I have my Shaq dialed in almost perfect to my liking.

Tournament Play is, I think, designed to make things more even if it’s you, three friends and you’re not on location. Since the circle is progressive (carries over to subsequent games) like the Jackpot in Cyclone or Bride o’ Pinbot it seems reasonable that they tried to squash the old one player cashes in and the others are left in the dust advantage - especially because it’s easy to collect when lit.

I put money in my game. That’s symbolic. Therefore I have it on regular play which, if you fine-tune the difficulty, will eliminate your issue.

For the record, that 20m bonus is only from hitting the Vari-target with the Advance Bonus light lit and is, in my opinion, the hardest of the circle.

Does your game have a timer for the normal multiball ramp shot after the first one? That made things more challenging.

Have you noticed that after you go through the Finals that sling shots will alternate turn and off uncollected event targets?

All pinball machines are fun if you stare at them long enough - provided they play well. Having just rebuilt my Shaq, I will say that it absolutely is a fantastic game. I bought it as a joke on a whim just to have a cadaver to experiment with.

DM me if you want my formula. It’s mostly medium timers and hard everything else - except Slammin’ Jammin’. That can be set to reset each ball. Ten shots.

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Tournament Mode is a misleading label. I think it can be fine tuned but I play with it off.

Here’s the thing. I use my machine like a piggy bank. If I don’t have any quarters I have a hidden switch connected to the chute 3 wires. Just a push button. You can also do this with the coin chutes. Personally I like laying down a couple coins to have something at stake. Just me. Tradition.

Since it appears you have a manual, it explains each adjustment and, with the tournament mode switch turned off, you can go into that menu and futz with it until you find a sweet spot. Free Play will be gone.

Find the switch. It’s next to the volume to the left inside of the coin door.

My key moves:

Adjustment 39: Novelty (no extra balls, no replay)
Adjustment 51: Game Restart Off (so you have to play through every game you start - like an arcade)
Adjustment 53: Game Difficulty : Fine Tune (
54–61: easy or medium to start. I don’t know how much you play.
62-68: whatever you like
ADJUSTMENT. SIXTY NINE: Shaq Attaq Circle Advance : HARD (you start with nothing but achievements roll over ball-to-ball, game-to-game. No lights are added between games. In other words, I can play 100 or 1000 games but until I complete each one, no Shaq Attaq. I’ve been trying to light that 20m one for a couple days now.

You’ll thank me for this. Adjustment 71 should be set to Easy.

Adjustment 73: Reduced Scoring. No freebies.