Tips for Competitive Pinball

From someone who is mediocre

Competing in pinball tournaments can be enjoyable regardless of skill level. I have learned a handful of tips over time that have helped me make the most of each tournament I play in. They fall into two different categories: hard-and-fast rules and general advice. Let's start with the first group.

Hard-and-fast rules

  1. Try to have fun. I have played against very skilled people who seemed like they were having a miserable time. What is the point? There is so much wrong in the world. Playing in a pinball tournament is an escape from all of that. If you cannot have a good time, that is something you should change about yourself first. Plus, I find I tend to do better when I am in good mood.
  2. Remember that pinball is not fair. There is a good amount of randomness involved in pinball. The entire global (IFPA) ranking system is designed to mitigate the impact of luck, and popular tournament formats try to account for it as well. You will have unlucky balls, unlucky matches, unlucky tournaments, and unlucky stretches of time. I have seen people become frustrated when these things happen. These should not be a surprise, so why be upset about it?
  3. When in doubt, ask. Pinball machines do strange things. The laws of physics do not apply to pinballs. Uncommon situations are common in tournaments. When they happen, instead of trying to guess about what the rules say should happen, just ask the tournament organizer. Alternatively, if you and the others playing in your group all agree, you can make a quick "gentleman's agreement" and move on.
  4. Make sure someone is watching whoever is currently playing. I have never been on a machine where another person tried to cheat. However, I have been in matches multiple times where the machine malfunctioned while I or someone else was playing their ball. Having another person who can corroborate what happened when reporting a malfunction to the tournament organizer rules means they can just make a ruling instead of trying to figure out what happened.
  5. Make sure it is your turn when you play. If someone mistakenly plunges another person's ball, whoever plunged the ball automatically loses the round. Also make sure your turn has ended before passing off to the next player. Nothing feels worse than the player after you automatically losing because neither you nor they realized you got an extra ball. Try to stop people if it looks like they are about to mistakenly plunge another player's ball. You will earn their gratitude.
  6. Do not play your extra ball. Generally you can pull and release the plunger once, but then you cannot interact with the machine afterwards. There are surprisingly many edge cases with this rule, such as newer machines returning the ball multiple times if the ball only hit a few targets. When in doubt, ask.
  7. Take videos of scores, not pictures. In some cases it is necessary to record scores, such as in a four player match on a machine that only supports two players playing simultaneously. Because of how certain older score displays flicker, some phone cameras will only record a subset of the digits on the display in a picture. Taking a video of the scores reliably captures everything.

General Tips

  1. Be well rested, hydrated, and fed. Pinball tournaments run for multiple hours. In my experience staying focused is a major challenge. If you are short on sleep, do not expect to do well.
  2. Find a way to snap yourself to attention. As a corollary to the previous tip, find a way to refocus yourself when you find yourself inattentive. Some people develop a short routine they do each time before they plunge the ball. Mine consists of tapping each flipper a few times and taking a deep breath. The risk with such a routine is that you can start over-thinking things. Sometimes if I notice that happening I force myself to walk up and plunge the ball almost immediately. I have also found that humming a song while I play helps me focus, especially as I become nervous if I make it far in a tournament.
  3. Find a basic strategy on unfamiliar machines. You will have to play on machines you know little about or perhaps have never even played before. Try to find a simple strategy to focus on. Older machines usually have a primary way to score points. This is typically either racking up an end-of-ball bonus, hitting a high-value saucer near the back of the playfield, or hitting a spinner (usually a precondition must be met to make spinner shots valuable). Newer machines typically have several multiball modes but have a single multiball mode that is supposed to be easy to trigger every game. If you have the time, you can check pintips.net to see if there is a clear, simple strategy you can use. Watch what your opponents do, and copy what seems to work.
  4. Try to learn. If you see someone go for a different strategy than you typically use on a machine and it works out for them, find out why and see if you can steal it. Experiment with nudging in different scenarios on each machine to figure out what works and what does not. Try passing the ball in different ways to see what you can get away with. If a machine tilts easily, keep that in mind for next time. After losing on a machine, try asking the winner for advice. Take notes on your phone of the things you might forget.

Conclusion

I hope that you have learned something or found a new idea to try out. Good luck, and have fun!