appeared fatigued late in tournament; nearly tilted machine during play; placed last in this round | | Dustin | person | Tournament player in final four on Paragon; placed third in this round | | Justin | person | Tournament player who performed tap passes during qualifying rounds | | Lyn's Arcade | venue | Location known for having difficult beast slayer configuration on Paragon; referenced as having particularly challenging machine setups | | Lind | person | Pinball designer referenced for their setup of Big Lebowski; mentioned in context of original design intent vs. operator modifications | ### Signals - **[competitive_signal]** Live commentary from Concord Open 2026 Classics final four, game 3, showing competitive skill depth and strategic play on Paragon (confidence: high) — Multiple skilled players competing, advanced techniques observed (scissor shots, tap passes, bonus optimization), scores and placements documented - **[gameplay_signal]** Paragon requires multi-stage bonus building strategy: spinner rips for bonus cash-in, inline drops for multiplier building, and super bonus carry-over management (confidence: high) — Detailed commentator discussion of bonus mechanics, spinner importance, and strategic sequencing decisions observed in live play - **[product_concern]** Paragon machines show significant variance in configuration across locations; some remove safety gate near beast slayer, others have different beast difficulty (confidence: high) — Commentators discussing this specific Paragon's gate feature, noting some locations remove it; reference to Lyn's Arcade having notably different beast behavior - **[venue_signal]** The Flipper Room hosting Concord Open 2026 Classics with professional streaming setup; appears to be multi-day qualifying + finals format (confidence: high) — Live stream production quality, commentators noting two-day qualifying schedule, final four advancement structure documented - **[operational_signal]** Operators customize machines by removing/modifying components (gates, rubbers) based on preference despite original designer intent (confidence: high) — Anecdote about Big Lebowski top rubber removal at an operator location; discussion of beast slayer gate removal at some venues - **[gameplay_signal]** Scissor shots and advanced tap passes observed more frequently in higher-skill final rounds compared to earlier tournament stages (confidence: medium) — Commentators noting zero scissors in early rounds, three different scissor executions in final four; attributing to player skill progression - **[design_philosophy]** Paragon's bonus camera visual feedback is highly satisfying and creates audience engagement when 5x multiplier is achieved (confidence: medium) — Commentator praising bonus camera satisfaction and noting audience reaction to maxed bonus displays - **[community_signal]** Paragon is divisive in the community—loved by some but considered difficult and challenging by others; has established reputation as tournament staple (confidence: high) — Opening commentary acknowledging Paragon as 'standing joke' while being legitimately popular; its use in finals indicates tournament relevance --- ## 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)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-06-06 | Item ID: c0c5357f-1fd5-46b8-859b-b162300075c3*