Games ruined by competition play

[Wayne J]

The recent Avatar for sale thread reminded my how some games are played in competition which makes them seem pretty much one-dimensional. I'll give a few examples:

Avatar -
Competition players play purely for the multiballs. Understandable because it's fairly safe and decent scoring.
However, playing for Final Battle by completing all of the inserts is much more rewarding and makes for a better game.

World Poker Tour
Competition players play purely for Change Gears stacked with a multiball.
In fact, over the 4 years I owned WPT and played it extensively that is one of the most inefficient ways to score points and means you miss out on a lot of the other features on this loaded game.

Sword of Rage
On the Prem it becomes a borefest very quickly just shooting for the upperplayfield and playing the MBs - which is why you rarely see it in top level comps now - but again there is so much more to be had, the super modes can be really high scoring, but often ignored.

What other games have got more than strategies/features you see in the streams of competition?

 

[David_Vi]

Good thread idea.

I suppose an obvious one is Theatre of Magic with the left orbit all day. The soren ROM tries to resolve this but still, it's a safe shot and feed on most TOMs.

Who's really going to play the modes when it's a tight ish shot to the trunk which can put the ball out of control if missed.
Saying that TOM in general isn't that interesting to play past some nice combos

 

[VeeMonroe]

Creature from the Black Lagoon
I'm trading mine to @roadshow16 because the best intermediate tournament strategy is the central shot (Move your Car) all day and, between that and the skillshot, this strategy qualifies everything on the multiball except the right-hand loop (slide). Thus, I've taken to posting high scores by simply shooting the same shot over... and over... and over again, shooting slide, (usually) missing the multiball, and then going back to moving my car.

Junkyard
Has somewhat more strategy (I think) than the multiball and, as an alternative, Dog All Day.

 

[Epotech]

Congo, get to mb, cradle and shoot the ramp.
Judge Dredd, hit the left ramp over and over.

 

[David_Vi]

Junkyard
Has somewhat more strategy (I think) than the multiball and, as an alternative, Dog All Day

Not if it has the competition ROM, you can only dog once per ball.

 

[Wayne J]

because the best intermediate tournament strategy is the central shot (Move your Car) all day

That can easily be fixed by a combination of right slingshot being made more sensitive and the feed from the bumpers, meaning that it isn't a safe trap every time.
A 4x SJP can easily outweigh the scoring opportunities in Move Your Car.

Creech has multiple scoring opportunities around the playfield, depending on how many points you think you need should determine your strategy.
I recently saw someone hit the right ramp 4 times to start the 20mil hurryup and get quick safe points on the board. A strategy I'd not seen before, but was quick to copy - every day's a learning opportunity
Consecutive left ramps to build your combo bonus before hitting the centre shot is safe and scores well.
I also like hitting the right scoop to light the features - left ramp over and over is good points.

 

[David_Vi]

As Wayne says, @VeeMonroe I disagree regarding your analysis of Creech.
Not every creech feeds for a perfect catch for move your car.

I made our slings sensitive so the bounce pass is risky, plus from the pops the ball will often hit the left sling without a timed nudge.

Creech is an incredibly good competition game because of the different ways of scoring. Depending on your opponent you can't just go move your car.

I've not played two creech's that play the same with regards to feed to the flipper, it's something you have to adapt to. Eg the creech at the pinball office is incredibly floaty making the slings almost instant outlane drains. I can get 200mil+ on Claire's and have hit 600mil now and then (with 1bil being my best with multiplied super jackpot) but at the office its a struggle to get 50mil.

Here's our four player game from Sunday. For context Yuen was in this group

 

[AndyB]

As Wayne says, @VeeMonroe I disagree regarding your analysis of Creech.
Not every creech feeds for a perfect catch for move your car.

I made our slings sensitive so the bounce pass is risky, plus from the pops the ball will often hit the left sling without a timed nudge.

Creech is an incredibly good competition game because of the different ways of scoring. Depending on your opponent you can't just go move your car.

I've not played two creech's that play the same with regards to feed to the flipper, it's something you have to adapt to. Eg the creech at the pinball office is incredibly floaty making the slings almost instant outlane drains. I can get 200mil+ on Claire's and have hit 600mil now and then (with 1bil being my best with multiplied super jackpot) but at the office its a struggle to get 50mil.

Here's our four player game from Sunday. For context Yuen was in this group

View attachment 237739

Why did you take a bloody photo of it

 

[David_Vi]

Why did you take a bloody photo of it

For moments like this. It shows we're all $hit and how important game set up is

 

[Lecari]

Watching people do the loop on Dr Who and the Creature shot on Monster Bash all day on streams has been quite eye opening!

