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Possible ‘basic tournament tips’ series. Advice/help wanted from anyone who can video moving pinballs

VeeMonroe

VeeMonroe

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I’ve been watching Bowen Kerins PAPA tutorial videos to try to help me improve my play at the Pinball Republic Thursday night league. The trouble is the PAPA videos are not terribly helpful because they assume, well, Bowen Kerins’ ability to play pinball.

I’ve noticed I’ll sometimes have the ball in play for ages and literally not score hardly anything. So, I’ve been asking people for some basic tips on machines I’m not familiar with, to try to reduce the likelihood of that happening.

Anyway, then it occurred to me there was maybe some space for a series of pinball videos giving very basic rules tips for tournament machines. Kind of like the PAPA tutorial videos, but short (five-minute) idiots’ strategy guides aimed at new to intermediate players who are not Bowen Kerins!

There are lots of pinball machines around me in London that I could ask to film. Problem is that I don’t know what equipment I need to film a ball moving around a playfield and/or what software I’d need to edit the videos.

So, if you make pinball videos, can you give me any advice? Also, anyone who has made videos of moving pinballs and is around London, please DM me if you’d like to get involved.
 
AlanJ said:
This is useful - not seen one for newer games though
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This is great, thanks :)

I'm a pretty visual learner, so was hoping to do something bite-sized on TikTok or similar, which people could view on a mobile phone. Just some basic info about the pin (e.g. age, features), and then a couple of simple, basic (and safe) techniques to get going.
 
A think a big thing for getting points on games is learning the rules for that game and not just relying on the aim for anything thats flashing route. Ive certainly noticed my scores go up a bit/a lot once someone tells me what I should be aiming for or I work a rule out.

A good example of this is paragon, played it during the PR Birthday weekend and I was batting the ball about for ages and getting hardly any points at all, but when some mentioned the drop downs that add to the bonus multiplier when I had a game where I hit all of them I doubled my final score on the last ball purely from the bonus added on at the end.

This sites has a lot of tips for what to go for on each game if youve not seen it before.

https://pintips.net/
 

Surely this is what you're after?

Ignore rules of games and work on the skills in the playlist. Rules of a game are irrelevant if you don't have the transferable skills to utilise them. Most games have simple strategies for competition play that you can learn quickly by asking someone. A lot of the time with classics you're halfway there by keeping the ball in play using flipper skills.


Let the ball bounce on the flippers without hitting it (this is known as a dead bounce) and get used to how the ball behaves. Slowly you'll get better at anticipating how the ball travels. Nearly every time a ball hits the flipper rubber it'll bounce and lose momentum and make it easier to catch it. Often it'll bounce to the opposite flipper and be an easy catch.

For practicing skills, pick a shot in a game and try only make that shot. This forces you to think about where you need the ball.
For example on Fish Tales, practice the casters club shot, or the left orbit spinner shot.

If the ball is on the wrong flipper for the shot, work on ways to get it into the correct one, this could be letting it bounce when its about to hit the right flipper, or catching it on the right and using the boat ramp to get it over to to the opposite flipper. A lot of good players are always thinking one move ahead and trying to get the ball where they want it for the next shot rather than just hitting something because it's available.

Pinball is all about control, control makes aiming easier. So practice control by trying to stop the ball so you can make a safer shot rather than shooting on the fly most of the time.
Be meticulous 👍

Dead bouncing is a game changing skill which helps you gain control, meaning you can take a breathe and think about your next move.
If you don't dead bounce I'd start with that, there's a video on it in the playlist I linked to.
 
David_Vi said:

Surely this is what you're after?

Ignore rules of games and work on the skills in the playlist. Rules of a game are irrelevant if you don't have the transferable skills to utilise them. Most games have simple strategies for competition play that you can learn quickly by asking someone. A lot of the time with classics you're halfway there by keeping the ball in play using flipper skills.


Let the ball bounce on the flippers without hitting it (this is known as a dead bounce) and get used to how the ball behaves. Slowly you'll get better at anticipating how the ball travels. Nearly every time a ball hits the flipper rubber it'll bounce and lose momentum and make it easier to catch it. Often it'll bounce to the opposite flipper and be an easy catch.

