2020 Stern Pro Circuit Championship Game 18

Stern Pinball·video·28m 19s·analyzed·Oct 1, 2023

Analysis

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TL;DR

Stern Pro Circuit ladder finals on Mandalorian: Kasmark defeats Lefkoff to advance.

Summary

The 2020 Stern Pro Circuit Championship Game 18 features a three-player ladder finals match on The Mandalorian pinball machine. Alexander Kasmark (Pittsburgh) ultimately wins the match with a dominant final ball scoring 631 million points, eliminating Escher Lefkoff (Longmont, CO) in third place, while Carl D'Angelo (Fontana, CA) advances to the finals. The match showcases high-level competitive play with advanced techniques including live catches, tip passes, post passes, and strategic multiball/mission sequencing.

Key Claims

The Mandalorian was released in 2021 by Stern Pinball, designed by Brian Eddie with software by Dwight Sullivan
high confidence · Host Tim Semon provides standard game credit information at match start
Alexander Kasmark's final score of 631 million points was the game to beat for the remaining players
high confidence · Host explicitly states this score as the benchmark after Kasmark's ball three
Escher Lefkoff stated The Mandalorian was 'the game I was least comfortable on out of the three' in the circuit
high confidence · Direct quote from Lefkoff post-match interview
The Stern Pro Circuit Championship format is a ladder finals with four players, eliminating last place each round until two remain
high confidence · Host Tim Semon describes the format at the beginning of the broadcast
The championship winner receives a Stern Pinball machine, championship belt, and $5,000 cash prize
high confidence · Host announces prize structure at match opening

Notable Quotes

“the idea of deferring for me I have this great opportunity to just put the pressure on everyone else in my group”
Top-seeded player (Escher Lefkoff) @ early match explanation — Explains strategic thinking in match selection—deferring choice to shift pressure
“Mandalorian was the game I was least comfortable on out of the three I had a good multiball and ball one but it wasn't enough”
Escher Lefkoff @ post-match interview — Provides player perspective on performance and identifies game weakness despite strong first ball
“if you're ever considering competing in pinball Don't Be Afraid by the top players that you see playing today you're on the fence of trying a tournament you should go out and find one at your local arcade”
Escher Lefkoff @ post-match interview — Community outreach message encouraging newer players to enter tournaments despite top-level competition
“he just holds the flipper up which gave him a nice trap on the right flipper”
Tim Semon (commentator) @ mid-first-ball analysis — Identifies Escher's consistent trap technique using flipper hold strategy on scoop feeds
“I cannot believe it the slap save with the warning down the middle those have been always giving two warnings but now he's into his multi ball”
Tim Semon (commentator) @ Carl D'Angelo's final ball — Documents surprise at Carl's successful save despite receiving warning—critical momentum moment

Entities

Alexander Kasmarkperson Escher Lefkoffperson Carl D'AngelopersonTim SemonpersonThe MandaloriangameStern PinballcompanyStern Pro Circuitorganization Brian Eddieperson

Signals

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community_signal: Post-match interview from top player (Escher Lefkoff) includes explicit community outreach encouraging newer players to enter tournaments despite intimidation by top-level competitors
high · Direct quote: 'if you're ever considering competing in pinball Don't Be Afraid by the top players...you should go out and find one at your local arcade'
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community_signal: Pittsburgh identified as significant competitive pinball hub—Alexander Kasmark from Pittsburgh area demonstrates elite-level performance, suggesting strong local tournament infrastructure and player development
medium · Kasmark's dominant performance and tournament seed position; Pittsburgh mentioned as his origin location
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competitive_signal: Ladder finals match reveals emerging strategy on Mandalorian: players prioritize multiball/mission sequencing, with successful players (Kasmark, Lefkoff early) focusing on mission starts and multiball stacking. Escher's flipper hold strategy on scoop feeds demonstrates technique optimization specific to this game's playfield geometry.
high · All three players follow similar shot progression patterns; successful ball play correlates with mission completion and multiball activation; Escher's trap technique is explicitly praised as innovation

Topics

Competitive pinball tournament format and strategyprimaryThe Mandalorian pinball machine gameplay and rulesprimaryHigh-level player techniques (live catches, tip passes, post passes, traps)primaryStern Pro Circuit Championship structure and prizesprimaryElite player performance and competitive metaprimaryTournament commentary and broadcast productionsecondaryPlayer accessibility and community encouragement for tournament participationsecondaryPlayfield layout and mechanical design implications on player performancesecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.78)— Broadcast is energetic and celebratory of competitive pinball excellence. Commentary is professional and enthusiastic. Players display respect for each other and the game. Post-match interview from Lefkoff is gracious and includes community encouragement. No evident controversy or negative sentiment.

