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Tournament vs At Home Play Skill


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Anyone else see a big difference? I'm not even talking about the familiarity of the machines, sometimes the same home ones can be in a tournament.

 

So many general bottom of the ladder scores and then like tonight, come home, in 5 games get replays and a couple of PBs.

 

What about you guys? My guess is just there's a mental hurdle to get over with the extra people watching you, opposed to the relaxed slap-a-pin about style you can carry with a rum or a beer at home.

Or maybe it's just a coincidence and sometimes play is good, sometimes shit.

 

Anyway, the plan is just keep going to the tournaments. Even if it takes a year of humility and patience, eventually these things will become second nature and the points will follow.

 

At any rate, getting 20 or 30 IFPA games under the belt, no matter the position, can raise up the Aussie ranks a bit which is fun to see.

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

Edited by visualmagic
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keep in mind tournament games are set up with tight tilts, usually no ballsave and no extra balls. i find i play worse on the same game that i own when its on site as i'm dialed into the version i'm used to (different angle, flipper rubbers etc)
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Strategy is different. Unless it's herb format, tournaments require a bankable strategy- you probably don't need a great score, but you HAVE to get a good one. Playing at home usually involves a low percentage strategy that will occasionally produce a massive score.

 

Knowing how much to drink in a tournament also helps. 2 or 3 beers helps me to relax and time my shots better. More than four and I start to lose focus and miss opportunities.

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Anyone else see a big difference? I'm not even talking about the familiarity of the machines, sometimes the same home ones can be in a tournament.

 

So many general bottom of the ladder scores and then like tonight, come home, in 5 games get replays and a couple of PBs.

 

What about you guys? My guess is just there's a mental hurdle to get over with the extra people watching you, opposed to the relaxed slap-a-pin about style you can carry with a rum or a beer at home.

Or maybe it's just a coincidence and sometimes play is good, sometimes shit.

 

Anyway, the plan is just keep going to the tournaments. Even if it takes a year of humility and patience, eventually these things will become second nature and the points will follow.

 

At any rate, getting 20 or 30 IFPA games under the belt, no matter the position, can raise up the Aussie ranks a bit which is fun to see.

 

IMO, too much thought can often lead to overlooking the basics.

 

For me, when I step up to a pin, I never leave my basic understanding in that it's G v The Pin.

 

As Regan and Jason together pointed out (in my mind at least), when it comes to tournament play (and your goal is to be around at the business end), it's wise to go a strategy based on bankable points weighted with the machine settings, and being knowledgeably truthful to your own skill set.

 

You don't have to have any knowledge about Rugby League to understand G paraphrasing Wayne Bennett... "I don't care about what a guy can't do... I'm interested in what he can do".

 

One area I fall significantly short in with regard to tournament play, is my insistence on repeating low percentage shots. I repeat these shots ad nauseam because I stubbornly know I can hit them when I'm dialed in, and I enjoy hitting them (whether I'm dialed in or not!). I'm not going to bother setting it up, however were some kind of electrometer hooked up to me whilst I'm consistently nailing low percentage shots on a pin, they'd have to invent some other kind of nonsense machine to track my euphoric endorphine zenith.

 

The reality is that low percentage shots are called low percentage shots for a reason... My persistence in attempting these shots shows (to me) that the Pin already won the war before I pressed the start button.

 

Fancy that... A Human beaten by a machine.

 

If stronger standing in tournaments is your goal, then my advice would be to locate both your low and high percentages, along with becoming your own ex gratia pinny accountant.

 

----------

 

With regard to feelings of nerves, trepidation, etc, that some may have when taking part in pinny comps, I have no advice. I don't give two hoots what anybody thinks about me as a person, as a Man, as a guitarist, as a pinny player, or any other thing. My deeper value system cares nothing for where my name appears in a list, on a badge, or on a desk.

