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INDISC 2023 Classics I Playoffs - Semifinals

IE Pinball·video·1h 22m·analyzed·Oct 23, 2023
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

INDISC 2023 Classics One semifinals: EM tournament coverage with pro players on Stargazer, Wizard, Aztec.

Summary

IE Pinball broadcasts INDISC 2023 Classics One tournament semifinals from Southern California, featuring commentary on gameplay across Stargazer, The Wizard, and Aztec—three electromechanical pinball machines. The video follows multiple semifinal groups with top-ranked players including Zach Sharpe (2022 Open champion), Jason Lewin (strong classics player), Jermaine, and others competing for advancement. Hosts Mike Welsh, Anna Neal, and Andre Massenkoff provide strategy analysis, gameplay commentary, and tournament structure details.

Key Claims

  • Zach Sharpe is the 2022 Open champion

    high confidence · Mike Welsh states: 'Right now, player three, Zach Sharpe, you're the 2022 Open champion. It's very exciting.'

  • Jason Lewin has been playing pinball since 1973 when it was legalized in Las Vegas

    high confidence · Mike Welsh: 'I was talking with Jason earlier and he was telling me he's been playing pinball since 1973, since right when they legalized it in Las Vegas.'

  • Jason Lewin's classic pinball machines are featured in the movie Licorice Pizza

    medium confidence · Mike Welsh mentions: 'I'm sure someone mentioned that his classic machines are in the movie Licorice Pizza.' Confirmation unclear but stated as known fact.

  • There are fewer than five Stargazer machines in circulation that the commentators have seen in their lifetime

    high confidence · Andre Massenkoff: 'I've played a lot of pinball. I've seen less than five of them my whole life.' Regarding Stargazer availability.

  • The tournament uses 4-2-1-0 scoring for games

    high confidence · Mike Welsh clarifies: 'With 4-2-1-0 scoring, I believe... Yeah, yeah. Now I remember.'

  • Daniele won the first World Championship in 2010 and demonstrated advanced techniques on The Wizard

    high confidence · Mike Welsh: 'Yes. I don't know if Daniele will display this, but he certainly did in the 2010 World Championship, the first one he won. Taking a ball from that right lane...he would shoot straight into the spinner, a live ball.'

  • Tim Sexton rolled The Wizard over 200,000 in qualifying

    medium confidence · Mike Welsh: 'I do know Tim Sexton here did roll it. He had over 200,000 in his qualifying.'

  • Aztec had the longest queues during qualifying because it is very popular and playable

    medium confidence · Anna Neal: 'I noticed in qualifying a lot of people were playing this game... I believe this game had the longest queues during qualifying because it's a very popular game, very playable.'

Notable Quotes

  • “When do we think Stern's going to come out with a Zodiac title? Is that going to happen, you think? No.”

    Mike Welsh and Andre Massenkoff @ ~3:20 — Reflects skepticism about modern manufacturer interest in creating new titles based on classic EM themes like Zodiac.

  • “I've really enjoyed watching Zach Sharpe during this tournament and his skills close up. Last year I didn't know to watch him, now that he's the world champion, I realize why he's the world champion.”

    Mike Welsh @ ~10:45 — Recognition of Zach Sharpe's exceptional skill level and competitive prominence.

  • “You've been playing longer than I've been alive.”

    Mike Welsh (to Jason Lewin) @ ~13:30 — Emphasizes Jason Lewin's longevity in the pinball community since 1973.

  • “The power of position. They did not select the game. They chose to go last. They knew exactly what they needed, but they didn't even need to play their last ball. They played so well. That's Beetlejuice performances there.”

    Mike Welsh @ ~18:15 — Commentary on tournament strategy and the advantage of playing last (walk-off position).

  • “I love how this is such a different spinner than our previous game.”

    Anna Neal @ ~14:00 — Notes mechanical and design differences between EM spinners across games.

  • “It helps to have a lot of experience with Stargazer.”

    Mike Welsh @ ~11:50 — Acknowledges the steep learning curve for Stargazer's unique playfield layout.

  • “I feel like I see much less Harry Williams EMs than those Bally ones historically.”

    Andre Massenkoff @ ~26:30 — Observation on the rarity and different mechanics of Harry Williams EMs compared to Bally machines in tournament rotation.

  • “One ball can do it all. And sometimes they don't even let you play or flip.”

    Mike Welsh @ ~31:45 — Reflects on the volatility and unpredictability of EM machines where a single ball outcome can determine the game.

Entities

Zach SharpepersonJason LewinpersonJermainepersonMike WelshpersonAnna NealpersonAndre MassenkoffpersonDanielepersonTim Sexton

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: INDISC 2023 tournament in Southern California featuring dual Classics tournaments with high-quality organization and strong reputation in competitive pinball community

    high · Multiple references to event quality: 'They do such a great job here with their tournaments and their setup' and 'I remember when the first one was run. I heard a lot of good things about just the very first one and quickly it became a great reputation as a great event.'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Youth movement gaining prominence in competitive pinball with young players like Zach Sharpe rising to champion status alongside experienced veterans

    medium · Mike Welsh: 'We're definitely seeing the youth movement here with half our players being these young extraordinary players. Yeah the world has now it's actually it's great to see the young people getting into pinball. I hope we see more of them. I know Emily was just commentating before us, another great young player.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Tournament community highly values event organization, player education, and social connection alongside competitive play

    medium · Anna Neal: 'My favorite part is just meeting pinheads from all over the world... It's just a great tournament. They do such a great job here' and references to community camaraderie

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Tournament position strategy: player four (last position) has significant advantage through ability to play after all others and walk off with necessary score; demonstrated multiple times in semifinals

    high · Multiple commentary references to walk-off victories: 'The power of position. They did not select the game. They chose to go last' and repeated walk-off results

  • ?

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.247

0:00
Hello everyone, welcome back to it never drains in Southern California 2023. We're continuing with our classics one playoffs. We are just entering the semifinals round. I'm Mike Welsh. I'm Anna Neal. And I'm Andre Massenkoff. All right, looks like we're on Stargazer already.
0:29
Who do we got here? We have Gene, Jason, Zach, and Jermaine. Okay, great. And we're already on player two. So this is the semifinals for the Classics.
0:46
Classics won. There's another Classics tournament tomorrow, which will be on different games, I believe.
0:53
So what do you guys think? What's the best way to play this game? So we saw some Stargazer earlier. The main goal is to hit these drop targets, lock in your spinner value when it's at max here. What side is the max?
1:06
I believe the right side. You want to get it at the top here. Yeah, okay. And then rip the spinner. That spinner, yeah. Spinner all day. And that value is locked in until those targets go down accidentally, or on purpose if you didn't like the accidental value you initially locked in. Also, the timing right now, the slow-moving dot will increase in speed in future spinner lock-ins. Okay. I didn't really know that. Do you know any other strategies and ways to approach this? That's the way I go for it with the spinner. That is the main one, I believe.

  • Stargazer has extremely difficult out-lane geometry that requires significant skill to manage

    high confidence · Commentators repeatedly note the awkward layout: 'It's such a Papa Duke game... This is the big conundrum on this game is transferring it from left to right.'

  • The Wizard features a flag/flip-flop mechanic that is rare across pinball machines

    medium confidence · Mike Welsh: 'There's only two games I know of that have this one flip-flop we named... I think it's a fun Louis Toy. I don't know why they're not more though.'

  • “That's the worst feeling on these kind of games where you just have to hit the spinner and you can't find the shot.”

    Mike Welsh @ ~28:00 — Commentary on frustration with EM machines when key shots are elusive.

