Ball Size

[Jeff Strong]

I know we discussed this in the past...somewhere, but I don't think we ever came to a definite conclusion....

Doesn't the ball seem smaller in TPA than real life? Is it just the ball texture/reflections that make it appear that way?

 

[Kolchak357]

It came up with the discussion of the size of the flippers on STTNG. But I don't recall if we came to a definitive answer on ball size either.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Yeah, it came up somewhere else before as well. Is it just the ball textures/reflections that make it seem smaller? I'm not entirely sure.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

The flipper size was in question but the ball size was the same....meaning the ball is too big on STTNG.

 

[Jeff Strong]

I'm talking about in general, on all the tables.

Check these vids for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyfdqzEnu7M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWwYNpowchE

Doesn't the ball seem bigger?

 

[Jeff Strong]

It seems even more apparent on older tables where the ball moves slower:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSHNyYMMEYw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R2wlfhhI5g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0vYew2GyFI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk0jLeF0g1w

 

[smbhax]

The flipper size was in question but the ball size was the same....meaning the ball is too big on STTNG.

No, the balls (and the flippers) were exactly the right size on ST:TNG. The flippers were too big on TZ.

Having just played real life Twilight Zone, Gorgar, Monster Bash, Ripley's and Black Hole over the weekend, I was not struck by the ball being a different size vs TPA. Seemed just the same. The one obvious difference was that the ball in TPA's Black Hole looks super-puny because it's reflecting the black playfield far more perfectly than real life, so the edges disappear and you just see the highlight at the center, which looks BB-sized.

(And my balls are huge, thanks for asking!)

 

[TomL]

That's a good point about the reflection of the dark playfield making the TPA ball look smaller. If I switch to a light colored nonreflective custom ball skin, the ball looks huge, like a pingpong ball.

 

[smbhax]

That's a good point about the reflection of the dark playfield making the TPA ball look smaller. If I switch to a light colored nonreflective custom ball skin, the ball looks huge, like a pingpong ball.

Ahh I hadn't thought of that, nice point yourself!

 

[Jeff Strong]

(And my balls are huge, thanks for asking!)

I was waiting for that.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

but your flippers small maybe it makes your balls look bigger

 

[DeeEff]

but your flippers small maybe it makes your balls look bigger

Where's the ROFLMAO smiley?

 

[brakel]

This is just a big "that's what she said" thread!

 

[Fungi]

Balls!

 

[sotie]

I frequently feel that TPA balls are small when I play a real pinball table. I hadn't thought about reflections as the cause.

 

[kimkom]

Some time back, I got the impression that there was an inconsistent use of scale throughout the construction of the entire playfield, ball and flippers, especially when comparing tables against one another. I can't recall why I formed that opinion at the moment but it may come back to me with a bit of revision!

I'd like to point out that in no way did this spoil my enjoyment of TPA!

 

[Carl Spiby]

Overlay pictures of a real play field on to TPA's recreation.

 

[neilpinbot]

Might also depend on what device your playing on, if I'm playing on tablet then the ball can seem a bit small for the table, but on the rare occasion that I now play on the xbox the ball seems huge, I know this sounds obvious but it might be an optical illusion depending on the size of the screen that your playing on.

 

[SilverBalls]

I often think they look smaller than the real balls, and think the same about most VP full screen tables. However I think it has a lot to do with the camera angles more than anything. Once we get full screen portrait in PA hopefully it will be clearer.

I also have huge balls and they are cast in silver

 

[Tuomas Hämäläinen]

I, too, feel the balls are too small, and TZ comes to mind as a perfect example. Take a look at the leftmost inlane, it almost seems two balls could fit through at the same time. If that double-inlane is anything like the one on Road Show, the ball should fit just perfectly in there with little extra space.