I have always wanted to get into pinball. But the few times I decided to really give it a go. I could do alright but most of my games seemed to end with a bounce that went straight down the middle out with nothing I can do about it.
When you watch professional pinball players. It doesnt matter what game it is they always seem to be able to avoid those shots even if its their first time on a machine.
So there has to be a method or developable skill to it. But I cant for the life of me understand it.
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It’s a mix of naturally predicting geometry and muscle memory.
You can’t stop a ball that’s rolling towards the gap (except by tilting the pinball machine) – but you can not send it on a trajectory that’s likely to ricochet the ball towards the gap between the flippers.
It’s said that ten thousand hours is what it takes to become an expert in something – the more experience you have, the easier it is to gauge shots around the pinball machine and avoid getting into situations where the ball *could* roll between the flippers.
Being on a new or unknown machine will make it harder but all your experience, both conscious and automatic, is still there.
I only ever got good at one pinball game. The trick is to hold the flipper up to “catch” the ball as it came down either side chute, then let it go down slowly and time it so you could hit specific targets that racked up points. Some targets were more valuable but have a higher risk of going straight down the middle, so you avoid those until you rack up extra balls. Then you go after the high value targets especially ones that give you multi ball. When you get back down to one ball, you get a little more cautious again.
You simple learn which ball positions (relative to flippers), speeds and angles are dangerous by playing a **LOT**.
If you know that, for example, a fast ball comming from the right side and hitting the root of your flipper often ends up in chaotic mess and has a high chance of going down the middle, you simply avoid hitting it, or just raise your flipper in preparation so it stops the ball.
There is no magic to it, just playing a ton. Like 4-8 hours a day for weeks. You develop a feeling for the ball and what situations to avoid or how to deal with them. And every machine is different.
It’s not random, some movements of the ball result in that outcome. Through studying the movements and practice you can avoid the moves
They stand like a statue
Become part of the machine
Feeling all the bumpers
Always playing clean
You learn the random.
It’s not _quite_ as chaotic as they seem. They have rules, and you can learn them.
It’s a very tangible experience though, so it’s more like learning an analogue sport opposed to a video game where the digital rules are more or less going to do exactly as you expect them to do.
Stand like a statue, become part of the machine, feel all the bumpers, play clean, play by intuition, have a supple wrist, play by sense of smell, have crazy flipper fingers.
High level pinball players figure out the one or two shots that are easily repeatable and least likely to send a ball straight down the middle or side drains, and then do those shots over and over again in a competition. When you’re just playing for fun you want to figure out how to unlock all the different scoring modes, so you make risky shots, and sometimes the ball drains, that’s the beauty of pinball. Gravity always wins.
This post brings back memories of high school, hanging out in the pinball arcade listening to Queen.
Yeah you mean a gutsa. I played all my younger years and dug ok. The trick is to know where and when to push or bump the machine and hitting the bumpers inside at the right angles, but you gotta know the machine and know just what you can get away with before you tilt it.
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