The black hole hump

[RetroBlast]

I don't know about the rest of you all but when I am playing this table and have managed to get the 5x Multiplier, Extra Balls, G Force going, Special, and Multiball, there is great feeling of accomplishment as I pass the Million score mark ... but making it over that Hump is not only met with a feeling a great satisfaction, it is also met with immediate SLOPPY POPPI BALL DRAININ. Once I reach those goals I immediately relax, let down my guard, and it results in a ball draining frenzy draining me of some really high scoring potential.

I need to work on being focused after hitting the million point mark, anyone else have the same problem? It doesn't have to happen to you at the Million point mark, it used to happen to me immediately after I accomplished multiball.

Whats your hump in the BLACK HOLE and when you pass it, does it result in SLOPPY POPPI BALL DRAININ?

 

[Jan Duin]

I've got the same problem when reaching wizard goals for the first time on any table, or when having a great first ball. The concentration goes away and you lose 2 balls with a lousy score. I guess that's what makes a great pinball player: staying focused and be able to keep hitting your targets, especially when it matters..

 

[Kaoru]

Usually I can keep the ball going in the lower level for almost forever... but once I happen to enter it with both score boosters on and the bonus multipliers turned to the max I get an instant drain - and the gate is closed, of course. lol It's like a jinx.

 

[RetroBlast]

Last night I experienced a classic case of POST CLIMACTIC BALL DRAIN PAIN, after earning over 1 million points on my 1st ball, gaining 4 extra balls on my 1st ball, 2 for the orbit with extra ball lit, one for the special, and one for the extra ball capture ... then POST CLIMACTIC BALL PAIN DRAIN ensued with an immediate loss of my last two balls ... if i could only have kept up the concentration, I might be part of the 2 mill club!

 

[infernogott]

finished the last two wizard goals i had to do in my last game (multi- and extraball) and hat 2 extra balls left after i finished them and was already over 2 million. needless to say the last 2 balls were drained each in about 5 seconds ^^

 

[RetroBlast]

You know, now that I think of it, what the hell is the benefit of getting a SPECIAL? An extra ball?

 

[Jan Duin]

Yes.. Specials earn you an extra ball on all tables.

 

[szycag]

Once I learned how to get the triple scoring bonus, multiball and all that, the game just got that much more frustrating. I always restart if I don't have a decent first ball or at least on the way to having the letter lights all lit, which I really shouldn't do because it was starting to drive me crazy. I do the same thing, instantly drain the next ball not paying any attention, when I have an awesome first ball and lose all the bonuses and locked balls I've gathered. If I try to improve my current score at all, I think I'm just going to try for 1g and all the points I can on the bottom level for the first ball, then work on 2g for the second or third. It's too risky to lose both and you won't lose it from ball to ball if you only have one. Sometimes the bottom level almost seems safer than the top, especially with that flipper pass-through bug. I've got the ball lock and multiplier in there down to a science, too.

 

[RetroBlast]

When I got my highest score of 1.5 Mil, I felt I was having a pretty good game, the I looked at the score and only saw 500,000 (because it does not show you you have 1 Mil and I immediately got discouraged and distracted resulting in two immediate ball drains, and then when I saw my final score, with the Mil tagged on, I was like oh God, I should have never looked at my score! Perhaps I should turn off the score...

I do the same thing on ball one ... if I get a bad ball, I restart, but from now on, unless its really terrible, I will stick with it ... I am in the habit so much of instantly hitting restart, its almost as natural as flipping a flipper! My fear is that if the game goes to multi player online, I will instinctively hit restart and lose the match! The other issue with this is that, if you play 10 games in a row that you felt the 1st ball did not live up to its potential, by the time you have a 1st ball that does, you are already burnt out from all the playing you already did and that may be the cause of your immediate ball drainage ...

I think to improve my highest score I too need to make lighting the extra ball roll under my top priority and to spend more time down in the black hole with at least 1g going. I can hit the 5x multiplier and do the ball catch down in the black hole easily, I think my problem is that I am spending too much time down in the black hole when I do not have the 1g lit and not enough time down there when it is not lit.

Tonight I should have some time free time to get into the game and I am really dying to hit the 2 Mil mark, lets see what happens ...

 

[c-dub]

When I got my highest score of 1.5 Mil, I felt I was having a pretty good game, the I looked at the score and only saw 500,000 (because it does not show you you have 1 Mil and I immediately got discouraged and distracted resulting in two immediate ball drains, and then when I saw my final score, with the Mil tagged on, I was like oh God, I should have never looked at my score!

Same thing happened to me! Super disconcerting.

 

[superballs]

One thing to remember, had you popped 2 quarters in the machine you would have played that game through, that i guess is another argument towards earning credits and having those games count toward the leaderboards. Earning credits through free play by achieving certain goals.

I had the same thing happen though but not so much on Black Hole.
On Theater, i put up 3.1 Billion on my first ball and tanked the rest of the game more or less

 

[RetroBlast]

Yes, the ability to free play has its good and bad points, horrible first ball, start over ... on the negative side, its a little too easy to stop a game and perhaps the game you stop could have been your highest scoring game ever.

 

[lazmama]

I never start a game over, even if the first ball drains right away. I have had amazing, high-scoring games that have started that way.

 

[RetroBlast]

I really have to get in the habbit of just playing through, no matter what happens on the 1st ball ...

 

[McGuirk]

I thought I'd take a short break at my desk today, and squeezed in a game of Black Hole. My high score, at the time, was 1.4 million, set a few days ago. This is a very interesting table, but it would constantly beat me good.

So I'm playing, and things are going well...the ball is moving quickly and I'm following, scoring good points on the lower level, doing a better job hitting the rollover lanes. And I'm hitting lots of extra balls on the upper playfield, so much that I lose count.

Well, 25 minutes later, I finalize my new high score of over 2.8 billion, nearly doubling my previous score. I guess when you get in a groove, you get in a groove.

Now, fix the Facebook integration with the game please!

 

[RetroBlast]

haha ... why is it that some of my best games happen when I am on a bus or train, without internet, and those scores never get posted to the leaderboard? I can't wait till the day scores earned when the internet is not available will sync when it is ...