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INDISC 2023 Classics I Playoffs - First Round

IE Pinball·video·1h 55m·held·Oct 9, 2023
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.028

TL;DR

INDISC 2023 Classics I Playoffs first-round coverage with elite EM players competing.

Summary

Coverage of INDISC 2023 Classics I Playoffs first round, featuring 32 elite EM pinball players competing in group format across classic games like Sky Jump, Rock and Roll, and Mystic. Commentary highlights skilled gameplay, tournament format details, venue quality, and the competitive meta of classic/EM pinball, with notable performances from top-ranked players like Esher Lefkoff and Zach McCarthy.

Key Claims

  • Esher Lefkoff is the number one player in the world

    high confidence · Commentators Tom Graff, Neil McRae, and Kevin Martin introducing Group 7 competitors

  • Zach McCarthy is the current reigning defending INDISC Open champion

    high confidence · Commentators describing Group 7 participants

  • Jason (from Canada) had the top qualifying score of 129,260 on Sky Jump

    high confidence · Commentary during Sky Jump gameplay

  • Bill Mason is the NYC PC champion from 2022

    high confidence · Commentators introducing Group 7 competitors

  • INDISC is now the most exciting pinball competition on the calendar

    medium confidence · Commentator opinion about tournament quality and organization

  • There are two Stargazer machines at INDISC, with only approximately 500 on the planet

    medium confidence · Commentator discussing INDISC's unique machine collection

  • Shannon Stafford from Florida had the highest qualifying score on Rock and Roll at 5.6 million

    high confidence · Commentary revealing qualifying scores during Rock and Roll gameplay

  • Bowen Kerins is a multi-world champion pinball player

    high confidence · Commentators identifying Bowen Kerins in standings as number one seed

Notable Quotes

  • “It is just the most exciting pinball competition on the calendar now. Just phenomenal.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 13:33 — Strong endorsement of INDISC as premier tournament venue

  • “I regret my part in getting that system going many years ago... everyone hated it and loved it”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 10:10 — Acknowledgment of qualifying format complexity and its discriminatory power for skill

  • “You gotta be different... you gotta put it all. You can't be overly safe.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 16:32 — Strategic insight on risk/reward in EM finals gameplay

  • “This is probably the most just different [games]. Yes. And it may have buttons on the front for entering your initials.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 29:52 — Observation of quirky EM game mechanics and risks

  • “This is the thing I heard from a Wise man from this neck of the woods, which is you know, it's you're gonna be great your shots. We've also got to be great at recovery.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 26:16 — Key strategic insight about shot selection and recovery in EM games

  • “everyone brings out their best... there's an extra 10% in the tank that suddenly comes out”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 31:30 — Observation of elevation in performance during playoff/finals rounds

Entities

[name withheld pending review]personZach McCarthypersonBill MasonpersonJason (Canada)personJeff SealspersonTom GraffpersonNeil McRaepersonKevin MartinpersonBowen KerinspersonBob Matthews

Signals

  • ?

    competitive_signal: INDISC qualifying format uses 'card' system requiring consistent performance across multiple machines over qualifying rounds; described as strong discriminant of skill but unpopular with some participants

    high · Commentary discussing qualifying card format and players' experiences managing consistency across four games

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Esher Lefkoff identified as #1 player in the world; Zach McCarthy as defending INDISC Open and Expo champion

    high · Commentators introducing Group 7 with specific rankings and achievements

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Sky Jump EM gameplay emphasizes patience, lane control, target sequencing, and risk management; Lazarus saves frequent; early players at disadvantage

    high · Detailed commentary on player strategies, shot sequences, and specific gameplay mechanics throughout Sky Jump match

  • ?

    event_signal: INDISC 2023 positioned as premier competitive pinball event; praised for organization, venue quality, walkability, sponsorship (Food Lab), unique collectibles, and machine variety

    high · Multiple commentator endorsements: 'most exciting pinball competition on the calendar'; detailed praise of venue logistics and organization

  • ?

    venue_signal: INDISC features exceptional EM/classic machine collection including two Stargazer machines (approximately 500 exist globally); machines often tweaked from standard configurations

    high · Commentary on Stargazer rarity; references to unique machine configurations at the venue

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.346

0:00
Welcome to day two of Indus. My name is Jeff Seals from Pinball Profile. We are going to be showing you the Classics 1 playoffs. Last year won by Robert Byers out of Texas. Someone will win this. They've been playing all day today, trying to qualify, put their best four games together, and we have 32 people in the playoffs. Let's get to the action.
0:30
Hi, everybody. I'm Tom Graff. Hey, I'm Neil McRae. And I'm Kevin Martin. And we are here live at InDisc 2023 with Classics 1. I'm going back in time.
0:51
It feels like we've been here since 2003. Try to get a ticket. It's been a long day. It is. But a fun one at it. So we're going to be bringing you some action here. Top 32 players in the Classics 1. And here we go.
1:13
And we're on Sky Jump. Yeah, and we're following Group 7, because we've got an interesting mix of the young and the old, let's say.
1:30
We've got some really good players. We've got the number one player in the world, Escher Lefkoff. We've got Zach McCarthy, the current reigning defending Indisc Open champion.

  • “volunteer... just do two hours of scorekeeping if everybody just did two hours it would make such a difference”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 40:33 — Emphasis on volunteer-driven event infrastructure

    • person
    Shannon Staffordperson
    Ben Clementperson
    Jermaineperson
    Andrew Rosaperson
    Tim Sextonperson
    Jack Tidemanperson
    Colin MacAlpineperson
    Arvid Flagerperson
    Danieleperson
    Brian Shepardperson
    Emily Cosmanperson
    INDISC 2023event
    Inland Empire Pinball Association (IEPA)organization
    Pinball Profileorganization
  • ?

    community_signal: Tournament success depends heavily on volunteer support (scorekeeping, techs, desk staff); community emphasized as essential to event viability

    high · Commentator appeal for volunteers; emphasis on volunteer techs and scorekeepers making events happen

  • ?

    community_signal: Pimberg and INDISC formats (like Pimberg) create social bonding through diverse pairings; non-social players report unexpected positive experiences

    medium · Commentary on social aspects of match play formats; anecdote about personal transformation through tournament participation

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Classic EM games like Mystic, Rock and Roll, and Sky Jump have intricate rule sets, bonus mechanics, and quirky features (e.g., Mystic has game-tweaked variations; Rock and Roll has button-based initial entry that can cause game crashes)

    medium · Commentator discussions of rule mechanics, bonus structures, and risk factors on specific machines

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Rock and Roll commentary references Python Anghelo's wisdom on EM design: 'great at shots, great at recovery'; emphasizes geometric playfield design and shot sequencing

    medium · Commentator attribution of strategic philosophy; discussion of game geometry and recovery mechanics

  • ?

    content_signal: INDISC 2023 Classics I Playoffs being broadcast/streamed by IE Pinball with multi-commentator booth; real-time score updates and bracket tracking available at neverdrains.com

    high · Video broadcast with multiple commentators; on-screen graphics with standings and scores; URL references for online scoring

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Tim Sexton (main coder on Rush pinball game) competing as player in INDISC 2023; visible at tournament in Rush-branded shirt

    high · Commentators identifying Tim Sexton by role and shirt; noting his #1 qualifying score on Mystic

  • ?

    event_signal: INDISC offers limited-edition annual collectible coins as prizes for specific achievements/challenges; marketed as premium quality (thick, heavy, well-minted); creates additional FOMO and motivation beyond tournament wins

    high · Detailed segment on INDISC collectible coins; commentator showing physical coin; comparison to Pimberg medallion system

