easiest and hardest pin in TPA

[Zombie Aladdin]

I think I get it...I've tried increasing the multiplier without Gold Mine Multiball, but I've never been good enough to get it past x14 or so without it draining on me. I suppose I'll try it during Gold Mine Multiball and see what happens--assuming I can even get the opportunity to catch the ball in the first place.

That being said, I play pinball mainly to see how far I can advance, and I can say I've never reached High Noon. The closest I've gotten are Motherlode + Stampede + Showdown in one game and Motherlode + Combos + Showdown in another. The ball really loves to drain, especially from failed shots up the train ramp.

 

[shutyertrap]

I can't save Polly for the life of me. See what I did there?! But yeah, that bi-atch dies a lot.

Here's a neat trick that works on the PS3 version at least. Shoot into the mine. When the ball gets done bouncing around the multiplier lanes (and you hopefully snag one or two), let the ball do a dead pass from left to right flipper, and then cradle in the right. From there, shoot the mine again. Wash, rinse, repeat. Once you have multiball going, just keep shooting the mine to keep the balls busy and away from your flippers. That's what has worked somewhat well for me so far. I can hit the mine with no problem, but am piss poor when it comes to any of the ramps for some reason. Anyways, give that a shot.

 

[vikingerik]

That last is platform dependent. On some platforms (mobile primarily), the left orbit exit isn't always smooth enough to do that catch. Only on platforms that have the most recent code updates (PC, PS3/4) can you get that reliable catch. This makes an ENORMOUS difference in the difficulty of Cactus Canyon.

 

[Zorgwon]

I can't save Polly for the life of me. See what I did there?! But yeah, that bi-atch dies a lot.

Here's a neat trick that works on the PS3 version at least. Shoot into the mine. When the ball gets done bouncing around the multiplier lanes (and you hopefully snag one or two), let the ball do a dead pass from left to right flipper, and then cradle in the right. From there, shoot the mine again. Wash, rinse, repeat. Once you have multiball going, just keep shooting the mine to keep the balls busy and away from your flippers. That's what has worked somewhat well for me so far. I can hit the mine with no problem, but am piss poor when it comes to any of the ramps for some reason. Anyways, give that a shot.

Completely agree with the mine. The mine is the safest and most rewarding place. Orbit shots are dangerous. During Polly the gates that normally stop the ball are open. Better let her die.

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

Hmm, I'll see if I can do it on this Android version then. Never thought of a dead pass from the left orbit, though about two-thirds of the time, I can catch it on the left flipper. (The other third of the time, it slowly rolls off into the center drain.)

 

[Espy]

Completely agree with the mine. The mine is the safest and most rewarding place. Orbit shots are dangerous. During Polly the gates that normally stop the ball are open. Better let her die.

If you can get it down, it's worth the risk for the extra ball. Not too hard with practice.

 

[Buzz1126]

Consistency is my problem with CC. My current high score is (don't laugh...) a bit over 51M. I work the Mine as much as I can, and yes, the ball coming down that left lane sometimes hits something on the wall, and you won't be able to touch it. I don't flail, and I can pass ok. But I feel like I should be better. At first blush, you'd think it would be a good play, but sometimes I do use curse words...

 

[Bowflex]

Hadn't played medieval madness in a while but they changed it big time. Much easier now. Castle crusher all day now.

 

[whoozwah]

I was actually thinking about this very idea this morning as to ranking the tables in TPA in order of their difficulty but given there are so many people on the forum you would need some set of criteria to measure it. So here are the factors that I would imagine you would use to objectively determine if a table should be easy or hard if you've never played it before. These are not in any order of importance.

1. Ball saver - if you drain immediately and there's no ball saver, that would (to me) make it a harder table than if it did have a ball saver.
2. Layout - clean play fields like Attack From Mars where all the shots are at the back (or sides) of the table would make a table easier than if there's all sorts of things on the table itself.
3. Flipper size - Games with lightning flippers would be in a higher difficulty tier than games with standard size flippers.
4. Simplicity of ruleset - how easy it is to figure out the rules of the table just by shooting from the hip vs reading the rule sheet
5. Intentional drains - if you have targets that are intended to drain the ball if you brick the shot then that would keep it out of the easiest category.

