It was in the past… same as sopranos
1 Like
Ahhahaha I love that video
Yes, both Ripley’s and Sopranos will have the manual plunger removed. The primary reason is the impact of repeated plunging on the length of play of these games.
I wish there was a better solution for things like this. I completely understand the reasoning, but especially with RBION, taking away the lucrative skill shot kinda sucks. It can be a huge boon if you’ve got it dialed in.
I know this is a longshot, but is there any merit to selectively avoiding certain games for top players? Let’s be honest here, the plunger is only removed from Sopranos and RBION because some small set of players know how to exploit playfield validation rules and have the skill to actually do it in competition. The entire rest of the field is left with a game that feels like it’s been modified for no apparent reason.
The number of games modified in this way has to be pretty small, so as a spitball idea - maybe don’t draw A and B groups on these machines for day 2? I dunno, just thinking out loud since generally speaking I’m against physical bastardization of machines for competition.
I don’t think it’s a small group of players that knows about Ripleys. If you’ve spent any time on it, you know to short plunge for the skill shot and let it recycle if you come up short. The fix needs to be done with software (1 trip through the trough per launch, so 2 skill shot tries max). Any trough switch validates playfield.
You could also add a Cliffy to the scoop, which would eventually send most balls SDTM. That would discourage players from trying for the skill shot, but it would also lead to lots of swearing and abuse of the game.
I understand the skill shot being removed from Ripleys, but the part that really bothered me was the auto launch being too weak to make it around the spinner loop and rolling back to the right outlane. Then happening again after ballsave. More power there would be a welcome change.
5 Likes
Yeah, I can see that being a frustration. Hence why I said I wish there was a “better” solution… removing the manual plunger might be the best option right now. Code fixes for ridiculous playfield validation rules would help a lot.
What about red shooter springs? I did that on sopranos and it made it really tough to not shoot the ball to the top lanes.
Hate to play Cayle’s Advocate here, but isn’t any game with a manual plunger subject to the “time” argument?
4 Likes
I’m going in expecting Jackbot to have a auto plunger this year 
5 Likes
The longest delayed plunge often is on WhiteWater. Bring on the Autoplunger.
MGK and I are tight now … He tells me everything 
It’s fine with a plunger for anything but match play. Remember when you played mine?
http://www.lefkoff.com/caex/t1g2.html
It was at about 7.2 degrees and had upgraded flipper coils. No one got anyone near Atlantis.
Indeed. I’d argue its fine with a plunger any time. same goes for sopranos.
1 Like
WoooOOOooo!
Is there any way this can published to a Google Sheet or share the Excel sheet so we can have a text-based version that we can copy and paste?
3 Likes
7 Likes