Did someone really dress up like a delivery man?!? 
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I was definitely the recipient of some obscure pictures ahead of time of the A bank games over the years. How those pictures were taken and by whom, the world will never know ā¦
As Mark said best, the old way was never really the old way anyway 
Yeah, PAPA 14 was the UPS thing.
Normally people would just knock on the door and then push in when it was opened, acting like they were searching for some other building. They would act like they knew nothing about pinball, and then Iād see them competing a few weeks later.
And that was when the PPL was around 50-60 people. I couldnāt possibly imagine trying to keep it āsecretā now with 150+ people in league and all the ReplayFX work ongoing.
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Easily done.
You put the A division games at the C bank row while tweaking and testing. And vice versa. Then relocate the games the night before and have a laugh.
(Wish I join in - have a blast)
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The āarmorā they have for cabs now covers everything but the legs. Of course youād still have to test the games once they are moved into place. So it wouldnāt be easy, but it could be done. That armor is expensive too. Money better spent elsewhere.
Most likely that if you need to practice on a given game then it wonāt be on your ticket anyways. Plus I believe PAPA has dupes of almost all the games they use except the oddballs.
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Sorry Cayle, I didnāt intend that to be a comment against you directly. I was thinking of pockets of the world that donāt have strong pinball communities with collectors/operators to bring in the latest releases for general play. A lot of people only see new machines at shows or read about them here or other pinball-related forums, much less get lots of game time on them, so itās definitely beneficial to know what youāre up against ahead of time.
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Perhaps Iām naive, but I donāt see where thereās much advantage to knowing the PAPA qualifying bank ahead of time, when thereās 3 days to get ample amounts of game knowledge by playing the bank oneself, and watching others play. It seems much more important in a format like Pinburgh where youāre most likely going to get one shot at any specific machine.
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For those of you who want to be surprised, just donāt look right? Maybe you could even bring a blindfold to Pinburgh and / or PAPA and have someone walk you over to the machine. Only take it off once you are in front of the machine. Maybe even pull the plunger first. That sounds like a real crazy surprise.
Or just play every game you ever see, and watch every PAPA video and you should be prepared for anything.
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Keep in mind that geography plays a big part. The west coast of north america, from BC to San Diego, is loaded with location games, collectors and great operators. Yet we still generally get games much later than the rest of the world. Many games arrive overseas before we get any.
The regular success for multiple west coast players, including Cayle, suggests that it isnāt a big problem. But Iāve heard grumbling privately. More it doesnāt make sense (we buy/ have all the damb games and we still get them late!) than it aināt fair. Geography is probably the biggest factor on who gets the new game the soonest. If you want to see the newest game sooner, move closer to Chicago (or NJ).
Absolutely agree with this. There are many tournaments where you have to learn new machines through play or observation or conversation. Itās part of the challenge and part of being successful in competitive play. Heck, every day of PAPA Classics is a learning experience.
Thatās certainly a valid strategy, to learn on the fly. My personal preference would be to know ahead of time, if say, Game of Thrones makes an appearance. I can find one local-ish and get some time in before I start dropping $20/game to learn. Itās a question of learning that specific gameās setup/nuances vs. āI have no idea what Iām doing.ā
Having attended my fair share of PAPAs, I can say that having a baseline strategy and knowledge of the ruleset is pretty helpful, but just as often as not that flies out the window once you get to the event. Machine setup may invalidate a strategy you wanted, people discover new strategies that are better, youāre flailing and need to try something different. Getting married to a strategy in advance is a huge mistake. Know the rules and how things work, but go in with an open mind and be ready to pivot as the weekend progresses.
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Well if game of thrones is used you can watch the top players playfield sw validation their way to Wall Multiball (premium/ le) or 5x ram to start each ball 
Exploits are coming
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Oh man, sheesh
Did anybody catch the Classics I announcement on Monday? I skimmed through and couldnt find them.
Full disclosure, I dislike Avengers too much to bring myself to watch an hour of gameplay
Pretty sure thatās happening on PAPA.tv Live tonight.
ugh i skimmed through that Avengers gameplay all because i cannot read dates! Disaster!
Classics 1:
Scuba
Poker Plus
Sharpeshooter
2001
Super Orbit
Hulk
Hokus Pokus
Fast Draw
Kiss
Quicksilver
Medusa
Seawitch
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