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IFPA 2018 National and Women's World Championships - Part 2 of 10

IE Pinball·video·51m 57s·analyzed·May 9, 2018
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

IFPA 2018 Nationals Part 2: Tournament gameplay, rules, and pinball technique discussion.

Summary

IE Pinball coverage of IFPA 2018 National and Women's World Championships Part 2, featuring tournament gameplay commentary on multiple machines including Game of Thrones (Premium Edition), Aerosmith, Metallica, and Torpedo Alley. Discussion includes rules modifications, player strategy, tournament setup details, and commentary on pinball technique including nudging, tilting, and shot execution.

Key Claims

  • Game of Thrones Premium Edition set to casual mode with House Stark start mandatory; override attempt results in automatic disqualification

    high confidence · Tournament commentary discussing match setup and rule enforcement

  • Game of Thrones Premium Edition has 'Pass for Now' option turned off as part of casual settings

    medium confidence · Commentator speculating about which casual settings are active

  • A rubber post was added to Game of Thrones right orbit, routing balls to left flipper instead of right flipper

    high confidence · Direct observation of playfield modification visible in tournament setup

  • Metallica tournament settings use five items of each type (grave markers, electric chairs) and Sparky mode set to 14-15 shots to start

    high confidence · Commentator explaining how this game was configured, similar to Texas Pinball Festival setup

  • Brackets are updated in real-time on ifpapinball.org during the tournament

    high confidence · Commentator directing viewers to official IFPA website for live bracket updates

  • Pittsburgh has a strong competitive pinball culture with skills clinics and ladies leagues

    high confidence · Player Debra discussing local Pittsburgh pinball infrastructure and player development

  • Tournament players are ranked by IFPA ranking and seeded accordingly; brackets changed multiple times over preceding weeks

    high confidence · Commentator explaining seeding and bracket management process

  • EMs are considered 'great playfield levelers' that level the competitive field when inexperienced players face experienced ones

    medium confidence · Player commentary on strategic value of EM selection in tournaments

  • Nudging is described as mandatory for top-level competitive play and directly contributes to achieving high scores

Notable Quotes

  • “if you try to override it, because if you know how to override it, they will disqualify you”

    Tournament commentator discussing Game of Thrones rules @ Early segment — Explains rule enforcement severity for casual mode settings

  • “when you've watched so many accomplished players who are winning and winning and winning these massive tournaments and massive prize pools, my God, and just all the skill they bring into it, they could not do it without pushing the machines around”

    Debra (player/commentator) @ Mid-broadcast during technique discussion — Emphasizes nudging as essential competitive skill, not optional

  • “You have to do the nudge. You've got to”

    Richard Tracy (player/commentator) @ During Aerosmith gameplay — Reiterates nudging requirement for competitive play

  • “So some newbies think nudging is cheating. See, no, that's so wrong”

    Tournament commentator @ Technique discussion segment — Directly addresses misconception among new players

  • “EMs are the great play field leveler”

    Player discussing strategic game selection @ Tournament strategy discussion — Explains why less experienced players might choose EMs in competition

  • “I play on the fly. He doesn't trap up the balls”

    Debra describing Richard Tracy's playing style @ Aerosmith gameplay segment — Identifies different competitive play philosophies

  • “Ladies, if you don't freaking start a podcast about pinball, I'll be really upset”

    Jack Danger (audience member/chat) @ During commentator banter — Community enthusiasm for female player representation and commentary

  • “he won a state championship, just saying”

    Debra defending Richard Tracy's playing style @ Playing style discussion — Validates alternative aggressive playing approach as successful

Entities

DebrapersonRichard TracypersonAnnapersonPriyankapersonAmandapersonPetepersonDanpersonKylepersonIFPAorganizationPittsburgh Pinball Leagueorganization

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Live tournament streaming with real-time chat engagement; audience participation via Dave Links for bracket/game lists; strong community interest in female player representation

    high · Chat integration throughout broadcast; audience member requesting female player podcast; live Dave Link sharing of tournament documentation; real-time crowd reactions

  • ?

    community_signal: Women's competitive pinball participation showing cultural differences in approach to machine manipulation; coaching and skills clinics helping female players adopt aggressive playing style

    medium · Discussion of gender differences in nudging approach; commentary on cultural conditioning against physical aggressiveness; examples of Pittsburgh ladies league players developing nudging skills through instruction

  • ?

    community_signal: Pittsburgh is positioned as a significant competitive pinball hub with tournament infrastructure, ladies leagues, skills clinics, and multiple top-tier competitive players

    high · Extended discussion of Pittsburgh pinball culture, ladies league participation, skills clinic attendance, and local player development

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Nudging and aggressive machine manipulation is essential competitive skill; top tournament winners depend on this technique; cultural perception exists among new players that nudging is 'cheating'

    high · Extended discussion emphasizing nudging as mandatory, not optional; commentary about new players needing to unlearn belief that nudging is cheating; observation that some regional cultures discourage physical aggressiveness

  • ?

