TOTAN harem/genie rape

[deathsave]

start the rocs mode last. this means no collecting 2 jewels with the ruby because that gives you your mode + rocs. then shoot the left orbit when M is lit, you'll hear the audio for starting harem but it won't actually begin because rocs is still running. shoot the ramp to collect the rocs jewel and then shoot the genie. killing the last skeleton by shooting an orbit grabs the ball with the same magnet as harem does, this starts harem and genie battle at the same time. keep shooting it into the bumpers and take care to shoot the other shots when necessary, staying alive but not beating the genie.

i was told this got TOTAN permanently excluded from the PAPA A bank, but forgot to ask kevin about it last year.

[revtest]

wow! that is sweet. must learn that.

[bounceback]

that's a great tip. where do i rub the lamp to be able to advance easily to genie battle easily every time i play? i know, you're going to say something about practice...

[mgk]

[bkerins]

Actually what got it removed was a similar tactic, but not taking advantage of the bug you described. Shooting the bumpers scores a HAREM letter, then catch the ball... wait for tiger saw, uh, tiger loop to expire... shoot the bumpers for another HAREM letter. Fifth letter starts the multiball.

Then, during Harem Multiball, keep shooting the bumpers. During the multiball, and only then, bumpers add 5000 to the jackpot value instead of 1000, and you're scoring that jackpot every time you hit anything... anything including each bumper.

This wouldn't be so bad, but the jackpot value carries over during the same ball -- so you can then start Harem Multiball again with a base value of 400k instead of 50k. Big, big score in a hurry.

I got the Harem value up around 1.2 million -- for every switch hit. Takes a long time, really boring, basically not good skill pinball. Top qualifying scores were 368M and 285M... and yes, I'm very glad to be rid of that game at PAPA A.

[bounceback]

holy shit. another one to try.

i have a ton of questions. 1: will we be seeing you at either the upcoming ground kontrol tournament, or the NW pinball expo? not sure if you've visited portland, but we would love to make it worth your while to come out. basically if you can afford a plane ticket, we can probably feed and house you for nothing, and sufficiently entertain you with epic pinsessions on location, imbibements, and whatever else pleasures you, for the duration of your stay. we would love to host more top players in portland.

2: what's your thought process when you're tearing into a game like that? i've never written a rule sheet for a game, and while we've all had some good games, the best players i know are very systematic about learning and exploiting games. watching keith elwin at shorty's last year, and the video of the PAPA finals on addams, were both illuminating for me. is there a way that you approach a game to find out what's worth the most, do you have a kind of mental checklist in terms of what COULD be worth boints (i.e. stacking modes and multiballs, and in what order, etc.) or do you just pause after a lucrative ball and try to remember what set it off for you?

3. what would you say are the most important skills for consistently strong play? even though i'm surrounded by great ball players, i struggle to play great games repeatedly. seeing someone like yourself or lyman sheats just nail shots over and over makes me feel like i'm never going to get there. i play daily, and i'm always learning. would love to hear what you have to say.

thanks for joining the board, looking forward to hearing more from you.

[bkerins]

1) Wish I could go to either. Living in Boston, it's pretty much too far without a second reason to make the trip, like a work week or something -- and I have a family commitment the same weekend as the NW show. I will be at California Extreme in July, which is a pretty great show. Thanks a ton for your offer, and I will probably have to take you up on that someday Mmmm, imbibements.

2) Playing in a qualifying-style tournament like PAPA is different from almost any other pin play, since score is the only issue. It usually means very boring, systematic play. On some games a single strategy becomes dominant; on better games, Addams among them, you can still play a variety of things as long as the ball behaves A big piece of advice is to see what other players are doing on a game, since you may find that you are spending a lot of effort for strategies that are too risky, or just don't score well.

Most games, especially qualifying, I have a set strategy in mind. For the five qualifying games at PAPA 11, these were my strategies:

Dirty Harry: modes are valuable, play if available; otherwise advance toward multiball. Some modes (Car Chase) can do both. On the left flipper, unless another shot is obvious, shoot Magna Force.
Getaway: Get Redline Mania by shooting RPM; ignore (time out) Supercharger round, since its shots could be used instead to advance toward Redline. Collect Burn Rubber awrds, since they give an additional Video Mode and multiball. Ignore the red-light targets.
Creature: Advance and start multiball. Super Jackpot on Creature is a dominating score award. Ignore anything else, other than "Unlimited Millions".
Congo: Advance MAP and ZINJ, collecting whenever available. Collect Lock whenever lit.
Tommy: Light and start modes, and play the free multiball available on Ball 3. Ignore modes in progress, other than multiball modes and "Silver Ball".