  • “I do. I love it. Yeah, I get frustrated and sad just watching these things happen these players.”

    Andre Massenkoff and Mike Welsh @ ~24:45 — Expresses the emotional investment spectators have in watching top-tier players navigate difficult machines.

    • person
    Colinperson
    Emilyperson
    Casey Deanperson
    Stargazergame
    The Wizardgame
    Aztecgame
    Big Gamegame
    INDISC 2023event
    Women's Bankvenue
    IE Pinballorganization
    Licorice Pizzaproduct
    California Extremeevent
    2010 World Championshipevent
    2022 Openevent
    World Cup Soccergame
    Prospectorgame

    design_philosophy: Stargazer's out-lane geometry is criticized as extremely awkward even for top players, requiring specialized techniques and extensive machine-specific practice

    high · Mike Welsh: 'This is the big conundrum on this game is transferring it from left to right. It really is... It helps to have a lot of experience with Stargazer.'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: EM machines exhibit high volatility where single ball outcomes can dramatically swing tournament position; mechanical unpredictability is inherent design feature accepted by community

    high · Commentary on Aztec: 'One ball can do it all. And sometimes they don't even let you play or flip... That's the nature of these EMs and the classic games'

  • ?

    product_concern: Stargazer machine availability extremely limited; fewer than five machines in circulation among experienced players despite being favored classic title

    high · Andre Massenkoff: 'I've played a lot of pinball. I've seen less than five of them my whole life... Two of which are here right now. It's such a Papa Duke game.'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Concerns about tilt-bob calibration changes during tournament events due to gravity and machine wear, affecting gameplay fairness and consistency

    medium · Andre Massenkoff: 'Sometimes tilt-bob conditions change, and they tend to loosen up through the course of a game and a tournament... I remember playing World Cup Soccer and at the beginning of tournament is super tight. By the end the tilt bob had clearly fallen out.'