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.156

0:00
Paragon's not in it. Stargate's not in it. Hardbody's not in it. We can blow through them again. We have Aerosmith, Miss O, which does not seem to be popular, or is it not working right now?
0:13
Not popular. Okay. Do you really want to risk everything on a 2-inch EM? Yes, yes I do. You never know. I mean, alright, Black Rose, Abracadabra, Metallica, Iron Man, Four Queens, another EM that's getting no love. Game of Thrones, X-Men, Time Machine, Barracora, Torpedo Alley, and Sorcerer. Those are your games.
0:43
I'm not seeing Torpedo Alley get much love either. Is there any way to make, like, a Google Doc and then just, like, click a link to it? You mean like the one we have up right here? Yeah, like, can we just share the link on that? That's their document. I don't know.
0:57
I'll do it. That way anyone who asks can just get linked instead of us repeating ad nauseum. It looks like Adam is hard to go from. No, no, no, no. Fergers. No, it's not allowed, Fergers, to override the casual mode. That will get you an automatic DQ. Okay, bouncing back. Game of Thrones, they have changed it to casual mode, and everybody, everybody starts with house start. and as Debra said, if you try to override it, because if you know how to override it, they will disqualify you. So you start with House Stark, and then I believe they said they also turned off the Pass for Now option. Oh, did they? Oh, I think that's part of the casual settings. Yeah. I think that it'll just automatically pick it for you.

high confidence · Extended discussion between commentators about necessity of machine manipulation in competitive pinball

  • Leg swinging/kicking is used as a technique to generate momentum when unable to physically move heavier modern machines

    medium confidence · Player describing alternative nudging technique developed specifically for Stern machines

  • “tournament player or tournament director, they have their ways of wanting to set up a game, and sometimes it is speed, sometimes it is just to level the playing field a little bit”

    Commentator @ Rules discussion — Explains rationale for casual mode setup decisions

  • “walk up, do a quick search of the play field, and see what is different. Assuming you know the game well enough to know the difference”

    Tournament commentator @ Tournament preparation advice — Practical advice for handling modified tournament machines

    • PAPA
    organization
    Pinburghevent
    Game of Thrones Premium Editiongame
    Metallicagame
    Aerosmithgame
    Torpedo Alleygame
    Four Queensgame
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Texas Pinball Festivalevent
    IE Pinballorganization

    competitive_signal: EM machines function as tournament levelers where inexperienced players can compete effectively against experienced ones due to different skill requirements

    high · Multiple commentators explicitly discuss selecting EMs as strategic choice to upset better players; noted that new players without deep knowledge sometimes perform well

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Game of Thrones Premium Edition rule set modified from standard with forced House Stark start and disabled Pass for Now option, significantly changing strategic approach

    high · Commentator explicitly stating these settings fundamentally change strategy compared to casual play; discussing impact of no pass option

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Mechanical playfield modifications can significantly alter game strategy and difficulty; tournament directors make deliberate configuration choices affecting competitive balance

    high · Right orbit post addition to Game of Thrones changes ball routing strategy; Sparky difficulty setting dramatically affects Metallica approach; casual mode settings remove certain strategic options

  • ?

    event_signal: IFPA 2018 National and Women's World Championships held with tournament infrastructure supporting simultaneous bracket updates, real-time streaming, and large competitive field

    high · Broadcast coverage of active tournament play; real-time bracket management; large player field across multiple rounds and machines

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Female players participating at significant competitive level in IFPA national championship; visible increase in women's tournament participation creating demand for female-focused content and commentary

    high · Women's bracket competition; audience request for female player podcast; female commentators providing analysis; multiple accomplished female players visible in tournament

  • ?

    product_concern: Some tournament venues use non-standard modifications (elevated flippers described as 'abomination') that negatively impact player experience and game quality

    medium · Commentator criticizing raised flippers on Game of Thrones as making game frustrating and unpleasant; advice to not modify games in such ways

  • ?

    technology_signal: Modern Stern machines perceived as significantly heavier than earlier games, requiring players to develop alternative physical techniques (leg swinging/kicking) to generate momentum for nudging

    medium · Female player describing inability to physically move modern machines; development of leg-swinging technique as workaround; commentary about this being specific to Stern machines

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Tournament seeding based on IFPA rankings; brackets dynamically updated and changed multiple times during registration period; real-time bracket management available to participants

    high · Commentator explaining IFPA seeding process and acknowledging bracket changes multiple times over weeks; directing viewers to ifpapinball.org for live updates

