Every ball plunged has the potential to be your best ball ever.

Yup. How many games have you had with an awesome ball one and a crap ball two? You never know, could be the opposite this time.

Only on Pinball Arcade do I do this.....but not actual pinball....

Yes. But if you're trying to get a good score - having 3 shots at it is obviously much better on average than just 2.

Every single time. Life's to short to waste making up for a crap 1st ball.

play it like you stole it

Never. If you're going to throw the game away anyway then just treat the next couple of balls as practice. And you never know. Last night I got 584 points on my first ball on WOZ. Second ball 1250. Third ball 489,000.

It only takes one ball

Restart every time!

Not if you're on location!!

Depends on my level of frustration. I hate restarting but sometimes I've got limited time and I've had a few bad games and I just want one decent game before I turn off the machine. I really try not to though. No restarts in tournaments.

Never. But when I have the glass off cleaning the pf I have been known to start a game and keep a ball from draining.

Nope

I've had this discussion before...but here we go again.

Yes, every ball plunged has the potential to be your best ball ever. So?

If you pushed the start button to restart your game after ball 1 because it was crappy, and that next ball plunged was going to be your best ball ever....guess what? Instead of being your best ball ever being on ball 2, it will be your best ball ever on ball 1!

So it's not really a reason to not start a game over.

nah, i don't push the start button after a bad 1st ball...

first i rage tilt, THEN i push the start button...

None. I never get shit with ball 1.

Well, can't argue the logic on that one. I'm doing an internet first. I am publicly changing my stance on this point in the face of unassailable logic.
I am always going to restart after a crappy first ball. Sh1t, that 480,000 point ball 3 on WOZ could have been ball one!
Mind you, Murphy's law would probably dictate that my next two balls would be crap. Flip on brothers!

Although, surely there is some nobility in the claw-back from the brink scenario.

Absolutely.

I don't always start over if I have a crappy first ball. It just depends. Sometimes I want to play like I'm in a tournament. No do overs there! So you have to fight back the best that you can.

Starting over after a crappy first ball can lead to playing lazy, because you tell yourself "if I have a crappy first ball, I'll just start over".

Never! The Mrs. always wants to but it's forbidden. ; ).

People actually do this? Weak...

Pinball is a game of skill. Restarting the game requires no skill... So what's the point of playing if you're just going to cheat?

Not saying YOU are a cheater in general, but why cheat yourself?

the thought has never even crossed my mind. You can't give up...keep fighting, man!

Never......I've GC'd games on 1 ball before (essentially). Hell my favorite game at the moment is IM......all you need is one good one!

Would you still call it cheating to plunge balls 2 & 3 and not hit them? Or use them to practice nudging and flipper techniques without going for a good score?

It depends. If I'm playing for a high score or working on technique, I almost never restart the game. If I'm trying to complete a wizard mode, I will restart if it's a horrible first ball. For me, I feel there is more of a specific game plan or strategy when completing a wizard mode that typically requires three solid balls(and usually an extra ball won as well) and a planned set of shots. Whereas a high score can only take one super ball. I certainly understand this can be argued that this isn't necessarily true but who says you have to make sense when it's your hobby.

Honestly I didn't even know that restarting in the middle of a game was even an option. I only got my game a couple of weeks ago, so before I had only ever played on location. Learn something new every day.

EXACTLY......I think.

Nope, that's quitting.

And that's practicing.

I used to restart the game quite often if my first ball sucked. I have since disabled the feature on all my games. It has forced me to concentrate as hard as I can on every ball that I play, and I feel it has made me a better player in the long run.

On modern games, you usually have to hold the start button for like 2 seconds. There is a setting to turn it on/off.

I'll admit it.... 2 out 3 games on my BSD are probably restarts. TaF isn't far behind.

I understand what you are saying, but that has nothing to do with the point about "the next ball plunged could be your best ball ever" as being a valid argument to not start a game over.

realistically...

it is YOUR machine in YOUR house... do what you want... you don't need the approval of the community to do so...

as noted in a previous post... if i have a truly bad first ball, and it's because the damn machine decided to send the ball sdtm without scoring any points (or minimal number), i've been known to rage tilt it because the machine deserves to be punished for being unfair to me...

This is one of the reasons I don't run on Free Play and make myself coin up every time. Kiddo used to hit the start button in the middle of my games...and it was too easy for me to as well when I had a bad ball. Now I play the full game every time. Plus I get to put quarters in just like the good ol' days.

Never restart, and that is the setting on all my games if it is there. (even on Location)
Plus, I love watching people try to restart on my games, and it doesn't let them. Ha Ha!
Play your game, Sissy!

I can't tell you how many times my third ball was the monster ball - it even earns me an extra ball which helps me build on my score. I never hit restart.

My wife, on the other hand, has played more first balls than I have complete games...

I have a mate that would reset my pins if he had a bad first ball.. I said to him,would you do that when you are paying $2 a game on site or in a comp game? He has stopped doing it now.

If playing alone I always start two games. If both first balls are terrible, I restart the machine. That cuts down the number of hard restarts and lets me know if today is not my day. If playing with others I definitely don't restart as to never interrupt for something petty and make up for the balls that I'll be putting on the expo.............

LOL, pussy's reset games. Play better!

I take a picture of the score and send it to my kid, with the caption 'worst ball ever.'

If I'm feeling it I keep going, if not I work on flippers or other techniques, if I don't feel like doing that I turn it off and make a sandwich.

Oddly, I'm sort of backwards...

On location, I'll restart. I always figure that my time to play on location is limited, and I would rather spend an extra $0.50 or even $1.00 to play a decent game on location and get further in what I'm doing instead of sit there and spend time trying to salvage a horrible game. I always feel like I'm on a clock at locations.

At home, I never restart. I figure I am playing the way I would have to in a tournament, and I'll set myself little goals after ball 1 and 2 to try to maximize my points. To me, it's a great way to play

If you ever play competitively at all, even dollar games with friends, this is a bad habit to get into. Kind of like mulligans in golf. Your score isn't real if you only play out games with a great ball one.

More of you people should play Iron Man for a bit and then return to this thread.

Pinball is a game, games have rules. If you just reset that's a puss move in my eyes. Oh can I have a four strikes , how about twelve mulligans , 5 downs etc... Pathetic that this is even argued about

I see you have a Stern Star Trek. There is no need to do a hard reset on a modern game. Once the first ball has ended, just hold down the start button. Unless the feature has been disabled in the menu, it will restart the game.

Sweet. Good to know. Life is too short to waste on bad balls.....

COS