your multiball strategy!

[WhiteChocolate]

how do you play multiball?

are you so superhuman you can keep a slender bit of attention upon every ball zipping around the table, top or bottom of your field of view?

or are you like me - mostly ignoring the top of the table, and keeping your eyes down on the flippers?

if you can only manage to do that, are you able to keep your eyes up enough to watch the outlanes? much luck (or i should say, skill!) at watching 'em/nudging 'em enough to keep more balls in play?

anything else i'm missing as some sort of superhuman strategy to play out those crazy, frantic modes? sometimes i get multiball going and i -wish- i hadn't - sometimes i wish i coulda kept the game a nice, calm one-ball thing going!

 

[Fungi]

Many here hold on to the balls in one flipper while playing the table with the other. Me, I'm like you. I just play while focussing on the flippers and ignoring the top. Flipping when the ball crosses what I feel is the meat of the flipper. It may not be the best way to play point wise, but it's the best fun wise.

 

[relaxation]

Usually it's having a ball trapped on a flipper while I flip the other one, if an inlane occurs you can hand it off, if the ball in play comes back from an orbit you can have it hit the trapped ball then nudge to the other flipper and that seperates them.

I can't take multiball on TPA serious when there's two still balls on one flipper, you can do the same action and get multiple results.. often I find myself trying to nudge then post-pass in those situtations to avoid one of the lamer results (rolls off the tip, have to alley pass immediately).

Requesting cradle separation means almost all the tables with easy (as fast as possible) post-passes become [a skill] harder. Fire Power is mainly the only table, that I recall, that requires you to wait before you flip for a post pass.

 

[invitro]

I'm pretty good at watching all the balls, but I still like to park a ball if it's easy. Examples from recent games: Ferris Wheel in Hurricane, Cellar in Whirlwind.

I have an irrational dislike of holding a ball on a raised flipper, and prefer to "flail". Except when holding a ball is so crucial, as in CftBL.

 

[invitro]

Usually it's having a ball trapped on a flipper while I flip the other one, if an inlane occurs you can hand it off,

Great video! I'll have to try that.

Fire Power is mainly the only table, that I recall, that requires you to wait before you flip for a post pass.

Does this mean post passing an inlane-returned ball, in single-ball mode? I don't do that either and might have to try it too.

 

[WhiteChocolate]

great shnit! guess i try a bit of everything once in a while, depending on my espresso-level at the time... although i can't claim too much skill at it (more of the 'flailing' strategy), i do love it when i got the attention+energy going to really 'juggle' the balls, especially when i can even play defensively a bit, flipping balls up at others coming down threatening to drain. when i can play a good live "newton's cradle" live out on a table, it's a thrill! makes good practice for those 'myst' hits on drac...

 

[relaxation]

Does this mean post passing an inlane-returned ball, in single-ball mode?

if I understand you, when the postpass is performed as quick as possible does it go back up the inlane*? No, it hits the post bounces on the flipper and goes in the drain. If you wait slightly you get a better angle on the post and it'll pass the ball far enough.

*Fire Power specific question

Here's a giggle I had during a multiball, sometimes flailing works.

 

[Slam23]

Usually it's having a ball trapped on a flipper while I flip the other one, if an inlane occurs you can hand it off, if the ball in play comes back from an orbit you can have it hit the trapped ball then nudge to the other flipper and that seperates them.

I can't take multiball on TPA serious when there's two still balls on one flipper, you can do the same action and get multiple results.. often I find myself trying to nudge then post-pass in those situtations to avoid one of the lamer results (rolls off the tip, have to alley pass immediately).

Requesting cradle separation means almost all the tables with easy (as fast as possible) post-passes become [a skill] harder. Fire Power is mainly the only table, that I recall, that requires you to wait before you flip for a post pass.

[MENTION=5759]relaxation[/MENTION] : can you post the video about the hand-off elsewhere? I get an error when I try to open the video on that site (maybe it's not valid outside the States?)

