Keep all your games waxed and angled at 6.5° No grandpa-mode!
-mof

Posts on EMs can have liberal and conservative settings, allowing for less/more space for the ball to pass thru. These additional holes are hidden under the base of the post.

Adding white or black lightning flippers to a Williams game can make it more challenging. I did this with Sorcerer.
Also removed the center post...
-mof

use a timer of some sort. maximum one minute ball time. once the minute is up, let it drain. see who can get more done with the same amount of time.

Open up the outlanes all the way, remove any center posts, set it up steep, and install zipper or two inch flippers.

My suggestion for the most difficulty is to remove the flippers completely.

7.5 degrees on classic Stern SS machines. Crazy fast.

If you want it harder just open up those side drains and up the tilt setting.

On a serious note, have you tried glo balls and installing super bands on the flippers?

They have a coating on the ball and they are lighter from what I understand. I am not familiar with what the powerball from TZ is made from. I put one in No fear and CFTBL one time and holy hell, that ball zoomed all over the place!

EBs off
Hair-trigger tilts
Remove oulane posts
Waxed
High pitch
Remove center posts (if any)

2nd on setting up the slings as sensitive as possible. My slings fire if a ball hits the outside of the top post.

On my Spectrum I disabled the flipper hold, so you press the button and the flipper just goes up and comes right back down. Makes drop catching very interesting.

7+ degrees on playfields, regardless of the age of the game

EMs not much you can do except 3-ball
SS set some settings via dip switches that would make it hard
DMD put it on Extra Hard or whatever setting is the toughest to start and complete modes.

Turn off Ball Save

Make players do hand swaps. I.e. Left hand on right flipper, right hand on left flipper.

Unplug the DMD

Or take out the controlled lights fuse...

super bright led's everywhere, especially the flashers with numerous leds in them. turn the lights off and be so blinded you cant see

This is a great topic!

Here is my formula for making games more difficult:

- Set game specific rules to hard (or in some cases easy - I set Last Crusade on IJ08 to easy, as you get locked into that mode).
- Reduce time to complete modes, re-light MB, etc.
- Turn off Ball Save.
- Turn off Exta Ball.
- Turn off additional ball save features, like the pop up post on Harley Davidson or Family Guy.
- Widen outlanes.
- Align flips slightly lower. I may investigate different coil stops to allow for proper resting-flip alignment, but less travel, and therefore less ability to trap, if possible.
- Tighten tilt.
- Adjust Kicks and Pops to be more sensitive.
- Install 23/64" black rubbers on inlane posts - less up bounce at outlanes.
- Remove inlane post rubbers on some games. I have Sopranos and Dirty Harry this way.
- On center posts I either remove the rubber, or install a black 23/64". I don't remove the post, though.
- I've put lightning flippers on games that shouldn't have them. I did this on Batman Dark Knight.
- Install regular white rubber on kickers.
- Install Titan rings on all single post applications. If above outlanes then more down bounce.
- Install SuperBand rings in multi-post ring applications. If above outlanes more down bounce.
- Install SuperBand post sleeves where applicable - huge rebound in my experience, very punishing for missed shots.
- Use regular flipper rubber. Red and yellow are my most used. I think these make trapping harder, but that may also be an incorrect opinion on my part - I was told that black rubbers may be more difficult, but I ain't cleaning up after that crap.
- I haven't tried this on my EMs, but I heard folks use to replace stock pop bumpers with the next-following generation pops, so that they are more powerful. I'm not sure if this is actually doable, or smart, but it sounds interesting.
- Clean and Wax.

My decision for Titan or SuperBand rings is also to limit maintenance, as they should last longer than regular rubber. I don't mind rotating and changing Flipper or Kicker rubbers more frequently, and I prefer the feeling of these over Titans or SuperBands in these applications.

For sure no extra ball.

Because most leagues won't let you play it anyways.

Oops I am incomplete in my responses.

No EB
No BS
Open outlanes

That was how Main street Mayhem worked last year. They didn't even adjust the steepness. It worked great.

I was amused by the complaints from people about no ball save. I'm a novice but I didn't have any trouble because I reminded myself every time. Most players, even the really good ones, would forget and lose their ball.

If your league players get used to that then it's probably time to swap games out.

Maybe put the glass back on?

You can tell how long they've been playing pinball. lol.

I say take it back to the days of no ball save and tilt ends game. That'll definitely learn them!

Tilts were pretty tight as well but I think that was normal for the location.

It was really hilarious. TWD was brutal for a lot of them but I got multiball every time I played it and kept winning games on it.

The first day I was second to last but the second day I did a lot better after figuring out the ball save and tilt.

It definitely changed strategy and kept scores close.

Sorry, but this combination is not a good one IMO. Specifically, making a saucer shoot SDTM. That's just cheap, and combine with a tight tilt for no fun and pissed off players.

A lot of EMs have conservative/liberal settings for things via jones plugs under the PF.
But lots of good advice in this thread!

Tight tilts are good, but TOO tight is not very fun, so try to use "super tight tilt" as a last resort.
Slingshot adjustments can be a BIG diff. in play, getting a great tourney-ready adjustment will probably require cleaning the switch and a fresh rubber helps prevent chatter, as well as playing nice. (I say new rubber on bottom half of PF when u can B4 comp.)
Fresh wax, outlane posts, and game settings (software) are easy things with big benefits too.

Some games are just going to play long, esp. when a good player has a good game, that's kinda the idea of pinball.
But if everyone is having a long game, it's time to make a change.
Good luck, I think adjusting games in these ways is a very fun thing to experiment with.

+1 to:
Turn off EB.
Turn off or minimize Ball save.
Tight, but reasonable tilts that lets the player get away with one good save, and allows for nuanced nudging.
Sensitive slings.

As needed:
Open outlanes, or remove lane post rubber, or remove lane posts entirely (start with the first, and see if it's effective before going extreme).
Adjust the pitch -- but keep in mind that some games actually play HARDER when you have it slightly less steep, because it results in more side-to-side action, putting the ball more at risk for outlanes.
Change flipper rubber -- I don't advocate for Super Bands. In fact, I would try NOT to use them, because IMHO they make flipper skills much easier and thus, the pin is easier to play.

This is big for me. Adjust the pitch, outlanes, slings, wax, whatever however you want. I believe you should be allowed 1 big move or a few really nuanced ones. It's still strategic and frankly it's exciting.

If it's an EM, you could try putting it on high-tap. This will give the pops, flippers and slingshots a little more power and make it play faster and more challenging.

-Doug