2 ms·

Story time. A friend of mine in highschool was a ranked pinball player, just significantly better than the rest of us. Their game of choice was Medieval Madness

Story time. A friend of mine in highschool was a ranked pinball player, just significantly better than the rest of us. Their game of choice was Medieval Madness, having logged countless hours on that machine. As a mischievous high schooler, I was a huge fan of classic con movies like The Sting, and legendary hustlers like Titanic Thompson [1]. One of my favorite stories about him was when he took a standard horseshoe pit, extended it by a foot beyond regulation, and practiced on it for months. Then, at the appropriate time, he challenged a professional horseshoe player who unknowingly playing on a subtly modified field couldn’t understand why all their throws were falling just short. To that end, I decided to pull a harmless little prank on my buddy. We were friends with the owner of the local arcade, so after closing one night, I talked to him about a setup I wanted to try. With his permission, I took some adjustable furniture risers and placed them under the back two legs of the Medieval Madness machine. The result was a subtle increase in the incline (just a few degrees) but it made a big difference in gameplay, especially for someone attuned to the machine’s usual angle. Visually, the machine looked completely normal and indistinguishable from the others. It was nestled between other games, so even if someone had known to look for a difference, the risers were virtually invisible. Both the arcade owner and I spent the rest of the evening practicing on the steeper table. Naturally, we challenged our friend to play Medieval Madness the following day. Their game was totally thrown off. I managed to get close to their score which under normal circumstances would’ve been borderline impossible. I didn’t quite pull it off, but I got close. They were still incredibly skilled, but I remember them muttering under their breath, clearly irritated at missed shots, failing to hit the usual ramps, and even some inexplicable ball drains. I think if they'd played longer they would have swiftly adapted. My armchair analysis is that professional pinball players probably have to subtly adapt to the fact that even the same game across different tables will have subtle variances (strength of flipper solenoids, etc). I never did tell them what happened. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_Thompson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_Thompson

Slenth 1y ago
At least in my case, that last paragraph holds true. In 2022 I discovered my small town had a few places with big collections of pinball machines. I went from playing a few games after time at the attached bar to skipping the bar and spending hours figuring out the tables, watching videos on how to exploit them, etc. Even though a couple of the places had the same machine, it played totally different depending on which place it was at. Slanted floors, warped playfields, old solenoids on flippers and slingshots all mattered.
AStonesThrow 1y ago
It is often the case that a machine in poor repair is already difficult to play, almost without intending it. And from 1999-present, I have found plenty of machines in poor repair, in a convenience store just designed to eat a few quarters. But I have also found them with oversensitive TILT, laterally unbalanced, or the steep incline you describe. I mean, the feet are adjustable! Sometimes even more egregious are the custom settings on classic video games. You can walk up to a Ms. Pac-Man or a Galaga and find all the action is sped up 1.5x, or just the ghosts/bombs/adversaries are always overtaking you. I think that a few decades of evolution in the ROMs either gave way to crooked ones that could be set to "impossible" levels, or the settings were always there and waiting to be discovered. So a well-tuned pinball machine was a joy and a pleasure. I played mostly from 1992-1998. I did not enter any tournaments or play competitively. But I had a habit of entering the initials of my current "crush" when I achieved high scores. Sometimes, in a lonely place, I could aim to fill a top 10 board and attribute it all to the object of my affections. Good times!

Slenth 1y ago

At least in my case, that last paragraph holds true. In 2022 I discovered my small town had a few places with big collections of pinball machines. I went from playing a few games after time at the attached bar to skipping the bar and spending hours figuring out the tables, watching videos on how to exploit them, etc. Even though a couple of the places had the same machine, it played totally different depending on which place it was at. Slanted floors, warped playfields, old solenoids on flippers and slingshots all mattered.

AStonesThrow 1y ago

It is often the case that a machine in poor repair is already difficult to play, almost without intending it. And from 1999-present, I have found plenty of machines in poor repair, in a convenience store just designed to eat a few quarters. But I have also found them with oversensitive TILT, laterally unbalanced, or the steep incline you describe. I mean, the feet are adjustable! Sometimes even more egregious are the custom settings on classic video games. You can walk up to a Ms. Pac-Man or a Galaga and find all the action is sped up 1.5x, or just the ghosts/bombs/adversaries are always overtaking you. I think that a few decades of evolution in the ROMs either gave way to crooked ones that could be set to "impossible" levels, or the settings were always there and waiting to be discovered. So a well-tuned pinball machine was a joy and a pleasure. I played mostly from 1992-1998. I did not enter any tournaments or play competitively. But I had a habit of entering the initials of my current "crush" when I achieved high scores. Sometimes, in a lonely place, I could aim to fill a top 10 board and attribute it all to the object of my affections. Good times!