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How consistent are you?

Jib

Jib

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Joined
Mar 12, 2021
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1,271
Location
Northamptonshire
I got my first machine just over a year ago, other than a few games in arcades as I kid, I'd only played on a vpin for a few months before that. I do play pretty much every day though so I've racked up plenty of games in that year. Up until recently I had TMNT and JP on 5 balls but when I got Godzilla I kept it on 3 balls because of how many extra balls it has, I then changed TMNT and JP to 3 balls, partly to compare games better but also to give them more longevity, when DP and IMDN came I kept them on 3 balls too.

I'm getting frustrated with how inconsistent I am on 3 balls (5 balls I'm more consistent because those rubbish balls are averaged out more I guess), sometimes I think I'm doing well but then I have multiple poo games in a row and then I just wonder if my good games are pure luck.

I'll use DP and IMDN as examples as they are my new machines, have always been on 3 balls and insider connected. My first 5 games on DP I got under 200m, I was standing there thinking 'I thought this is meant to be an easier game?!' then on my 6th game, out of nowhere I completed the game and got over 2b, press start again, under 400m lol. Same on IMDN I've got to battle the beast a few times (with increased ball save on mummy mb) but I have a whole bunch of games I get under 150m.

Insider stats - No restarts
IMDN 101 plays, 894m high score but average of 180m :(
DP 29 plays 3.6b high score! but average 481m

Am I just rubbish and have a lucky game once in a while? Or are only the top tier players consistent? Generally how consistent are you?

The worst part is I can't figure out if I prefer the challenge despite the frustration of 3 balls vs maybe completing games too often on 5 balls.
 
consistency is what makes you go from a good player to a great player. its what I struggle with the most - last night I get 1.2M on space shuttle, then its picked as final game I get 150K. I play it again and get 900k with 2 balls...

just got to keep practising
 
I think playing 3-5 games on one pin and logging the scores is a good way of seeing your improvement. I started doing this on fish tales but then forgot 🤣

A lot of the better players have bad games but less bad games.
Consistency is key, I'm incredibly inconsistent but I feel I can get much higher scores now than a year ago. But I think my bad games are still just as bad 😆
 
Jib said:
I got my first machine just over a year ago, other than a few games in arcades as I kid, I'd only played on a vpin for a few months before that. I do play pretty much every day though so I've racked up plenty of games in that year. Up until recently I had TMNT and JP on 5 balls but when I got Godzilla I kept it on 3 balls because of how many extra balls it has, I then changed TMNT and JP to 3 balls, partly to compare games better but also to give them more longevity, when DP and IMDN came I kept them on 3 balls too.

I'm getting frustrated with how inconsistent I am on 3 balls (5 balls I'm more consistent because those rubbish balls are averaged out more I guess), sometimes I think I'm doing well but then I have multiple poo games in a row and then I just wonder if my good games are pure luck.

I'll use DP and IMDN as examples as they are my new machines, have always been on 3 balls and insider connected. My first 5 games on DP I got under 200m, I was standing there thinking 'I thought this is meant to be an easier game?!' then on my 6th game, out of nowhere I completed the game and got over 2b, press start again, under 400m lol. Same on IMDN I've got to battle the beast a few times (with increased ball save on mummy mb) but I have a whole bunch of games I get under 150m.

Insider stats - No restarts
IMDN 101 plays, 894m high score but average of 180m :(
DP 29 plays 3.6b high score! but average 481m

Am I just rubbish and have a lucky game once in a while? Or are only the top tier players consistent? Generally how consistent are you?

The worst part is I can't figure out if I prefer the challenge despite the frustration of 3 balls vs maybe completing games too often on 5 balls.
Click to expand...

I'd say from those stats you are a pretty damn consistent player. On Deadpool 3.6B is an epic score, but 481M average is also very impressive over 29 games.

Maiden you have obviously played quite a lot more, but again I'd say your scores are pretty impressive.

As Neil said, practice practice practice, it's small gains, but really if you want to become a better player, consistency is everything. Consistently taking less risky shots, making less risky decisions, recovering quicker and getting back under control quicker. But it definitely seems like you're on the right path 😊
 
I’ve always thought this is one of the biggest that separates players like Craig and Andy from most of the rest of us. Sure they can have bad games or even tournament results but its very few and far between. Most of us can blow up games and get crazy scores now and then but they can do it far more often than your average player.

