I know that condition is covered by the rules - I was speaking to the justification used (which btw… was NOT a rules cite) and why it’s a horrible standard ON ITS OWN.
It was not a citation discussion - it was a design/principle discussion. The logic BEHIND the rules.
Do you know if any ball search will result in a multiball if there are balls in the lock or was it something specific to this scenario?
Don’t use rare untested (in tournament play) games in large or limited entry tournaments. d;^)
Pinside shows 65 home owners and 22 on location. I wonder how many were playing the game for the first time in Q or playoffs. Qualifying scores were lopsided compared to other modern games. Players could avoid it during Q, but not in playoffs.
I haven’t played one. Just an overall observation.
It is specific to this situation. Here are two videos.
Drop target reset jam. Reproduces what was seen above.
Normal ball search. Does not start multiball.
Does it have to do with the stuck ball hitting the other drop target that activates the multiball?
No, I don’t think so. I tested locking 2 balls and then pushing the ball (without the drop being hit, like a pro walker bomb) and it didn’t start multiball, just 2 balls sitting behind first drop.
I think this is an error condition that is intentionally programmed. Maybe Scott will add some details.
Can you adjust the drop target height? I assume each drop has a switch. Is there also opto pairs between the drops? Not sure if more switches would help or not, just curious.
Once two balls are locked, the lower green ‘lock’ arrow continues to flash. It seems like that should be changed to a MB is ready light show after two locks. Maybe all three of the arrows flashing green. Would’ve shown if Trent’s second ‘lock’ was legit or not.
Hey Guys,
The game is functioning as intended in this video. The ball got stuck on the drop target when the ball lock attempt was made. The game tried to lock the ball but could not since it was on top of the drop target. It then ballsearched to try and find the missing ball (it was not in the path of the opto for ball lock #2, so it could not see it there). It tried again to reset the drop which kicked the ball the rest of the way into the lock. The ball hit and released the first locked ball causing two balls to be in play before they were meant to. When this happens, the game will award a multiball to keep everything functioning correctly. This is exactly how the software was designed to handle this situation. The only thing that was wrong here was that the first drop target looks like it needs to be adjusted so the ball does not hang up on it like it did. The height is adjustable from under the playfield. I am extremely happy to see the software dealing with these crazy situations properly. I worked very hard on the lock logic to ensure the game was as reliable as it could be. 
–Scott
So that is a secret start’ to get a dirty pool like MB by putting a ball on top of the drop target on purpose! 
Imagine doing that as a called shot to legalize pinball.
Roger could do it!
@GaryTheNoTrashCougar
Thanks for the great game, Scott! It was a pleasure using it in competition at TPF.
Have you given any thought to adding a Competition setting that makes the order of Mystery awards deterministic? Or if random, then at least the same order for all the players in a multiplayer match (similar to Camera awards on TZ in comp mode).
One additional idea for TNA Competition mode: make the order of which target(s) are required to destroy each reactor the same for all players in a multiplayer match.
Thanks again for what you’ve created!
I think @kdeangelo mentioned a competition mode to Scott before but it was clear a couple of time that the non-mirror mystery award make a significant difference…
Something else happened during qualifying where ball 1 was locked but the first drop target was up instead of down to allow the 2nd ball lock. As the tournament official on duty, I made the ruling that if hitting the front drop target ends up starting a 2 ball MB, then it will be an allowable beneficial malfunction unless the game was playing in 1 ball state.
This is because ball 1 was properly locked and with the ball in play cradled on the right flipper, if we opened the game door to knock down the drop target, we didn’t know if that ball would be lost. That would then have resulted in a major malfunction with awarding a 4th ball in the game. There was no clear ruling as it was a combination of many possible issues.
Luckily the code simply dropped the first drop target, the player then locked the 2nd ball and then started MB. However, another problem appeared after the 2nd ball was locked was the screen stated ball 1 Locked, rather than ball 2. So it appears there may have been a combination of errors, but when the first drop target was hit, then 3 ball multi-ball started correctly. Everything corrected itself, but it was very strange. I watched the remainder of the game to ensure no other issues or beneficial malfunctions occurred. Then power cycled the game before next player.