    • 1:47
    Yeah, that really changes a lot of strategy in this one, as anyone who's played Game of Thrones in the stream knows.
    1:54
    Yeah, because each house has its separate goals to go for. And we appear not to be playing Game of Thrones. We are waiting. They just finished their match. We're waiting on Priyanka and Amanda to step up. Oh, okay. So we're back to Priyanka and Amanda.
    2:14
    Because the other two had just finished. Okay. All right. I'm sharing this link. Awesome. technology is an exciting thing. Thank God for the internet.
    2:31
    Boom, baby. Games list. Yeah, QCN games list. Wicked awesome. That's about as real time as you need to get. That's going to make everybody really happy. Let's take a quick look at the women's bracket here and see where we are. They have updated the matches here. So we're going to watch Priyanka and Amanda who are one-to-one currently. You can see the rest of the matches. It doesn't happen.
    3:00
    Someone asked why it's on casual mode. I think it's just for the basic reason of speed, right? It could be speed. It could be just to make it more challenging.
    3:10
    You never know why a tournament player or a tournament director, they have their ways of wanting to set up a game, and sometimes it is speed, sometimes it is just to level the playing field a little bit.
    3:25
    That was a fast one. That was too fast. At least she's smiling. Still the warm-up. Oh, that's the 30-second one. See, I promised myself I wouldn't. And I did. I fell victim to the 30-second. They also added a rubber post on the right orbit, so you'll notice the ball does not come to the right flipper. It goes to the left flipper. This orbit here? Yeah, that orbit right there. So watch next time the ball comes down. You'll see it goes to the left flipper. It's a whole new game, everybody.
    3:58
    Yeah, definitely when you're playing in a tournament, walk up, do a quick search of the play field, and see what is different. Assuming you know the game well enough to know the difference. Well, I suppose it's not going to really matter if you don't know the game. Yeah, if you don't know the game, then sometimes that works to your advantage, because if you're playing somebody who does know the game, That's why sometimes I see first-time game players do a great job because they don't know how the game is supposed to be played. The most, the wickedest thing I've seen anyone do for Game of Thrones to change the gameplay significantly is to raise the flippers, like Gottlieb them, raise them up high. That makes it a very frustrating and unpleasant experience for me. At least they're not lightning flippers. Like you think, oh, it'll be easy to trap the ball. No, it doesn't, no, it's not good. You have to get to the tip of the flipper just to get the center ramp. Wow. Just, no. Don't do that to your games, people. That's just an abomination.
    4:54
    All right. So that was Quick Ball 1. I did not read the chat for the last little bit. I might be missing good stuff here.
    5:01
    Is there a live link for the bracket? Will, is there a live link for the bracket? Brackets are all on ifbapinball.com. Okay. So very live.
    5:10
    Yeah. So you can tune in and watch those. Wow. Yeah, these are really quick ball ones. Ouch. All right, so let's see what we do.
    5:23
    All right. Yeah, that does feed down to the left, doesn't it? Ferguson says that post makes the game a lot harder and prevents play field validation exploiting, but what I was noticing, like I'm assuming if you short plunge it and it pops over to the left flipper and back over to the right, you can still do kind of the same thing. You could.
    5:44
    I don't know if it prevents it. Maybe it curtails it. All right. So Amanda's player one. Priyanka's player two.
    5:59
    All right. Here we go. You don't have a choice to pass. Right. It's dark. Yeah. I like this. Nice shot.
    6:12
    Nice. She's hitting. That's clean. Two. Three. Very well done. I was going to say, I think she's going to backhand that. Oh, is that a backhand? Yeah. Oh, nice. Four. Not all she's got is her. See, easily goes to the right flipper again. That almost looks easier than getting it to feed to the right flipper, in my experience, anyway. Cradle up. Yeah, no dodgy live catch. Oh.
    6:39
    It did the harmonious ah again. Yes. And she's on a roll. Yeah, definitely in these games you don't want to miss shots. What? It could be dangerous. You never want to miss a shot. See, look at that. Just right over to the right flipper. Yeah. Seems like a gift. Now she's starting a mode that she cannot pass. Blackwater.
    7:01
    Locked. Ball one. And I'm learning more about how stark. I really never paid attention. Oh, nice. Yeah, that's... Oh, she got that one out of the way. Yeah. Oh all right another win for Priyanka
    7:28
    okay and she let the ball drain so that somebody else can jump up to the game so go check out four Queens too much I'll get the players updated here chubby goomba yes that was very quick work on Stark yeah burgers I agree with you from my ivory seat at the commentator booth show us Mark and Tracy God they are Desperate.
    8:07
    We'll try to get as much as we can, guys. Danger, thanks for continuing to post the link. All right.
    8:18
    Ah, I love this game. That was beautiful. Look at that. I don't know. I'm horribly torn on these clothes flipper games and these games that try to keep you from, because that's exactly what happens to me. Well. You have the protection, and then I watch it drain down the outlet. Yes, yes, yes. Oh, I really thought that was going straight to scoop.
    8:39
    It's kind of beautiful, though, on this one. You can get some traction just by getting the zip flippers and then just flipping them both at the same time back up.
    8:53
    Is this a one-player game as well? This is a one-player game. Are all the EMs one-player games? They are. Oh, so I don't need to ask this question again. That's right. All right, so what are we doing on this game, Carl? We're up. Beats me.
    9:12
    I know, I know. I didn't touch any of these games, even though I get to play soon. I know, I know. This is a good one. I actually know what's going on here. Well, I don't know everything that's going on, but, yeah, that's center scoop right there. That's everything for you. That's where you want the ball to go. When you do, it closes the zip flippers, which is fantastic. These guys right here, these slings, those open the flippers back up again. Don't hit the sling. So you really want to avoid those, which is why I prefer what this player just did here, the double flip back up, because you can get back up to that scoop. Every time you hit this scoop, you also get whatever the lit total here is. So you can get 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, or 5,000, and that keeps alternating. The other place that's super special is right here. If you can do a plunge just perfect to get a bounce over and then get into there on your plunge, you're going to get 3,000 points right off the bat, and that's pretty. and some players go back for that once they've got the zip flippers done, although that's not my preference. I'd rather just keep shooting for the center shot because I find it to be safer. Those spot letter targets there, that red one that he just hit, those are danger city. You don't want those.