 

[Matt Vince]

Class of 1812. That UK open classics final where everyone just hit the left ramp over and over and over was miserable to be a part of. Maybe I feel that way because I didn't win but it was boring as hell

 

[M4carp]

I watched some footage at a comp playing monster bash, one of the players a young guy started hitting the Creech shot over and over again, rinse-repeat.
All the other players after that did the same thing, was so funny to watch. It was like the young guy was disrespecting the others and they had to copy.

 

[DRD]

Earthshaker - Just shoot the central ramp over and over again. I took down the high score on my old one the day I got it doing this so sold the game in relatively short order.

Banzai - just shooting the hill over and over without ever going for multiball.

Gottlieb World Challenge Soccer. Cayle George just played the same shot over and over and over on this. I can't remember what it was but I conceded the match part way through as it was boring as hell.

 

[Wayne J]

Cayle George just played the same shot over and over and over on this.

Cayle definitely has the ability to find any exploits in any game - his knowledge is unsurpassed - and he's also a great guy. I played him in the finals of a comp in Belgium on Lost World. After the game having been beaten I asked him about the rules on it because I was unfamiliar and he spent nearly 15 minutes talking me through his strategy.

I remember seeing him on stream play GoT. He had Iron Throne ready to start, but had already used his Martell Add-a-ball power up that ball so didn't want to start IT until the next ball. He spent the next 20 minutes doing nothing but shooting the left loop, increasing his bonus from the rollovers, catching the ball on the flipper as it returned from the pops, and then shooting the left loop again. Points were low but it was safe.

 

[SteadyP]

Hey Wayne- what other modes reward well on WPT when stacked with multiball? I find change gears to be the best but have also focused on getting to the mini wizard in the past and this didn’t seem to score as high as getting a high change gears with multiball. Cheers, Peter

 

[GezTheHealer]

Any game with a short plunge skill shot which can be repeated ad nauseam.

I don't know why, but I get really annoyed waiting for someone to get the perfect number of spins on JunkYard, or repeatedly watching it roll up and down the shooter lane on WhiteWater.
I get annoyed when playing it myself, and if it hasn't worked after a few goes - tempted to forget it and full plunge, but then you start your game in a grump.
My patience has worn thin with this, now after the first missed plunge - I can feel myself getting annoyed thinking 'how long am I gonna be waiting here...'.

Stern Metallica has it spot on, button press for skill shot, short plunge if you want to get it to a flipper & early control, or standard skillshot over a lane into the pops. Perfect.

 

[C&C]

As Wayne says, @VeeMonroe I disagree regarding your analysis of Creech.
Not every creech feeds for a perfect catch for move your car.

I made our slings sensitive so the bounce pass is risky, plus from the pops the ball will often hit the left sling without a timed nudge.

Creech is an incredibly good competition game because of the different ways of scoring. Depending on your opponent you can't just go move your car.

I've not played two creech's that play the same with regards to feed to the flipper, it's something you have to adapt to. Eg the creech at the pinball office is incredibly floaty making the slings almost instant outlane drains. I can get 200mil+ on Claire's and have hit 600mil now and then (with 1bil being my best with multiplied super jackpot) but at the office its a struggle to get 50mil.

Here's our four player game from Sunday. For context Yuen was in this group

View attachment 237739

Whereas on the same day on the same machine, I thought I was in a decent position in the semi final with an 80M lead, and score of 90M+ through Move your car, only to be soundly beaten by Chris Miller on his last ball who also went with Move your car to end up with 140M.

 

[kevlar]

Any game with a short plunge skill shot which can be repeated ad nauseam.

I don't know why, but I get really annoyed waiting for someone to get the perfect number of spins on JunkYard, or repeatedly watching it roll up and down the shooter lane on WhiteWater.
I get annoyed when playing it myself, and if it hasn't worked after a few goes - tempted to forget it and full plunge, but then you start your game in a grump.
My patience has worn thin with this, now after the first missed plunge - I can feel myself getting annoyed thinking 'how long am I gonna be waiting here...'.

Stern Metallica has it spot on, button press for skill shot, short plunge if you want to get it to a flipper & early control, or standard skillshot over a lane into the pops. Perfect.

Now you know everytime you play someone on Whitewater from now on they're going to short plunge about 20 times just to wind you up Luke

 

[Lebowskis Rug]

Whitewater is crying out for a short plunge exit into the pop bumpers. I've seen people take 10+ goes to plunge.

I'd have local tournament rules, any more than. 3 plunges and you lose your go.

 

[Epotech]

Same on tz, people trying to hit the rocket and not the scoop.