Pinball technique video critique thread

[VeeMonroe]

Thanks to @David_Vi for this suggestion.

Basically, the idea is to post videos of you playing pinball, so that other players can give helpful advice on technique (or just point and laugh).

It looks like you have to upload videos to YouTube (or elsewhere) and then post the links in the thread to avoid size limits.

Hopefully someone (else) will also find this useful…

 

[VeeMonroe]

Creech is currently the game I play worst at home. This is a classic example of an ‘insta-drain‘ game where I achieved precisely nothing

Roughly half of my Thursday night PBR league games look like this. And the remainder vary between average and excellent. I want fewer games like this (obviously).

(Yes, we do have a loose ramp. I have a replacement that isn’t yet fitted).

 

[David_Vi]

Congratulations on having the s to start this off.

Related to the game itself, I'd full plunge first ball to get your KISS letters completed, it's a harder shot to complete otherwise. Then work on PAID as normal.

Definitely need more dead bouncing. You'll get the ball back under control and able to take a more calculated shot than on the fly. Also connected to this is keeping flippers down when not using them, I was advised this by @Moonraker I believe? With them up often you're leaving a bigger opening.

Your creech is a lot floatier than ours too, I think that can make the game harder as will bounce about near the slings and is harder to catch (for some reason).

To be honest Creech is quite a tough game, the flipper gap is bigger than standard and you have to make calculated shots.

 

[Wayne J]

Firstly time a hard plunge to go for the last S of Kiss - instant 2mil, plus chance of shot straight to the M for 8mil (?) Letter combo, or if you miss that keeps the chance of a sequential film award later in game.
Also means you don't gave to shoot for the Kiss Lane, from where you lost first 2 balls. (As far as I watched - sorry)

You lost balls by flipping them away on the fly - try letting the ball just hit the flipper while it's down so it bounces across, or raise flipper earlier for a catch.

Ball coming out of pops often can be caught by holding the flipper up, especially if you give a tap on the right of the machine as it's rolling down the guide.

When you do have control on the right flipper shoot for the left ramp, but miss it early if you're going to miss at all - that will light a snack bar target., which will change position with every pop bumper hit.

Once they're lit shoot up the centre for move your car, and progress to lighting I and bonus multiplier

 

[Colywobbles]

I am not familiar with the game as my Creech lasted about a month here due to the marmite nature of the game and I hate marmite with a vengeance so I’ll say no more.
Anyway one thing I always do when a pin comes in here is to see how the ball reacts to dead flips as it can be so helpful getting control of the ball. Drop catching is another beast altogether and requires 100s of hours perfecting so im not sure if you are trying to drop catch or just flailing the flippers as the ball gets close.

Dont get me wrong im no expert myself but In see this kind of play so much and this small tip should help a lot. Some pins are more forgiving than others and why I love MET so much as it is probably the best pin in my lineup to demo deadflipping and flipper passes.

 

[VeeMonroe]

First, huge thanks for all the tips. I’ve read all of them, really helpful

Congratulations on having the s to start this off.

Thanks My husband now wants me to film him bombing AFM, but I’m hoping other people are also brave enough to join in and find it useful

Related to the game itself, I'd full plunge first ball to get your KISS letters completed, it's a harder shot to complete otherwise. Then work on PAID as normal.

Firstly time a hard plunge to go for the last S of Kiss - instant 2mil, plus chance of shot straight to the M for 8mil (?) Letter combo, or if you miss that keeps the chance of a sequential film award later in game. Also means you don't gave to shoot for the Kiss Lane, from where you lost first 2 balls. (As far as I watched - sorry)

Okay, thanks I’d been trying to go for the lit PAID letter. I’ll go for a hard plunge Instead.

Definitely need more dead bouncing.

Anyway one thing I always do when a pin comes in here is to see how the ball reacts to dead flips as it can be so helpful getting control of the ball.

Yes, this is the biggie, evidently I’ll do some practice!

Drop catching is another beast altogether and requires 100s of hours perfecting so im not sure if you are trying to drop catch or just flailing the flippers as the ball gets close.

Erm… You got it You were seeing the product of about a week in March where all I did when I played pinball was practice drop catching. Then, I went to a couple of tournaments, obsessively tried to drop catch and did really badly; the ball just bounced up off the flipper all over the shop and, on stuff like TWD, that was insta-death. I’m now up to about 30%-50% success on the drop catching, as evidenced by several times in that video that the ball actually stopped (yay). What has really helped was @Jackpot advising me to, if the drop catch fails but the ball doesn’t stray too far, try again, so the ball bounces with less energy each time, like stopping a table tennis ball on a little racket.