    10:19
    Those are not necessarily your friends. They'll tend to shoot it into the out lane. Yeah, no, this is a great game, and it's got the mushroom.
    10:27
    I don't know, the mushroom chimes, whatever you call those. they're fantastic and unlike other games they don't automatically change your zip flipper situation I kind of love that that mechanism is in the sling switch yeah not on the play field this center shot too this is nice it'll light up and it does something it spots you some letters which I guess doesn't matter for I feel like they did something to get rid of the letter spotting that doesn't do you any good for this tournament but that is still a nice shot to take Anyway, this is a great game. I was gonna assume the suits at the bottom are just for special
    11:04
    That's a good question I don't know what they Don't know what they relate to is that the second player the first we don't know
    11:17
    Was that to stash you or David that was David Okay, so now is it to stash you to stash you and you can see Delaware is playing DC however it isn't because it's a geographical thing what they did was rank everybody I believe by their current IFPA ranking and then seed them accordingly and the brackets did change several times over the last few weeks and I know even up until yesterday some of the brackets had changed so you know who you thought you might be playing when you were flying out here or driving out here may not necessarily have been who you're going to play oh nice bounce out yep yeah there it is okay i'm liking the play on this oh single flip so what's the best way to get it back into that scoop to uh knock a ball off one flipper and try and use a single one or to flip with both of them If you want to go up into the middle scoop or to the top right? The middle scoop. The middle scoop, just a same, like a double flip. Okay. If you want to get up into the right scoop, a backhand is the easiest way to do it from the right flipper.
    12:35
    And I'm surprised. No one's really, it doesn't look like anyone's going for the exploit on the 3,000 scoop off the plunge.
    12:43
    It's tricky to get, but it's worth it. If you hit one switch, it'll. It'll go into the scoop on you with 3,000 lit, I believe.
    12:53
    Could be that they really didn spend a lot of time practicing on this Who would spend all their time practicing on this Certainly not me Honestly I was only an alternate Why would I practice Sometimes I do go for the EMs because in my mind they are the great play field leveler. Oh, well, very much so. Yeah, because I know some of our people in Pittsburgh, they prefer to play all the newer games or the solid states as opposed to playing the EMs. so I tend to pick those if I have a choice.
    13:30
    It's pretty great to see what it does to your opponent. The look on the face. Yeah, especially when they're used to playing. They expect you to pick Metallica, and you go, oh, let's go over to Four Queens, and you just watch the dread. Although you've got to be careful with, you know, like Bob Matthews. Oh, classics, yes, let's do it. Well, you've got to know your person. Or Fregatti. Oof. You get to know your person. Asking for trouble.
    13:58
    See, that's why I don't like those little red. I was thinking he was getting away with hitting those red targets a lot and no drain.
    14:07
    But for those of you who managed to make it into Pemburg in, what, 30 to 45 seconds, you will need to know some EMs because that's a bank of four. You've got an EM in each bank. so you got to know what's going on so where we going next Carl we're going to Aerosmith with Anna and Tracy okay
    14:39
    where you won't be able to see her because all right in the way I promise that's Tracy Here's something I got for the chat. Jeez. The score displays on these games, on these new turns, the scores are very small. So do you care about seeing all the animations, or should I be zooming in on just the scores alone?
    15:07
    Personally, I'd rather just zoom in on the scores alone. I would very much rather see the score, like in real life as well as for chat purposes. I agree. You're in a competition situation. Really, it changes it when you just don't have a lay of the land. and the animations just kind of fade into the background.
    15:27
    On this game, they don't even really tell you that much. Honestly, I just think they're very distracting, all these new animations. Yeah, I prefer, like, even when I'm playing a regular game without them, I don't look up. Yeah, because if I look up and I see that score... That was a nice shot to the right.
    15:47
    Yeah, if I see that score, I know I'm supposed to, like, you know, blanket out but then it makes me kind of nervous about playing she's hitting those shots clean yeah making fast work of this mode is she what mode is she in which one is this does this walk this way oh it's a good bounce out oh nice that's a 25 great save is that 26 million that is 26 million yes i'm working on this i'll let that game rest for a Yeah, good job.
    16:22
    Rest on it. Yeah, if you do danger in the middle, ball. Here we go. Hey, thanks, man. Fantastic. Yeah, much better. Let us know in the chat comments if you guys prefer that.
    16:36
    That's good stuff. Ooh. Okay, so she's got her short multi-ball. Is that a very short multi-ball? No, she hasn't had the multi-ball yet, but she's got it ready.
    16:52
    All right, now she's got five. So we'll see what she does. She's a ball two, so I'd like to see her go for a big multi.
    16:59
    Nice, nice save. During practice, too, I was watching her just slam some sweet saves. Yeah, Anna is phenomenal. Good eye, good reactions. Yeah. I've seen her at Papa, I've seen her at Pittsburgh, or Pinnberg, sorry. and yeah she is a phenomenal player I tilt her after my own heart no I'm a big one I'll even go on record right here right now to say it I swear well some pinball players in general irrespective of their gender do not tilt enough but it seems to be something I do see in a lot of the female player behavior at least when they're new in it and there's a lot of new female players out there so I should probably just give it up more to the newness. But they don't necessarily tilt and nudge and push, push, push the way I want to see it. And it's really, really great to see just, I don't know, violent behavior because it does so much for points and longevity of a ball. And, yeah.
    18:03
