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INDISC 2023 Women's Championship - Semifinals

IE Pinball·video·1h 19m·analyzed·Nov 13, 2023
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

INDISC 2023 Women's Semifinals live commentary on Stargazer and Iron Maiden with competitive play analysis.

Summary

Live commentary from the INDISC 2023 Women's Championship semifinals featuring four female pinball commentators (Yoshmai Neung, Rebecca, Carrie Kevin Hill, and others) discussing gameplay on classic machines Stargazer and Iron Maiden. The session covers tournament format, player strategies, technical issues, and mental preparation rituals for competitive play.

Key Claims

  • Almost 60 players competed in the women's division at INDISC 2023

    high confidence · Commentator stated directly during broadcast introduction

  • Stargazer at this venue has looser tilt tolerance and faster spinners compared to the Classic Bank version

    medium confidence · Rebecca reported playing both machines at the event and comparing their characteristics

  • A coil on Stargazer sheared off during play and required repair by tournament techs

    high confidence · Commentators acknowledged mechanical issue and repair work happening live during semifinals

  • The women's tournament uses a format where each player can only select each game once across the entire tournament

    high confidence · Commentators explicitly discussed this constraint multiple times when deciding on game selection

  • Prospector was pulled from the women's bank due to mechanical issues but was highly popular with players

    high confidence · Multiple commentators referenced Prospector being removed and players' enthusiasm for playing it

  • Paul Leslie's first ball score on Stargazer was strong enough to lead the group after mechanical reset

    high confidence · Commentators observed and discussed Paul Leslie's lead position throughout gameplay

  • Iron Maiden is a Premium Edition machine at this venue, not a Pro version, requiring ramp shots for mummy locks

    high confidence · Commentators explicitly noted the Premium Edition specification and its gameplay implications

  • Ashley (TJ Weaver) scored $184 million on Iron Maiden, setting a high bar for other competitors

    high confidence · Commentators referenced Ashley's score and compared other players' performances against it

  • This event included classic EM games (Prospector, Stargazer) and modern machines (Iron Maiden, AC/DC) in the women's bank

Notable Quotes

  • “I found myself not playing it correctly, I think. I have never played Prospector until here, and so it was a really fun experience.”

    Rebecca (Backbox Pinball Podcast host) @ mid-broadcast — Reflects the challenge for newer players engaging with classic EM games at competitive events

  • “Be a goldfish, forget immediately what you just did wrong, and just start all over again.”

    Carrie Kevin Hill (Dead Beats Burgers Pinball) @ mental preparation discussion — Tournament psychology advice drawn from Ted Lasso, illustrating how competitive pinball players adopt mental frameworks

  • “I cannot really watch my opponents play... I play more my own game and I don't really like watching my opponents do well.”

    Yasmeen Neung @ ritual/preparation segment — Reveals cognitive strategy used by elite female players to maintain focus and avoid mental interference

  • “I almost missed check-in because I stopped at the hotel to eat a biscuit... So I was running on four hours of sleep. I went and I got a biscuit this morning and it didn't work.”

    Rebecca @ personal preparation discussion — Humorous but reveals unconventional pre-tournament preparation style and self-awareness about performance triggers

  • “The more I know that people are watching me, the more nervous I get.”

    Rebecca @ discussion of streaming/observation effects — Addresses the psychological impact of live streaming on player performance, common in modern competitive pinball

  • “I think that on Classics it's less of a big issue than on modern games where you've been building towards that multi-ball or you've been building up the value of that jackpot and then your game breaks.”

    Rebecca @ technical discussion of game reset impact — Expert analysis of how mechanical failures differentially impact classic vs modern game play dynamics

  • “There's not one strategy... and even while you're doing, like, if you're going for multi-ball, if you're going for something else, meanwhile, you're shooting those ramps, getting those spinners, and you're going for all those other stuff as well at the same time.”

Entities

Yoshmai NeungpersonRebeccapersonCarrie Kevin HillpersonPaul Leslie RuckmanpersonLaura StoddardpersonAnna NealpersonMonica MiripersonAshleypersonTJ Weaver

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Live streaming of women's semifinals with professional commentary team indicates institutionalization of women's pinball coverage and growing production values for female-focused competitive events

    high · Video production by IE Pinball with multi-person commentary booth; Backbox Pinball Podcast host (Rebecca) featured as commentator; discussion of broadcast visibility and spectator psychology

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Strong positive sentiment toward classic/EM games (Prospector, Stargazer) expressed by female competitors; Prospector removal due to mechanical issues generated notable disappointment within player community

    high · Multiple commentators expressed enthusiasm for Prospector, described it as 'fun game' with thought-out rules; discussion of which machine had most plays suggesting high engagement

  • ?

    community_signal: INDISC 2023 women's championship featured ~60 female competitors representing international diversity (Netherlands, Canada, Australia, New York, Chicago, Seattle areas) indicating robust and growing women's pinball competitive scene

    high · Direct statement of participant count and commentary about international representation; discussion of established returning competitors (Paul Leslie, Laura, Anna) alongside newer participants

  • ?

    community_signal: Backbox Pinball Podcast (launched June 2025) represents institutional support for women in pinball with dedicated media platform; host's participation as semifinal commentator indicates integration of women-focused content creators into tournament infrastructure

    high · Rebecca identified as Backbox Pinball Podcast host; podcast explicitly covers 'ladies and pinball'; featured prominently in commentary booth at major tournament

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.239

0:00
Yes you can! Yasmeen! Hello! We're on stream already guys. We are. Oh, okay. They're like, you're live. Get it going. Hi! Do we want to say who we are? I think we should. Hi, I'm Yoshmai Neung. Hello. I love that you're a public knitter. I am a public knitter. That's amazing. Oh, yeah. Knit bombing all over the place. My name is Rebecca. I found the camera. I stream with my partner, Jordan, who's been teching this weekend. And then I also have a podcast about ladies and pinball. So this has been amazing. Backpacks Pinball Podcast. And Carrie. I'm Carrie Hill from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. And I'm part of, with my partner, Dead Beats Burgers Pinball. That's awesome. Nice. I like how international the booth is because I'm from the Netherlands. I mean, I live in Seattle, but still. Very multicultural. Yeah. We've got a really diverse group of folks here. That's awesome. We do. And all of us have something in common. We just got knocked out of the women's final. So we're really happy to be here. But to be fair, I think we would have loved being there. That's true. I think that's fair.
1:17
But no matter what, if you look at the field, now, correct me if I'm wrong, I think we had almost 60 players playing in women's. We did. And I tried to look everybody up, and everybody is very highly ranked and extremely skilled. And I don't know about you guys. I haven't played with a lot of the people here. Well, it's my first time here, and I knew that this was going to be an elite class, and it did not disappoint. There was some amazing, very talented pinball players in the women's field. I loved playing with everybody there, and I'm happy to be commentating. Disappointed we got bounced out, but here we are. I've been in the pinball scene for a pretty long time and I've played with a lot of these ladies over many, many years now. It's really fun to see some new faces as well. Like for example, Carrie, I know I met you before, but this is your first time here. There's a bunch of people that it was their first time here, but there's also some people that have been here for a long time. You see players like Leslie, players like Laura, like they've been here for a long time. Anna, who's been doing really well. Well, she was for a long time top qualifier until Ashley took over. Oh, yeah. So it looks like we are back on Stargazer. Ooh. I know. I love Stargazer. How do you play Stargazer? Well, in my case, poorly. How would you play Stargazer? How would I play Stargazer?

high confidence · Mixed game bank discussed throughout broadcast with commentary on both machine types

  • Several female players (Paul Leslie, Laura, Anna, Ashley) are returning/established competitors at INDISC women's events

    high confidence · Commentators discussed player histories and tenure at the event

    • Carrie @ Iron Maiden gameplay discussion — Illustrates the strategic depth and flexibility valued in modern pinball machine design

  • “I would just let it go and then aim for the spinner and hopefully it'll come back around. I would much rather flip it away.”

