a little helpful wisdom from your CFFer's

[Dropshot]

"Slow it down - it's all about flipper skills. If you're not playing step the fuck away from the machine. If you're a beginner don't give loud advice even to your worst friends - just focus and enjoy yourself." -Bounceback Very very good advice.

"Don't look at the ball, WATCH the ball." -Dropshot Know the spin and where and how it will react on any slingshot/post.

"Why'd you just hit that shot? Because it totally made you drain." -Rom Know your shots and objective to progress the game.

"Breathe - Go Zen - Smash it up" -Multiball Have your routine, your zone, stance, whatever it is be comfortable and loose.

"It only takes one ball" -Tilt A lot can be completed and learned, worst case, try passing or trapping.

"Don't play at just one place, diversify" -Slingshot You got to learn your games, not to mention all Dark Knights play differently.

"Play in every local tournament. You're less likely to need a diaper when you go to your first major." -Deathsave There have been many new faces showing up, and they are winning.

"Doing poorly? Drink more beer" -Spinner Need there more to be said?

"Don't get frustrated, it gets cheaper. Also, wear a track suit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" -DDT Work for the replays and wear a trackie! (haven't you heard? You will soon!)

Use the message board! Also, use the portland pinball map. Great resources, sign-up and ask questions anyone is willing to help and go out and play somewhere with anyone.

[bounceback]

great list-- and anyone who has some more tips to contribute, they would be welcome (especially if you have some secret strategies to rape the pants off a really lucrative shot on a game we all play the same way-- did you see Eden's game on theater of magic???)

[ROM]

No, I was too busy losing to fathom33 on White Water.

Was he going for multiballs, or spelling "theatre"?

[bounceback]

just wrote up a long thread called "things i learned at ground kontrol," under the "General" forum. if you think it would work better as an article/blog on the main page, please post a link to it from there. i want people to be able to post the things they learned too. anyway, i included a decent breakdown of Eden's game on theater, although i'm sure i'm leaving some things out. i.e. yes, he played some multiballs that were worth a good bit, but he was rocking that loop shot endlessly and that was really the key. he didn't care about the "theater" bonus though-- he had it lit many times, and only collected it a couple of times. i watched that game, watching the score climb, and really didn't know what was happening, since he didn't hit the shot, and even after he'd spent a long time building it up, it was still only worth 80 million. that's a pretty penny, but it wouldn't have beat Herb. i had to re-read the rule sheet to realize that the key to his score was the combo value for looping that shot. check out what i wrote and let me know if it makes sense, then add what you learned!

and congrats to everyone who played, especially my CFF brothers. you made me proud; i feel like CFF truly stepped it up and showed we can compete with the elite, and that means any one of us.

to those who are not CFF-- don't hate! we love you. you're rad, because you're out there playing pinball. hats off to everyone who showed up to compete and have fun. i'm glad you got to experience the unique rush of head to head competition. has your heart slowed down yet? don't you just want to do it again as soon as possible, like a great rollercoaster? (except one that kicks you in the nuts when you get off, instead of giving you a thrill.) don't worry-- another tournament, where you do a little better than last time, will take the pain away.

hope to see you soon.

[ROM]

I usually try to spell theatre about three times per game. It builds up bonus enormously. And that left loop shot is pretty simple. But I definitely always go for jackpots during multiball. I want to get better, though, at holding balls during multiball on that game. The jackpot shot is so simple that if you can keep two balls on your right flipper, I imagine you can just light and hit jackpot with the left. Right now I usually try and hit one or two balls on the ramps/loops, and then use the remaining to hit the box. But it's sloppy.

I think you should keep that post as a message board post... since it's getting replies. Do you want to do a write-up about the tournament for the blog? Or we could do it together maybe? My pictures mostly sucked. And I am swamped with work until thursday.

