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Pinball Etiquette - League

robotgreg

robotgreg

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Aug 11, 2011
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Swanage, Dorset
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Greg
Just a quick reminder following some feedback from recent league meets of etiquette when competing in the league please.

Found this guide online which covers most of the points that should be followed.

http://howdoipinball.com/2015/03/25/the-10-commandments-of-pinball-etiquette/

Not sure we have too much of an issue with points 7 and 10!:) but do need to be aware of most of the other points mainly focusing on not distracting players whilst players and being respectful to machines and other players.

I think the main points to be aware of are not to:
  • talk to players whilst in the middle of a competition game
  • talk loudly in the vicinity of competitors during play
  • lean over adjacent machines
  • otherwise stand in front or to the side of players in their line of sight
  • shot loudly during competition and/or swear
  • unduly shake, move the machine or smash down on the lockdown bar in frustration
I know most of this seems common sense but it's easy to get carried away in the heat of the moment especially when you're trying very hard (I know I've been guilty myself!) and things haven't gone your way but there have been a few incidents recently so to try to moderate your behaviour please.

Loud swearing is especially relevant when children are present or could be heard by neighbours, there's been instances where we've lost league hosts due to machine abuse and the rest is just being respectful to other players whilst they're competing and trying their best.

Posting this as a gentle reminder on behalf of the league but guess a lot of it applies to all comps.

Overall don't forget that it's all meant to be fun, I know some of us take the competitions a bit too seriously (yes, I know!) but a reminder of general etiquette.

Cheers
Greg
 
Totally agree with any points about respecting peoples machines and acting respectfully!

However it must be an entirely different world in the leagues down South. In the Northern league, we are almost always way way overcrowded. It's definitely very noisy, people are always bumping into you while you are playing, trying to get past etc, and there are always people talking and or in your line of sight, it's just the way it is. We just get on and play the best we can and try to have fun :rofl:
 
Fair comment Luke:) We're lucky that most of the time we do have a fair amount of space behind machines here. Main point of the post was to raise these issues and remind people following recent feedback mainly regarding swearing and shouting but to cover other points as a catch all reminder:)

Agree not always going to have perfect environment and overriding factor is to have fun and respect other peoples' machines and players.

Cheers
Greg
 
robotgreg said:
there's been instances where we've lost league hosts due to machine abuse
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this is the only one that i don't like. this and the loud swearing in front of kids, but mostly this. at most meets i go to there are maybe one or two guys - probably just one tbh - that clearly have anger management issues and regularly slam the games almost every time the ball drains. it's a no no. you don't do it to your friends or your kids or your girl, or someone else's stuff.
 
cooldan said:
this is the only one that i don't like. this and the loud swearing in front of kids, but mostly this. at most meets i go to there are maybe one or two guys - probably just one tbh - that clearly have anger management issues and regularly slam the games almost every time the ball drains. it's a no no. you don't do it to your friends or your kids or your girl, or someone else's stuff.
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There used to be one guy in our league who clearly had issues. Fortunately he was made to feel unwelcome enough that he no longer appears, other than that, never seen any machine abuse in the league.

If someone is playing one of my machines, you can nudge the machine as hard as you like, if you think you can get away with it without tilting, but punching, kicking a machine of any sort is a definite no no.


The one that I think is a real d*ck move, is when someone looses the ball and then shoves the machine as hard as they can after the ball has drained, so that the next player ends up getting tilt warnings before they even touch the machine. I've never seen that in our league, but I definitely saw that happening at the UK final. There really needs to be a rule about that one! If you shove a machine after you drain, your score should be zero, as all you are trying to do is mess up the next persons score. In fact, what happens if player 1 shoved the machine and caused player 2 to tilt before they touched the machine? Is there a rule to deal with that?
 
lukewells said:
If you shove a machine after you drain, your score should be zero, as all you are trying to do is mess up the next persons score. In fact, what happens if player 1 shoved the machine and caused player 2 to tilt before they touched the machine? Is there a rule to deal with that?
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This happened in the UKCS final, not that it was an excessive tilt, and yes there is a rule that that player gets 0 for the game, and the affected player can play again or have another ball to add to his score.
 
+1 on the yellow then red card card system. Especially if folk pull out of hosting due to fear of damage.
 
I am quite happy to have others watching from wherever and don't mind talking or whatever - it's all part of the fun.
 
I think we should introduce "sledging" into pinball :)
..."Hey!! Your wife tells me that she can only get you to keep your flipper up when cradling your balls!"
..."Grrr!! You're making me so angry...you're really pushing my buttons!"
..."No wonder you fail to score if all you're interested in is hitting rubber!"
..."I knew you'd do that - your wife did say that when you use your tiny plunger you only get it in the wrong hole anyway!"

...I'll get my coat...

Regards,
Dan.
 
Wizards_Hat said:
I think we should introduce "sledging" into pinball :)
..."Hey!! Your wife tells me that she can only get you to keep your flipper up when cradling your balls!"
..."Grrr!! You're making me so angry...you're really pushing my buttons!"
..."No wonder you fail to score if all you're interested in is hitting rubber!"
..."I knew you'd do that - your wife did say that when you use your tiny plunger you only get it in the wrong hole anyway!"

...I'll get my coat...