    Commentator discussing strategy @ Stargazer gameplay analysis — Technical discussion of flipper control and risk management in classic game play

    • person
    Emily Cawsonperson
    Kate Steven Martinperson
    Alyssa Parksperson
    Kyleperson
    Jordanperson
    INDISC 2023event
    Stargazergame
    Iron Maidengame
    Prospectorgame
    AC/DC (Premium Vault Edition)game
    The Diamond Ladygame
    Backbox Pinball Podcastorganization
    Dead Beats Burgers Pinballorganization
    Texas Pinball Festivalevent
    IE Pinballorganization
    ?

    competitive_signal: On Stargazer, spinner-focused strategy dominates (lock spinner at high value, repeatedly rip for points) over zodiac/drop target strategy, indicating established meta for this classic machine in competitive play

    medium · Commentators repeatedly emphasized spinner-locking strategy as primary approach; discussed Kate Steven Martin's zodiac/drop target strategy as alternative but less common approach

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Tournament game selection reflects diversity in machine design: mix of classic EM games (Prospector, Stargazer) with modern themed machines (Iron Maiden, AC/DC) suggests deliberate curation for varied strategic challenge

    medium · Commentators noted different strategic approaches required for classic vs modern games; game bank included both EM and digital-era machines

  • ?

    event_signal: INDISC 2023 women's championship semifinals demonstrate established tournament infrastructure with professional techs, rule-consistent gameplay, and competitive depth across player skill levels

    high · Tournament direction discussion, tech crew managing repairs, scoring systems, multiple semifinal groups, established bracket/advancement structure

  • ?

    community_signal: Female competitive players employ diverse psychological strategies for tournament performance, including ritual objects (hats, specific clothing), controlled substance use, sleep deprivation exploitation, and selective spectator avoidance

    high · Extensive discussion of personal preparation rituals: Rebecca's four-hours-sleep-plus-biscuit method, Carrie's hat fidgeting and hand-wiping, Yasmeen's avoidance of watching opponents, various sleep/comfort approaches

  • ?

    product_concern: Stargazer experienced mechanical failure (sheared coil) during tournament requiring live repair; this impacted gameplay continuity and player flow during competitive finals

    high · Commentators extensively discussed coil repair, reset impact on bonus-based scoring, and mechanical issues with game playfield durability

  • ?

    technology_signal: Tournament infrastructure includes live broadcast with real-time graphics, score displays, and HD video feed viewable by players on large screen, indicating modernization of competitive pinball presentation

    medium · Commentators referenced large screen visibility, score display issues, and technical adjustments during broadcast

