I’ve been playing more and more Game of Thrones recently (to catch up on Premium/LE knowledge) and I’ve run into a few potential major concerns with Game of Thrones (and specific versions) as a major tournament game due to validation rules. Since only roll-over and ramp targets validate the playfield, these flagrant offenders cause a breakable and repeatable/safe strategy in higher level play.
Note: I would like someone to test this with the glass off to see if its a concern due to my inability to consistently hit these shots on location, but signs are pointing to yes.
Game’s validation rule in the lower playfield can be exploited in the Premium/LE through the Castle Black shot. Since this counts as one switch, the playfield will not validate and the ball can be safely drained. Using this, players can qualify Battle at the Wall Multiball safely.
Game’s validation rule in the lower playfield can be used on any version to advance Playfield Multipliers, Lord of Light targets, and (potentially) locks using playfield validation.
I love this game, and want to get the information out there incase there is an issue so that Stern can fix it before PAPA 19, IFPA 13, Pinburgh, Louisville (albeit close), etc.
I love doing this and hoping to hit only a single drop target. Let it drain. Repeat. It works for each plunge after a locked ball too. My best effort in a row with this was dropping two and third whole banks and hence having another Lord of the Light all but in hand.
Yeah, I think it might be pointing more towards only rollovers and ramp switches validate the playfield. Either way, that leaves a lot of room for exploitation.
I assume the valid playfield element was designed to have a more stable game in the wild. The manufactures do not want players to bug the location staff or vandalise the game because they where robbed from their ball in play. Due to shaky switches or the ball hopping from shooter lane back to trough.
But as a consequence we see some exploits or “soft” exploits of plunging over and over and over in higher level competition.
One could suggest the game designer to
Limit valid playfield to a single switch when game is in competition mode.
Roll back any scoring or progress of a ball-in-play when re-served to plunger lane.
Do auto plunging if ball-in-play seen in plunger lane second time around.
Simply start the ball saver and auto plunging. Effectively only having the valid playfield re-serve once per ball-in-play.
Do you know if Dwight is also going to fix the Lord of Light setting to limit it? Currently, when you enable the setting that says it limits you to one outlane ball save per ball, it doesn’t actually do so.
Is there a virtual ball lock option? Often times at least on mine it will release too many balls during multiball and then re-lock it later causing multiball to end.
@pinwizj: since you’ve got a line of communication with Dwight, a local GOT LE owner says this about its tourney/league viability:
"I have come to find out that they did not put an interlock switch on the GOT machines. I tested out the coin door ball saver and it DOES NOT work even when it is set to being on. I also confirmed that the game will go into ball search if you open the door and have to do any work (mid game) on the machine, like removing a stuck ball or even putting a light back in.
Just a FYI for the tournament as it behaves differently than other sterns under these situations and could cause an issue if the person playing the game and working on the game were not aware of this."
Has anyone else seen this on their GOT LE or Premium?
Did they go into the test menu? If the game was going into ball search while they were doing the fixing, then it sounds like they didn’t. Coin Door Ball saver will NOT work if you simply open the game up and drain the ball, because they game doesn’t know the coin door is open.
I just posted this to Pinside, and would love confirmation (video confirmation would be sweet):
Cradle the ball, open the door, go into the test menu (flippers will die), fix your problem, exit the test menu when you have everything ready to roll and it should get you right back to where you were. That’s the proper behavior if Coin Door ball saver = ON.
Good riddance to the interlock switch. All we do is disable them during our tournament setup anyway, so this will save a step for any future “Sternaments” out there.
