Pinball FX

[Stirbelwurm]

Hey guys, sorry again for the big delay, sometimes time runs faster without you noticing Like I already said, this time I managed to get a lot of multiballs together for a pretty high score for our group. It looked like I ruined the competition this time around, but vasova really made it close!

Congratulations Bexo Dust!

I also took a look at the new “Classic” mode. It offers some new options, so it’s not exactly like we have been playing until now. It’s always the “Normal” variant, without any upgrades but with the option to disable extra balls and you can set how many balls are available (from 1 to 10). It’s nice to have this option, but for now I’ll stick to our routine (unless you guys want to play a table with 10 balls or something ).

Here is the next challenge:

RPS PFX3 Challenge 21
Table: Biolab
Password: RPSPinball
Rules: Normal, no upgrades, unlimited attempts
Created by: Bexo Dust
Duration: 14 days

Good luck!

[Blackice]

Congrats, that was quite some score! I tried several times to beat my own best but would just run out of time around the same point every go.

If you can set it so that only I get 10 balls and everyone else has 3 then go for it! Otherwise the standard settings are just fine…

[Ffrog]

Before this tournament, the last time I’d played Biolab was on FX2, and I didn’t really like it. I remember it being quite drab, and difficult to tell what was going on. However, I played a few games of Biolab on FX3 last night and it’s much more fun than I remember - has it been changed in FX3 at all? Or is my memory just hazy?

[electricbongo]

It’s very much the same table. They redid the lighting for all the tables in FX3, so it’s possible that makes things slightly more readable, but it’s functional pretty similar. They also fixed some table bugs, so that might make a small difference too. I’ve always liked this table, one of my favorites of the Zen originals.

[Stirbelwurm]

Another challenge finished, this time a classic table. That wasn’t so bad now, was it?

Congratulations Kelpie!

Next up is a table from a pack we didn’t play on yet, I hope at least some of you have it?

Here is the next challenge:

RPS PFX3 Challenge 22
Table: Guardians of the Galaxy
Password: RPSPinball
Rules: 1 Ball, no upgrades, unlimited attempts
Created by: Bexo Dust
Duration: 14 days

Good luck!

[Ffrog]

Congratulations Kelpie! I enjoyed that table more than i thought i would, i’m going to play it more often.

Slightly off-topic: Yuku’s Island Express looks very interesting, pinball-meets-cutsey-platformer. I never get that far with platformers, i often give up at the first difficulty spike, but maybe my pinball skills can help me out with this one…

[Thermal_Ions]

Slightly off-topic: Yuku’s Island Express looks very interesting, pinball-meets-cutsey-platformer.

Quite the odd little game by the looks. Will be interested to see what the reviews are like.

[Stirbelwurm]

Oh, how the time flies, I’m already a week late! I hope you guys will find some time to play during the world cup Also looks like our new player is on a winning spree!

Congratulations Kelpie!

Next up is another Star Wars table, but what to do, there are just so many of them!

Here is the next challenge:

RPS PFX3 Challenge 23
Table: Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Password: RPSPinball
Rules: Survive, no upgrades, unlimited attempts
Created by: Bexo Dust
Duration: 14 days

Good luck!

[Blackice]

Nice one Kelpie. I like the table but the one ball rule made it a bit frustrating for me, as I played the intro section so many times! I needed the 5 mil from the flip at the end of that section to make my score vaguely presentable!

[Kelpie]

Thanks. Yeah I found the table could be frustrating too. If you missed ramps and hit the mid section, there was a really good chance of ball drains. I ended up starting to just skip the multiball intro. It was only worth doing for the skillshot opportunity & the 5 million pts. Just frustrated me when I missed the shot, so gave up on it. The points really started to rack up just by hitting ramps consistently. Most modes seemed to give you 2 million for hitting a lit ramp.

PS I picked up Yoku’s Island Express - I would imagine it’s definitely worth a look to most folks in this group. Gentle puzzle solving and pinball - very well polished little game. Nice to have some game play you can kick back and relax with.

[Stirbelwurm]

So, as it turns out, having the competition run for longer than one week leads to complete loss of a sense of time and I regularily miss the deadline … So, sorry for that! I even managed to squeeze in another highscore right by the end and it still happened …

Congratulations Bexo Dust!

Here is the next challenge:

RPS PFX3 Challenge 24
Table: El Dorado
Password: RPSPinball
Rules: 5 minutes, no upgrades, unlimited attempts
Created by: Bexo Dust
Duration: 14 days

Good luck!

[Stirbelwurm]

I’d also like to announce (yet again) that the challenge after the next one (#25) will be the last one! The waning popularity is one reason but more importantly, I’m going to be a parent in a couple weeks and I think I won’t have that much time anymore

But as sad (and / or happy!) as this is, I’m going to celebrate the fact a little and here is what I have in mind:

• I’m thinking of running the challenge on Sorcerers Lair again, since the most people have that table.
• I will give ten games away to ten of our participating players.