    • 1:42
    We've got Jason out of Canada. And we've got Bill Mason, the crafty veteran out of North Carolina. Bill Mason, the NYC PC champion this year. Last year, 2022.
    1:58
    Fantastic play from him. at that event, so I really experienced a bunch of players here. And this is an EM game, it's one player EM, so take turns each to play five balls and all about getting the best score. Yeah, what you want to do on this game is get your lit lanes unlit going up top That'll light your 500 light just above that blue line in front of the drop targets. So that'll make the drop targets worth 500 points. And then you want to hit the lit 10x target right here. and that will increase the value to $5,000.
    3:01
    It's a much bigger disadvantage going first. It is. I don't know. I think go first. If you play the game, you go first. You go aggressive. You put in a big score and you intimidate. That's fair. You know, it's – That's what Escher's really hoping to do. Yeah, I think so. And he just hit that six target that would lift for 5,000. Yeah, nice.
    3:29
    And we'll get the one there. But now he has, it looks like most of his, he's got almost all of his lanes lit now.
    3:43
    And if he can hit that one drop target, it'll reset the bank. and just an unfortunate drain there. Yeah, not getting much luck with the bounce.
    3:56
    Trying to get the ball under control. Nice. Just pass. All right. Reset to the bank. He's going to try to throw it in that seven. Yeah. Nice.
    4:18
    Nice. Finding that shot a little bit tricky. Nice shots. Very nice. I don't know if it was Eamon to do that. I think so. If it's Asher, I would say definitely.
    4:35
    But actually, Jason had the top qualifying score of 129,260 on those. Oh, that was a nice save. Wow. That was Lazarus. Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo. Wow. That was He's playing ball six now Yeah, for sure Last ball here for Usher Gotta get the points as they come This is not a game with any bonus Nice backhand into the three What was that Kevin? No bonus So in this middle Middle drop target will move that 10x light around Pop bumper, excuse me 446,350 for Escher there. It's probably an okay score, but not a great score. Right. Maybe a little bit of nerves, I don't know. Getting the view of the Lazarus. Very nice.
    5:40
    Always helpful when you have a moment like that. Until ends game, so that's something to watch out for. We've had a couple of folks end the game by just giving the game a bit of a slap. so Jason who as Tom said has got the top score from qualifying out of Canada been playing, we were just actually looking up his history he's been playing for a long time he was at Papa in 2010 so lots of experience yeah a lot of good finishes finished second at TPF a few years ago I just thought this was a 1974 game but it just seems older yeah I would have said older and he's on ball three already yeah gotta re try to reset that bank and just nothing's really going for him here he's no luck whatsoever we've all been there but most of us haven't been there in the finals No.
    7:02
    So all these guys have been playing Bank of Classics on ticket formats. They have four games. Oh, another nice ladder.
    7:15
    Gets a nice bump into lane two. I could get 5,000 here if we can hit that one. Oh. It's a tough shot. A bit late. There you go. Calm down. go yourself nice it's got another one there yeah picks up top trying to get the one I think
    7:44
    yeah he hits that one excuse me it's not lit so it'll it only be worth 500 yeah See that So he needs to move that
    8:01
    That shot to another lit shot ideally Yeah, this is the the thinking man's EM yeah sure I'm not actually didn't play this game in the in the cloth. I am now kind of wishing I had a go
    8:24
    Yeah, I'm thinking right now, trying to throw it into the pops and move that 10X. Yeah, for sure. But he's just chipping away here.
    8:41
    I'm wondering if he knows. I think he does. I think he's just playing it safe. Right. The last ball, just trying to catch up here. Yeah, just going to out rather than Zeke Risks. Yep.
    8:55
    All right, trapping off. Let's see what he does. Very close to Escher's score already, the ball four. Yeah.
    9:09
    Oh, unfortunate. So did not pass Escher there. Last ball. Oh, last ball. Excuse me. Good moves. right there we go yeah now we got on the two don't really help it a much push him past us sure sure yep so important not to get a last year I'm gonna ask this guy for his lorry numbers. Here's the replay, thanks Carl. Great, nice, nice, nice cam play. Neil mentioned the qualifying format with the card where you have to put together consistent performance across the machines and having played some today, I regret my part in getting that system going many years ago. So do we. So is everyone.
    10:19
    We found the culprits to blame. Yeah. It's like the old joke about getting punched in the face and saying, oh, it happens all the time when I tell someone. But people hated it and loved it and it was I mean, it is arguably a strong discriminant of skill that was consistency unfortunately I am not consistent that's why we're in the booth that's exactly it so Zach current Open Champion and Expo Champion great player from Colorado out. Thinking about what he's going to do. Shipping away at these targets. Yeah the geometry of this game is really interesting. You've got that kind of triangle shot, hit the drop, hit something else and you're out. I love these sort of geometric games like that. I like this. Very nice. Yeah.
    11:38
    So, all right, only to survive now, but got to get that two down and reset his bank. Try to get some points. Nice spot. All right, now he's got everything lit on the drops.
    11:57
    There you go. Nice. Now you can go for the four, boom. Gets it. Moves it. Not quite enough, but heading in the right direction.
    12:14
    That's dangerous. Oh, nice. That's where the Lazarus comes. That feed right there. That is very nice, that Lazarus.
    12:25
    We're seeing a lot of back from the dead. Oh yeah. Oh, not that time. I think if he left it, he might go away with that, actually.
    12:41
    All right, ball five. Oh, no. Borgers, as they say. All right, Bill has a big chance here to take a first.
    12:57
    Great player, Bill. very patient player insanely patient I would say kind of looking forward to this Bob Matthews the TD entering in the scores big thanks to everybody here at Indus for running this event it is truly amazing if you're not here you need to come out for it if you're watching this Just go look at, you know, as soon as the dates come out, get your flight booked early, get your hotel booked early.
    13:33
    It is just the most exciting pinball competition on the calendar now. Just phenomenal. It truly is. Great venue, great organization. The hotels are really convenient. It's a very walkable area. Awesome food at the Food Lab, one of the sponsors. And obviously it never drains here. No. Because it's in the name. Absolutely. So Bill, as I said, very patient. He's going to do this until he gets what he wants.
    13:59
    I wonder what Bill is listening to. Classic rap. No, I don't know. Rush metal. Rush. Should be Rush. Norwegian death metal.
    14:12
    I think it's an instructional tape. He's learning Spanish as he plays. Don't get a star. Hopefully he's not listening to us. No, that would be bad. We can tell him what not to do. All right, nice. Very patient. That's what I love about Bob and Phil's plays. So patient. See that? Getting it back up top. Yeah, nice little tap there. Oh, unfortunate bounce. Just a little fumble there. Bill at 62,000 in his qualifying on Sky Jump. Okay. The gory eyes of Eric Stone in the background there, watching intently. All right. Right now the floor is lit, but it's down. Yeah. Oh.
    15:18
    Borg again. 10X. Yep. I can't call it Borg because this predates that. Right. Predates that. Fantastic pinball designer.
    15:31
    Do you call that Gottlieb? Gottlieb, yeah. Yeah. All right. He's going to reset his bank if he can hit that two. Yeah. Dangerous shot. Oh nice. Right here we go. Alright now big point opportunity here. Massive. Bit late. Nice duck bounce. Just patience. Beautiful. Nice. Lovely. Oh just how many people would have flipped there? He's letting it, oh, lovely. Lovely.
    16:12
    Lovely drop catch there. Oh, he gets the lever in. Oh. Wow, this is Tilton's game and what a save. He is pushing it, I would say. Take, being brave, but again,
    16:29
    I think in the finals you've gotta do, you gotta be different. Yeah, you gotta put it all. You can't be overly safe. Look at this. That was a stunning replay.
    16:39
    Yeah, awesome. Oof. Oh! Wow. It's the Lazarus jump. Well, if he hits that stick, he'll be past Zach. Yeah. Which is crucial. You don't want to take a last.
    17:02
    Nice save. Oh, no, it changed. Yeah. Oh. Oh no! And this is why on those games you just get a little too cute and it's tough because of that roving 10x.
    17:18
    Yeah, not in a bad place for him. Nice takes that target down. Moves it onto the 2 but is it too late? It is.
    17:38
    He got it. Oh, no. He is. He's just short of Jason, but he passed Escher there. Nice second. Yeah, takes second place.
    17:52