[bounceback]

yeah, i'm getting ready to go out of town, but let's do it together! i've been meaning to ask you, anyway, how to login to post a new blog, if you're already logged in on the front part of the site. also, didn't know if anyone who has security clearance or whatever can add to a post? i wanted to add that GK pic onto aaron's post the other day, but couldn't, so i had to logout, re-login, and make a whole separate entry to add it.

anyway, i'm pscyhed that post is getting responses.

i have some new questions for bowen now, based on the tournament, but anyone could really answer them-- hopefully my fellow CFF'ers!

i'm mainly interested in hearing about other scoring-heavy strategies people use if they just want score alone, as in a tournament, for various games. the deeper my game gets, the more useful those rule sheets are, when they talk about total strategy; i'm FINALLY comparing my games to those games in the guides that say "my best score is blah blah, or this is the best score i've ever seen, and etc." i talked to eden in between games toward the end of the night when i saw him practicing some things.

a few i could add-- when he played doctor who he was going for sonic booms over and over, and said that basically if he can hit the cliffhanger loop on that particular table, he'll go for it ad nauseum in a tournament. on scared stiff, both eden and cayle played for the coffin multiball repeatedly, not really trying to go for the wheel, and it was extra money if you could light double trouble before starting. actually, i thought the safe was a more lucrative MB on that particular game, and not as risky as most center shots, because it's so far up there. there are also a number of good strategies, like completing the wheel, or advancing to scared stiff if possible, that neither eden nor cayle seemed to even consider-- but i'm assuming that's because they have experience with that game, and have seen the "coffin MB-centric" strategy work in the past. cayle, of course would pick just one MB, whichever was the safest, on just about every game, and would try to use that to light whatever else you could during the multiball-- so the center ramp on AFM, and the doc ock shot on spidey, among others.

what are the possible "rapes" or safe major strategies for common fan layout games, like monster bash, medieval, and sopranos? i was playing sopranos today and thinking about whether there is something in there consistently safer than playing modes and trying to stack bing and stugots. that stugots light lock standup is by no means safe, and the bing ramp is a major drain if you aren't able to make it easily, and it's kind of steep. the center spinner shot, and run modes? the orbits and collect truck heist over and over? what about monster bash? monster mosh pit? medieval? obviously there are the hurry up rapes, but that can be really tricky depending on the machine, and castles seems too risky. castle multiball?

[ROM]

This reply should probably be a private message to bounceback, but it's not, so everyone else can ignore it.

okay, I added a link in the "meta" section for getting to the dashboard. It's called "admin". If you're already logged in, just click it. And as far as I know, anyone with posting privileges can edit a post. Under "Posts" on the left, click "edit" (it's right above "add new") - that will bring up a listing of the posts. then find the post and click edit underneath it. word? Did you try that but weren't able to succeed? Maybe your "author" privileges are not enough...... nevermind, just looked it up. they weren't. and that's now been fixed.

I just deleted your picture post and added the picture to dropshot's post.

(for the record: I'm not into throwing the word "rape" around - I realize it is being reframed to have a new meaning... but I think that also works to dilute the meaning from the most common usage of the word. I don't care if I'm acting like the "pc police"...)

[bounceback]

i agree with the whole rape thing. it's weird to me how much it comes up in pinball. i see it all the time in the rule sheets, and then i find it creeping into my vocabulary, when i would otherwise never joke about it. although, when you think about it, there's nothing funnier than completely disturbing, inexcusable, brutal, and tasteless insensitivity. it's the middle ground that i can't stand.

[deathsave]

it's RGP lingo that's as old as the hills.

rape –noun
<snipping out the stuff that makes you uncomfortable!>
4. an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation: the rape of the countryside.

[HornedGramma]

You can get the rape emphatic
You can get the rape polite!
You can get the rape with Indians
(A very charming sight)
You can get the rape on horseback,
They all say its new and gay!
So you see the sort of rape depends on what you pay...