Unfortunately, all the other times I tried drop catching in that video (and in my play generally), it didn’t work and the ball richocheted off and shot up a ramp (or something). So, I’ll now try practicing dead bouncing instead/as well

Ball coming out of pops often can be caught by holding the flipper up, especially if you give a tap on the right of the machine as it's rolling down the guide.

Okay. Will try that I’d been trying to practice my drop catch on the bumper return on Creech.

When you do have control on the right flipper shoot for the left ramp, but miss it early if you're going to miss at all - that will light a snack bar target., which will change position with every pop bumper hit.

Once they're lit shoot up the centre for move your car, and progress to lighting I and bonus multiplier

Thanks

 

[Moonraker]

Definitely need more dead bouncing. You'll get the ball back under control and able to take a more calculated shot than on the fly. Also connected to this is keeping flippers down when not using them, I was advised this by @Moonraker I believe? With them up often you're leaving a bigger opening.

Guilty as charged! I also said not to flip every time the ball comes near the flippers, don't be afraid to let the ball bounce to the other flipper and select your shots...!

 

[Moonraker]

Vee, it sounds like you need to need to find someone with a copy of pinball 101 DVD.

 

[roadshow16]

Hi Vivienne,

Fair play for doing this. This is what I would do on this Creech. As the ball is coming out of the pops hold the right flipper up, what happens? You did it once and it was coming to a stop before you flipped away. Do it a bunch of times, see what happens. Then, do nothing. See what happens when the ball comes out of the pops to the right flipper and you do nothing, let the ball bounce on the right flipper, what happens? Some Creech, it bounces straight over to the left flipper for an easy catch. Others it bounces over to the left, off the bottom of the left sling and straight back over to the right flipper for an easy catch.

Basically, the feed out of the pops on Creech is the key to the whole game. Sometimes neither of those things work and you will need to live catch, which is hard and you can't really do yet. But my guess is, one of the top 2 will almost definitely work. Once it's trapped either on the left or right flipper. Shoot the middle. Do it again. And again. And again. And again......nothing else. Dont shoot anything else. Shoot the middle again

 

[VeeMonroe]

Vee, it sounds like you need to need to find someone with a copy of pinball 101 DVD.

I’ve watched Abe Flips

Craig’s videos for Home Leisure Direct:

And for Gonzo:

The PAPA flipper skills videos:

Plus, this series on skills (which, if I wasn’t sold already on TNA, would have sold me a TNA):

Links provided here, incase useful for anyone else

There is, unfortunately, a difference between seeing and doing…

 

[VeeMonroe]

Fair play for doing this. This is what I would do on this Creech. As the ball is coming out of the pops hold the right flipper up, what happens? You did it once and it was coming to a stop before you flipped away. Do it a bunch of times, see what happens. Then, do nothing. See what happens when the ball comes out of the pops to the right flipper and you do nothing, let the ball bounce on the right flipper, what happens? Some Creech, it bounces straight over to the left flipper for an easy catch. Others it bounces over to the left, off the bottom of the left sling and straight back over to the right flipper for an easy catch.

Basically, the feed out of the pops on Creech is the key to the whole game. Sometimes neither of those things work and you will need to live catch, which is hard and you can't really do yet. But my guess is, one of the top 2 will almost definitely work.

Thanks. Will do that

Once it's trapped either on the left or right flipper. Shoot the middle. Do it again. And again. And again. And again......nothing else. Dont shoot anything else. Shoot the middle again

I now understand how our six year old has the highest family score on our Creech. We found him bouncing up and down on his small stool, closely observed by his little brother, with them both yelling “MOVE YOUR CAR!”, while he shot up the middle over and over again…

 

[Replay]

I think it was Bowen who said best way to learn a bounce pass is to play one handed.

Put one hand behind your back and just play with left or right hand.

It's a bit frantic moving hand from right to left flipper, but the consequence is watching tons of bounce passes!

 

[Colywobbles]

Sorry I miss quoted I meant to say Dead Bounce not Deadflip

 

[Jackpot]

First, huge thanks for all the tips. I’ve read all of them, really helpful

Thanks My husband now wants me to film him bombing AFM, but I’m hoping other people are also brave enough to join in and find it useful


Okay, thanks I’d been trying to go for the lit PAID letter. I’ll go for a hard plunge Instead.


