(Topic ID: 185594)

Twilight Zone: is hungry left outlane a myth or reality?

By nosro

6 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 10 posts
  • 8 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 6 years ago by Rum-Z
  • No one calls this topic a favorite

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Topic poll

“What is the ratio of left drains to right drains?”

  • 0.6 0 votes
  • 1.0 4 votes
    21%
  • 1.4 5 votes
    26%
  • 1.8 1 vote
    5%
  • 2.2 3 votes
    16%
  • 2.6 1 vote
    5%
  • 3.0 1 vote
    5%
  • 3.4 0 votes
  • 3.8 or greater 4 votes
    21%

(19 votes)

#1 6 years ago

This was started in the TZ owner's club thread where Coyote wondered how everyone compares with left outlane drains and right outlane drains.

So here's the poll:

Take your audit "B.3/17 Left drains" and divide by "B.3/18 Right drain". Vote the nearest number in the poll.

For example if "B.3/17 Left drains"=100 and "B.3/18 Right drain"=80, then your ratio is 1.25. I realize this can depend on how your outlane posts are set up and you can make that note below. However, I wonder if this myth about a hungry left outlane has been mitigated by post settings or otherwise blown out of proportion.

#2 6 years ago

My audits revealed equal left and right drains!

My left outlane post is set more narrow than the right outlane post. But certainly center drains dominate - 57% of my drains are down the center - despite the fact that I rarely nudge to save an outlane drain.

Center drains would be balls played (B.3/23) minus left drains minus right drains.

#3 6 years ago
Quoted from nosro:

My audits revealed equal left and right drains!
My left outlane post is set more narrow than the right outlane post. But certainly center drains dominate - 57% of my drains are down the center - despite the fact that I rarely nudge to save an outlane drain.
Center drains would be balls played (B.3/23) minus left drains minus right drains.

I don't nudge modern games (only when I play EM's)!

#4 6 years ago

Voted. I got 2.1x left over right.

Apparently, I need to narrow my left!

#5 6 years ago

If you want to understand "The Myth", I will give you a little history, before this post gets buried with thousands of garbage postings on this website such as The End of Stern 2017, "which game should I buy", "My game is better than your game", Look at my LEDs (I blind my friends and wife), See my powdercoated underwear, or "X versus Y" (even though neither game title has been released).

I don't participate in polls either.

BLUF: It is not a "myth", it is a reality.

If a person dissects the layout and design of the game (which many people will not, including owners), particularly coming out of the three pop bumpers and off the mini playfield, and have both outline posts set liberally at equal levels, etc, etc your left lane will always have a higher audit. If a right lane has a higher audit, or even close there is something wrong on the game setup.

A ratio calculation lane is complicated by a number of factors a person cannot necessarily easily determine such as playfield condition, alignment of wireforms, angle of the playfield, skill of the player, pop bumper assemblies rebuilds, and so on, so good luck with that one.
I am not considering any "slap saves".

If BLY/WMS engineers could not figure it out in 1990s, it is not going to happen now.

When the game was tested by Pat Lawlor during the final design phase in 1993, the ratio was roughly 1.25 to 1.
I don't know what the ratio was on play testing before the game went into production, as I do not know how the games were set up for play in the first place (see point above), but I assume it was very close, as the engineers wanted to see what happened with REAL players, good and bad.
If someone has 3 to 1, then there is no left outline post at all, or the right line is completely conservative, while the left is liberal.
Whatever the case, the game is not setup correctly.
The reverse is also true, unless an owner is completely blocking lanes, which also makes no sense.
You get the picture here.

This ultimately affected a future decision made by Mr. Lawlor directly during game production, and has relevance to this question.

The whole "which game playfields have post holes near the pop bumpers" story follows through this point, if you do not understand to what I am referring and lightly discussed by Ted Estes. Lawlor made the post "optional" for this region of the PF for operators who thought it was "unfair" based on operator reports, and all remaining production playfields were drilled and plugged, well over 3/4 of the production run. Most operators did not install the post kit, for maximum earnings, did not read the bulletin, never got the bulletin update, or did not care, and kept the hole plugged, thereby draining the ball more often out of the game on the left side. Total numbers are unknown that have undrilled PFs, but are suspected to be only the first several thousand. Remember nobody really kept those kind of records, just production numbers.

"And now you know...the rest of the story...good day?"
- Paul Harvey

#6 6 years ago
Quoted from xTheBlackKnightx:

When the game was tested by Pat Lawlor during the final design phase in 1993, the ratio was 1.25 to 1.

Have documentation on that?

And if you're going to post, please vote on your game's stats, too.

#7 6 years ago

1.33 with outlane posts equal at midway in slots and level playfield. I believe that TZ was biased to drain more on the left by design. It seems to me from the stories that Lawlor added the post/rubber option due to complaints from ops. Whether or not the ratio was 1.25 or not, a bias exists, built in to the game by the designer.

Skill comes in on any of the measures as well such as the owners propensity to avoid shots that end up in the pops. That would also affect any given result.

#8 6 years ago

Reality.

Should be obvious for anyone who has played TZ.

#9 6 years ago

I cringe every time the ball comes out the lower left side of the jet bumpers knowing that there is a chance it could drain down the side! I think this is par for the course for this game. I give the game some gentle bumps to try to resurrect it. This is usually the only time I tilt the game. My game is perfectly level. I updated my game code about a year ago and since then here's the results.....

Left drains = 389
Right drains = 280

My bookeeping shows Not a Myth! In reality TZ drains left side more frequently. My ratio left to right is 1: 1.38.

#10 6 years ago

I'll have to check my TZ's audits tonight. It seems like I lose a lot down the right side actually. This comes from shooting the hitch hiker loop a lot. In my TZ, if I don't hit the hitch hiker loop perfectly, and the ball doesn't make it all the way around, the ball will roll back out of the hitch hiker loop in reverse and will be heading super fast with laser like precision, directly for the right out lane. I have developed a couple of nudge techniques to try to defeat this, but I still lose what seems like quite a few balls this way.

I'll report back in about 8 -9 hours, because I'm curious. I'm sure the left has to be worse though.

Edit: After checking, it was 3,283 left drains, and 2,086 right drains. A 1.57 ratio favoring a left drain. Both out lane posts are in the middle position.

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