Quoted from Azmodeus:Stroke and having three subsequent brain surgeries the left-hand side of my body doesn't work right . I just found out the other day having played some games for the first time in six months that my left-hand side is Jacked. Oh it just takes time and practice I could be much worse.
Wow, I wish you well in your recovery. Pinball may be a great way to re-develop your hand-eye coordination.
I can NOT Live Catch on command.
Just won't work for me.
I can Drop Catch until my fingers fall off, no Live Catch.
FeelsBdMan
Quoted from DeadFlip:I can NOT Live Catch on command.
Just won't work for me.
I can Drop Catch until my fingers fall off, no Live Catch.
FeelsBdMan
http://www.Deadflip.com/tutorials
I've shied away from live catching for a long time, until a newish player started challenging me that it "wasn't that hard".
In my mind, a live catch was that moment where the ball meets the extended tip of your flipper and just stops as if by magic. That shit is hard. But, catching the ball at the heel of the flipper as it comes out of an orbit is just as legit...even if it pops up a little, as long as you still regain control.
The right orbit in Game of Thrones is a pretty easy place to practice this, especially if you short plunge (which you probably want to do so you can take a free shot at the lock targets).
TL;DR The magical looking tip of the flipper live catch is really difficult, but the un-sexy live catch at the heel of the flipper isn't too tough if you dedicate some time to practicing it.
Quoted from ryanwanger:I've shied away from live catching for a long time, until a newish player started challenging me that it "wasn't that hard".
In my mind, a live catch was that moment where the ball meets the extended tip of your flipper and just stops as if by magic. That shit is hard. But, catching the ball at the heel of the flipper as it comes out of an orbit is just as legit...even if it pops up a little, as long as you still regain control.
The right orbit in Game of Thrones is a pretty easy place to practice this, especially if you short plunge (which you probably want to do so you can take a free shot at the lock targets).
TL;DR The magical looking tip of the flipper live catch is really difficult, but the un-sexy live catch at the heel of the flipper isn't too tough if you dedicate some time to practicing it.
The way I've learned to get better at it is literally try a live catch every single time you want to get control of the ball. I actually didn't start to try drop catches until recently and I thought those were tough to get down too. It was hard for me to know when to go for a drop catch. I still do the ones where after I complete the drop catch it rolls off the end of the flipper and drains. Haha. It's the equivalent to trying a live catch and you pop the ball up just enough to plop itself down the outlane. The worst!!
Quoted from ryanwanger:The magical looking tip of the flipper live catch is really difficult, but the un-sexy live catch at the heel of the flipper isn't too tough if you dedicate some time to practicing it.
I was surprised to hear DeadFlip say he has difficulty with this. I've watched some of your streams, DeadFlip. They're great and you're a great player. I agree with Ryan that it depends upon your definition of a live catch. I can do the messy one that still captures the ball pretty easily, way more easily than a drop catch. But, the magical catch where the ball stops dead is quite hard and only happens by chance for me.
One other skill that I've been pondering lately is nudging to save the ball from going down the outlane. I see people do this all the time in videos. I try to do it with some success. But most of the time, I watch the ball bounce around and just hope that it bounces to the return lane instead of the outlane. Only after it goes down the outlane do I think that I should have nudged. 
Quoted from zacaj:Having better than plus or minus two inch aim
i second that! what would seem like the easiest task or skill can be daunting. i can play around and show ball control and fancy techniques but the scores not changing which means im not hitting shit.
thanks
blake
Understanding the rules to games is the single biggest skill to develop, if you aim is to put up a big score. Having a strategy and knowing where the points are makes a huge difference. I find watching tournament videos the best way to learn strategy, might not be as in depth as say bowens papa tutorial. However watching how players approach a game in an actual comp setting is very informative. You soon realise that it's not how long you keep the ball alive or how many shots you make, it the quality of the shots.
Personally my biggest focus at the moment is ball control in multiball, resisting the urge to bash away, and keep at least one or two ball cradled up.
Quoted from epthegeek:All of them. All of the skills.
Except for programming skills.
Quoted from Jackontherocks:Reading and understanding the rules to gain more points in tournaments. I really just play and shot for what feels good while trying to keep the ball alive
+1
as its the way i like to play pinball for just playing pinball ! and it work in some case, mainly when no "pinball wizard" are in the same tournament...
but lets admit, we have to play as them (try to control each ball, each shoot) to be more competitive
already meet/battled few times with Cayle G (he's often in Belgium/Holland as living near), for sure i like to watch him playing, not for the fun of the game, but well for the efficiency linked to the skill
i'm good while shooting with no stop/start ball control, but this can't work (until you get lots of luck) while playing against these guys
Quoted from pin2d:Nudging.
Totally!
Quoted from Frax:Not getting pissed off and wanting to stab everyone.
I'll add accuracy to my list.
Pulling the battery's out my pins after one of my pinball partys so theres no proof my scores held up.... I will also never admit to this hehe
For me it has to be game knowledge. For example I can play a really great game on SM and start a lot of modes, get to battle royale, and when it's all said and done, I've barely broken 100 million points. I've watched tutorials and such on the game and when people get to that part of the game they usually have at least twice that score easily. I need to learn the best way to score on a lot of games.
That and nudging. Too many times I say to myself "I could have and should have saved that one" as it goes down the outlane.
I've been trying my hand at loop passes on Metallica and failing miserably.