    • 2:40
    So my strategy was always spinners, which is basically, do you have the magical telescope? Ooh. I do. Ooh.
    2:48
    Although Carl needs to tell me how I need to erase stuff. A race. Any? Awesome. There we go. Oh, so fancy. Yeah. But you want those spinners lit, right? You do. So you want your spinners lit, which you can do by doing, like, a little roll over dealy boppers.
    3:05
    And then, but what I didn't know until I think my last card yesterday, because I'm bad and I didn't read the rules, is the middle spinner, if you knock a drop down, it freezes.
    3:18
    You know. Like here, this one? Yeah. Yeah, you want to hit one of those drops and then nail that spinner because it'll stop the little, like, weebly wobbly, like, those little guys. And then you can rip that spinner when it's set at 4,000 and just rack up points. Yeah, what I read is, like, if you get it up high, it will lock in the spinner for a lot and the drops for not so much.
    3:41
    And if you lock it up, like, low, like, the drops will be worth a lot. Oh, yeah, so she had her spinner locked up right at the top value, just tough drain down the middle there. Yeah. And here comes Leslie. So we've got Anna Neal, Monica Miri, and Leslie Ruckman playing, and Laura Stoddard. Laura was in my group. She's there. And then I have played with Anna in Chicago, but it's my first time playing. I think I played with Monica before, but it's my first time, I think, playing with Leslie. Leslie was in my group, and being on the same side of the coast, we've played in a lot of events together. They're so good. I'm so curious. to watch them play Stargazer. It's such a place of zen.
    4:26
    So she's got them down. They're in the breakup again. I guess they reset if you those drop targets reset. She's got it set in pretty low, so now it would be drops or trying to get it knocked down and reset, I guess. What do you guys know about all the astrological signs around the playfield? What does that do for you? I have no clue. So your astrological signs, after you collect them all, and I think you hit a bank of targets, I can't remember if it's left or right. It will give you an extra ball. And on this stargazer, you can see the big old sign that says, Play all extra balls. And it will also, you'll hit your 12,000. You do it again. You get, I think, your 24,000. You can get your multipliers here. And then you can absolutely rack up a massive bonus. Okay. Well, that sounds like something that would be exciting to get close to and try to achieve. Right. But those extra balls can also be a danger, because you need to pay attention and extra balls or something that make it that people can play out of turn mm-hmm which we don't want to happen no always sad when that happens always pay attention to who turn whose turn it is yes I did that in Seattle I played out of turn I was really bummed to get disqualified I played out of turn at pinball at the lap half a year ago here in Riverside did you know of course I had the best game ever here's Anna Neal from the hot nudge crew awesome player yikes oh just unlucky there like sometimes those balls just come straight down the middle and there's nothing you can do it's almost like they build the game like that i know gravity always wins and this stargazer has a looser tilt i haven't i never found it so you can slap it around i don't think you can like wiggle it too much but You can slap it. Shake it like a, ooh, nice dig. Oh, yeah. Have any of you played the Stargazer in the Classic Bank yesterday? I did. I heard it was slower. It was slower.
    6:21
    And honestly, I think we got the better Stargazer. Well, that's good. I did put up a good score on it. Ooh, there we go. There we go. Come on.
    6:34
    And the spinners here in disc, they are juiced. everywhere I played all the classics this stargazer I mean they just rip for days so Leslie so far still in the lead yeah first ball was pretty good this can be anybody's game especially in stargazer where you can get that extra ball like you can sit on ball like you could be you know the bonus is great but if you can find all of your shots Mm-hmm.
    7:03
    So let's see. She's trying to get those. Oh, she locked it in at the top. Oh, is that the 4,000? So let's see if she's going to shoot that spinner.
    7:13
    Oh, now it's just the hard part about... Oh, the other spinner also lit. Uh-oh. Thinking, thinking. Just taking a minute.
    7:28
    Or is something broken? I will say there is an excellent group of techs who have been running around. They were doing some amazing surgical procedures on Prospector yesterday, so we got to play it again. And they did some work on this Stargazer, I know, late last night.
    7:50
    The techs are all talking to each other right now. Oh. I'm not sure what happened there. Did you guys see why Leslie's cradled up? She dropped all of the targets, and they did not reset. Because after you drop the targets, it's going to award you that right value. So while it's very high for your spinner, it is very low for dropping that set of targets.
    8:14
    And so the drops did not reset. And there were issues with one of the coils got sheared off yesterday. And I think it just goes to show how excited everybody is when we get to play Stargazer. I would be very curious to see which game got the most plays in the women's bank in the women's bank that would be interesting yeah can I look that up I bet it's not Elvis even though I liked it a lot of people did not like Elvis I don't want to talk about Elvis do I have to talk about Elvis no you don't you can call it the game that must not be named you know what's funny is I had Elvis on my good card and uh i started with it and i had a good game on it so as angry as i was about all this it did eventually treat me right i bet prospector would have been the top earner of the event if it had not been pulled out yeah because people were pretty jazzed to play that pretty fun game i i did really like i like prospector i find it a very interesting game for an EM, like there's, I think when they designed that game, they put a lot of thought in the rules. Yeah. You can see that. It looks great. There's a number of ways you can play it as well, which isn't always the case with EMs. EMs tend to be pretty linear and one or two ways to get points, but you can choose to do your silver, you want to rip those spinners, or you just want to go up with the orbit to get your gold going. I mean, I found myself not playing it correctly, I think. I have never played Prospector until here, and so it was a really fun experience. It was actually a rare repeat for Indisc. I think four years ago, when it was still in banning, I think the last banning, Prospector was in the Women's Bank. Oh, interesting. Yeah. That was a really fun bank. I liked that one.
    10:04
    Oh, I'm so curious. I want to know. So what games haven't people picked so far? We've seen Stargazer got a lot of play. Atlanta's people seem to be picking.
    10:22
    Taxi seems to be super popular. Only one time Diamond Lady during the first round. How did you guys like Diamond Lady? I love Diamond Lady. I need to get more time on it. Yeah. I didn't really get to figure out how to properly play the game. So verdict's still open on Diamond Lady for me, but I want to give it a try. I think Alice Cooper has not been picked yet. I liked Alice Cooper. Oh, okay. I'm one of the few weirdos that enjoyed playing it. We had one on location up in Victoria for a while, so I think it's not one that's out and about a lot that people get a chance to get their hands on and learn. Yeah. So it's a fun game. I think it's like pineapple on pizza. You've got haters and you've got lovers, you know?
    11:06
    I love pineapple on pizza. I do not like it. It's super dope. Maybe if I get to play it more, I just could not get anything done on that game. The shots are super tight. I also think it got a little tired at the end of the night because when I played it earlier, I could make my orbits to get through the house. And then later in the evening, I also played well on a terrible card on it. And so I tricked myself into thinking that I could continue to play well on it. And I did not.
    11:38
    Really depends on the mode you get into, I think. And the shots are really challenging for some of those modes. Like you've got to get up top and hit the guillotine. So it's a really, I mean, all those shots being down lower, it's tight. I've heard pit creature is the way to go. It is. So while we're waiting on this here, let's just talk about the other group that we're not seeing. Yeah. Which has Ashley Weaver from Seattle. I'm wrong here From Renton, close to Seattle though And we have Emily Cawson from Australia Kate Martin From New York And Alyssa Parks From Chicago, right?
    12:18
    Alyssa I think so If I'm wrong, I'm sorry Alyssa If I'm not What game are they on? So they are playing Iron Maiden right now which in the last round only got picked once by me because I was already out and I wanted to play something that I liked. And now we're watching it in, or we're not watching it, but now they're playing it in the other group. And what's interesting about this format is that everybody can only pick a game one time. Not just the round, through the whole tournament. Yeah, until you've picked all the games and then, let's see what Carl says.
    12:56
    Okay, we're getting some words. Try and fix the drop target and then resume the game after that. Unless you're left to fall. Are we sticking with Stargazer or are we going to Iron Maiden? Okay.
    13:12
    Okay. It is time to fix the Stargazer. Repair live on stream. Yeah. So they're going to write down the scores, turn off the game, try and fix the drop target that's broken. and then they will restart the game. And, oh, that's going to be hard. That's going to be a lot. So that's interesting because when you look at comp balls and things like that, whenever you have to do a full reset, it is so difficult because all of the work that you've done, especially when you're looking at classic games and everything that's very bonus-based, You have to do all of that work again. But Leslie did just get her bonus from that ball. She did just get the work that she did. I do think that on classics it's less of a big issue than on modern games where you've been building towards that multi-ball or you've been building up the value of that jackpot and then your game breaks and you have to start all over again. Like if you have it happen on Attack from Mars and you've got your first super jackpot, The next one is worth more, and then it breaks, and then you have to start it over again. The castles on Medieval are worth less again.