    He's got to be happy with that. Oh, yeah. And they'll go to game number two. Yeah, to take leads. Absolutely. And, you know, in a kind of tough game when you're, you know, you've just got to go in there and do what you can do. Whereas, you know, you don't know how much risk to play, how much how much reward you want to bet, because you've got no idea. OK, if you're later in the in the in the order, you kind of know where you are. but early on, both Esther and Jason great play, just done enough to take the points in that round whilst we wait for Carl to move there's one thing we wanted to highlight and I'm going to show this up it's probably difficult to see it but this is a beautiful Indisc collectible coin that is giving out for the Indisc challenges you can find them on Indisc.com I personally I'm a crazy collector of things and it irritates the hell out of me that I am not good enough to win one of these but have a look at the challenges it's a little bit extra fun depending on who wins certain things or does certain things on certain games you get one of these and this is not again as a crazy collector of things this is not a cheap trinket this is a well minted beautiful piece. It's thick and heavy. And now that we've done the advert for it, I've given it back. No, seriously, this is another just, I'd almost rather go home with one of these than one of the trophies, but it is stunning. You wouldn't want one of these? Well, actually, we'd want both, actually. I shouldn't even be allowed to touch this right now. Yeah, don't break but honestly it's phenomenal yeah they should do Christmas chocolate coins at Christmas of them it's a lovely piece of mint ship and I hope one day to genuinely win them, they're also unique to each year, so this is a 2023 one, I think when the first Indus Sky came to 2019 team, they had this as well, but it just shows the passion and the quality that Jim Carl and the whole team of the Inland Empire Pinball Association do. It really is a nice piece of hardware. Yeah, it's truly special something to have. And they'll give this even if you're the furthest person to come here, you get one of these. Yeah. I don't know if that's me, though, unfortunately. I need to move further east there's always some annoying person from Australia that beats me to it I think that would be Emily Cosman's there young Emily, great player actually played her match play classic match play yesterday she beat me twice, I beat her once but the just these little things that make this tournament a lot of fun a lot of extra things to pick up on and actually reminds me of the 12-0 at Pimberg you got one of them didn't you I think I've had three 11's I've had one 11 that was another one of these little things that you would pick up a great you'd see people at the end of Pimberg they maybe didn't win but they had this medal it was phenomenal again, another thing you wanted to win I got an 11-1 I thought you got one No, so true story I took Neil to the last Pemberg and he got a medallion in round 9 Oh nice Well I was like, well if he can get a medallion I can make B playoffs so I ended up getting 11 the last round and I ended up winning B to last year. Well, that's the motivation that you get from these sort of things. My kid motivated me.
    22:32
    Absolutely. And actually, speaking of match play, the classic match play, as you know, I run the UK Open. I've literally copied everything that they in disguise do because they do such a great job. Perhaps not done quite as slickly as they do here, But we're helping out in this year, and we're going to give away an entry to the Classic Match Play Tournament next year to one of the winners of competition at the UK Open. So that's a nice thing that Damien and the team have helped. So, right, we're on to... So we're still in the Game 1 bracket here. Yeah, and we're on Rock and Roll. Yes. a fantastic Goliad game.
    23:22
    Nick Stefano here. Yeah. From Massachusetts, I think. Nick, isn't he? I believe. This was the game that ruined one of my cards. Ah, right. But Lit Spinner is always good.
    23:40
    Getting it up top, hitting those drop targets in order. Yeah, the one, two, three. It's an interesting kind of mini little play field. Reminds me of, it's like a square version of the Mandalorian.
    23:56
    Yeah. Unfortunately, a bit tricky to see the scores because it's a bit of a reflection. Looks like Andrew has 5 million.
    24:09
    Liam has 2.7. Trying to chase those. I believe that's ball two. Yes, yeah, both two. And also a bonus X, which I'm going to guess is the ABC at the top.
    24:33
    Knowing the style of game. Well, let's see. Oh, nice. That's a spinner. You'll see these lights go across here. You've got to hit those drop targets in order. I think we're going to see a lot of just action up there.
    25:03
    This is another reason why I love coming here, because you get to see games like this that you just don't see anywhere else. I might only have played this once ever. which for other commentators is frustrating because we're trying to tell you more about the game and we're kind of learning a little bit as we go ahead, although there's certain constants about these types of games. Normally you just ask Bowen, but he's good at it.
    25:28
    True. You never know with these Premier games. There were a lot of creative ideas. True. Absolutely. Not always tournament friendly. I'd say I kind of used to avoid these games in the events I run, but since coming here and seeing some of them, the way they play and the fun that they are, I bought a Diamond Lady after seeing it here. There's some really great games out there that probably overlooked a bit in the tournament scene.
    26:03
    Nick doing a great job of keeping the ball alive here. Trying to get that lead spinner. There is a there's a loop here to that a light double scoring
    26:16
    So this is the thing I heard from a Wise man from this neck of the woods, which is you know, it's you're gonna be great your shots We've also got to be great at recovery. Mm-hmm. I think we're getting really good
    26:30
    Huh, really good view of how to recover from certain things I was called the Angelo, by the way, that said that.
    26:44
    He's pretty good at pinball. Yeah, he's won one or two trinkets of her. He destroys things on his stream. Oh, luck ran out. Nice ball from Nick. Great ball.
    27:01
    All right, Tim Sexton wearing the Rush shirt. Main coder on the Rush game. So if you missed them in order, you have to reset them and then do it again. Yeah. Right. Makes it tough. Try to get all the levels up. No luck there. Just came right down the middle.
    27:37
    Unfortunate. and yesterday's classic match play champion Andrew Rosa seeing if he can repeat today snatched it from Ron yesterday but very well deserved gets the first one interesting so you can take them both down and it moves along that's useful to know
    28:09
    Good patience. Back up top. Because the lights are off rather than on. So it's level four and it's flashing up there. Yeah, wow. Sounds lucrative.
    28:25
    It's the spinner which is lit. It's the bonus X. I'm assuming that's what it is. 4X. On the ABC. I'm assuming that's a bonus X.
    28:37
    I think so. He was at 3x and now he's at 4. Yep. It getting interesting where the left lip is It kind of like the guy stroking the guitar when he plays it There's probably some guy in the art department very proud of that. Oh, nice.
    29:20
    It's over 7 million already. Wow. Double scoring? Change the lighting there. I don't know yet. Yeah.
    29:31
    Or maybe the camera. He's really making the most out of that spinner right. He's now let add a letter. Oh, great game. Get stanners and initials now. Yeah. Another way it's just different. Yes. And it may have buttons on the front for entering your initials. Yeah that's got me out a couple of times. I'd be afraid to touch it. Okay is that the end of the round? I guess he must be player four. He's player one. Ah player one. Yeah. Yeah of course it does. He's got to put his initials in so it's ticking down. Yeah, they're afraid of messing it up.
    30:30
    And I don't blame them. No. Imagine you kind of game crashes whilst entering initials. Or you bounce on the start button at the wrong moment and... Yeah. Or you press the start button to enter your initials. Right. Or some other button. Yeah.
    30:46
    It's not worth the risk. No, definitely not. Definitely not. That's actually coming from the game. When the light went off, you actually see the score. The highest qualifying score was 5.6 million. That was by Shannon Stafford out of Florida.
    31:09
    Wow. Things are different when you're in the playoff. We've all seen the games where player one puts up a couple of billion on fishtails and then comes in last. Yeah.
    31:23
    every game, every score higher than the qualifying scores. Yeah, I mean, that is why I love finals, because everyone brings out their best. You know, there's an extra 10% in the tank that suddenly comes out and you see some amazingly exciting pinball. This is Liam here.
    31:44
    Wow. Liam was scorekeeping it. Yeah, Liam, he's been running around doing everything, and he qualified for the finals. That's fantastic. Oh, bad luck. That was unfortunate. Yeah, very unfortunate.
    32:00
    Still got three million. Yeah. All these kids are good. Yeah, I know. Can't wish I was playing pinball when I was his age. They get younger every year, unlike the rest of us.
    32:20
    Excuse me. Alright, next to final. Let's see what Nick can do. He had a great bowl last round. Yeah, he had a long bowl but didn't score. Obviously, oh.
    32:42
    Right, Tim's up. Is that 6, 7 million the first player? I think 7 and a half. Yeah, so Tim's really going to put the search on for 1.8, get there and then get to 3.1. one. He definitely doesn't want to take a zero at the start of them.
    33:19
    He finished level two on the drops up there but oh I see it's his lit now okay. I thought there was something he had to do in between levels. Yeah interestingly hit this spinner when you hit this the slings the spinner lit moves. Yeah it changes. A very godly thing. Yeah. For decades.
    33:38
    I'm trying to get it under control here. And I'm trying to get it back up top. No. Tim not having any luck with those spinners. He keeps hitting them and they, rather than spinning them, they're just pushing it all back on. There it goes. Finally gets it, and a lit one, great.