Transcript

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welcome to another exciting episode of the stern pro circuit championships I'm your host Tim seon here to guide you through all the action the stern pro circuit Championship is an exciting lad finals format this means starting with four players we eliminate the last place player until we're down to just the final two the winner of that game wins a championship belt a brand new Stern Pinball Machine and also a $5,000 cash prize let's take a look at our field my name is Alexander kasmark and I'm from the Pittsburgh PA area I'm Karl DeAngelo and I'm from Fontana California hi my name's eer LOF I'm 19 years old I'm from Longmont Colorado in each match the top seated player has the opportunity to choose the game or choose their order on the game the idea of of deferring for me I have this great opportunity to just put the pressure on everyone else in my group uh the game I chose today is Mandalorian pinball game in this match is the Mandalorian released in 2021 by Stern Pinball designed by Brian Eddy and software development by Dwight Sullivan now we are here with our top three players on the Mandalorian starting with Alexander kmar likely his game selection now we're at the point where the new player does not automatically get Choice it comes down to the top seat eer chose to go last Alexander here is starting with shooting the ramp to try to get the missions lit first uh his first shot to the Razer Crest second shot to the Razer Crest um backhand the scoop which starts the Ambush mode and drains out the out lane with that Ambush mode so we now have Carl D'Python Anghelo soft plunging to a perfect live catch on the right flipper and right up the middle to start getting his razor Crest multiball ready K decides to shoot the scoop for the first two missions on these settings shooting the scoop will spot your RAM shots which means the mission can be lit or started right now oh great save off that uh rubber post prevent the ball from going to the out lane you can got the multi ballet takes that first mission start got a little trouble out of this kick out once see what he does here tries for the live catch again it almost goes to the right outlan again he does nudge it off that post again with no dangers now he's in his multiball he's going to take his flamethrower right away doubling the value of all of the shots on the Playfield for one use each made two major shots so far uh there's his third one on the right ramp another one to the scoop shot swingshot just immediately sending it out that left out lane like we saw with Alexander trying to go for that scoop on the cross Playfield shot it's always a little tough there that's a lot easier to shoot it on the back end his live catches are not working out of that right scoop right now he's got a right orbit shot here to make goes for it now and uh that's a huge shot actually about 25 million points for him so now he's in the next phase of play here with the color of the shot arrows changing fin the AET is now complete so he's just in multiball now 139 million and the ball comes back down to his right flipper he's out of multiball know Super Jackpot lit for Carl stop so shoots the right ramp shoots the scoop it bounces out of the scoop uh he can back in the left ramp here or just shoot the scoop again he's got to get a handle on the there he goes perfect live catch now from that feed back heads into the scoop again he's just going to go right for his second mission mission points were good for Carl on that first mission with the multiball Stacked great save there but immediately to the right out lane a solid start for Carl of 168 million got through two missions he'll collect some extra bonus here nothing for the Super Jackpot but getting through that one Mission will help bonus total at 5.6 million now we have our number two ranked player of the circuit eer leov the top seed remaining in this tournament at this point with just the three players remaining he goes for a soft plunge a little high but rides up that slingshot nicely without it firing and he's going to go right away to the middle shot okay backand on the left flipper he just holds the flipper up which gave him a nice trap on the right flipper and how we going to go for the scoop here yep backand to the scoop holding the flipper up again that just goes with the right flipper eer has found something that none of the other players have tried just holding up that flipper out of the scoop giving him a safe trap every time so now eer oh out of control in the slingshots and tips it over to the left flipper now he's recovered and up the middle for his first multiball uses the flamethrower here I think he yes he did light every single shot a nice right orbit shot there two balls trapped with the ball saer running but he doesn't need that trap right now because of that ball saer running so he abandons that loses one ball out the right out lane tried to shoot the ball into the scoop with the two balls on the right flipper that didn't work it was close there he goes with the scoop shot right orbit again and uh what's he going to do here okay now he goes to the live catch because he had the ball trapped on the right flipper tried to one time it around the loop up that scoop shot he's going to shoot the left ramp now that'll divert it no it won't divert it it'll come around the ramp pirate is defeated he has the Super Jackpot lit at the scoop shot he could backhand it here now he decides he'd rather have it from the left flipper it's much easier shot from this flipper a he doesn't even care going back to missions following the pattern that uh Carl established just go for your second mission right away I tried the cross Playfield tried to the scoop the ball is just bounc bouncing out because it's being hit so perfectly by these players from the right flipper there's the shot into the scoop on the left and tried another shot there off the bounce pass great save off the post and back into the scooper starts his second mission from here he