Best Machines for Learning

PDXGeek

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Wow, somehow over the last year I have managed to go through 16 machines. I have 12 in the collection now, and while playing recently, I realized that I have gotten a lot better at pinball. Beyond just practicing, I found that some machines just lent themselves perfectly to honing in certain types of skills. I was curious what machines everyone else has had this experience on, and would like to share mine.

Creature From the Black Lagoon:
Holy cow, if you want to practice ball control skills, this is the machine. No machine I have ever played is as unforgiving to slap happy pinballers. You MUST stop the ball at every opportunity, or the short playfield punishes you instantly with a drain. This game also forces you to learn some multiball control tactics as well. All around, this machine is amazing for leveling up your play skill

Star Trek TNG:
Have problems draining in outlanes? Play this game a bunch and you will learn how to nudge the ball out of those dangerous areas. If you don't, then ST:TNG becomes a very frustrating game.

Attack From Mars:
This is a great machine for practicing live catches and flipper passes. The machine plays so quick and getting the ball to slow down can be difficult. This was the first machine that I really practiced patience, and let the ball just bounce off the flippers and come to a rest. The knowledge of ball physics I picked up from this machine has been incredibly useful.

Well thats my top three teaching machines, what have you guys/gals used to hone your skills?
 
Bram Stokers Dracula. Can be unforgiving, but once you get the strategy right and are able to stack multiballs it's so great..

Safecracker: with the small flippers, once you play a few games and get used to them, move immediately back to a regular sized game.. suddenly the flippers feel soo big that you can control any ball :)
 
LOTR is a great skill sharpener:
A major part of this game is the ball lock and cave award along with obtaining rings which can easily be had if you learn how to back hand the ball.
Another skill sharpener is watching the upper ORC GI and the KEEP GI. I find myself able to get on a strange pin and if allows a back hand or a GI award it's second nature for me now.
 
Interesting on the LOTR. I found that game so mind numbingly easy that I didn't enjoy it :( On my second play I destroyed the ring and managed 3 of the gift of elves. I wonder if I had never played some harder games if I would have found it more difficult.

*EDIT*
Actually, I remember it taking quite a few shots to get the left ramp shot down. That's a tight shot.

I have yet to play Safecracker and its definitely on my play list for sure. Hey Deadly, when are you going to make it out this way for some Pinball Nirvana?
 
Interesting on the LOTR. I found that game so mind numbingly easy that I didn't enjoy it :(

Deadly, when are you going to make it out this way for some Pinball Nirvana?

All I have to say is wow! Ya know, I always snickered at posts where people were saying things like, "I've owned my LOTR for two months and can;t get to or beat ROTK mode." I was thinking ... jeebus cripes YOU SUCK!!! lol
Seriously in a weeks time of playing I could usually/typically get to DTR but ball drains are just all too common. DTR is easy enough to complete otherwise.
Anyways back to you thinking it's mind numbingly easy, you're either just a crack shot (natural skills) or you got lucky enough and had a good game. But to take it a step further getting to DTR isn't all that hard to achieve but you also should consider that you still have to get to TABA and to Valinor. If you can get to TABA let alone Valinor THAT would impress me. I have yet to see There and Back Again. And even more funny is that fact that I have YET to actually beat FOTR mode. I mean COMPLETE it not it not just make it through it. Can;t believe I can make it to DTR but I can;t get all the members across the bridge to complete FOTR. Lame I am. (yoda heh)

I'm by no means trying to be argumentative or defend this game, but to simply make it through a mode VS actually completing it are two different things. Completing 3 of the non multi ball modes to get the gift of the elves is impressive .. that I most certainly GOT to give you Kudos on. Not one of my strong points.

A slow LOTR is no fun (Go to Mt Koin and play theirs) wow what a pooch that one is.
We might need to schedule a get together. Winter time is a good time for me to actually do a whole lot of nothing! ;)
12 titles now - wow very cool. In under 5 months I've acquired 4. I'm looking to add one more and calling it quits. Lack of room and quite honestly pin interests are dimming. Played so many titles and so few interest my wife and I.
 
Dang, sorry to hear you are losing interest in pins man.

I agree that actually completing every mode on LOTR would be one heck of a feat. Especially since ea mode is timed, so you don't have a lot of time to complete the modes. My biggest complaint with LOTR is the fact that the ball times are ridiculously long, and the game just gets tiring. This is, however, just my opinion of the game, and not everyone has the same needs met from a machine.

A fellow collector of mine owns this machine, and I have spent quite a bit of time on it. However, the point of the post isn't to debate the difficulty of a machine, rather what skills did you have to learn for that machine that you did not posess earlier. LOTR had nothing for me in this regard. Its a typical fan layout with a deep ruleset. Though a deep ruleset isn't what makes a game good for me. I think LOTR's popularity with people owes more to the license then anything else. It is definitely one of those love/hate machines though.

I am starting a local pinball list for those in the PDX area that are quality people. I have something going most every week, so send me a message with your email and I will be sure to get you added. We have a friendly little competition where if you place a GC on a game, you get 5$ from every other player in the room. The only rule is you can't already have the GC score, so playing on home turf is not advantageous.

As far as being a "Crack Shot", I would say all my skill has been earned, not natural. I spend a lot of time playing pinball, and watching pros compete to get a better understanding of how to play ea machine. I also spend a lot of time just practicing certain techniques of play to become a better player. I finally nailed the 3x Super Jackpot in CFTBL tonight, which is the holy grail of all shots due to its difficulty, and I was ecstatic. The great thing about pinball though, is that the next game was horrible. Thats what keeps me coming back. No matter how good you get, house balls still own you.
 
Sorry I kind of derailed the thread a tad. Yes I totally agree LOTR has long ball times for EXPERIENCED players. Non pinheads ... WAY different story ;) But as deep as the game is funny how long ball times don't equivocate to victory either lol

I'll drop you a PM to further discuss the other details.
 
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