Yes, this is the biggie, evidently I’ll do some practice!

Erm… You got it You were seeing the product of about a week in March where all I did when I played pinball was practice drop catching. Then, I went to a couple of tournaments, obsessively tried to drop catch and did really badly; the ball just bounced up off the flipper all over the shop and, on stuff like TWD, that was insta-death. I’m now up to about 30%-50% success on the drop catching, as evidenced by several times in that video that the ball actually stopped (yay). What has really helped was @Jackpot advising me to, if the drop catch fails but the ball doesn’t stray too far, try again, so the ball bounces with less energy each time, like stopping a table tennis ball on a little racket.

Unfortunately, all the other times I tried drop catching in that video (and in my play generally), it didn’t work and the ball richocheted off and shot up a ramp (or something). So, I’ll now try practicing dead bouncing instead/as well

Okay. Will try that I’d been trying to practice my drop catch on the bumper return on Creech.

Thanks

Vee - glad the advice helped - just to clarify I was suggesting if your live catch fails and it bounces in the air you can try another live catch rather than just holding your flipper up and hoping it settles. (Not drop catch, may have been a typo)

 

[Tucks]

Live catch is one of the hardest but most important pinball skill there is. Go back and watch Bowen "The live Catch King" Kerins - he's the master.

I hardly ever hold up a flipper for a catch unless it is 100% safe. The ball hits the stationary flipper and just bounces off. TZ out of the slot machine is a classic example of what can go wrong.

I find even a 'micro' live catch will deaden the ball more. it's just physics.

 

[Jib]

Dead bouncing is probably the thing I use the most, it’s the easiest to learn and makes a big difference. Once you’re confident using it you can start nudging to dead bounce ones that wouldn’t have made it by themselves

 

[David_Vi]

As I thought Vee was very brave to jump in and submit a video I thought it would be only fair to also contribute something, and on a Creech so there can be an interesting comparison made. (Of the game not necessarily the players skills)

It wasn't my first game, to be honest I played a few but I then noticed a few little issues (we had friends over Sunday to hammer the games ready for our event) so had to do a little fettling
This was my first game after putting the glass back and last before bed.

To be honest, a lot of my games on creech don't go this well and aren't too dissimilar to your video @VeeMonroe the one recorded just happened to be semi decent (but included no decent cashing in of a jackpot ). Often at home I try for multiball as it's worth a lot if you can get it right.

I find it incredibly hard to live catch from the left feed, often the ball bounces towards the middle. I don't know if it's the speed or ball guide alignment on our Creech that can make it harder or not possible? Or just skill? (You're all going to say skill aren't you?)

I thought it might be a good comparison of how the same pin can vary, to me ours feels much much faster and in some ways I think that makes it easier, but I might be wrong!

 

[Tucks]

Your feed from the right is quite predictable which makes as the difference. You can dead bounce from right to left. Not many CFTBL can do that.

 

[David_Vi]

Your feed from the right is quite predictable which makes as the difference. You can dead bounce from right to left. Not many CFTBL can do that.

It's not 100%, I have to give a tiny nudge right and a bump to make it bounce. It used to just roll and hit the tip of the left flipper and drain, but I became obsessed with getting it to bounce over because a creech I played elsewhere did it

 

[VeeMonroe]

As I thought Vee was very brave to jump in and submit a video I thought it would be only fair to also contribute something, and on a Creech so there can be an interesting comparison made. (Of the game not necessarily the players skills)

It wasn't my first game, to be honest I played a few but I then noticed a few little issues (we had friends over Sunday to hammer the games ready for our event) so had to do a little fettling
This was my first game after putting the glass back and last before bed.

To be honest, a lot of my games on creech don't go this well and aren't too dissimilar to your video @VeeMonroe the one recorded just happened to be semi decent (but included no decent cashing in of a jackpot ). Often at home I try for multiball as it's worth a lot if you can get it right.

I find it incredibly hard to live catch from the left feed, often the ball bounces towards the middle. I don't know if it's the speed or ball guide alignment on our Creech that can make it harder or not possible? Or just skill? (You're all going to say skill aren't you?)

I thought it might be a good comparison of how the same pin can vary, to me ours feels much much faster and in some ways I think that makes it easier, but I might be wrong!

