Identical thing has happened to me, but further ago at a much lower level.

I try to work on my skills, play mindfully, think about what I'm doing and aiming for and how to keep the ball in control. And to that extent, I've gotten objectively better. In the few tournaments I play I'm solid mid-pack A/B line, on a good day I can hang well in A but tend to not have stamina, or know all the games well enough...

...which brings me to my hard reality slap: I suck at pinball and I do not have the passion or time to truly crack the upper echelon. So why bother?

Way I see it, the elite players either:

A) Have a "gift" of reflexes, sight refresh, and/or timing which gives them a natural advantage, or
B) have much more time to devote to rules analysis and location play and qualifying and skills refinement and and and... aka PRACTICE

B can only enhance A. I tried B in my limited realm years ago, and it helped for sure but only got me so far. Because I have a demanding job, kids, side gigs, multiple unending distractions, health ailments, etc etc wah waah cue the violin...

...but the point stands: In any competitive endeavor, success favors the gifted AND those who can devote inordinate amounts of practice to it. Woe be you if a gifted competitor practices! How much can you invest to compete at that level WITH the rising tide?

For me, I decided to accept my limitations. I don't have natural playing gifts... and I can't spend hours analyzing every last ruleset for every game I may never get to play. I can't watch every last stream or listen to podcasts for same. I can't go to every tournament (closest ones are 45min away and ALWAYS seem to conflict with other forced commitments) to learn from other players. So when it comes to tourneys and new games, I'm very much a blind seat-of-pants player: shoot the flashing lights and try to suss what I'm supposed to do. Hope I can actually hit what I aim for and recover when I don't. Some days, some games, are better than others!

But so what? I take comfort in that I'm better than I used to be. And a damn sight better tech than most people who focus only on gameplay. Or collecting NIBs It's still a fun hobby to be in even when you suck. Even playing mid-pack, I still have fun. And always smirk when I get compliments on a good game or my high rank in the moment, and tell the objectively better / consistent players "thanks but worry not, order will restore to the universe soon"!

And yes sometimes I really do just suck at playing pinball, so I go find something hopelessly broken to fix so I can feel better, haha. Most tourney players can't do that (or so I like to tell myself please don't take this from me

I think it's good to be comfortable with your path.

I play pinball very casually. I compete only in that I've played in leagues over the years and I enjoy the spirit of it, but I don't have serious aspirations. I don't travel to play. That said, when I don't play well at a league night it does motivate me to do better, or to look up the rules for a machine I didn't know or the like. Competition can be very healthy, even casually.

Where I am a little more competitive is in fighting games. Still more casual than not, but I do travel to enter tournaments, I go to the big events like Evo and Combo Breaker etc. I try to not go 0-2. Mostly playing Third Strike and Street Fighter V competitively these days.

I don't really practice, I don't grind. My goal is never to be the best in the room. I don't think I have what it takes, but I also don't want to put in the work that requires. Because it is work, and for me games are meant to be fun.

But even if I'm not the best I always want to be in the mix. If I lose more than I win that's fine, but I want to take those games off people. My goal is to be a player, someone who has fun, is a threat you at least have to take seriously, and can still enjoy the night as long as I win a few and kept it close.

as soon as i try to apply myself to pinball i start playing like shit

jumped 500 spots into the mid 600's in Q4 of last year by constantly reminding myself that none of it matters be the Tao

Helping run events since 2016 I've concluded there is a big skills gap between the top couple hundred people and almost everyone else.
The ranking number represents more than your pinball skill (as has been pointed out above.) It's also your willingness to travel to big events. You can be the most skilled player in the world and be ranked 500+ if you don't play events that result in a lot of WPPR points. And a moderately skilled player that travels extensively can easily crack the top 500.

I would think being that good at it would just make it boring after awhile. I like that even after owning a game for 20+ years I still suck at it

"but the delta in my mind between me and the elite players just got far greater. I got a ways to go."

Most hobbies (Skateboarding comes to mind), have amateur and professional competitions. I've joined tournaments (and will still do so) because it's fun, but I know others who are more reserved because they just would either feel embarrassed or don't feel they are good enough. Might be worth on some bigger tournaments to split divisions. If you already placed somewhere on IFPA then you can't just claim amateur and clean up house. Could offer a way smaller prize as well.

That game played amazing! And there isn't much difference in AIQ from 500 million to 1.5 billion. I got pretty lucky too, some saves that went my way ...

Keep kicking ass! The others are right, ranking is not a good measure of skill.

I like to ignore the ranking for a second, and instead click each person's name on IFPA and look at how many 'years active' they've been tracked by IFPA, under their photo. That will give you better feels as to how many are freak low year naturals (very few) and how many are reaping their seniority benefit from putting in years of more work than you. You will probably find it roughly sequential as you go down the list through state top 50/100. I can see that all the people above me have 4-15 years more than me, and everyone below me is newer. That tells you that you are still on track.

**edit - I was saying years of experience seems to correlate to a better player. Not referring to IFPA math using older score calculations. ex; Bowen at 29years versus the op at (presumably) 8years.

"The WPPR System will weigh recent results over historical results. Points earned over the last year are worth 100% of their value. Events one to two years old are worth 75% of their original value. Events two to three years old are worth 50% of their value. Any event over three years old is reduced to zero value."

In addition, the IFPA only counts your best 20 results in the past three years towards your ranking.

Of course there will be corner cases but as a general rule seniority doesn't count for much and neither does being exceptionally active. You need recent results from large events to rank highly overall.

If you really want to get down into the weeds take a look at your state rankings: https://www.ifpapinball.com/series/nacs/2023/standingsView.php?l=AZ
1st place has over 272 points but the person on the bubble to make it into the state championship has just over 82 points.

This event from April 8th at Starfighters earned the winner over 23 points: https://www.ifpapinball.com/tournaments/view.php?t=59980#
8th place got 7.91 points so if you showed up there every month and got top 8 you would probably be close to getting into the state championship.

I remember me and my buddy played a couple games with Lyman a few years ago. We jumped onto GOT and on the first ball, I go first and get a few hundred million and my ball drains and then Lyman hops on. He completes all modes, mini wizard and wizard mode on the first ball with around 3 billion.
It was a moment I won’t forget and it felt special to witness a player of that caliber and incredible focus.
Lyman was beyond great……he was gifted.
I will never……….ever be that good and I’m cool with that. Sure was fun to watch though.

Yeah, I had kids

I could be misreading it, but I assumed that the point Morgoth00 was trying to make wasn't that scores from more than three years ago were increasing people's rankings but that the years of experience was making them better pinball players.

Like most skills, you probably aren't going to be a top-ranked player without putting in your years of practice.

Recent event I went to, a high end player was next to me and it was his first time on the machine, he didn't know the rules, was asking some questions on it, his first try. First ball, over 500mil points and going.... like bruh wat.

I had already experience playing in tournaments against top ranked players well before I felt I got any good at pinball.