Some of my best games are right after a machine shop-out. Generally when you haven't developed a strategy yet and you're just batting the ball around. Sometimes the harder you try the worse you do.

I just experienced this with my most recently shopped game (Kickoff). I've owned it before and bought a second example as I really enjoyed the first. For a couple weeks I thought man this thing has to go, it is way easier than I remember. But now that I've settled in with a gameplay goal in mind when I play it's gotten really tough. I love it again.