The big thing I noticed (and, as you can tell, I'm not an expert) is there's something 'emotional' (maybe) that happened just before you drained on every ball. So, it's like you do a bunch of note-perfect dead bounces and live catches (got the right term now), as though you're filming for a pinball tutorial video. You make accurate, targeted shots, everything is going where you want it to. And then, abruptly, something happens... Either you lose concentration or make a brief mistake, I don't know which. You start sort-of flailing about after that, making lots of zoom-y ramp shots and firing haphazardly at the snack-bar without slowing the ball down. The ball then starts ricocheting around and, a few seconds later, it drains. It feels as if you should recognise those moments and try to stop the ball. Maybe try to get it into a cradle, regroup for a few seconds, and then make your next shot?

 

[roadshow16]

Yeah really nice example of how using the dead bounce effectively can work well. Knowledge of how a particular machine plays is very important. Good skills though David, good patience in single ball play, some nice micro flips to regain control. In this video, your big area of improvement needed is multiball play, a lot of your skills go out the window when you have 2 balls, you started hitting more on the fly. It's not easy and Creech is probably the best multiball in all of pinball for my money, so fantastic to practice on.

Here is one of me on Creech. In the final of the Danish Pinball Open at 3am . You can see I worked out the right feed in a different way, I had played it and had one of the top scores in qualifying, so felt comfortable

The Creech game starts around 24 minutes

If you just want to watch me and analyse my skills then start from 46.24, as that's where I actually start playing, but I'm playing against some of the best players in Europe, so good to watch too

 

[David_Vi]

The big thing I noticed (and, as you can tell, I'm not an expert) is there's something 'emotional' (maybe) that happened just before you drained on every ball. So, it's like you do a bunch of note-perfect dead bounces and live catches (got the right term now), as though you're filming for a pinball tutorial video. You make accurate, targeted shots, everything is going where you want it to. And then, abruptly, something happens... Either you lose concentration or make a brief mistake, I don't know which. You start sort-of flailing about after that, making lots of zoom-y ramp shots and firing haphazardly at the snack-bar without slowing the ball down. The ball then starts ricocheting around and, a few seconds later, it drains. It feels as if you should recognise those moments and try to stop the ball. Maybe try to get it into a cradle, regroup for a few seconds, and then make your next shot?

That's the same advice I'd give someone else if I watched the video, which shows you don't always see it yourself when playing.
I think it's common,when you miss a shot the ball is out of control and it's that getting it back in control which is a big fight and often leads to misjudged flip flaps and flops where the ball goes more out of control!

Plus on creech I'm overly aware of the bigger flipper gap and how I can't always roll the ball across which makes me play it differently and probably panic more.

 

[roadshow16]

Defensive skills are massive. Accuracy is the biggest factor in being a good pinball player, but inevitably we are all going to miss at some point. How quickly you can get the ball back under control after its wild is a massive skill, Elwin's defence is legendary and why he is the GOAT

 

[VeeMonroe]

Deleted response as it was less relevant than @roadshow16's great post

 

[David_Vi]

Yeah really nice example of how using the dead bounce effectively can work well. Knowledge of how a particular machine plays is very important. Good skills though David, good patience in single ball play, some nice micro flips to regain control. In this video, your big area of improvement needed is multiball play, a lot of your skills go out the window when you have 2 balls, you started hitting more on the fly. It's not easy and Creech is probably the best multiball in all of pinball for my money, so fantastic to practice on.

Here is one of me on Creech. In the final of the Danish Pinball Open at 3am . You can see I worked out the right feed in a different way, I had played it and had one of the top scores in qualifying, so felt comfortable

The Creech game starts around 24 minutes

If you just want to watch me and analyse my skills then start from 46.24, as that's where I actually start playing, but I'm playing against some of the best players in Europe, so good to watch too

I think I've seen this before because I remember Roberto's GF sitting in the background plus I think Franck Bona? being drunk and trying to get on stream.

That faulty switch in the snackbar off topic slightly, I believe that's classed as a minor fault ?
It would have been awful if you'd have drained and only missed out because the snack attack didn't work.

The feed on that creech is similar to ours, it'll bounce across. But I think the difference is the rubbers which make harder to stop.

It's interesting how you march off and when you come back you've plunged the ball the second you're Infront of the machine . Shows how often it only takes one decent ball!

When Creech was first fixed up I managed to get 1.8bil on it by getting 2 jackpots and one super with 4x, but it felt like a one in a million game and since we moved Creech into the lineup my high is 987mil but I rarely ever get over 300mil since.
So I know I can get control in multiball, but there's so many variables which makes me an extremely inconsistent player.