    34:28
    Nice. Slow it down. Uh oh. Right, they just need to watch their feet here. Gone before and then they're outlying.
    34:46
    Not a lot you could do about that. Yeah, that kind of ended up taking last. Taking last, unfortunate.
    34:58
    It's great to see an 11-year-old come and play, you know, without any kind of adult-level stress about being in the final, just going out and enjoying it and trying to win.
    35:14
    So here's the current standings. The number one seed, Bowen Cairns. Takes a win. Multi-world champion there.
    35:25
    Ben Clement. I don't know. Ben, do you know Ben? Yes. He's out of Arizona. Right. And Jermaine from Northwest. Great player.
    35:40
    Taking third. I've got to point out a couple of the Europeans that are still here. given I'm from Europe, even though I'm from the UK.
    35:51
    People think we're not still in Europe, but we're actually in the United States. Yeah, unfortunately, we can't move the country.
    35:58
    So Arvid Flager, who's EPC champion, won it in October. Unfortunately, he takes a last on flying carpet, which I have to say, having played it yesterday, not the most exciting pinball game out there.
    36:15
    Unfortunate. But Daniele, multiple world champion and phenomenal guy, takes second on Jason Zoller. Yeah, he's a phenomenal player from New Jersey. New Jersey, yeah. Delaware. Jason was player four, so that was a walk-off after two balls. Yeah, I mean, impressive. and a tough playing mystic with much different rules than the standard and then Pimberg champion Colin McAlpine winning on big game Cayley another world champion taking a zero so some interesting results it would be interesting to see what that's done to your pinball statistics fantasy pinball league are you winning or are you losing? Do you wish that you'd spend more money or do you wish that you'd save more money? I'd say me, I was 20 quid, I was probably a really bad 20 pounds spent, but some interesting players that were at the low end of costs. Also current champions, Zach McCarthy taking a zero, so perhaps not gone the way that most people might have bet. Jack Tideman from Canada, another great player, taking a zero. Tom Isaac winning on Surf Champ. Interesting set of games here. Look at the scores on Surf Champ, how close the three players were there. Very. I mean, literally a couple of switches and a couple of rollovers and you probably won.
    38:00
    Absolutely interesting. And then good old Mr. Teolis keeping it in for the old guys. third, it takes the third on flying carpet and Brian Shepard from MIFPA another great player winning that round some great plays from Brian, I was watching Brian we were both trying to get a score out of Meteor I think he managed it, I certainly didn't Yeah, and we're starting to see some of the games being picked here. Yeah, so interesting. So that last group we just saw is going to big game.
    38:41
    And it'll be interesting to see what if we're sticking with group 7 what they're going to play. Yeah, I mean the Stern Electronics fan of me would love to go and watch big game but it's such a fun game. I love it. What about Stargazer? Stargazer would be great too. That would be phenomenal.
    39:03
    Any of those games. I love them. and actually this shows you how special Indus is it doesn't have just one stargazer, there are two here there's probably about 500 of them on the planet and two of them are here, it's insane but a beautiful game and they play fantastic so group 5 I picked wizard, group 4 I picked meteor who's going to pick, so Steve Bowden picking wizard and John picking Meteor.
    39:42
    Neil, you mentioned running an event. Much respect to anyone doing that these days. Yes. There's some impressive stuff out there, and I know how exhausting and stressful it can be. I mean, it's... And rewarding. Absolutely. I mean, the thing is that you kind of run on adrenaline. during the event.
    40:04
    And then there's like a, you know, it's probably lunchtime the final day after when the adrenaline runs out and all of a sudden you're going to do it again next year. Don't ask us now. That's your only job, isn't it? Absolutely. That is it. I've got nothing else to do.
    40:24
    And, you know, this is the thing. if you go up in Ball Event, help them out volunteer, just do two hours of scorekeeping if everybody just did two hours it would make such a difference we can get games we can get venues but these events are based, the volunteers make them happen and we've got great volunteer techs we've got scorekeepers we've got people on the desk just phenomenal it's just great to see everyone come together and put these events on and having run a all three of us have run events and volunteered in various ways it's great to see it and bring a family it's almost like we bring a family together every now and again I work in a kind of stressful technology area, just coming away here for the weekend is great fun again if you haven't been to a tournament like this, come along to one, even if you're a complete newbie my first tournament was Pinberg and everyone said to me are you nuts? it was 2017 and I managed to get a ticket I was on the wait list I was like 14th and everyone said you'll get a ticket my wife's like we're doing what?
    41:51
    let me tell you I met so many great people, had a whale of a time, played better. The only stress that I set myself was I don't want to come last.
    42:02
    Which I didn't. And I met so many great people, played so many great games and got the bug big time.
    42:11
    But also, coming here and those events inspired you to want to run your own events and be part of it. It's a great, great event. And so we're – Big thanks to all organizers. Yeah, everyone who organized the event, you're – at some point in the afterlife, you will see reward for it. I'm convinced about it. It's always been rewarding. I don't mean to complain.
    42:39
    Finberg is a very popular format. I mean, it didn't – I didn't understand when we were first developing it just how much people would like that they were assigned with different people all the time. It's just fantastic.
    42:54
    He becomes a social. Yeah, absolutely. He's going for dinner. Not a social person, so that's remarkable to me. Fascinating. Yeah. And everyone else is going to get left to the door.
    43:08
    We're here at pinball. Even though you're competing, you're helping each other out. It was just great. Actually, Jermaine was the first person.
    43:20
    I'll shout him out. he'll probably kill me for this, but we were in the queue and I was like, I've got no idea what I'm supposed to do, please help me. And he did.
    43:29
    And it's been great, right? We're in a really exciting game here. I did not play this. I did not play either. This scared me a little bit.
    43:43
    I was advised that Mystic was a card-breaking game, so I stayed a bit clear of it. I played it at the point when my card did not matter anymore. My card didn't matter anymore yesterday, which was pretty early on. I got disqualified on the first ball of play yesterday. Ouch. I stepped up, and I didn't throw a tantrum or anything. I stepped up to a two-player EM and had one player EM in my brain and just kept playing. Ah, yeah. And I knew exactly what that meant. That is the downside of match play. Jason's ready to go here. Yeah, he's stepping up. He wants to get on with us. He needs credits.
    44:24
    He only got a quarter. Yeah, put money in. Come on. It's Canadian money. It won't work anywhere. So each of these drop targets resemble an area on the actual grid here. And you'll see that this is lit with the white triangle. And then there's an orange eyeball. and those will correspond on this tic-tac-toe grid here and where you want to get either completed get a row or a diagonal and that will build up your score yeah the link just some people asking for the link to the scores neverdrains.com slash 2023 that will take you to all that's happening in the whole in this weekend about Matthew's teching and scorekeeping.
    45:23
    And Tim Sexton was the number one qualifier in this with 592,000 plus. Wow, that's kind of low. Isn't it? I don't know. Is it low for this game? Is it 6? No. Okay, so it's high. It's decent, man.
    45:47
    That's it. You're first going to touch the ball. You just want to get on the flipper and just be calm for a minute.
    45:56
    Nice patience. Okay, Tom, so are the columns and diagonals and so forth per symbol, or do you have to get both symbols in a group? I believe you have to get the correct symbol. Okay, the symbols cancel each other out. I don't think so. It's like playing two grids on top. Right. I know the saucer will light your spinner, but on this particular model, I believe the pop bumpers turn that spinner on and off as well.
    46:31
    It's a very bizarre back glass art. It doesn't look. Yeah. It looks like someone's messed with it. It's got a guy from Kentucky Fight Chicken on the back. The colonel. And the Bride of Pinbon in there, maybe. Yeah. They didn't have strict copy alert. Nice save by us right there.
    46:55
    All right. I'm guessing this is light the spinner and whack it sort of game. Not this particular model because the pops turn it on and off, which makes it difficult. You really just want to work on your bonus. and I'm assuming getting the old valley kind of bonus here is also crucially important so that spinner was lit and he went for it there and unfortunately it was a little too quick on the shot Colorado Mafia there giving advice the bonus lights accumulate throughout the game and I'm not sure on this particular if it carries over, I have a feeling. It did when I played it. It did, okay.
    47:46