    • 1:43
    Do we know about the rollovers by the flippers at all? So these rollovers cycle through the awards, and one of the awards is to light the other spinners for 10X scoring. so you'd rip those spinners as well. They also spot Zodiac letters with these Zodiac targets around the playfield. And we did see in the earlier round that extra balls are on, and I believe completing those Zodiac letters is how you... Oh, completing the Zodiac gets you the extra balls. Yeah.
    2:10
    Okay. Right now, player three, Zach McCarthy, your in-disc 2022 Open champion. It's very exciting. It's got a spinner locked in. Oh, it just missed it.
    2:28
    I never played the Stargazer. There's one in the Women's Bank as well, which I played, which was really fun. But I didn't play the Classics one.
    2:37
    It's an extraordinary collection if it happens to have two Stargazers in it. Indeed. I've played a lot of pinball. I've seen less than five of them my whole life. Yeah. Two of which are here right now.
    2:49
    It's such a pretty game. I love it. When do we think Stern's going to come out with a Zodiac title? Is that going to happen, you think? No. I'd play it.
    3:02
    They could re-theme this like they did when they made Beatles out of Sea-Way. That's true. That'd be cool. Okay, we got Jermaine coming up. Jermaine just coming off that win in the tiebreaker to get into the semifinals. Won on big game by 7,000 points. It's a nice feeling coming off the tiebreaker. It's like you got the second life.
    3:22
    So there's definitely a measure of relief here. Oh, he got that drop target down at an opportune time.
    3:30
    All right. At a cradle, spinners at max value. Will he do it? Oh, works it off the post. Let's see how he transfers it over. That's a great point. This is the big conundrum on this game is transferring it from left to right. It really is.
    3:45
    And he did it. Yeah, something of a post pass, but not with the traditional post. It seemed like Zach was actually doing some sort of alley pass without a traditional alley as well.
    4:09
    He's really... Okay, he got his drop targets down accidentally. So it was a heck of a spin, but he lost all that sweet, sweet value that was initially locked in. Oh, no. Swing to the out lane. Still a great ball. What a ball. A sizable lead.
    4:29
    All right, Gene stepping up, going into ball two. I believe he had a one million game on Stargazer in the earlier round. Oh, nice.
    4:41
    It always feels good to have a million points on Stargazer. Oh, yeah. Okay. Backwards down through the spinner.
    5:04
    She's really staring at you right there in the play field, huh? I mean, it's gazing, I guess. Gazing. It's a very intense look. Gazing into the stars. On the back glass as well. Okay.
    5:22
    So again, he's been getting these mid-range value lock-ins for the spinner. You know, sometimes that happens, and I still, even if it happens, I'm like, just go for the spinner.
    5:35
    I get what I can when I can on this game. There's a 10x spin there. So the spinners on the far left and right, they only stay lit for a single spin, a single rip. Oh my god, really? Yep, that's the bummer. So you really want to rip it good when they're lit. I did not know that.
    6:01
    I'm so glad I learned that just now. And are they only lit via the rollovers by the flippers? Yes, I believe they're only lit by the yellow by rolling over the roll over when the yellow award is lit. Okay, interesting. And the other award gives you Zodiac targets. Okay, where are we at now? We're still at ball two.
    6:26
    Zach McCarthy's coming up. He's waiting for a second, though. All right, Zmax stepping up for his ball two. I've really enjoyed watching Zach during this tournament and his skills close up. Last year I didn't know to watch him, now that he's the world champion, I realize why he's the world champion. He's got some extraordinary skills on classics and modern. Yes he does. Uh oh, that's trouble. It's not a friendly bounce off of the drop target. Okay.
    7:09
    Now Jermaine gets a chance to pad his lead. Now Gene has been such a strong classics player for years. I remember him about 15 years ago as the top classics qualifier at California Extreme. Okay, yeah. So he really, I mean, he owns the classics. I'm sure someone mentioned that his classic games are in the movie Licorice Pizza. and he sure knows how to play them as well. I did not know that. That's cool.
    7:41
    Alright, we have a cradle on the right. I expect a hit to the drop targets to lock in that value. Oh, he goes for the spinner. It was lit.
    7:50
    And locks in a good value as well. Two for one. On a quickly moving value changing light there. Excellent.
    8:06
    That's one of the most frustrating things, really hitting the spinners, and then when the ball comes back out from behind the spinner and stops the spinning. Quite a few games do that, like Prospector in the women's bank. Yes.
    8:23
    But it feels good at first. Yeah, at least you get that thrill. Get the thrill. Yeah, I mean, there was a good rip there. Wonderful pass from left to right. Set up for that spinner again.
    8:40
    Beautiful. Look at those points count up. All right. I think they just stopped going up. Settling down. He's just got that center dialed in.
    9:06
    It must feel super good. That's one way to pass it. Excellent ball. That's a great ball. I love watching Jermaine play, partially because he's physical and he moves a lot. And also he's proactive. He's quick. I don't think he gets surprised by balls much.
    9:42
    I feel like I get surprised a lot by balls. Maybe I'm too slow for this game. My reflexes are a little too slow.
    9:53
    All right. Okay. He's got a spinner locked in. but he is alright playing on the flat almost had a jiggle there but the ball still goes out the left out lane but his machines are in a movie so that's cool I was talking with Gene earlier and he was telling me he's been playing pinball since 1973 since right when they legalized it in Las Vegas that's when he started playing And I'm like, wow, you've been playing longer than I've been alive. Me too. Yeah. So maybe Jason Dollar's dad was born right around then.
    10:36
    Oh, no. Tough game for Jason. Still has got a chance to pull off a third place here. All right. Z-Mac is up.
    10:49
    We're definitely seeing the youth movement here with half our players being these young extraordinary players yeah the world has now it's actually it's great it's great to see the young young people getting into pinball I hope we see more of them I know Emily was just commentating before us another great young player there's a spinner that'll put him in the third place maybe one good If it's been a rip, can get them in the second and those at least two points. Oh, okay.
    11:38
    Uh-oh. This is such an awkward game, even for the best of players, just because of the format of the in lanes. It helps to have a lot of experience with Stargazer. And I like how Zach was doing some nice creative things, getting the ball from left to right, like a tip pass. Something that looked like an alley pass as well. And just shy of that second-place score by Jean. Oh, that is tight. Ouch. Only 2,000 points. Wow. And Jermaine with the walk-off. Good place to be. Great place to be.
    12:09
    So how are we doing this playoffs? Who's the top seed here we got? Is Jermaine the top seed? Let's look at my notes here. Do we have a note?
    12:21
    I have Jermaine as 16th seed and Gene Lewin, I believe, is the top seed in this group. He is the eighth qualifier. So I assume he's driving the bus and gets to choose the next game?
    12:34
    I guess I probably should have figured this out. Yeah, and Jermaine's got the power of position if he wishes. Yes, okay.
    12:40
    That makes sense. Great. So how has your indesk been going, you two? It's been great. the women's bank is really fun i've been having a lot of fun there i just had an open card that i didn't hate it's not in the b finals or anything but it's just a great they do such a great job here in indus with their tournaments and their setup um yeah it's hard not to come my favorite part is just meeting pinheads from all over the world You know get to see all of my friends. I see once a year once every six months at the big tournaments It's just a great place to play. Everyone's friendly. Everyone's having a good time Everyone's cursing the pinball machines together, you know
    13:27
    Yeah, I sure do appreciate that community we see here and also just how well this tournament's run I remember when the first one was run I heard a lot of good things about just the very first one and quickly it got a great reputation as a great game We got a new group here. Okay, partially through wizard. We're on ball three
    13:48
    Looking for a hundred thousand lights. It looks like everyone's under a hundred thousand at this point
    13:55
    But Daniele who I'm presuming pick this game as the top seed looks like he's got a sizable lead on the rest of the crowd
    14:04
    But players three and four still have ball to play left to your right in this game? On this one, it's very hard to post-pass, which is often the easiest and safest thing. So if the game won't let me, I'll tap-pass. If not, it's much harder to get the timing down. But what Zach did there, the alley-pass. But it's a very small target as far as alleys go, but there it is. He's pretty good at it, though. Yes.
    14:34
    Okay. You know, the one thing I'm wondering about with players like this, especially Daniele going first and having to kind of allow all the other players to follow him, and it's a bonus game, so they'll know what they need to beat him on ball five, is how aggressive these players get. If you want to get aggressive, you start shooting at flag number three right away, and that will light the flag, flip the flag for double bonus. You will need to hit that right lane that Tim just rolled the ball down to flip it over and collect the Double bonus.
