2020 Stern Pro Circuit Championship Game 4

Stern Pinball·video·36m 2s·analyzed·Jun 25, 2023

Analysis

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TL;DR

2020 Stern Pro Circuit Championship Game 4: Zach Sharp dominates Avengers Infinity Quest; Joe Lemire eliminated.

Summary

Coverage of 2020 Stern Pro Circuit Championship Game 4, a ladder finals format tournament where four players compete on Avengers Infinity Quest (Keith Elwin design). Zach Sharp dominates with exceptional ball play including multiple quests with multiball combinations, followed by Jason Wardrick and Eric Stone; Joe Lemire is eliminated after struggling in his first pro circuit game.

Key Claims

Avengers Infinity Quest is a 2020 comic book themed pinball release designed by Keith Elwin
high confidence · Directly stated in tournament broadcast as game information
Championship format is a ladder finals tournament that eliminates last place and brings in a new player until two finalists remain
high confidence · Tournament host Tim Sexton explains format at beginning of broadcast
Champion wins championship belt, a new Stern Pinball Machine, and $5,000 cash prize
high confidence · Tournament host explicitly states prize structure
Zach Sharp played extremely well on Avengers, completing multiple quests with multiball combinations and portal locks
high confidence · Play-by-play commentary shows Zach achieving 86+ million on ball one with multiple gem quests and multiball starts
Eric Stone reported playing in only 4 circuit events in 2019 and 5 in current year, placing 19th seed and now sitting in second place
high confidence · Eric Stone directly quoted in broadcast discussing his circuit event participation and seeding
Joe Lemire started playing pinball 11 years ago and is on the lesser experience side of pro circuit competitors
high confidence · Joe Lemire stated in post-game interview

Notable Quotes

“This is the ladder finals format this means starting with four players we eliminate the last place player and bring in a new player until we're down to just the final two”
Tim Sexton @ Opening — Explains tournament structure and progression mechanics
“I'm gonna pick Avengers Infinity Quest it's another game that I know well and I feel confident that I can do well on it and I have a strategy in mind”
Zach Sharp @ Game selection — Top seed explains strategic game choice
“Back in 2019 I only played Four circuit events and I made it as the 19th seed so I mean to me that was pretty good as a lot of people play seven or even more circuit events so this year things are looking a little bit better”
Eric Stone @ Mid-game interview — Context on player progression and circuit competitiveness
“I started playing pinball about 11 years ago among the people who are here I am certainly on the Lesser side a lot of people here have been playing pinball for as long as I've been alive”
Joe Lemire @ Post-elimination interview — Reflects on experience gap after elimination

Entities

Zach SharppersonTim Sextonperson Joe Lemireperson Jason Wardrickperson Eric Stoneperson Keith Elwinperson Avengers Infinity Questgame

Signals

?
event_signal: 2020 Stern Pro Circuit Championship represents major competitive pinball event with structured ladder elimination format and significant prize pool
high · Tournament structure, prize announcements ($5,000 cash, championship belt, new machine), and broadcast production indicate major sanctioned event
?
competitive_signal: Portal lock strategy from drop target three-in-a-row and combo sequences appears to be meta-optimal approach for Avengers Infinity Quest, with all experienced players (Zach, Jason, Eric) pursuing similar quest completion patterns
high · All top-performing players pursue triple-scoring quests via portal locks and multiball combinations; Joe Lemire's struggles correlate with inability to efficiently execute this strategy

Topics

Tournament Format and CompetitionprimaryAvengers Infinity Quest Game Design and RulesprimaryPlayer Skill Demonstration and StrategyprimaryMultiball and Portal Lock MechanicssecondaryHard Mode Gameplay StrategysecondaryPro Circuit Experience Levelssecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.75)— Broadcast maintains enthusiastic commentary about excellent gameplay and competitive performance. Zach Sharp's dominant play receives high praise. Joe Lemire's elimination is presented respectfully with acknowledgment of his being new to pro circuit. Overall tone is professional tournament coverage with appreciation for skill demonstration.

