What are the easiest "no-nudge-required", "no-cheap-drains" tables?

[Bowflex]

I get more anger from the outlanes on Cactus Canyon and STTNG than I do on Central Park. At least on CP I can see it coming and try to nudge. The outlanes on the other two are hard to see and vacuum like.

The odd thing is that in real life, Cactus Canyon is one of the easiest tables I've ever played!!! Frustrating on TPA but it is more challenging which is a good trade off.

 

[superballs]

The odd thing is that in real life, Cactus Canyon is one of the easiest tables I've ever played!!! Frustrating on TPA but it is more challenging which is a good trade off.

Going off topic for a moment bit I find that cactus canyon is a great balance of accessible vs challenging. The fact that it's quite entertaining as well doesn't hurt either.

 

[StarDust4Ever]

Just wait for Table Pack 16 and Goin' Nuts! No Outlanes , but you are required from the beginning to juggle three balls and keep them in play. If you get down to one ball, there is a countdown timer and you have limited time to get your ball into the top of the table to activate multiball. Interesting mechanic. Also only ten of this table were made.

 

[norbert26]

Basically, the whole point of a Pinball machine (or any arcade game) is not to entertain you but to steal your quarters. Thing is, people are more likely to spend money on a machine that provides some form of entertainment. Without hazards such as outlanes and cheap SDTM shots, even a novice player could potentially make his/her quarter last forever. There has to be some incentive to insert more quarters into the machine. They do this by providing goals to achieve and high scores to beat. "Almost" achieving a goal or a top score is an incentive to chink additional quarters into the machine. It's really a balancing act with the manufacturers. If the balls drain too quickly, the player will feel cheated and spend his/her money elsewhere. If the balls don't drain often enough, the player will hog the table forever on a single credit. However, if the manufacturer can strike the right balance, they will see a player dropping quarters into the same machine again and again. This is what earns profit and allows an arcade game to keep it's spot in the arcade. Tables/video games that do not earn money are quietly removed.

I used to hate outlanes with a passion, but now that I have a deeper appreciation for pinball, I respect them and understand their purpose. There is only one table on The Pinball Arcade that I truly consider unfair: Central Park. It has two outlanes on either side of the playfield (no inlanes to speak of). Additionally, there is a massively wide gap between the table's stubby 2 inch flippers. This gap includes two separate center lanes through which to drain your ball. In fact, I believe your actually more likely to lose a ball through one of the six "drain lanes" than to save your ball with the flippers. I urge you to play Central Park a few times and then honestly say that the other tables in the collection "drain" too much. Google EM pinball tables and study their layouts. You will find that many of them have massively large drain areas for you to lose your balls in. That said, EM pinball tables have a charm all their own, and I wish TPA would release more of them.

Ding Ding Ding Ding we have a winning answer ! Back in the '82 - '84 era when pinball was a quarter the challenge for the PLAYER was beat the operator out of a free game. The object of the game or the challenge was get a REPLAY ! If the game got too easy and players kept getting higher scores the operator would jack up the points required to hit the replay. Another operator trick was to spray wax the table so the ball would fly all over the place even right over the flippers making ball impossible to control. Seasoned players would not touch the game until the wax wore down . Sadly in some cases the operator wanted too much and players started walking away along with with video pinball and video games came the downfall of the arcade save for a few select areas of the country and other countries . Yes the problem is finding a balance that is fair to both the player AND the operator as well.

 

[norbert26]

I'm going to quickly agree with the nudge = skill comments (begrudgingly because they beat me to it).

I can't..simply can't believe that Black Hole hasn't been mentioned. There are drains but you always feel that they are deserved. The only outlane is actually pretty easy to avoid, and this is coming from someone who has been playing on ios and android phones that have nudge delays.

Only issue with black hole is if you hit the lower level and don't get the gate open before you drain on lower level its an automatic drain on reentry.

 

[superballs]

Only issue with black hole is if you hit the lower level and don't get the gate open before you drain on lower level its an automatic drain on reentry.

Very true, but it's not that difficult to open the gate. Especially if you have it for the 360 to compare to (ruleset is broken). Since you only need to knock down one bank of drop targets to do so. It's also the easiest to increase the bonus multiplier without nudging since you only have to hit the lower level loop 5 times.

 

[Punisher]

I can score pretty well on TOM without nudging. But when I got CV, I learned that nudging is pretty darn crucial. I applied the nudging to TOM, and I managed to get to about 5 bil in one ball. Then again, I'm not TOO amazing at pinball, heh.

 

[Sumez]

I only drain on Bride of Pinbot when I start getting bored with it.

 

[qwertydvorak]

I never nudge. If my phone had shoulder buttons I might, but it is a pain on touchscreen so I don't bother. I am not a heavy nudger when I play the real machines also. I still post respectable scores on most tables either way.

 

[Pinballfan69]

Ding Ding Ding Ding we have a winning answer ! Back in the '82 - '84 era when pinball was a quarter the challenge for the PLAYER was beat the operator out of a free game. The object of the game or the challenge was get a REPLAY ! If the game got too easy and players kept getting higher scores the operator would jack up the points required to hit the replay. Another operator trick was to spray wax the table so the ball would fly all over the place even right over the flippers making ball impossible to control. Seasoned players would not touch the game until the wax wore down . Sadly in some cases the operator wanted too much and players started walking away along with with video pinball and video games came the downfall of the arcade save for a few select areas of the country and other countries . Yes the problem is finding a balance that is fair to both the player AND the operator as well.

Yeah it was fun in the 80's for myself and some friends. I recall going in and playing Frontier, BK with less than $1 when they were a quarter to play and rack up free games like crazy.

I walked away from pinball and arcade games in general is when a games started costing $1 or more to play 1 three ball game. I think it was in the early 90's. In half an hour you can easily go through $10 or more depending on the game. You wonder why arcades went out of business. Operators are trying to make money but game publishers were trying to get too much Money out of players. I know they need to cover the cost of buying the machines etc.

I found a LOTR Machine that Cost $1.50 to play in cali, Then I found one with $.75. Reasonable.

 

[Jutter]

Well it seems that Going Nuts will permanently steal this particular crown. Having no outlanes is probably as low-drainage as we'll ever see in TPA.

 

[Bowflex]

Well it seems that Going Nuts will permanently steal this particular crown. Having no outlanes is probably as low-drainage as we'll ever see in TPA.

It actually has a pretty generous gap with many natural ball paths aimed directly at it. Not as easy as you might think...

 

[TomL]

It actually has a pretty generous gap with many natural ball paths aimed directly at it. Not as easy as you might think...

Agreed. The first ball almost always drains on launch, and the timer means rounds tend to be short, IMO.