#21 INDISC with Eric Stone - The Classic Pinball Podcast

The Classic Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·11m 38s·analyzed·Jan 13, 2020

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.022

TL;DR

Eric Stone recounts winning Classics Tournament at INDISC, advancing through strategic play and dramatic finals.

Summary

George interviews Eric Stone, a competitive pinball player ranked #11 in the world, about his first-place finish in the Classics Tournament at INDISC in California. Eric details his gameplay through multiple rounds, including strategic game selection, narrow victories, and a dramatic finals run where he came from 0 points after two games to tie for second and win a tiebreaker on Comet. The discussion highlights tournament logistics, game difficulty, and INDISC's scale as a major pinball event.

Key Claims

Eric Stone is ranked #11 in the world in pinball
high confidence · George's introduction: 'number 11 in the world, Eric Stone'
The Classics Tournament consists of four games per ticket
high confidence · George asks 'The ticket for Classics is how many games?' Eric responds 'Four games.'
Eric's qualifying scores included a #1 on Black Pyramid (3 million), #1 on Wizard (223,000), and strong scores on Spanish Eyes and Jungle Queen
high confidence · Eric's detailed recounting of his games and scores
The finals featured a rule where the high seed cannot pick the same game more than once
high confidence · Eric: 'the high seed does not get to pick the same game more than once in the entire final'
Eric came back from 0 points after two games in the finals to tie for second and win a tiebreaker
high confidence · Bob Matthews tells Eric 'if you win, Kaylee comes in second, Grant comes in third, and Joe comes in fourth.' Eric wins Frontier and then Comet to force and win the tiebreaker.
INDISC features close to 400 games available for play
high confidence · George: 'there's close to 400 games here if you can't find a game to play, something's really wrong with you'
The Classics finals concluded around 11:45 PM Pacific Time (nearly 3 AM Eastern Time)
high confidence · Eric and George's discussion of the late finish time
Kaylee George won the Classics Tournament, Eric Stone came second, Joe Labier came third, and David Grant came fourth
high confidence · Eric's final summary: 'the outcome folks was kaylee george one eric two i believe joe took third and then david grant took fourth'

Notable Quotes

“I'm not much of a tournament player, but I am, I guess, a tournament groupie.”
Eric Stone @ early in interview — Self-deprecating description of his tournament involvement despite high ranking
“the gang's all here. There are a fair amount of Europeans here. Not as many as one would think, but we're halfway around the world. But the top players in the U.S., as I said to a lot of people, the gang's all here.”
Eric Stone @ early in interview — Describes INDISC as drawing elite players globally
“I had heard Joe on his podcast at some point in time talk about Frontier, and he was not a big fan of it.”
Eric Stone @ finals discussion — Shows Eric uses knowledge of other players' preferences in strategic game selection
“I had that Comet song stuck in my head... I actually went and played that today... and so I thought, well, maybe there's a reason I have that song in my head. So I picked Comet.”
Eric Stone @ tiebreaker discussion — Describes intuitive/superstitious decision-making in high-pressure final moment
“If you're into pinball, you like tournament play, you want to see some of the best players in the world like Eric, put it on your calendar for next January and head to sunny California.”
George @ closing remarks — Recommendation to attend INDISC as a must-attend event for pinball enthusiasts

Entities

Eric Stoneperson GeorgepersonKaylee GeorgepersonJoe LabierpersonDavid GrantpersonBob MatthewspersonINDISCeventThe Classic Pinball PodcastorganizationPinball Asylumorganization

Signals

?
event_signal: INDISC draws approximately 400 playable machines and attracts top players from US and Europe, positioned as a premier tournament destination
high · George: 'there's close to 400 games here' and Eric noting 'the gang's all here' with top US players and significant European representation
?
competitive_signal: Finals format includes rule preventing high seed from selecting same game twice across entire final, adding strategic depth
high · Eric explains: 'the high seed does not get to pick the same game more than once in the entire final, which is difficult because there are three games that I was strong at'
?
gameplay_signal: Players encounter significant difficulty variance across machines; Eric notably struggled on Cleopatra and OXO (never having played them before)
high · Eric: 'I played Cleopatra, and I did terrible. I've never played that game before' and discussion of unfamiliar games causing poor scores
?
competitive_signal: Eric Stone came from 0 points after two games in finals to tie for second, demonstrating high-level resilience and clutch performance
high · Eric narrates his comeback: 'basically I was dead last on the first two games' but strategically picked Frontier and Comet to force tiebreaker, winning Comet to advance
?
content_signal: The Classic Pinball Podcast uses recurring guest model with tournament players, capturing real-time or near-real-time tournament results and player analysis
medium · George interviews Eric immediately after INDISC tournament, asking detailed play-by-play about recent competition

