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Best settings at home for competitive play

Some people just get satisfaction from improving their game and competitive play

Well yes, so do I. But I was saying why let it get to the point where you're so frustrated you quit.
You can improve, care about competition and have fun so it isn't the end of the world if you do badly.
 
@Jonbazookaboz I'm so sorry your thread is being derailed. Hopefully you'll realise there are a variety of perspectives and it's all okay :)

Don’t be sorry at all- Im actually quite happy albeit surprised with all the difference in views. Personally, because I just got my first home machine and I want it to last a good while- improving my skill and getting deep into the machine based on my own progress, I thought there may be a standard way to play. Although, I can see there is not. I know I dont want tournament play as it is too rigid but I definitely want a reasonable 3 ball challenge that allows me to earn extra balls in-game and allow me to aim for better highscores. One of the reasons I love pinball is because I consider it to be a ‘pure’ game where skill can help you get better and everyone else is almost in the same boat. I dont like cheating any games but at the same time I dont think Id want to post a score that I had started with 5 balls and had every extra going. Ive always respected 3 starting balls from a purity perspective. I also dont want to ‘easily’ get too deep into my pin without putting the time and effort in through progress.
That is the best I can explain what I was looking for.
 
That is the best I can explain what I was looking for.
In which case, I'd go for:

3 balls
Extra ball for specials/standard extra ball (but not replay)
Factory settings for ball save
Set the tilt bob so you can nudge, but not shove the machine halfway down the street

Most NIB Sterns perform pretty well on those settings, I'd say, and provide adequate challenge without feeling unfair :) Also, download the PinGuy app to help level your machine :)
 
In which case, I'd go for:

3 balls
Extra ball for specials/standard extra ball (but not replay)
Factory settings for ball save
Set the tilt bob so you can nudge, but not shove the machine halfway down the street :)

Most NIB Sterns perform pretty well on those settings, I'd say, and provide adequate challenge without feeling unfair :)
Cheers- I screenshot that. That’s more like what I was looking for. That’s were Ill start and see how it goes. Appreciated!
 
@Jonbazookaboz I'm so sorry your thread is being derailed. Hopefully you'll realise there are a variety of perspectives and it's all okay :)


We had this conversation when Neil was still on here, I remember. He very kindly stuck up for me because, although he's a much better player than I (by some distance), he totally gets where I was coming from. Some people just get satisfaction from improving their game and competitive play :)


You have a different neurodivergence than I (probably) have :) I (naturally) have a blank facial expression, don't naturally maintain eye contact and have rote-learned small talk. Trying to look 'normal' at social events is exhausting - rather like having to pretend to be Hamlet every time you walk into a pub, but being unable to tell anyone about it :eek: I find goal-orientated activities a lot less stressful, where social contact can be optional and I only have to twist my face about frantically and remember to maintain eye contact for short periods while still having the opportunity - of course - to meet different friendly people and share a hobby with them! :)

Internet forums are great - I just use emojis for the facial expressions I lack! 🤣



Ack, going to depend on whether I'm 'flaring' 😆 (hopefully not 🤞:D ).


I think it is, but for the benefit of @Jonbazookaboz, the take-home message really is that anything goes in terms of posting high scores :) And, if you want to play in competition, regardless of format, it's different from home play :)


Well, the general idea is that I try to improve until I'm in the middle of the pack :) I'm not expecting more than that because I am in my forties and my reflexes suck :)
No offence intended but aren't you the one derailing it?
 
Dunno about you, but when a new pin arrives (NIB or otherwise) I'm so impatient to try it out that I don't even look at the setup beyond levelling it. Then for a fair while after that, it always seems more inviting to play it than to fiddle with settings. Took me ages doing all the settings for when I had my league meet - they're still not all back.
 
Dunno about you, but when a new pin arrives (NIB or otherwise) I'm so impatient to try it out that I don't even look at the setup beyond levelling it. Then for a fair while after that, it always seems more inviting to play it than to fiddle with settings. Took me ages doing all the settings for when I had my league meet - they're still not all back.
levelling? what’s that? to get the true arcade experience, remove one of the front leg levellers completely. oh and break a rubber or two.
 
And if anyone has the temerity to mention a problem, reply "it was like that when we got it".

@Jonbazookaboz I'm not sure where the second quotation box in your reply above (No. 32) comes from, but the mention of 'everyone is almost in the same boat' reminds me of some games programmed with 'insider' techniques which can advantage those who know about them. Corvette, f'r instance; a semi-secret code banged out on the flipper buttons enables a 'Secret Skill Shot' with the plunger which never occurs otherwise. Such easter eggs (as they're called) don't usually affect play, but ones like that do.
 
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Corvette, f'r instance; a semi-secret code banged out on the flipper buttons enables a 'Secret Skill Shot' with the plunger which never occurs otherwise.

To be fair that super skill shot isn't worth much and seems overly difficult 😄

Could say the same about super skill shots on MM , AFM and others.
I think it comes down to rule knowledge which is even worse with modern games where you can keep a ball in play for 15mins then someone can do a skill shot and a mode and double your score in 5mins😄
 
Hi Im just waiting on delivery of my first nib stern pin. What settings do you guys generally use at home so that you feel happy posting highscores? eg tournament/ extra balls/ saves etc?
I like to have a moderately good challenge.
Hi Jon

From experience I always used to put a new to me pin on 5 balls until I’d learnt the rule set and foibles then revert to 3

MM
 
To be fair that super skill shot isn't worth much and seems overly difficult 😄

Could say the same about super skill shots on MM , AFM and others.
I think it comes down to rule knowledge which is even worse with modern games where you can keep a ball in play for 15mins then someone can do a skill shot and a mode and double your score in 5mins😄
I think that was @Wayne J's point about swapping in/out different machines. Then, you learn all the super secret skillshots (or similar) :)

To be fair, I find the rules knowledge more difficult on Classics than modern Sterns. There's a tendency with the modern Sterns to have 2/3 lit shots to qualify the mode scoop/ramp/dinosaur, and to have a 'accidentally-hit feature' that starts 'casual player multiball'. Once you know which inserts qualify modes, and where to shoot for the mode, a reasonable player (i.e. not me) doesn't need much more rules knowledge, especially as 'casual player multiball' will normally start by itself if the ball ricochets around enough.

Some Classics are just 'rip lit spinner', 'hit lit saucer' and 'spell name of game in targets', but there are also completely weird (IMO) Classics where you do all those things, get nowhere and then, during ball three, you suddenly realise there must be a three-ball multi-ball you have no idea how to unlock. So, you go home, read the rules, and discover it's unlocked by shooting a top-left saucer stuck behind two targets, followed by three spinners in a clockwise direction, followed by the letter 'G' but only on alternate Tuesdays. And there is nothing on the game or rules card to indicate this - it's like it was designed as some extra-special secret treat for the persistent player 🤷‍♂️
 
Some games allow you to turn on "Buy ins" so you can press a button to get extra balls if you want to keep playing.
A few games have a separate high score table for this to keep it fair.
 
To be fair that super skill shot isn't worth much and seems overly difficult

And was disabled on works' example in any case - I dislike 'in-crowd' stuff.

Wasn't the idea that a lifting gate would operate, sending the ball to the upper flipper, for an attempt at looping? Like the regular situation for Fish Tales (except for the bit about an upper flipper).

Plenty of games, usually with Buy-In, have multiple High score tables. One which pre-dated this was (and sorry to mention it) Pool Sharks. 8 Ball play and 9 Ball play had their own H/S tables.
 
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