    15:12
    The more straightforward thing is just getting it to the right flipper and shooting the spinner. Yeah. That's what I usually do.
    15:19
    Yes. I don't know if Daniele will display this, but he certainly did in the 2010 World Championship, the first one he won. Taking a ball from that right lane, you see where the word wizard,
    15:32
    basically by those flags at the top right. And as the ball would come out of that chute, he would backhand straight into the spinner, a live ball. Wow. I've never seen or even thought of that before. So we'll see if this is one of those games I would work on.
    15:49
    We'll see on his next ball. Yeah, on his next ball. He's got one more. He's still in great shape? Yeah. He's almost there to getting that rollover light.
    16:01
    I love this game. I love the weird flip floppy things. there there's only two games I know of that have this one in flip-flop we named is there another one do we know maybe maybe someone in check and let us know if someone in chat no I mean we don't see the chat though the chat could tell us but we yeah I think it's a fun toy I don't know why they're not more though I think it's cool too. Oh, that was right on the fly. There's Cullen doing the alley pass. All right. Ooh.
    16:36
    Doesn't want to go in that saucer. Oh, he did get a nice bounce into the flag three stand-up target. Yes. So he hits that saucer, yeah. He can go to town with that bonus. Or if he hits the lane on the right without hitting the saucer, but saucer's the most straightforward way in. Plus 3,000 points, plus three bonuses to boot. That's a lot of points for hitting that saucer. It's trying to nudge it in the saucer, but it's not cooperating. So this is really where the classics, you have to have some patience until the bounces go your way.
    17:17
    I like how this is such a different spinner than our previous game. There we go. He didn't need the saucer. Double bonus. Double bonus is lit.
    17:32
    And that's the huge points on this game. So he can max the bonus at 19,000 doubled. It's 38,000 if he doesn't tilt. I'm just wondering where you would like to go if you have a max double bonus when you play. That was a good save there.
    17:50
    If you have a max double bonus, where do you go for points on this game? Just light the spinner. Hope you can light the spinner. Get the four roll over at the top here. And then lights the spinner and then spinner all day I'd say. There's not much else to do on the table. Plus those three thousands in the saucer when you hit it off your spinner shot for sure. Oh, actually, that's another way to go. There you go. Colin's going for that 5,000 target here. So hard to hit on any wizard. Wow.
    18:29
    Will he continue aiming for it? He will. And this is ball five, is that correct? I believe it's four. Oh, it's four? Okay, sorry. We're at ball four.
    18:41
    And he's definitely trying to catch up here to Daniele. He's doing a great job at it. I'd be happy with this ball.
    18:55
    I noticed in qualifying a lot of people were playing this game. Darn. I can't believe you played this game. I mean, I'd hit that all day if I could hit it like Kyle. Or not Colin, excuse me. Did you play it in qualifying, Anna? No, I didn't. Did you guys?
    19:08
    I played it once. I had a pretty good game. Excellent ball. There you go. Huge bonus. What a ball. I really have never gone for that 5,000 target or seen someone do that competition. Absolutely. I mean, I feel like that was a good strategy, especially considering his spinner wasn't lit. You know, what else do you have to do? And he's hit it at least three times, which is exceptional. Plus, that saucer doesn't really seem to accept the ball very nicely. No, it's not being nice. Except for Zach, I guess.
    19:38
    so he rolled it he has 118 now and Zach is now Zach Sharp is up oh what a nudge beautiful these valley out lanes from this air are so huge and it's just a big long strip of wood but he found a way to manage that
    20:02
    and that was something of a live catch So impressive to watch these people play these games. They make it look easy. I know. I'm like, oh, I can do this. No. No, I can't.
    20:20
    No saucer, no lane, but that double bonus is waiting for him. Three of the four flags are flipped. Oh. He tried to nudge it out of the danger zone but the ball wanted to go out This is a huge game of Blizzard right now I actually didn see the qualifying score so I not sure if this is I do know Tim Sexton here did roll it He had over 200,000 in his qualifying. I'm not sure if that was on his qualifying card. Yeah, Bowen rolled it as well, I believe. Double rolled it. Wow.
    21:02
    Nice nudge. Great. Amazing. There we go. That alley pass, it's fast. It works if you can hit it. Exceptional shot off of that, too.
    21:16
    Uh-oh. I'm seeing more 5,000 targets hit than I've ever personally hit in my entire life. And I've played a lot of Wizard.
    21:32
    Little known fact, Tim Sexton has a cat named Wizard. What a great cat. Wow. That's his secret. Hopefully he's okay with me telling the internet.
    21:47
    That doesn't seem too personal. I hope not. There's another 5,000. Excellent. And he's already rolled.
    21:59
    There we go. Double bonus. Okay, there's the layup. Almost maximum bonus. Spinner let him go whatever direction he wants.
    22:09
    Ooh, all right. Still. That was not a direction he wanted, but an excellent ball. Great ball. So now we'll be going into ball five. Here it is. This is the last ball of this game, determining the first round of points. Are we doing the best out of five here for finals? Is that correct? I believe it's three games in each round. Oh, yeah. Yep. Three games? I believe that's right. Yeah. Okay, so sorry. With 4-2-1-0 scoring, I believe. Oh, yeah. Now I remember. The flag is flipped for double bonus.
    22:49
    Oh, no. Okay. He rolled it. So, tough luck there. that's enough to put him into second place for now but Colin will probably get there in bonus as long as I don't jinx him don't jinx it it's not nice but there is a commentator's jinx oh no and that was it I almost you did it was your fault yeah he did pass him oh thank goodness you didn't jinx him I'm sure he wanted more on that ball, but...
    23:31
    Let's see what Zach can do. He's currently in last. He's chasing 120,000. He's at 80,000 right now. He tried to do that backhand.
    23:45
    Oh, no. Okay, so the scoring is 3-2-1-0. Is that correct? I believe it's 4-2-1-0. It's fortunate. Kind of getting everything wrong. And yet another walk-off.
    23:59
    Yep, player four walk-off. Tim Sexton. That was a great ball for him, Tim. Let's see who pulls into the lead. Take that game.
    24:11
    And we're back. We're back. Again, this is the semifinal round of the Indisc. Classics day one tournament. We've got some top-notch players, some really interesting games. And so far, the story for both semifinal groups is player four prevails. The power of position. They did not select the game. They chose to go last. They knew exactly what they needed, but they didn't even need to play their last ball. They played so well. That's always good performances there. That's the best feeling is getting that walk-off plunge. Oh, yeah.
    24:44
    Absolutely. So who are we? Okay, we don't know who we're following yet. Yeah, I think Carl's getting the next round set up here while everyone picks their games.
    24:56
    There are times where, as a top seed, instead of picking a game, you might actually pick position. I don't think this is a good place for it because they have such a wide variety of games, not just in the Classics but the main bank. This is Aztec. Hey, we're doing Aztec. Now, the spinner is lit.
    25:14
    The center lane at the top will light the spinner. The spinner is usually where it's at. Sometimes a double bonus can get you 100,000 points. But if that spinner turns nicely, that's where it's at. You know, when someone picks this game, they know how to plunge it usually to that center lane, and they've got some comfort with the game. It looks like Gene picked it and hit that lane since the spinner was lit when we got into the action.
    25:45
    I played this game in the Classic Smash play and immediately had two house balls coming out of the middle lane, which was so upsetting. Oh, live catch there. Wow. That spinner's lit.
    26:04
    Yeah, thank heavens there are five balls on Aztec. Yes. Ooh, trying an alley pass over. Wow. Didn't go all the way up, but it gave him a nice spin.
    26:22
    Good bump to get that in lane. And this spinner does turn. This is the strategy. Someone's got a high bonus. They might want to hit that right lane when it's lit. The top right lane for double bonus, but the spinner's where it's at.
    26:40
    Is this ball one? Yes, it's an extraordinary score. I mean, technically he's on pace to get 1.5 million points.
    26:51
    Extraordinary. This was in high stakes last year and a very exciting game to play. And watch. Yeah, I believe this game had the longest queues during qualifying because it's a very popular game, very playable.
    27:07
    Back in high stakes or this year? This year. Okay, yeah. So how do you... Oh, too bad. I was just going to say, yeah, how do you light that spinner if it's unlit? Shoot the spinner, get upstairs again. Once in a while you get lucky off one of those three yellow jet bumpers, and they might feed you up through there. But it's a very narrow channel, I believe. More narrow than the one on its right and left. So on this game, is there any... Would you ever try and get into this area?
    27:48