might take this right scoop shot he does uh 5 million Mission ward two dangers but no tilt big save needed to do it uh he can try this backand here he is trying but he's not able to shoot it early enough and he tilts now coming down off those Hunter targets Alexander steps up to the game in his favorite position dead last after one ball he's been doing this every single game it means nothing for the alchem of the game though it seems so far let's see going up the middle Alexander really did not get anything lit yet between the missions well he only needs one more ramp to actually light the mission he's just trying to get the ball under control takes his first danger his second danger or warning there synonymous he did not tilt though and he's going to backand the scoop is he going to do the eer thing no tries to live catch now no post oh the post transfer worked for him most players won't attempt that and he's going for the multiplier targets an interesting strategy will he do it again no backhand into the mission scoop and live catch from the scoop feed going up the middle starts the multiball immediately gets his flamethrower going has all the shots lit with the flamethrower three balls in play and he actually starts with Ice Spider multiball which is generally the preferred multiball by the players although not much choice you get there it's completely based on uh what it starts with and uh switch hits but there's a spider W of 6 million these 6 million shots are lit on every shot on the play field now he's in the upper play field he keep the trap on the lower flipper tries to shoot the right ramp shot but he misses another trap up on the right side 25 million asset award and now he'll go for the middle ramp that won't divert back hands into the scoop 76 million now already for Alexander uh puts him ahead of eer score and now he's going to be trying to put on put more points into his play here goes around the right orbit that's a great shot and a great live catch on a very fast shot around the orbit back hands up the left ramp and he'll be back in the upper Playfield let's see how he plays this he's staging keeping the ball trapped on the lower Playfield but can't hit that tough left Target still in this self-destruct sequence getting lots of points for both uh Ice Spider Awards and the acid award WS the unlimited Super Jackpot round is lit right now so lots of points available for him by shooting that right scoop he's just looking to get a trap oh he just shoots it with the ball on The Flipper tried a second time but it rejected and that's going to be out he'll take another backhand attempt at it did not work out for him a forand attempt also doesn't work out uh 188 million so now Alexander pulls into the lead and he'll go for his uh missions for goinging or sorry the encounters for goinging the mission strategy uh these can be tough players can come back around go back up top again have to make it through three phases by eliminating all these yellow shots there's the first phase completed only one shot in that second phase so far will we go back for it again back into the in lane and gets a nice trap on the left side back hands up the ramp again back into his encounter so back in the second target of the second phase and a little bit dangerous but it makes it into the in lane and now he's got the far right target you can hit this one from this flier but it's hard to recover oh no yeah trying to get the Trap and hit it okay now he's in the third phase Only Hits one target again and there we go into the right ramp shooting now the encounter ramp it did not divert for him trapped on the right flipper up the ramp again he's trying to make a Fus encounter level the uh Mandalorian upper Playfield he here will continue to tilt as you play through this encounter making it more and more difficult uh really steep the ball return really quickly from hitting those targets so he went with the post pass and he's completed that phase but nothing in the bonus level which can be really good points did not have much of a chance to get any points there now he goes for a second mission players are avoiding shooting those left Hunter targets right now which can help them get closer to their next multiball instead just kind of taking these modes on the game between the missions and encounters just Alexander on the encounters but playing the missions 235 million now as Alexander's score it'll just be these yellow shots and a couple other features might pop up in the meantime now shoots the right orbit a perfect live catch out the orbit shot around the scoop and then back hands it into the left scoop and now he has a scope feature lit that might pop up for him on any left in Lane shot okay shooting the ramps again there's his scope feature completes it in one shot there it's any of those blue shots he hit the target getting himself 200 bestar and that puts Into The Foundry Foundry is a player selectable award just looking through he has pretty much everything lit uh he's going to take light encounter light scope light heel out lane ball save takes the light heel for the outlane ball save that could be toggled with the flippers so both outlanes are safe all right now his Hunter mode is lit which he starts it now by going through the in Lane tried to shoot the middle shot but it won't be ready yet he has to take out these Hunter shots there's the first one he'll have to take out a ramp or an orbit here oh great save there off the half ramp shoots the ramp now the bestar increases just needs the other orbit to finish it can continue shooting the ramp to build the bestar that shot now completes his Hunter mode which means up the middle is lit again for his hurry up rounds he'll shoot it now two more shots to start that hurry up after that hurry Up's completed will light his second razor Crest multiball so Alexander now is uh over started this ball with 253,000 points I believe he's now over 253 million points 258 million points hurry up value is pretty high here 7.8 million oh he'll bring in the mission in