Teach me how to nudge properly (ipad)

[greenfish]

Hi!

I love most of the tables i've purchased. But i've never felt good about nudging, i'm terrible at it. Can someone tell how to do it properly on an ipad/ios?

99% of the times the ball is always lost on me on the sides. I'm too slow to nudge in time etc

Thanks

 

[Kolchak357]

You just need to keep playing. Each table needs to be nudged in different places at different times. Playing them over and over again is the only way to learn this.
One tip that holds true for just about every table is to nudge the ball toward the center of the table any time your ball is Goin to hit the top of the slings. The top of the slings always seem to bounce the ball very quickly to an outlane.

And welcome to the forum.

 

[inspector42]

I would play a lot of Big Shot. That's how I learned to nudge. So many drains that there is always an opportunity to try and save. Practice different nudges at different times. See what happens. Start only nudging left and right. When you're comfortable with that, add center. I'm still not any good at center, or either diagonal nudges.

 

[Slam23]

Do you use the grid that helps display the different nudge areas? This helped me when I tried to figure out how to save balls with a diagonal nudge on Centaur. I also found that it must become a habit to do it with any succes. EM tables like Big Shot and Genie are perfect for trainig your nudge skills because of the simple layout and often quite slow ball flow. I consider myself an experienced TPA player but nudging is something I can definetly still train. I use just right and left nudging in 90% and centre nudge the other 10%, sometimes inadvertently I might add ��

 

[Deltaechoe]

Idk if iOS has diag nudges, but yeah, the only way to learn how to nudge properly is to practice. It's a muscle memory kind of thing that really can't be taught outside of a few concepts that guide you into doing it the right way. That being said, I'm better at nudging on real tables...

PS If you have friends watching while you play either real or virtual pinball, there is nothing better than getting them to respond incredulously when you make a crazy save (E.G. a bang back)

 

[Espy]

I found nudging hard to get used to. I started by slamming the analogue stick every time the ball was heading for the centre. I would always nudge in the same direction, I realised quickly. I just built it up over the months, now it's second nature. Still pretty useless at saving outlane drains, though. Can't get the knack for nudging then, unless it's dancing on the outpost.

One of the things I like about pinball is that it's a game that takes months, if not years, of practice to get good at. It's not like any video game where you're expected to be a master by 20-60 hours of play. And as you get better you are always going back to old tables, getting further and discovering new things about them.

 

[norbert26]

this is one pet peeve i have trouble mastering. In the real world its not so much an issue i can nudge the machine no problem. But in the virtual world on iOS i'm playing on a touch screen. By the time i can swipe to nudge and get my thumbs back in the corners for flippers the ball drains or my thumbs end up on the bezel. I have tried setting it for shake if this worked better it would work for me. This is a weakness / handicap i have to try to overcome.

 

[Espy]

I'm the opposite - I find it much easier to nudge on PS3. My nudges are quite weak on real tables. That analogue stick is too convenient for its own good!

 

[Slam23]

this is one pet peeve i have trouble mastering. In the real world its not so much an issue i can nudge the machine no problem. But in the virtual world on iOS i'm playing on a touch screen. By the time i can swipe to nudge and get my thumbs back in the corners for flippers the ball drains or my thumbs end up on the bezel. I have tried setting it for shake if this worked better it would work for me. This is a weakness / handicap i have to try to overcome.

I used shake in the beginning on iOS but it produced too much tilts accidentally. I sometimes try to nudge by stretching my index finger upwards while still holding my thumb on the flipper area (I have quite big hands), or make a little jump motion with the same "gesture", this enables me to quickly regain control over the flippers.

 

[Deltaechoe]

I'm the opposite - I find it much easier to nudge on PS3. My nudges are quite weak on real tables. That analogue stick is too convenient for its own good!

I see a lot of people who are learning to nudge IRL do it too little. Real tables take more abuse than you think, heck I slap the sides of the machines pretty firmly to save outlane drains (wish there was some way to emulate this on TPA but sadly there isn't) and do that several times a game without triggering a tilt warning. You learn over time and when you're learning to nudge don't be afraid to tilt, it lets you know how much abuse the machine will take before it fights back.

As far as TPA goes, unless you're playing on a console with analog nudging, try not to nudge too much as it's always going to be a hard nudge and frequently will trip the tilt warnings.