Topics

Tournament gameplay and strategyprimaryGame selection and rules in finals formatprimaryINDISC event logistics and scaleprimaryCompetitive pinball player rankings and performancesecondaryMachine-specific difficulty and player preferencessecondaryTournament travel and attendancementionedPinball as a spectator eventmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.82)— Eric and George are enthusiastic about the tournament experience, impressed with gameplay quality and event scale. The narrative arc follows Eric's underdog comeback in finals, creating a positive arc. Minor frustrations about long lines and unfamiliar games are mentioned but not dwelt upon. Both recommend INDISC highly.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.035

I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now. Hello everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Classic Pinball Podcast. My name is George and I'm here with none other than number 11 in the world, Eric Stone. Eric, welcome. It's good to see you down here in California. Usually I see you back home in Massachusetts or New Hampshire. It was kind of strange that I'm standing there at one of the banks and who comes up behind me but Eric. I had no idea he was going to be here. I saw your pinball asylum shirt, the same one I'm wearing right now. There you go. So I said, what is he doing all the way? Is that really him in California? I don't believe it. Yeah, I'm not much of a tournament player, but I am, I guess, a tournament groupie. This is definitely a who's who of the pinball world. There are a fair amount of Europeans here. Not as many as one would think, but we're halfway around the world. But the top players in the U.S., as I said to a lot of people, the gang's all here. So with that said, yesterday, Friday, you were involved in the Classics Tournament, and you placed number one. Why don't you tell us a little bit about the back, well, start at the beginning, you know, what you played, how you got to number one, and then we'll focus on the back end of the tournament and the finals. Yeah, so my first ticket I didn't do so well on. You didn't really have much time to play. The lines are extremely long, 10 people or so in some of the lines. The ticket for Classics is how many games? Four games. Okay. But my first four games took over three hours with one machine going down, and, yeah, it was pretty frustrating. But I played a second ticket. I only played one game and it was a bad game and I voided it knowing that I only had time to play one more ticket so I had to be it had to be the winning ticket so I played um you know I'm trying to remember the first game I played well the last two games I played were Black Pyramid and Wizard and I wound up getting two number one scores on those two I know I played uh Jungle Queen oh Spanish Eyes I played. Didn have a really good score on Spanish Eyes that was my first game maybe 51 Then I played Jungle Queen got about 90 91 And then Black Pyramid I put up a number one score 3 million That was after house ball in the first ball. And on Wizard, I put up, I believe it was 223,000. So rolled it twice, qualified first, and that's how it started. those are some great scores obviously put you into the number one position so we get down to the finals last night and uh i don't know it lasted close to midnight but it was an exciting final four it was you kaylee george uh joe help me joe labier and i believe his name is grant from Vancouver? Yeah, David Grant, I think was his name. I had never heard of him before. Me neither. Kaylee and I were in the same group, the last three groups. In the quarterfinals, Kaylee was first, I was second to advance. In the semifinals, And then Kaylee and I were also in the finals together. he got warmed up. He struggled to make it farther into the tournament. And then all of a sudden it seemed like he found his mojo and was Kelly George of what I would say old, but that's not old being what? Yeah, he's very, very good. He always has been. Right, he's a consistent player. He looked like he was struggling up front, but he came around. Yeah, I didn't see his earlier play, but I know that when he played with me, I mean, you know. No, he was starting to catch fire. Yeah, I needed to play real well to advance. So let's talk about the last three games of the tournament. So basically, the rules are a little bit different where the high seed does not get to pick the same game more than once in the entire final, which is difficult because there are three games that I was strong at. So the first round, I actually deferred the first game, and I won it. So I deferred the second game. What was the first game? It was, boy. Yeah, I don't remember. It might have been Frontier. I believe it was Frontier. No, that was