Do you think the Death Save is cheating or just part of the game?

[ND3G]

 

[George Klepacz]

Part of the game. If the ball naturally bounces high enough to where you can keep it play, I see nothing wrong with it. I call it a stroke of good luck.

 

[ND3G]

During a death save you bump the table at the right moment to put the ball back in play. It isn't a lucky bounce.

 

[Tony C]

If the game will tolerate that kind of treatment, it's fair. Most games would tilt without a significant about of luck involved. (None of my machines will let you get away with it.)

 

[PiN WiZ]

Nudging to perform a death save is the same as nudging to avoid losing a ball in the outlanes or straight down the middle. It's all part of becoming a skilled player, so in my book, it's part of the game.

 

[Bowflex]

If your hand isn't reaching through the glass, it's not cheating! ;-)

 

[PinMike8666]

I'm mixed on it, but mostly in favor of this move.

To me, I think it's just part of the game and very risky to perform since it's very likely to tilt the table than save the pinball. On the other hand, most tournament organizations, such as PAPA, think it's an illegal move.

In most pinball simulations I've played that allowed this maneuver, I've been quite close to tilting the tables whenever I was successful at it (which is rare since I'm not good at performing it).

 

[ND3G]

I seem to remember Farsight commenting a while ago on improved physics such as drop catches and what not. Though they said that they would not try to emulate death saves since it is cheating....

 

[Jeff Strong]

If it's your machine.....have at it. I personally wouldn't do it on a public machine though, unless the owner was ok with it.

 

[George Klepacz]

During a death save you bump the table at the right moment to put the ball back in play. It isn't a lucky bounce.

Oh, whoops, I missed that in the video. I haven't really played a real life table much so I can't answer this.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Some tables are programmed to recognize a successful death save, so on these tables at least, I'd say it's literally part of the game. Presumably the manufacturer would not program in a feature if they thought it was against the rules (of regular pinball, tournament play is another story).

Since the death save recognition is part of the ROM on these tables, it would then follow that for the most authentic experience, a FarSight reproduction table should provide a way of performing a death save as well. Although to be honest, it never crossed my mind to try a death save in PHOF:Williams.