Heya, look what a friend posted on Facebook...

[Mayuh]

Edit: Yep, door didn't think of that

First Roy, now Daniele... Woah... tournament competition

 

[Dumpstar]

Do you want to post the details. I can't see it unless I sign up for facebook, and I don't do facebook anymore.

 

[norbert26]

the content is not available i get. seems to be deleted.

 

[brakel]

Probably not a public post so none of us can see it.

 

[smbhax]

I'm guessing it's something about pinball champ Daniele Acciari playing TPA?

 

[Mayuh]

Edited first post

Yeah it was about Daniele playing TPA. As do Roy and Robert Gagno. I don't know about Bowen or Josh... It's just great for both FS and us as a community to see such high ranked players grab their devices and play TPA

 

[Sumez]

It's surprising to me that people are still baffled about the "pro"s playing TPA. It's a game for all pinball fans and it would be weird if they didn't dig it. I think the only reason to play it less is that it's less interesting when you have easy access to most of the real-life versions of the tables.
I think most people agree that TPA could never compete with the physicality of a real pinball table (which is, arguably, one of the defining elements of pinball), but that's no reason to dismiss the game, as it is still great in its own right.

Of course, it's always good when TPA does get recognition from the "big guys".

Bowen commented on TPA in his Reddit AMA when someone asked what's the best virtual pinball. He named TPA as his choice, though he admitted that he doesn't play it much.

 

[goforthewall]

They could get some of the Pros to do testimonials: "I'm Roy Wils and I *love* TPA! Get yours now!"

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

That won't help....

 

[jaredmorgs]

I don't always play video pinball, but when I do, I always choose TPA...

 

[Sumez]

I think the amount of people who know the names of any of the top pinball players is very small compared to TPA's target demographic.
I know people who really dig pinball, even some who own their own tables, who have no idea there's even a "sport" around pinball.

 

[Mayuh]

Fun you mentioned 'sport'... In Austria we managed to get pinball recognized as a true sport. Which is really awesome. So I'm official athlete now lol!

But you're right. The mainstream doesn't know about it and the top players. But I think, as mentioned above, world class players participating in TPA tournaments won't hurt the image or the sales... And my guess is, that half of the top 50 TPA tournament players know Elwin, Sharpe, Kerins, Daniele and all the other top players. Or at least tuned in to papa.tv for some tutorials or tournament coverage.

All I wanted to state was that TPA is a top quality product, and it's even recognized by world class players.

We all know it has its bugs and whatnot, but I wanted to set a counterpoint to all those 'where's Xbox?' FB posters

Shoot again!

 

[Sumez]

Fun you mentioned 'sport'... In Austria we managed to get pinball recognized as a true sport. Which is really awesome. So I'm official athlete now lol!

Who decides what is officially a "sport"? I thought that was up to individual definitions.

 

[netizen]

Who decides what is officially a "sport"? I thought that was up to individual definitions.

Fun's fun until someone loses an eye - Then it's a Sport!

- Canadian folk saying

 

[smbhax]

Fun you mentioned 'sport'... In Austria we managed to get pinball recognized as a true sport. Which is really awesome. So I'm official athlete now lol!

Nice! : D

 

[Mayuh]

Sure, it's up to individual definition. But... There is an organization called Sport Union. Every club (soccer, cycling, every sport you can imagine) should be part of it. Being in that union makes your club recognized by the state and eligible to incentives, and so on. It was quite hard work by our chairman to get them convinced pinball is a sport and to get into the Union.

As a side effect - it didn't happen yet - the fee you'd have to pay to the government for pinball in public places will be canceled. As pinball machines are sport assets now. Without that fee chances are good that more pinball machines return...

 

[Shaneus]

Fun fact: During the recording of last weeks PAPA Star Trek tutorial, I had a bit of a chat with Roy Wils in the chat window. Was so cool!

Fun you mentioned 'sport'... In Austria we managed to get pinball recognized as a true sport. Which is really awesome. So I'm official athlete now lol!

That's it, I'm moving to Austria. Although, you can't spell "Australia" without "Austria", so I'll claim that one

It still kinda sucks that the only real benefit for tournament players playing TPA is for learning the rules. I'd love for it to be a legitimate way to learn about physics and ball control as well, but as it is, everything's just too "perfect" in the simulation

Maybe soon!

 

[Sumez]

You do know Roy Wils is a user in here, right

It still kinda sucks that the only real benefit for tournament players playing TPA is for learning the rules. I'd love for it to be a legitimate way to learn about physics and ball control as well, but as it is, everything's just too "perfect" in the simulation

True. Though after I've gotten better at real life pinball, I've become a lot better at TPA as well. However, I'm also starting to get the feeling that playing TPA makes me worse at real pinball, because you end up getting into patterns, making shots where the ball always returns in predictable ways. This is nearly impossible to do on a real table.

Physics is such a big part of playing pinball well, and the perfect ball control, predicting its trajectory, and timing quick flipper moves is something I don't see ever being possible to replicate properly in a simulation.

 

[Mayuh]

Yes, I have that fear too. But for example I never ever played a monsterbash in real life before. In an instant I got the timing for the ramps right. I think TPA helps to adopt to certain circumstances very well. I have to admit, I play a lot on my Vpin too, where everything is different again. Playing all variants helps to adapt quickly on real machines - at least for me...

Nudging is another story

 

[Espy]

On the contrary, I found that playing TPA has really increased my real-life skills. There are some minor elements it can't replicate, but I can attribute a lot I've learned to the game. In the last tournament I went to, I came second. And a lot of people I was playing against were in the UK league.