How well I do, and this has been the case for a long time completely depends which Ian turns up (and maybe how many beers I’ve had) 🤣. This league season so far has had both my worst ever finish (23rd) and also my first win. Pinfest 2019 I got to the final, last year out in the first knockout round.
 
windoesnot said:
I’ve always thought this is one of the biggest that separates players like Craig and Andy from most of the rest of us. Sure they can have bad games or even tournament results but its very few and far between. Most of us can blow up games and get crazy scores now and then but they can do it far more often than your average player.

How well I do, and this has been the case for a long time completely depends which Ian turns up (and maybe how many beers I’ve had) 🤣. This league season so far has had both my worst ever finish (23rd) and also my first win. Pinfest 2019 I got to the final, last year out in the first knockout round.
Click to expand...

I think it's also the ability to easily switch between games. If I played a couple of games on each machine a day instead of sticking to one I'd probably never get to the end of a game, I need a few games to find my shots. Obviously I still have the recovery skills but my accuracy isn't universal.
 
I'm very inconsistent. I can have one or two half decent games then go on a run of terrible games, definitely my biggest issue. Game knowledge and flipper skills obviously play a part, but there are some days when things just don't fall right.
Not having my own machine also means I'm limited to practising only when I go to a venue like Electric Circus, Pinball Office, Pinball Republic etc.
 
I’m still a noob as only really been into the hobby for a year and I’m not hitting any where near the scores some of the folks on here are hitting.

I leave everything set to 3 balls now and as close to factory settings as possible so I can kind of compare where I’m at with others.

JP I have only managed to get to visitor center twice and I must of played that over 1,000 times but boy am I proud of myself when I get there lol.

I’ve just got DP and GZ and loving both but only really getting small scores on both at present but do I really care? I don’t think so… in fact I often think to myself would I be as excited to come back every day if I was as good as some of the folk on here… ?

In terms of consistency, sometimes I walk up and hit everything I try to hit and get a cracking score (for my standard) and after that game I think yeah I can do that again….. yeah maybe not but I think that’s one of the reasons I keep coming back for more!!!
 
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3.6 BILLION on Deadpool?

I'd sell an arm for that type of score . . . .

Oh, hold on a minute 🤔
 
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This is a great thread, as it’s something I’ve thought about a lot.
I got back into pinball 3 years ago, and I’ve done a couple of tournaments now. Would love to be a better player, and be able to compete a bit more.
I don’t own a machine either, but visit the public arcades as much as I can.
I have definitely improved over these 3 years, but no where near where I’d like to be.
I view pinball the same as other sports, basically you have to put the hours in, be dedicated, and practice. The more you do anything, the better you will become.
But let’s not forget, natural talent plays a big part, some people are born with the skills, and with practice and dedication, they rise to the top.
 
I struggle most on machines I own - they play slightly differently and I don't adjust quickly enough to those differences.

When playing by yourself, there's no goal or pressure which makes it different. Try setting yourself goals that are not just score based, to complete modes or other in-game things. Or randomise a score 'to beat' and decide how to approach it. For example, if on Deadpool you are player 4 on ball 3 with 55M - what do you do if you need to get to 75M to 'win' and how does that change if you need 500M? Those are the key decisions the top players make - risk/reward is really important to understand, no point going for the mega-super-duper-multiplier strategy if you only need to hit two normal jackpot shots to win the round.

Oh and as Craig said, control. Get control. If in doubt, get control and trap up, look at the score and your options and plan what's next. Know what the next shot is and from which flipper - if you don't know that, then get control and decide (if I only I did this more...)

Also, I don't think using a straight average like you've posted is really that helpful - a single great game will drag that up massively, whereas one really bad game won't destroy it. The top players very rarely have awful games and those are the ones that drag you down league rankings, or get you eliminated from a competition.
 
Thanks for starting this thread @Jib. This is a great topic and, as others have said, I’ve been thinking about it a lot too.
cyberkryten said:
When playing by yourself, there's no goal or pressure which makes it different. Try setting yourself goals that are not just score based, to complete modes or other in-game things. Or randomise a score 'to beat' and decide how to approach it. For example, if on Deadpool you are player 4 on ball 3 with 55M - what do you do if you need to get to 75M to 'win' and how does that change if you need 500M? Those are the key decisions the top players make - risk/reward is really important to understand, no point going for the mega-super-duper-multiplier strategy if you only need to hit two normal jackpot shots to win the round.
Click to expand...
I compete with my husband, who is now consistently knocking me off the high score table 😭

I’m unsure how to improve. I’ve watched PAPA tutorials for the pins we own (and others) and have been watching the Abe Flips tutorial videos too.