with it why not get some more points on the Playfield and has some multiplier running as well so this encounter sorry this hurry up 11.8 million Mission award uh with the Playfield multiply running is pretty big now he's going for his ramp uh he's just going for the points available now that he's got these multipliers running there's the ball save takes the soft plunge off the ball save ball comes around to the right flipper a perfect live catch up the middle for more hurry up points the hurry up round is still running 16 million if he gets it now he's going to take the mission award that was even more points 22 million 19 million now for this next hurry up there he goes up the middle and now finally out of the hurry up round but not before collecting a lot of points up to 350 million and now only four more shots to light his next multiball but the ball goes down the middle Alexander played that whole game on double danger that whole ball rather so now every player in this game has played their first multiball they've played two missions Alexander's played three missions has played one encounter putting him ahead Carl has his hurry up round lit which means if he progresses through that he can get to his second multiball and he starts working up that middle ramp up that Razer Crest Target there's some control on the left flipper and the hurry up round starts now and there's another shot on the hurry up round wow takes a big nudge a double danger players getting a lot of that one big nudge to save the ball at the middle they're getting two warnings and playing uh still pretty aggressively with the nudges wow that one comes back off the wall that was looking really dead live catch out of the scoop feed back up the middle so now because ah B is down the middle I like because Carl has played two missions he has to shoot the ramps to bring in his next mission so eer starts with the soft plunge and on the right Flipper on the Fly taking the shot up the middle always a safe shot he's really trying to get these tip passes but uh There He Go Go there's a tip pass sometimes players will take a couple attempts at that until the flipper comes down they can refire it yeah really these tip passes are really tough for echer here that one send the ball out the right out lane just didn't quite get it under control so now Alexander steps up to the game finding himself in a position he's not used to well in the lead on ball three uh he's now in the Ambush round he's going to let this time out and it is gone now no need to worry about that anymore and let Arrow lights come back and he's going for an encounter grinding through these uh encounters for some points all right now he's back up the midle going for the uh more more customary route of playing the multiball now he's shooting for the right ramp Alexander just like shooting every single thing on the Playfield to give himself options it looks like and that ball okay comes down nicely off the slingshot up the middle again how many shots one more shot to light Razer Crest multiball and the mission can be lit Now by backing the scoop he goes for the scoop now he's also got more Foundry what's he going to go for light razor crest excellent choice interesting choice uh he only need one more shot there but I guess he didn't want to risk it so gets that razor Crest multiball go in here with that one shot up the middle and into three ball play with his mission running once again he's on mission number five with razor Crest multiball number two jetpack multiball he's increased the Playfield multiplier again he really likes doing that so he's now up to double Playfield I know who he is it's noton but he's out the right outlane so it'll just be this mission right now the Super Jackpot is lit with the double scoring running okay made a nice nudge there another in lanane shot for him now he's got a perfect shot at the Super Jackpot takes it there that'll be some good points 26 million total on the jetpack multiball didn't get to see what the Super Jackpot was but it was probably 25 or 20 million back into The Foundry now he'll light the outla ball save again and he's still in his Infiltrate The freighter mode backhand the scoop completes that mode now if he can start his next mission and complete it he can actually get to the yellow wizard mode but uh while he's up there he'll have to play the encounter shoots okay the other Mission shoots right into the scoop on the cross play field shot stuck in the scoop very well for him and now up the left ramp and it diverting around to the very steep upper play field tried to take out a Target there he hit one now he'll be going for Mission shots yellow shots up the middle nice combo for him the left scoop is lit shoots it on the cross play field shot working well for him so now he's going to try to light that yellow wizard mode by shooting both ramps players have not been able to really make this shot too easily except for Alexander I guess he can perfectly make that shot and perfectly make the cross play field shot to the scoop he doesn't make it there but the backhand he is 100% and now he's in the first of the game's wizard modes mini wizard modes I like those odds have not seen this yet in the circuit competition but uh points should be very good here the ball save was briefly lit uses his uh heal so he's still playing 488 million now for Alexander still has a Playfield multiplier running he likes this backand here yeah hitting it every time now and tried to go up that ramp wow a great save double danger again any middle save leading to a double danger so you only get one of those on this game of Mandalorian and uh does kind of a post pass on the Fly and Nails it into the left scoop onto what looks like the next phase if I like those odds has to shoot the yellow shots again getting more points for these combo shots no Playfield multiplyer running at this point cross Playfield shot a little early now but should nicely come back for him ah he's got the ball save running he's still trying to get control with the flippers