Why is real pinball so much harder than TPA?

[Sinistar]

It's really hard as they have mentioned to feel out a machine and keep feeding them quarters . If you had unlimited free plays , you relax and you stress less about losing a ball , you get to enjoy the darn game more .
Thats why virtual Pin is perfect as videogame , you can relax and the machine is well maintained , there's no sweaty guy with booze on his breath standing too close to you , no chewing gum stuck to the flipper button , and the glass doesn't need Windex wiping. , unless you smoke theres no tobacco fumes choking the air, and all the lightbulbs are working .

 

[Richard B]

Thats why virtual Pin is perfect as videogame , you can relax and the machine is well maintained , there's no sweaty guy with booze on his breath standing too close to you , no chewing gum stuck to the flipper button , and the glass doesn't need Windex wiping. , unless you smoke theres no tobacco fumes choking the air, and all the lightbulbs are working .

Yes, but while it depends heavily on which program your using on it, they all suffer from inaccuracies as well. Some of them (like Ultrapin) are apparently completely wrong.

 

[pseudokings]

I say shoot for the replay on real pins, not the high score list, or the score you got on TPA and you'll be happy. The real thing is so much better than even the best simulation/recreation (TPA), so just have fun.

 

[Matt McIrvin]

I do actually think the skills transfer apart from learning ruleset, just not to the same degree you THINK it did/should.

They definitely do. The last time I tried to play real pinball after some time playing mostly TPA and PHoF, I realized that I had a grasp of ball trapping that I'd lacked previously (though it steered me wrong on a couple of peculiar old tables like Paragon that had nonstandard lower playfields). And, of course, I knew a significant chunk of the ruleset for several famous tables.

I was still relatively terrible, but there was at least that.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

If I played a real table as often as 1 of the TPA tables Im sure Id be good, but the amount of nudging and how hard to save a STDM on a real table is HARD mainly TILT senors are set strong. New tables might have setting jacked so they pay out before they break.

 

[Animator_pin_fan]

Sure it takes some time to adjust your aim on real flippers, and yes using advanced flipper skills is essential to scoring big. But, having TPA to help learn the rule sets and get familiar with the table layouts has definitely made me a better real pinball player. I managed to get to full transformation on BOP the first time I walked up to it based on my TPA experience. And although Pin-Bot hasn't come out for TPA, I can say that the real machine is actually much easier than the PHOF version, even though those outlane drains are still murder.

 

[brad]

I say shoot for the replay on real pins, not the high score list, or the score you got on TPA and you'll be happy. The real thing is so much better than even the best simulation/recreation (TPA), so just have fun.

This is what i do and i definitely enjoy the real thing more than the sim, even if i have terrible games, its only 3 plays for a buck or whatever. I can get in a good hour for a little over 5 bucks. 2 options to get a free game, replay and match, extend playtime.

At the same time i love TPA, cuz i can throw it on anytime home, work, hospital, grocery line, beach and get a quick fix or play for as long as i have.
The "instructions" on TPA are worth the 2.50 alone! They are really easy to follow, all they need to do is add voice (which is planned).
You can take the important knowledge of how to play a table to the bowling alley or pizza joint or expo. Being able to pull off what you know is another story and takes practice, but thats fun anyway!
Like you guys said crazy kids screaming, bad lighting, dirty machines, broken machines, real life unpredictability, learning to really nudge, all make real pinball more challenging, so...

Get into the zone and block out the screaming, clean the glass, ask to turn off the annoying bar of light across the table, call the vender and tell em whats broken, keep nudging til you get better, practice and have fun. Relax and keep the quarters comin' and support the silver ball. Cuz if you don't, maybe all we'll have is a simulation on a tv screen, and as good and fun as it is, that...would be a shame.

 

[Pinballfan69]

From my experience modern day pinball tables are designed to eat your quarters pretty fast. That was the reason I stopped playing pinball when they were charging you $1 or more to play 1 game. It was getting ridiculous. Granted once you're comfortable with the table design you can keep the ball in play longer. That's true with all the tables you play. If you find tables that only charge you a quarter to play than consider yourself lucky.

 

[Matt McIrvin]

This is an unusual thing about Funspot in Laconia, NH: their pins are all set to one token a play (the token being approximately a quarter, less in large quantities). Most of them are older machines from the 1980s and earlier, but downstairs they've got a few 1990s tables.

 

[Moon Jump]

Problem with FunSpot is nobody plays the pinball so the rarely fix them. Also, you'll never see new Stern machines there. I'm friends with the manager Gary and he told me how unhappy he was with Monopoly and after that he said they'd never get another Stern made pinball machine. If you're in the New Hampshire area and you want pinball you're best bet is to check out Sara in Pellem New Hampshire at The Pinball Wizard's Arcade.

Even with how well the physics are in TPA you sometimes get a lot of the same shots and bounce backs. I notice that a lot when I play stuff like FunHouse, the ball always returns on the right flipper, EVERY TIME. I played in the C Group at PAPA two years ago and the kickout was totally random. Once it shot it on the top of the sling shot, the other right down the middle and another almost on the right flipper.