I do get easily distracted especially when there are people about. I'm aware of little issues with pins and struggle to relax and just play the card I'm dealt, if that makes sense. Those times I play well I'm in the zone or maybe not caring so much?

For example, I rarely get super jacks on Fish Tales, play over and over and fail. In December we had friends over for Claire's birthday, one stayed over. Before he went home we played ONE game of pinball with our morning coffee, he picked Fish Tales and I got 643,156,000 which is the GC.
I wish I could make sense of why this happens.

Attached our cool Creech high score table which shows how regulars score on it, including some now East Anglian pinball legends

 

[VeeMonroe]

I do get easily distracted especially when there are people about. I'm aware of little issues with pins and struggle to relax and just play the card I'm dealt, if that makes sense. Those times I play well I'm in the zone or maybe not caring so much?

I posted and then deleted, because I wasn't sure if it was helpful.

I'm also neurodiverse, but differently from you. I don't have ADHD, but our 'Flipper Beast' (the little boy who was cradling balls on Gigi) is autistic with high support needs at school, and we think I may have got a diagnosis if I was a kid today.

I can develop massive sensory issues in tournament, especially if my immune problem is kicking off. I routinely start a PBR Thursday night league playing as well as your Creech video, get partway through the tournament, and the noise, heat, crowding and lights just becomes overwhelmingly distracting and I'm flip-flapping everywhere on whatever game I'm playing. I have been known to lose balls because someone laughed abruptly behind me, because of strobe lighting on an adjacent pin... and so on.

My solution is to get the ball straight into a cradle. Get it into a lock, if that's easier. Take a deep breath, reassess my next shot and, if necessary, my strategy for the ball/game. If the problem is I made a mistake, I take some deep breaths, refocus, and only leave the cradle when focused again. If the problem is sensory hell, I remove the sensory distraction while in the cradle. That might mean one-handedly removing my cardigan (scandalising nearby gentlemen!), drinking some water or - in extremis - putting on headphones and streaming a (predictable) classic music track.

Don't know if that helps, but the suggestion is there

 

[s000m]

As I thought Vee was very brave to jump in and submit a video I thought it would be only fair to also contribute something, and on a Creech so there can be an interesting comparison made. (Of the game not necessarily the players skills)

It wasn't my first game, to be honest I played a few but I then noticed a few little issues (we had friends over Sunday to hammer the games ready for our event) so had to do a little fettling
This was my first game after putting the glass back and last before bed.

To be honest, a lot of my games on creech don't go this well and aren't too dissimilar to your video @VeeMonroe the one recorded just happened to be semi decent (but included no decent cashing in of a jackpot ). Often at home I try for multiball as it's worth a lot if you can get it right.

I find it incredibly hard to live catch from the left feed, often the ball bounces towards the middle. I don't know if it's the speed or ball guide alignment on our Creech that can make it harder or not possible? Or just skill? (You're all going to say skill aren't you?)

I thought it might be a good comparison of how the same pin can vary, to me ours feels much much faster and in some ways I think that makes it easier, but I might be wrong!

OK I take it back the color files are better than ColorDMD in Creech

 

[VeeMonroe]

Jon (my husband) has been keenly reading the thread and now wishes to be critiqued.

He thinks this was an unusually bad game of AFM, as he can normally get close to one billion.

NB: he says he knows the super skill shot (hold left flipper when plunging and shoot for the saucer), but was distracted by me holding a camera over his head.

 

[roadshow16]

Just dont shoot the saucer Jon. Its the most dangerous shot on the game, avoid it at all costs. I know its fun, the designer has made it fun to lure you in, dont shoot it

For me, there is one shot on AFM. The lock shot, thats it. It always feeds back to your flipper, hopefully you will be able to bump over from left to right, shoot the lock again. Play mulitball, shoot as many jackpots as possible. Do it again.

You can see where i'm going with this right. On every game I have a very simple, very safe strat that I can hopefully repeat over and over and over

 

[Replay]

I agree accuracy is number 1 skill top players have.

Elwin and accuracy go together like bread and butter.

Over the years I have learnt to nudge, to do great saves, learn complex rulesets, have 4 balls on one flipper and move to other.

Bounce passes, drop dead catches, all mastered.

Despite all that my accuracy still hasn't improved and so ball constantly out of control.

Yet to find a technique that REALLY does improve accuracy ( watched all above videos ).

If I could improve shot accuracy, I would go to more tournaments.