there we go to the left trap and once again 100% into the left scoop into the next phase with even more shot spit of I like those odds another ball or another two balls are added into play here and a little bit more ball save for him or four balls in play nice orbit shot orbit shots are always the toughest shots in the multiball there we go with the ball trapped a little late on that orbit shot he's got a multiplier lit again and there's a nice separation can't get control of that ball there a drop catch to get it trapped on the left flipper did not hit the orbit there that ball is gone but he's still in I like those odds it's not a multiball mode oh sorry it was that phase was so he's now out of I like those odds has completed it no more yellow missions available for him we'll go back to encounters here on this upper Playfield it's so steep it's getting basically one shot and then out of there every time now Hunter mode is starting uh he will shoot the left orbit needs to shoot the right orbit now to complete it and letting the ball come around back to the left ramp to pass over to the right flipper he likes that left ramp to pass and there we go around the right orbit that'll light his razor Crest multiball or his razor Crest hurry up progress shots up the middle it's very far away from the multiball now but he can keep working on that middle shot or go back to The Foundry he could progress potentially here if he has enough bestar he should that best is very valuable no he's going to take the heal again he's been using that heal very well he has two multipliers running so the hurry up would be good points for him up to 580 million on Alexander's score back up the middle the points now you just get from progressing to the hurry up are pretty high here to and that'll fall down the middle wow 42 million B a great performance by Alexander likely sealing his ticket into the finals but we'll have to see Carl D'Python Anghelo and Ester Lov now looking at 631 million as the score to beat Here Comes Carl with the soft plunge but it comes out a little weird off the shooter Lane ramp oh no he's out of control but now he get it into the in Lane and around to the razor Crush shot now Carl will he decide to go just for oh he takes a warning already that's tough cuz we know those middle saves that's likely going to tilt does that not tilt does that not tilt it does not tilt he cannot believe it I cannot believe it no one in the room can believe it the slap save with the warning down the middle those have been always giving two warnings but now he's into his multiball and he took his time to let the ball to the Tilt Bob to settle down this is great for Carl he's on a borrowed time here just in the multiball but you'll take it after a big save like that loses one ball loses another ball well so much for that multiv ball he was gifted by the game now he's back out of control in control again he has a Super Jackpot lit that's always good because uh the bonus is much higher and he'll just let that go so he'll take the Super Jackpot take the extra bonus and walk away when the last one for ball so eer starts with the perfect live catch immediately going up the middle completes his child Lanes now in the hurry up round these points will not be enough of this hurry up to pass Carl score oh wow he's really trying to get a handle on this game with these tip passes they have been really tough for him on this particular copy of the Mandalorian all right now he's through that section of the hurry up now he's into the four more shots so it's really five shots to that Target there's two of them right there didn't have to go all the way around two more to get to Razer Crest multiball I think he's thinking at this moment does he want to go for the mission or just the multiball well he has Ice Spider multi lit wow that warning came around from the nudge off the slingshot shot or off the side of the loop there to prevent it from going into the slingshot he has his multiball lit and he's decided to go for his multiplier Targets in single ball play and oh no he's in the slingshots now okay gets it under control going up the middle to start his multiball and it switched over to Jetpack multiball he's not happy about that he wanted uh the Ice Spider multiball can still do it here he can still pass Carl's score ah he's got the ball trapped this Ball's coming back to him oh it's really having trouble getting across to that right flipper where is that ball St oh it's in the upper Playfield so he's staging up there uh he's going to use the right flipper now he's got two balls up there in the upper Playfield we'll just let that one come back down in for the Trap and uh that ball is going to be coming to that flipper okay all three balls down and one ball is down out of the count of consideration so now what for eer going for the left ramp again tried to back in the left ramp Two Shots Miss to the left ramp the balls are fighting each other trying to uh leave okay in the in Lane not a lot of scoring right now by eer he's just he's got control he's playing this multiball he knows he needs to do something great in this multiball he's just having a lot of trouble with that left ramp right now the ball is not finding it way up there out the right out lane he will be out of this multiball out the left out lane Ander left cop is eliminated here in third place and with that our first three player match comes to an end number one in the world eer leov wind up number three in this tournament let's check in with eer and see how he feels about his tournament Mandalorian was the game I was least comfortable on out of the three I had a good multiball and ball one but it wasn't enough uh both players had really good games if you're ever considering competing in pinball uh Don't Be Afraid by the top players that you see playing today you're on the fence of trying a tournament you should go out and find one at your local arcade let's see who the player will be who makes it all the way through the ladder and wins the stern pro circuit championship