What tweaks would Mousin’ Around need to be a quality game for tournaments, WITHOUT disabling the center ramp target bank or performing physical modifications as previously discussed?
I’ve seen some great tournament play on this game, and would love it if it got even more.
The main issue is people looping the center ramp for 100k. If we modified the ROM and made that shot only worth 10k, would that be enough? 1k? basically, low enough to make looping not worth it.
The center ramp opens up many of the games feautures.
3 shots to relight the left kickback.
shoot it to accumulate CHEESE letters, which opens the mouse hole for a bonus and to raise the jackpot.
Shooting the center ramp also lights the ramp for MILLION letters.
I am considering paying someone to modify the ROM to change the 100k to 1k value, but would that be enough to make the game PAPA A level worthy, in its full capacity?
Don’t pay someone to do that. It actually wouldn’t be that hard to do if it’s something that always scores the 100k every time. Check out pinhacks.com for some info on system 11 stuff.
Does it matter if it still says “bonus 100,000” even if it scores nothing? I notice also that it has a cascading value 10k, 20k, 30k, 50k on shots… is that important to eliminate as well? (It’s been many years since I’ve seen a MA I’m just looking at it in a pinmame simulation…). I suppose if you clearly label the game as having the 100k on center ramp disabled that would work?
Belsito pulled the ramp deflector off the end of the center ramp for one of the tournaments here in socal—I thought it worked great at discouraging center ramp all day as the ball came too fast to be able to control it reliably. Otherwise, standard flippers (vs carrots) and no center post for sure.
That was done here for the RMPS as well. I later heard people were just holding up the right flipper and letting it settle over on the left. I imagine this is of varying reliability depending on the machine.
An easy repeat-shot will always be a tempting strategy for an experience player regardless of points value.
A controllable game will always be prone to long playing games regardless.
Physical mods is really the first place to start. Or should I say physical shape. There are always things to do within the standard way the game works. For MA, the left post on the main right ramp is also worth fatting up.
Physical mods in the spirit of disabling stuff is next step. And should always be notified on the game. Software adj/mods as well.
Proper software mods that enhance fun and challange let alone eliminate bugs are awesome.
Well, as easy as it might seem, I seldom have the time to dig deep in to things and am happy to outsource to others.
I am unfamiliar with the cascading value you speak of, though.
I don’t think I’ve played a MA with any center post!
As for the larger rubbers, that might be good for PAPA A, but for other divisions, probably unnecessary. I like the idea of reducing the center scoring as it is minimally invasive and still great for all skill levels.
Even if it was worth just 1k? I can’t imagine anyone milking it for 1k after lighting their kickback and maxing their cheese letters.
I was simulating in a (non-graphical) version of pinmame hitting the center ramp - it not only gives you a value of 100k but also a value that goes 10k-20k-30k-40k-50k then says ‘go for the mouse hole’. I removed the 100k value by changing a byte that normally gives you 100k and it gives you nothing instead. Apparently the cascading value is spelling cheese I guess the ramp spots you that?
Yeah I don’t mind the cheese value going up. Having the option to go for CHEESE, light the million ramps, relight the kickback, are all quality risk/reward uses of that center ramp.
IMHO, depending on machine-specific issues like flipper strength, looping the right ramp is almost as good as looping the center ramp. Accumulate CHEESE letters (which also accumulates bonus), every 7th shot collects the Cheesy Bonus for decent points.
I’ve never been fond of Mousin’ Around for just these reasons: players will generally do well if they just choose a single shot and repeat it indefinitely. Left orbit, center ramp, and right ramp are all very repeatable.
It’s one of those things where maybe it’s not for A-division, but when you get into other divisions no shot is that repeatable.
tournament director could also remove the flaps at the end of the ramps. The ball would fly down much faster making it much harder to repeat.
And of course, the higher the division, the steeper it should be.
