Safest way to get to bottom flippers after starting a continent?

For those of you with stellar RBION skills, once you start a continent (a single ball continent, particularly) and the ball ejects from the Vari-Target...

Do you prefer to hit it with the right upper flipper? Or do you just let it drop down and hope for the best?

I've been experimenting, but haven't been able to find a guaranteed way to get it to the lower play field safely. Is there one? Anyone have a tried and true method they recommend?

If you nudge to the right just a bit as the ball is traveling down, it won't hit the right sling, so you can just do a dead flipper pass to get it over to the left flipper where you can easily cradle it and plan your next course of action.

Hold the upper flipper in the 'flipped' position. The ball will do one of 2 bounces usually...the first it will hit the left slingshot, barely, and bounce off the tip of your now raised left flipper (I think that's what I do at least!) which will pass it over to the right. The other typical bounce will have it it the BOZO area and find its way to your right flipper.

The cellar door is the one that has literally only 2 variations to an outcome it seems. You can either do nothing with the left flipper and dead pass to the right, or you can raise your left flipper where one of 2 things will happen. The first is that you'll catch the ball without it activating the left slingshot. The second is that it will hit the slingshot, BUT DON'T DO ANYTHING!! The ball will do I think 2 bounces and then go back into the cellar! Now you're back to the start!

And I gotta say, the 2 things that totally opened this table up for me was learning how to backhand the right flipper to the right ramp, and nailing that center ramp with the left flipper at will. That right ramp, nailing it while a continent is activated allows you to hit the vari target and start yet another continent. Europe is always a pain in the but for me, but one of the mutliball modes usually lights right after it, making it so much easier to complete. Hitting the right ramp also triggers the temple light on the center ramp. From a caught ball in the left flipper, hitting that shot will almost always result in the right column of jewels being collected, which activates 2x scoring. SOOOO important to get the 2x going before collecting the 7 continent reward.

Jeff Strong said:

If you nudge to the right just a bit as the ball is traveling down, it won't hit the right sling, so you can just do a dead flipper pass to get it over to the left flipper where you can easily cradle it and plan your next course of action.

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Here's a little PS3 demo video I made to demonstrate that: (sorry for the weird angle and such...I just recorded this while kicked back on my couch with my ipad camera).


Just takes a very slight nudge.

I always do what Jeff very kindly showed you. This trick doubled my scores when I discovered it. That was a hell of a question too.

Edit: this move will also guarantee you a Ripley letter in Australia as soon as you master the shot to the varitarget from the left flipper.

Advalle said:

I always do what Jeff very kindly showed you. This trick doubled my scores when I discovered it. That was a hell of a question too.

Edit: this move will also guarantee you a Ripley letter in Australia as soon as you master the shot to the varitarget from the left flipper.

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That's why my eyes always light up when it's time to visit Australia

Damn, I always did what Shutyertrap described. For some reason I couldn't ever get a dead pass to work. Now I have to start playing this table again! This situation happens so often that a trick like this could easily be a game changer.

How funny it is, different people's playing styles!

I'm not a nudger in general, and on RBION I rarely nudge at all, so I would never have thought of that move.

As for Australia, I shoot the upper flipper and wing the varitarget on that initial kickout for my first score. It'll bounce around up there in there in the upper left corner a but soon finds its way to my left flipper, where yeah, I've mastered that shot and get the double score. All that is left is one shot, which I promptly get when the ball gets kicked out just like it did at the start. Typically I'll get 6 or 7 hits on the varitarget before time is up. Had to be the first continent I could consistently get a Ripley letter on.

Interestingly enough, South America is now my 2nd easiest to get, when I used to never come close on it. Backhand into that right ramp, it shoots the head for me and scores twice, comes around to the upper flipper which I do my technique on and bam, right back to my right flipper. Rinse and repeat 2 more times, easy money.

I think Europe is my most difficult due to me having little control of the ball when shooting for tombstones. That's why I like to stack it with a multiball continent.

shutyertrap said:

How funny it is, different people's playing styles!

I'm not a nudger in general, and on RBION I rarely nudge at all, so I would never have thought of that move.

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I hear ya. I never used to nudge much either, but ever since TPA came out, I've really been practicing. I've learned that one of the best times to nudge is when you can prevent the ball from hitting a sling, so this is a type of move that you can use on every table. One slight bump is the difference between being able to line up that next shot and sling-induced chaos.

BTW, your scores are even more impressive since you are able to achieve them without nudging!

On RBION, the only time I purposely nudge is when the ball is heading for the right return lane, cause more often than not it bounces to the outlane. And since center drains are such a rarity on that table, I just don't have cause to nudge much.

I'm a heavy nudger on TPA. I rarely play a game of CV without accidentally getting tilt.

On RBION however, I rarely nudge. When it comes to ball physics, it's a pretty forgiving table, that rarely sends your ball towards an outlane unless you get it into the bumpers or the idol, and SDTM drains are nearly impossible. I almost only nudge when it's necessary to make sure the ball stays on the flipper when attempting a trap.
I should definitely look into the advantages of nudging more often on this table.

Whenever I'm throwin' down on this table, I usually am or will be thoroughly buzzed. My gameplay dissolves into me haphazardly slappin' the balls around enough to keep 'em alive. I have no idea what to do on Ripley's.

I shouldn't have taken my video down.

Squid said:

Whenever I'm throwin' down on this table, I usually am or will be thoroughly buzzed. My gameplay dissolves into me haphazardly slappin' the balls around enough to keep 'em alive. I have no idea what to do on Ripley's.

I shouldn't have taken my video down.

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That happens.

I suggest you try Jeff's nudge ( we will call it that henceforth ) and that will add a couple of Bills to your highscore

I see that my brand of facetiousness is lost on you. I do know of the nudge. My way involves the penguin loop.

Squid said:

I see that my brand of facetiousness is lost on you. I do know of the nudge. My way involves the penguin loop.

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I think I actually originally got the nudge from your fine video, among many other excellent moves and strategies

Squid said:

I see that my brand of facetiousness is lost on you. I do know of the nudge. My way involves the penguin loop.

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Ha, no i thought you were serious LOl. My bad

Discovered today that there is a limit to how many extra balls you can earn! I don't know what the magic number is, 'cause I wasn't paying attention, but all the sudden instead of an extra ball, I was being rewarded with 'extra ball 1 million'. Didn't hit a special after that to see if those could still be rewarded. So frustrated, just can't break that billion point mark, only 250 million away from it (which is essentially one continent tour bonus at that point).

One time, I managed to hit a billion on a straight up ball one. 10 extra balls was what I ended up with after that first drain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAi86Ou-_rA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I hope this can help you.

Thanks for the video. I would like to ask why you are nailing those upper right fliper shots in Australia even when you didn have Asia going on. It is evident that you are a great shot on this table. Thanks for sharing.