It would help if you told us which game you're talking about, but I'll take a shot.

On Stern's, you can enable player competition mode thru standard settings or the install menu. When this is enabled, you can hold in the left flipper button in briefly before hitting the start button and a countdown will start on the display. 5...4...3... seconds to start a player competition game. Player competition mode equalizes awards (like mystery) and any other rules that might favor one player over another. Hit the start button before the countdown ends and you've started a player competition mode game. As many players as you want.

Player competition mode is different than regular competition mode (which is also a standard setting). Competition mode is full blown tournament mode. Every game is equalized. Player competition is usually best at home. Your kids can still play a fun game, but you and your buds can play Tommy dollars with even rules after the kids go to bed.

If the game is new to you, you may want to consider doing a factory reset. A factory reset will change all the settings back to factory defaults. Then you can change setting one at a time and see what they do. Factory reset is under the reset menu in diags.

On Elvis, I believe the gifts from Elvis are the 'mystery' award. Mystery awards are generally random in normal gameplay. When a game is set to player competition mode or regular competition mode, the awards are always given in a specific order. You can see for yourself by taking the glass off and repeatedly lighting (knock down drop targets) and collecting the gifts from Elvis (upper saucer).

That's the most visible change you'll see. There may be other things that are equalized. Like not allowing player two to 'steal' player one's locked ball. Are you seeing the timer when holding in left flipper before starting a game? If yes, player competition is enabled. Award will be equalized when playing a player compition game (hitting the start button while the timer is on the display), and they will be random when playing a regular game. Read up on standard setting in your manual for more details. If you don't have a manual, you should be able to download one from either Stern's website or IPDB.org.

No idea. I wish I was more more familiar with Elvis. From the little I've played, it seems like a really fun game. I'm familiar with the competition rules because they're all the same on Stern games. Maybe someone more familiar with the game can chime in on that that blue suede shoe target. Now I really want to know. Anyone?

I once played an Elvis with Steve Ritchie at the Riptide arcade on Pier 39 in SF. It was right at the end of the pier and they had a giant window right next to the pins looking out on the bay. You could see Alcatraz while playing pinball. Ordinarily, large windows without curtains or shades is a horrible idea for an arcade. But due to SF's perpetual fog, it wasn't a problem there. Pinball with a view. $1.50 a game though, so you paid extra for the view.