# Concord Open 2026 Main: Quarter game 3/3 on Stern The Walking Dead. Streamed from The Flipper Room.

**Source:** DRI374  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2026-05-01  
**Duration:** 28m 48s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FuySF2HJ4k

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## Analysis

Commentary from the Concord Open 2026 tournament featuring a quarterfinal match on Stern's The Walking Dead at The Flipper Room. Players compete through multiball modes, prison shots, barn modes, and blood bath sequences on a machine in excellent playing condition. Discussion covers rule mechanics, shot difficulty, risk management, and player strategy throughout the match.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] The Walking Dead has been playing really nice all weekend with very big scores during qualifying — _Commentators at Concord Open 2026 observing the machine's performance_
- [HIGH] The Walking Dead has an incredibly long ball save and a pretty generous boss — _Commentators discussing machine settings and difficulty_
- [HIGH] Prison doors on this Walking Dead are disabled — _Commentators noting the machine configuration for this tournament_
- [HIGH] You can stack multiballs on this Walking Dead machine — _Commentators discovering and confirming multiball stacking mechanic during play_
- [HIGH] Wheel of Fortune was on free play during qualifying but many players kept coining up despite the notification — _Commentators discussing venue machine availability_
- [HIGH] Wheel of Fortune is a borrowed game loaned by Pinball Pirate — _Commentators identifying the game's source at the venue_
- [HIGH] The commentator prefers the classic Walking Dead over the remastered version — _Direct statement of personal preference by commentator_

### Notable Quotes

> "The Walking Dead has been playing really nice all weekend. Um we've seen a lot of really big scores during qualifying."
> — **Commentator**, ~2:00
> _Assessment of machine condition and difficulty level at tournament_

> "I like feel like I haven't played a smoother Walking Dead than this one in a very long time."
> — **Commentator**, ~3:30
> _Praise for the specific machine's playfield condition and ramp quality_

> "I did not realize that you could stack the multiballs, but here we are."
> — **Commentator**, ~18:00
> _Discovery of a significant rule mechanic during live play_

> "All right, time to get some well walker progress. It's multiball. Well, well, well, well. Hello there."
> — **Commentator**, ~15:00
> _Commentary on entering well walker multiball mode_

> "Dan is not safe. Dan is not. No one is safe."
> — **Commentator**, ~0:45
> _Commentary on tournament standings and unpredictability of match outcomes_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Stern | company | Manufacturer of The Walking Dead pinball machine being played in this tournament |
| The Walking Dead | game | Stern pinball machine being used for quarterfinal match at Concord Open 2026 |
| The Flipper Room | venue | Location hosting the Concord Open 2026 tournament |
| Concord Open 2026 | event | Pinball tournament with quarterfinal matches streamed from The Flipper Room |
| Pinball Pirate | organization | Entity loaning Wheel of Fortune machine to The Flipper Room for the tournament |
| Wheel of Fortune | game | Pinball machine on free play at Concord Open 2026 during qualifying rounds |
| Dan | person | Tournament player who chose The Walking Dead for this quarterfinal match; considered hometown advantage at The Flipper Room |
| Goran | person | Tournament player competing in the Walking Dead quarterfinal match |
| Gabe | person | Tournament player competing in the Walking Dead quarterfinal match |
| Nick Stein | person | Tournament player known for skilled tap passing and backhand drop target shots on The Walking Dead |
| Zach | person | Commentator identified as a big Walking Dead fan providing analysis during the match |

