I don't wanna set my sights too high, but I think a 300K game for me is in play this week.

I'm starting to think my score last year was a fluke

I did a quick round of Pinball just for fun, and the RNG decided my score was 26K.

Good luck everyone!  

Score update page 2.
I got err... 952,500 points so far. That should be top 3 score for this week, but I have the game paused to resume tomorrow.

Pro-tip: Stay at the bottom platform and play the wait game.
The pterodactyls are easy to deal with when down there. Dodge them till they level with you and then run at them. You win 100% of the time.

Also, the game is too generous with lives.
If the pterodactyls are pestering you and there are 2 on screen. Take a death and they will be gone for a good minute or more.

Has nobody posted a Pinball score yet? I suppose I'll get the proverbial BAAAAAAALL rolling.

Score: 127,430



It's not anywhere near as random as people seem to think.

There is some skill, but it's still random. The game can always just randomly throw the ball down the side after bouncing around the bumpers. This is why you want to keep the ball on the upper table as much as possible.


 

Tell me that when you roll the score.  

To get big scores more regularly is all about strategy, skills and risk management. There's some luck involved overall, sure, but you can't get better at it thinking it is all about luck.

Yup. I don't want to give anything away at this point but it's basically like any other digital pinball I've played. It's not EASY, but it's predictable. Doing the exact same shot twice in a row will have the same predictable results. A lot of people think that digital pinball games in general are random or even unfair (I've dealt with this a lot on another forum that I frequent), but with practise and skill you can make it do what you want. I've found that holding the ball is easy, contrary to what I've been told, and that's really the key to most pinball strategies (plus timing), so it's just a matter of time before I crack it. I'm hoping to post a nice score by end of the week.
 

While I'm waiting for my copy of Joust to arrive, I thought I'd play some Pinball.  As Gloves and guillavoie said, there's more skill involved than some people realize.  That said, sometimes it won't even give you chance.  I probably scored less than 10,000 points on my second ball of this attempt.

Before the loop:
 

After the loop:


Before losing my last ball:
 

Seems like you've got the scoring down! Count me glad to not be against you in this round!  

I'm having a lot of fun, I love pinball.

There's definitely strategy to Pinball. Those high scores last year didn't score themselves. But there is still a ton of luck involved. You can have balls go straight from the very top down one of the sides without getting near a bumper

That's pretty typical of pinball in general though. There are bad shots that exist on most tables that will seem like giant "fuck you"s.

But you at least have a tilt to work with

Mine too, what a baaaaadass
 

I played some pinball and the best I could do was 215,800. My contest score from last year was 326k. I wish I knew how to roll the score.

Be able to tell exactly where the ball is in its animation when you're cradling it with a paddle, and then be able release and hit it at very specific moments, over and over and over and over and over again.


I think I like the idea of pinball more than actual pinball.

 

There's probably a trick to keeping the ball at the top of the table almost indefinitely if you know how to hit it right.

 

And also knowing how to get it back to the top of the table ASAP when it falls back down, so that it's not constantly careening against the bottom bumpers and going out of control.

The second full day of round 3 has come to a close! Here's what happened in the last 24 hours...

Contest participants continue to be influenced by NA weekly contest resident madman, SuperJimtendo! So far, Jimbo has entertained readers by modifing the leaderboard each week of this years' tournament, introducing new elements such as "Sarcasm Rating", "Final Fantasy VI Persona", and this weeks' new title "Mega Man Persona". Most of the contestants have played along by changing their avatar to match their pre-selected persona. Jimbo has even gone so far as to find sponsors for this years tournament! What a guy!

In other news, Gloves has been making sheep-themed jokes this week, making this reporter wonder if he's "lost his cotton-picking mind"!

Group A Update:
Speaking of Glovsie - Mister Douglas Glover, aka Gloves, aka Doug The Bug, aka The New Guy posted the first score in his group. Gloves, who has stated that he's not only a shooter guru, but that "pinball is my thing", cracked the 100k mark with his first submission! The debate over how much of the game is luck versus skill continues! Meanwhile, Red, who is competing in Group B and is waiting for his copy of Joust to arrive, posted a sample score for everyone. Will Red's 1 million + score rock Group A and cause a frenzy? Will tablew/chairs answer back with a similar score of his own? How long will Brock and Styphos stay silent on the scoreboard?

Group B Update:
Bea (The Terminator) Iank continues her multi-day play of Joust, hitting the high score of over 900,000 points and reaching Wave 81! Meanwhile, Arnpoly touted that he has cracked 232,000 in Joust, but didn't take a photo because he's confident he will top said score! Arn is currently in second place in Group B and plans to break 300,000 points this week. A certain other member of Group B has continued to be mysterious and elusive, but no one sees him as he's deadly quiet...

In Conclusion:
Day 2 proved to be a bit strange. What's in store for Day 3? Will we see scores submitted from those who've not shared their progress? Will Bea and Tables dominate their groups, flexing their elite gaming muscles once again? Will the sheep jokes continue? Will SuperJimtendo get bored and resurrect his vile incarnation of Kickle? More to come as we move toward the half-way point of the third of four tournament rounds!

I believe the sarcasm rating and the personas are Stryphos fault.
But yeah, everything else is on Jimbo. And he will pay for last week's banner. DEARLY!
He will learn a new meaning to "Getting moist".

I've missed the Santa updates, so I thought I'd give it a go. I feel these type of updates are really good for the contests, are entertaining, and a nice way to recap. I hope you all enjoy it  

They certainly add a fresh touch to the thread for sure, like a splash of water...

I am terrible at videogames, but I am even worse at this pun thing. I should stop trying.  

That pun wasn't so BAAAAAAD.