For practicing skills, pick a shot in a game and try only make that shot. This forces you to think about where you need the ball.
For example on Fish Tales, practice the casters club shot, or the left orbit spinner shot.

If the ball is on the wrong flipper for the shot, work on ways to get it into the correct one, this could be letting it bounce when its about to hit the right flipper, or catching it on the right and using the boat ramp to get it over to to the opposite flipper. A lot of good players are always thinking one move ahead and trying to get the ball where they want it for the next shot rather than just hitting something because it's available.

Pinball is all about control, control makes aiming easier. So practice control by trying to stop the ball so you can make a safer shot rather than shooting on the fly most of the time.
Be meticulous 👍

Dead bouncing is a game changing skill which helps you gain control, meaning you can take a breathe and think about your next move.
If you don't dead bounce I'd start with that, there's a video on it in the playlist I linked to.
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Okay. As you correctly point out, there are simple tournament strategies that you can ask someone about - and I wanted to make videos about those 😊

Folks, I genuinely don’t want video recommendations. I want advice on MAKING videos of pinball tables 🙂 I just want to make a series of short videos on ‘here are some great things to try on an unfamiliar machine, esp. in a tournament’ - you know, for other people who aren’t me because I can’t find any examples of what I mean around, so figured I’d try making some 😊

I don’t know what software and hardware people like Abe Flips use to capture moving balls, etc. and figured someone might know. Sorry if that wasn’t clear 😊
 
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So you want to make videos?
Every game has different rules so I'm not sure what you mean by "things to try on unfamiliar tables", because surely the answer to that is use your skills to take your time, read the apron card or ask someone.


For filming, I just use my phone attached to a tripod or mic stand using a holder. I think James does the same on his Majestic Pinball channel but uses a go pro. Both cheap but work unless you want a proper rig which I think is unnecessary

 
Honestly have no idea how you would go about making/editing videos, but would sure be interested in watching some.

Im kinda in the middle, understand the basics covered in by Abe Flips, but nowhere near skill needed to recreate the big point combos, stacked MBs etc in the papa vids.
 
David_Vi said:
So you want to make videos?
Every game has different rules so I'm not sure what you mean by "things to try on unfamiliar tables", because surely the answer to that is use your skills to take your time, read the apron card or ask someone.
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My aim is to make a video for each of a large number of pinball machines, telling people how to handle the machine if they're only going to get a few plays (as opposed to owning it or playing casually at a club where it's a long-term fixture), and are aiming to get okay scores fast rather than to build towards setting a Grand Champion.

That's probably being a new/intermediate tournament player, but it can also apply to someone who is visiting an arcade or bar where they're not a regular.
 
kev a said:
Honestly have no idea how you would go about making/editing videos, but would sure be interested in watching some.

Im kinda in the middle, understand the basics covered in by Abe Flips, but nowhere near skill needed to recreate the big point combos, stacked MBs etc in the papa vids.
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Yes, that's basically the situation I'm now in too.

I can currently get some 1s, 2s and 3s in PinGolf on pins where I've got a basic strategy, but there are some pins where I simply can't get above a 10 regardless of how 'good' a game I'm having. I can genuinely noodle around for five minutes and not get anywhere, game after game, both at league AND playing the same pin casually for practice at the club, and watching the PAPA vids often makes it worse, not better (because I try complex shots/combos).

I realised, asking people at the club, that there are some 'quick start' tips, which aren't obvious from the PAPA tutorials or rule card, but would be helpful to share in a video. These might be, for example, 'what's a relatively safe, easy set of shots that gets a multi-ball', for instance.
 
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VeeMonroe said:
Yes, that's basically the situation I'm now in too.

I can currently get some 1s, 2s and 3s in PinGolf on pins where I've got a basic strategy, but there are some pins where I simply can't get above a 10 regardless of how 'good' a game I'm having. I can genuinely noodle around for five minutes and not get anywhere, game after game, both at league AND playing casually at the club, and watching the PAPA vids seems to make it worse, not better.

I realised, asking people at the club, that there are some 'quick start' tips, which aren't obvious from the PAPA tutorials or rulecard, but would be helpful to share in a video. These might be, for example, 'what's a relatively safe, easy set of shots that gets a multiball', for instance.
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Yeah that sounds usefull, tips for a respectable score rather than a world record. I guess most games the big points are on the riskiest shots, but there are safer ways to build decent points which aren't alway obvious.

