(Topic ID: 83429)

5 ball: Why does it exist and does anyone use it?

By Dommer

10 years ago


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  • 119 posts
  • 86 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 10 years ago by Dommer
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

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    There are 119 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 3.
    #1 10 years ago

    pretty much every machine i've seen has the option for making it a 5 ball game instead of 3. the only time i've ever seen 5 ball games used is on old EMs. never seen a solid state set up with this option. any reason this exists other than giving people more bang for their buck? i was also curious if anyone uses this option at home. think it would be a good way to get to some of the harder wizard modes.

    #2 10 years ago

    Ya, all my pins are set on 5 balls. Its funny when I took my kids to an arcade that had a pinball machine, they ran back and stated to me, "that pin rip me off".

    #3 10 years ago

    All mine are set to 5 balls.

    10
    #4 10 years ago

    five ball......eeeew.

    26
    #5 10 years ago

    I think 5 ball play is for people who have given up in life.

    #6 10 years ago

    I've seen Iron Man set to 5 ball on location.

    #7 10 years ago

    It makes the kids alot happier. Some of my machines are set both ways. I may make them all 3 ball when the kids get better.

    #8 10 years ago

    5 ball was the way it was... back in Pinballs glory days. Back when arcades like: Space Port, Dream Machine and Time Out were in all the malls. 5 balls was the standard, back when a quarter on the pf glass meant next dibs.~SpOoKy

    #9 10 years ago

    I have Grand Prix and Jungle Lord on five ball because it just feels right on older games with shorter ball times. Everything from whirlwind on is on three balls.

    #10 10 years ago

    Keeps the kids playing them with five balls.

    #11 10 years ago

    A lot of EMs (and even GTB system 1 and 80) have different scoring on 3-ball vs 5-ball, and the 5-ball rules tend to be more balanced IMO. Gottlieb had the bad habit of making their EM pops worth 1000 points in 3-ball which offsets the scoring considerably.

    #12 10 years ago

    only 5 balls on my 14 machines...
    Here in Brazil, all machines are set with 5 balls per play.

    #13 10 years ago

    Most people buy machines for their families to have fun. 5 ball games make it more fun and interesting for families and friends. Especially the kiddies. PLUS, an added incentive for me is to make the game as fun and enjoyable for my wife, who has basically NO interest in pinball. If I want to add machines to my collection, I have to do everything I can to please my better half (AKA the Boss!) and make it so she's into it and having fun.

    #14 10 years ago
    Quoted from Banker:

    All mine are set to 5 balls.

    Me too, for those of us novice players how else could we possibly get to these hard wizard modes.

    #15 10 years ago

    back in the day pins where 5 balls for a quarter , then operators wanted more money , and could not raise the price a dime because of the coin mech ,,, its just easier to reduce the number of balls to 3 ....then time later the price then went to 50 cents per game and the ball count remained the same because people where used to the change by now ...what a rip

    #16 10 years ago

    All my EM's are 5 ball, almost all of my System 80's are 5 ball. Anything from System 3 and all later SS Bally/William's is set up 3 ball. Basically, set up the way I played them in the arcades.

    Steve

    #17 10 years ago

    5 ball was indeed the way it was. I'm old enough to remember when they went from a 5 ball game to a 3 ball game. I thought it was a huge rip off and my interest in pinball waned. I was fairly young at the time and had little understanding of economics.
    Now, 40+ years later, all my pins are set on 3 balls.

    #18 10 years ago

    Pfftt... 3-ball is for wuss's...

    I play all my games in "Lance-mode"

    #19 10 years ago

    lowepg funny! I never heard that term before.
    I usually keep all my machines at 3 ball until I wipe off the high scores, they I switch them to 5 ball which was the way it was when I was a kid. Even though I am not paying anything thing to play, when the game is over after three balls I still get the feeling of being rip-off.

    #20 10 years ago

    That's because I coined the phrase.... catchy, eh?

    "One's all you need baby!"