    Or would you always try to do the alley pass to just go up here? It might be worthwhile once you get a lot of these Aztec letters because I believe it's $10,000 for each letter there. I think these players will prefer to alley pass, but we'll see if anyone takes some shots at it. Because you also have to deal with the kick out when it feeds it back out from that lane into the bumpers. That's the scary part. Excellent punch. And also, especially if your spinner is not lit, if you have a higher bonus and the light double bonus, he just lit it by hitting the I target, I believe. Okay. Or the T target. There's no I in Aztec. I'm a school teacher, by the way, and I give spelling tests. There's no I in team nor Aztec. Yeah, and at this point, it's only 15,000 more for the double bonus, but he might build some just inadvertently through the course of this ball. I mean, he's got that lit spinner.
    28:48
    That's where the real points are at, as Zach demonstrated on his first ball. Nice tip. Oh, no. Cool. Those misfires are fast and dangerous, but they survive them. And when they work, they set them up for that beautiful spinner.
    29:18
    Still a great start there. Oh, my god. All right, here's Gene. No. That is the house ball of Aztec. No love for Gene from the game.
    29:38
    Now we're going to ZMAC. I believe this is ball three. Is this ball two? I think that's three. Yeah, I believe it's ball two. Ball two. Is this ball two? Yes, you're right. The score is so high that it seems like you should have played more.
    30:02
    Trying for that middle. Nails it. There you go. Come on. And spin her up. Ready to go. Oh, oh, hungry, hungry out lanes. You saw that rainbow of death coming, tried to nudge it off, but it's just hard with these metal rail guides. Yeah, I love that word. Drain bow. Yes, grain bow. It's in the new pinball dictionary. Great pop there. that spinner.
    30:50
    Oh, that swing just threw it down the middle while his flipper was raised. Rough one. Just looking at this game, it's a Williams game. I think a lot of the EMs we play in competitions and know so well are ballet games such as Wizard that we saw previously. And so the whole mechanism, the end of stroke, the way the flippers hold, the way the flippers pass, all those things it's a tremendously different feel. It really is. I feel like I see much less Williams EMs than those Valley ones historically.
    31:23
    So again, another adjustment just like the crazy adjustment they had to make to the strange kind of geography of Stargazer on game one.
    31:38
    Nice. That's about as quick as you can hit a lint spinner in this game. Wonderful reaction. Oh, no. That bumper disagreed. Give it and take it away.
    31:51
    Yeah. That puts him about even with Zach. At the moment, we've got two separate duels going on between two players. Let's see. Look at the. Okay.
    32:07
    Oh, no. Oh. Despite having picked the game, yeah, Gene's been unfortunate so far, but he's got two more balls to play.
    32:21
    All right, Zach stepping up for his ball three. He's in the lead with, is that 360,000? Yes. You can tell the game is the tilts tight because we haven't seen too much nudging upstairs. Yeah. Despite the players wanting to get that center lane.
    32:56
    And as happens way too much on Aztec, you like the spinner but never get a shot at it. Yeah. On the ball's way down. So we're on ball three and he has 400. Is that correct? Still in great shape.
    33:12
    Oh, no. Wow, no tilt on that. He collected his bonus. Well, maybe they need to be more aggressive trying to get into that center lane up there. Yeah, Jermaine did put a heavier move on the machine earlier when the ball was close to the flippers. I think he was trying to protect from an outlane. So, you know, sometimes tilt-bob conditions change, and they tend to loosen up through the course of a game and a tournament. Sure, because of gravity, right? I don't know how it happens, but uh you know i remember playing a world cup soccer and at the beginning of tournament is super tight by the end the tilt bob had clearly fallen out
    34:01
    oh no yeah someone said you need to fill out a dance card before you swing a game like i was basically dancing with the game yeah left to right um once i realized that tilt bob was finished and he's had trouble hitting that spinner shot to get him upstairs as well don't count him out though this is the game he picked today and he picked it for a reason that's the worst feeling on these kind of games where you just have to hit the spinner and you can't find the shot you just want that satisfaction of that spinner sound especially on these old ones So mechanical and great.
    34:51
    All right. We didn't get the middle lane. We have to try and get it back up there so we can get the middle lane. Uh-oh. Oh. Tried a drop catch there. Drop catch. Bouncy drop catch. Did not cooperate.
    35:08
    Okay, Jason. This is it. Wait, no. What ball is this? oh look at that roll this is ball four I believe yeah Jason with zero points so far really needs to produce at the very least two points from a second place trying to nudge it into that alien there it is there is lit but this is trouble yeah very frustrating I don't think there's There wasn't anything he could have done about it either. It's unfortunate. He did everything he could.
    35:47
    This game we love, pinball, can be very frustrating. I don't know why we all love to be frustrated so much.
    35:58
    I do. I love it. Yeah, I get frustrated and sad just watching these things happen to these players. I want them to hit that lid spinner over and over and over. I want to see it done. I want you to light it and then rip it.
    36:16
    It's a really good spot for Jermaine to put the pressure on everyone else. Not only does he have the four points, but he's player four here, and he can really put some points on with just one spinner shot here.
    36:31
    There you go. Beautiful. Look at that. Yeah, he loves that. Yeah, we're talking 30,000 or 40,000 points from that. And he bounced into the Z target. That gets his double bonus ready. He can hit the orbit. And there, that's his double bonus.
    37:01
    Sometimes you can get that ball popping back in that lane over and over. Although those scripts aren't worth a ton by themselves with two lit lights. 10 of those strips sure would help but he's in excellent shape right now
    37:17
    his patience but a little too much there and hey where we at here score wise so that ball with that double bonus put Jermaine in the lead with 580,000 Wow and Dean really needs salvage something of this game here see how he tries to get it to the right time because that spinner is ready for him. Oh, he was trying to get it into that Aztec area. I don't know what it's called. That was well past there. There we go. Beautiful.
    37:55
    Just like that, he doubled the score. More than double. Do we see the person dancing in the background? Sorry.
    38:08
    distracting me so that's our first instance of using the telestrator in the semis whoever you are dancing mission accomplished oh it's trouble no good nudges in still got us bonus yeah yeah and that put him nicely into third place here good amount of points in that ball
    38:38
    Jason Jason has to do some work it's about a hundred thousand do we call that thing a candy cane or candy cane is good name for it that's a good name okay cool He's trying all he can to get that. Oh no. Still an excellent game.
    39:10
    Just a poor bounce from off of this rubber here. Remember, he was on pace for 1.5 million points. And, you know, that's the nature of these EMs and the classic games. One ball can do it all. And sometimes they don't even let you play or flip. Yeah.
    39:29
    All right. Got that spinner lit. Really needs to make something happen here. He has the spinner lit.
    39:36
    Going for the candy cane. Okay. Oh, good nudge. Nice shot. Keeps that phone playing. Oh, and now he has fully passed Dean. Guaranteed a point here.
    40:01
    I'm sorry. I read the zero as an eight. Oh, he's definitely there now, I believe. Certainly with his single bonus of 50,000.
    40:14
    So now it's a matter of coming for Zach. Working on it, but. And then just a swift outlane devour. Great bonus. So we get another walk-off plunge for Jermaine.
    40:34
    He was close to having a second place there. Is that correct? Yeah, he had a big old bonus. Wow. Just kept adding points. I was surprised.
    40:46
    All right. Great job. Well, that was super fun to watch. That was a great game of Aztec. Yeah, great game of Aztec. So Jason now has one point. Gene. Who was dancing in the background? He's with two points. That's the real question.
    41:01
    Jermaine is absolutely through to the next round with his eight points. Yes. So now we need to know. So two people will be through We have to figure out who the next person is see so Jason got one point that got two points so I think it gonna be a battle for the second slot tied up right now is that correct I believe so, yeah.
    41:33
    2, 2, 2, and 8. So that'll be fun. Let's see. I believe Jason's got one. Jason only has one? Okay. Good mathing.
    41:45
    Good job. Thank heavens. I was trying to spell Aztec with an I before. I also teach math. Zero plus one is one. That's correct. Yeah. Please don't tell my students.
    41:58
    All right. We're on the move here. Shout-outs to Matt Rowbottom moving the wireless camera rig. We'll see which game we're going to head to next.
    42:07
    We are here in Southern California, Riverside, California, playing pinball all weekend long. It's what we do for fun here.
    42:20
    I'm Anna Neal. This is Andre Massinkoff, Mike Welsh. Just tuning in. to the Classics 1 final. Welcome.
    42:33