Thinking for example Whirlwind, the papa vid reccomends lighting the quick and normal MB at the same time for higher jackpot, but then you only have one chance, for an average player it's better to have two attempts for lower value and a better chance of at least getting 'something'
 
kev a said:
Yeah that sounds usefull, tips for a respectable score rather than a world record. I guess most games the big points are on the riskiest shots, but there are safer ways to build decent points which aren't alway obvious.

Thinking for example Whirlwind, the papa vid reccomends lighting the quick and normal MB at the same time for higher jackpot, but then you only have one chance, for an average player it's better to have two attempts for lower value and a better chance of at least getting 'something'
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Yes, that's the basic idea :)

Fish Tales is a good example. I have a dial-in on the shots on my home Fish Tales, and I can often shoot the Caster's Club on fast-cast over and over again, like I'm Keith Elwin or something (my record on actually scoring jackpots after starting a multi-ball is less good...). That's actually a crazy thing to do on an unfamiliar Fish Tales, as I've found out to my peril, because they're not set up the same, and I just brick the Caster's Club shot and drain.

Looking at scores on some tournament Fish Tales, it's unclear whether the most lucrative thing to do is actually to start video mode because the long cast is a low-risk shot and you can often hit the high-risk captive ball while the ball save is still on. Bowen Kerins is NEVER going to recommend that as a tactic, but some of the tournament Fish Tales I've played have been so brutal (for a bad/mediocre player) that it's possible I could go from a terrible score to an okay one just by trying that.
 
Cameras and editing software is expensive and never ending. Very quickly you'll find yourself spending as much on equipment as a pinball machine will cost.

My advice would be to film it on your phone as David suggests then use a free mobile editing app like Kinemaster. Maybe buy yourself a secondhand tripod from ebay and a cheap phone mount from Amazon but leave it at that.

Try and make a couple of videos on two of your favourite machines and see if you enjoy the process. You might find it a complete hassle or you might love it but at least you won't have spent any money finding out.

If you decide it's something you'd like to explore more and throw a bit of money at then I'll happily recommend cameras, lighting, software and anything else you require.
 
Fantazia2 said:
A think a big thing for getting points on games is learning the rules for that game and not just relying on the aim for anything thats flashing route. Ive certainly noticed my scores go up a bit/a lot once someone tells me what I should be aiming for or I work a rule out.

A good example of this is paragon, played it during the PR Birthday weekend and I was batting the ball about for ages and getting hardly any points at all, but when some mentioned the drop downs that add to the bonus multiplier when I had a game where I hit all of them I doubled my final score on the last ball purely from the bonus added on at the end.

This sites has a lot of tips for what to go for on each game if youve not seen it before.

https://pintips.net/
Click to expand...

THIS. Pintips is doing exactly what you are talking about, in text form. It's literally the bible for tournament players who need a quick strategy on an unfamiliar game. Now creating a filmed database of someone doing the simple strategies on pintips on each of the games listed, that would be cool. Infact, it would be an incredible resource like pinballvideos is. If it was done in conjunction with pintips, that would be perfection, you read the strat and here's a hyperlink to someone doing the strat on the game. I'm much more visual as a learner, so sometimes find it difficult to read the advice on pintips and understand exactly what to do, a video of the advice would be excellent
 
VeeMonroe said:
Looking at scores on some tournament Fish Tales, it's unclear whether the most lucrative thing to do is actually to start video mode because the long cast is a low-risk shot and you can often hit the high-risk captive ball while the ball save is still on. Bowen Kerins is NEVER going to recommend that as a tactic
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Probably because in a match everyone will have already played video mode and it's not worth much in the grand scheme of things.
But video mode can win you the game if on the last ball and you only need 20-30mil to win (see the UK open finals😳). That's more about looking at what's available to you and adapting to beat your opponents score, It's so much safer to hit the left orbit and start video mode than try get a monster fish just to get 20-30mil(so this wouldn't be mentioned as a strategy in a video without context).