    Anything more would seem like cheating....

    lance.jpglance.jpg

    #21 10 years ago

    Most em's should be set up on 5 ball, but there are exceptions. Newer games 3 balls. You ever try buckaroo on 3 ball? Sterns should be on 1 ball ; )

    #22 10 years ago

    I need 5 plus a 5 buy in plus one big flipper and no outlanes.

    #23 10 years ago

    I was raised on 5 balls ---- we were stupid back then, and that hasn't changed. Now, with better players and deeper rules, I wish we could set games for MORE than 5 balls, at least for awhile. When I read the debates about wizard modes, I have only Bowen's videos, glass off with the rulesheet in hand, or socks in the outlanes like I do for the little kids. My machines complain "It's not beautiful being easy" and wonder why the second half of the programming is so neglected. Maybe a buyin button on freeplay ROMs or a way to start near wizard level would help. Share the beauty of the games with the rest of us!

    #24 10 years ago
    Quoted from wolowizard:

    back in the day pins where 5 balls for a quarter

    Hell, back in MY day a game was 5 cents and you got 5 balls. Talkin' about the 1950's here.

    I have all my pins on 5 ball. It just doesn't seem right to not have it that way. Old habits die hard!!!
    Mike in Kentucky

    #25 10 years ago

    A couple of my early solid state games have objectives that don't carry over between balls, so I have those on 3 ball. Big Game, however, remembers your progress from one ball to the next when filling out bingo cards. I found that having it on 5 ball makes the goal more attainable (not that I've ever filled in all the cards yet...). Alien Poker carries over progress from ball to ball as well, but it feels fine on 3 ball.

    By the way, all the classic Sterns I have came from the same operator I believe and they were all on 5 ball. I don't have any info on the operator or when these games were on route.

    #26 10 years ago

    #27 10 years ago

    There are a lot of location games set to 5 balls around here. I would prefer they were set to 3 and maybe lower the price to even it out if needed. I would rather be recording standard 3-ball scores but I guess casual players must be more likely to play again if they had a little longer game.

    There's even one operator around here that sets all of his games to 4 balls. I guess he just likes being different or something.

    #28 10 years ago

    Actually, I just like a modest ballsaver-

    to me- thats better than extra balls...

    #29 10 years ago
    Quoted from Pintucky:

    Hell, back in MY day a game was 5 cents and you got 5 balls. Talkin' about the 1950's here.

    Amen . . . back in the day when men were men and women still wore bras . . . it was 5 cents for 5 balls. And when you got 'bored' you could pump up another ball for a little multiball action (blasphemy!). Then 5 balls for 10 cents. The slide was full on after that . . . every new transition was WTF but you just digging deeper for the coins to play.

    Whenever I play a game with 5 balls it puts a little smile on my face . . . I guess I'm just old school.

    3 ball or 5 ball you know you're playing either way . . . the man with the key sets the game his way.

    #30 10 years ago

    Its all relative.

    If you switch from 3>5 or 5>3 by the menu only its one thing. If you use the Install 3 or 5 ball option all the rules change and its really just a longer game.

    Not easier or harder. I have tried both many times and my score is similar.

    5 balls is more fun makes the game last longer and you feel like you have a fighting chance when SDTM hits.

    #31 10 years ago

    So why can you select 1 to 10 balls per game in the settings? Who has their games set on 10 balls???

    #32 10 years ago

    Only my Em's are on 5 ball...and they should be on 5 ball.. they are best suited for that...

    Everything else has to be on 3 ball...

    play like the pro's and you will be a better player in the end...

    and putting up a monster score on 3 balls is way more satisfying...than playing with 2 extra balls with the 5 ball thing.

    #33 10 years ago

    Our machines are set to 5 balls with fairly liberal settings.

    Just a family and friends environment. It's fun to see people get multiballs and have a chance at learning the rules a little better. I'll reset scores before a big party.

    We are just having fun and not going after ifpa rankings.

    #34 10 years ago

    Like many of the others here, I grew up playing games that were on 5 ball so it doesn't feel right when they're on 3 ball. I'm not planning on being at the top of the national rankings anytime soon so that suits me just fine.

    Besides, there are games that I barely have a chance to complete on 5 ball and would be pretty much impossible on 3 ball. I've "beaten" pinball magic one time in the years that I've owned it and I'm pretty sure it would never have happened on a 3 ball setting.