    Yeah, I know I've watched a lot of the ladies in Pittsburgh. You know, we've had skills clinics. There's a ladies' league that they do. And, yeah, you see a lot of the nudging and pushing. Yeah. And it's got nothing to do with, like, ability or skill level per se. I think it's just like it seems to be that, like, you in your culture are, like, encouraged not to jostle things or. . . See, I don't feel that way. Good. And good, I'm glad you don't feel that way because I grew up in Minnesota, and maybe that's a different world too where it's like, oh, no, you have to be nice. You have to be. And I didn't even think I had it in me until I realized that I was averse to pushing around a pinball machine, of all things. See, when I started actually playing in the Pittsburgh Pinball League, some of the guys just basically said, you need to do this. So it's been instilled into me for 10 years. See, that's good. and I... However, my biggest problem is I feel like I can't move the machine. When you get into these sterns and newer games, I just feel like they're too heavy. I've been working on some serious leg swinging. I'm using my leverage as much as I can and I used to... Leg swinging? Do you mean kicking? Kicking? Yes! I have noticed that that seems to do something for me as well. If I can't physically move it, then I'm going to use the rest of my body to see if I can get some momentum going. Yeah, I played in a tournament last Saturday in Pittsburgh, and I noticed the leg came up when I saw the ball come into me, and it just felt like it helped. So, yeah, maybe it is just, you know, you're putting your whole body into it.
    19:54
    So some newbies think nudging is cheating. See, no, that's so wrong. I mean, you know, all this is a personal opinion, but when you've watched so many accomplished players who are winning and winning and winning these massive tournaments and massive prize pools, my God, and just all the skill they bring into it, they could not do it without pushing the machines around. They would have drained balls, and they would have drained out well before their billion-dollar score on whatever game they're playing. It's absolutely mandatory. All right, here's my advice to new players, and even, you know, players that are still intermediate, you know, not these advanced. If you have, you're playing a really good player in your league, or if you see, like, one of these top players playing, watch how they play. You learn so much watching them. And you may not be able to replicate it exactly, or, you know, that just may not be your style. Tracy's killing these shots.
    20:55
    Yeah, because in Pittsburgh we have, you know, the calm player, or not calm players, the players that are controlled, and then we have the play-on-the-fly players, which not to talk about my husband, but he plays on the fly. He plays on the fly. He doesn't trap up the balls. Yeah. Well, he did win a state championship, just saying. Yeah, and if you'd watch some of the Papa live streams over the last few weeks, they've talked about it. Look it. She's exploiting that walk this way ramp pointage.
    21:27
    Nice. Great eye, Tracy. Yeah, and if you're watching this stream, you can learn a lot by watching these plays. Nice, nice. Yes, that was a nice nudge. See, you've got to do the nudge. You've got to. How are you on the slap save?
    21:42
    Slap save? Slap save. That's a good question. Do I slap save? I cannot. Do I slap save and destroy? I don't know. Yeah, I can't slap save to save my life, and that's one I really, really want to master because when that ball is coming down towards those flippers and you're seeing it. Is the point of the slap save to avoid the tilt or to avoid a danger warning? Is that the deal? No, the point of it is to keep the ball from going here. You try and – Well, yeah, obviously, that's always the point. That's the point for everything you do. But when you slap it, sometimes if you slap it right, it will take that ball from here to just slightly so it hits the flipper. Oh, I do that, but I don't slap it. I do something else. I've never achieved that ability by a slap, I guess, is my answer.
    22:29
    I achieve it with my leg is what I do. Oh, okay. Great. I get the momentum in my lower body and I shift down and, yeah. Are we on ball three? We are on ball three now. Okay. And Anna is back up. Also, that sounds painful. A slap save?
    22:46
    I thought that was just a figure of speed. It's not as bad as it sounds. See, this is – well, I don't know, the way I hit the game, I'll walk away and go, oh, my hand hurts. Okay, okay.
    22:57
    So that's what I said. I haven't mastered it yet. I think it's brute force. Apparently you've got to not brute force it. Yeah, I'm all about the momentum of the body to get that effect. Oh, she's got – oh, is she going to take it? Is she taking it? Yeah, she's taking it. Ah, it's ball three. All right, all right, all right, all right. Yeah, the problem with using whole bodies is recovering after.
    23:17
    Lose your balance. What? Oh, yeah. Well, I've seen some sweet stream moves on the balance recovery. All right. So this game also. I saw Augenstein do a full spin once and still stay in the game. All right. This game also has a smart button. What does a smart button do? Is there no ball save for multi-ball? Is that the deal? Do you want to know what the smart button does? Should I know what the smart button does? Is it there for decoration? Decoration. Woo-hoo. Okay. Well, so maybe that's a future programming change or addition.
    23:53
    And, yeah, most of the time in tournaments, the ball save is either turned off or so short that you blink and you might miss it.
    24:05
    Oh. Well, she's got a ball saved. Coming out. She's still in it. She's got 180. That score is gorgeous, yeah. Cows. Did you see the cows? The cows.
    24:21
    Woo. Bouncing that ball out of purgatory. Oh, it's a good tilt, too. Another good move is that tilt. That would be nice if she had some locks open right now. She's getting that.
    24:34
    Oh. Nice ball. Sweet score. Nice ball. Very, very nice game. I mean, 123. 223? I don't think I've gotten that high. For Tracy to come back, she's got to work on her locks. She's got to take it and try to – I would avoid the ramps at this point. And she wants to get those when she's in double scoring or some sort of play field multiplier during her multi-ball. Yeah, what, she has one lock right now?
    25:05
    Who's Jack Danger talking about? You two. Ladies, if you don't freaking start a podcast about pinball, I'll be really upset. Great chemistry.
    25:15
    Wow. Why, thank you. I did get you to go back into the tournament for one more qualifying try that one time. Oh, yeah. That one time at Bayonet.
    25:27
