uh, maybe therapy?

I've run into that but not enough to know the elixir. I think it's like you're saying, it's not necessarily that you are a TSPP master but a master at YOUR version of it. The last time I knew a machine of mine was on the roster I stopped playing my own. Not sure how much that helped but I also tried to play that location's version a few times to test out the differences (flipper return speeds, outhole kickout direction, etc). But then all of that puts you in high alert which we know is a recipe for disaster.

Playing on location regularly. If you can win on dirty leaning games with half the GI burnt out, you can win on anything. If you look up and down the list of the top 100 players, you'll see a lot of guys who learned how to play on location. No better training ground. Playing on location is all about adjusting to the current conditions.

Are you also saying that you score huge scores on your games EVERY game? I can break 100 million on my CV pretty regularly, but there are 5 million score games between them all the time.

I agree, that no two games play alike...observed so many times. You could have easily had a monster score the next game. Sometimes the ball bounces just right, in or out of your favor. I know lots of times you put up a huge score...only to put up nothing the next game....and you think, "I was just hitting all the shots...now I am bricking them, how is it possible?"

Anytime I have a huge score on a game at home...I go to another machine....so I leave on a high note. With IM in the collection...anytime you can leave feeling good about it..leave before you put up 3 million the next game and change your out look.

Same thing happens to me. Always aware of the differences in how the same title is playing. I try to not think so much and just go with the flow. Sometimes it helps and sometimes not.

So maybe approach it as a new game that you just happen to know the rules and not an expectation of how it should play?

Eric

Keep your eye on the ball.

I had the exact same experience with WOZ that night.
At home, I can liquidate the witch. League night I didn't even start a multiball.

Had this happen to me just last Saturday in my league, scored 5 million on TAF , a machine which I own with most games averaging over 250million and a high score of 980million. I was so pissed I came home and told my wife I could post a higher score with 3 plunger shots without touching the flippers. Scored 6million on three plunger shots without touching the flippers.....FUCK!

It sounds like the following is happening...

- you REALLY want to do well
- if you play on a game you are good at (at home), you anticipate you SHOULD do REALLY well
- when you have problems (on said game), you get VERY irritated, VERY fast
- that irritation locks in - and you do not play well

Possible solution: you need to relax, and not get rattled so easily.

I may be off base, but I've done it and seen others do the same (in pinball and golf )

I'm sure plenty others have this issue, but most here are causal players and don't sweat the differences.

365M on TSPP is an epic score on TSPP. If your not ranked in the top 100, you should probably make the game harder. If your average ball times are 7 minutes or more (by the audits, not guessing), you definitely need to make it harder. Besides making your games harder (increased pitch, open outlanes), try changing them up with urethane flipper rubbers (all 5 different types), switch black rubbers with white and vice versa, limit extra balls to 3 (or turn them off) and try lightning flipper bats on games that shouldn't have them. If you learn how to play your games wicked hard, others will seem easy. Yes, sometimes too easy is 'hard' in league, but overall you'll have less trouble with new examples of titles you own. And mentally you won't be intimidated. Your game at home is way harder.

Same thing happens to me but it's usually the other way around. I will go to someone's place and play a pin that I own and bust out a killer score on it but at home I can't seem to do better than average. Very frustrating!

In our league we call this the McKenzie effect, or getting McKenzied. Explanation: We used to have this guy in league whose last name was McKenzie. We play at a location that has about 30 pins. He loved him some TSPP. So much that all he would ever play was TSPP. Granted, he had most of the high scores on TSPP. Then he would pick it in league and lose..... every time. I mean every time he would put up like 6M when he was putting up 85M and 120M before league! This is nerves....

The other side to this is like you said.... Picking a game in league that you own at home. Almost always bad news. I mean, you have a distinct advantage that you know the rules inside and out, and have probably logged more than 10 times the number of games than anyone else in league. But you lose..... almost every time. This is due to minor differences in flipper strength, flipper alignment, pitch, level, clean or dirty playfield, etc. And nerves......

How do we combat this? My best advice is don't pick games you own, if at all possible.