    14:30
    So I think on those games it's less of an advantage, and I think on Classics it matters just a little bit less. I agree. Because you're lighting the spinner on every ball over and over and over again. Yep. Juice the spinner, hit the spinner.
    14:44
    I did watch Kate Martin playing this game earlier, blowing it up over and over again, And I think her tactic is those Zodiacs, getting that bonus, and then hitting those drops as well. But I think most of us, at least how I approach it, is try to lock in a spinner and rip the spinner. So it shouldn't impact Leslie too much to come back and do two comp balls. But, I mean, it's a bummer, and it ruins your flow to kind of end your game. But it is what it is. And that's the case whenever this happens. You are, like, you have to, like, wait, and you're, like, still, like, waiting instead of like you were in a flow playing and then something happens and especially that game I mean it just flows in those little weird it does yeah what do you call that I mean they're little rollovers narrative flippers yeah but I mean there's no slings the slings are kind of attached with little cups yeah there's slings at the top there's no in lanes is there a name for that actual like mech of the game there's no well there's like no posts like there's no posts off your slings in posts or slings but you can't traditionally post Well, what is it called? Is it the Italian setup or the something? The stargazer setup? Well, when there's two slings and outlanes, there's a name for it. I don't know what it is. Is it like Italian bottom? Yeah. I'm not even joking. I think that's actually what it is. I do. And they made a shirt about it, which I'm like. That is not an innuendo for the record. No, no, no. It's actually what they call it. Learn something new here. Yeah. I mean, I also could be wrong. I'm relatively new to the hobby. I've been doing it, I think we got into it in, like, 2019. And so I feel like that's the skill you have to learn is if your game isn't going great or something breaks, like, how do you bounce back from that? Like, how do you – do you guys have anything that you do to kind of, like, I don't know, like, recenter yourself or, like, find that place of zen? That's funny. I was talking about that this morning about pinball rituals. I'm from Canada, and hockey players all have these weird rituals where they wear the same equipment they wore when they were 17 and eat the same breakfast. I notice some people, when you watch the players around, they're wearing the same T-shirts on certain days that you've seen them in streams wearing.
    17:00
    So having little resets or little things that make you comfortable, because it is a mind. It's you against the machine at the end of the day. And if you're having a rough ball or you're sitting there waiting because they're fixing the coil. Yeah, I think for me it's like the approach to how I play the game, how I prepare for it. Like, make sure I have a good night's sleep. I make sure the clothes I'm wearing are comfortable, that I can do my stance in it because if I cannot do my stance, like, that's part of me playing pinball. I think for me, actually, getting into headspace is doing my stance. Yeah, that's your set, right? Feeling comfortable and aware of your body. And then for me, it's like feeling like I've got full control, so I don't drink when I play pinball and those type of things. Those are things that I do to be able to play my best. What do you do, Rebecca? Well, I'm the opposite. You like to get uncomfortable? No, it's cool. So what's really funny is that whenever I am very well-rested and I'd like to think I'm very focused, I get really anxious because I get too in my head. I get way too in my head. I'm an over-thinker. And so what helps me and people who I will never forget, I think the time that I played really well in the Texas takedown, I got maybe four hours of sleep. I was super duper hungover.
    18:21
    Just drive it right into the ground. I almost missed check in because I stopped at the hotel to eat a biscuit. And so this morning I couldn't sleep last night. So I was running in on four hours of sleep. I went and I got a biscuit this morning and it didn't work. So maybe that's not the magical solution, but I'm new, so we're going to keep trying. Well, if you ever need a 4 a.m. wake-up call to make sure you're extra tired for before a match, let us know. Yeah, give me a call. I think I'm getting spam calls right now. There you go. Bless them. What about you, Carrie? Do you have anything? Oh, I don't know. I kind of fidget with my hat a little bit. I wipe my hands almost obsessively. People kind of tease me about it because I think I get nervous. and any moisture on my hands, I get freaked out about. But I mean, I like to just try to take a deep breath. I try to take, again, another hockey analogy, but the goalie sort of mindset of just let that last goal that went in or let that last crappy game or ball behind you and try to focus moving forward. I've been watching Ted Lasso, and he tells his player, be a goldfish. Yeah, exactly. Be a goldfish, forget immediately what you just did wrong, and just start all over again. Another thing that I do, I cannot really watch my opponents play. And that's why I, it may seem like rude to some people, but I'm like on my phone playing games or I'm talking to people with my back to the game. I play more my own game and I don't really like watching my opponents do well. So I will just not watch them while they do well I totally I think we were talking about that the other day It like I would get sort of worked up like watch you know playing against you guys all these elite players and you get in your head about who you're playing against instead of really just focusing on the true matter which is you are playing that game and so yeah sort of disconnecting from what they're doing because you know what you're going to try to do on your ball and so i feel what jasmine is saying is yeah just don't even look. And as someone who gets, I will say this, whenever I like to, I'd like to think I'm aware of my surroundings, but there is a feeling you get, like, you know, when somebody is watching you. And what I love about Indus is, so behind us, there's this big, gigantic honking screen, which is awesome because you can watch it up there and you don't have to feel like you've got people creeping over your shoulder. Yeah. Yeah. It's true. Like the more I know that people are watching me, the more nervous I get. Oh, I guess we're back. Look at that. You know, in retrospect, I should have looked at the scores. I know who was, I know Rucka, but Leslie was in the lead. Well, this is great. Yeah. There are scores right there. I moved stuff. I'm sorry. Make big. There we go. I will not move stuff again.
    21:10
    We didn't kill it, Carl. Sorry. We can see what they did. So Leslie is up right now. She gets to finish her second ball.
    21:20
    She gets to finish her second ball, and then Laura gets to play her second ball. Well, Leslie has two balls. Yes. Right? Yeah, so basically she's going to finish her second ball now. Oh, okay, right. And then they'll come back to Leslie to finish off the game. Is this ball three? This is ball two. Ball two? Yeah. It's right in the middle of the screen. You see that they say ball two between all the names.
    21:47
    Oh, look at that. I wonder what the decision would be. I'm so curious. If she had an extra ball, if she would get then two balls. She maybe would. Yeah. I don't do a lot of tournament directing, so I'm like, that's a fun question that I haven't thought about. I would say since she has earned it, she probably would. She probably would. She's post-passing with these couple things. She is trying to get this certain rollover that will light the spinners. Oh, yeah, that's right. I've seen this. Where you sort of. Yeah. It's like a little flick. Yeah, she like lifts the right spinner right now, and then she's hitting it.
    22:27
    She's so intentional with her play. Oh, what a catch. Nice job, catch. That was a beautiful catch. Yes.
    22:33
    Okay, there we go. Yeah, I mean, that top spinner isn't terrible value, but when you're on the right flipper, why not rip it up top? I think that's what she's trying to do. Yeah.
    22:47
    Every time it just comes to the flipper, you might be lucky, and you may be able to get good rollovers, or you may be skillful and do it like Leslie and glide those spinners that way. So yeah, the rollovers have like four different awards, and it like blinks, and one of them is I think right to right spinner, or with the right spinner, and the other one is like with the left spinner.
    23:15
    Again, locks it in for the second highest value. That's a pretty good value. Now she just needs to get it to her right flipper.
    23:22
    A little shimmy. Come on. Oh! Oh, bummer. Up and out. I know what she was trying to do there, but that was definitely the post pass kind of up and... She was trying to get it more to settle in the middle, and I think she just flipped too much, but not enough, because if she had flipped more, it would have probably gone there, like into that direction, but unfortunately for her. Still, this is a really good start. so Laura started up I do see that the scores disappeared they were up there but they're not there anymore
    24:14
    so I think we should just be quiet and Laura can do her own commentary commentary. But Laura did not have a first good ball. She only had 8,000 points, if I remember correctly.
    24:27
    Yes. Oh. And you'd think that those outlanes would not be as deadly as they are. But they are. They are super deadly. They don't look scary right now. You're like, oh, look, there's so few spots to drain, and that is a lie. Mm-hmm. So let's see what Anna can do. I think she and Monica both had around 80,000. If I remember correctly. Not 200. Remember, we had to turn the game off and come back to it.
    25:01
    They may even subtract the 200 if they're being very correct. So let's see what she's going to do. I'm pretty sure she was trying to aim for those drop targets up there. So let's say that Anna is at like around 140. Yeah, I think somewhere around there. 140, around-ish.
    25:41
    Let's see what Monica can do. She seems super chill when she plays, hey? Just smiling and not all stressy like some of us. Oh, and that'll do it. Bummer. Yeah.