Your tactics will vary wildly if you're playing another person in a match rather than trying to get a pingolf or best game score.

My mic stand and phone holder works well and in expensive, you should give it a go and try some of these videos.
But won't you have to learn the games first to understand the tactics you're demonstrating?


Off topic but sortof related. I'd love to see analysis of gameplay, like a "critique my playing " type thing. Often it's hard to see where you go wrong and what your weaknesses are. For example I can often see why people are often not playing as well as they could, but struggle to do the same for my own playing.
I sometimes record my games just to see if I can spot any bad habits or where I keep going wrong, plus it's great to watch back cool moments 😁
 
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I started making videos for a similar purpose.

I have a YouTube channel called ‘pinball reviews’ and I try to play the game somewhat and explain my strategy in V/O:

I’ve kept to the same visual script since the first edit (playfield shots/plunge shot/fish eye shots/then the game/then playfield stills) and sometimes remember to add in a ‘here’s the full length of the table shot’. It takes a few afternoons to make one 10min video, say an hour to set up and record, a few hours to cut together footage in final cut, then another good few hours to script/record voice over in audacity, overlay with video and export.

I enjoy all the UK pinball video content and props to all those who make it as I know the amount of time and effort it takes - @Gonzo short nailing the inline drops on Dolly was cool this week & majestic pinballs videos, showing off the fruit of his labour, (also his videos are phone friendly vertical video). @roadshow16 ’s silky smooth slide save on Star Trek pro at home leisure was a pleasure to see. Also Tatty Addams videos are great to see a game you’ve not laid eyes on before - though I’ve got caught out a few times turning up the volume not realising the first parts fairly silent.

Can never have enough of a good thing though…

…Perhaps you could short videos based off quick pin tips in the style of family guy’s Ollie reading the news…

‘Now over to Flipper Beast to explain the strategy on Sterns Mandolorian’

‘SHOOT IT UP THE MIDDLE’

‘Thank you Flipper Beast’
 
roadshow16 said:
THIS. Pintips is doing exactly what you are talking about, in text form. It's literally the bible for tournament players who need a quick strategy on an unfamiliar game. Now creating a filmed database of someone doing the simple strategies on pintips on each of the games listed, that would be cool. Infact, it would be an incredible resource like pinballvideos is. If it was done in conjunction with pintips, that would be perfection, you read the strat and here's a hyperlink to someone doing the strat on the game. I'm much more visual as a learner, so sometimes find it difficult to read the advice on pintips and understand exactly what to do, a video of the advice would be excellent
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Yes, that’s kinda what I’m looking to do. I’m also a visual learner and, when I checked PinTips, found it difficult to follow without the pinball playfield in front of me.

I want to try to contextualise the tips a bit, as well. So, for example, with the minutorials (and PinTips), they rank the tips and/or explain the rules, but don’t tend to explain *when* or *why* you might want to make particular shots. For example, why you might want to hit the bookcase on Addam’s Family, as opposed to attempting a three-way combo.

I’m hoping to make the videos about 10 minutes, with a minute or so of historical, etc. information about each pin to start.

David_Vi said:
But won't you have to learn the games first to understand the tactics you're demonstrating?
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I’m a journalist by occupation. I was hoping to use a combination of the resources people have kindly posted here, for research. Plus, I was hoping to ask people who were better than me (or who were just unlucky enough to be standing around at league ;) ) for tips too (haven’t asked anyone yet… :oops: )

I figured it would help me learn, as well as helping others :)
 
VeeMonroe said:
I’ve been watching Bowen Kerins PAPA tutorial videos to try to help me improve my play at the Pinball Republic Thursday night league. The trouble is the PAPA videos are not terribly helpful because they assume, well, Bowen Kerins’ ability to play pinball.

I’ve noticed I’ll sometimes have the ball in play for ages and literally not score hardly anything. So, I’ve been asking people for some basic tips on machines I’m not familiar with, to try to reduce the likelihood of that happening.

Anyway, then it occurred to me there was maybe some space for a series of pinball videos giving very basic rules tips for tournament machines. Kind of like the PAPA tutorial videos, but short (five-minute) idiots’ strategy guides aimed at new to intermediate players who are not Bowen Kerins!

