K
Korven
Guest
A few days ago I had a game of 13,570 thinking it can't get any worse than this, and just now I ended up with 9,620. What is your worst score?
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Carl Spiby
New member
- Feb 28, 2012
- 1,756
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Well technically 0 is possible. I just managed to get to ball 4 with only 10 points 
Kolchak357
Senior Pigeon
- May 31, 2012
- 8,102
- 2
13 thou and change is my worst so far. It was over before I knew it.
Matt McIrvin
New member
- Jun 5, 2012
- 801
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This is a challenge! Since this is (by more modern standards) a rare table on which a score of zero is actually possible, I wonder how easy it is to manage to do it.
K
Korven
Guest
- Thread starter
- #7
Hey hey, no cheating!
Carl Spiby
New member
- Feb 28, 2012
- 1,756
- 0
Plunge, Tilt, repeat.
Matt McIrvin
New member
- Jun 5, 2012
- 801
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Hmmm.... seems unsporting. Maybe we need Loser Tournament Rules.
Pinballwiz45b
Well-known member
- Aug 12, 2012
- 3,681
- 34
Or maybe tilt, plunge, repeat. I mean, if you do this on other tables, then most likely you'll score. So tilt first.
Without tilting, 30 points.
Yes, 30. 2 balls went straight into the middle (though I didn't hit the flippers). ANd the other 3 hit the slingshot first.
It's theoretically possible to get zero without tilting. But very hard. I can get it where the first 3 balls score 0 points, but the next one usually ends up getting down one of the upper rollovers.
Yes, 30. 2 balls went straight into the middle (though I didn't hit the flippers). ANd the other 3 hit the slingshot first.
It's theoretically possible to get zero without tilting. But very hard. I can get it where the first 3 balls score 0 points, but the next one usually ends up getting down one of the upper rollovers.
Chris Dunman
New member
- Apr 11, 2012
- 359
- 0
4300 and I was trying... This is a definite punch the iPad table but, it's brilliant.
Note that zero score on a ball isn't supposed to be possible without tilting. It should should just put it back in the plunger without charging you. On some games it was often useful to let the ball drop on purpose if it hadn't hit a switch yet, to get another chance at the skill shot.
Matt McIrvin
New member
- Jun 5, 2012
- 801
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Really, even on old EMs?
I thought Funhouse was one of the first tables to have any kind of ball-saver (though it's stingy enough that you rarely see it; later tables got much more generous).
Matt McIrvin
New member
- Jun 5, 2012
- 801
- 0
...I see other sources saying this, that even many EMs would save the ball if you hit no switches at all. I did not know that.
It's different than a "ball saver" which can give you an extra chance at a crappy ball, even if you do hit a few switches.
In this case, the ball is in the plunger lane, and the next thing the game knows, it's in the trough. So, did it actually travel down the whole table and drain? Or maybe what happened is it was too lightly plunged and fell back leftward into the trough after bouncing off the plunger tip - remember the machine can't see or feel the ball, it only knows about switches being closed. So since it can't be sure what happened, it'll activate the coil to try to put it into the plunger lane again without charging a ball. At least, that's what I've always assumed was going on. Maybe it just feels sorry for me.
Note that although you can put extra switches in the trough to figure out which side the ball came in on, pretty much every SS game works this way as well. Even on my High Speed machine (which predates Funhouse by a few years), if I drain without hitting a switch (which is hard to do on that machine unless you have a crappy spring or some broken switches), it'll give me a new ball for no charge. The game definitely must know that it's not the same ball it's kicking out, since there are multiple switches in the trough area, but it's free anyway. Again, my assumption here is that the EM era had established a precedent that no-score balls deserved a mulligan, and the rule was kept even when it wasn't physically or logically a requirement.
In this case, the ball is in the plunger lane, and the next thing the game knows, it's in the trough. So, did it actually travel down the whole table and drain? Or maybe what happened is it was too lightly plunged and fell back leftward into the trough after bouncing off the plunger tip - remember the machine can't see or feel the ball, it only knows about switches being closed. So since it can't be sure what happened, it'll activate the coil to try to put it into the plunger lane again without charging a ball. At least, that's what I've always assumed was going on. Maybe it just feels sorry for me.
Note that although you can put extra switches in the trough to figure out which side the ball came in on, pretty much every SS game works this way as well. Even on my High Speed machine (which predates Funhouse by a few years), if I drain without hitting a switch (which is hard to do on that machine unless you have a crappy spring or some broken switches), it'll give me a new ball for no charge. The game definitely must know that it's not the same ball it's kicking out, since there are multiple switches in the trough area, but it's free anyway. Again, my assumption here is that the EM era had established a precedent that no-score balls deserved a mulligan, and the rule was kept even when it wasn't physically or logically a requirement.
I believe for Funhouse, you need to score 0 points on the ball for the saver to activate. Or very little.
It's hard not to notice, Rudy says 'You can have it back".
But yeah, the savers on later pins are much more generous, probably because with the complexity of newer SS ones, it's possible to plunge the ball, have it hit a few targets, then get shot SDTM or to the outlane without any player involvement or chance to intervene. Certainly had it happen a few times on some tables - hits the jets, flies SDTM without doing a thing.
Also why I like Williams tables over everyone else's - the ball saver timer doesn't start until after the ball gets released. I've had plays where I got super jets before the ball came down - it just kept rattling around. A regular ball saver would've long expired. A williams saver wouldn't - it doesn't start until the ball rolls down. (Williams also stops timers for stuff like animations and where the player doesn't have control of the ball, and they give a 1-2 second grace after the timer expires in case you JUST made the shot as the timer expired.
ClaudeHenrySmoot
New member
- Apr 27, 2012
- 80
- 0
I had a 0 point ball the other day. I can't remember if any sort of ball save kicked in. I just recall being STUNNED it was even possible to score "0" on a ball.
Yep, it misses the middle, then rolls straight down the middle. Happens every now and then.
On a modern pin, I don't think it's even possible to score zero anymore - there's so many things that score points that it's really only a set of broken switches that can do it.
On a modern pin, I don't think it's even possible to score zero anymore - there's so many things that score points that it's really only a set of broken switches that can do it.