Tips for Competitive Success at Pinburgh

Events
41

This was my problem. As soon as I hit the start button it was as if I forgot every skill I’ve built over the last 3 years of playing. Dead bounce…what’s that? Have the ball on the right and need it on the left…why don’t we just flip it away and hope it comes back to the left.

For some reason I was so afraid of losing the ball, I would make stupid decisions and flip everything away. I’ve never played so terribly in a tournament before. I felt like a caveman confronted with an iPhone for the first time.

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42

I had this exact same issue when I played a couple years ago in my first pinburgh.

I’m very happy to report that I did not do this at all this year, and my results showed.

Sure I had a couple failed alley passes or live catches or drop catches, but I also had some amazing games simply because I never played scared, and always used every skill I had to get the best result possible.

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43

Ha. I was going to write that this was similar to my experience. Indeed @chuckwurt’s experience was very similar to mine this year. This was my third Pinburgh but this year I felt extremely nervous about the machines being set up hard, particularly the EM tilts. With each EM I almost always only started playing confidently by the last ball, when in desperation, so it often wasn’t enough to come back from deficits. I don’t know why I took a step back. I’d started the weekend excited and feeling low pressure. But I’m pretty sure I can’t attend next year, so perhaps my eagerness to play better instead prompted me to try to make it count, which it didn’t. At least I ended on a “hot streak” with a comeback win on F-14 in my last bank of Day 2 (appropriate given the open and women’s files) and another on Transformers. Not enough to push me to qualifying, but ending with wins sure feels nice.

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44

Since the topic of tilts came up, how does everyone handle those on the older games? I was deathly afraid of nudging anything other than a newer DMD. I’ve played them so much I know there really isn’t a way to tilt through. But on the older games, I know that a tilt through is possible, so I was afraid of nudging.

Is it really that easy to tilt through, or does that only happen when you make some crazy move on an older game?

45

Ime, the move has to be violent and also games that do not award bonus are more prone to tilt throughs.

So I would say pay close attention to the other players and if no one is tilting their balls, I would be much more inclined to nudge during my ball and have no fear of tilting, or possibly tilting through.

Also, almost every single EM I tested tilts on at pinburgh allowed way more forward and back nudging than side to side. Keep that in mind too the next time you’re there.

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46

I disagree. Early SS Bally’s and Gottlieb’s (both bonus-heavy style games in those eras) are very prone to tilt-throughs. The flash gordon on the stage had at least one tilt through during A finals, and that same pin had at least one tilt through in the set of player groups that played it when my group was next door on Taxi. We even had a tilt through on Taxi! (but that one was a violent move, and well-deserved… I just didn’t know it was possible to tilt through on Taxi)

47

I was specifically talking about EMs. If it’s a SS game I don’t mess around with any kind of big side to side moves unless it’s a stern. But even in that case it’s rare.

Really no point in doing anything but quick jabs on early SS games unless you’re sure the tilt is loose, or you have warnings to give. Again, watching other players is key.

If a game has warnings, I would think the only way to tilt through would be a huge move like you saw on taxi.

Moral of the story is, don’t play timid, but also be smart. Putting a big nudge on an older game at pinburgh is at best going to tilt, worst, tilt through.

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48

It’s too easy to just say not to let the house balls and bounces get you down, just stay positive, but it’s literally useless advice as there’s no path there. It’s like making a goal with no plan.

I won’t go into the outrageous percentage of house balls I had this year. Anyone who played near me, and some who saw them happen had some empathy. But one guy came up to a friend who had a really bad round on Thursday and was venting a bit - to digest it all - came up and said, “you aren’t one of those guys are you?” and proceeded to give a feel-good speech. It was completely inconsiderate not to mention dehumanizing - just group someone into a group based on a ten second assessment then proceed to give life advice with no context or personal knowledge of the person.

There is a difference between negativity and realism. 4/5 house balls on an EM is both a really negative experience to have and a real experience. But throwing out, "get over it’ is callous.

An actual path or plan to positive thinking might be something like Sanjay told me a couple years ago (paraphrasing) - try not to celebrate the great games too much and rue the bad ones too much. Work to a medium ground - it’s easier to keep from bouncing from one mindset to the next. Of course, it helps to get to play some pinball too :slight_smile:

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49

Glad you posted this.

In one of the first few rounds on day one, I had someone in my group with a bad round. While shaking hands with everyone he said something like “good luck, I’m done”.

I responded with the exact words “you aren’t one of those guys, are you?” (in what I thought was a playful tone). I didn’t at all mean to communicate “get over it”, although I see how it can be taken that way.

If this was me, I’d definitely like to apologize to your friend. Maybe this is a coincidence and we’re talking about a different incident.

I took his comment to mean that he had given up, and the tournament was a bust. Maybe I’m too glass half full, but this is a shame given that we were only partway through Day 1.

After I spoke, he went on to explain that he had set a goal this year, which was now out of reach because of that round. So that gave me better understanding of the comment, and I should have apologized for what I said.

