Journalist Tool

Kineticist

  • HDashboard
  • IItems
  • ↓Ingest
  • SSources
  • KBeats
  • BBriefs
  • RIntel
  • QSearch
  • NName Review
  • +Health

v0.1.0

← Back to items

2020 Stern Pro Circuit Championship Game 3

Stern Pinball·video·31m 34s·analyzed·Jun 19, 2023
View original
Export .md

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.020

TL;DR

2020 Stern Pro Circuit Championship Game 3: Eric Stone wins Godzilla match with 556M points; Trent Augustine eliminated.

Summary

This is commentary footage from Game 3 of the 2020 Stern Pro Circuit Championship, a ladder finals format tournament featuring four elite pinball players competing on Godzilla. The match eliminates the lowest scorer (Trent Augustine) and showcases advanced gameplay strategies, multiball execution, and player skill across the game's rule set. Eric Stone wins the match with 556 million points, advancing to the next round while Trent is eliminated.

Key Claims

  • Stern Pro Circuit Championship features a ladder finals format where the lowest scoring player is eliminated each round and a new player is brought in until two players remain

    high confidence · Tim Sexton (host) explaining tournament format at opening

  • The winner receives a championship belt, a brand new Stern Pinball machine, and $5,000 cash prize

    high confidence · Tim Sexton (host) describing prize pool

  • Godzilla was released in 2021 and designed by Keith Elwin

    high confidence · Tim Sexton (host) identifying game details

  • Jason Wardrick scored over a billion points on his first game in the Stern Pro Circuit

    high confidence · Tim Sexton (commentator) describing Jason's performance before his turn

  • Trent Augustine has been competing on the circuit for many years, playing in hundreds of pinball tournaments across the United States

    high confidence · Tim Sexton (commentator) providing background on Trent

Notable Quotes

  • “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”

    Tim Sexton@ 0:22 — Explains the core tournament structure and elimination mechanic

  • “the deal is an awesome game that's pretty much my go-to game right now man I love playing it lots of new stuff easy to understand”

    Zach Sharpe@ 1:00 — Player perspective on Godzilla's appeal and design

  • “I started playing competitively around 92 I think the Ohio state championships was my first tournament kind of went on from there”

    Trent Augustine@ 12:44 — Background on Trent's tournament history spanning ~30 years

  • “wow everyone played really well just didn't come together had some bad bad uh bad drops we'll be around next year good luck to everyone”

    Trent Augustine@ 31:13 — Trent's postgame commentary after elimination, showing good sportsmanship

Entities

Tim SextonpersonJason WardrickpersonZach SharpepersonEric StonepersonTrent AugustinepersonKeith ElwinpersonStern Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Ladder finals format documented for 2020 Stern Pro Circuit Championship, with four-player matches, elimination of lowest scorer, and new player insertion

    high · Tim Sexton explains format at tournament opening; ruleset followed throughout Game 3

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Godzilla demonstrates significant rule depth with multiple strategic approaches: mode selection (Gigan vs. ramp-focused strategy vs. Ibra spinner focus), multiball setup, ally selection (Rodan 2x scoring is optimal), city selection, jet fighter combos, and destruction jackpot timing

    high · Commentator notes Jason and Eric both employ similar right-ramp-only Gigan strategies for control; Zach uses ramp combos; Eric strategically selects Rodan 2x scoring; multiball setup varies by player

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Godzilla's left ramp shot is identified as a significant difficulty/control barrier; multiple players (Trent, Jason, Eric) struggle with this shot; some adopt safer right-ramp-only strategies during Gigan mode

    high · Commentator repeatedly notes left ramp difficulty: 'Eric is having trouble with that tough left ramp shot'; Jason 'having trouble hitting the left ramp'; players adapt strategy accordingly

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Multiball play shows high variance in scoring efficiency based on ball control and shot consistency. Eric Stone demonstrates superior multiball execution with 65M+ rage combo scoring and consistent Super Jackpot collection; Jason's multiball run ends earlier but still nets ~200M

    high · Eric scores 146M in single Super Jackpot, 65M in rage combo; commentator notes 'Eric is displaying some great control at the bottom of the Playfield' and 'always just juggling the balls in play'