Transcript

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foreign episode of the stern pro circuit championships I'm your host Tim Sexton here to guide you through all the action the stern pro circuit Championship is an exciting ladder finals format this means starting with four players we eliminate the last place player and bring in a new player until we're down to just the final two the winner of that game wins a championship belt a brand new Stern Pinball Machine and also a five thousand dollar cash prize let's take a look at our field Joe Lemire from Hopkinton Massachusetts hi I'm Zach sharp I am from Chicago Illinois my name is Jason wardrick I'm from Park Ridge Illinois Eric Stone and right now I live down in Tampa Florida in each match the top-seeded player has the opportunity to choose the game or choose their order on the game I think I'm gonna pick Avengers Infinity Quest it's another game that I know well and I feel confident that I can do well on it and I have a strategy in mind that I'm hopefully going to execute this match we will have Avengers Infinity Quest this comic book themed pinball release came out in 2020 was designed by Keith elwin Joe Lemire out of Massachusetts joints this game um Avengers Infinity Quest this is Joe's choice and he takes the secret skill shot by plunging all the way around to the right flipper and then shooting the left drop Target Bank in the middle Target so typically at the beginning of Avengers players will try to shoot enough combos to activate a portal lock case makes a missed shot that leads to a drain out the rain Outland that he was not able to save returning circuit player Zach sharp who has been in all of our games so far is ready to start this game of Avengers Infinity Quest it gets a little secret skill shot not the skill shot he was going for but it actually lights this portal lock and he'll take that portal lock there so his next Quest will have double scoring and it will also give him an extra ball in play it smells strange at the spinner he will light his quest and he has lit it there she's a captive God if you're a Thor multiball shoots drop Target on the left side going for more drop Targets on the left side foreign and he gets a three in a row which lights another portal lock so he's gonna have three balls for this first reality gem quest he chooses with triple scoring so making some quick scoring progress up to 16 million points and has a fall saber available looks like he's gonna try to bring in his Thor multiball as well and that will start Thor multiball which adds another ball into play it's up to four balls of the play he has an addable lit additionally he's hitting a lot of jackpots a lot of stuff is scoring very quickly right now guess the out of all up to 74 million points already it's really putting the pressure on here on ball one taking some victory laps getting all sorts of scoring can't even see all the scores he's getting because he's getting them one after the other but his score is up to 86 million has two balls trapped on the right flipper oh he went for a little tip pass there but the flipper did not activate enough to get the ball across to the other side it means he had to send all three balls into play and he loses one out the right out lane that way still has two balls in play still playing his Thor multiball but now with that drain down the middle he is out of his Thor multiball s so pretty good scoring there 69 million just from the mode and he also brought in the multiball he has collected his gem he decides to place it on the left ramp so Zach now will he could also be going for some Tower locks he can also be going for some Avenger collects and see what he is going for here shoot some right orbits uh yeah it looks like he's just gonna go for another uh portal lock to start his second mode portal rock is lit now you can shoot it with this upper flipper he does guaranteeing double scoring and two balls in play at the start of his next Quest hey it looks like he is going to take it now the portal is opened up he is going to play the time gem quest with double scoring shoots the center ramp it's just uh right Hawkeye ramp with you sash playing very quick through this time Jump Quest loses his second ball in play but he has hit some pop-upers there help progressing him to his little mini wizard mode has a few more shots left he's going for the drop Target shot strobing on those three drop Targets on the left side you can use the flipper to pass it over and which ones he's going to go for the middle one finishes off the time gem quest collects the time gym you have the chance to place the gym takes a big slap save there moose just gems around a little bit with the change gem shots I did not give him credit for the locket 10 knots but he has completed all his level ones of the Avengers so now he's going to choose to play hard mode by holding down the top button for his soul gem quest this is a limited flip mode he only has 20 flips to make eight shots and this is his right orbit shot there holding the flipper up hoping again he's down to 15 flips remaining 13 remaining still has not hit his right orbit there he goes That's the first shot takes two flips to hit the center Shot only needed one another flip there the left orbit shot is next there he goes 10 million points for these shot in hard mode needs to hit his Thor captive ball decides to shoot the center ramp I missed a little bit late has to use another shot there oh and the ball did not make enough progress up to the Target and with that terrain it'll cost him just enough flips to put him out of the soul gem quest to 30 million points for making those four shots he's in the very loud Hulk gamma ray mode if he shoots the spinner it's 100 plus thousand a spin Coral is ready he does not have any portal locks ready for his next mode it looks like he's just gonna take it anyhow it's a single ball mind gem quest and now Zach is starting to work on his locks ball two locked it is hard to see from this camera angle if he has the third ball Block in the tower but he has played for long enough that I have to think he does and that's ball three locks so he will be in multiball while he continues to play the my gem quest is the quest is on obviously with this format you're not necessarily shooting for the riskiest strategy because you don't need to get first you just need to not get last Zach is his little blurb as he uh just plays a really long and really