    Yeah, chat's done us, let the spinner rip and get that 4x. But this game is not playing as other Mystics may play. Correct. As another feature of Indisc, the team take games and kind of tweak them slightly to be slightly different from normal.
    48:08
    Oh. Alright, go Mason. Heel steps up. Still, he's now on level 2 of Spanish. a little bit early there and again playing tough yeah
    49:01
    hey Jason Jason's got a taxi we and he's in a hurry he wants to get us done It's playing on the rush. It is a bit, I mean the artwork's a bit on top of the pyramid with the eye. Is that a, what band's that from? I'm sure it's an English band.
    49:35
    Nice spinner rip. Oh, yeah, slings pops. Just keep turning that off. Yeah, I see that. I kind of like that, though. Yeah, it's a nice tweak.
    49:57
    Currently in the lead with 105,000. Escher up. . So he got his 9,000 completed there. So he'll get that in bonus. . Nice control. Yep.
    50:39
    Now at 18. Yep, got that center center grid lit now. Dangerous shot though. Oh 27. So he might choose to go captive ball and try to increase his multiplier. Get that 27 off. Unfortunately you do have to hit it twice just to get the 2x. Oh, yep, that is true.
    51:11
    It's not a straight forward shot either, it's tight. Yeah. And with a captive ball I guess you've got to hit it pretty spot on. And then it's coming back towards the middle when you do. Yeah, dangerous shot.
    51:26
    Nice control from Zach, slowing it down a little bit. Oh, the LA fumbles. Very unfortunate. I bet you can't backhand that. None of these older flippers. No.
    51:46
    And it fills up. Let me get another saucer. All right, spinner's lit. Lit, not lit. Oh, he did it. That was nice.
    52:05
    That's a spin-off. That's huge. He doesn't have the bonus queued up as high. That's patient.
    52:25
    He's thinking about what he's going to do next. I think with the captive ball he got 5,000 and now the 2x is lit to collect I'm not sure because he only hit it once right and both lights are on but the 5,000 was on before I don't know. it doesn't quite get there That's the danger of that shot, too late and pays the price. So Jason sitting quite strong here. She needs to put it beyond the reach of the others.
    53:21
    He doesn't have any bonus amounts lit. Now he does. Current standings are, yeah, it's neverdreams.com slash 2023. you'll find everything about the in this weekend on that website rip at the spinner oh just mister
    53:47
    nice It's been on about, worth about 25,000, by the looks of it. It's lit again. Oh, a bit too early. Nice. Oh, very nice. Now, tennis spin. Yeah. Big difference. Pretty hard.
    54:23
    Nice. That's huge. 200k. Boom. And again, not little. Nice shot on the fly too. Very nice. It's a great ball and exactly what Jason needed to cement his lead. Now we're definitely seeing he is an extremely strong player in these classic games. Yeah. Oh that was nice. That was very nice. Little flick. Bang to that spinner. It is whip spinner time. Bang to that spinner.
    55:14
    It is whip spinner time. You can see a big name go out here. Yeah. That's true. Zach doesn't do something. He's in danger.
    55:37
    Power in lane. That was lucky. Yeah, this is a fantastic play. This is an amazing ball. Yeah. That immersed it. Yeah. Well, you know, announcers do that. Yeah. Sorry about that, Jason. Checks in the post. See it happen all the time in hockey.
    56:02
    Okay. So I'm actually I really really want to get second I mean I want to get first And that's what he'll be aiming for But He himself needs to put Well clear of the other players Just can't find that Saucer right now Nice patience I think that was an attempt at the captive. Yeah. He has 27 in bonus.
    56:49
    If I'm Zach, I'm thinking I've got to get that spinner lit. Yeah. Do what Jason did. There it is. That's it. and not yeah that's okay let's have a practice shot on it so and then I'll go light it right he's lit it now boom that's it here we go cooking with gas
    57:16
    oh that's it nice that's the Zach McCartney we know patient good great Flipper skills. Yeah, phenomenal. Oh
    57:29
    early Unfortunate he was struggling with that shot to the left spinner. He got the right one nailed The shots don quite line up they curved in a little bit Yeah It messes with your head Yeah because it looks later than it is Nice Yeah And the older flippers Yeah what can Bill do Oh, it's nothing.
    58:02
    Curse. That was ugly. Alright, so Jason's all set. Yeah, he's punching the ticket to the next round. If that's to see Jason go through, he'll be very happy with that. And deservedly so. That was both games. Very strong performance. and he stepped up like he knew he was going to do it he was feeling it I'm ruling for this I love it when you see that I want to get on with this and win it's a great attitude to have now the question becomes who's going to join them so it's tight very tight indeed so Carl's moving the rig two people advance from each group Yeah, that's right. Papa style. More straightforward Papa style. We used to sometimes do it across all the groups together, and that was less fair and turned into some really nightmarish tie-breaking scenarios. Yeah.
    59:09
    Although in some ways, if you've scored five points, but somebody goes through with four in another group, I can see where that would be. Right. That would be like, ah, I scored more than that guy. Right. But then when you find out that what you do in your group is affected by a couple of people who soaked up all the points in a different group or didn't, then that doesn't feel fair either.
    59:32
    Yeah, look, you're against these players that are in your group. That's where you've got to focus on beating them. I think that's the best way to play it because you put your best shot in and then you find some mathematical calculation somewhere that knocked you out of that. I noticed people get frustrated by that. I can understand that.
    59:56
    It's great. Actually, Dr. John, I have my award. This has been given to me. Apparently I can take this home. We were talking about this earlier. Jeff Teola said you can't keep that. Ah, okay. What does he know?
    60:12
    Just some guy with a mic. We love you, Jeff. So, Luke, we're talking about this earlier. I'll mention it again because I love these sort of things. It's an Indus coin that you can win.
    60:26
    You've got Indus.com. You can find the challenges. And they're all weird. Some of the games are similar on the actual games. Some of them are who wins certain things. A little bit of fun and a beautiful little thing to take away. and as a mad collector I'd love to win one of them suspect I will never I'll probably be one of those guys that buys it on eBay 20 years from now but yes, oh here we go let's run through a few of them age doesn't matter that's probably one that we're most likely must be 55 or over to win the seniors division I'm out on that one I'm not old enough it's great to see that every now and again the kids are alright winner of the youth division must be 12 or under best women in the open and there I'm back again so we join back on rock and roll Carl shrugs his head the voice of God shrugs his head it's just a long playing game we're just trying to find the rules out by watching more of it. Ball two, player four.
    61:50
    Oh, Jermaine missed it there. So Jermaine, he's not happy about that. It looks like a million something for Bowen. I can't tell what with the light right there.
    62:04
    Yeah, it's going to stay. And Jermaine in the lead with 2.9. So he's obviously stepped a chance to kind of take it forward. and he's let the door open for everyone else by not having a great ball there. This guy's won a few world championships. Yeah, Bowen, one of the players I would never bet against. No. And actually, watching Bowen's videos, the Papa videos on learn how to play. Tutorials, yeah. Just amazing. I watched the Walking Dead one thinking, when I get my Walking Dead, I'm going to blow this game up. It's easy on the video. Yeah, it's really easy on the video. and then you'd like get 20,000 points and the boy knocked up 200 million I can vouch also that he is he's not doing 20 takes and pretending and making the best one it's like when you watch Carl play Godzilla live yeah I remember we did the Star Trek one live that was great to watch oh I'm fortunate for Ben never got a ball on the flipper Under a camera curse now. Yeah. All right, Andy. It's going to try to pass Bowen first here.
    63:23
    Andy's an exciting player to watch. He's very animated when he plays. He gets very excited when he does something good. Oh, nice. Not a bad thing. Nice live catch there.
    63:38
    Oh, no. Bumble. I wonder if that is a bit of nerves with the stream on the rig. It looks like a walk-off for Jermaine. Yeah, walk-off. Beautiful.
    63:51
    Let's see. Jermaine will go to five points. Bowen to six. Ben's going to take a zero, and Andy will get a point here.
    64:04
    A very open group. Anyone could win it, and there could be a couple of ties as well. we love tiebreakers that means you get more of us more pinball who doesn't want tiebreakers except the guy who's watching the clock as long as it's not 37 people tied for 14 spots which is some of the crazy things that we often see let's do a few more of these Sure.
    64:41
    Sorry, I've got to use my face. Oh, yeah. Didn't like my face. So there's one for best SoCal player, first-time big-time. So this would be great. Any first-time player who's out at the top 100 and puts in the best performance, which is great.
    65:03
    Qualify for any final on a card with a single game scoring exactly one point. How do you even score one point? That's rough. I think that one's a gag in there. Teleport to finals. Yeah.
    65:20
