Why is playing pinball so frustrating?

[Blanchflower]

OK, I consider myself a novice player when it comes to pinball. However, there is one thing which is bugging me. When a player plays any computer games, he/she will naturally get better at it over time. But this is not always the case with Pinball FX2.

Allow me to give you an example.

A few weeks ago, I hit a high score of about 36 million on the Iron Man table after months of sporadic practice. However, the most frustrating thing about this is that I cannot break my record after a few days of intense playing. For example, now I am regularly hitting the 20 million mark for this table but can't seem to break my score of 36 million! This applies to other table as well with various scores. What is worse, sometimes, I even end up with a 4 million score!

This lack of improvement is very frustrating! The question is, do professional pinball players also face the problem of not improving in their games? Am I the only one? Sometimes, I am on a great roll in a table but other times, whatever I do, I just lose the ball!

Does this happen to everyone? Does playing pinball depend on luck as well?

Let me hear your thoughts!

Thanks!

[Blanchflower]

Just 3 hours after writing this post, I managed to hit 38 million (a new personal best) for the Iron Man table after days of intense practice! This is so satisfying!

[SheepsTooth]

I had similar frustrations - particularly with Ironman (see thread) - I have improved thanks to the replies which offered advice... and needless to say practice and patience. I think you can try too hard and when you know you're concentrating so much and then lose a ball or a game the frustration becomes more magnified.
My top Ironman score is nowhere near as good as yours btw.

[Blanchflower]

Originally posted by SheepsTooth:

I had similar frustrations - particularly with Ironman (see thread) - I have improved thanks to the replies which offered advice... and needless to say practice and patience. I think you can try too hard and when you know you're concentrating so much and then lose a ball or a game the frustration becomes more magnified.
My top Ironman score is nowhere near as good as yours btw.

Thanks! Just don't give up hope! I was in a similar situation like yours before. I only started playing pinball last year and the key to my so called limited success is that I did not give up. I just persevered.

On a side note, the highest score for this table which I had achieved came to me as a shock because during that game, I lost 2 balls at just the 2 million mark! With Ball number 3 remaining, I guess my aim now was to hit the top 10 local high score target (with the lowest currently at around 20 million). I did not feel the pressure to perform because with only a 2 million score and with the last remaining ball, I just played in a relaxed manner.

On that game, I managed to complete 4 Iron Man missions and 4 Tony Stark missions with just the last ball! That was a pleasant surprise because I consider myself a novice player.

I guess one has to be relaxed when playing pinball and not get too agitated if there is only one ball remaining.

[laputio]

Interesting topic!

I think luck can play a factor in pinball, as in any game where a ball is bouncing around, but it has a small influence overall i think. As SheepsTooth has implied above, its more about your mental state ; being relaxed and not thinking about the score helps a lot i think. Pinball can be a very psychological game.

Also everyone has good games and bad games, thats just the way pinball goes.

[Razorbak86]

Originally posted by Blanchflower:

I guess one has to be relaxed when playing pinball and not get too agitated if there is only one ball remaining.

I agree. A steady temperment is important for playing good pinball, just as it is in golf. I find that too much coffee and too much alcohol impedes my play, too. What a surprise, eh?

[SheepsTooth]

Hehe, I don't know about too much coffee but I can certainly say that too much alcohol impedes my play. Playing with one eye closed whilst trying to focus on the game with the other eye squinted is always tricky! :P

[CloudHead]

To me the big two rules of pinball are quick decision making and flash risk assesment :D And obviously, prior to that, discovering the rules to a specific table and knowing what to do and where the points are... Good luck on your score quest !

[WinterMute 0101]

The two most important skills you need are how to do a death save, and how to bump the table to keep from draining the outlanes. Mastering these two skills will allow you to keep the ball in play. Even if you learn all the ins and outs of the table, how to activate modes and score big, without the ability to keep the ball in play you will never reach those really high scores unless you get a good or 'lucky' run.

Try doing a search on UTube to see some examples of what I mean.

[CloudHead]

Originally posted by Cyber^Punk:

The two most important skills you need are how to do a death save, and how to bump the table to keep from draining the outlanes.

While I do it extensively on a real life pinball table, I honestly almost never bump a ball while playing Pinball FX... Still, my scores are quite honorable. Learn where the deadly shots are on the tables, and practice aiming with steady accuracy are the real keys to it all.

[Razorbak86]

I nudge pass between flippers all the time, but I rarely bump to avoid outlanes. I will bump to avoid SDTM, but that only works occasionally.

[Lukozer]

Anyone who knows me, in person or on here, will know i sympathise very much (some of my Steam friends may well be surprised that i am only replying to this now!). I find this game intensely frustrating most of the time. I don't play it every day, but if i go 2-3 days without playing it at all, i become so rusty that i effectively play it like it's my first time with the game. The difference between then and my genuine first time is that now i have my own high scores showing me how good i was, or should be, which increases my frustration significantly when i can barely get 5% of that score.

I'm currently going through a phase where i'm doing reasonably well, often getting new personal bests on tables within about 4 or 5 attempts... but that means having 1 go where i'm enjoying myself and 3-4 goes where i most certainly am not. Not to mention that i have NEVER... EVER... played a game on any table where i haven't had at least one ball totally wasted, sometimes it going out of play before i have even touched it with any flipper. That is probably when the game is at it's most frustrating and i can't exit to desktop fast enough.... So believe me, you're not alone in finding pinball frustrating in the extreme...

[SheepsTooth]

laputio says it all in his post above:

Originally posted by laputio:

Interesting topic!

I think luck can play a factor in pinball, as in any game where a ball is bouncing around, but it has a small influence overall i think. As SheepsTooth has implied above, its more about your mental state ; being relaxed and not thinking about the score helps a lot i think. Pinball can be a very psychological game.

Also everyone has good games and bad games, thats just the way pinball goes.

I know exactly what you mean Lukozer... when I begin to get into the 'frustrated zone' I try to relax, forget about trying to beat my PB (hard, I know) and remind myself why I enjoy the game - entertainment and a short-lived escape from the world outside.

[B✪✪tsy]

Originally posted by Razorbak86:

Originally posted by Blanchflower:

I guess one has to be relaxed when playing pinball and not get too agitated if there is only one ball remaining.

I agree. A steady temperment is important for playing good pinball, just as it is in golf. I find that too much coffee and too much alcohol impedes my play, too. What a surprise, eh? :cgrazz:

Same for me, when I really try then I usually get lousy scores. Plus when I try really hard then I get to fanatical and start to curse and swear lol. Most of my PBs were made when I was just chilling, dito with achievements. Only difference is that with sometimes with a few drinks or a reefer I get actually better, probably cos of the chillin factor. But even my PBs are not really that good compared to the insanse scores I regularly see come by on my friendlist :P

[Munkleplays]

I have been finding myself that if i get a good score one game, the next 1-2 games after that I will get really bad scores, I have been playing pinball since the 80's wether on actual pinball tables or on the computer, over the years this has been the same formula over and over again. But in the end pinball is just a luck/skill based game in the end, time your shots and you could get lucky.

[SPYcorp]

Originally posted by cruick31:

...But in the end pinball is just a luck/skill based game in the end, time your shots and you could get lucky.

You have to learn the table rules for big scoring. So its more skill than luck. Nudging (im still terrible with this) eliminate most of the luck part.

BUT if you know where the big scores are and/or miss a target youre more frustrated...infinte loop