There are lots of pinball machines around me in London that I could ask to film. Problem is that I don’t know what equipment I need to film a ball moving around a playfield and/or what software I’d need to edit the videos.

So, if you make pinball videos, can you give me any advice? Also, anyone who has made videos of moving pinballs and is around London, please DM me if you’d like to get involved.
Click to expand...


For me, most phones are good enough now but you can also buy a decent camera for quite cheap, However, sound & lighting is more important than anything to me. People do great videos but you can't hear or see because of reflections or it's just too dim or not colour balanced

As for software depends on your hardware PC / Mac. I use DaVinci Resolve 18, it has a free version.

Hope this helps
 
GezTheHealer said:
I have a YouTube channel called ‘pinball reviews’ and I try to play the game somewhat and explain my strategy in V/O:
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This is great. You really communicate the fun with that video… And Genesis is one of my favourite pins too :)

GezTheHealer said:
I’ve kept to the same visual script since the first edit (playfield shots/plunge shot/fish eye shots/then the game/then playfield stills) and sometimes remember to add in a ‘here’s the full length of the table shot’. It takes a few afternoons to make one 10min video, say an hour to set up and record, a few hours to cut together footage in final cut, then another good few hours to script/record voice over in audacity, overlay with video and export.
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This is my biggest worry (apart from producing one of those pinball videos where someone wanders around their dimly-lit basement arcade mumbling - yours is not one of those, happily :) ). I’ve got young kids, work full time and have some health issues - so, I don’t know currently whether it’ll be too time-consuming. I’m going to have a go while I’m off work during the Xmas holidays and see how long it takes.
 
Dazlin said:
For me, most phones are good enough now but you can also buy a decent camera for quite cheap, However, sound & lighting is more important than anything to me. People do great videos but you can't hear or see because of reflections or it's just too dim or not colour balanced
Click to expand...

This is absolutely correct.

Lighting is incredibly important.

Without getting too technical more/additional lighting allows for use of a worse camera (a phone).

Phone cameras can do some remarkable things but they're not really an option in low light due to the small sensor.

A good full frame camera can adjust better because it will have a bigger sensor and allow more light in.

Since what Vee wants to produce is a technical resource it's incredibly important to see the game and shots clearly so lighting will be important.

Personally I'd add the audio instruction in post production as a voice over so as you're not speaking over the noise of the machine.

Finally get more footage than you think you need. Always.
 
Gonzo said:
This is absolutely correct.

Lighting is incredibly important.

Without getting too technical more/additional lighting allows for use of a worse camera (a phone).

Phone cameras can do some remarkable things but they're not really an option in low light due to the small sensor.

A good full frame camera can adjust better because it will have a bigger sensor and allow more light in.

Since what Vee wants to produce is a technical resource it's incredibly important to see the game and shots clearly so lighting will be important.

Personally I'd add the audio instruction in post production as a voice over so as you're not speaking over the noise of the machine.

Finally get more footage than you think you need. Always.
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Any lighting suggestions? I was going to start with the Fish Tales in our house, but it’s stuck at the back of a dark room in mid-winter, which isn’t especially promising.

I was going to take the glass off (to avoid reflections)…
 
VeeMonroe said:
Any lighting suggestions? I was going to start with the Fish Tales in our house, but it’s stuck at the back of a dark room in mid-winter, which isn’t especially promising.

I was going to take the glass off (to avoid reflections)…
Click to expand...

I can recommend 15 different lights but I'm keen for you not to spend any money initially and see if it's something you'd like to pursue.

Definitely take the glass off, film during the day with the curtains wide open and switch the lights on.

If you've got a bedside lamp for reading drag that down too 🤣 (I'm serious btw).

Starting at home with Fishy is absolutely the right idea because you'll learn so much and if you mess up you can just do it again.
 
Mrs C has just upgraded her studio lighting so has a few Hedler studio lights and modifiers that she no longer requires.
I could check the specs if interested ?
 
Crewey said:
Mrs C has just upgraded her studio lighting so has a few Hedler studio lights and modifiers that she no longer requires.
I could check the specs if interested ?
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Thanks 🥰 I’ll do my trial run, and see how it goes, and might DM you if I can’t get the lighting right/bright enough :D
 
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