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

0:03
[Music] welcome to another episode of the stern pro circuit championships I'm your host Tim Sexton I'm here to bring you up to speed with everything going on in this circuit final so far 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 Trent Augustine and I'm from Ostrander Ohio 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 crying at picking Godzilla the deal is an awesome game that's pretty much my go-to game right now man I love playing it lots of new stuff easy to understand the game selected for this match is Godzilla pinball released in 2021 by Stern Pinball and designed by Keith elwin round three starting introducing Trent Augustine ranked number 15 on the stern pro circuit he has chosen Godzilla and will be going first going for a skill shot but not hitting any skill shot so Trent does not have any ball safe because we're back hand on the Mechagodzilla shot
1:46
hasn't quite hit anything significant yet it's a saucer there for some points it takes a danger
1:58
all right shoots a right ramp a little late on the left ramp very side to side right now into the scoop
Godzilla
game
2020 Stern Pro Circuit Championshipevent
?

competitive_signal: Tournament positioning dynamics: player four (Eric Stone) has advantage of playing last, allowing strategic observation of prior players' runs and adjustment of multiball strategy; Jason Wardrick's billion-point opening game set high scoring baseline

high · Commentator: 'as player four it's always a good position to be in because you may not have to play your ball speed play this multiball'; Eric's 556M final score suggests advantage of observation

  • ?

    content_signal: Professional broadcast commentary with detailed play-by-play, player background segments, and real-time strategic analysis; includes player intro interviews and postgame commentary from eliminated player

    high · Full narration by Tim Sexton, player intros with hometowns, Trent Augustine backstory segment, postgame interview with Trent

  • ?

    community_signal: Stern Pro Circuit Championship demonstrates mature competitive ecosystem with ranked seeding (#15 for Trent), standardized prize structure, multi-round ladder format, and professional broadcast documentation

    high · Trent introduced as 'ranked number 15 on the stern pro circuit'; players accept elimination gracefully; tournament operates with clear advancement/elimination criteria

