I just put my Big Game on location where our league plays and am wondering what you all think is appropriate in terms of setup for competitive play?
Current setup:
Outlanes are wide open (Conservative)
Flipper brackets have been removed so ball drains between upper/lower flippers (my game didn’t come with these brackets).
PF angle is approx. 7 deg.
5 balls per game
Tilt is reasonable, you can nudge but not too much.
Card selection is sequential (X,Y,Z,X,Y,Z)
5000 bonus for each completed line is set to begin on ball 3.
Specials award 100K pts
Game is clean and fast currently, like, really fast. Ball often slams the glass. I think the PF angle is a bit too much and plan to drop it back to 6.6 or so.
I’d also like to keep the same config. for public location play, though the primary intent is to make it fun/difficult for league play.
So your suggesting “easier” game settings and setup with fewer balls.
My thinking was a 5 ball game would provide more opportunity for players to complete game objectives during a game. So more balls = more bonus counted which should bring the “bingo cards” into more relevance than they otherwise have since you collect that bonus every ball (after ball 3), and have more balls to achieve them.
VS. 3 ball game with easier settings maybe removes that impetus and now everyone just shoots for B-I-G-G-A-M-E rollovers and targets and esp. the left spinner shot.
Why do you feel the brackets are critical? Certainly it removes the ability to pass the ball off the upper left flipper to the right (or at least makes it very dangerous), but also forces the player to be much more patient with their flipping.
Yeah, levellers are pretty much cranked right now. Does the ball slam the glass a lot in your game? A few people mentioned it during our first league night with the game last night and I tend to agree that the PF angle might be a bit too much.
It’s the way the game was designed and it’s the way I find the game to be most fun. You should be able to trap up on any flipper imo.
Every objective can still be done on 3 ball. The bonus already carries over every ball, I don’t think the player should get bingo lines for 3 straight balls. Maybe turn EBs on with 3 ball? The EB rules are pretty cool and then the player can earn their five ball game.
If I never got reserve bonus on 3 ball, I would tend to agree, but I do get it and even if the game is on 5 ball I tend to let the drops just happen anyway.
Can’t say I’ve ever seen this on mine more than a couple times. Mine is wicked fast too. I would try to see what shot specifically causes air balls and try to tweak it.
I had a tournament at my house recently that’s streamed. Here’s one game that was good so you can see how mine plays. I use mine for competition constantly.
Also I have a friend who puts his on 5 ball EBs off so you’re not alone.
I think your suggestions make sense if the ball guides are in place. With the game playing so fast and mean without them I lean toward 5ball and my setup.
I will pickup the guides (I need to order some other stuff from PBR anyway) and when installed will look at adopting more of your settings.
I’ll definately check out that video too, thanks a bunch!
Interesting. Never played Big Game without the safety net of the lane guides that prevent getting scissor flipped. That’s brutal on this game to have that danger on BOTH sides. There are other early SS / EM that have double flippers on both sides, but they are MUCH slower-playing games than Big Game.
To echo @chuckwurt on this one, the game was definitely designed to have them in. Add in the satisfaction of flipper jank/mechanics (post passing off the bottom of a flipper, for example) that the brackets allow for and you have a skillful way to add entertainment.
In 3 ball the bingo cards are still useful; you can pocket 201K on ball 3 alone for getting coverall on all 3 cards for example. The 1-6 targets no matter how you set the game will most likely be cleared by BIGGAME all day strategies, and risky shooting at the 7-9 targets can be justified after enough lines are made from 1-6 completions.
The outlane settings bumped to the extreme make the GA targets a riskier shot for anyone going BIGGAME all day, and also make the ME lanes trickier to fall into barring any shatz play.
The settings Erik uses are a mirror copy of the ones we use at Kickback weeklies and we see a fair mix of strategies on the game. It’s worth it to give them a try and change them if you’re not getting what you want out of the game.
+1 to clipping the inlane switches. Depends on High your upper flippers are when in flipped position. If they’re like most Big Games, this is a mind-numbingly boring yet effective strategy at putting up points safely on it.
Clipping the switches removes two letters from building up at the left spinner, essentially capping its value at 25K as opposed to 70K. This is meant to help motivate to play the rest of the game as opposed to just shooting the left spinner over and over.
You don’t disconnect the switch, just clip the rollover wire that the ball actually comes into contact with at the apex. This prevents the ball from rolling up the inlane.
It’s a common mod on games like this one, skateball, and fireball 2 where it’s easy to backhand the inlane.
It’s not about the letters. People will sit there and backhand the switch for as long as they can stand it at 500 points a pop or whatever it’s worth. Makes for excruciatingly dull games where the hardest thing is getting the ball cradled on the upper flipper.
Why. Because you can maybe pick off two of the Big game letters? It’s not like they advance bonus. You can do it once per game and that’s it. Assuming the game bounces right to allow the quick backhand.
Did not consider this. How lame. Haha. Okay in favor of clipping.
