Every time I watch a tournament on twitch and a TD and tech have to open a machine, I am on the edge of my seat.
I am worried that they will do something g wrong and tilt the game or whatever.
Should there be a TD / tournament tech menu where you can test the tilt, switches, ball locks and so on, without it giving you tilt or points?
Axl
Most modern games allow using test mode features without interfering with game state.
Even tilt?
Stern SAM games have a menu option called “Coin Door Disable Tilt”. Because SPIKE games don’t have a coin door switch, I assume they do not have this option. On the other hand, even though I have this enabled on my SAM machines and have to occasionally poke around in the middle of a ball during competitions, I doubt that I’ve ever run into a situation where it was actually needed.
As was hinted at above, if you enter the menu system on a modern Stern game, you eliminate the risk of having any switch register and count in the current game, though I still get a little antsy going into the menu like this.
“Coin Door Disable Tilt” and “Coin Door Ball Save” can be useful for stuck balls. In a pinch, you can open the door, shake the ball loose and let it drain without having to remove the glass. For a recent tournament, we made notes for each game as to whether flippers worked with the door open and if we had enabled those features, so you can make educated decisions of how to handle a stuck ball.
I think that “Coin Door Ball Save” is more useful – covers cases where flippers lose power or you mess up ball retrieval and accidentally drain it.
And just two weeks ago, I learned about Premier games resetting (by default) when you open the coin door! Be sure to physically remove that switch from any Premier games you use. We happened to be using two of those games (Nightmare on Elm St. and Big Hurt) on that league night!
I think you have that backwards. SAM games all have coin door ball saver, but not coin door disable tilt. I believe that started with Spike. IMDN LE shows coin door ball saver in the manual, although I don’t have one nearby to check.
Both coins door ball saver and coin door disable tilt are standard settings. Both are turned off by default. If you get a new game, turn them on even if your game isn’t used for competition. Coin door ballsaver may not be there in the menu on Spike and if it is, it may not do anything. Not sure how Spike does it. Both settings are good for home play as well as competitive play. Stuff happens.
And in case it wasn’t clear above, when coin door ball saver is enabled, if a ball drains that shouldn’t (full trough), as soon as the coin door is closed, a ball is kicked into the shooter lane and auto plunged. Make sure your player (with the stuck ball) is ready before closing the coin door.
Circuit final in Chicago this year. @pinwizj has a stuck ball on Seawitch. I free it, put it on the flipper, and proceed to tilt the game while closing the coin door.
I’ve never felt like a bigger asshole in my life. Luckily, the rules already dictate the remedy: another ball added at the end of the match, points added on. And hey, I’m not the reason for him not winning! So that’s a plus.
!!! This just solved an issue I was having, thank you!
SAM games have both. The first Spike games had this item in the menu, but it didn’t/couldn’t do anything because there’s no coin door switch to activate it. Apparently, the manuals are still incorrect but I believe it’s no longer a menu option.
I don’t remember seeing coin door disable tilt on any of my SAM games. Some later games got a ball search setting added, but I don’t see tilt disable in any of the manuals. Are you sure it wasn’t just a few late SAM games that got it?
The setting is new and older games like WPT and Spidey haven’t got an update in years.
My SAM games are Metallica, AC/DC, and Walking Dead. I’ve also had a Star Trek, Mustang, and X-Men in the past. I’m almost sure both options are in all of these. I wouldn’t doubt that Coin Door Disable Tilt was added somewhere in the middle of the SAM era.