Best Use of Pinburgh Practice Time?

[jdelz]

@chesh

(Hint: Doug has put lightening flippers on something you would not at all expect.)

Big Flipper?

[sk8ball]

Safecracker

[hisokajp]

@pinwizj

Nah . . . find someone that has already found the skill shot and get that info from them. STAY IN BED AS LONG AS POSSIBLE (people without kids may have a different opinion on the importance of sleep when you can get it).

so say the guy with one hour time difference!

[gammagoat]

@chesh

(Hint: Doug has put lightening flippers on something you would not at all expect.)

LL:EE. Doodle Bug. Sinbad.

There are so many completely unexpected lightning flipper games.

[Frisbez]

I’m hoping for lightning flippers on 2001 and Target Pool.

[zacaj]

Was there an hour practice last year? I had assumed you couldn’t play the games before hand…

@chesh

(Hint: Doug has put lightening flippers on something you would not at all expect.)

Alien Poker?

[triadwatch]

My tip would be between rounds in not playing in the free play area but go outside entrance and chill in the lobby sitting down in a chair. There is so much standing if your bank of games are in area with no chairs near like the outer bank areas. Learned my lesson from first pinburgh to just take a seat between rounds .

[joe]

+1 for “sleep longer”. Pinburgh is a marathon. By the end of it, you will be tired, your feet will be tired, your ears will be ringing. Maximize your chance of being less tired than your opponents in the critical last couple rounds by conserving your energy when possible. Your chances of getting actionable information (i.e. some juicy tidbit on a game that you actually end up playing) during the practice hour are low.

[gammagoat]

@zacaj

Was there an hour practice last year? I had assumed you couldn’t play the games before hand…

Yes. But technically it is not practice, it is machine testing.

“08:00 AM-09:00 AM: Hall C
Pinburgh Machine Testing
Competitors are invited to test tournament machines and help the PAPA tech staff identify issues prior to the tournament beginning.”

[cornycrunch]

Just look for the best seat in the room:

[cayle]

The Fortress of Solitude ™ is the real og

[cornycrunch]

… Hercules.

[Brian]

@chuckwurt

Find TX sector and hope it’s cranked to 11.

Post pinburgh challenge on TX Sector?

[Adam]

@joe

+1 for “sleep longer”. Pinburgh is a marathon. By the end of it, you will be tired, your feet will be tired, your ears will be ringing. Maximize your chance of being less tired than your opponents in the critical last couple rounds by conserving your energy when possible. Your chances of getting actionable information (i.e. some juicy tidbit on a game that you actually end up playing) during the practice hour are low.

While all you old farts are getting your beauty sleep , I will be there for the full hour playing as many games as I can and report all the issues I find to Doug & Crew. In the past during the practice hour, I have found games that did not have the correct number of balls installed. I have found games that had asymmetric tilts, and games that had no tilt. “Odd ball” games that have an endless, repeatable shot that would cause the bank to play for “ever”. Games that are missing a critical lamp feature (think Free spin light on Wheel of Fortune" et al), etc. etc. etc.

I appreciate how hard the staff and volunteers work to setup the insanely enormous bank of games for Pinburgh and they do an incredible job getting the games tournament ready, but no one is perfect, and there will always be issues with games, so that hour is the last chance to get something corrected before it starts to matter…

Do I ever end up playing the games I practice on during the tournament ? Rarely at best, but someone is playing on every game, every round, so if I find an issue during that hour and get it fixed, then I have helped out someone that day - someone who might even still be asleep at the time, apparently, lol - but I’m pointing this out to YOU, #PinballGods!, Just sayin…

And while we’re on the topic - if you notice an issue during group play, one that was “annoying”, but not enough to call over a TD or tech to sort it out… please, please, please report the issue to the staff at the end of the game and/or round so that they can correct the problem, if possible, before the next round. As an example, I was super disappointed last year to play Cirqus Voltaire in Round 5, and the ringmaster was disabled. We didn’t discover this until the game had begun, so we had to play it “as is”, when all that was needed was a power cycle to correct the “issue”. If someone from an earlier group had just pointed that out, it could have been corrected before we had to play the game.

[chuckwurt]

I can’t! I have to live vicariously through you guys this year. Rain check for next year for sure. City champ is on my list for next year too. Gonna try and make a bunch of awesome tournaments.

[bkerins]

Unfortunately no Fireball or 4 Million BC anymore, too many out of turn errors.

[ryanwanger]

[joe]

@Adam

While all you old farts are getting your beauty sleep

To be clear, I said nothing about beauty sleep. That’s a hopeless cause.

[soren]

Well, when flying in from Europe you wake up early. So why not get down early.

However. Trying to cope with 300+ games all era will do you no good. Take warm up games for the feel of the silverball and just enjoy it.

What people tend to overlook, is, that while in session you have loooooads of time study online tips, ask around and peak in on opponents playing. Or even other group players on same bank. Though I will encourage to limit the crowd around thing to a minimum.

Just take it one game at a time.

One other tip is to get to the bank early. You might find some interesting information to be had. One year I caught @Smack847 giving a rundown of Airborne to @sk8ball and few others. Decided to pay attention.

[Funtorium]

There’s a pinburgh practice time?