great ball of Avengers um he started out his game by taking you know the portal lock the second portal lock from the drop Target bank that he checked in instant info by making a three in a row on his drop Target Bang and since then he's just managed to start his various quests with a multiball and this is the first time you started one without the portal lock it just kind of keeps going from multiball to multiball and playing over and over again Zach has completed the Mayan gem quest he has gotten the atom also he will still be an Iron Man multiball wow it takes a 20 million point award there super disc is running might get some good points if you could shoot me a spinning disc wow there we go super disc how much was that 4.3 million uh less than I thought so this is where the game just gets fun I mean Zach is a very comfortable lead right now especially over player one players two players three and four have not even played yet are you alive looks like it's another coil lock Blitz oh he collected it places the my gym on the left drop Target Bank super disc is still running I'm giving him a few million every time he makes a huge uh just shot and shoots the disc and she's left out lane but that is a great ball one from Zach Sharpe so Jason as well Zach are only players who have made it this far from the opening game Eric Stone joined later as a higher scene and of course Joe Lemire this is his first game playing in the starting pro circuit files so it looks like Jason's going to take the auto plunger for his punch that sends it all the way around gets the secrets go start by shooting the middle award that gives him a portal lock right away so he saw that like Zach he just had that three in a row to collect the portal lock and he can go for a second one now by just making a few combos there's his first portal lock just starting his channel on the center ramp portal is open if the ball Falls in there he will just start his quest he's still going for his condos this nice Hawkeye combo one more combo to light his other portal lock he gets it there so portal lock will be lit it can shoot into the disc but it'll still be available for him on his next ball thank you Eric Stone is stepping up next and Eric has looked a little uncomfortable every time he switches games so far the character is a little high on the super skill shot hits the top drop Target from the center one he does lock in the bonus X if he completes the bank to give him the portal lock award though Target telling his first portal off oh my God instead the ball comes out the loop hits the rubber pad below the drop Target so he goes right out the right Outlet Zach the only player who really had a ball going there you Joe still has the opportunity to take that portal lock that everyone's been taking from the drop targets when it's when it's in the motorcycle right there in that three to row pattern it will give him a portal lock award so it looks like Joe is going to take the plunge from the auto plunger and he does not hit any drop targets instead shoots a left orbit so Joe's just gonna go for combos now and that's a really unlikely unlucky feed out of the pop-up restraints down the middle for Joe it's just not much going on right now for Joe Lemire in these games he has to just get into something on his false weight exactly just has a massive lead right now already is completed three of his gems and he will not get that ball back hey take a three million bonus just for just for training immediately just pads his lead a little bit all right player three Jason wordrick who has a portal lock ready and has strange spells is in the best shape of the not players not named Zach you can get a lot of points really quickly and there's triple scoring quests that he starts there's some squinting at the Playfield thinking about what he's gonna do he could go for a warrant on his grid for the skill shot it's just the fate of the universe at stake is giving the machine a thumbs up for talking to him and telling them that they're waiting the auto Lodge did not get them all the way around but he gave me three seconds on the skill shot for rolling over the top rollover and Jason will start the reality gem quest it says three balls into play from his portal locks that ball will come back in the grace period of awesome so he's going for his Thor multiball as well hits it there it gets a fourth ball into play starts his Thor multiball in addition to this reality quest to display has not made a ton of progress in the mode yet only up to 14 million points but that can change very quickly this is now about halfway through his quest and get some jackpot there from the Thor Captain ball that's an extra ball that'll be some good points looking at right now decides to flip both balls hits the ramp and drains another bus on The Middle yes the addable on the target to keep Thor multiball why he finishes off his reality gem quest beautiful Chase is now up over a hundred million points and blank Zach he is pretty comfortable right now because now both players basically need to do what he did or even play for a longer maybe play two quests because he had triple scoring for his reality jump Quest Chase is not too far off from his soul gem quest either just need a couple spins of Papa brush so shooting left orbit would progress him there his place is the reality gem at the center ramp five times and ramp reject sends up a little out of control and into the drain but not after scoring over 100 million points on this ball too putting himself comfortably into second place Eric Stone who did very very little on his ball on still has a better position on this game right now than Joe levere because he could take there's two portal locks which both Zach and Jason have done and just get into a quest and bring in Thor like everyone else has done and get over that 100 million point line again and that would put all the pressure on Joe Lemire so Eric looks like he is going to go for that on the super skill shot and he hits it there and that completes his first portal lock into the portal giving him the first lock I'll pop that down looks like maybe he's just gonna go with the one quarter walk for his quest or maybe he'll go for some combos interesting really bright orbit there in some combo progress more common progress two more to light his second portal lock fall into this from the pop-up place and he knows it he wants that second portal lock and that Center ramp there will