 

[greenfish]

You just need to keep playing. Each table needs to be nudged in different places at different times. Playing them over and over again is the only way to learn this.
One tip that holds true for just about every table is to nudge the ball toward the center of the table any time your ball is Goin to hit the top of the slings. The top of the slings always seem to bounce the ball very quickly to an outlane.

And welcome to the forum.

I would play a lot of Big Shot. That's how I learned to nudge. So many drains that there is always an opportunity to try and save. Practice different nudges at different times. See what happens. Start only nudging left and right. When you're comfortable with that, add center. I'm still not any good at center, or either diagonal nudges.

Do you use the grid that helps display the different nudge areas? This helped me when I tried to figure out how to save balls with a diagonal nudge on Centaur. I also found that it must become a habit to do it with any succes. EM tables like Big Shot and Genie are perfect for trainig your nudge skills because of the simple layout and often quite slow ball flow. I consider myself an experienced TPA player but nudging is something I can definetly still train. I use just right and left nudging in 90% and centre nudge the other 10%, sometimes inadvertently I might add ��

Idk if iOS has diag nudges, but yeah, the only way to learn how to nudge properly is to practice. It's a muscle memory kind of thing that really can't be taught outside of a few concepts that guide you into doing it the right way. That being said, I'm better at nudging on real tables...

PS If you have friends watching while you play either real or virtual pinball, there is nothing better than getting them to respond incredulously when you make a crazy save (E.G. a bang back)

I found nudging hard to get used to. I started by slamming the analogue stick every time the ball was heading for the centre. I would always nudge in the same direction, I realised quickly. I just built it up over the months, now it's second nature. Still pretty useless at saving outlane drains, though. Can't get the knack for nudging then, unless it's dancing on the outpost.

One of the things I like about pinball is that it's a game that takes months, if not years, of practice to get good at. It's not like any video game where you're expected to be a master by 20-60 hours of play. And as you get better you are always going back to old tables, getting further and discovering new things about them.

this is one pet peeve i have trouble mastering. In the real world its not so much an issue i can nudge the machine no problem. But in the virtual world on iOS i'm playing on a touch screen. By the time i can swipe to nudge and get my thumbs back in the corners for flippers the ball drains or my thumbs end up on the bezel. I have tried setting it for shake if this worked better it would work for me. This is a weakness / handicap i have to try to overcome.

I'm the opposite - I find it much easier to nudge on PS3. My nudges are quite weak on real tables. That analogue stick is too convenient for its own good!

I used shake in the beginning on iOS but it produced too much tilts accidentally. I sometimes try to nudge by stretching my index finger upwards while still holding my thumb on the flipper area (I have quite big hands), or make a little jump motion with the same "gesture", this enables me to quickly regain control over the flippers.

I see a lot of people who are learning to nudge IRL do it too little. Real tables take more abuse than you think, heck I slap the sides of the machines pretty firmly to save outlane drains (wish there was some way to emulate this on TPA but sadly there isn't) and do that several times a game without triggering a tilt warning. You learn over time and when you're learning to nudge don't be afraid to tilt, it lets you know how much abuse the machine will take before it fights back.

As far as TPA goes, unless you're playing on a console with analog nudging, try not to nudge too much as it's always going to be a hard nudge and frequently will trip the tilt warnings.

Whoa, didn't expect that many replies so fast. Just goes to show a brooding community.

Don't think there's a nudge grid option ios, at least not in normal options? Don't like to extra fee for pro if it's in there.

Great advice to use the the more simple layouts instead of the flashy ones. But I have to disable the sound on tables older <1990, sorry but I can't stand tables with just "poink poing"

I have a gaming pc, but wanted pinball on ios, feels much better. Curious though are there any highscores on this community who are only playing on ipad? Star Wars Zen is horrible to nudge (shake ios) and their forums is full of players who claim the console/Pc analog triggers to be far superior. Is this the case as well on TPA? Again do we have any high ranking players on ios?

Any videos of good players nudging ipad?

Thanks for the warm welcome and sound advice guys, much appreciated

Have a good one!

SO SAY WE ALL

 

[netizen]

Don't think there's a nudge grid option ios, at least not in normal options? Don't like to extra fee for pro if it's in there.

Go to options and scroll down, either use the side arrows or swipe the list, to see show touch zones. You can even select from 6 (A-F) different touch zones to set up the nudging how you prefer it.