    26:01
    So that puts her at around 110,000 points. Do you think she got past Anna? No. Anna's ahead? Yeah. I'm almost pretty sure. they were around the same amount of points with the other uh oh we're back here again yeah yeah i think if i was her i would just go flip it she's not doing a little flippity-doo this time no i would just aim for the spinner i think in that situation where i would just let it go and then aim for the spinner and hopefully it'll come back around i would much rather flip it away she is so skillful and um her nudging i feel is really elite like how she yes i think she just lit the right spinner, and she drained the ball.
    26:42
    I think she had up to close to 200,000 on the first. She was up there. So Laura really needs to do some work to be able to catch Leslie. But it's not impossible work. No. If she sets that spinner to high value, she can just rip it. You only need one ball. But I bet she wants to get all the points she can get. So maybe try and see if she can get one of the other ones.
    27:14
    She's got her right spinner lit. Trying to stay away from that out lane. And her upper spinner is locked in. Both spinners are lit.
    27:26
    She's got a great setup here. Oh, and then the drops went down. Oh, but you know what? They locked in, and it's not the top, but it ain't bad. Pretty high. And again, basically all the spinners live at pretty good value.
    27:45
    It's like she can hear us over here. I know, I know. Grab her headset while she plays. Yeah, there we go.
    27:54
    Now if she can just get it back down without dropping all of those drops. Okay. No. But she did pass.
    28:04
    She passed Anna. She passed Monica. Yeah, that's great. I'm pretty sure Leslie wins this game. Laura gets second.
    28:13
    They're not going to play this last ball because they've already all played a ball. Laura gets second. I'm not really sure if Anna or Monica. I think Anna is the one that gets third. And then Monica takes fourth. Yes. So Anna's driving the bus in this group, I would imagine. Is that correct? Or was Laura seated higher than Anna? Anna is driving the bus. Yeah, so Anna will choose next game. Where do you guys think she's going to go?
    28:40
    Oh, man, it all depends. What did she already pick? She picked, in the last round, she picked, I know she started on Prospector, but then Prospector had a problem, and it went to Diamond Lady. So Anna picked Diamond Lady. She picked Atlantis, and then she picked Position. Ooh, okay. Yes. I'll be interested to see where we go. So maybe she'll try and go back to Prospector, because she did try and pick that in the previous round. But then the game, somehow they couldn't put a fourth player on there, so they were having some problem with that. Oh, I see the rig is moving. Is it Prospector? Go to Iron Maiden. Oh, it's going to Iron Maiden. But I think they're finishing up the Iron Maiden game. Okay. So we're going to watch the other group now, which is Ashley Weaver, Emily Cawson, Kate Martin, and Eliza Parks. Awesome. I had to think about the name to pronounce it correctly. You're doing great. Yeah.
    29:42
    I love Iron Maiden. It's probably one of my favorite games. I was delighted to see it was in the Women's Bank. Yep. I was excited. It took me some time to get used to the game, but I do like it a lot. I love that there are so many different options of things you can do. There's not one strategy. and even while you're doing, like, if you're going for multi-ball, if you're going for something else, meanwhile, you're shooting those ramps, getting those spinners, and you're going for all those other stuff as well at the same time. Now, this is a premium iron maiden. It's not a pro. So you've got your, you actually have to hit the ramp for the mummy lock. Yes. And most of my experience is on a pro.
    30:18
    So hitting that ramp for mummy locks is really different. It's kind of difficult, yeah. So Emily is on ball three. This is the last ball of the game, but she's got, she is. Is that her first ball locked? That is her first ball locked for Trooper. But those locks are all lit, and there's number two. I mean, you can get into Trooper, and you can get right back into this game with lots of points if she can get this started. And I know that the ideal situation is trying to get a mode to go with it, but I would say if you're in Emily's position right now, I would get that multi-ball.
    30:49
    And the mode that she has lit is also Rhyme, and you have to make that extra shot to even get your multi-ball started. But it'll block you out of Trooper. Yeah, so I would just, like, get that trooper going. I don't usually try it. This is one of the few games that I don't try to stack my multiball. I play for funsies. I do. Do you? Yeah. I'm fine to do trooper naked.
    31:16
    I guess that's not a real term, but that's what I've been calling it. Hey, that's a great way to do it.
    31:21
    We support you in whichever choices you make. Okay. Oh. Oh, maybe she can get lucky and get her revival it too while she's at it. Oh, that's really nice. That's a really great way to end it. Yeah, so we're in ball three right now, so Ashley put up a really good game with $184 million. Nice nudge. Even Kate, like Emily has to do some work to pass her. She did just pass Eliza. Wasn't it? That was her at a ball. That was perfect timing as she drained out the side there. Yeah, so if you have this shot lit, the purple thingy there, this one right there, the orb, that in multi-ball, the first time you hit it, it gives you an add-a-ball.
    32:06
    And you light the orb by shooting these drop targets down. The next time she shuts it down, the orb will be lit again for a mystery. She's made it through the second round of jackpots. Maybe she can get one for the road. Oh, no. She's less than 20 million away from catching second. And, I mean, when you're in this sort of situation, you're not looking at Ashley Weaver's score. No. You're looking at the next person up and just clawing your way back into it. Yeah, just trying to get the most points as possible. So where she is right now, she can lock her mummy multi-ball, like the ball for mummy. You, like, shoot it through the pops here. You do exactly what she just did. Beautiful. Thanks for illustrating that. Emily? It did the... Oh, bummer.
    32:47
    It was, there was probably already a ball locked in there, so it diverted it. Yeah. Yeah, there has been an issue with this maiden and that lock. Well, if there's a ball in there already, it will not lock a second ball in there. If somebody else locks a ball, then it will, like, divert it. That's why I like to go first whenever I play games like Adam's family, and so that way after I lock my balls, I can just keep skill-shotting over and over and over again. So I think what happened there, Ashley got four points, Kate got second, so two points, Emily got one point for getting third, and Eliza zero points, unfortunately, for getting last.
    33:29
    So let's see. So Ashley gets first pick because she was the top seed. So we'll see what she picks. I am learning so much about tournament strategy. Yeah, so she picks Atlantis, Prospector, Taxi, and now Iron Maiden. She's locked out of those choices. Soda leaves, Diamond Lady, Stargazer, or Alice Cooper. I will bet you money it is not Alice Cooper or Elvis. Take the bet. Somebody's going to have to pick it eventually. Well, I have a little bit of an advantage on that because she told me when I was in her group, She's like, when it comes down to me having to pick Alice Cooper or Elvis, I will probably defer. She doesn't like those two games. So I'd imagine we're going to be going to Stargazer or Diamond Lady.
    34:26
    But we'll see. I vote Diamond Lady. I know that I have so much sway in their picks. Yeah. But I feel like when you get the opportunity to play Stargazer. You can send Diamond Lady vibes their way. I love Diamond Lady. I've never played it before, and it's so much fun. I like these weird got leaves. I just think it's so fun. It's just so 80s and the like, you know, the jams they all have on them. You mean the beats? The beats? Yeah, the beats. Oh, where are we going? Where are we going? I'm telling you. Alice Cooper. We should have taken the bets. Nobody took it. Inside information. Illegal betting. Oh.
    35:05
    Here I wonder who picked it, though. If Ashley picked it or if she deferred to Emily and if Emily picked it. Interesting. because Ashley does know the game. It used to be on the location where she plays most of the time.
    35:19
    And so she does know it. But then if she didn't feel comfortable in this and she diverged, then Emily picked it. Emily did have one of the highest scores on this game. So.
    35:30
    Okay. Do you guys know how to play Alice Cooper? Oh, wait. We're going like, yeah. They picked Stargazer, by the way. Never mind. Okay, so they picked Stargazer. For the record, I was right then. Yes. You were right. So Alice Cooper, what do we need to do on Alice Cooper? Alice Cooper is all about going through this creepy castle and beating up all these monsters. So you see this weird diamond thing? Maybe Yasmin can circle it. They're actually up on the map on the top to go through the castle. So you're the red X. Oh, I see what you're saying. Oh, that's McQueen. So to go through the castle, rough drain, these flipper rubbers on all these spooky pinballs, I find them all very bouncy as well.
    36:21
    But anyway, so you're at the bottom of the castle of that map. It's a pyramid map. And to get through the castle, you hit orbits, either right orbit to go right or left orbit to go left. And you're trying to travel all the way up to the M, meaning monster, which starts your mode.
    36:36
    That's what you're doing. Okay. Well, I did hear about how you can change the modes if you don't like the mode that it's on. Because I've heard some modes you can get stuck in. Yeah, it is a game where once you're in the mode, some of them, and they're really challenging.
    36:52
    Oh, that's not nice. And you have to finish them, right? Correct. Yeah. That outline was hungry. If this is lit, that's where you change the modes. You have to hit it, and it will go to a different mode. I heard a favorite mode is pit creature. Yeah. People do not like insects, I've heard, this one.
    37:14