### Signals

- **[gameplay_signal]** The Walking Dead machine at The Flipper Room is in excellent playing condition with smooth ramps, clean feeds from pop bumpers, and very responsive playfield mechanics. Commentators note it's the smoothest version they've played in a long time. (confidence: high) — Multiple commentators praise the machine's ramp quality, feed mechanics, and overall playfield responsiveness throughout the match
- **[gameplay_signal]** The Walking Dead features complex stacking mechanics allowing players to layer multiballs together (blood bath stacked with prison multiball) and run multiple modes simultaneously (barn mode running during other modes) (confidence: high) — Commentators discover and discuss multiball stacking during live play; explicit mentions of barn mode continuing during blood bath and prison multiballs
- **[gameplay_signal]** The Walking Dead at this venue is configured with generous features: disabled prison doors, long ball save, and generous boss. However, the magnet on prison shot is described as dangerous and a potential drain hazard. (confidence: high) — Commentators explicitly note prison doors are disabled, describe the ball save as 'incredibly long' and 'pretty generous', and repeatedly warn about magnet drain risk
- **[competitive_signal]** Player strategy on Walking Dead includes careful management of ball save, deliberate use of backhand drop target shots, tap passing between flippers, and timing of multiball starts to coincide with beneficial modes (barn, 2x shot multiplier) (confidence: high) — Extensive commentary on player shot selection, ball control techniques, and strategic sequencing of modes and multiballs throughout the match
- **[venue_signal]** The Flipper Room is hosting Concord Open 2026 with multiple tournament machines including Wheel of Fortune on free play (though many players didn't notice and kept coining up) and The Walking Dead for competition (confidence: high) — Commentary mentions Wheel of Fortune being on free play with physical notification on screen, players ignoring it and donating to venue; The Walking Dead used for tournament quarterfinals
- **[event_signal]** Concord Open 2026 quarterfinals use a format where two players advance from a four-player match, with complex tiebreaker possibilities. Player choice of machine (Dan's pick) provides home turf advantage. (confidence: high) — Commentators discuss that 'two will advance', mention 'way too many tiebreaker possibilities', and note Dan's advantage choosing his home venue machine
- **[design_philosophy]** The Walking Dead at this venue has been specifically configured for tournament play with prison doors disabled and presumably other settings adjusted for competitive balance and fairness (confidence: high) — Explicit mention that 'prison doors on this are disabled' as a deliberate configuration choice
- **[gameplay_signal]** The Walking Dead features challenging ramp shots with variable difficulty: Woodbury shot feeds well and is easy to execute; left ramp is described as finicky and sometimes rejects balls harshly; arena ramp (described as linked to bicycle girl mode) is clean and responsive (confidence: high) — Multiple references to Woodbury shot being clean and easy, left ramp being problematic and causing 'rejections', arena ramp being reliable
- **[community_signal]** At least one commentator expresses preference for the classic Walking Dead over the remastered version, suggesting community division or variation in appreciation between versions (confidence: medium) — Commentator explicitly states 'I'll say it's nice to see a Walking Dead classic. I pref I prefer it over the remastered. It's my personal opinion' and another agrees 'It's a good opinion'
- **[operational_signal]** The Flipper Room encountered a situation during qualifying where a free play machine (Wheel of Fortune) had players coining it up despite clear on-screen notification, resulting in unexpected donations to the venue (confidence: high) — Commentary notes 'a lot of people didn't realize it was on free play and kept coining up' despite 'green light was flashing and it literally said on the screen, free only'