    Awarded to the player who qualifies in the Open having played the fewest cards. It won't be me. The guy who wins that is kind of the guy you want to, how do you do that? Who needs DMDs? MDs, just do all the classic games and get in. Yeah, that's another great one. And this is it. I mean, you kind of see a little bit behind us. The different wild selection of games is just crazy.
    65:51
    Every whacking manufacturer. Yeah, there's Stern, there's Williams, but there's Mystery Castle. There's so many different games. Now they have a coin for classics if you qualify with just using EMs. That seems reasonable. Yeah. I tried it. And one go binary. This one's just nuts. Submit a card in the open with a combined game score consisting of all ones and zeros. Or the closest. Yeah. if there are no cards with ones and zeros most ones and zeros win thanks for the idea, Coy Morris Coy Morris, who isn't here and I wish he was here, he's another phenomenal pinball guy been around for years as long as you Kevin I think longer possibly Coy's another guy I met at Pinball very friendly told me what to do on Pinball I think it was. Not that I did it, but it was great to talk to him about it. Sad that he's not here, but he was at Expo, though. We saw him there. My favorite, you Belsito'd the field. The last player that submits a card. Oh, yeah, I like this one. And he put himself above the cut line. Yeah, so this happened to be in New York. I was sitting on the bottom line, and I'm celebrating. and I've qualified for finals and then someone beats me on Dauda and then click one minute to midnight. Happens all the time. I was knocked out.
    67:40
    I actually think the person who loses out should get something. One for each. One for each, yeah. You got Belty. Yeah, I got Belty. I'm going to take his coin.
    67:56
    Yeah, I mean, but yeah, absolutely. Consistency is here. And then another one that's really important, we've got the Inland Empire Pinball Association, a new organisation that they've set up to run in this, and you can donate to help run everything that these guys do. And let me tell you, your money will be well spent if you come and see what's here.
    68:19
    So whoever makes the largest donation and then win it for the kids, whoever wins, there's a Project Pinball competition here on Safecracker, I believe. just as you come in.
    68:32
    We've got the open behind us going on, people qualifying. Indeed, yeah. I mean, this goes on until tomorrow night.
    68:44
    At midnight is the final bell. High Stakes goes on into Sunday. High Stakes Bank, I really like it. It's a nice bank. And then we have the ladies as well. And actually just in front of us we can see the ladies tournament playing. I always seem to look at the ladies playing with great envy.
    69:09
    Great set of games, including Elvis. Who doesn't want to play Elvis? And Alice Cooper. Alice Cooper, yeah. Although the problem with Alice Cooper is you get that disco. I mean, he's got this disco tune in it that gets stuck in your head. But actually, Bones should be kind of thanked for it, because the rules in that game are pretty good, and I know he worked on them.
    69:43
    Not my kind of music, but a great game. So we're just waiting for... They're picking games. This is, as a TD, trying to encourage your players, especially in the last game, and especially if the picker's behind.
    70:03
    It gets quite interesting trying to coerce them into picking a game. So there's a bit of a scrum going on that we can see just in the classics area as these games get picked. Bob rallying the troops.
    70:23
    It's a pretty big finals round. Yeah. It's huge. They have a really big bank of games to work from. And nobody gets a bye. Yeah. Right, right. In classics.
    70:36
    Yeah, top 32. And there must be, I mean, this is classics one. So there's one bank of classics. Classics two, tomorrow all day. There's a different bank. Different games.
    70:48
    The number of games here is just insane. They really are in excellent condition too. Oh, play lovely. Absolutely fantastic. Okay, I think decisions are being made. It looks like. Decisions, decisions. Eyes rolling.
    71:15
    Yeah Bill, it is, Neil won Classics 2, I've got the trophy. No I don't. Just Classics 1. this is Niels yeah I'm taking this home I wish this is a very nice trophy here who are the favourites of the women that's a good question let's have a quick side whilst we wait because it still looks like there's some debate going on you can see all the standings at indisc.com slash 2023?
    71:52
    Or is it neverdrains.com? Sorry, neverdrains.com. I think both will work. Yes, you're right, neverdrains.com. You're right, sorry.
    72:04
    Thank you for that. You said I couldn't tell any dirty jokes. Yeah. I tried that last year I had to beg to come back.
    72:22
    It was more that the joke wasn't funny than it was dirty. But, so let's have a look at the women's standings right now. And it looks like they're about to pick their game. Yeah, I mean, yeah, coming up, women's, I'm actually going to put money on Leslie Rockman, Elle Rockwell. Yes. She has been playing absolutely outstanding. I'd love to see her win. Great player. I wouldn't rule out Kate Martin, another great player. Definitely not. Emily Carson from Australia. I mean the ladies, the ladies list is full of great players. Alyssa Parks, who won the UK Open ladies last year. She's been at events for decades. Yeah, she happened to be in the UK the weekend we were on the Open. we were on the open she came down played the ladies won it in style actually and then Yasmin as well another great player been around for a very long time and right now the number one seed Anna Neal and again another great player really strong field and kind of bubbling under we got back Gallagher who's also another great player So we're going to be going to Meteor, and I believe Bill Mason picked it. Oh, fantastic. Great. Fantastic news.
    73:50
    And there it is. Here we go. Shoot the drop stone and hit the spinner. A Steve Kirk design. This is one of my favorite games. It's a great game. I love this game.
    74:03
    I absolutely love it. He was working to create a competitive pinball organization at the time with Nineball and Meteor and a few other games having a little logo saying certified for tournament. That's right, yeah.
    74:18
    My Nineball has that sticker on it. There's a phone number that doesn't do anything anymore. No, it doesn't. Orders milk or something.
    74:29
    But, yeah, I just love this game. It's such a great game. Again, a game that I first played at Pimberg, and literally when I got home, I started looking for one. There's a few tricks to it.
    74:43
    The spinner, of course, is super important. But the value of the spinner is determined by which things you've lit. And unfortunately, if you light them all, it resets them.
    74:56
    Yep. Yeah, so you're trying to knock all but one of those drops down. Right. You're trying to get most of it lit, but yeah. The other way you can play this game, though, if you kind of struggle to hit the spinner shot, is to go for the numbers and then just hit the drops down, build up the X for bonus. That can be pretty lucrative as well.
    75:27
    Sometimes you just can't find that spinner shot. or you know and you kind of give it a few goes then you know if you can't make it it's another way of playing this game it's not actually what you want to do is both but it is another is another way of picking it and this this meteor here plays very nice Let's see what Escher does here. Spinner. Yep. Nice start. That's it.
    76:05
    Look at that score just grow just doing that. Hard to hit that on the fly, though, the angle. It is, yeah. It's a little further down. Nice. Yeah. Huge. Spinner goes for days. Oh. And he just got a little out of control. The other thing I just note on this game, there's a post at the middle of the flipper. Yes, you can't see it on here. Yeah, it's just here. It's got a black rubber. But the rubber, I think, is made out of some sort of concrete.
    76:39
    Because there is absolutely no freaking bounce, let me tell you. Sadly, I find that the hard way. So you hit that post and the ball, maybe get a little bit of a bounce, but you're pretty much dead so you don't really want to hit that post it's designed to increase your feelings of regret yeah it was this June anyway yeah the problem is if you're used to one that bounces you're overcoming a natural reaction to want to flip to stop it and now you're kind of having to untrain yourself to do that so interesting setup by the Indus guys so Zach just called Bob over because he got 10 points and Bob said play on. That's the ball. Yeah. The right thing to do.
    77:32
    Oh. Right. That's it. Nice. Right. Perfect stop. Oh. It's perfect until you shoot through it. And it resets and your spinner's not worth anything that you just hit. It robs you. Those eventually go off, I think.
    77:57
    Oh, lucky on that. That was very lucky. Holy moly. Brave. Very brave. Not much there. Maybe hit that. Yep. So already in two of the caves. Beautiful. Rip it. I get my spins, but it looked like he's hitting it pretty solid. Curse of the physical spinner. Yeah. Likely we might see a tiebreaker here if Zach was to win. Oh, nice.
    78:56
    Even without. Even with just the one lid, it was still working. Yeah, still working. We're sticking with. Yep.
    79:05
    Nice little nudges on the lock-down bar. Genuinely, no better show in pinball than a juice to spin on. That's true. I believe if you get the let that one roll down very nice You get those drops down
    79:28
    Wow, that's a great first ball look at this Very nice Right Yeah, he's just having a bit of fun now, chilling out.
    79:50