    And I don't know that many of the other modes. Nailed it. Oh, excellent. So that's your crypt lock, okay? And what's interesting about the lock and the two-ball, multi-ball in this game is that you can still advance towards your monster and get your mode started while you're in this multi-ball if she wanted to start it. Yeah. So I have a feeling her strat is to get that crit multiball going, and then it makes it easier to hit all those orbit shots, right, when you've got a bunch of balls going around. And she's got her outlane saves flashing right now, too. Yep. Great to have. So that means she's got a ball save.
    37:51
    But not down the center. Not down the center. No. So how – uh-oh. The way to start this multiball, I heard one of the ways is if you get it up, you just let it drain. Just don't flip up here. Yeah. and just let it drain, and it will start your multi-ball if you have a ball locked in there. It will. Or she can hit that, I think she's aiming for it right there. The arrow, flashing arrow. The drop target. That's it. There she goes. Oh, nope. Nope. Oh, having her ball save. The ball save times out. Does it? Okay. It does.
    38:22
    Kind of like Diamond Lady when we go there. Mm-hmm. Come here. Okay, so Laura's up. Really what you want to do is you want to get that mode you want to try to finish the mode and then you get A frenzy for a lot of points So hopefully we can see somebody get there when the one Escher left off explained the game to me He told me if you finish your most you're good So I bet all of these ladies just want to start a mode and get as many shots in as possible in one of those Totally. Good nudge. Nice nudge. You gotta hit these orbits. This game is very difficult to ski jump on. Because you need, the ramps need to be able to make power to, like speed, to be able to speed. Yes. There is another multiball, speaking of ramps, on the left ramp, you can start Frankenstein multi-ball, which is, it's a mode and a multi-ball kind of in one. But again, it's a steep ramp, and if you don't hit it nice and flush, you're in trouble from coming straight down the middle.
    39:28
    So another way that I heard you can start modes. There it is. Oh, and it looks like you can feel ball locks. It sure does look like you can, yeah. Okay. I know in non-competition mode, which I assume this is in, the player who locked the ball would get I think something like million or something like that compensation for having their ball stolen Oh that would make me feel much better Did that just happen Yes she did just steal the ball lock Yeah, but did Leslie also get the points? I'm not sure. I think she was a little bit lower, but maybe this is like wishful thinking now. I don't know. Depends on if they have that turned off because of competition mode. Nice save. Good dig. Well, that's something I'm going to keep an eye out for if somebody else blocks the ball and then somebody else steals.
    40:27
    Oh. We're looking at Werewolf. Will she start or will she change? That's it. Yeah, another way you can start your mode is if you get the secret passage lit, which is just to the right of the left ramp. Uh-huh. How do you light secret passage? That's a great question. I actually don't know. She's trying to get that lock up there, the lap lock.
    40:50
    Yep, and that gives you that Frankenstein multi-ball as well. So how do you get the ball saver? She spells save on the in lanes and on the out lanes.
    41:01
    And when you have that, it starts flashing like that, but it will time out and it won't save you from the straight down the middle. We were just talking about that. The half ramp down the middle action we all know well. Mm-hmm. Rough. So Monica's up.
    41:19
    So nobody really has started a mode yet. It will start your mode. In ball three. If you have not started a mode, yeah, it'll give it to you on ball three. Yeah. So maybe that's the valid strategy is you just want to stay alive for ball three. Like, tried. Don't get me wrong. There it is. There we go. Zombie mode. I do not know this mode well. What do we do? It says hit five roaming shots to shoot the... Oh, to defeat the zombie. Okay. Yeah, so it's going to roam left to right.
    41:54
    I think with this one you have to... Or is that the werewolf one? There's one where you get a... Because weapons you can collect that actually help you defeat monsters. but let's see when she hits a shot if it's like loading the gun and then you shoot the monster i'm not sure if that's werewolf or zombie roaming shot modes are so difficult they are well sometimes you just need to be very it will give it back to her by the way yeah the ball save is supposed to like lob it back into place and if it doesn't do that it will give the ball back to you get another nice good night yeah it's like when you play Jurassic Park and you're waiting for that roaming shot, you got to kind of be patient and wait till, depending on what flipper you have it on, just wait. I mean, this isn't timing out by any means. She's got all the time in the world. Yeah, so maybe even waiting until it comes there, like where it is now. Something she's comfortable shooting. There we go. Okay, so you don't need to load your gun. It's just, you're getting the guy. So that was one shot for her. So if she gets five, she'll finish the mode. And the quicker you do it, that locks the ball there.
    43:05
    This would be a great time to start the trip multi-ball, especially with that roaming shot going around, having two balls in play. Oh, watch out. Nice save. Well, I will say that one thing that is nice about that mystery cube is that no matter what, it'll give you a ball save. For just like a second.
    43:22
    But it lets you kind of take that moment to move. Okay, let's see what we can do. But those X's you also do still want to go over because that's like your bonus X. Or not your bonus X, your play deal multiplier, I think. Okay, she's going to wait. She's going to make that shot. There she is. That's shot number two.
    43:47
    Another nice nudge. Oh, she wants that trip so bad. Oh, and the ball save just went away. Now we can see if Leslie can steal the Crypt block and it gives points to Monica. Yeah, let's be mindful of that. Monica's got 3.6, so let's see. Reject on the ramp. She also has the pit creature as her abode. Oh, she changed to cold Ethel. Hold Ethel.
    44:55
    Yeah, she's definitely, I think, aiming for that Crypt multiball. Yeah. And why not, right? Oh, there she goes.
    45:03
    Okay. Yes, look at that. Monica did get a million points. There we go. I like that. I think it's kind of a fun little... Yeah, so that is also definitely what happened to Leslie when her ball got stolen.
    45:23
    I like that. I like that a lot. I mean, you did the work to lock the ball, right? Uh-huh. Oh. She did get a bunch of jackpots, I saw, and that still puts her in the lead.
    45:39
    And scores on Alice Cooper, if you can't get into your modes quite right, like they can be very low. And so, as much as we want to think that we want to blow up every game, sometimes you don't need. Sometimes we don't.
    46:06
    Okay, she locked her ball. You were talking about that earlier, Yasmeen, about you just drop it, it'll lock your ball. I'm not sure if it will always lock your ball, but I heard it will start your multiball if there's a ball in there.
    46:22
    Ball three. Still, no one has really started. Well, I guess Monica started her mode, but it's anybody's game here in ball three. Yeah. I know it depends on the mode. Will she continue trying to shoot zombies? I think zombies would be over. Okay. but I'm not 100% sure. This is the one where I think you hit one shot, it loads your shotgun, and then you have to hit the shot again. You hit arrows to load your gun. Yep. Okay, there you go. And now you've got to hit the lit shot to kill. Oh! Oh, that just ripped down there so fast. That was really fast. That was very fast.
    47:06
    What I think it is is I don't think that that light lock shot actually was lit for her in Whale Wolf. It was not blinking. And I think it was just rain.
    47:17
    So Anna did not manage to cast Monica or Leslie. Yeah, so Monica's back at the bottom of the castle, as you can see on the map. So she's not trapped in zombies.
    47:31
    But she also doesn't get that nice, you didn't get a mode auto restart either. That's true. Because she has to do the work to get there.
    47:41
    There we go. I thought she had an orbit there. That should have moved her. Nice nudge. Maybe it kind of didn't make it all the way in there. Maybe that's it.
    47:59
    So she started the multivolve. The one that Laura locked. Yeah. And Laura took some extra points for that.
    48:12
    Getting some of those jackpots. Yeah. And I think she is working her way through. Yeah, see how her red X has moved up the map from hitting those right orbits? Double grain.
    48:33
    So she's just slightly ahead of Leslie right now. Leslie still has to do something, though. Yeah, she's going to start a mode now, though. That's true. There's the werewolf again. I wonder if a strategy could just be like, maybe just lock a ball and hope that Loras steals it. It'll give you that million points.
    48:55
    I mean, really. Although if you can lock a ball and then play multiball and then get jackpots, you get more points. That also would be great.
    49:02
    But it wouldn't be bad. It would not be bad. Okay. Oh, there was a warning there. Great comboing. Oh.
    49:17
    Did she get enough to beat Monica? She did. Yeah. Okay. What mode? I wonder what mode Laura has lit.
    49:29
    It's kind of going around cycling here. Maybe it doesn't tell you. Oh. Keeps it all a mystery. Cold Ethel. What do we do? Hit the drop targets for jackpots. That sounds dangerous.
    49:50
    Oh, nice save there. She's getting that ball back. So where are their drop targets in this game? They're all glowing. Little glowing guys here.
    50:04
    Think Martians. Martian multiball in kind of off to the side. Oh, I see. And they are all very dangerous. Oh.
    50:23
    That's where the fillways are. What a good night. You know what? Yeah. Oh, that's, I guess that's the drop. Well, that's super duper dangerous. And difficult. It says cold as a log right there. So why were those things glowing on the sides? Was that just for lighting? Just chill. Oh. Just chill.
    50:50
    All right. So how did the score shake out? So Laura did beat Anna. So I think Laura is, where are we at? Alice Cooper. Anna got no points. She stays on one. Laura managed to beat her. So Laura's got three right now. Leslie won. Leslie got eight right now. And Monica got second. So Monica got two. So it's one, three, four. One, three, eight, two. Leslie moves on in this group. And the other ones. We'll see. Maybe we'll get a tiebreaker. Who knows? Maybe we don't get a tiebreaker. We'll find out. At least somebody will move on. And the other game on Stargazer.