 

[relaxation]

My clips were made from my BK2K PR video but I don't have the right timestamps to link you, sorry.

I'll describe it: a ball comes down the inlane towards the trapped ball then during the collision while the formerly trapped ball still has forward momentum you flick pass and the inlane ball stays on one flipper while the other ball has to be shot by the other flipper.

There's an even harder to time variation of that, you post pass right before the collision and when the ball you're passing comes back from hitting the post, towards the flipper*, the inlane ball smacks it out of the way to take its place. That passes it further because of the postpass+side collision, and dampens the speed of the inlane ball for a trap.

*in the clip, the ball was right about to bounce away from the flipper when it got hit.

 

[Slam23]

Thanks, I get the idea! That second one I never heard of or seen before. I know the people behind Pinball 101 are making 102, I think this move would fit right in...

 

[vikingerik]

Hold, hold, hold. Your shooting percentage goes way up when shooting from caught balls rather than flailing loosely. Flailing and juggling feels fun but you're not getting the results.

The biggest skill is in getting control of a second ball while you're already holding one. The major trick there is to recognize when the loose ball is approaching the wrong flipper (already holding a ball) in such a way that you could easily catch it if not holding the other ball. Quickly post-pass the other ball out of the way and now you've got both on each flipper. I can do this consistently on quite a few tables, most notably TZ, Whirlwind, and Ripley's.

when i can even play defensively a bit, flipping balls up at others coming down threatening to drain.

I've heard this called a "billiard save". And yup, that's fun. Never really necessary in TPA with the ridiculous nudges that can always get a flipper on a ball, but a useful skill on real machines.

 

[relaxation]

Thanks, I get the idea! That second one I never heard of or seen before. I know the people behind Pinball 101 are making 102, I think this move would fit right in...

It's hard to know what's supposed to be possible when I have next to no real table experience, for example I've been doing something like a flick pass as the ball hits the flipper coming down an inlane to pass it to the other flipper.. I didn't think it was possible on real machines or seen anyone else do it but during the Dracula stream on Buffalo pinball the child had done it but no one said anything.. perhaps this was covered in pinball 101?

Not to be confused with a rolling post pass, the posts don't come into the equation.

 

[invitro]

if I understand you, when the postpass is performed as quick as possible does it go back up the inlane*? No, it hits the post bounces on the flipper and goes in the drain. If you wait slightly you get a better angle on the post and it'll pass the ball far enough.

I was asking about rolling post passes in TPA in general, not just on Firepower. I don't use this move at all. Sometimes I wonder how my results are what they are, given that there seems to be so many moves I'm not aware of... maybe it's just volume.

 

[Nimrod]

I am awful at multiball, I'm fine if I hole the balls on the flipper and just keep one ball in play, but two or more balls and I'll just drain.

 

[Firefox2000]

I am like a excited dog at the controls of a helicopter. lol

 

[Fungi]

I am like a excited dog at the controls of a helicopter. lol

 

[ZREXMike]

Same as you, watch the flippers, never could hold my balls too well w/o losing one of them, lol.

 

[WhiteChocolate]

alright! well switching gears, -which- is (are) your favorite mutliball table(s)? i know the def could be loose, as common as two-balls are on modern tables... so, maybe starting with "three or more" REAL modern multi-ball mode stuff... ("no pansy two-ball stuff; let's see if ya can handle three at a time!")

fave tabe's for three+ multiball? (wanna good list to practice on! although really tricky two-ballers like the black knights qualify with a special mention.)

 

[Extork]

Judge Judy is a good one. When I get that crazy multi ball going for super game I feel like a pro. Favorite multiball would be Fishballs though. It's tricky to get jackpots, and when I get 3 or more jackpots in one multiball I feel like a pro. And half of the fun is just starting multiballs

 

[Gorgar]

I love Judge Judy!!!