Regards,
Dan.
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Swearing is a no-no Disqualification from that machine i.e last place. And if you don't like it you can f### (you could all see that coming)
I won't have it at my event. It will be in the printed rules.
Dave
The Welsh Pinball Cup
 
PinballDaze said:
Thanks to Greg for pointing this out.
If someone shouts I naturally turn around. Bad move. Ball drain....
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I don't mind playing in a noisy environment, that's what arcades are supposed to be like obviously but when you get someone constantly commenting on their game clearly heard above everyone else and maybe even on the machine next to you it's impossible not to be distracted. Also yelling " FOR ****S SAKE!! " at the top of their voice before storming out like a child can be pretty distracting too!
 
On second thoughts, forget the sledging - we need to ensure we can clamp down on any unnecessary talking, so in future can we insist that the volume of all games are set to zero - that way we can properly monitor & enforce the no talking rule.
With any luck pinball league meets will soon resemble World Championship snooker, or maybe chess, tournaments :p

Regards,
Dan.
 
The idea of shoving or hitting a machine after a ball drain seems a bit moronic to me. will just hurt your hand, **** others off and could break a machine. I personally prefer the " hang my head in shame and look blankly into the middle distance for about 5 seconds" approach.

surely having some sort of outburst is just going to release unwanted adrenalin into your system. From what I see playing intelligently with a cool head outweighs aggression.

Great thread this, I think Greg's points are good and just puts the thoughts into the back of 90% of people's minds to make the general atmosphere at all competions better. It doesn't need to be made to regimented, just common sense.

Although I do like the yellow cards idea.......... Purely because I want to see the reaction of angry people at being booked.
 
Maybe some people are unaware of their behaviour as they are so absorbed in the game ?
People have commented at work that I look like a bad disco dancer on acid when playing, and yet I am sure That I was very reserved and not moving hardly at all
 
mission65 said:
Maybe some people are unaware of their behaviour as they are so absorbed in the game ?
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Yeah, glad of this thread but it has got me worried. I went to my first league game at Ian's just recently and really loved it. Want to go to more. Maybe even host one if I ever get a decent collection going. But I was not aware of all these rules:

I immediately got asked to move away from the vision of one player (quite right). So, I've got that rule then but the others?

Fortunately I almost never swear (that's reserved for getting hold of the wrong end of my soldering iron) so I'm confident I don't break that rule.

But as for making a lot of noise when I'm playing. Er.... might do.

I know I get very excited when a game really gets going well. And very disappointed if I fumble a ball away. A huge OH NO has been known escaped my lips before now.

Something to think about. Maybe some of us need to play wearing cyclists' breathing masks.
 
I agree with a lot of these points, the meets I go to are well organized and run and I really enjoy them. I find its people that don't really know what is happening that tend to make mistakes which is fair enough, we're only human.

I do have a friend though that I sometimes bring along to league meets, and he does 1 thing which I find utterly infuriating, but he's my friend so I really have no idea how to say something to him without it sounding all pretentious and mean. Basically if there is a game on the end of a row, or on its own with a gap between the next game and we are playing (usually doubles) he will stand alongside and lean on the side of the game and watch. This makes it much harder to nudge and its also pretty distracting. I tried doing it to him once at the last meet to see how he found it but he seemed unfazed (probably because he's a bit of a crap player and doesn't really care). Do I just go for the throat and tell him or try to find some way of asking him politely?
 
Why not invent our own swear words that don't offend. For starters, Oh PLUNK! for an untimely drain, and perhaps a rumbustious KER-PLUNK! if its your final ball.
 
Archyta5 said:
I agree with a lot of these points, the meets I go to are well organized and run and I really enjoy them. I find its people that don't really know what is happening that tend to make mistakes which is fair enough, we're only human.

I do have a friend though that I sometimes bring along to league meets, and he does 1 thing which I find utterly infuriating, but he's my friend so I really have no idea how to say something to him without it sounding all pretentious and mean. Basically if there is a game on the end of a row, or on its own with a gap between the next game and we are playing (usually doubles) he will stand alongside and lean on the side of the game and watch. This makes it much harder to nudge and its also pretty distracting. I tried doing it to him once at the last meet to see how he found it but he seemed unfazed (probably because he's a bit of a crap player and doesn't really care). Do I just go for the throat and tell him or try to find some way of asking him politely?
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Get a spud gun and gently shoot him in the head?!
 
I can't string a bastard sentence together without ****ing swearing. Good job I'm **** at pinball and don't play in the league :rofl:

Seriously though, it's not on.
 
Maybe get tattoos on your forearms that read "No swearing and don't lean on the machines please". Then just before you play, roll your sleeves up.
 
Archyta5 said:
I agree with a lot of these points, the meets I go to are well organized and run and I really enjoy them. I find its people that don't really know what is happening that tend to make mistakes which is fair enough, we're only human.

I do have a friend though that I sometimes bring along to league meets, and he does 1 thing which I find utterly infuriating, but he's my friend so I really have no idea how to say something to him without it sounding all pretentious and mean. Basically if there is a game on the end of a row, or on its own with a gap between the next game and we are playing (usually doubles) he will stand alongside and lean on the side of the game and watch. This makes it much harder to nudge and its also pretty distracting. I tried doing it to him once at the last meet to see how he found it but he seemed unfazed (probably because he's a bit of a crap player and doesn't really care). Do I just go for the throat and tell him or try to find some way of asking him politely?
Click to expand...

Tell your friend that you dont want to seem like a nerd but that standing where he does wont be tolerated at a meet, he should practise watching from another angle before you take him to a meet....
 
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