When the game starts, I'm basically trying to rack as many of those features as I can. I also like leaning on strategies that avoid bad games (take a small, sure award early) since at PAPA a "zero" qualifying game is worth avoiding.

A good qualifying run at PAPA is more about "staying on task" than almost anything else. It's very easy to wander on a game. When score is the only goal, some things get dropped completely, and others fall when compared to some big opportunity. I'd say to try playing a game with this in mind -- how valuable is each flip, each shot? Did you aim for the shot that was the most valuable in terms of risk-reward?

And on some machines, the one-note-ness of the strategy becomes obvious, then that game stops being part of the PAPA tournament -- the biggest example being Junkyard, where players shot for DOG video mode over and over... and over...

If I'm learning a game, I'm going to watch someone who has played a lot of it, and try to figure out what parts of their strategy I can adapt. Simple is always better in these cases.

3) Consistent aiming is probably the most important, and so is the ability to trap the ball, then stop and think about what to do next. Also critically important is a willingness to adjust, both timing and strategy. These adjustments are necessary because you're going to be playing machines for the first time; and you may find a shot is "earlier than you expect", or that an entire strategy changes due to the condition of the machine. For example, the Harem strategy for TOTAN is wiped out if the bumper action is poor; same is true on Creature. Or you may find the ramps on Demo Man are very hard to hit, requiring more precise timing or a strategy that doesn't rely on them so much. I think consistent good play in qualifying and final rounds can come down to making these adjustments appropriately before they cost you a ball.

4) Keep learning -- I know I am. There are definitely some flipper skills I can't do (the "staged flip" thing on games like Whirlwind) and some other skills I'm still figuring out (alley passing, tap passing). It's great that there is still a lot to learn.

Take it easy!
- Bowen

[bounceback]

radical, thanks for the help.

how would you feel about doing some blog entries for us? we could have something like "bowen's corner," where you could essentially ramble about the small details of games like this, and we'd all read with rapt attention, then maybe add some perspective of our own. i'm thinking that it would be highly interesting if, on a weekly/bi-weekly basis, you kind of gave a recap of your play for the week-- machines you played and what you focused on. were you in a rut/plateau on a game? how did you break through that? what are the shots you're working on/having trouble with on certain machines? how is your progress coming with some of the skills you mentioned? (alley passes, for example, is that when you have a ball cradled, and you flip it backward up the inlane to get momentum to roll pass the ball to the other flipper? games that work for this vs. it being a total drain?) what are some new strategies you're developing for other machines? what were some epic games where the risks seemed to pan out? how do you play when your goal is to GC a machine on location, instead of tournament qualifying? i.e. when you end up on location and see a huge GC, (5 bil is standing GC on whitewater at ground kontrol, and i want to get on the board on it,) how would you attack that?

it would be really fun to hear from you on those things, and you'd have a good readership. adding pics would be awesome, or maybe we could try to do a bit of that to supplement the text.

[Dropshot]

5x scoring and keeping hitting that jackpot during multiball over and over and over and over and over. Once you finally drain, beat the game and start 5x scoring again right before multiball and then hit that jackpot over and over and over and over and over.

[bounceback]

yeah yeah, do it and then tell me about it.

[Dropshot]

I was hoping you would

[bounceback]

i can't! that game's hard. i'm still working on controlling balls during MB and getting them back to the upper playfield. i've only gotten 5X and triple jackpots once, a couple weeks ago, and i just couldn't keep it together. got to willie's and wasn't sure what to do next. need to re-read the rule sheet. i didn't even break a bil.

[bkerins]

I'd be happy to do writeups here and there, but can't commit to anything as regular as weekly or monthly -- maybe "post-events"? "Here's what happened at PAPA 12..." that sort of thing.