    Yeah, what Debra is referring to is last year in Atlanta. I went, tried, you know, I had a decent qualifying run, and then I just couldn't grab hold of the game. I said, I'm done. Debra's like, eh, go back for one more. Yeah, I said, eh. I feel like I was a little more intense than that. Well, I'm putting it nicely. So, yeah, so I ended up, I had a number one score on Star Trek, then somebody decided to play, you know, the person that encouraged me. Yeah. And took that down but I still qualified for the women finals And beat me Yeah went on to win them and Debra finished second So yes I do have her to thank for that
    26:04
    All right. All right, so that's a lock ball. Okay, she got one more. Oh, that was, I don't even know what that was. No, no, no, no, no. No, that hurts my soul.
    26:21
    Yeah. All right, that gives Anna her first win. Okay. Something was distracting her. She was looking at something.
    26:30
    All right. Let's go to Metallica. We haven't talked about it. We're just going to go to Torpedo, but they must have just finished. Yeah, let's go to Metallica.
    26:39
    He's unmet right now. Pete and Dan. So, I figured we'd do something. We haven't talked about Metallica yet. And I actually know a teeny bit about that.
    26:55
    All right, Metallica. This looks like their first game. Can I just be distracted by the beauty of this particular Metallica game?
    27:07
    Oh, so are we into round two? Some matches have started in round two. But really, it looks like Pete and Dan's first game. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. No, it says Pete and Dan. So maybe they just haven't updated. No, the line was really long on Metallica.
    27:25
    So this may be their very first game. No, it's not. It's not. No, because I know he was up by. That would be impressive. Then they just haven't updated it. Yeah, they may not have updated it. Okay. Okay, so.
    27:38
    Oh, it's Oklahoma City boy. Yeah, we have a North Dakota and West Virginia. Yeah, I wasn't talking about the current. for you. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, but I'm just saying. He just wandered into the screen.
    27:53
    Yeah, you said Oklahoma and I'm like, who are we playing? Okay, so I believe... Oh, Doc, it was not deliberate.
    28:01
    We're just here talking and you're welcome. Well, maybe it was deliberate on the part of Carl. All right, so Metallica.
    28:10
    You can either go for the basic skill shot, which is in the lanes, or you can go for super skill shot, which is hold up your flipper, go around the loop, and then drop it into the mystery shot.
    28:25
    All right, so the other thing to talk about this game is that we changed the setting. So this is like how it was set up at InDisc, where it's five items of each, you know, five grave markers, electric chairs, you know, those things. Just light, you'll crank it up. Okay. And Sparky is on very hard, so it's 14 or 15 shots or whatever to actually start Sparky. Ouch. Yeah. Ow! Please change that back for tomorrow. So this is how many? 14? Yeah, something crazy like that. That would kill me, because that is my shot. I always go for Sparky, or I go for the Metallica Rams.
    29:01
    We'll have to revise my strategies here. Halloweenica. Funny, Lord Squeak. Funny. Super, you can shoot any shot. He's got... Multiball? Yeah, he was in Gravemarker. Oh, he's in Gravemarker, okay.
    29:23
    Keywords being buzz. Alright, so he needs to get his electric chair and his coffin. He has no shots lit for, well now he's got one lit for the electric chair. And he has 14, 13 to go? No, yeah, for the electric chair, but he only needs four more chairs to finish that. Five, okay. Right, exactly. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. You're going for crank it up with this strategy. All right.
    29:50
    All right, we are now on ball two and Dan's up. Oh, oh, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. Wow. Oh, hate to see that.
    30:23
    Are the fuel lights different colors? They are. Yes, wow. Wow. Virginia's personally invested in this one.
    30:45
    Well, I was trying to see, you know, like I said earlier, he tends to play on the fly. He doesn't really do a whole lot of controlled shooting. So I was trying to watch or not. Oh, look at that. Let it bounce over them. That was pretty control. not I expected all right I mean not that I wouldn't bounce over that shot every time but still wait who's shouting was that PD no that hat is epic it's always epic yeah if anybody saw I posted a link apparently Pete was on the front page of our local paper oh and he explained the hat that's right he'll have the he'll have it lit on his next ball yep this ball three one chance oh depends on how ball three is going true for dan you may not play it yeah you may not you might do that's the best ones is that plunge and walk away and that's it wow wow yeah you blinked and you missed that game i did i did blink. What happened? The ball drained.
    31:52
    We're going to go to this. Wave to everybody. Hi. Where? Right there. There? I thought we agreed we were going to do that. We want to see you stop. The pink one. Oh, we're going to Torpedo Alley.
    32:09
    Does this mean less of us and more of that? Yes, thankfully. Hey, everybody. Hi, Mom. Look, no hands. Put those hands back on the table. All right.
    32:21
    Okay, Torpedo Alley. All right, this is Anna and Tracy again. Let's see. It looks like Tracy's player won that round. Say hi to Jim and Sharon Stewart, Fort Scott, Kansas. Hi, Jim and Sharon Stewart at Fort Scott, Kansas. Thank you for watching your son. Woo-hoo. We're glad to have you guys on the show. I got a fist bump for that call out. That's nice. All right, Torpedo Alley. My favorite shot on this is the shark because it does the jaws thing. And I know that isn't the shot you go for, but, you know, I love listening to it. That's one of those that makes me laugh. These are those.
    33:02
    So you can build up the colors. There's blue. There's green. I believe there's red. Am I correct about that?
    33:11
    Not cool, Carlos. Not cool. Or there's yellow. You can see yellow up here. And it's kind of, you just build it up. We have had this at the Pittsburgh Clubhouse, and I really enjoyed this game.
    33:37
    I'm amazed no one has chimed in about Penn Stadium lights. Oh, well, let's give a shout-out to Penn Stadium Lights.
    33:47
    What is Penn Stadium Lights? Oh, just a genius invention by Mr. Scott. Don't remember his last name at the moment. Well, everyone's talking about headlamps on the chat and whether or not those should be used or if they're a nuisance or some kind of other cheating system. I don't see that. Someone asked about Penn Stadium, which lights the whole play field up beautifully. I must say it is the perfect product and everyone should buy some. Well, the problem with the lighting is that you're not going to please everybody. For somebody, a darker setting might be better, especially with the new LEDs. Well, yeah, look at Steve Bowden.
    34:25