 

One thing I do give two hoots about, is the people who share the same pinny passion as I make it fun to share our passion together, and together building networks and roads for peeps to travel long after we're gone done and dusted.

 

Cheers,

 

G

Edited by GEE
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The difference between making a shot and bricking a shot is milliseconds.

 

When you play by yourself,

 

it's you vs. machine.

 

When you play in a tournament,

 

it's you vs. machine, your opponent(s), self doubt, your ego, your previous mistake, interruption, noise, etc.

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This is awesome info... thanks.

 

And I think learning the ruleset for easily bankable points is a big takeaway here too.

 

For example, soft plunging a white water and shooting up the insanity falls for the skill shot also gets you only one shot away from unlocking the whirlpool feature. And it's come nowhere near a ball loss yet.

Skill shot on a TZ soft plunge is 10 million. Or 250k on a Funhouse, or 2 million on an Addams.

Small points achievable every ball with just a bit of knowledge of the rulesets.

 

That plus yeah, ego, and self doubt. I agree.

 

Putting some extra time in on the comp pins between comps with the IPDB instruction page open is probably smart too. Thanks guys.

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The biggest difference is at home you play the same machine several times in a row. In a tournament you play one game and then move on to another with completely dift flipper physics so you don’t get the opportunity to get dialled in on the shots.
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And I think learning the ruleset for easily bankable points is a big takeaway here too.

 

 

Skill shot on a TZ soft plunge is 10 million. Or 250k on a Funhouse, or 2 million on an Addams.

Small points achievable every ball with just a bit of knowledge of the rulesets.

 

I wouldn't recommend attempting the skill shot on any of those three games. The TZ skill shot is notoriously unfair. If you get it right the ball ends up in the bumpers, and there's a good chance it'll land in the outlane. TAF offers a paltry 2M plus, and plunging too hard sends the ball to the mini flipper where you either have to risk a cross-playfield shot, or let it go and hope it doesn't bounce off the slingshot post into the outlane. FH isn't too bad and 250k is useful, but a soft plunge is better; the ball goes to the inlanes for an easy shot at the mirror (sometimes- rarely- it does land in the outlane, but you'll always get ball save).

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Putting some extra time in on the comp pins between comps with the IPDB instruction page open is probably smart too. Thanks guys.

 

I pull up https://pintips.net/ rather than a full rulesheet. Not always the greatest, but usually enough to figure out a basic safe strategy for a game I don't know.

 

I do find playing in public is different to playing in private. I find stuff happening in my periphery very hard to deal with, which generally doesn't happen too much at home. Some people find headphones help. Sometimes i'm tempted to put blinkers on my cap to narrow my FOV...

 

I think it comes down to practise though. How often have you got to a stage in a game a fluffed it because it was the first time you were there and it's a hurry up and OMG I've drained?... In a comp, sometimes every shot feels like that.

 

I used to find it much worse than I do now, but then I made finals for the first time at the start of the month and BAM back to feeling the pressure and finding it very hard to relax and focus.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

The biggest difference is at home you play the same machine several times in a row. In a tournament you play one game and then move on to another with completely dift flipper physics so you don’t get the opportunity to get dialled in on the shots.

 

Or if you're super lucky you get to play in the staggered finals format... As Player 1 on game 1, then P2 on game 2, P3 on game 3 and P4 on game 4. So you get to play ball 1 on each machine, then ball 2, then ball 3. As you're playing 4 simultaneous games across 4 machines, there's no chance to really dial in the flippers or shots and no chance to watch your opponents because they're always playing on another machine in their sequence.

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IMO, too much thought can often lead to overlooking the basics.

 

For me, when I step up to a pin, I never leave my basic understanding in that it's G v The Pin.

 

As Regan and Jason together pointed out (in my mind at least), when it comes to tournament play (and your goal is to be around at the business end), it's wise to go a strategy based on bankable points weighted with the machine settings, and being knowledgeably truthful to your own skill set.