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## Transcript

I hope we see Will of Fortune on stream at some point today. Why do you love that game so much? Wheel of Fortune. Was that game busy during qualifying? Yes, it was. Yeah, it was on free play also. So, wow. But, you know, a lot of people didn't realize it was on free play and kept coining up. Donations to the flipper room. Even though the green light was flashing and it literally said on the screen, free only. I don't know. I think it's a borrowed game, I believe. Yeah. Who's uh who's loaning it? Um the pirate. Pirate. Oh, thank you. Uh pinball pirate. All right, the points are in. So, um Okay, here we go. Really any a lot of things could happen here. We're not going to do the math because way too many tiebreaker possibilities are there. Exactly. Dan is not safe. Dan is not No one is safe. and two will advance into the next round. But this is Dan's pick. It's his home turf. He He's ready. And I will say The Walking Dead has been playing really nice all weekend. Um we've seen a lot of really big scores during qualifying. And one thing to note, which I found really odd, is that there's an incredibly long ball save. It is a pretty generous boss, but he just he just burned through it already, but um makes it kind of nice because you have an opportunity to like go for the prison with a safe return. The prison doors on this are disabled, so won't have to deal with that. But you do have the nasty magnet drain possible. Yes, that is true. So, you're going to probably see a lot of people trying to divert the energy with the flippers. Um, but I did find that it was very easy to get both get up both ramps. Yeah, like this game has been playing really nice all weekend. Okay, we're on two. Yeah, that's the tilt. But he qualified the prison, so he just needs to make those shots and get his prison going. Uh, I don't think he locked in any food, weapons, or first aid. I don't think so. I saw him trying to get those jobs, but they're always little. finicky. Okay, Goran's not even letting it settle. He's straight in. Collected his skill shot. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Some might say that. Some might say that or wear it. Yeah, those ramps are so clean. Yeah, the I I like feel like I haven't played a smoother Walking Dead than this one in a very long time. Great is playing so nice. Yeah, that's going to come back. But we'll see how this magnet treats him. Oh, he's one of those where you kind of you need to kind of give it a little bit. Oh, nice. Nice clean. No dangers. He's got his EB collect ready too on that Woodbury shot. He loves that arena ramp. Mhm. Yeah. And like you can even see like it doesn't even seem like that much power is going into it to get it all the way up that ramp. Yeah. How much is the EB collect worth on this? Because I feel like it's not worth a lot. Is it 2 and 12 million? Yep. Okay. Yep. So I don't really go for that when that's lit. I feel like it happens naturally. It happens naturally. Like that's kind of when you're trying to put up big points, that's kind of peanuts where some games it's worth a lot more. Nice pass over. He wants to backhand that prison. Nice. Doesn't burn through that ball save. So you could try to hit that another time. Yeah. Ski pass over. There we go. Okay. Nice magnets. That was only one danger. Yeah. Mhm. Oh, there's his second. Yeah, that ramp so nice. It is so nice. Maybe some drop target progress. Wow. Beautiful little slap. I don't understand it. I never will. But it was perfect. Oh, I'm assuming the game is set up so you can start modes and stuff while you're having Prism running. I'm not sure if they if you can do it after you start your multiball. Um I assume because Yeah. So yeah, it's a I think it's a setting where you can kind of It was not notated either way. No. Okay. Maybe that's the default then. So all right, ball save over. So Gabe hit one drop target at least. It's locked into first aid. He's trying to get those down so he can get a mode going. He shoved that game a little bit. That was a big move. I think he was expecting it to tilt the way he stepped away from that. But that was only one danger. Yeah, that was a full inch. I think that by the end of today, we're going to be seeing a lot more tilts as the game gets rattled around. Okay, so his drop targets are done. His modes are ready at the four five shots. And he can start his prison as well. Yes. Okay, that was a nice feed. Oh, okay. We hate to see it like when it's gentle out the magnet and then it just straight out the other side. Michael realigning the rig. Um, so Gabe had the mode qualify, but that's going to go away, right? I think he didn't start it. I think he has Did he hit the prison? Oh, for the the modes. Yeah, that I'm not 100% certain on. I think he loses the start. He has to hit the drops again to qualify if I remember correctly. I'll say it's nice to see a Walking Dead classic. I pref I prefer it over the remastered. It's my personal opinion. Mhm. It's a good opinion. All right. Great timing. Gets the nice 1.1 skill shot. Yeah, the feed out of the pops is beautiful on this. Like it's nothing too sketchy. It's really I didn't really have that much trouble with the magnet. I But again, I was also trying to like hit the flippers to kind of someone coming down. What? Double danger at that one. Wow. reject next business day on that one. He's like, "All right, time to get some well walker progress." It's multiball. Well, well, well, well. Hello there. All right, his modes are ready so he can start this. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So you can kind of while while in multiball, you can basically get into blood bath. Yeah. And wall walker is just a two ball multiball. So he wants to try and get as much done as he can here with two balls. Yeah. Getting some good barn progress too on that left orbit. Going to get a 2x shot here. Nice. Beautiful. Yeah, just like that. Yeah. So, I think he needs to uh he he wants to get his drops to get the next Yeah, I think unfortunately he hit the food target again instead of the first aid locked in. So, he's got to do it a couple more times to get his blood bath ready. Still, are we still in barn? Barn's over. All right, bicycle girl. Let's see how many times he can get that ramp. Okay, look at this. So, now, oh, there's some trouble on Evil Dead. Looks like he's going to wait for them to settle that before he Why are they Dan is little being so in his way. Yeah, so disruptive. That's weird. Okay, so cycling through the supplies there. He's going to want to lock in first aid to get his blood bath progress going. Oh, okay. That is It looks like it did grace it. You got one. Uh, a bummer to lose out on all those bicycle girl points cuz that can be big. True. But we did see the left ramp reject him. Pretty nasty. That's true. Yeah, maybe he has PTSD on the left ramp. I'm over it. Not interested. Arena ramp though, that one. Yeah, let's let's see some arena ramp. Uh, three more shots of the prison. We'll start as prison multiball. Very good. Oh, and we're going. Can you It looks like you can stack. I didn't know that you could, but I guess we'll see. We're going to get prison. And yeah, so big. I did not realize that you could stack the multiballs, but here we are. And are we in Riot? Yeah, we're in Riot. This could be That is switch phase. So that's going to is he there's going to be hundreds of millions on the board when he comes out of this. Hopefully. How many dangers has he got? Uh he's on two. That's what we're not going to say. Oh, that's what we're not going to talk about. Sorry. Yeah. All right. Yeah. We don't want to see a drain with five balls in play. Another ball coming in. Multi kill. All right. Sorry about that. We're only talking about all the good things that are good on this screen right now. This is crazy. Yeah. All the good things coming racking up. He's already up to 157 millions. Amazing. He's got his 2x going. All good things. Just like keep those shots coming. We're down to two. He's got a ball save on the left, right? No. Oh, I thought you had another coming there. Okay. Oh, no. Okay. Riot's still running if he gets that inner loop. Almost. Nice transfer. Beautiful. Oh, wow. He nails that shot. That is so tight. Yeah. Just in time for 2x to go out, I think. And we're going to hit beautiful ball. That was I think exactly what he wanted to do. Mhm. With pocket change 2007. Amazing. He heard you say he wasn't safe and he was like he's like I took that seriously. Let me tell you personally who's not safe now. Yeah. None of these walkers are safe. Okay, so Goran opened up his present already. He's got about halfway, more than halfway of his progress going. Oh, still in ball safe. Don't shake it too much. Oh, he wasted. Yeah. Okay. And he's in his bicycle girl, so he really wants those clean left ramp shots. Yeah. Okay. Almost done with prison. It's going to move around nicely. 2x slings be nice, nice, nice, nice. Okay, now he's got the loops going. Beautiful. And the nice thing is like you get that extra momentum as it comes down to roll for like a clean shot of the ramp, which is what we're seeing him do. All right, prison. Still in Bicycle Girl. Oh, no. Just finished it, right? Yep. Got that six mil. And again, another generous ball save on the multiball. So that's nice cuz he's already on two dangers, so he doesn't want to Oh, he's pulsing fast now. Going out. Yeah, there we are. All right, that one should Yeah, it came back down. So, nothing going with this uh prison, but making good jackpot progress. Multi-kills going. I don't think he's going for the drops at all. No, I don't think he has, but still got 2x going. We're out of multiball, but can work on the well walker now if he wants to. Okay, we're going to get bit. Bench is around 50. What are we at? 52. I mean, not a bad place to be when uh player three and player four are both under 3 mil. So, they've seen what they have to do to catch up. Only ball two. Mhm. Still a lot of great gameplay to be had here. Mhm. All right. So, Nick has locked in weapons. Needs to make some more drop progress to get his modes ready. Okay. Oh, the swings are eager. Yes. All right, we are starting prison. He's almost qualified his mode. Probably going to use this to hit those drops. Yep. back handing the drops. That's He did it. He did it. Yeah. That's the meta. Look at that. I mean, if anyone can do it, it's Nick Stein. Yeah. Okay. So, he got the barn started. Beautiful tap pass. Yeah. Tap pass just amidst the cat chaos. You know, I often think I should try tap passing on The Walking Dead. Beautiful. Oh, wow. Okay. All right. We got first aid locked in there now. See if we Nice transfer. Ooh, nearly lost it all there. But somehow we got two balls in place. Okay, back in the in lane. Wow. Oh, okay. He's going to let that go. It's all right. That up. Oh. All right. So, Gabe has first aid. Yeah, the modes are gone. He does uh take it away. So, he's got to hit the drops again. Easy. He can do it. Yeah, just backhand them. Yeah, just Wow. Just swept them. See, I told you. I know. Easy. He can do it. Easy. It's game. Okay. Um we don't have much prison progress, so maybe just take a mode. Oh my gosh. Okay. Or blood bath. Do blood bath instead. Lock in food. Love a good blood bath. Yeah. Okay. Yep. Yeah. He wants the blood bath. Gets those drops. He's in blood bath. It was a good pivot cuz the prison was so far away from being started. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Great. And here we go. Multiball. Let's do it. Yeah. So, Goran and Gabe, they need to win this to make it in queen. But Dan did not make that an easy path for them. So, no, no, not at all. And understandably, he wants to protect his space. Okay, here we go into prison multiball. Mhm. So, so the fact that you can stack these is really key because with such a dangerous magnet out of the prison shot and the return from that, like the best time to start it is when you have extra balls going. Yeah. Utility multiballs get you to the next one. Okay, we got 2x still running. Barn is still going too. This can be huge. This is kind of exactly what we saw Dan do on his last ball. Getting ramp progress. Does he still have Adibles going on blood bath or no? It's flashing. Um I don't think his blood his he was still in blood bath when he started prison. Yeah. So his blood bath didn't end because he didn't drink. Yeah. So he's still in blood bath. Yes. Okay. Barn still going. No, I think it's done now. Solid. So, 60 million out of that. Nice. Okay, it just needs one more drop target maybe. I can't tell how many are down there. No, he wants the Oh, we just ended his bicycle girl. Okay. But look at this. 175. He's close behind Dan. Crazy. This is going to be big. This is I think he just passed him. Yeah. Okay. Wow. Huge. Nice. All right. Let that go. Nice. Nice ball game. Yeah. Huge. Zach is a big uh Walking Dead fan. So, he's telling Corey. He's telling uh Gabe behind Corey. Yeah. What uh could have done? Yep. Don't you love that when you come off a machine? That's great. But you should have done this. Yeah. You had done it already. That's what I thought as well. It's just like, why are you not shooting for the drop? Okay. Was that intentional? No. All right. Nice ball. Yeah, because as long as the red light is sort of like flashing here during blood bath, like that means that there's an ad up already, right? And it was pulsing. So, okay. So, we're out of ball save. We've already seen well and prison, right? So, we're just breearting fresh. Oh, nice save out of that out lane. Yeah, no dangers. So, he already has food and first aid already. Yeah, he need no two laps on the on the banks now for the second blood bath. So, got a mode. Yeah, I mean the thing is he's he's basically back in ball one now. It's already down all three ones, right? And flute is locked in now. So, well, that's going around. Yeah. That rib is cross much kinder. Mhm. Oh, okay. Well, Dan, just going to keep him at second for now. Got to keep it interesting. All right. So, he's hitting at eight points there. And yeah. Anything can happen. Mhm. Oh, that didn't give him the well walker progress. Seemed like it nudged it enough. But do we know how many hits he has left to start? Well, no. It's strobing so much. Yeah, it seems generous ball safe or did he have it on the lane? I don't know. Let's see what he goes for. Looks like he's trying to start a mode. Yeah. When you have that hill to climb, you really got to Yeah, you need to. And so, okay, so now I mean, we could see him try to bash the well and get into that two ball multiball to progress this. I feel like he needs a lot big hill to climb. Yes. Collect the extra ball. Two and a half mil. Whoa. Nice. Okay. Barnshot almost. Oh my gosh. Okay. Good read. Yeah, he doesn't seem to be registering those well hits. That's really strange. That looked like that was a hit, but it wasn't. Still got 15 seconds going for this barn load. If he can get something to go with it. Yeah. I love that left orbit feed. It's just It's so clean. And you're right. Like it really makes such a huge difference when you get a clean feed back out of the pops. Mhm. That left ramp scared me. I was like, don't I know. I thought I was going to need to hold you. Okay. Currently a third place. Good ball, but not enough. All right. Nick knows the rules. He does. Let's see it. Knows what he has to do. Okay. Locked in his food. Drop target that's gonna come back. Good patience coming out of the pops. All right, he's locked in food and p or weapons. He's looking for that first aid. Yeah, he's got it locked in. You just need X amount of drops. Wow, that looked like an out lane from here. All right, blood bath is next. Already got a drop on it, it looks like. There we are. All right. Okay, let's go to town. What mode do you think it's going to take? Riot, maybe. No, CDC. Wow. Dangerous ramp. Yeah, it's a little surprising seeing how that ramp has been unkind. Came right back down. Thought that one might be coming back. I thought it had the grace, but he's like, I need my ball. Give me more balls now. Okay. Oh, can he get that in time? No. Nope. It's over. Yep. Single danger. Okay, good catch. Yeah, he knows that he just needs to start working on the next. It's just like there's no other way around this. Mhm. You need it. Oh, Slings be kind. It's okay, too. Tilt. And that's going to be the end of the road.

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-06-06 | Item ID: eb93e820-e8cb-4f77-8795-c6f417a9578a*