2025 Pincinnati Mega Matchplay Qualifying Rds 1 19
Pincinnati 2025 Mega Matchplay qualifiers open with Game of Thrones and tournament logistics briefing.
2025 Pincinnati Mega Matchplay Qualifying Rds 1 19
Synopsis
Tournament director Eric conducts opening briefing for the 2025 Pincinnati Mega Matchplay qualifying tournament (20 rounds, 89 players, 43 machines, tiered Swiss pairings). Coverage begins with qualifying round 1 featuring Game of Game of Thrones (Premium) with notably tight tilt settings, followed by commentary discussing the tournament structure (12 rounds tonight, 8 tomorrow), rule clarifications (stuck ball/multiball handling, death saves, extra balls), and venue logistics (terrace and annex play areas). Stream coverage shows Ripley Smith dominating the first Game of Thrones match with 151 million points on a single ball.
Highlights
- Pincinnati tournament structure: 20 total qualifying rounds, 12 tonight and 8 tomorrow, with tiered Swiss pairings after round 1
- Tournament has 89 players competing on 43 different machines across two locations (main terrace and annex)
- Top 40 players make A division finals (up from 24 in previous years), with 8 making B division
- Game of Game of Thrones (Premium) at this tournament has updated code that limits how many times Lannister and Martell buttons can be hit
- Game of Thrones at this tournament has an unusually tight tilt setting, making nudging nearly impossible
- Ripley Smith scored 151 million points on a single ball in Game of Thrones, significantly ahead of second place at 36 million
- Cincinnati hosts a week-long pinball celebration: Wednesday Classics tournament, Thursday Road to Cincinnati, Friday women's and open qualifying, Saturday women's finals and finals, Sunday gauntlet
- Death saves or bangbacks result in tournament disqualification if intentional, or a game score of zero if unintentional
- Top 100 IFPA-ranked players who don't make A division can play B division but are ineligible to win prize money
- Women's qualifying had similar issues with Game of Thrones, with high score around 5 million, indicating the tight tilt setting challenged all players
Notable quotes
“Please don't believe their point. Once a TD's made a ruling, please respect that and move on with your day.”
“Ripley has 151 million. The next closest is Andy Pickkins at 12 million. So this machine has just been giving them fits.”
“This game is wildly complicated, but super fun to watch and even more fun to play.”
“I don't think Eric will change it. I've only seen him do it once or twice, change a game's configurations because players were just unable to play it.”
“There's nothing in the world, and I genuinely mean this, that I find more fun than watching and commentating live pinball. It is my favorite thing to do in the world.”
“Yeah, you know it's even harder when you're on stream. I'm sure Krista, you've experienced this where you know you're just starting a tournament and already you're on stream.”
“If you're in double danger, I actually scoot really close to the machine because it takes my weight off the machine. And now I'm just playing baby fingers.”
“I would rather be on this side of the commentator booth. Just something about the big crowd and everything. I want to be sitting here.”
“You really, really can't nudge this. Not much. Those little taps, those you can kind of get away with influence a little bit of the bounce of the ball.”
“All right, we're going to show you everything we can. And it's just about time to get going.”
Entities
- Cincinnati· event
- Pincinnati 2025 Mega Matchplay· event
- Game of Thrones (Premium)· game
- IFPA· organization
- Queen City Sea Witches· organization
- Andy Pickkins· person
- Christa Liam· person
- chuckwurt· person
- Dylan Sable· person
- Eric· person
- Gregory Kennedy· person
- Josh Craig· person
- Kiwi· person
- Nolan· person
- Ripley Smith· person
- Stuart Pomeroy· person
- Match Play· platform
- Arcade Legacy· venue
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