I agree there is a difference between negativity and realism. Realism is venting that you weren’t given much of a chance by the pinball gods. Negativity is telling someone that a two day tournament is over for you partway through day one (though I didn’t have a full understanding of his comment when he first said it).

Even still, anyone is allowed to have a negative attitude. It’s possible that I react negatively to stuff like that because I’m trying to insulate myself from it. I’ve been in a negative headspace in Pinburgh before and it’s the worst, so I definitely try to disassociate myself from the negativity of others so that it doesn’t creep in.

I suppose that other context for me is that I’ve heard a lot of “my tournament is over” attitude over the years from people for whom that simply isn’t true. I feel bad for them and wish more than anything I could help turn that around a little bit.

I will be more careful in the future and I hope there isn’t anyone else who has felt belittled by a (poorly communicated, perhaps) attempt from a fellow pinball player to inject some optimism.

@shimoda Seems like “try not to celebrate the great games too much and rue the bad ones too much” is good advice. Are you saying that’s advice which someone in a negative place would like to hear from a stranger?

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50

It’s pretty easy on EMs, and really easy on Stern Electronics games. The plus side on SEI games is that you can plunge and clear the tilt, and this is specifically called out in the rules as “not a tilt-through.” Personally, someone tilted through to me on Seawitch, and I think there was one other in our group on that game.

Well, it takes a pretty impressive effort to do so I think. :wink:

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51

I wouldn’t really say there is any good advice when someone is upset about what to say really. Maybe the only real thing is, ‘that sucks’ cause it does in those moments. Any time I try to think of what might actually make me feel better in the moment it isn’t anything specific. It’s more about not dismissing that I’m actually in that moment - awash in a chemical process in my body that inhibits reason and logic, magnifies emotional response, and unfortunately tends to magnify it’s own significance in response.

This was the incident I spoke of in my first post. My friend shook it off to a degree, but his goal of making B division was already in danger from his first round. When you encountered us he;d just finished another round that really made it nigh on impossible for him to get to B (unless he could pull together a couple medallions). I don’t know what the best response is, just maybe what it isn’t, which is anything that ignores, dismisses, or minimizes the outcome for the person who ended up on the bad side of whatever. I’m guilty of both glib and well-intentioned remarks that often don’t help. I just think about the PNR episode where Ann ruins the Whine and Cheese club because Chris is just trying to fix things. Sometimes we just have to acknowledge that something really sucked for someone and that might be the best we can do.

I appreciate your responding here and hope to run into you next year to play some pinball!

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52

Crappy tilt mechs and switch input shenanigans can tilt through on anything. Generally speaking. I am sure PAPA have their equipment up to snuff.

Tilt through (and slam tilt for that matter) have no place in competition pinball. I just wish these matters were disabled as part of the competition play package ever since that setting was invented in 1988. Most of all, because I believe more than half of these errors are machine malfunctions that are having severe penalties for players.

And this point is not the same as ok’ing machine abuse by players. Not at all. Yellow card and kick out bad behaviour for what it is. And not some technical evaluation by the machines.

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53

Why not do the ear plug mod for every tilt bob? I’ll volunteer.

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54

Anyone have tips for how to deal with the round after the dinner break? I just learned that over the last 5 years, it’s my worst round by far.

(I haven’t really taken notes on what I’ve done each year. Presumably I should be doing obvious stuff like: don’t eat food that will crash you, nap if you’re tired, practice a bit before the round, etc.).

My second worst round is the first round of the day, but it’s not as egregious as the after dinner round.

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55

I got a 12 into a 10 after dinner. So here’s my insight if it even helps.

Normally I always eat, I love food and I get angry if I don’t eat. Doesn’t matter what, I’ll take what I can get. If it’s open I’ll go down by the river and relax for a bit. Lay down, blast some music and just sort of refocus. About 20-30 min before the round starts I try to stay focused. Was it kick out management that was my biggest issue? Maybe it was I’m just nervous and I forgot all my flipper skills.

Maybe I need to get a different fur coat between rounds or change into normal clothes. Everyone is different.

If it’s fatigue then just stay active. It’s mental and slightly physical. Rest and eating well will take you farther than you think. Drink water! That could also be why you feel drained afterwards.

Meditate, reset and give it 100% because anything can happen.

3 Likes
56

This year I switched from meatballs (so good though) to lighter fare for dinner and I felt better during rounds 4 & 8. I’m still having lots of trouble staying alert during round 5 & 10. I just get too sleepy after the long day – especially since quitting sugary drinks.

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57

I found I had the opposite problem this year: I tanked the rounds immediately BEFORE the dinner break. Next time, more snacks.

58

For me:

  1. Don’t drink at dinner. Alcohol dulls reaction times.
  2. As mentioned above, lighter fare can help prevent post-dinner loginess.
  3. If you have the time, come back from dinner and mess about on the open show floor. Doesn’t matter what you play, get your hand-eye coordination back and your reactions sharpened.