    Bowden. Bowden? Bowden. I said it right the first time. Darn it. Darn me. Anyway, the extra flashy, extra crazy bright lights are not his friend. Yeah, that's... You can see him wearing sunglasses at night. And or... Where my son in the venue? We should all start singing. So it looks like Tracy was trying to relight her kick back there, but that's what led to her drain.
    34:50
    For anyone who doesn't know, it's the little orange target. That's right. There. Ah, thank you. I did not know this. I forgot about the kick back.
    35:01
    Oh. Oh, wait, no. No. Ouch. and this is another one where they play player one and player three as you can tell by the post-it note i like the professional signs great save on the games the post-it notes it's as professional as you can get yeah hey they're well written at least you can read them all right um oh that's a dream You know, I know the planes are taking off outside, but it sounds to my mind as though it's torpedoes getting launched while we're watching this game.
    35:45
    What I like to tell everybody is, yeah, you can hear planes flying over us. I'm not sure if the mics are picking them up, but I work in an office. It's near the airport in Pittsburgh, and there are days I think the planes are going to land on the roof of my building, even though they say we're not in a flight path.
    36:00
    All right. So, 167 to 55. And that was a drain. Sheesh. This last couple of balls. That was fast. Yeah.
    36:19
    Oh, Anna's got some work. So, let's see what she can do. So, the object on this game is to try to sink four ships.
    36:27
    Is that right? Four ships and multi-ball are the two main objectives. sure I'm asking everybody I played this two years ago and I don't remember enough of it yeah I think the sink the ships and get them up and then the uh I believe the left orbit's lit for a jackpot shot at some point like I said I I like the sharks that's the only reason so you know actually shooting playing the game for what you're supposed to play for people do that but it won't spot anything because they've turned that off um when I'm playing this I'm basically going up to the right, then using that upper flipper to hit the drop targets over and over on the top, on the upper right-hand side of the playfield. Yeah, you mean these ones? Yep. That, and then just keep doing that if the spinners spin well, you can get good value out of them. And if you hit if you destroy four ships, something happens, but I don't know what that thing is. I just know that you want to have it happen. Right. What is that thing? I think that's when the left orbit lights up for your jackpot or your destroy. For your jackpot, okay. It's basically a jackpot. Alright. For your big points.
    37:28
    We just had a nice comeback. Wow. Nice job, Anna. Two and two. And as we said earlier, if you're just tuning in, this is a best of seven. And for anybody tuning in, we have doing broadcast right now, Deborah Talman, Carl D'Angelo until he has to go play, and then myself, Virginia Hendricks. and we are at the IFPA North American Nationals and the IFPA Women's National Championship. It is in this place called Flipper Spiel Wonderland in Las Vegas, Nevada. Underground pinball parlor. And it is literally underground because we drove around the parking lot and the only reason we knew where it was at is all these people. I did that last night, only there were no people here. So I drove around this thing a couple times to find it called Josh. Where is this? Next to the 24-hour restaurant. All right, this is a great game. We've got Snow playing against Marine. Snow Galvin and Marine Hendricks head-to-head. And it's an elimination match if Snow doesn't come back here. This is major. All right, Snow.
    38:43
    I've got a little bit of a bias in this game. I'm a big Snow fan. Oh, careful. One thing I gotta say is this game is tilty That it That it Tilt it out
    39:04
    Which ball are we on then? Good question. I will get that up there. That looked like a drain, so I wonder if that wasn't ball three. No, we're back to ball one.
    39:16
    Oh, yeah. You guys are killing me with this one and two. All right, and for those of you who don't know, the reason we're doing players one and three is because of tilt-throughs.
    39:29
    Where is the ball number on the – there it is. Okay. You find it? Way down there. This is ball two. Okay. I'm going to get that on the screen here.
    39:38
    Are you sure you have to go play? You've got all these nifty toys. What if you just got a board here on it?
    39:45
    How are they going to run? All right, so I'm guessing this is ball three? No, it's ball two. This is ball two, I'm sorry. Yeah, he's working on putting that on the screen. I wasn't paying attention.
    39:59
    I got caught up looking at the other performers on screen. player two player player three gosh was that player two i believe player two was killing it yeah that was player two yeah yeah that's what i was like she didn't flip okay that's why yeah Now see, there's ball two. Oh, you've got to be kidding me.
    40:38
    So I'd like doing a soft blend on this. Oh, yeah? Not getting up to the upper lane. So I just want the ball on the right flipper to shoot the lock shot. In your possession. Well, there's a nice hop on that right flipper. Yeah.
    40:53
    Versus who knows what's coming at you if you let it go through the pops. Well, it looks like Snow has a decent chance of living. Anything can happen.
    41:07
    I know. Why do I speak too soon? Why would I do that? Who does that? Yeah, I've found that, you know, you go into ball three, you have a massive lead.
    41:18
    Next thing you know, you're walking away from the game going, what just happened? Oh, so close. That's it. All right. So my premonition stands.
    41:30
    Snow lives. She needed that one. All right, we'll keep it on this for Karen and Mika. Awesome. Okay.
    41:44
    We're two and two right now. Two and two. Am I getting close? Okay. They link everything to the homepage.
    42:01
    300 by Trent's face. Trent's that sucked face. Yeah. They do have the brackets on the IFPA page. So if you go there, you can follow along live with the brackets. And I believe they are updating them live.
    42:21
    So, yeah, as you can see, it's like two and two right now. Oh, we've got a special guest, everybody.
    42:37
    Okay. Okay, we have Escher. That one. Yeah, that guy. Left cough the lesser. Thank you. Did you qualify for this, Escher? I did. I have a bye, and it's quite a wait. Yeah. The lines are pretty long. Yeah, as you can see, here's our... Yep.
    43:00