    • 2:22
    okay he chooses either of the spinner mode and he gets some points from a combo there so Trent finally it's the ball here lets it bounce which was a good move gets a few left spins
    2:38
    [Music] for a few right spins for a 5 million award there's less spinner again that'll do it for 10 million there and he just needs the middle spinner but drains out the left Outlet on the rebound of that left
    2:55
    player two Zach sharp is stepping up to the game testing out the flippers a little bit
    3:04
    he's going for a softer plunge from the skill shot gets a little bit of points and more importantly some ball save because right away the ball is out of control but he gets it under control shoots a left ramp [Music] and a right ramp and there's another ski pass for Zach one of his favorite sliver control moves and shoots it into the Right Scoop
    3:32
    chooses the same mode and he decides to go with the right spinner first nice bounce off the left flipper shoots the left spinner and unlike Trent he has control the ball again he goes to the backhand on the center spinner hits a couple of slingshots gets a control with a nice drop catch a few more Center Spinners big move there to save it as the ball kind of trickled into the hill to play field his slap save sending up the ramp it's back down the middle and he didn't have enough tilt warnings left to save the ball
    4:06
    [Music] do you so Zach moves into the lead just by a little bit Jason wardrick is up next to had a massively log ball wine over a billion points on his first game in the stern pro circuit he's stepping up to the game very comfortable with how this Godzilla plays
    4:47
    Jason Takes a 500 000 Point skill shot gets a five second ball saver thank you security Bridge
    4:58
    [Music] he is going for his ransby has not made that left ramp yet shoots the easier right ramp the early shot
    5:26
    still having a lot of trouble with hitting the left ramp shot he is trying a lot of moves here to get the ball on the right flipper and then from here he wants to make the shot and that's how he Nails it so this ball will come over to the left hooker he'll aim for the scoop and he hits it in one try Zach and Trent both chose ibra as their monster to battle let's see what Jason chooses [Music]
    5:58
    Chaser goes Gigan instead of shooting The Spinners he shoots the ramps howling the ramps will give him more points
    6:08
    it is more shots though it's eight shots to complete this mode he's just gonna go for the right ramp only so every time the ball is coming down the in Lane he passes it over to the left flipper and takes a shot at the right ramp you don't get as many points that way but if you're more comfortable shooting the right ramp and Jason had trouble with the left ramp you know this could be a much safer path toward beating the door [Music]
    6:37
    yeah Jason was going for the double scoring Ally but instead he gets Mothra still a good Ally it means he has a ball saver lit on the left Outlet [Music]
    7:02
    Jason has not missed her three shots in a row here that will make it four and finish the mode which lights his destruction jackpot at 2x Value Plus gives him a final shot of 10 million plus 9 million for time remaining let's put chase this puts Jason into first place
    7:28
    he's shaking his head for some reason [Music] so about 16 and a half million available if he shoots this destruction jackpot
    7:48
    and he does have a chance to get it right here but he shoots a little too early on that shot and does not get that 16 million points so not available for him until he likes another destruction jackpot Jason Takes Two dangers which he wasn't happy about drains out the left alley with the ball saver and then almost immediately drains down the middle just didn't have enough tilt above there left to move the game without tilting
    8:14
    tilt warnings 60 million just about for Jason after ball one Eric is going to have to keep Pace with all the other players by he's probably going to want to at least start a mode and get about halfway through to get ahead of Zach and Trent and if he can beat a mode like Jason did he will be in pretty good shape foreign
    8:42
    with his performance on Mandalorian see if he could make up for that performance here on Godzilla [Music] and he's starting a lot out of control a lot of slingshots and pop bumpers and he has not hit a ramp shot yet takes a tilt warning there he's having trouble getting a trap finally gets one on the left flipper and makes his right ramp shot [Music]
    9:26
    so he makes his left ramp he shoots another right round for some reason I guess he's progressing towards jet fighters here
    9:38
    Scooby to start his mode so he is right now on Pace with the other players to at least get one mode started and hopefully get some mode points out of it
    9:50
    Eric is going with Gigan to shoot the ramps come on he's having trouble with that tough left ramp shot but hitting the right ramp dude that was the one Jason was going for he looks like he's going to copy Jason's strategy and just pass the ball over shoot the ramp over and over again
    10:09
    three in a row for Eric and that one's kind of a little out of control it did not have enough Flipper on that ball to get it up the right round shoots a left ramp it's a bailout shot though another half ramp on the right side that could be very dangerous [Music] started for Eric he will get additional points by shooting these ramps from Gigan and the Jet Fighter attack and jet fighters will help him light his another Ally he has one available if he shoots the scoop down [Music] finishes the mode a little bit faster than Jason did and has this destruction jackpot lit up the middle but he's gonna shoot more jet fighters
    10:58
    the pain dude he's screaming at just sharp who was partially responsible for setting up the game
    11:12
    I don't know if Josh is completely deserving all this blame here Eric will have his chance at his destruction jackpot shot which would put him in the lead significantly if he makes it here
    11:26
    18 million points available if he could just shoot around to that upper Loop switch
    11:35
    he has another chance for it here and he Nails it there's the 2x destruction jackpot for 18 million points and Eric Stone is well in the lead and has lit his Godzilla multiball locks getting his first ball locked [Music]
    12:05