    51:35
    Ashley managed to get second there. So she ends up with six points right now. Emily unfortunately got last still has one point from the first one Kate got third so she ends up with three points because she got seconds in the first game and Elisa Elisa Elisa managed to win this game she's got four points so it's six for Ashley one for Emily three for Kate and four for Elisa so Ashley is in a good position there to move on.
    52:08
    There can still be a tiebreaker or something, but she's in a really good position. And I think the other ones can all still move on, but it all depends on how well they do in the next game. Which is going to be Diamond Lady for them. But I wonder what we're going to watch. What are we going to watch?
    52:25
    So again, the scoring format is 4-3-1-0. So you really want to come out with some wins. 4-2-1-0. Pardon me, 4-2-1-0, yes. If you win, you do get like an extra bonus point, kind of. Right. With only three games in a bank, you definitely want to try to get as many wins as you can. Yes. Oh, prospector. Oh, it did me dirty.
    52:49
    I think it's likely that we may watch two players being played at a time, because I think we were having a problem. Carl's nodding yes. So we will first watch Leslie and Anna play, and then we can write down their scores and hopefully remember them, and then we'll watch Monica and Laura play. I should have brought a pen, but I brought a cell phone, and I think I can take notes in that. And we also have a Carl, and he may be able to write the scores down in there. Yes, we have a wonderful Carl. Carl, this is an amazing place to be, and the work that everybody gets to do. This is a really fun game. There's two types of bonuses. A silver bonus right there, gold bonus right there. You build them by doing different parts in the game. You see advanced gold bonus, advanced gold bonus, advanced silver bonus. Gold bonus awards, I mean it's pointed down, so it kind of shows it. It awards when you drain. Silver bonus points up, it awards in here, and it awards in there. So during the game you can get your silver bonus and at the end of your ball you get your gold bonus.
    53:58
    So that's kind of what you want to do. You want to try and build your bonus, shooting it up here, which will also bring it into the pop bumpers, and hopefully you'll be able to get some silver bonus action there.
    54:11
    Your spinners can also light for 1,000, which is really nice. Yes. and then another thing that's kind of nice is getting five and six they can uh double your bonus your gold bonus yes and they are plunging out player two yes so i was told uh by someone very good at classics jeff where is he that you know just collect your gold keep going up that left orbit but I was watching a lot of the women players be really successful with just nailing that really juiced silver spinner and collecting the silver over and over again how are you guys playing this game silver I've been I've just been playing it to the top and just see where the pop numbers send me and I do think like when I had it on this flipper I would try and shoot it through the spinner here and when I had it here I would try to shoot it there right on these ems i'm very much uh where do i have my on which flipper is my ball so the the bonus the gold bonus is worth a lot more than the silver bonus it's not you can see here it goes up to a hundred thousand where silver bonus maxes at ten thousand so i think trying to get that gold bonus up and then when it's at the top there you may collect your silver bonus, I think that is a very valid strategy.
    55:43
    She's got 50,000 gold bonus, and she does have the six, so she might even want to think about hitting that five because that gives you a double gold bonus. Yeah.
    55:54
    And if she takes a pot shot at it, she does. Nice. Boom. There you go. Double bonus. And she collects the silver with the same shot. And I like what it does there. It adds another bonus in there. And sometimes you're lucky, and it will collect that bonus right away. Oh, yes. Please and thank you. This will just add bonus to her. Add silver bonus. The collect is only here and there.
    56:22
    I love it when games do that. It just like goes... Please do the work. Thank you. I know it's designed that way. It's just fun.
    56:35
    That was a good ball. Double gold. Yeah, that was a great start. Yep. I think this Prospector is one of the rare Italian games that was made in that time.
    56:51
    Oh yeah, Sonic. I thought it was Italian. Italian-Spanish? I don't know. I don't know exactly. Let's see what Anna can do over here.
    57:05
    She chose the spinner. Oh, on this AM, I do think there's a little bit more skill and knowledge involved than on some other AMs, but it is often about how long can you keep the ball in play. Absolutely. Because if you're keeping the ball in play here, you're getting all these rollovers, you're getting all your bonus going. and Leslie definitely had that advantage with having such a good first and second ball absolutely and you can't you can't get points when you drain or will you get points when you drain because of bonus but yeah but just keep the ball alive and then you get points right yeah ideally we're on some of the modern games that's not exactly the case yeah but what's really I love that you don't get your silver bonus when you drain like how many other games are like that Like you need to collect it. Yeah. Otherwise you've done all that work for nothing. So there's some risk and reward to this, which a lot of EMs don't have. Yeah. And there's only so much silver bonus you can build. Yeah. So you have to collect it. When it's at that 10,000, it stops. You need to collect it.
    58:18
    And player number two is having a great ball here. I know. Yeah. Player number two probably would have beat my prospector score.
    58:27
    It's always very annoying when you get beaten by the plunge. by the drain. Yeah. Where you're like, I actually tried to flip her and... It wouldn't let me. Mm-hmm. That's pinball, baby.
    58:42
    Okay. She's got that double bonus. Oh, and that was a really nice save, Havana. So now you think she might want to lean into collecting some gold because she does got that, like you said, the double bonus split.
    58:56
    Yeah, she wants to advance that gold bonus. Left orbit. Oh, nice save. Another save. See, these are the moments that I'm, like, getting nervous. I'm like, no, I have the double bonus lead, but I just need to try and get it away from my flippers. Flip it away.
    59:19
    Finally, she's got control. Here we go. Good center. Oh, rats. Still a really great ball. Mm-hmm. I also like that it resets after each ball so you are starting from nothing. That's why if you do need compensation balls on these games, it's not as bad because it's not like you've been building up a lot of stuff. It so nice Did you guys see what happened there Anna like I mentioned how juicy spinners are Yeah So her ball was over and the spinner was still ripping and it in fact gave Leslie some points on player one because the spinner was still going. That's how juicy these spinners are. Awesome.
    59:59
    Well, maybe not for Anna in that case, but it's kind of fun to have a spinner that rips like that, eh? Yeah, it feels nice. It was wonderful in qualifying. Yes.
    60:13
    Okay. So somebody's going to plunge ball two now again, or player two again. Yeah, these EMs are five balls.
    60:29
    Oh, she thought she was playing player two. Now player two has definitely beat my score with those two flips.
    60:37
    I wonder what happens there, though. I don't know. That's not a DQ or anything like that, would it be? if she had flipped maybe I can't imagine it was too much of a practice yeah but if she had flipped it may have been a DQ it would have been something to look at Carl says no don't mind me, don't listen to me
    61:09
    getting that silver bonus up Oh, she tried. She saw it heading there and tried. Mm-hmm. Even the plunge, the skill shot, if you will, on this is kind of interesting because if you can gently plunge it and just roll over those little two small gold ones, it'll advance your gold instead of your silver. Yeah. It's kind of a neat little... Yeah.
    61:47
    And I'm making sure not to flip. Man, player plunge is doing... Player plunge is killing it. Look at player plunge.
    62:00
    Getting bonus, advancing a silver. Well, she got... You guys... Sorry, Rebecca, what were you going to say? Oh, I was going to say she got both of her little golds up there, and she's sitting at 50,000. So if she just nails that five and six, that will set her up very nicely. Yes.
    62:28
    Do either of you know what the one, two, three, four is for at the top? Is it worth any points? I mean, it's worth 1,000. That's what they say. But I feel... Is that it? I'm not sure. Maybe Carl knows. Are those involved in the double bonus, or is it just a 5-6 for double bonus? It's just 5-6 for double bonus. Okay, yeah. I wonder if you got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
    62:54
    What you would get. It's got to give you something. But sometimes on these EMs, there's certain things that are there and lit and shining at you and being like, hit me, hit me, and it's definitely not worth it. No, they're just there for points.
    63:06
    And Anna is having a heck of a ball. She's got 80,000 gold bonus already, and if she could just hit that little six, like right there. Oh, that would be really nice. Oh, my fingers are so sweaty. Yeah. Oh, that was gross. I'm sorry.
    63:19
    But she definitely already passed Leslie, and this is what Anna needed. Yeah. If she wants to move on. She needs to set up a killer game here to make it very difficult for Monica and Laura to pass her. That is excellent. Good ball. No double bonus, but a max bonus, and with 705,000 points, a really, really, really good score. That is very healthy. On Prospector. Oh, yeah.
    63:49
    So let's remember these points. 705,000 for Anna and 493. Oh, you know what I can do? And Carl is already faster, and he already wrote down the scores. Carl's so good. Thanks, Carl. I still definitely take a picture of the screen. In two months when I see this, I'll be very confused. You're like, what?
    64:11