    He's got wine and cheese by his chair. Maybe a beer. Yeah, actually, he's been out. He's got some rays. There's a lot of sun here in California this week. It's all under the spinner. No, don't do that. Don't do that. You don't need to do that. Just call the TV. Of course, he has nothing to lose.
    80:11
    Spinnergate. Yeah, you just do something and it breaks the game. As a TD, why don't you whack it out? But as a player, it's like, no, TD, come and do your thing.
    80:26
    Bob Matthews again, who's been coming to events longer than anyone I know. Has an agent today. And still doing very well at those events, too. Yeah, indeed.
    80:42
    I'm giving these young kids a run for their money. Right flipper would be the choice. I think it should be right flipper. Yeah, he was trying for the left. It's like, well, I threw it up there with these. No, don't do that. We can't do that. Never, ever do that. So I thought he was going to drop it down there. Right. And let me tell you, bounce and out. It's gone.
    81:21
    It would have made for interesting TV. Yeah. At least it would be for the player who's already playing. Well, yeah, that is true. But still, actually, someone like Bob would probably know not to do that. No. And you can see the little design by Steve Kirk. Right above the ball, yes.
    81:44
    If there was one designer I wish I'd met, it's definitely Steve Kirk. I never. I understand he's no longer with us. No, sadly. Are you going to try the Steve Kirk bounce here over the other flipper? I'm just going to try it. No. I tried to roll it. No. I wouldn't. I thought it was a tap pass, but it was kind of a tap pass with a shotgun.
    82:14
    Now, that's all right, Jason. Dalton, I've been a therapy to try and forget that situation. I can see Jeff there who I believe is also playing yeah he's in the finals as well Jeff he won X4 Classics what's the decision here do you hit it Nope. Nice. Great play. Get that spinner going. There we go. Oh, just a little early. Danger now. This is where recovery is important. Can he get the ball back? Look at the pace that ball gets from that. Yeah, he had to do that. We're going to spend it. I'm sure he would have preferred a smaller tap. Yep.
    83:25
    Tap pass? Possibly. Yeah. So risky. He's trying to post pass. I don't know if you can do that on these. No. Brave. Shots, but then you're getting it into your target there.
    83:40
    That's rich. That's the advanced meter and reach for all the spinners. Oh, that's okay. It's still valuable. oh yeah he's angry All right.
    84:22
    Nasher currently in second with three points, but he's in third place on this game. So. 4-2-1-0 scoring.
    84:42
    Let's see if we can get some good rips going. Oh, that's gone. That hurts. That's bad news for Esho. As it stands, Zach goes through, I think. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah, unless Jason decides he wants to beat Zach. Yeah, that.
    85:12
    It's always a challenge, that one. You're through. What do you want to do to interfere in the rest of it? I'm trying to knock out better players. I mean, yes. Or just don't look at the map. It is only ball two. True. It is only ball two. That is true.
    85:29
    This is not a cumulative type of game. For ball one, it's super important to build a bonus, the carries or something.
    85:40
    Well I say that but Zach has 4x. I think it keeps the bonus x but not the bonus. I think bonus x carries over but you've got to build it on the rockets. 1, 2, 3. He's thinking spinner now. Ohhhh. Zach's put an order in for new underwear after that. Oh nice. Oh, nice. The cat pass.
    86:14
    And the in-lane robbed him. In-lane robbed, but he got back up top. Yeah, he got a nice control from Zach. Wow, that was awesome. Wow, that was nice.
    86:23
    Good rip. Yeah Zach just pushing this beyond the other players Great play I think it a brave individual that does a Kirk post pass Let me tell you Very brave.
    86:45
    Oh, great ball. Great ball again. Awesome. That's multiplier on there. At the risk of breaking streaming etiquette, I'll say hello to my wife and son, Amanda and Owen. There's no such etiquette. We were absolutely, plugs are more than welcome. You just have to send a check to the Inland Empire Timbal Association. They will take a donation.
    87:15
    I told Jeff a few lines of one of my jokes, and I barely got to sit. Did you translate to Canadian? That's the key question. They're too polite for my jokes.
    87:29
    Might injure him. That pass, nice. Let me tell you, every spinner in this room spins like it's on fire. Yeah. I mean, it's just, when you have a spinner here, it's such a great feeling.
    88:01
    Just insanely juiced. The Johnny Mnemonic spinner is difficult to get like that, but they have it. Yeah, it's been a million. That's why 100 billion plus is on that game over there.
    88:17
    Good ball from Jason there. Jason, getting a bit of fuel for meteor. All right, ball three. Right. Bill's fighting for survival here. Well, he needs a huge ball.
    88:45
    Nice rip of the spinner. No, it's a nice little relaxed thing that he did earlier. Can he do it again? Nice.
    89:00
    Yeah, just spinning that spinner, you're getting three or four drops down when you go back up. Yep. And while it's spinning, you're adding to the pot, as it were, even though they weren't lit at the start.
    89:17
    Oh. 3-9-0. Where does that leave Bill? I think it's over for Bill. As it stands. He could. Yeah. Only if Zach wins.
    89:39
    And he's looking pretty good. Yeah. That shirt needs a big, big ball here. Yeah, huge ball. But ball number one, multiple world champion. He could do it.
    90:04
    Nice shots there. Reset the drops, which is a bit unfortunate. Oh, wow. Wow. There are many people crying into their fantasy pinball cards right now. I do believe I had him picked. Yeah, I think most people probably had him picked.
    90:27
    He's still okay in the open. On the open, yeah. This is just classic story. This is the soup dish. We've got the big steak coming up, and then we've got the pudding. I wouldn't mind having soup for dinner. Yeah.
    90:46
    I also picked myself, so don't take any handicap. You have to pick yourself. I was cheap. You have to pick yourself.
    91:01
    So Zach did a great job of just ensuring the win here. The only person who can stop him is Jason. That looks a tall order to get 600K in one ball. It's doable.
    91:19
    Well, if Jason were to do it, then Bill would be through, would he not? Yeah. Good point. Yep. Three points?
    91:35
    Yeah. So it would be a three-way tie if Jason passes here. We now want Jason to pass him. Yeah. So we can get more pinball.
    91:48
    As if we haven't got enough this weekend. The timekeepers have a heart attack as we run on to four in the morning.
    91:58
    Oh, well done. That's not going to happen. That scenario is not happening. But Jason and Zach moving on. Yeah. Great play from Jason. and he went out there and just went for it and nailed it. Great to see all of Canada is celebrating.
    92:18
    The Prime Minister has ordered to meet him. And when King Charles visits, there's a special audience for Jason. King Charles. It's a strange thing to say still. It is very strange. Very strange.
    92:34
    So, what an interesting first round. And, Carl, I think we're still going to get some more hot pinball action.
    92:43
    I think Carl's going to look for another game. Could be another match going on. Could be some tiebreakers coming on. Yeah. We shall see.
    93:01
    I guess if I have anything to promote, it's Replay Foundation's collection of videos. That is a phenomenal collection. Mostly featuring Bowen, but not entirely.
    93:13
    You want to see it over the years? Yeah, some good Papa and Pemberg action. And, of course, Bowen's tutorials are amazing. That is true. Some amazing finals to watch.
    93:26
    With some people that have inspired us. Mr. Lyman Sheets, there's a lot of his action. Yes, another man I would never bet against. No. I always put him at the top tier. Absolutely epic seeing him and many players fight out on those videos.
    93:48
    Even the Papa TV Live, just some great stuff on there as well. Yeah, good times. Yeah, Friday night, it was Papa TV time.
    94:00
    I have my laptop on, my headphones on. My wife's watching some rubbish on TV and I'm... It's papa time, yay!
    94:09
    She might describe it differently. Yeah, she probably would. He's watching some rubbish on the laptop.
    94:20
    Carl is moving the rig right now. Right, here we go. The rig is coming out for Meteor. I'm not sure where we're headed.
    94:48
    Tomorrow we've got Classics 2. So we get through this all over again. And then the next day on Sunday is the Open. The Open Finals. The big one and then the High Stakes. How are you doing in High Stakes?
    95:06
    Let me say I'm looking rather rare at Stakes still. I'm still in the cow. Ah, right. Awesome. I have to say the Bangor Games is really nice. How am I doing? Really nice. set of games there. And they actually play okay. They're not kind of brutal.
    95:30
    Apart from one thing. Someone, there was a break in last night and someone stole the spinner. Someone stole the spinner out of Torpedo Alley. What? There is no upper spinner.
    95:46
    I can only imagine. That's very strange. It's great because it says per spin you get this great score and I'm hitting it thinking, what's going on? I scored a goal I actually thought there was a problem again I looked at it like we've been robbed there's been a burglary someone has stole the spinner another one of those great changes that Jim and team make to make the games a little bit more challenging otherwise they get boring they get repetitive makes it exciting and allows for great commentary as I complain about the great robbery of Indus 2023 But yeah, I mean, there's a great game, Blackjack. It's also a favorite of mine. Oh, that's so frustrating, that game. Oh, yeah.