    Welcome, everyone. We're switching up the games right now. It's a... We're playing three games for each group. Top two will move on to the finals. Is that correct? We're almost there. Almost there. We got one more game. I'm not sure if we'll be tuning in for another game in the second round. We'll see.
    42:56
    But I just want to give a quick shout-out to... Our techs here, Jim Belsito, Jay Collins, Dave Hill. I'm sure I'm missing some others that somehow keep all of these games running all weekend. Like, it's amazing. There's always something breaking, and those techs are there fixing it right away. It's amazing. I mean, there are over 50 pinball games here.
    43:15
    From all different eras. From the 60s even, probably. Is there one from the 60s here? There's got to be. Like flying carpet, maybe? and actually if you like what you're watching tonight tomorrow another classics final that's correct i mean we're not even halfway through the four days of indus gear so i mean already we've seen quite a bit with the classics match play yesterday and then today's classic one but it is thrilling to be here it's great uh and tomorrow morning tune in for the women's finals I should be in it I should be cross your fingers well we'll see if I get pushed down below the line during this broadcast I'll be very bummed out well yeah everyone please give IE Pinball a follow on Twitch if you haven't already Carl does a great job on the streaming there will be tons of pinball tomorrow and then even more on Sunday. Yeah.
    44:23
    Yeah, the Classics is so exciting here. It's dramatic. You can see some of the best players in the world here, like in the group we had playing Wizard. We had a four-time world champion and two Pinberg winners, all of which lost and took last place. You know, and these Classics, they can definitely, I don't know, level the odds sometimes because there's so much luck involved all right we're heading over to rock game in progress it's like it's all three and Zach just I just saw he collected his rock and roll letters if you complete rock and roll lives you said that is your bonus and you collect your bonus big points there now in first place and he needs that first place haven't taken zero points on that wizard game we watched the end of.
    45:19
    Holy cow, and he just activated double scoring. I believe Colin's score there is 1.9 million. Yes, that seems to be 1.9 million.
    45:33
    So one ball to go with Zach in the lead. Looks like Daniele in second. Just one ball to go. Okay, great. Oh, good. Zoom in on those scores. It's hard to see. Nice. So a quick rundown of ROK. I know we saw it some earlier in the quarterfinals. You want to get these ROK and ROL letters by hitting the lit drop in the inlanes. That's your bonus.
    45:59
    These ABC letters up top are your bonus X. And this is a big bonus game. And what's going on upstairs? Up here, if you complete these drops in order, you get some small points. I don't think they're very important, but they do light for a special eventually if you do complete enough levels up there. And there he is, hitting the lit 10,000 spinner, but it only spun maybe two or three times. One thing they like to do with games here is to kind of make sure the games are not one-trick ponies. In this case, maybe those spinners don't turn really quickly intentionally. Oh, nice! And he stays with it. Beautiful.
    46:39
    So this game always has one spinner lit. That's right. It's either the left or the right. I remember playing this, but it wasn't one trick pony for me. It just hit either spinner.
    46:52
    Yeah, that's a solid strategy on this game. That was an excellent spin, unfortunately not lit. Another weird thing about this game is that this up top flipper is, like, very weird. In an angle.
    47:06
    It's a very strange angle, and I don't know why they did it that way, but... So now Tim's actually close to completing his Rock and Roll Lives letters. And so that'll give him another bonus. That'll collect all of his bonus, and that's multiplied. Oh, wow. Great. How do you increase your multiplier? So he just collected it from the in lanes.
    47:29
    And now he can get more letters. But he hit that Litspinner instead, which is also great. Great fun. Now Tim's clawing his way up. He's up to 1.7 million.
    47:53
    That's an excellent, weird playfield baby flipper save. You can't downplay the value of saves like that. Ultimately, they can be difference makers in a match, Even though you're never in peril when you lose the ball from this upper area, you don't lose the ball because of it. Now Tim has passed Colin.
    48:27
    So that 4X would be his bonus multiplier there? Correct. And all of the bonus and the bonus multiplier carries over on this game from ball to ball. So bonus multiplier is always good.
    48:49
    And actually, we're seeing a teammate good progress up there. But this is the ball there. But a great ball. Great ball.
    48:57
    Gets him a third place, I believe. I did not see his bonus. He did have a pretty big bonus though, right? I can't remember.
    49:09
    Oh, Lord. We can't see that. I think that was a 2-0. Well, Zach got the four points he needs, bringing him up from zero to four points. In Colin's case, I believe he got two. Is that correct?
    49:26
    I don't know. I believe Colin actually got a zero. I think Tim got one. Okay. And then Daniele got the two.
    49:37
    So we've got five, three, five. Hey, the math just happened. Yay, thank you for the math. Oh, man, I almost embarrassed myself with the math again. And I'm not even going to try to spell anymore. Rock.
    49:51
    Rock and roll lives, Aztec. R-A-W-K. I don't know. I'm just sounding it out. Pinball will make you a good speller. You have to spell a lot of words when you play pinball. You do have to spell words quite often. That's a good point. It will make you very good at playing pool and playing cards.
    50:11
    Especially those older games. I think those are the biggest themes, the card games and the pool games.
    50:18
    So if you ever want to learn to play pool, go to your local pinball club and play pinball. That's, I think, what you're saying. Exactly.
    50:29
    Did either of you play in the Classics Match Play? Yeah, I did so bad I was doing great up until I ate dinner and then I came back and lost Yesterday we did have a Classics Match Play tournament where we played all of the Classics machines 120 players I believe. Were you in it as well? Yeah, yeah and aiming for 70 points was a lot of fun.
    51:07
    How many points did you get? 40, 40 something. I got over halfway to 70 so I felt okay yeah but yeah I got 40 something very similar. Were you in it as well? No I wasn't. I've just been playing the
    51:21
    the open yeah nothing else just yet. The open is our big event here it is the winner of the open will receive a brand new stern is that correct yes and some hardware from behind oh yes well the first place of this will receive this oh no i'm not on they will not receive this rock game we did not do that's such a rare game that would be a heck of a prize but yeah beautiful kind of loose site yeah tower it's really pretty what's up and then you know first place the open that gets they get this traditional space jet trophy that has been used i forgot if it originally came i think it originally came from papa professionally amateur pinball association which uh this format in the open behind us mirrors quite a bit that's what i heard it's not just about playing good games but playing five good games as an entire entity and it's that's where the challenge is even if you're a great player you need five excellent games to make it to the final day on sunday which of course we'll be broadcasting in the morning sunday but we've got so much more to broadcast before then and talk about i'm very excited about seeing who our finalists will be we've got some tight races here definitely Jermaine is through.
    52:47
    Is that correct? Yeah, he won two in a row, I believe. So, yes, he has eight points. So we are just going to see what happens with Gene, Zach, and Jason on Sky Jump. Gene chose Sky Jump. Is that correct?
    53:03
    This is the first game I played yesterday. Now, when you're player one on a single-player game, Everyone will know your exact score before they ever step up to the game. That makes it harder for player one, right? Yes, and I see Jermaine starting the game. Oh, so maybe. Gene might have deferred. Maybe he deferred. Interesting. So the trickiest things about Sky Jump are, first off, tilt ends the game.
    53:32
    If you tilt, your game's over. Ball one, you don't just lose your ball. You don't just lose your bonus. There's no bonus in this game. but ultimately that's dangerous and there are times you want to nudge and there are times you want to save the ball by nudging, but you have to be very careful. On these kinds of games where tilt ends game, they do tend to set the tilts a little looser so you don't get some accidental frivolous tilt. But it does appear Jermaine, again, as the second seed in the group,
    54:01
    chose this game. But Gene took second. Yeah, I'm curious about this. The other thing you want to do in this game, I would say there's maybe a pre-phase before you start knocking down that beautiful bank of seven targets. Each time you extinguish one of those lights, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, it makes each one of the targets. Instead of 50 points, 500 points. But on top of that, there's one single roving red light, and that will also multiply the target's value by 10. So a white light, 500 points. A white and red light? 5,000 points. Thank you for doing the math for me. Oh, the Lazarus. Oh, no.
    54:52