Feel free to add any other criteria if you like. Maybe we can actually come up with some tiers based on them and populate the tables in them. Then newbies like myself who really want to learn and get into pinball will know which tables are recommended to start off on and why.

 

[Reagan Dow]

BOP was the first game I achieved all the wizard goals but there are many other tables that are pretty easy. On the hardest side....where do I begin? Genie (3mil), flight 2000 tough to get a respectable score, and I. Think even Diner because it's a drain monster!

 

[Kratos3]

The table I had the hardest time getting good at was Firepower. F2000 is not far behind.

Easiest is Scared Stiff. That's a battle of attrition.

 

[Reagan Dow]

The table I had the hardest time getting good at was Firepower. F2000 is not far behind.

Easiest is Scared Stiff. That's a battle of attrition.

I agree with you. For some reason I blanked on scared stiff. Great game if you want a 20 min + game

 

[DanBradford]

Which pin do you find the easiest and the hardest to play?.

In terms of scoring HOF points (ok I know this doesn't apply to all platforms) I have an objective answer for you, as for each table I have calculated how many people are registered as having scored above the minimum for the 1000 HOF points - eg how many scores above 4B on CC, above 500M on RBION etc

Of course the tables that have been around the longest (TOTAN) or that come free with the App (TOTAN) get an advantage.

1000+ TOTAN, PB
400-999 EATPM, MM, BH
200-399 MB AFM CFTBL BOP
100-199 RBION GORGAR BK STTNG CENTAUR TZ W?D
50-99 NGG CV TOM FH ScS
20-49 VICTORY BSD TAXI HD3
10-19 BK2K BR CP BS WH2O
6 - 9 FP LCA DINER SpS GN HH
3-5 GENIE F2K POTO FT JY HRC
1-2 TO CP DrD WW
0 CC CO1812 CBW ElD PZ

 

[Dedpop]

 

[Kolchak357]

DanB, I think that just shows how poorly the HOF points are set up.

 

[David T. Melnick]

Easiest- Bride of Pin*Bot
Hardest- Goin' Nuts/Black Knight (Not a fan of the table design)

-------------
easiest: Junk Yard
hardest: Black Night 2000

 

[David T. Melnick]

Oh good, so I'm NOT the only one struggling big time with Cactus Canyon.[/QUOTE
---------
CC has always been a hard one for me too. BK2000 is the hardest (for me).

 

[TomL]

In terms of scoring HOF points (ok I know this doesn't apply to all platforms) I have an objective answer for you, as for each table I have calculated how many people are registered as having scored above the minimum for the 1000 HOF points - eg how many scores above 4B on CC, above 500M on RBION etc

Of course the tables that have been around the longest (TOTAN) or that come free with the App (TOTAN) get an advantage.

1000+ TOTAN, PB
400-999 EATPM, MM, BH
200-399 MB AFM CFTBL BOP
100-199 RBION GORGAR BK STTNG CENTAUR TZ W?D
50-99 NGG CV TOM FH ScS
20-49 VICTORY BSD TAXI HD3
10-19 BK2K BR CP BS WH2O
6 - 9 FP LCA DINER SpS GN HH
3-5 GENIE F2K POTO FT JY HRC
1-2 TO CP DrD WW
0 CC CO1812 CBW ElD PZ

Do you get the numbers of 1000+ HoF players by browsing the HoF leaderboards? Very interesting.

Popularity of the game would also have an effect. I would consider: Teed Off, Central Park and Dr Dude to be less than best sellers.

 

[Rich Lehmann]

It's weird seeing what people say are hard. Central Park and Genie seem easy to me. Genie is so slow it is easy to prevent drains with a nudge and Central Park just keeps throwing endless extra balls at you.

For me the easiest are ones I have to think if I even have enough free time to play a game like Scared Stiff, Monster Bash, Creature From Black Lagoon.

Hardest for me are Phantom of the Opera. There are also fast tables like Class of 1812 and Party Zone but it seems like it is intended to play fast and fun rather than simply unnecessarily difficult like Phantom of the Opera.

 

[PoSTedUP]

fish tales is the hardest due to my low score and all of my friends being below me.

easy is centaur due to my little experience with pinball and sitting in the 6th position.