 

You don't have to have any knowledge about Rugby League to understand G paraphrasing Wayne Bennett... "I don't care about what a guy can't do... I'm interested in what he can do".

 

One area I fall significantly short in with regard to tournament play, is my insistence on repeating low percentage shots. I repeat these shots ad nauseam because I stubbornly know I can hit them when I'm dialed in, and I enjoy hitting them (whether I'm dialed in or not!). I'm not going to bother setting it up, however were some kind of electrometer hooked up to me whilst I'm consistently nailing low percentage shots on a pin, they'd have to invent some other kind of nonsense machine to track my euphoric endorphine zenith.

 

The reality is that low percentage shots are called low percentage shots for a reason... My persistence in attempting these shots shows (to me) that the Pin already won the war before I pressed the start button.

 

Fancy that... A Human beaten by a machine.

 

If stronger standing in tournaments is your goal, then my advice would be to locate both your low and high percentages, along with becoming your own ex gratia pinny accountant.

 

----------

 

With regard to feelings of nerves, trepidation, etc, that some may have when taking part in pinny comps, I have no advice. I don't give two hoots what anybody thinks about me as a person, as a Man, as a guitarist, as a pinny player, or any other thing. My deeper value system cares nothing for where my name appears in a list, on a badge, or on a desk.

 

One thing I do give two hoots about, is the people who share the same pinny passion as I make it fun to share our passion together, and together building networks and roads for peeps to travel long after we're gone done and dusted.

 

Cheers,

 

G

 

Well put G

I agree that it is more about the relationships formed with those of a similar passion. I have met so many people whom have a passion for pinball. I would add that if I met them at the pub I wouldn't have a drink with them. However the joy of playing with and not necessarily against other players is the passion whether they are Number 1 or playing there 1st game.

It's all part of the thrill of beating that damned machine. That may be the same one you have at home or even one on site that you own.

No machine plays the same twice so first and foremost you have to beat the machine and make the shots even if they are low percentage.

Maybe it's a bit like STAR WARS...(the movie) 1 shot to the reactor and the whole thing goes down.

The main thing is you can play mediocre or well....I think it has more to do with your mood at times.....If things are generally well often you play well...

Sometimes other things can make your concentration wander...As you may recall 2 weeks ago today I left halfway thru a game let alone the 3 remaining games. My head space was so ordinary I thought it best to leave so I didn't upset anyone....

Couldn't play at home when I got there either...didn't play 2 balls before I turned off the machines....

Mind over matter? Not sure but there are heaps of reasons....

 

And G, I didn't even know you played the Guitar...

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Coming from the other side of this, which is the TD/host side. Big tournaments the games are usually set up hard for a couple of reasons. It varies by machine though, you don't want to make any game so hard that it becomes impossible to play. The difficulty level of the machines being played can make amazing players seem average especially if you're watching tournament vids from the World's or PAPA.

 

Some things you will see in big international comps (and some of the local ones):

 

Tilt - wound up, ball saves are doable, but moving the legs isn't.

 

Outlanes - wide open. Some rubbers removed on outlane posts if necessary.

 

Centre posts - removed.

 

Targets rewired on older games where the main objective is far too easy.

 

Setting older machines (especially widebodies) on more aggressive angles.

 

Removing all EB awards.

 

Harder software settings.

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  • 1 month later...
I have watched some ‘top 100 in the world’ in the US lately on live streams. They seem like very average players to me

 

The top 50 are excellent players, and the top 25 amazing. It is the difficulty of the machines that make them look average, and the fact that they are not playing the same machine game after game. You get one game on one machine, and then the next game is on another. So the flippers are completely different. Miss two or three shots and the ball is over.

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I have watched some ‘top 100 in the world’ in the US lately on live streams. They seem like very average players to me

 

Surely you jest sir. Have you played against the best players in Australia? Those guys have some amazing skills that you don’t quite appreciate until you see in action.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Aussie Arcade

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