    Wow. This game does have a lot of Lazaruses. The other thing you might notice is at some point the right jet bumper stopped working man Jermaine three house balls here not having good luck he's saying is there anything I can do Bob anything you can do no says nope that's the game want to plunge lights to extinguish them and light them up for 500 points and then hit a target with both a red and white light below it amazing thing about this game is if he hit the three and the four at the same time it would actually give him credit for 5 000 it's kind of like a mash-up of the scoring that you would get from wow i'm just seeing if he tilted there but yeah it actually combines the scoring so it's worth 5 000 if you hit two adjacent targets together um okay he got that 5 000 finally Now to change it Do you have to hit the pop bumper? This pop bumper right here Yes and sometimes you might even shoot for it on purpose And sometimes you want to avoid it Quite a bit So it wouldn't hurt for him to hit it once Right now but taking out the bank I believe will give him 5000 points Oh Got some rubber on it but didn't want to stay in play This is a relatively low score But this is a game that's hard to score on We've already seen that the six is a really tough lane you don't want the ball to go down because it can go down the middle oh almost another lazarus well nice thing for him is he's already through yeah i guess that's why he deferred oh no he maybe that's why he chose this you can actually do that as a courtesy to other players um just because you will affect the results with your score but why not have them see your score first. Yeah. When you know you're through. Right. You know, don't be more of a factor than you have to be.
    57:03
    Since he was already through, that's why I presume it happened. That's a great point. So Gene was probably the selector of the game.
    57:21
    Not much there on ball one, but we'll see. Here's ball two. He's hit that top droppy. Okay, now he just, now it's the bottom one. He's aiming for it, but a little bit early. So this is a time where he's got the pink or the red and white light on the one. So you don't want to hit the jet bumper. You want to hit that far left target.
    57:48
    Just like that. There's the 5,000. And now it's time to either collect some more numbers, hit more targets, or move the red target by hitting the red bumper at the top middle that says move 10x target light.
    58:07
    He's trying to get into the three or the four. Oh, wait. It seems like all those lights are lit right now. All the drops are lit. Is that wrong? I think he still needs the three and the four. This sometimes hard to tell. Yeah, it's not the easiest thing to see. OK, now yeah.
    58:28
    Well, it's really taking down targets. We're going into the final ball here. He's definitely passed remain.
    58:46
    That one target left and it's got the pink and the white light on it. So it's worth $5,000 plus another $5,000. I believe we're taking out the whole bank. All right. That's a 40K. Not too bad on the Sky Jump. That was a solid game. That's a good way to go out. You're not too upset if you drain when hitting the last target in the bank. I think Gene's put some pressure on his opponents there with that game for sure. There are no gimmies in Sky Jump.
    59:12
    Sky Jump was highlighted in a $6 million man TV episode. I think it's called Love Song for Tanya. Oh, my God. Wow. How do you know that? Six Million Dollar Man. It's a good show. It's classic. And I really paid attention at this one moment. A pinball machine came on the screen. But Bionic Man was protecting, I believe, a Russian gymnast. Wow. And then he said, pinball, it takes skill and strength and intelligence, something like that. And he just drains like crazy on Sky Jump. And then this Russian gymnast just tears it up. And he doesn't look too happy, the $6 million man. No. But, again, I don't know what season it was, but love song for Tanya if you want to see a sky jump in action. That's pretty cool.
    60:01
    We've got Jason Zoller up now on sky jump. He's got the most work to do. Little Dacey on the drop catch keeps it alive.
    60:17
    Uh-oh. Ooh, great. He was in the in lane. So what does he have? Okay, so his red one is not lit white at this point. Is that correct?
    60:29
    Yeah. I believe that's the five. To me, it looks like he's got the four, seven, and two. It's a little hard to tell on the screen. And now the six.
    60:38
    So he did get 5,000 for knocking out that combination of targets, I believe. Okay. Okay, and now he's got his five. He's doing great with numbers. so it gives them more options than the targets.
    60:50
    And all these lights stay lit throughout the whole game once you get them. Is that correct? That's correct, yes. Okay, great.
    60:58
    Nice nudge. Ooh, okay. Okay, we're on the ball three. Quick plunge. He only has number one lit. Ooh, great.
    61:15
    There's that 5,000. So as he completes the target, that will give him more options of targets to shoot at when the bank is raised again. There we go.
    61:30
    Great accuracy for another 5,000. Oh! There's another Lazarus. I was afraid of a tilt there. That was a heavy shove. That was a big one. He earned himself some more points, and he's only two targets away from knocking down the whole set of targets again. Oh, we've got an instant replay right now. Look at that Yeah it the second Lazarus we seen this game And some digs again Great digs over here by Jason Zahler
    62:00
    Yeah, great decision-making too. Is he from New Jersey? Is that what his thing says over there? Yes.
    62:09
    That's a long way to come. I love his player profile photo. Well, let's watch this for the IFPA. It's him on the Today Show as a younger young man. Oh, that's very cool. There we go. Got another 5K. Now Jason has passed Gene.
    62:29
    And so now it's a matter of protecting his score. Okay. He's like, okay, I got a point. So that puts Jason in the lead with 44,960. Gene in second place with 40,680. And Jermaine is currently in last place with 13,410. So it's all up to Zach now. Let's see what Zach can do. What can Zach do?
    62:57
    He's feeling the pressure, I'm sure. But he's in a little bit of a better place than Jason. Yeah, so if Zach lands between 40,680 of Gene's and the 44,900 of Jason,
    63:11
    I believe he'd get two points and Jason would get his four, and there would be a tie break between the two. It's unlikely that a score will fall between those two, though. Zach wins, he moves on, and Zach does not pass Jason. Jason moves on. Andre's doing all the math for you guys at home. Unless. Right now. He puts that tiebreak in that special Goldilocks area between about 40 and 45,000 points.
    63:45
    Just missed that six. Sky jump. There it is. Oh, okay. Wow. You know, it's a productive drain. Yep. You get a one. Now that one target's lit. Yep.
    64:01
    Good bounce over Stay in Alright Back up, they're all back up Oh Those bounces from the drop target bank Aren't being friendly So Zach has done a great job Of rolling over numbers And extinguishing those numbers which lights up those targets for a lot more value, 10 times their normal value. He's got two more balls.
    64:46
    Tip over. Trying to hit that flip seven. One thing, you see a lot of misses here, and it's just because the nature of the game and the flippers, it's very hard to aim well. Absolutely, yeah. I characterize the flippers on this game as slippery.
    65:06
    Again, that seven will help him out a lot. This is his last ball. Okay. He might have been trying to move. Oh, no. He's worried about that. Oh, no. Okay. Way to get some rubber on that ball. Keep it alive. Oh, so much. Oh, no. fingers but he is disappointed in that yes so that's not gonna be enough Jason Zahler making the comeback and moving on with five points we know Jermaine was already there a slow start but a big finish that was clutch by Jason in a pretty tightly contested game you know a few thousand between him and Jean what an excellent semifinal. Very close.
    65:57
    Yeah, very close game. Tell me when I'm going to be on camera. Just like relax me. We got Carl over here producing.
    66:09
    And I don't know what's going on with the other group if they still have an active game or if we have results from them. But I'd like to know who Jason and Jermaine will be playing. Yes, in the finals. That was very exciting. So clutch. how Jason pulled out that win. I mean, he absolutely needed it, and he came through. Very cool. And still, you know, these are semifinalists. These are great players. There's excellent play, but these old games make players look terrible sometimes, and there's really nothing they can do about it despite their best efforts. I mean, that's how they were invented. They were made to make you lose. Make you spend money. Yeah.
    66:49
    And that's what makes them exciting. That's what I love about the classics. Yeah, me too. I love the drama. The drama, you guys.
    66:58
    The pinball drama. Yeah, there's nothing like pinball drama. I agree. But we're here. Next year, you guys all should come, though. This is a great show. It's a lot of fun. The tournament is amazing. You play against the best people in the world. You meet all sorts of people.
    67:20
    And it's in California in the winter. so. Can't beat that. Can't beat it. Yeah, I'm wearing shorts. Yeah. Mike's wearing a sport coat. This is California. Just rock it however you want. That's exactly right.
    67:38
    Yeah, the community here is just so nice. Even though it's competitive, everyone's sort of battling the pinball machines together, so everyone's cheering each other on, saying good game, nice ball. It's a lot of fun.
    67:50
    Can't beat it. Yeah, yeah take some encouraging to get through it they do set up these games in some very difficult ways and
    67:59
    Far more challenging than people are used to Going to big game these classics, so they don't have to do too much to them to make them nastier They just try to probably set them up in ways so they aren't as easily exploited