[bounceback]

one of my favorite tunes

[bkerins]

[bounceback]

ha ha, dropshot is the king of the hurryup method... kind of the opposite of the rhythm method, it works great but frequently leads to unwanted drains.

that's useful information. i guess i started overthinking things after the tournament. i saw the two highest ranked players looking for the safest possible strategies, and started to think that was the necessary way to go to win in those types of events. good to know that it's still worth "going big," advancing ranks, and playing some games for completion to build score. when i beat eden on scared stiff i was at scared stiff, and didn't have to play my 3rd ball on either of my wins. i then promptly choked on a demolition man that behaved exactly the opposite of the demo man i'm used to. drats.

oh, one thing i wanted to get some clarification about on dr. who-- during multiball it was not registering all jackpot shots; it seemed like you had to complete all 3 jackpot shots to get scoring for a single jackpot. is that normal behavior for tournament mode? i just learned how to play dr. who from your rule sheet and put up my first 2 billion+ score a couple of weeks ago. i definitely found multiball to be the most lucrative way to go, although i got in a couple of sonic boom rounds. i didn't get the davros SJ, but was close on my second multiball. but that was on a game with factory settings.

my other question-- what are good players doing with the new stern games? they're nauseous to play, with super long games, (though i love spiderman,) and a game like IJ4 requires those risky captive ball and magnet shots to get the biggest scores. i find myself going for temple of doom and the left scoop repeatedly, then trying to advance MAP during the 3 ball MB. i truly haven't spent that much time with batman, CSI, wheel of fortune, and Indy, because they're so freaking boring. what's the consensus about those games among A-division guys?

[bkerins]

[DDT]

Thank you for chatting us up, and I have come to the conclusion, that the tedious grind game bores me. I play to have fun, I do well comparatively, but my tourny's turn into long (boring) day's. Can I still be an awesome pinballer and not have to show up to tourny's? I enjoy the company at event's but not the event itself. It feels akin to homework.

[ROM]

Back when I was a surfer, the surfers who were good but weren't into turning their skills into a precise formula - "drop in, bottom turn, snap, bottom turn, off-the-top, buttom turn, floater, down the line, cutback, kick out" - and didn't give a hoot about competition were referred to as "Soul Surfers." You, DDT, can be a Soul Pinballer. Frankly, I'm with you. I think our casual tournaments are able to stay fun. But I think serious competition is too boring. I'm not competitive enough to care a lot about winning. And I'm not attentive enough to know how to maximize my results on every machine. With the NW Pinball show, I'm mostly just looking forward to all the free games.

Bring quarters for betting!

[bounceback]

i'm looking forward to a lot of free play, and getting better. i feel the same way-- i get bored once i know that there's some killer grind strategy that dwarfs other scores. on the other hand, sometimes, playing head to head like that can be really fun, if you're both testing your wits and skill against each other. i definitely want to keep getting better and better-- it feels amazing to have total control of the ball. i don't care that much about winning and being ranked (it's nice to beat someone that's known to be a great player, but mainly fun to play against them and see what happens.) i value tournament play, from what i've seen so far, because the quality of players is so high, i have learned a lot each time i've watched someone great rock a table. i keep trying to elevate my own game and meet personal goals, and that feels amazing. tournament play, even the long days and discipline of it, has been a big help in developing my game. it has really helped my concentration, ability to slow down, and knowledge of how to analyze a table to try to figure out scoring strategies that work for my strengths.

my biggest issue with the tournament world is that it's a spendy thing, and it seems like everyone that goes to major tournaments is a computer programmer or is otherwise raking in over 50k annually. that's great, but i can't afford to fly around to tournaments to get those top challenges. i really hope that we can continue to develop a competition level locally that's going to push us all toward better pinball. maybe one day ESPN will get back on it and open up a pro circuit, where we can rock our game, subsidized-like.

anyway, i'm mixed between the soul game and pro grind. i think if you're great, you should be able to succeed in a pressure setting-- and learning how to focus and control your emotions on that level can actually lead to a deeper soul practice. rip it to get free. become one with the game. ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.................................

[deathsave]

DDT, on a lot of days i feel the same way. it's one thing to gun for a GC that you know is going to take you an hour, another to play TOM with three good players and see who can chop wood the longest before falling asleep. at least QEC will come out and put games in tournament mode for you guys. tourneys with EB's are a snore (thanks shorty's!)

[Kickback]

you need to move

[deathsave]

portland needs a job market.