I would like to speak in favor of the oddball games. There was a time when I would have thought getting really good at a super early game like Aquarius wasn’t possible. Luck Box is a term I have seen thrown around. This was before Trent Augustine threw me on the floor and stole my lunch money on the thing at Pinburgh. Metaphorically speaking. It was perhaps my only one or zero points round at Pinburgh in three years and one of my favorite rounds ever. Fun players and fun games. But in order to be what I consider good at pinball you need to be good at terrible games. You need to know the rules to Alvin G & Co, Zachariah, and random wedge head nonsense, or be good enough to where you can coast on through on flips and nudges alone. In addition, I don’t feel there needs to be a by the book set up. Tight tilts, loose tilts, rubbers on, off, posts removed or whatever. It’s like wind or a light drizzle in golf. If you make a serious departure from the standard, out of the box code, then you should probably note that on the backglass or somewhere, so it isn’t a thing only out of town players are unaware of, but I can’t ever recall that being an issue in my personal experience.
While it isn’t appropriate for a major circuit tournament, I would even argue that a spot of bare wood or a pop bumper being busted is something that you should be able to play around if you’re better than decent. And while I very rarely watch pinball videos, a best of five match between Raymond and Elwin would be more entertaining on Flintstones, Transporter, Big Hurt, Hoops and Future Spa than watching them play Attack From Mars for the eleven millionth time.
The sooner we all realize nobody except all of us care about pinball the sooner we can keep having fun and stop chasing dreams. There are literally over 1 million people watching people play video games on Twitch right at this second. There are zero people watching pinball at this same moment. Pinball is just not accessible to enough people for the big boys to give a shit. Its sad, and I wish it was not the case, but it is. We would have a better chance pushing virtual pinball.
No way! I’m tired of all the players tearing up their knees and playing on unplayable fields. Astro turf was really bad, but what they got now is good.
I agree people spend all year qualifying. But over the course of 20 events, it feels like most people are indirectly competing with each other depending on which circuit events one attends. Having a “playoff” structure with more people over the course of numerous days brings the elite players together only playing against each other on the same bank of games. The closest tournament to having all elite players together on the circuit is probably Pinburgh, but round over round, players are not always playing the elite guys.
In terms of playoff structures, I keep going back to the similarities between golf and pinball. Players pay out of pocket to travel to events (barring sponsors paying), players have the ability to determine his or her schedule, each course/bank of games is different, the same people aren’t winning each tourney, etc. What golf has done with their playoff format has really made it fun to watch and it makes players really strategize as to how they want to build out their schedules for the year and peaking at the right time. The playoff format does a great job of making it very competitive year round to even qualify and then brings the top guys together over a few weeks/days in pinball terms to determine the champion.
I just don’t get the same excitement thinking about going to play a few games of pinball and being done if I finished last without nothing else leading up to that moment.
The March madness comment I don’t really understand from a pinball perspective. Those NCAA players are not paying out of pocket to travel however far they have to for the game. I played college basketball, and know that a game (even in a one and done situation) is long and has it’s up and downs throughout the game, which is usually around 2 hours long. A lot can change over the course of a game. Whereas, in one game of pinball that can last anywhere from 1-10 min or so, I would argue that ones strengths as a player might not ultimately be reflected in that time period. In my opinion, one game of basketball is probably equivalent to a best of 5 series or so.
I believe the current State Championships and National Championships setup is the perfect comparison to March Madness. If you’re not ready to go during your series, BOOM you are eliminated. The intensity has to be there from the get go.
Agree. Cap it. Take max 5 events so those who don’t have time or extra fundage to travel all over from east to west and visa versa No way i can travel all over. With Louisville not being an event this year and papa out that’s 2 events that i normally went to that were 7 hours or less drive time not in the circuit. All other events are way to far. only one in michigan and thats still far from me…lol
i personally don’t chase circuit events but if an event i normally go to is a circuit its a bonus. So if pinburgh, pinball at the zoo, chicago expo and cle pin get me in top 20, great! If not, im not traveling any further than i already do and with events like 24 hr battle that has cap and texas that doesnt help some players chances since both of those were sold out in moments and before this announcement.
CAP IT!!!
play in as many as you want but using your best 5 events max will show who perhaps better deserves to be in the top 20 rather than those who can go to a large number of events IMO anyways, esp if now only 20 people can make the cut…
players aren’t “scrubs” just because they cant chop at points going to a ton of circuit events-
all 40 people at this current event all played great and had mad skillz as far as im concerned.
The suggestion of an event cap sounds good at first but it’s short-sighted. It worked well under the old circuit points qualifying system (100 for 1st, 75 for 2nd, etc) but with WPPRs being using as the qualifying metric, the events vary so wildly in value that an event cap doesn’t make any sense.
As an extreme example just look at Pinburgh, worth 140 points. Some players who have qualified for the circuit final in the past aren’t eligible to play in it, @bkerins and @ScoutPilgrim off the top of my head. They would need 3 or 4 other events just to match what some players earned for Pinburgh alone. This would throw a 5 event cap way out of balance, and that’s just one example of why it wouldn’t work under the current WPPR qualifying system.
Participating in 20 events vs 5 throws things way out of balance too. Whether its 5,6,7,8 events that count it should be a certain percentile that is under 100 imo. Where did the number 20 come from for state events that count per year or 20 with decay over 3 years for your overall ranking? There are reasons for these caps and reasons why the numbers are what they are. (changed 30 with decay to 20)