your comeback game. No, no, no, but the first round, I played it twice. Oh, okay. So I won on Frontier. I deferred again. He actually picked wizard which is a game that I like right and I won So the third game didn matter I already went through second the second round I Deferred and I believe they picked OXO And I rolled it I never played it before I got just over and I deferred And I can't remember the next game. It might have been Cleopatra, and I did terrible. I've never played that game before. And so I picked Wizards the third game so that I could advance to the top eight. Right. The first wizard pick was Cayley, but you hadn't spent your first pick, right? It wasn't Cayley. It was someone else that was ahead of him. Yeah, but either way, I didn't spend that pick yet. So then the next round, I deferred. I wound up winning. No, I didn't win the first game. They picked Sinbad, and I lost by 1,000 points. It was a horrible dream. and so I picked Black Pyramid. I won that game, and I picked Jungle Queen, and I barely won that game. So that put me in the top four, but it also got rid of all of my number one picks that I wanted to pick. Right. So in the final round, I picked OXO because I actually had a good game in the previous round, but I just didn't have the luck, and I come in dead last. So then I picked Spanish Eyes And I just had bad luck on that So basically I was dead last On the first two games You were zero going into game three But then Here's where the fun began I believe Kaylee had eight points Joe had four And David had two And you were at zero So it was 8-4-2-0 after two games So the third and final game Right. I'm just hoping that I'll come in third place. Well. And Bob Matthews tells me, well, there's one outcome where you could actually tie for second. I said, really? And he said, if you win, Kaylee comes in second, Grant comes in third, and Joe comes in fourth. And I thought, all right. I had a pretty good game on Frontier, so I picked Frontier. Right. And I told you this morning, and you said, why didn't you tell me this yesterday? I had heard Joe on his podcast at some point in time talk about Frontier, and he was not a big fan of it. So going in, I'm saying to myself, you know what? Eric stands a very good chance of getting first on this game and Joe getting last. Well, I mean, keep in mind, Kaylee's a great player. No, no, but I'm saying just you and Joe. So that's the only positions I'm like, well, where the chips fall, they fall in between. Well, basically, I still needed to beat Caley, and he had a pretty good score, but I was able to beat him, and Joe came in dead last, which was interesting. So that forced a tiebreaker and I had that Comet song stuck in my head you know when you turn the game on I actually went and played that today That a unique game and I get why you would have that crazy song in your head. Yeah, and so I thought, well, maybe there's a reason I have that song in my head. So I picked Comet. I had a pretty good first ball and he had some bad luck. He had a couple house balls down the left out lane and I was fortunate to somehow come in second place. thank god for that so the outcome folks was kaylee george one eric two i believe joe took third and then david grant took fourth and uh that was the end we ended up what around midnight on uh on friday about 11 45 uh pacific time so nearly 3 a.m eastern time that's what my wife said i texted her when i got back to the hotel she's like i couldn't believe that you were still up at 3 a.m. I'm not a night owl so I guess I've acclimated out here. That's true. For those of you who've never been to this show well Eric keeps correcting me it's not really a show this is really a tournament it's it's a series of tournaments I'm it's not a show most people are hanging out in the tournament room you can get on almost any game and there's close to 400 games here if you can't find a game to play, something's really wrong with you. I mean, there's just too much to play. Even over three days, I've only explored a handful, probably 30 or 40 games in total, and there's so much more. So for those of you out there wondering, hey, should I go to Indisc? Yes, you should. If you're into pinball, you like tournament play, you want to see some of the best players in the world like Eric, put it on your calendar for next January and head to sunny California. It's a hell of a lot nicer than the East Coast being in New Hampshire. Not you. Florida is a bit upper 80s. Different game. It's cold for me here. So we'll wrap it here. A little mini-sode with our recurring guest, Eric Stone. and hopefully, Eric, the next time I see you might be for the Worlds down in Florida. Yeah, I look forward to it. The end of May. End of May, definitely. Thanks again. Anytime. Thank you.