    yeah Eric taking the drain on purpose with the ball saver didn't really help about it just punched the ball into the top of the playful [Music] so two balls locked and he doesn't have any modes running right now
    12:26
    he does have to change his City if he wants to start another mode before this Godzilla multi-ball but he's player four he may just want to take the Godzilla multiplier or leave it on the table for the next fall so Eric is about 50 million points in the lead and none of the players have played a multiball yet I started playing competitively around 92 I think the Ohio state championships was my first tournament kind of went on from there one tournament that year two the next year and then pinball started taking off
    12:56
    blurb from Trent Augustine Trent has been on the circuit for many many years playing in hundreds of pinball tournaments all around the world mostly in the United States Trent resides in Ohio but he travels in a van all around the country playing pinball tournaments and doing very well at them [Music] Trent here is going for his Mechagodzilla uh he has the next phase lit if he shoots the spinner and up the ramp again oh boy he hits a saucer but sends it out to the left Outlet
    13:40
    [Music] the calm cool and collected Zach Sharp is up next currently in last place just by 2 million gets a skill shot there to put him ahead of Trent Augustine and the goal here not coming last so he is in a better position than Trent already just by virtue of having the ball in hand and having the points he's gonna go back to his zebra mode he just needs some Center spinner shots complete the mode you will not get as much a time bonus since this is his second time playing the mode but he does complete it there in one shot and he has lit his construction jackpot up the middle he is not going for right now he shot the pop-uper and now because he actually hit the pop of her first for the completion he has a 2X destruction Jack Gauntlet
    14:42
    foreign just slightly laid on that very tough destruction jackpot shot on his second attempt he does not make it and I don't think he's gonna try to go for it again no he goes for a bridge attack shot instead [Music] Zach has double scoring Ally lit right now or any other Ally he
    15:10
    now he is currently a double scoring but nothing really running right now so nothing getting too doubled decides to boost his Godzilla multi-ball based jackpot he decides to change his City to London going for another mode soon he's trying to skip out of these animations too use the double scoring as much as he can
    15:43
    double scoring will expire right now [Music] Zach with one more left ramp light his second mode [Music] not happy a lot of players are hitting that shot a little early hitting the magnets which is preventing that ball from going all the way up that orbit and up the ramp it has a lot of distance to travel
    16:11
    a big show there gives Zach a double danger but he will not tilt but he needs the ball under control and he gets it under control on the right flipper [Music]
    16:29
    Zach's now going for his scoop [Music] in the area shooting for saucers or maybe the scoop but he did hit his first saucer tomorrow we'll get him an extra ball for some good points keep setting that saucer maybe it's what he's going for how he finally landed the scoop [Music] does that taking guy get into his second mode
    16:56
    surprised to see Zach go for the right ramp all day strategy as well that Jason and Eric were doing during their Gigan modes [Music] no Zach is comboing the ramps which is actually going to give him way more points for every combo he makes left and right on the ramps and he also has his jet fighter attack running
    17:23
    6 million for that shot on the combo oh and that shot goes go straight down the middle and a half ramp
    17:31
    collectible in the dream but not until Zach pulls into first place of this very close game of Godzilla
    17:58
    Here Comes Jason werder to play his ball too Jason Takes the little baby skill shot immediately sends the ball out the bright out lane and uses that ball saver not before he got 500 000 points from it it's another ball saver by shooting the shot between the magnet and the building which often sends the ball straight down the middle so there's a software ball saver added every time someone shoots that shot
    18:40
    started shooting a scoop and hitting the saucer instead [Music] Chase is still having trouble making a scoop shots
    19:07
    takes second danger there [Music] did not look like he was making massive moves in the pinball machine but obviously he was doing something that we couldn't see on camera
    19:23
    all right Jason now just going straight for Godzilla multiball trying to light his locks does he continues to lock all three balls on the premium to start Godzilla multiball that first one there will eject out the side of the ramp because there's already two balls up there
    19:43
    [Music] another mist of the scoop finally shoots it finally gets the chance to change his City and she's his power up considering that Godzilla multiballs lid I would be shocked if he didn't take it he does Godzilla multiball jackpots are boosted
    20:03
    collects his 8 million Carnage bonus and moves to the city of London
    20:21
    [Music] so Jason here shoots both ramps looks like he wants to pass it over to the left flipper it's both ramps he can light a mode before he starts Godzilla multiball if he takes the multi-ball now you will not have the chance to start a mode until after the multiple's over battle is lit takes his second ball lock this ball will come around to the left flipper and give him a chance to shoot the scoop he uses his heat ray to spot his jet fighter shots which lights the power up and he takes Rodan for 2x scoring very wise move he is the power of to get the Ally and make sure it was on Rodan gets his double scoring now selects his battle and he's all set up where coming out of the scoop all he needs is one shot up the middle and his score will start to explode [Music]
    21:27
    and this is scary because you've got everything set up and he shoots a little early he's in the slingshots right now he can't nudge the machine too much finally Nails the shot up the middle on his third attempt Godzilla
    22:03
    so far on this game of Godzilla wow huge super spinner points for Jason there's 16 million on that shot
    22:12