    96:34
    It's just like playing Blackjack in the casino. Yeah, I kind of like that. You're going to hit the ball up in that saucer, boom. You win or you lose. I kind of like it. Dealer keeps winning.
    96:47
    Yeah, the dealer always wins. Don't forget that. So we are, Carl's back now, I'm somewhere about to jump as he does an interesting tango through the collective bits of indisc paraphernalia. Neil, have you noticed that Torpedo Alley has a kickback called Laser Kick? I did not notice that, no. It's because AD's first game was Laser War, and they just carried that over. I think the code referred to the kickback as Laser Kick. We got a many years afterwards. We got a tiebreaker between Gene, Brian Shepard, and Doug Teal. Nice. Three-way tie.
    97:27
    And we're on Surf Champ. I love Surf Champ. Yeah, I like this as well. Any EM with a spinner on it, it's like bees to honey.
    97:40
    Build up your, try to build up your bonus. you got to try to get over these star rollovers and that'll light these lanes for a multiplier
    97:53
    and then you get the 2x for the on ball five you can make it a 3x the star rollovers will also light your saucer here for uh we'll add a thousand for each light there so he can get up to 5,000 per saucer.
    98:18
    Gene was theorizing yesterday that he is the oldest player here. Well, here's the funny thing. I feel sorry to me. I believe I heard this is Gene's game. Ah, right. Gene beat me on Target. No. Target pool? Target pool.
    98:36
    He has a lot of great games here, actually. Asking how old I was. So pretty interesting. The drops add to your bonus. The lanes up top also add to your bonus. And if you go through a lit lane, it'll give you two.
    98:59
    He just got the multiplier there. This is a huge ball one. That is some qualifying scores right there. Yeah, absolutely. I think he's beat my attempt on this game already. Does the multiplayer carry? It does not. It's per ball. But you do get the 2X on the final ball.
    99:23
    But like I was saying, you can make it a 3X. Oh, that was unfortunate. That's these pink rubbers. The rubbers of doom, I like to call them. I came across these, thanks to Mr. Josh Sharp. And I put them on every tournament game I run because they bring challenges to players. They're bouncy. Very bouncy. This is Jeff Theolis, the other Canadian Hope. That's an impressive t-shirt he's got on, Boogie Night. Is that legal in this state, that t-shirt? I don't get it. Of course it is. We're getting too close to the camera, sir, aren't we?
    100:31
    Here we go. Nice plunge. So Arvid had a six, so he's moving on. So only one person in this group is going to join him. I know that there's a bunch of guys watching from Sweden. I will try and bribe the director to cover Arvid for the next round.
    100:59
    The director will have trouble. I would like to remind you that you chose the group. I did. You did it. We did choose the group, actually. Sorry, we did choose the group, but that group was slightly more interesting. I don't get to choose the next group, unfortunately, but I will try and influence it for my buddies back in Europe.
    101:19
    Well, the town must be something ridiculous. I know Arvid put a huge card up in the open. Yeah, I also encouraged him to play Rush. and I think he's got the second top score on it, I think.
    101:35
    Must be on this 4 a.m. in Sweden? Yeah, something like that. Something like that. But, I mean, for that in Sweden, that's just opening time. On the weekend, yeah. Pinball in Sweden, you go to Borås or somewhere like that, they don't know about sleep. I mean, it's insane there. I think there's a twinning of Wisconsin and Sweden. In terms of pinball appetite. Yeah, we like our pinball.
    102:08
    Right, Brian. Brian told me yesterday he's trying to build a collection of all of the Papa and Pinburg T-shirts.
    102:22
    To get the old artwork from me if I can dig it up somewhere and reproduce things. I say that's cool.
    102:30
    The t-shirt, the one Papa t-shirt I've got is Papa 20 with an alien on it. Sadly no longer fits me. I have retained the t-shirt. The shirt strings. No, I got away with that for like a month.
    102:51
    This was my idea of high stakes. Okay, right. Yeah, Jeff in trouble here a little bit. He needs the two outer rollovers here for a chance at the 2x
    103:05
    They still have to go down those lanes in the middle Nice control from Jeff there just trying to slow the ball get it under control nice very nice just amazing how much peace that these games put on the ball something patience yep
    103:42
    Oh bonus so you would add another six thousand there but trying to trying to catch gene it's making it tough yeah but there's yeah i think gene may have this
    104:04
    now there's always a double bonus ball of course yes oh you just hit me a lot of luck on the first ball not so much on ball two and three for gene but a small shout out for Hull Shark, one of our players in the UK that's still up watching that's devotion for you actually it's not the bars have just closed in the UK and it's just gone home that's what's happened Wayne good to see you on the channel nice job twice he's done that he's got to flip it away Yep. He's expecting it to dead bounce over. Yeah, and it doesn't. It's just not doing it. It doesn't do it. That's the old laser loss quote. Plunge and swap.
    104:57
    Dave the train, hello. Okay. Jesse's a big ball here. Nice patience. Yeah, top two advance. Arvind's already through. We're playing for the last place in this group.
    105:44
    Good patience by the team. Great play here. That was beautiful. Slow the ball down, get under control.
    106:04
    Spinner is lit and those lanes are lit for the doubler. Oh. Nice. Nice way to get it over there. I almost had the double bonus there.
    106:36
    It's really hard to get those lanes. Yeah. Just got to kind of fall into them. I don't know if you could maybe shoot the right one from the left flipper.
    106:47
    I've done it by accident. Yeah, I've done more things by accident than on purpose. Right. Nice shot.
    107:10
    Sometimes you can get some free love from the pop bumper there and push it right back into that saucer. Nice control there. Take a breath.
    107:40
    Oh There's to be ball of the century if Jeff comes us around Nice cursed custom right away All right, 2X multiplier is lit. Ball five.
    108:19
    Right, so that's held to everyone else. Even though I have a too big a ball. Yeah, if somebody can get their bonus up high, get the 3X going. Is this the only ball you can get 3X on? Yep, only ball. So it exists just for this. Yep. I kind of like these modes in games, we still have more of that last ball specialty in some modern games. It's called multi ball. Yeah, I suppose that's true, I think you're right. Damn them, those smart pinball designers. Oh nice, it's here. Oh, we knew it. Just got it off the very tip.
    109:17
    All right. All right, Jeff. Oh, no. It's the Canadian case. Things were in the right shirt, right? If you had headphones on you'd be listening to Donna Summer right now.
    109:40
    Oh. Oh, nice. 3,000 in bonus, 4,000 in bonus. Oh, needs two more rollovers on the end. Oh, hit that one on the side. Oh! No, not enough. No. Gene goes through. Gene is joining Arvid. Fantastic. One of the youngest players and one of the oldest. Great to see.
    110:18
    Showing that there is hope for all of us. So. Classics 1 is going to continue. Fantastic team. A slight time warp there. Maybe we just get a quick look at the end of the results Paul. Just quickly see when through. Thank you.
    110:49
    So here is the end of round standings. All right. Bowen and Jermaine. Bowen and Jermaine, probably no great surprise there. Eric and Zach. Two world champions. Yeah. Eric and Zach, again, two world champions. Zach, a Pinberg winner.
    111:09
    Andy Rosa and Tim Sixten. And Andrew won the tournament yesterday, the target match play. And then here's our first kind of shot. Kaylee is out.
    111:25
    Again, another world champion. Beaten by Richie Terry, which was great. He played really well here last year, actually. And Colin McAlpine, Pumbaa world champion. Fantastic to see. That's the only 12-0 sweep. Yeah. Yeah, three wins. Well spotted. Great play from Colin. Then the next round, Steve Bowden out.
    111:52
    Shannon Stafford out of Florida. A fan favorite. Jack from Canada out. And Tom threw barely two. Five points. Cool. That was a close one. Next round, Europe's Hope, Daniele, is through. along with Jason Zoller, again probably not a great surprise those two players went through and then the round that we watched, Jason and Zach obviously Escher out and Bill both great players a bit of a shock and then we have Arvid the current reigning European Pinball Champion who won that in October and Gene local player and a guy who brought many games to Indus, a hero in my mind. Both of them go through. Great set of games there, gentlemen. It's been a pleasure. Absolutely. I think we're about to be relieved.
    112:53
    Or you're about to be relieved, depending on your point of view. Thanks to Carl and the team for running a great stream.
    113:03
    We'll see you soon. again, check out the Indus.com website have a look at NeverDrains.com big thanks to all of our sponsors here and a really big thanks to all the volunteers, we're still looking for volunteers here and if you're watching this or listening to this and you're in the area come round and help us run some scorekeeping and book for next year as soon as this is announced because this is a great event and one to be treasured thank you guys and with that we'll bid you all farewell We will be back shortly for the quarterfinals in the shift game. Hang tight.
    114:04
    Thank you.