It feels like some combination of:

  1. Unexpected outlane drains reducing my game-to-game consistency (i.e. I brick a shot or ball unexpectedly hits an obstacle, shoots off at an angle and drains, and I can’t react fast enough) - so that some games I can go for ages, and the next game I’ll drain two balls almost immediately, and;
  2. Not knowing how to optimise my score given my (limited) accuracy. As an example, I was playing Fish Tales (normal flippers) for about 15 minutes at lunchtime a couple of days ago. I got three multiballs, two extra balls, Feed Frenzy and two monster fish… and 175 million. My husband has a Grand Champion score of over a billion :/ Not sure exactly how I compete with that - he just seems to be able to strategically optimise his ball times to get the best score.
 
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VeeMonroe said:
I got three multiballs, two extra balls, Feed Frenzy and two monster fish… and 175 million. My husband
Click to expand...

What did you do on the three multiballs? You only need 3 jackpots to the light the super jackpot and that's the only way to get a billion or close to, so I would imagine your husband went for that.
The super jackpot is worth 100mil at first for each captive ball hit, You easily take it in by getting a few hits on that ball.

Everything else in Fish Tales is worth nothing compared to the super jacks.

My high score is 650mil with lightning flippers and no extra balls. That's mostly getting the super jackpot. I probably had only 100mil until the super jackpots. A few flips and suddenly accrued 500mil in under 30secs.

Super jackpot becomes 200m the second time round too.
 
David_Vi said:
What did you do on the three multiballs?
Click to expand...

Noodled around… Shot the Caster’s Club then somehow managed not to hit the left orbit for the jackpot… multiple times :eek:

David_Vi said:
You only need 3 jackpots to the light the super jackpot and that's the only way to get a billion or close to, so I would imagine your husband went for that.
Click to expand...

Apparently, he did. Our best scores without super jackpot are around 200 million - and that’s both of us.
David_Vi said:
My high score is 650mil with lightning flippers and no extra balls. That's mostly getting the super jackpot. I probably had only 100mil until the super jackpots. A few flips and suddenly accrued 500mil in under 30secs.

Super jackpot becomes 200m the second time round too.
Click to expand...
Thanks, David. That explains a lot 🥰

I think he’d been practicing the Caster’s Club shot for several weeks beforehand.
 
Jib said:
I got my first machine just over a year ago, other than a few games in arcades as I kid, I'd only played on a vpin for a few months before that. I do play pretty much every day though so I've racked up plenty of games in that year. Up until recently I had TMNT and JP on 5 balls but when I got Godzilla I kept it on 3 balls because of how many extra balls it has, I then changed TMNT and JP to 3 balls, partly to compare games better but also to give them more longevity, when DP and IMDN came I kept them on 3 balls too.

I'm getting frustrated with how inconsistent I am on 3 balls (5 balls I'm more consistent because those rubbish balls are averaged out more I guess), sometimes I think I'm doing well but then I have multiple poo games in a row and then I just wonder if my good games are pure luck.

I'll use DP and IMDN as examples as they are my new machines, have always been on 3 balls and insider connected. My first 5 games on DP I got under 200m, I was standing there thinking 'I thought this is meant to be an easier game?!' then on my 6th game, out of nowhere I completed the game and got over 2b, press start again, under 400m lol. Same on IMDN I've got to battle the beast a few times (with increased ball save on mummy mb) but I have a whole bunch of games I get under 150m.

Insider stats - No restarts
IMDN 101 plays, 894m high score but average of 180m :(
DP 29 plays 3.6b high score! but average 481m

Am I just rubbish and have a lucky game once in a while? Or are only the top tier players consistent? Generally how consistent are you?

The worst part is I can't figure out if I prefer the challenge despite the frustration of 3 balls vs maybe completing games too often on 5 balls.
Click to expand...
You got to battle the beast on IMDN a few times?
You can’ be too bad a player.
I’ve had mine since 2018 NIB never got there..
 
Sako-TRG said:
You got to battle the beast on IMDN a few times?
You can’ be too bad a player.
I’ve had mine since 2018 NIB never got there..
Click to expand...
Maybe mines set up easier! That’s why I was getting frustrated with my consistency though. I’m wondering if being able to get there and then getting 100-200m in multiple games is more frustrating than consistently getting to the same spot, even if that’s not as far in the game because I know I’m good enough to do it so it’s frustrating when I do poorly.

I know it’s part of pinball in some ways but I was just wondering if my consistency was all over the place vs other people or it was pretty normal for the average player.
 