I’ve still got a ton of unredeemed humble bundle games lying around (like ten pages worth of keys), some became unusable, some are just DLC, some are for bad games or platforms (Ouya!) and some … are pretty nice games.

I’m going to curate a list of games and when the challenge concludes, I’ll choose 10 players randomly (in the spirit of our little group here, it won’t simply be the top 10 players ) and everyone can select a game they like (maybe the top places get to choose first? We’ll see).

So let me know what you guys think about that and happy pinballin’ until then!

[electricbongo]

Congrats on the kid! And thanks for running this over the years. I’ve always really enjoyed playing pinball with everyone here, and even managed to get a little better at it.

[Ffrog]

Good luck with the impending parenthood! I was in that position about 2 and a half years ago, and it definitely put a large dent in my gaming time… a little bit is good for de-stessing tho.

I like the idea of the big send off, I will definitely play a bit of Sorceror’s Lair, really like that table. I think i have the El Dorado table, so I should be joining in with that one too.

Edit: OK, turns out I don’t have the El Dorado table, but I’ll definitely be there for the big finale.

[Blackice]

Congrats on the kid and thanks for running these again, as enjoyable as ever. I do like the Pinball Family competition I play in as well, but I know my target there is to try and not be last; I have little to no chance of even breaking the top 10! The more balanced competition on RPS is certainly more pleasurable overall. Although I came last here as well this time…oh dear.

I think I won’t have that much time anymore

Oh, you don’t know the half of it! My son is now 8 so I’ve reached the stage where I can play co-op with him which is a lot of fun.

[Thermal_Ions]

Congratulations.

It will definitely change your life. Having been there 21+ years ago, it’s worth it despite some days (and quite a few nights early on) making you wonder what you were thinking.

Thanks for your time and effort in running the competitions.

[Stirbelwurm]

Thanks guys, but still (maybe) 7 more weeks to go!

And thanks for running this over the years.

I had to look it up to make sure: it’s been almost 5 years since the first challenge … man, time sure is flying.

[Stirbelwurm]

Well, I’m on time for a change! This was our next to last challenge and it was really nice of you to let me win again

Congratulations Bexo Dust!

Here is the last challenge:

RPS PFX3 Challenge 25
Table: Sorcerers Lair
Password: RPSPinball
Rules: Normal, no upgrades, unlimited attempts
Created by: Bexo Dust
Duration: 14 days

Special giveaway chance

As announced earlier, this last challenge will feature a special reward:
10 players, randomly chosen from all participants, will get to pick one of twenty free games, provided by me.

Participation rules

Players will get the chance to win a free game, when they meet the following criteria:

• They must play at least one time in this challenge and submit their highscore to the list
• They must have added me to their Steam friends list (to contact them, in case they win) before this challenge is over
• Players do not need to be in our RPS Pinball steam group and players do not need to have played in our challenges before. Anyone that reads this is welcome!

Winner selection

After the challenge is over, the process will work as follows:

• I will pick ten random players from all participants
• Starting with the highest rank of those picked players, they will get to choose a game of their choice from the provided list
• They will either give me their email adress, so I can send them the humble bundle gift link or I will provide the key directly via chat.
• If a selected player refuses or does not respond within two weeks, I will select another player

Prize list

These are the games that the slected winners will get to choose from:

• AI War: Fleet Command
• Antichamber
• Batman™: Arkham Asylum GOTY
• Beat Hazard Ultra
• Deponia
• Dungeon of the Endless
• Edna & Harvey: The Breakout
• Endless Space Emperor Edition
• FEZ
• Guacamelee! Gold Edition
• Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine
• Nuclear Throne
• Octodad Dadliest Catch
• Orcs Must Die! GOTY
• Subnautica
• Super Meat Boy
• Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
• The Stanley Parable
• To the Moon
• World of Goo

Final notes

I’d like to thank everyone for participating in these challenges in the last couple of years, I had lots of fun and I hope you guys did, too. Maybe there will be something in the future where we still get to play together, but at least the (semi) regular challenges are over.

Also, to everyone that played PFX2, but has not tried the third game yet: If you owned the table in the second game, you’ll still have it in the third one and can participate in this challenge!

Good luck!

[Ffrog]

I’m in

Looks like I’ve posted the first score, but I think I can do better…

[Kelpie]

Hey great news on your impending introduction to parenthood.
You’re going to love it - plenty of work to put in, but oh so rewarding!

I’ve really enjoyed taking part in the tournaments you’ve hosted, and I appreciate all your efforts.

It’s extremely generous of you to put up a prize pool, although it certainly wasn’t required.
I’ve had plenty of fun in my short time in the group so far.