    So, like others, set'em like you like them and when people come to play, they'll play regardless of how you have them set up.

    Dave

    #35 10 years ago

    My home machines 'were' set to 5 ball until I realized I could not play every machine in an evening and was ignoring some of my collection.

    #36 10 years ago

    I actually ran a little experiment just out of curiosity. I had X-men set on 5 ball and AC/DC set on 3 ball on had a few non pinball people over one night and each individually told me they liked X-men best out of my games, which i thought to be interesting. So the next time i had a few different non pinball enthusiast over I switched it, I put AC/DC on 5 ball X-men on 3, and the results switched as well, they all individually told me they liked AC/DC best. So i did it two more times with different people and each time the non pinball enthusiasts preferred whatever game was on 5 ball.

    #37 10 years ago

    My wife just chuckled when i mentioned to her people play these on 5 ball. That made me chuckle. Shes a terrible player btw

    #38 10 years ago
    Quoted from jrivelli:

    My wife just chuckled when i mentioned to her people play these on 5 ball. That made me chuckle. Shea a terrible player btw

    Is that because she just wants it to be over as soon as possible? My wife would like my games set on 3 ball too but she never plays so it's not happening.

    Dave

    #39 10 years ago
    Quoted from egyptrus:

    Is that because she just wants it to be over as soon as possible? My wife would like my games set on 3 ball too but she never plays so it's not happening.
    Dave

    Nah. When she plays she will be competitive and try. She has had a few 25mil+ games on medieval

    #40 10 years ago

    I have my 80s set to 5 balls and the 90s on 3 balls. I remember when balls went from 5 to 3, we felt cheated.

    #41 10 years ago

    All of mine are set to 5 ball play....just a habit I guess at this point. I think it's mainly because I'm not ready for the game to end after the 3rd ball, lol.

    #42 10 years ago
    Quoted from SpOoKyRiDeS:

    5 ball was the way it was... back in Pinballs glory days. Back when arcades like: Space Port, Dream Machine and Time Out were in all the malls. 5 balls was the standard, back when a quarter on the pf glass meant next dibs.~Spooky

    Man, I remember the local arcade and quarters lined all the way up across the lock bar on xenon. So glad I got to grow up in the glory days of pinball and vids.

    #43 10 years ago

    Another good use of 5 ball is for PinGolf objectives in a tournament. I went to a pin golf tournament and all the machines were set to 5 balls which I had never seen on newer games but I thought it was kinda cool,

    #44 10 years ago

    Glad to see that there are lots of other wimps playing 5 ball games.
    I just like the two extra chances to not suck.

    #45 10 years ago

    Factory settings (or harder) is the way to go!

    Also the "i will pay for a better score" (= extra ball buy-in, e.g. on STTNG) feature is always turned off on my machines as this feature is purely a money-maker for machines on route and makes no sense at all in a home (free play) environment.

    In general i think setting a modern game to 5 balls is the same as changing the game settings to "easy", so in the end it's kinda like cheating...

    #46 10 years ago

    My old man has his fire on 5 ball but he just flips wildly never really paying attention to the rules.I have 1 game set to 4 ball cuz tftc is brutal to people that come over.Gives them that extra chance plus the buy in.

    #47 10 years ago
    Quoted from Bbismuth:

    I've seen Iron Man set to 5 ball on location.

    I happen to have an Iron Man on location set to 5 balls, much better for casual players.

    #48 10 years ago
    Quoted from Pinfidel:

    5 ball games make it more fun and interesting for families and friends. Especially the kiddies.

    For a short time I set my games to 3 ball. That didn't last long. 5 ball is more fun.

    #50 10 years ago

    I have all mine set to 5 ball. My thinking was similar to most above. It's more fun for my kids... However, that means I'm playing FIVE substantially longer balls when we play together. I like it, but it may make for exponentially longer games, as you unlock more of the modes.

    It's an easy switch if you don't like it.

    5 ball is for fun at home with your family.

    3 ball is for people who hate children, and want a divorce.

    There are 119 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 3.

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