    all these RGB color arrows are giving him jackpots that continue to grow in value throughout this multi-ball the more shots he thinks so he's got four balls in play right now [Music] down to two balls in play multiple is still running oh sorry three I missed the ball that was in the scoop
    22:43
    and he is out of multiball right now he does not have the option to add the ball into the multiball so it's over with him at just under 200 million points his battle is running out his 2x scoring is running out so the point opportunities Jason had there were not maximized but he did make significant progress through the game to get himself into first place [Music]
    23:13
    and dies shooting the middle a couple times 200 million points so Eric Stone who had the best ball one of all the players is stepping up still in a good spot here uh ball two he has just one shot left to go for Godzilla multiball right up the middle guess there's a little ball save right away
    23:41
    makes a knife live catch to trap the ball setting up his allies he wants the Rodan 2x plus the Anguirus at a ball and he gets them so he'll have 2X scoring going on right now can you use the top button to add a ball into any of his multiballs he has a chance to choose the power up he'll take the Godzilla multiball jackpot boost [Music] he decides to move to London popular right now in this game we moved to London could unleash in another city
    24:26
    so Eric's choice now he can make is just take the multiball or bring a mode into it you also have another power up [Music]
    24:41
    take the time bonus scoring boost for his tier one battle modes to light a tier 1 battle mode he needs to shoot both ramps but instead he starts Godzilla multi-ball so no battle mode running he's just a Godzilla multi-ball with the 2x scoring running and all his shots around the Playfield will be lit for jackpots
    25:02
    gonna start and give him two balls from the trough one ball from the building into playing he has the at a ball available at any time during this multiball by hitting the top button
    25:16
    Eric not as chatty this fall maybe he's feeling a little more comfortable is hitting one jackpot another jackpot there another jackpot there another jackpot there he's doing pretty good Super Jackpot for 34 million right of the building pretty efficient scoring from Eric he was sending balls behind other balls to really make sure they went up certain shots [Music]
    25:45
    two jackpots in a row there half ramp on the right side he saves it with the right flipper and he's going to use his button for the Atta ball [Music] he did not hit it in time to get three balls back into play so he only has two balls back into play gets the natural at a ball so back up to three balls in play and gets a little more ball saver time
    26:16
    so with a couple more jackpots Eric will take the lead on this game and as player four it's always a good position to be in because you may not have to play your ball speed [Music] play this multiball a little slower right now takes another Super Jackpot for 31.7 million points that puts him well in the lead on the skin
    26:46
    and Eric is displaying some great control at the bottom of the Playfield using the flippers especially that left flipper to keep all the balls in play no matter how many times the balls come down there he's always just juggling the balls in play keeping control on the left flipper of at least one ball [Music]
    27:07
    he uses the ball from the rifle to shoot the ball that was coming down the middle
    27:14
    so his scoring has slowed down tremendously but still has all three of his balls in play down to two looks like he's gonna go for the ram shoots the other ramp the other side of the Playfield if she's that ramp again for another jackpot just the right ramp for another jackpot
    27:34
    staging the flippers there to try to shoot the left ramp and staging now to hit more jackpots on the upper loop it's getting good value out of these jackpots playing a lot faster with these two balls in play getting a lot more scoring out of here Super Jackpot is lit once again up the middle he has a chance at it right now if he goes for it and he does wow 146 million in the grace period jackpot [Music] Stone has been thrown into a rage
    28:08
    attacks making his rage combo shots here he's playing in a very good flow right now shooting Loops pretty easily shooting a tail up wow range combo is uh huge points for Eric right there 65 million total for them construction jackpots up to 3x and he has a chance at it right now let's see what this value is going to be 13 and a half million times three if he can make this orbit
    28:37
    [Music] he has another chance out of here there it is
    28:50
    [Music] nope what a dumbass what a way to finish that so Eric with a missed scoop shot winds up making an errand shot into a slingshot that drains out the left side of the Playfield great score for him 556 million and is very unlikely that all three players will pass him so Eric is in good shape to move on to the next game Trent stepping up his player one is currently in last place Trent does not have any locks toward Godzilla multiball he does have a destruction jackpot lip though
    29:26
    but he's gonna go for his Mecha Godzilla multiball he needs to get the ball actually over that spinner ramp like that to start back in Godzilla and then he needs to turn out all the white lights on that hot dog shaped insert to light Mechagodzilla start so a little bit of work he has to do it's his 2x scoring which certainly will help him [Music] he's gonna stay in Tokyo to try to complete his first mode he just needs to make the spinner shot and then the saucer
    30:09
    but unfortunately with this mode he lighting the Mechagodzilla phase two he's no longer able to progress it so Trent is really not close to the safety of a multiball right now and he has a significant amount of scoring he needs to put on this ball in order to avoid elimination [Music]
    30:36
    ball almost drained itself down the middle he saved it with just one danger finally gets the spinner there it hits the saucer for the finishing bonus and final blow shot and now he has the option to change the city or take a destruction jackpot
    30:59
    that drains out the left Outlet will eliminate Trent in his first game one and done Trent Augustine is out of the stern pro circuit Championship let's hear what he has to say wow everyone played really well just didn't come together had some bad bad uh bad drops we'll be around next year good luck to everyone match up with the circuit champion
    31:31
    [Music] thank you