I agree with this. The qualifiers removed a lot of the luck from the equation; but at the end of the day you have 24 people do-or-die on 3 games. You need both skill and a little luck. I put in a LOT of tickets to A and only managed a middle of the road 66th. I had a blast though and my second place in classics 1 numbed the pain a little.

But the fact that so many of the top players keep appearing in the finals means that it's more like 80% skill and 20% luck.

Big congrats to Esher! His win is not surprising to me as he more than solid on all types of machines for the 5 or so years that I've known him. He is well aware of his skill level, and now everyone else is too.

If that was the same X-men that was used in the B bank last year, not necessarily. These games are set up brutally.

Disregarding the delivery of this point, it's not really fair. Bowen really did poorly on his last ball, and Escher still had another shot - so it's still easily within the realm of possibility that he would have won even without the repeated lane bounce.

I think we'd all pitch in for that

I suppose, and ultimately all that matters is actually what DID happen, which is that Escher won, and Bowen did not, and that's all that anyone will actually remember. I think it's utter bullsh...that I get torn a new one for pointing out a plainly obvious fact in that he did have a lucky thing happen to him, but apparently, this is no longer Pinside, where people can have opinions, it's Fluffy Bubble Pinball forum where everyone has to be safe and secure and protected from the horrors of personal opinions

Take some for yourself while you're at it, since apparently the only reason for posting that was to troll me.

I've said my piece, draining the thread now so you guys can go back to your regularly scheduled echo chamber..

His game has really grown in just a few years, can't believe he is now a world champion. He beat me in a playoff round in California and made it to the finals in that tough tourney, right there I knew he was the real deal.

He definitely has the maturity to compete at a high level and he deserved to win yesterday, under major stress he plain and simple played better then his competitors. Would I consider him to be the player best player in the world right now, no, but is he one of the best out there, I would say so.

Can't wait till Pinburgh hopefully I get a chance to compete against him again.

Really happy for ya kid, congrats.

lets start at the 8 Hour 9 Min 16 sec mark when Escher steps up to ball 5:

Escher won Jungle Queen with a score of 136,460 to Bowen 104,460. Escher won by 32,000.
He would have need 16 "Free" or lucky bounces up that lane to acquire 32,000 points with the double bonus that is awarded with ball 5.

it is hard to discern when the switch registered more than 1 on some of the quicker bounces up and down, but we know that Escher finished with the 10,000 and the 5,000 light on bonus at 8:10:16 when he drained Gaining him 30,000 in bonus. BEFORE BONUS HE HAD 106,460 BEATING Bowen. So if he never hit another single bonus switch (which he hit some drop targets) he still beat Bowen by 2,000. So the world can rest easy that Escher is the true WORLD CHAMPION!!!!

I'm pretty sure Bowen has never had any luck in a game.

This reminds of the Big Bang Theory episode where the school brings in a whiz kid (13?) and the kid shows up Sheldon. To get back at the kid, the guys create a bring your daughter to work day, so the kid will be interested in girls instead and it ended up working.

Wow! A 13 year old, holy shit.....and people say pinball is dead. What happened to all the big dogs LOL!! I think I will keep my day job.

Luck in pinball...who'd a thunk it.

The winner of D Division. The trophy is almost as tall as him!

Good job champ!!

rd

IMG_5588 (resized).JPG

Where'd Elwin and Josh Sharpe finish? It sounds like Elwin wasn't in the final round.

I can't quite remember how it was worded but on one stream Adam asked Josh if he would be happier if he himself won a championship or if his boy did. Josh's answer was hilarious and just what I would have said but you can see Adam legitimately enjoys playing pinball with his son.

Great pics above. Bowen will have more chances I suspect.

I also like how Dave's Fiona is photobombing Genex's trophy shots.

I remember that exchange, I'll have to find the clip, PAPA 16 maybe? Josh's answer was perfect haha

Yeah, what a pinball stalker.

rd

http://compete.kotaku.com/13-year-old-prodigy-wins-pinball-world-championships-1794172650#_ga=1.103912835.2035358439.1479830067

Wonder if these wins by the youngsters (if they win cash)
will affect their amateur standing in regards to getting a NCAA scholarship in future.

you cant be serious? maybe when pinball is an NCAA sanctioned sport lol. I guess he wont be able to play in the Olympics pinball championship either?

+1

I was more worrying about if he wanted to play say college baseball,
assuming he has the talent for such,
the fact that you take any money won in any sport,
i think may disqualify students from any college sports, per NCAA rules.

as a former NCAA athlete I can tell you he can rest assured that his pinball victories will not prohibit him from that.

Man you're making him grow up quick. Wins PAPA @ 13 and now you're sending him off to college.

stop using evidence and facts...this is the web, let people have their factually incorrect "opinions".

Great article in the Denver Post ...

rd

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/04/19/worlds-best-pinball-player-escher-lefkoff/

"The world’s best pinball player is 13 years old and living in Longmont "

More like World's Luckiest Player!1!11...amiright bros?!?! <-- just kidding emoticons

Agreed, that's actually a really good article!