I'm hoping to go to a tournament in Allentown, PA this weekend, so maybe that will give me an excuse to write about it. I'm not much for writing in my spare time, since that's what I do when working...

I saw the topic changed toward Whitewater, and that has a lot going for it. One simple strategy for arcade play is to keep going for Whirlpool awards, lighting and claiming them to the exclusion of most everything else. The biggest reason to do this is that 1 of the awards is Light EB, while another is a multiball, making the 6 awards collectively worth quite a lot as a group. Playing for maximum value on 5x is great, especially in tournament, but I think too many people will wait on the 5x and keep themselves from going around again and earning another EB.

During Whitewater Multiball, consider trying to hold up the left flipper to help you concentrate on Jackpot shots. Getting the Triple is so huge that you could even just lose the first ball on purpose just to concentrate on the top, but holding the left flipper up might push the ball to the other side enough to be saveable without watching it carefully.

- Bowen

[bounceback]

awesome.

any time you have to post your thoughts would be welcome. no commitment necessary. post tournament write-ups would be wonderful, and by all means please get technical with things. particular tricks, strategies, quirks of games, just about anything you think about or learn from, we'd love to learn from too.

i'm going to be on a mission to get that whitewater score. i've never mastered that game.

here's a question-- if you could name 5 games that you considered essential for the top pinball player to master, what would they be?

[deathsave]

cayle decided to demonstrate the harem/genie combo last night at the weekly shorty's tournament. my condolences to maka, who was his opponent in this match. i took 8 minutes of video intending to post it here but my phone's camera resolution was set to "fucking abysmal" so all you can see is the DMD flashing a lot.

anyway i think i omitted a step at the beginning of the thread, the rocs mode must be completed with a jewel to do this?

[caylegeorge]

At least in some rom revisions, the only way rocs can be completed once harem has been spelled is to use a make-a-wish.

Also, note, you cant spell harem if you have the locks lit, so you have to play the multiball before you can start lighting harem.

-cAyle

[bounceback]

so what scores better/is easier to pull off between the harem/genie bloodbath, and bowen's method of playing harem multiball over and over? last weekend i tried to get this going on the two TOTANs locally, but on one the alignment on the left saucer is fucked up, so every time it kicks out from there it hits the top of the left slingshot, leading to a lot of drains, and the other machine had a giant piece of foam(?!) on the playfield. regardless, i don't have the loop shot dialed in enough yet. wish we had an arabian nights in town that played well-- my best game ever was on the one at shorty's last fall.

also-- if you pull this off, and get the genie battle going with harem/rocs, what are the ball control strategies? do you cradle balls on the left flipper and loop the left orbit? how frequently do you have to shoot skeletons to keep the mode running? i'm sure i'd fall apart and start flailing at that point.

what was the final score of the game?

also-- the first time i saw you play, cayle, was the night before the tournament, the day they'd brought in the TOTAN. watched you play a game, think you put up a GC of around 400 mil. was that the strategy you were using then? it seems like if you're on a good machine, there are lots of possibilities for ball control, reliably, but i've noticed if i end up on one that's NOT in good shape, it's an utter bastard. do you have a fall back strategy for those machines?

when are you going to come down here with deathsave for a night of drinking and put on a clinic? i've never gotten to play you head to head.

deathsave-- don't you work for microintelapplesoftacon inc. or something? can't they supply you with some kind of decent, small video camera so you can hook up us plebians with some proper footage?

[caylegeorge]

[Dropshot]

Ok a few questions I am not positive on. To make a wish you must spin the lamp correct? And during the Battle does hitting the lamp help you, or hurt? I have played some games where it seems it is helping and others when it seems it is hurting.

[bounceback]

yeah cayle, i remember you defeating the genie multiple times during that game. at that point i'd never done it once. after you walked off i tried some of the stuff i saw you doing (dead flip passes and cradling during mb, etc.) and won genie battle for the first time. i would never figure most of this stuff out on my own, when i'm doing well i'm rarely able to pause and look up and deliberate about which shots are most valuable... hence my playing for completion, in the past. i have yet to pull off either of the TOTAN strategies we've been talking about--- i keep accidentally starting the rocs mode. during harem multiball i frequently drain one of the balls instantly. got to work on that.