    68:13
    Okay, so this is the is this the final game? I believe so yes this is game three ball three this is so exciting right now okay we've got looks like Daniele's in the lead with five hundred thousand Tim is in third place right now but he has he's up and Zach's got some work to do big game is what I'm wearing on my shirt right now my shirt is a big game shirt from Cincinnati.
    68:46
    We can see it on the back. There's a tiger on the back. There's a tiger on the back and there's a tiger here. It's a big game tiger. It's all about big game.
    68:57
    The game. Tim's going to plunge his ball through you. Did he pick this game because of your shirt? I think so. No, I don't know.
    69:07
    Tim has the ball on the right flipper. Nails that spinner. That's the big shot on this game. That spinner into that saucer. Big points. Yes. He wants to nudge into the eye lane. Doesn't quite get it. Oh, keeps it alive in. That ball went out. It really did. So the door is open here. He's just got to watch. See what happens. So Big Game's one of these weird games that has a lot of numbers in the middle of it that do things that I don't know about. Yeah, it's kind of intimidating. All these numbers are your bonus.
    69:46
    And as you make bingos on these cards, you activate features on the play field in confusing ways. Yes, quite confusing. One of the big things is if this X card is lit, which it toggles via switch hits, it'll light this spinner for big points. and that's the big shot you'll probably see people aiming for. Yeah.
    70:06
    The other spinner is lit by the B.I.G. at the top. Is that correct? That's right. And those are the upper lanes.
    70:15
    That's that spinner he just hit. And that one, you can actually hit with this upper left flipper. Not now because it's not flipped. Yeah. Look at that. Tap to the upper to the upper. And he was excited. He gave a thumbs up there. Very impressive, Mr. Collin. And this saucer up here awards points for each big game letter.
    70:35
    Ideally, he wants that B, the only one that's still unlit. Nice patience there. Are we going to see another taffy? Yeah, let's see what happens. A little bit hard that time. A little too hard.
    70:49
    Uh-oh. Oh. Yeah. Still, he secured himself a point. And he did something impressive during it. Yep, and he's making these good thumbs up to you, the viewers.
    71:05
    That's to you guys. All right, Zach Sharp in last place. Going into his final ball. He'll need some bonus, some spinner.
    71:18
    Oh, he has. And that left lane, he spelled out most of the game. He could, oh, so he's going to the bottom river. Is he going to do like a weird post pass thing? Yeah, this is such an interesting flipper layout. It's really a conundrum getting this ball around these slippers.
    71:34
    He's just trying to get it over to the left so he can hit that big spinner. There it is. Beautiful. Plus, I believe, 30,000 total from those lit letters on top of all those spins.
    71:49
    Oh, there's another spin. He also has 3X bonus lit here for filling the bingo cards. So he may pass Tim. He might pass Tim here. There's some bonus. We'll see. What an amazing type of pass. A unique pass for a unique game. Both spinners lit. Just missed a late there. Good patience. Gets another shot. So yeah, I believe by completing two bingos on each bingo card is how you get the 3x bonus. Bonus.
    72:25
    Yikes. Uh-oh. Tips it over. I almost filled all three carts as well. Is there a bonus for filling all three carts? I've never done so. I'm not sure. I'm sure I do see some lights over here. There might be a special somewhere.
    72:38
    Yeah, that's pretty impressive. They did it. They reset? Why did they reset? Because again, I'm out? I believe it's carried over in this bonus right here. Kind of like 8 ball deluxe finishing a rack.
    72:55
    Extraordinary. He's coming up to the lead now. He's got a big bonus coming to him. He has definitely taken the lead.
    73:06
    Genielli's going to, it's not a walk off for real. Okay, look at that. beautiful shot look like you trying to have a dead pass and it just didn't bounce off that lower right what quick reactions to realize it was going crazy and react sometimes these guys are surviving the ball and sometimes they're surviving their attempts to pass the ball you know Colin lost his ball as As a result of an attempted pass from left to right. Yep.
    73:51
    It's very tricky to do that. It takes a lot of skill. It takes a lot of practice. Jack's got to be happy with that. Wow. Yeah, that's awesome. What a great score. What a great comeback. He was in last place coming into this ball, and he just almost got a million points on big game.
    74:09
    Daniele is coming up now. He has, gosh. And Daniele's already got two points in hand, so he's just trying to beat Zach. So he will have five points if he doesn't beat Zach. Is that correct? And that's what Tim is hoping for. Yes.
    74:32
    So there will be a playoff if he cannot beat Zach Sharp. It's a big mountain to climb, that 900,000 Zach just put up essentially on one ball.
    74:43
    Is that right? Oh, good power and light in there. Nice dead bounce. It's on the right. Didn't quite make the shot. Here's another try. Excellent passing and control here by Danielle.
    75:04
    Also, excellent catching. Okay. It's very exciting. I can't imagine the pressure he's under right now. And in his case, he doesn't have a lot of numbers. No bonus multiplier. So his bonus is probably not huge.
    75:33
    So he has to just keep grinding away at this point on those spinners. Is that right? Yeah, we'll probably see him continue to hit those spinners.
    75:43
    This is the nice safe shot. Oh, he takes it out. What a save. Great dig, yes. All right. What a reaction to that break.
    75:55
    Just the quickness with which he made that save is extraordinary. Yeah. That's what I probably am amazed by most by Daniele's play, his quickness.
    76:05
    Super human. And he does everything else really well. That's the one thing that blows me away. He's making great decisions. One to flip, one not to flip.
    76:38
    Oh lord. I need to breathe watching this game right now. I'm slowly climbing this hill. That's a nice big spinner, a few thousand from the pole. He's in great shape now. That might be close with the bonus, but it's not over yet.
    76:59
    There we go. Another saucer collect. That does it. And there it is. What a job from Daniele. Well, of course, Daniele goes through. with a total of seven points.
    77:15
    Zach also goes through with a total of six. So our finals will be Zach, Daniele, Jason, and Jermaine. Is that right? That's right. Great. That's going to be one hell of a show, you guys. That was amazing. It has set my final. I'm so glad we got to see this and enjoy it here with all of you. It's not over yet. No. Yep, so stick around. Stay tuned. You can watch some more exciting pinball action in the finals here at It Never Drains in Southern California 2023, the first day Classics Tournament. Thank you all for tuning in. I'm Mike Welsh. I'm Anna Neal. And I've been Andre. Bye. And thank you all. Take care. All right.
    78:10
    We'll be right back. InDisc would like to thank Captain's Auction Warehouse, located in Orange County since 1999. Amusement auctions, appraisals, sales. They are the only arcade game and pinball auction warehouse selling coin-operated and amusement games on the West Coast. You can now register and bid live at captainsauctionwarehouse.com. Indisc is brought to you in part by Riverside Game Lab with over 80 video, arcade, pinballs, basketball and air hockey games. Even six virtual reality stations. There's a full service bar as well. The Riverside Game Lab is steps away from both the Fox Performing Arts Theatre and Riverside Food Lab. Check out Riverside Game Lab, open Tuesdays through Sundays. The grand prize of the open at Indisc comes from the International Flipper Pinball Association. Founded by Roger Sharp and the late Steve Epstein, the IFPA has almost 100,000 competitive members. Use ifpapinball.com to find tournaments, events, and leagues near you. Sign up today, meet fellow pinheads, and become a world-ranked pinball player. Sponsoring Indus this year is Vintage Arcade Superstore in Glendale, California. Vintage Arcade Superstore specializes in providing the original full-size arcade video games and pinball machines. Find a machine that you'd like to buy or rent. Go to vintagearcade.net. Sponsoring InDisc this year is Color DMD. Replace your dot matrix display with Color DMD. Enhance your older pinball machines with this special LCD display and every color you can imagine. With over 120 titles to choose from, you'll love your Color DMD. See them on Facebook or go to coloredmd.com. InDisc would like to thank Marco Pinball. See the wide selection of game-matched pinball parts, electronics, supplies, and more. And catch Marco Pinball's Pintech Live, a weekly live YouTube and Twitch stream showing tips and techniques on pinball repair and maintenance. For everything pinball, go to marcopinball.com.
    81:49
    Indus thanks the many sponsors, like Amusement Connect. Amusement Connect is a game card system that brings business intelligence from your arcade and redemption games into one place. Reduce wait times and create more payment options. Amusement Connect are the owners and operators who connect people to fun. See amusementconnect.com.
    82:09
    In-disc bounties are back thanks to Ace Goge and On Tilt Pinball. With two locations in West Hills and Van Nuys. Enjoy all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue and play premium pinball machines. On Tilt Pinball is an official distributor for American pinball, Jersey Jack pinball, and Multimorphic. Check out on tilt pinball.com.