Favourite Practice Drills or Tips?

[ronsplooter]

What are peoples favourite practice drills or tips that you use to improve your flipper skills. I'm thinking of things other than the obvious practice, practice, practice

I try and play some pinball every day so I've got the small amount of regular practice thing going already. Just wondered what people have found has helped them get their game to the next level?



I'll throw one in for starters which has been to do nothing but post transfers for entire games. I'll just pop the ball back and forth and see how many I can do before losing control. If I do lose control then I'll get it back and start again. I've only started doing this recently and I have got a bit better at them although I still lose control more often than not.....must practice more!

 

[mufcmufc]

For competition, not only are your flipper skills important but so is knowing the rules. Going for certain modes / goals may be fruitless, it's also good to know what a safe shot is. There are many different ways to play, personally I try to play and keep the ball going - I get bored by watching players hold the ball for ages, line up their shots, then wait, rinse and repeat - to me that isn't pinball it's PinChess

 

[Wayne J]

Agree with Nick. Knowing what shots will get you the points quickly is probably more important than keeping the ball alive. I've been watching Bowen Kerins tutorials on Youtube and looking at the rule sheets on IPDB. Doesn't hurt knowing the theory even if you can't do it in practise!

 

[roadshow16]

Agree with Nick. Knowing what shots will get you the points quickly is probably more important than keeping the ball alive. I've been watching Bowen Kerins tutorials on Youtube and looking at the rule sheets on IPDB. Doesn't hurt knowing the theory even if you can't do it in practise!

I have also been doing this. I would recommend watching the videos that Bowen has made on the Papa tilt warning blog to anyone who wants to understand the rules of a game and also a very good example of ball control and shot making. Check out his tap passing on Paragon, very cool. When practicing I like to have a clear objective, not always just trying to just complete the machine for example, but perhaps just repeating multiball or one strategy on the game, the Shadow video that has just been put up on the website is a very good example of this when trying to work out the best way of getting the best score.

 

[Matt Vince]

I try and practice on tables with hard settings, Steep tilt, side drains fully open and practice control! Knowing the rules and where the points are makes all the difference though i agree.

 

[Replay]

I had a broken flipper and I quickly learnt the bounce pass.



I cannot do live catches so any tips would be great.



Bowen makes it look so easy

 

[replicas]

Yes , there is a fine line between pin chess (boaring, yarn) and pinball. Just make sure you have fun while playing.

 

[Ewan]

What I tend to do is to practise a nice easy shot to use as my 'escape route' if things start getting a bit hairy, so I know I can hit them easily. I use the loops on LW3 and the left ramp on TZ for this. Other than that, shot prioritisation is the key. How hard is the shot and how many points will I get?



p.s I've added 'anti-cradling' code to the TZ software I've been working on which kills the flipper if it's held during multiball for longer than 5 seconds (as suggested by Phil Dixon). That certainly makes multiball a lot more interesting and stops the 'cradle-and-rapers'.

 

[replicas]

What I tend to do is to practise a nice easy shot to use as my 'escape route' if things start getting a bit hairy, so I know I can hit them easily. I use the loops on LW3 and the left ramp on TZ for this. Other than that, shot prioritisation is the key. How hard is the shot and how many points will I get?



p.s I've added 'anti-cradling' code to the TZ software I've been working on which kills the flipper if it's held during multiball for longer than 5 seconds (as suggested by Phil Dixon). That certainly makes multiball a lot more interesting and stops the 'cradle-and-rapers'.

Would love to see the Dutch players faces when they try and play on that machine. No more holding the ball and chatting about which shot to make next.

Can just see the arguements now "you took your finger off the button" " no no I did not it just died" "you must have let go of the button" NO NO I am telling you the thing just died"

Would pay good money to see that.

 

[Replay]

Would love to see the Dutch players faces when they try and play on that machine. No more holding the ball and chatting about which shot to make next.

Can just see the arguements now "you took your finger off the button" " no no I did not it just died" "you must have let go of the button" NO NO I am telling you the thing just died"

Would pay good money to see that.

That would indeed be funny

 

[Rus121]

I like to keep the flow going myself. Points mean naff all to me if i cant get there the way i want to. That means taking the shots i am best at whilst only trying the hard shots when absolutely neccesary. I find the hard shots become easier the more you play like this, with the eventual outcome of being able to spot upcoming shots well before the ball even reaches your flippers.

 

[Phil Dixon]

Would love to see the Dutch players faces when they try and play on that machine. No more holding the ball and chatting about which shot to make next.

Can just see the arguements now "you took your finger off the button" " no no I did not it just died" "you must have let go of the button" NO NO I am telling you the thing just died"

Would pay good money to see that.

Only does it during multiball if it's as I suggested. We did wind them up nicely on WW at the DPO by stopping half way through and chatting for 10 minutes