award him the photo lock so now he can just shoot under the disc like he does there and get his triple scoring for his first Quest and that will be kicking picking the reality gem quest just like Jason did it so now Joe it's really chasing all these other players now you know unless something crazy happens where it tilts even though he has a multi-by don't see Eric not coming out of this with at least 50 million points just one more shot to start Thor multiball as well for Eric up to 40 million from just his quest scoring yes got everything going and Eric is using this time to just make a lot of shots finishes off his quest gets him million points hitting more Thor jackpots he has collected a lot of Avengers he's actually collected all the adventures so he will have his soul gem lit after this whole uh all three of these four balls drained from the Playfield there there goes one of them they still got a couple more in play and why not take more jackpots while you're here even with two balls and play Eric likes to just shoot all these balls up all the ramps Orbitz make a bunch of jackpots and he gets points really fast when he plays like this I hate that so Eric almost after 100 million point line he is catching up to Jason uh with soul gem he has the opportunity to pass Jason very quickly and with that ramp he's collected this gem Eric seems to be not too happy with the score but 110 million with what he has available is pretty good it's called you being an idiot it places the reality jump on the truck Target it's probably not where he wanted it but I don't think it's going to stop him from taking wow and he is not taking hard mode for his slow gem he mode for a lot less scoring but a lot stupid that left orbit is one of the hardest ones to start with it can really cost you a lot of flips Eric makes three shots in a row right there back in 2019 I only played Four circuit events and I made it as the 19th seed so I mean to me that was pretty good as a lot of people play seven or even more circuit events so this year things are looking a little bit better I was able to play five circuit events and I'm sitting in second right now so I think next time around I'll be a little bit higher up adds a lot of flips there he has 46 floats remaining and they only started at 30. tried to backhand the uh the Captain Marvel ramp that not a common strategy is not happy about it but he has plenty of flips remaining 32 flips remaining there he goes takes the ramp a little rattle to the tower shot another one there he uses the upper flipper to just push the ball away from the middle drain and he feeds it with the shot and that'll complete his soul gem 32 flips to spare ends with 28 million now that is actually less points than Zach got from playing hard mode and only hitting four shots but maybe he preferred the safety of having the soul gem and being able to place it Eric puts the soul gem on the right orbit shot I guess the portal without any portal X starts his time gem quest s so now the situation really changed to changes to what can Joe Lemire do you've seen every single player take a triple triple scoring Quest has seen every single player start a Thor multiball obviously but putting himself in a position where he's in second place as player fall for it's very unlikely to be eliminated right now but he also has a lot of work to do to catch up with Zach who played an amazing ball one so Eric ends the ball with maybe 200 million you have 210 million there and all the pressure is on Joe Lemire at the very least he needs to catch about 140 million points he even needs to get a little more than that because Jason probably has at least two million points in bonus just from plunging the ball Joe has been going for the same strategy all the other players have been going for it as well trying to complete the grid to get his quarter lock trying to get his second portal lock from combos now he made the skill shot there but he completed the wrong one he actually was a little early about the 2x Shield value unless he's changed his strategy he was just plunging a little early he wasn't so now the drop Target is locked in on the one he wants which is the portal lock Joe knows he's in a tough situation he's not happy I notice he's basically forced to hit those drop targets looks like he's trying to post pass instead of making shots and that's how he went to make a shot and he's just a bit out of control right now post pass is really coming to the end of the right flip right not giving him the angle he needs on the drop jackets okay he gets his drop targets there and he had a chance for another one to shot a little bit High there he goes so that license first put a lot oh his second point he is already locked the portal off of his previous ball now it could come out of a pump up version go in the portal and it does still needs to spell strange to actually start oh man and that almost went out the left Outlet he saves it has a chance to backhand it and it just goes around the room doesn't make it in a couple of shots that should have made it in they just were a little off that backhand makes it finally Joe breathes a sigh of relief and looks like he is gonna take his reality jump quests he's trying to calm down it's very nervous playing his first game in a certain pro circuit he's in a tough spot yeah still no guarantees for Joe he has one shot to start his Thor multiball on the Captain's ball and he takes the storm once we will start catapaus lit already and now he's got five balls in the play and it's all chaotic and he's trying to work the score up but it's moving very slowly now he's not made just a lot of progress in the reality type of question but he is getting some Thor jackpot shots worth as much as the reality check is questions 54 million so making some work now but he is out of a multiball so he has to do the rest of the work for the reality gym question sticker ball play it's a nice orbit shot there finishes off the reality jump Quest and it was up to 71 million points coming all the way down to Massachusetts to get eliminated after just one game Joe Lemire see what he has to say I started playing pinball about 11 years ago among the people who are here I am certainly on the Lesser side a lot of people here have been playing pinball for as long as I've been alive stick around for more matches from the stern Pro Circa Championship let's see if any of these players can make it all the way to the finals foreign