    Game of Thrones and X-Men at four. Yeah, you know, typical. Those are the most popular. Yep. So... Okay, yeah, Escher is waiting on Kevin Koontz and Joe Albertson. And that looks like a three to nothing right now. And I think they're waiting on Metallica last time I saw. Oh, they just finished. So you may be up. No, I think it might be. We'll see. So we're watching some Sorcerer. Yes. Tell us about Sorcerer in your opinion, Escher. There's a lot of ramp. Just ramp. A lot of ramp. A lot of ramp action. All ramp all the time. Ramp, ramp, ramp, ramp, ramp, spin. What would you do with this game, Escher, if they disabled the left ramp somehow, some way? Or if they disabled the More importantly If they disabled the Multi-ball, what would you do, Escher? I would Shoot the spinner Yes, still shoot the ram Hit the spinner Build the spinner And then the spinner feeds up top for bonus multiplier And then play the How do you build the spinner? Through the sorcerer targets If I think the set builds each set builds the spinner, or lights the spinner. The sorcerer targets, is that this here? Yep, and then there's each spinner, it also has a letter on it. Oh, nice. So hitting the spinner builds the spinner. Yep. Okay, so we have spinners here and here. Yep. Okay. And then there's the three targets at the top.
    44:39
    Yeah, those guys right there. Yep. Those are actually really good value during 5X. Are they? Yeah. I wondered about that. They can be huge if you can get them down.
    44:51
    All right, we have... Karen and Mika. Mika, yeah. Yeah, Karen and Mika. That's Mika. And right now they're 2-2. 2-2, so... Well matched. It's anyone's match. Yeah.
    45:09
    Just want the good feed. Yeah. Lock ceiling is on, right? Yeah, I believe so. So if you lock one ball and drain, The other person only needs to hit the ramp once. Sweet, clean shot to the left. That's a good start. As I was saying earlier, make sure you get that multi-ball because those lock stealers suck. Yep.
    45:29
    It's not the worst lock stealing game, but it's... No, no. Nice. Off of the sorcerer targets. Very nice. Clean. That's nice. We're going to have a multi-ball. Sweet, sweet bounce. All right.
    45:44
    Woo. Oh. Got it on the red target. Keeping him up there. Ah, every time, man. I've watched this game do this countless times. After you finish playing multiball, you know what's next? Multiball. Multiball again. So during your multiball, you want to hit the ramp twice. Just to get back up there, yeah. Is it twice or three times for 5X? It should be twice. Yep. I thought it was twice. Yep. So I think there's a setting. You can make it three or two. I don't think they changed it for some reason, but I could be wrong. Yeah. IFPA. What's wrong with those sharp people? Yeah?
    46:19
    Just so they did casual settings on Game of Thrones you guys are complaining. What about casual settings on sorcerer, huh? What about that? Oh, that's one danger. That is a danger I was wondering about that if the GI was just jiggly or if that indicated a danger. There's the spinner. Oh There's our multiball here. It can be huge. She's already at four. Oh nice save. And she didn't go too far because she would have tilted that. second time off of the target. Nice catch. You got this. Boom. All right. So try and get one ramp shot, but if you can't, then just take that spinner. 2x times the really nice shot. Oh, Ooh, I thought she had that. Come on. Nice. Oh, take a daydream. Oh, that's careful. I saw a lot of people tilt during multiball. So much tilting. Yeah.
    47:14
    All right. Well. Here we go again. What do you think? Should she do a multiball? Yep. Of course. I think on this looker, you're hitting the spinner, though. Yeah, because what? Oh.
    47:28
    Still, that was a very nice project ball. I think there was Colin in the background going, Spitter, spitter, spitter, spitter. Yeah.
    47:36
    Yeah, 5,000 per spin. That is a good start. For those of you that obviously can't see us, we are not in the room because there wasn't enough room, so we are out in the foyer. They banished us. We have quite an audience behind us. You may hear them talking because they're watching the big screen TV that's in front of us. Yep. So, my match, I think they're on Metallica right now.
    48:03
    Yeah, so, okay. All right, so. We're back to player one. Starting here. Starting, I don't have, oh, she already played. Yeah, what happened to, remember, two and four are not. Joe Plunge. Yeah. So, all right. Hey, Debra. See if her second ball is as good as her first. so try and go right back to multi ball you have to reset your sorcerer targets which is unfortunate but yeah that would have been a beautiful nudge all right Joe Plunge?
    48:51
    Got the perfect feed, of course. GMA Pinball AZ. The reason we do first and third player is because of tilt-throughs. They do it on all the solid-state games. It's not just limited to Sorcerer. It's also on Torpedo Alley, Firecora, and so forth and so on. Unfortunate drain there out of the pops down the middle.
    49:14
    All right. And that is your infamous player two or four. Joe Plunge, as we call him. I don't know. I've had games where players two and four do better than I do. Yep.
    49:31
    All right, so ball three. We're back to player one. She's killing it. All right, just trying to get under control. Get on the magic right flipper.
    49:42
    All right. Okay. I tried to hit the spinner there, I think. It's always good to hit that spinner. Multipliers can be strong, and just getting it out of harm's way. We are briefly joined by Colin McAlpine. Yeah, thanks, Kenya.
    50:00
    Who won Pinberg, didn't he? Yeah, that tournament. That one tournament. That everybody sells out in 45 seconds. Yeah. Yep. Well, see, I don't know much about that because I worked, I don't know how many hours at the info desk that weekend. And we thank you for it. Oh, always.
    50:20
    At some point we will be looking for volunteers, so if you didn't make it into Pinnberg, consider volunteering. There is a lock on the table here. She drained with one lock. So she only needs to hit the ramp once here. Has anybody tried short plunging yet? No, we have not seen that. I was going to try that in warm-up, but the lines were pretty long. Well, you'll get that 30-second warm-up and see how it goes. I'm going to, if I have to play it, I'll give it a try. Oh, that was. I had to play this. No danger? Wow. Yeah. I had to play this in the kids' finals. Papa 16?
    50:56
    That was a while ago. Yeah. I had no idea what I was doing. But, yeah, so the ramp, if you can find the ramp on this game, you should probably pick it. because it's a hard ramp, especially with the yellow rubber, to consistently hit it can be huge. Yeah, that's right. They did put a rubber right here. It's actually on both posts. Is it on both? It's on both. Yeah, it's on the bottom. The other one blends in, but I can see the one and not the other. Yeah. So she needs three more sorcerer targets and the spinner. Yeah. And she's still going for the multi-ball. Is there rubber on the out lane? It looks like a metal post.
    51:44
    Some in lane edge there. All right. Ramp is lit. Went a little bit late. And then it's really great.
    51:52
    All right. Let's see.