What pins in each era would you say are really good to play that sharpen your skill/improve your game play more than others?
1. Modern
2. Solid State
3. EM
What pins in each era would you say are really good to play that sharpen your skill/improve your game play more than others?
1. Modern
2. Solid State
3. EM
As a tournament player imo you need to play all three of those games to sharpen your skills. Those three types of games play and feel differently you need to be prepared to play all types old or new for a tournament.
1. Hobbit made me a better multi-ball player
Indiana Jones for video mode
2. Vector and Fathom nudging skills
3. Bow & Arrow for ripping spinners!
Quoted from freddy:Hobbit made me a better multi-ball player
Hobbit and JJP Pirates definitely up the multiball awareness
I enjoyed owning a Space Odyssey for a while. Really honed my drop/live catches since you can’t cradle up or take control shots.
I try to have a collection of games from different eras and different style flipper mechanisms. Practicing little things and getting a feel for how the different kind of flippers work is crucial.
EM- Magic Town is the most difficult I can think of off the top of my head. That damn middle pop and ultra wide flipper gap means you have to be on your a-game 100% of the time. Sometimes the ball will go behind the middle pop and fly back around and up and you have to be ready for it should it happen just when you thought it was a goner.
Solid State? Hands down X-Files in our collection. Unforgiving ramp shots, all of them, you shoot precise or you go home.
Quoted from davebart5:1.) BSD
2.) Black Hole
3.) Sure Shot
You know, I wasn't expecting that anyone would mention Bram Stoker's Dracula , but you're totally right. It's a challenging game, and trying to hit that floating Mist Multiball shot really helped me practice my aim when I was new to pinball. Hopefully it shows up around here someday...
For EM, Grand Prix teaches flipper/ball control, since the inlanes will drain a ball coming with speed back up from the flipper.
I think my Indy 500 sharpens my skills.
However, my skills are primitive compared to others in the forum.
Quoted from wolverinetuner:For EM, Grand Prix teaches flipper/ball control, since the inlanes will drain a ball coming with speed back up from the flipper.
I've played a fair bit of "Torch"... which sounds like it does a similar thing
1. Metallica
2. Paragon, Quicksilver, Flash Gordon
3. Big Deal. So hard to get both banks of drops down, then shoot that tight horseshoe shot
Quoted from TBatti:What pins in each era would you say are really good to play that sharpen your skill/improve your game play more than others?
1. Modern
2. Solid State
3. EM
1. The Walking Dead
2. Harlem Globetrotters or Stars
3. Royal Flush or Jungle Queen
No Fear set up super steep with half a bottle of Jack and some supreme bud going on is filling the void between modern and solid state lately. Fast game.
Nothing will help you Tony
I kid.
EM's helped me a lot with nudging skills early on.
Any pinball will help.
Pick a game that makes you make your shots, like Tron,BK SLR,Ironman,TWD.
Just to name a few of the ones that punish you if you miss your shots.
Ball control is key.
I still need to work on post passes, and dead flip passes.
Johnny Mnemonic saw my biggest spike of improvement. Super fast paced, definitely sharpens your reflexes.
listen closely:
jack up the back legs, tighten the tilt, pull the out lane posts, turn off ball savers, no extra balls, tight sling shot switches.
white rubber on all posts, etc. red flipper rubber.
set your games up hard just like that and trust me, your skills will grow fast. you won't be able to make mistakes with a hard set up game and shot selection and time management becomes key.
X-Men is good one, shots are tight an you have to stop an think of your next shot, you can’t flail like crazy because you will get lots of brick shots an not get anywhere.
For me TNA and Star Wars LE sharpen my control skills. Both games are crazy fast and require the player to slow it down and control the shots. Other notable mentions are Wheel Of Fortune and Ghostbusters LE. Both WOF and GB require the player to alter their playing method. It often takes me several games to adjust to the flipper gap and change technique to play properly. If I go straight from a regular flipper gap game to WOF or GB I get my ass handed to me. Trying to post pass with these games is very difficult and takes extra practice.
Quoted from terrapinmark:1) Modern: Popeye
2) Solid S: Solar Ride
3) Electro M: Ro Go
Okay I’ll bite.
Why Popeye?
Quoted from silver_spinner:listen closely:
jack up the back legs, tighten the tilt, pull the out lane posts, turn off ball savers, no extra balls, tight sling shot switches.
white rubber on all posts, etc. red flipper rubber.
set your games up hard just like that and trust me, your skills will grow fast. you won't be able to make mistakes with a hard set up game and shot selection and time management becomes key.
silver_spinner well said and 100% true.
Quoted from Stones:Black Knight sword of rage.....
X2 for BKSOR. Missed shots are extra punishing on this one. My aim and ball control have noticably improved since bringing this one home.
Quoted from gunstarhero:Okay I’ll bite.
Why Popeye?
Just seems you have to always be paying attention due to the ball constantly being hidden. Bad design but requires you to always be alert and ready.
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