Harry Williams said it the best, "The ball is wild". There's nothing that compares to a real pinball machine. It's different every time you play it. Pinball Arcade is great, but it's still a simulation.

 

[Matt McIrvin]

Problem with FunSpot is nobody plays the pinball so the rarely fix them. Also, you'll never see new Stern machines there. I'm friends with the manager Gary and he told me how unhappy he was with Monopoly and after that he said they'd never get another Stern made pinball machine. If you're in the New Hampshire area and you want pinball you're best bet is to check out Sara in Pellem New Hampshire at The Pinball Wizard's Arcade.

It's definitely a nostalgia-oriented place with a collection of older pins. But my standard for brokenness is Canobie Lake, where even the new Sterns are broken; Funspot's machines are comparatively in good shape! I'd like to get over to Pelham soon.

 

[Moon Jump]

I still think the worst place that I've been to recently was The Half Moon/Penny Arcade that's on Lake Winipasake. (Right near FunSpot) They have an amazing line up, Twilight Zone, Simpsons Pinball Party, Lord of The Rings, Attack from Mars and High Speed 2. The people there do jack to fix the games. What really set me off is what I saw the owner do, it got me really pissed off. When you play AFM if you shoot the ball up the right side Capture Ramp the ball will come down the rail and get stuck in the return lane. My friend physically picked up the machine to try to shake it out and the friggen thing wouldn't budge. So getting pissed off he turned the kill switch off and walked away. Not even 10 minutes later the owner comes over and looks at it, took out his keys and opened and moved the ball and turned the machine back on and walked away. Then it happened to another person! I hate places that keep the machines on but they don't work, it's just a way to weasel money out of people's pockets.

 

[dtown8532]

Just came back from the Pinball Gallery in Downingtown, Pa. They sold their Scared Stiff but got a Funhouse! I pumped about five bucks into Rudy and got multiball ONCE. On The Pinball Arcade I can totally dominate but in real life it's a different story. The ramdomness, balls jumping, speed. Just ain't the same in the virtual world. But, then again, this Funhouse was probably four grand. Not two dollars and fifty cents.

 

[shutyertrap]

I'm gonna add in one other point that nobody has mentioned...your viewing angle and the reflections on the glass. Seems minor, but unless the viewing angle in real life matches that of the one you're using in TPA, it can screw you up. Shoot, I have my preferred angle to play, usually angle 1, but then I'll switch to a table like CV where I like angle 2, and if I leave it in angle 1 I'll blow certain shots that I realize I've just plain learned the timing and visual cue for.

I mention the glass reflection too, cause that has played havoc on me. Playing in a dark arcade like the Vegas Pinball Museum is set up like, the glass became my enemy. Yes I got the awesome light show, but I'll be damned if that ball got lost in the shadows and reflections.

Ultimately I look and TPA and VP as pinball tutorials. As already mentioned, you learn the rules, learn the shots and combos, in general you understand the table. There's been times (usually with MM) where I'm not even playing for a score, but to just hit one shot over and over again until it's second nature. Hard to justify doing that when quarters are flying out your pocket. I just walked up to a Wheel of Fortune table the other day and was so lost as to what I even needed to do, my shot selection was just pure randomness, and the table ate me alive. Then there was the fact that the right flipper would collapse if you tried to catch a ball and it hit the end of the flipper!

 

[Richard B]

I went to my pinball group meeting last night, and, for the first time ever, was able to play as much pinball as I wanted (well, until the host called it a night after 4 1/2 hours). He didn't have any TPA tables (except Taxi, which isn't one now but soon will be), but after getting used to the way they worked, my scores were pretty comparable to what I was getting on TPA. I also reached my first Wizard mode on a real table. I succeeded in reaching the tour the mansion in TAF, but lost the ball on the kickout. The host did the same thing - I wonder if it kicks out differently on "tour."

 

[SuperGrafx]

If you're in the New Hampshire area and you want pinball you're best bet is to check out Sara in Pellem New Hampshire at The Pinball Wizard's Arcade.

Despite living in the area for several years, I just recently heard about The Pinball Wizard arcade and took a trip there today.
What a fantastic revelation. And what a difference it makes when the owners actually care about their machines.
I've been to Funspot on numerous occasions, but the machines (arcade and pinball) are hit-or-miss in terms of reliability and operational status.

What was most cool for me (being a newbie to the pinball scene) was seeing the actual tables from Pinball Arcade in the Pelham location and immediately being able to put my newfound skills/knowledge to the test! I did pretty well on Funhouse thanks to the extensive playing I've done on the PInball Arcade tables. Medieval Madness and Theater of Magic took some adjusting (the game seems faster on the consoles), but I immediately felt comfortable.

It should be noted that Funworld in Nashua NH has some of the latest and greatest Stern tables like Ironman, Transformers and AC/DC so southern NH is quite a 'hotspot' if you will for pinball action!