You don't suck. The game of pinball has been constantly evolving for decades.Ivo wrote:I very often lose a ball through the sidelanes, which is very frustrating. In games like Pokemon Pinball there are often good and acessible ways to activate kickbacks to the sidelanes making it much fairer (which I try to make my priority) but this doesn't seem to be super common.
Maybe I just suck? What gives? Are unfair sidelanes a beloved design element of many tables, or is it a holdover of most pinball tables being partly intended to be unfair like many old arcade games?
Are the really good tables that everyone raves about doing something to address the unfairness of sidelanes?
You have side outlanes, which traditionally lead to the outhole (end of ball.) I'll agree that older games seem quite difficult with larger gaps between flippers and on some outlanes.
In the mid-sixties the inlane was introduced, which was like an additional opportunity to gain control of the ball to continue scoring. Inlanes deliver the ball in front of the flippers. Gottlieb Paradise was one of the first to incorporate inlanes as we commonly see them.
Some games added gates and the pop-up posts that keep the ball from draining.
Magnets and kickers were introduced in the 70's and early eighties.
The game designers like to play as much as anybody else, and added features like this to let people enjoy the games more. Ball save counters are an extension of this - adding a little fairness for novice players and unlucky bounces.
Inlane and outlane posts can actually be moved on many games. Manufacturers often made little cards indicating liberal and conservative settings. Liberal post settings would have narrower gaps between posts, conservative are wider. Most shipped with posts screwed into conservative settings. The difference is maybe a quarter of an inch. you unscrew a post, move it a little and screw it into the new position.
As for nudging, that's what you do to try and control the ball without achieving a tilt - which is when you apply too much force to the machine. Tilt was introduced to keep people from lifting games physically to cheat for a free game or higher score.
Nudging is a very important part of the game - especially on those older games with wide gaps.
There is a swinging plumb bob in the machine which can be set conservative or liberal. It is up to the machine operator/owner how they want to tune the tilt mechanism.
When the tilt mech is set conservative, it means very little nudge force applied to the machine will cause the swinging bob to bump into the side of the tilt mechanism (a metal ring around the bob.). When the metal points touch - it connects the tilt circuit which means you lose the ball, or even the game on older models.
On very liberal tilt mechanisms, you can nudge harder and still not cause a tilt condition.
If an operator sets a game too liberally and people will win tons of free games - bad for an operator who want to earn money. Configured too conservatively and people walk away because the slightest nudge ends the game earlier than they like. When I play a very conservative machine, I feel like I was cheated out of my quarter. Thankfully most machines I come across are in collections and set to freeplay!
When playing any physical machine, you'll need a few games to get a feel for how tight or loose the tilt mechanism is set. Since the 80's most machines give an audible warning if you're close to a tilt. On older machines - you'll know you pushed too much when the flippers stop moving and you lose your ball or game.
Some tables are really solid and don't budge much even with a good push. Other tables will seem looser - and "nudge-able." Keep experimenting - you may find that a good nudge in a specific direction just as a ball meets a rubber will help.Ivo wrote:Another question is tilt. I actually did play a few times on real tables and either I'm puny (which I guess I am) or it is actually really hard to nudge the ball in a real table? Furthermore, most video pinball games are rather limited in that one is not really able to nudge sideways (I believe this is partly related with the sidelanes being even more unfair in some video pinball tables).
Anyone have advice for me?
I'm with you about the mechanic in video pinball games - it's all over the place. The Pinball Arcade seems to do a good job in last-gen systems. Gottlieb collection on PS2 is one awful exception. Very sensitive tilt on the analog stick.
Keep playing pinball!