Jib said:
Maybe mines set up easier! That’s why I was getting frustrated with my consistency though. I’m wondering if being able to get there and then getting 100-200m multiple games is more frustrating than consistently getting to the same spot, even if that’s not as far in the game. I know it’s part of pinball in some ways but I was just wondering if my consistency was all over the place vs other people.
Click to expand...
No, definitely not, re: consistency. At least, as far as we’re concerned.

We get hundreds of millions one game (dependent on machine) and then, the next game, we get a ‘Lorcan score’ (Lorcan is our two year old - he is just learning to use the flippers).
 
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David_Vi said:
What did you do on the three multiballs? You only need 3 jackpots to the light the super jackpot and that's the only way to get a billion or close to, so I would imagine your husband went for that.
The super jackpot is worth 100mil at first for each captive ball hit, You easily take it in by getting a few hits on that ball.

Everything else in Fish Tales is worth nothing compared to the super jacks.
Click to expand...
And… I’ve just hit the high score table with 449mil and a Super Jackpot. Thanks @David_Vi 🥰
 
Doggard said:
I view pinball the same as other sports, basically you have to put the hours in, be dedicated, and practice. The more you do anything, the better you will become.
Click to expand...
With purposeful practice - not just playing aimlessly a lot but practicing with a purpose - shot accuracy, flipper skills etc - I believe this is absolutely the case


Doggard said:
But let’s not forget, natural talent plays a big part, some people are born with the skills, and with practice and dedication, they rise to the top.
Click to expand...
The jury is out on that one. If you read this book by Mathew Syed:

Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice​

you will find a very powerful argument indeed that natural talent accounts for about 2% of a top player's ability in any sport, and this is dwarfed by the ability gained by practice. Basically anyone can become a top player in any sport by practice alone (unless there is some biomechanical reason like they are too small to be a goalie or their feet are too small to be a top swimmer etc.)

He provides the example of the fact that at one point in the 80s three of the top four table tennis players in England lived on the same street. Did they happen to be born in the same street each with more natural talent than anyone else in England? Or was it something to do with the fact that they practiced incessently together and were lucky enough to have a top chinese coach who happened to live very close by who was able to direct their practice?

So if you are convinced by this book then that means that anyone can be a top top pinball player if they have the time and dedication to do so. You don't need natural talent - you just need to know how to go about getting to be a better player.
 
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Mfresh said:
you will find a very powerful argument indeed that natural talent accounts for about 2% of a top player's ability in any sport, and this is dwarfed by the ability gained by practice. Basically anyone can become a top player in any sport by practice alone (unless there is some biomechanical reason like they are too small to be a goalie or their feet are too small to be a top swimmer etc.)
Click to expand...
There’s hope for me yet then ! 😜🤣
 
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I was very fortunate to spend time with the great Lyman Sheats playing Iron Man, Attack from Mars, Walking Dead and Batman ‘66. he watched me play and gave me a lot of feedback on what I was good at and what I needed to consider. He noticed that my ability to hit a ball when rolling and be accurate was better than when I cradled the ball and he also told me I needed to move the game ALOT more than I did.

When I practise I record my game and look for specific shots, for example I spent a lot of time on JP2 glass off and recording trying to hit the C, A, O, S shots from rolling and cradle up and it definitely paid off. Walking dead same thing, being able to hit barn super consistently is so important in the game but then if you can take arena into a lot of shots you are laughing.

I think my play got better the most because of solid state games. There is a purity about the games and it’s much more about shot accuracy, seawitch, meteor and alien poker all helped with accuracy and remember the more you hit a shot well the more you have control out of that shot.

but practise is crucial and within that practise ensuring you are challenging yourself.

I also initially suffered from nerves (and occasionally still do) and the only way to tackle that is to play in big events regularly; hence why I super encourage people to goto a competition to see how well you can play.

Neil.
 
I’m super skilled next to my non pinball mates 😂 but a case in point is when a really good player turns up. Take @Garry Sp8 who popped into see me last week and literally destroyed the score on my PZ on his 1st and only game!
Then a quick pop to Billy’s saw the top score on his TOM easily achieved on his 1st ball so much so he then proceeded to let all the remaining balls drain 😱 I guess otherwise he would have been on it most of the afternoon.
Oh and the proximity sensor on the trunk was flakey and needed a twiddle too.
I really enjoy playing my pins but it usually takes a few games on each one before I hit the motherlode. I guess I’m one of those who enjoys working on them as much as playing.
 
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