You have a good collection for that.

If you haven't already, get a DVD of "Pinball 101" and study it.

It helped me A LOT, even though I still mostly suck, I don't suck nearly as bad as I used to.

Work that Gottlieb EM. It will teach you nudging and timing and ball control.

The newer games like CFTBL are good for strategy (knowledge of rules) and multiball control and shooting for specific tight shots.

What helps me the most is good lighting of the playfield and being able to relax as much as possible. Difficult to do, as pinball is made to be exciting and highly frustrating.

It's purpose is to take quarters as rapidly as possible, after all.

RM

Play as many different games as you can with as many different people as you can. All games play a little different, even the same title will play different based on machine set up.

Open playfield games are good to practice slap saves and nudging as the ball is out of control more often than on games with a lot of safe shots.

Games with the safe shots (ramps with inlane returns) are good practice for sniping (hitting a specific shot over and over).

Open your outlanes, tighten your tilt mechs, and learn to play that way if you want to get better (to play in tournaments).

The answer is... it depends.

I am a badass at stern games. Drop catch, live catch, post transfer, nudging, etc. I can hold my own with a lot of good tourney players on sterns, because I mainly play sterns. Williams, on the other hand, with their different flipper geometry and mechs, pose a problem. You need to practice on Sterns with tight shots and 3rd flippers (like SM), as well as Williams games (STTNG and Fish Tales I think are two of the best 'reaction' and 'aim' type pins in that lineup.

Neither of these prepare you for the brutality of the 80s Bally Games (like Flash Gordon or Paragon), or the old EM games (like Central Park or 2001), so play those too...

Avengers, tightest shots I've ever seen. If you can master IM and BW shots, you can hit anything. TSPP also a good one, shot through reactors and to enter the treehouse also tough.

I purchased Pinball 101 through Youtube.com and can stream it whenever I log in with my Youtube.com account. It does require an internet connection to watch, since you don't get to download an off-line copy. I've mostly watched it when I'm at my computer or on my phone via wi-fi.

I think it was $8.99 to 'own'. I'm not sure if there is a rental option.

Bsd

I learned to be a much better player on every game by playing my Sinbad. It may seem weird to some of you, but controlling the ball with those 4 flippers just simply makes you a better player. Every time I feel like I'm in a rut on my DMD games, I head back to Sinbad (along with Joker Poker and Card Whiz) and it resets my skills on those other machines.

Space Station is good for practicing your catching skills. If you don't learn how to kill the ball's momentum, it rolls up to the slingshot and goes out of control. It's not good for learning post passes though, as it hasn't got any.

No Fear used to be my "sparring partner", but I traded it for IM which is great for that purpose.

I think this is the best answer. Play with other people. You get to see so much more when it isn't you, and they may have skills you have never seen before.

That and just power up one of your games and do stupid things. If you have an old Bally machine, try to do tap passes back and forth between the flippers. Really don't even play the game, just pass it back and forth with control. Try to hit the inlane on the other side. Try launching the ball, then do a dead flipper bounce to the other side, then tap it back and catch it. As you do that your scores will go down, but keep at it, and as you learn better control they will really start going up. It is all about ball control.

CFTBL made me a better player (I'm still bad!). I really feel like it helps teach you so many different facets of gameplay. Has tight shots, requires great ball control (especially in multiball), and can be real fast to build up your reaction time. I'm sure there are other games that can match that, but I just think it's one that really throws so many different things at you.