    Was I player two? I just want to say I've been trying to come to this event for three years in a row, and COVID and life and things have happened. It's my first time here, and it's absolutely exceeded my expectations. It's so well run. Does it mean you'll be back next year? Yeah, I've got pinball friends now. I'm going to be back every year. You guys. But, yeah, just if you guys could see the streaming rig that we have going on here. Carl and his team do such an outstanding job. I'm a bit of a fangirl of his IE pinball streams already. So to come here and be able to commentate is a delight, especially with you two. It's like you're playing in your favorite TV show. Yeah, right?
    64:53
    And, yeah, if you guys play pinball and you're out there listening and you're like, oh, I don't know, like come down to this. It's been so much fun. And look at, like, how much space we have. Like you see this like big room here. Look how much space we have to sit down. There's space in between all the games. I was laying on the floor at one point. It was great. You have a nice little like line right here. So everybody will leave you alone. Yeah. Nap areas. Yeah. You don't have to worry. You can donkey kick to your heart's content. Yeah. There's nobody next to you. You can like slap the game and you won't hit anybody but the game. Yeah. I've been kicking my legs out left and right. I'm not taking anybody out in the shins. Yeah. It's been great. Be careful if you get used to this and you play at another location, you may break your foot hitting another game. It has happened. Not to me. This event is like a treat. It is just like a cupcake where everything is so nice. You have so much space. It's like when you just find it, it's like, oh, there's a cupcake and it's free and I'm going to eat it. Can I talk about another thing? I've been to many, many, many pinball tournaments in the U.S., in Europe, and I've always seen like the most beautiful parts of each city the industrial area and this here right now we are in the convention center in Riverside the hotel is walking distance food is walking distance there are so many different restaurants there's bars there's all kinds of stuff there's a small airport close by where we can fly to flight from into and it's just it's just great I found the 24-hour ramen restaurant I have not we got in at Midnight. The first night. Oh, and we are ready. We have Monica. She's collecting some silver here.
    66:30
    And Laura in this group. And Monica is player one. And also, of course, you know, player plunge. Player plunge is there as well. Yeah.
    66:42
    Just working on getting some control. Nice save. Isn't it annoying sometimes when it bounces towards that 5 or 6 and you think you've got it and it just hits right in between those? Does she have the 6 or not? Because on her right in lane, the 6 is unlit, but it's still lit. It is. Then she doesn't have it. So, okay. Dead light may be out. All right.
    67:08
    See? Spinning. There it goes. Spinning, still spinning. It spins into player plunge. It did. Player plunge got 200 points for spins. Good. At least player plunge's spinner wasn't lit. Yeah.
    67:21
    But this is a really good start for Monica, by the way. 278,000. That's a good one. And, you know, it's also nice, I think, to maybe be player three, because if you're plunging out player plunge, you get to have an idea of what you need to do to hit those two gold bonus roll overs. That's why sometimes in tournaments, the tournament director will plunge them. That's what I would do. I would be the one plunging it. People don't get to practice at a plunge. Yeah. Although I think it's a little bit moot when we've been playing all these games. Yeah.
    67:56
    Yeah. She's getting some... I didn't really go over those rollovers, huh? Yeah. Those rollovers are... They're tough. You can't, I feel like, just hit them on the edge. You have to really nail them. But now she is getting some gold advance and some silver collect. There we go.
    68:20
    Oh, it lost its juice. Oh, no. Not sending it all the way to the top. Okay, is she going to hit that five?
    68:30
    She seems to be kind of focused on the gold, even for the gold rollovers. There it is. It just needed an assist. Yes.
    68:41
    I mean, it makes sense why you're focused on the gold, since it's like 10,000 per gold or like 1,000 per silver.
    68:52
    You need to do a lot of silver collect to be able to get the same amount in bonus. Nothing she could do there. That was really just ripping straight down the middle. Mm-hmm.
    69:08
    All right, player plunge. Oh, it is lit for player three. That's interesting. I think it's her. And maybe that's why we have a player plunge for this particular thing. Let's see where the points show up. Yeah, It went to her.
    69:33
    Oh. It is just not letting her play. That was just tough luck. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Well, those little posts right next, those little teeny tiny posts next to the bigger, fatter posts can really just send you shooting down those outlands. While Monica's playing her ball, we have an update from the other group.
    70:04
    They were playing on Diamond Lady where Elisa got first, Emily got second, Kate got third, and Ashley last, which means that Elisa with eight points and Ashley with six points are moving on to the finals. So exciting for them. Final four. Are we there already? Right. I feel like wow it goes so fast
    70:35
    okay she's getting let's see oh my gosh that is rough That's almost exactly the same sling-out drain thing that happened right before. Yeah? Yeah.
    71:04
    Isn't it frustrating on these games when you feel like you are just not getting the time to play? Yeah. You feel like the game is playing you instead of you playing the game?
    71:17
    That's how I felt. My first four balls of Prospector, I think I flipped once. Mm-hmm. But that's what happens.
    71:33
    Ball four, so... Okay, plunge, player plunge. Player plunge. And so looking at scores now, Monica is so close to catching Leslie. Yeah. Anna still has a healthy lead. And Laura needs to do some work, but all you need is one ball. We saw it with Anna. But if Monica and Laura want to have a chance of moving on, they need to defeat Anna.
    72:05
    Because even if Monica gets second, that's really nice for her, but then she gets four points and Anna has five. So Monica really needs to... Monica needs to... What's Monica's target here to beat Anna? 705,000. It can be done.
    72:22
    She could go in for that double bonus, I think. Why not? When you need to make up this amount of points. Yeah. Might as well, right? Go for gold, as they say.
    72:42
    Oh, I felt like she hit that. Get out of there. Oh, very nice. Oh, there it is. Double bonus. Now get some gold. She's sitting on at least 100,000, so she needs to make up another 100.
    72:57
    So if she can max out her gold bonus, she will be in a great position. I think that would win. But I'm also really bad at math, which is why cards are hard.
    73:07
    Oh. Oh, maybe. Okay, let's not let the math go. It's 90 and it's... Oh. No. So, so close. Oh, my gosh.
    73:20
    Wow. That is so close. That is. Wow. So that means that in this group, Leslie and Anna are the ones moving on. And Monica definitely, definitely gave it a really good try. She did.
    73:46
    I mean, she executed what she needed to set out to do, which was build that gold bonus up and get it doubled. Yeah. It was just unfortunate she couldn't get another. Like a silver collect for the road. Seriously. That would have did it. Or a spinner rip. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
    74:01
    That is painful. Great game, though. That was amazing to watch. Ooh, good save. She's got her double gold bonus. Let's see what she can do.
    74:16
    Oh, she's going spinners. Oh, maybe. When you're in this situation and you already know that... I mean, I guess Laura can also still win, by the way. She could. Oh, I should not have said that.
    74:37
    Our math was off. It's challenging. Well, but at the very least, you know, she could have also picked up... If she had just gotten a little bit more, she could have picked up some points from Leslie, which would put her in a better scoring position overall for everybody. No, but Lara could have won if Lara had, like, beat Monica or beat Anna. She would have moved on. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So close. Hello, everybody. This has been amazing. Hello. So what do we have going into our finals? Because this is finals, right? We've got our top four. Finals time. Final four. We have Ashley and Elisa. and we have Leslie and Anna. Wow. It's a lot of A's and Leslie.
    75:23
    Ashley, Lisa, Anna, and Leslie. To the final four. That is going to be amazing to get to watch. Totally. I wouldn't, I bet you anything, again, I'm betting things, that Ashley might end up deferring game for pick at this point. I think that's likely. I think she picked all the games. She has picked Atlantis, Prospector, Taxi.
    75:48
    And in the semifinals, she picked Iron Maiden, Stargazer, and Diamond Lady. Oh, so she's picked everything except for Elvis. And Alice Cooper. Do we think that we're going to get an Elvis game in on the finals? Maybe, unless she wants to diverge. But then you get Anna and see what Anna picked. Anna has picked Diamond Lady, Atlantis position and then Anna picked Stargazer, Alice Cooper and probably position if she got second on Prospector unless Leslie decided to I don't know, it's unclear who picked Prospector you know, this is my first time playing in an event so big It's my first time playing cards, and it has been so eye-opening to see the strategy and how much you need to think about what you're playing, when you play it, how you play it, if you play something bad, how you've got to play something else better. And then coming into a finals where you need to figure out what you want to play and in what order, it is really amazing to watch everybody make those decisions, which are so difficult, and then still play as amazing as they are. Yeah, and if you don't do well on your own pick, you get the, oh, I should not have picked it.
    77:11
    And I think it's time for us to pass the gauntlet to our next round. It has been so much fun getting to hang out with you guys. Thanks for being here with us. See you next time. See you later. Bye.
    77:34
    in disc 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 Indisc 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 Colordmd.com.