I'm really working on something I see Bowen doing in his tutorials, but I don't know what it's called. When the ball is barely reachable with the tip of the flipper, he'll time it perfectly and throw it into the other inlane and trap on the opposite flipper. Previously, I was flipping both flippers in rapid succession, but his way doesn't throw the ball out of control.
I can get it right about 25% of the time.
Quoted from Spyderturbo007:When the ball is barely reachable with the tip of the flipper, he'll time it perfectly and throw it into the other inlane and trap on the opposite flipper.
Like this?
It's a risky move because as you can see in the video, the ball can travel too far up the inlane and sometimes get out of control. It can simply roll over the inlane/outland divider and into the outlane, or it can hit the slings after traveling up and around which can also put the ball out of control.
However, on some games the ball will usually stay in the inlane, which makes it an effective strategy on a game like Whirlwind when you're trying to get all the cellar "modes".
Quoted from Bugsy:Like this?
Kind of. He does it on the fly when the ball is almost traveling SDTM. He doesn't do it from a trap.
He does it twice here at about 8:18. Guy is freakin' good. 
I would normally flip twice in rapid succession which saves the ball, but sends it out of control.
Quoted from Spyderturbo007:Kind of. He does it on the fly when the ball is almost traveling SDTM. He doesn't do it from a trap.
He does it twice here at about 8:18. Guy is freakin' good.
» YouTube video
I would normally flip twice in rapid succession which saves the ball, but sends it out of control.
Oh yeah. Learning this move is huge.
Quoted from chuckwurt:Oh yeah. Learning this move is huge.
I've been trying to pick one and focus on it. I think I've gotten pretty good at drop catches, but whatever this move is called is what I'm working on now.
I'm decent at live catches, but still struggle when the ball is screaming around a loop at full speed. Still working on that one too.
Good thread by the way. It's nice to find something not filled with drama. 
Quoted from Spyderturbo007:but whatever this move is called is what I'm working on now.
I think it falls under the slap save. You cannot get enough of the flipper on the ball to save it with that one flipper alone, slap the side of the cabinet as you press the flipper button at the same time as it will move the ball closer to the flipper so you hit more of the ball. That flipper catches the ball just enough to push the ball to the other flipper as you're flipping that one right after the first flipper to complete the save.
Quoted from Spyderturbo007:Good thread by the way. It's nice to find something not filled with drama.
Now you've cursed it. 
That video was showing off the "shoot ball into the bottom of the opposite slingshot to regain control". Seems like that move is only done regularly by the elite.
Shot accuracy for me. I'm not bad at saving and controlling a ball (probably because I've had to get used to it due to my poor accuracy!).
That and recalibrating my aiming when a game has misaligned flippers, or differently-aligned to what I'm used to, or one is weaker than another. Not great at location/meet play.
Just re-stating for those that may have joined this thread late: If you're new to trying to play in a more controlled manner, the dead bounce should be your first priority. Well, except on some Gottlieb flippers, where a dead bounce simply = "dead" because there is no "bounce." 
Quoted from Snailman:Well, except on some Gottlieb flippers, where a dead bounce simply = "dead" because there is no "bounce."
Or on any game with super bands, which unfortunately seems to be most of them these days.
Quoted from Circus_Animal:Or on any game with super bands
It's even worse than this... I've found super bands to be incredibly inconsistent. This can be the case on any set of flippers with one flipper having "give" to it, resulting in truly deadly dead bounces. But I agree that super bands are not nearly as reliable for dead bounces.
I'm not that good at getting balls under control and in a cradled position during multiball. I've been watching videos lately where some players just seem to will the balls to go where they want. I'm ok and can occasionally get a ball or two under control, but some people have a major knack for this.
Quoted from Nokoro:I'm not that good at getting balls under control and in a cradled position during multiball.
Getting the cradle's the easy part. The hard part is making sure the other ball/s don't go STDM as soon as you've done it. Then of course there's the difficulty of repeating the jackpot shot with clockwork precision...
Quoted from Circus_Animal:Getting the cradle's the easy part. The hard part is making sure the other ball/s don't go STDM as soon as you've done it. Then of course there's the difficulty of repeating the jackpot shot with clockwork precision...
Agreed. I can generally get one ball under control. Once that is done, I need some strategies for getting the others cradled where I want them as well.
PAtience and Focus!
Definitely need more patience.
Whenever I get a game going for more than 10 minutes, 1 of 2 things tends to happen.
1) I start panicking and flail mania ensues, leading to a prompt drain.
2) I get bored hitting the same jackpot shot over and over that I break concentration and drain.
Quoted from Sticky:Transferring from one flipper to the other. Pinball Arcade had me thinking post transfers were easy... nope. Tap passing also doesn't work for me or maybe my flippers are way too sensitive but I can't do it.
Pretty much only possible in 80s Bally and stern games from what I've experienced.
From my experience, post transfers can be done on a lot of games, and other games it's not so easy. However, each game is different. You could post transfer really easily on one game, and not be able to on the same title at a different location. I can post transfer really easily on my Whirlwind and X-Files, but it's a bit more difficult on Meteor. Sometimes the geometry of the game and where the posts are located makes it more difficult.
On some newer games, what you can do is shoot a ramp which will return it to the other flipper. Like T2 for example. If you want to hit the skull shot, but it's cradled on the left flipper, hit the right ramp to get it to the right flipper. (The skull shot is backhandable, but for discussions sake, we're hitting the right ramp.) Same with AFM, shooting either ramp will return it to the opposite flipper. And with each ramp shot you are actually progressing further into the game.
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