Monopoly

[mjrtoo]

Was the arcade version of this machine as big of outlane drainer as this sim version?

 

[friebus]

All I know is I suck as bad on the sim version as I do in the arcade!

 

[mjrtoo]

I find it very difficult, not that that's bad, but I have never played it in RL and just thought the drain on the outlanes from what seem like random pop bumps was excessive.

My score is either in the hundred thousands, or high 1 millions, not much in-between.

 

[PacDude]

It's a fairly big drainer in real life, IMO. If your game is on, you'll do well. If not, it'll punish you.

 

[tudnut]

Yeah, isn't it odd that some days you're just screwing around with some table (here OR in real life) and every ball just vanishes NASTILY off the table...and, on the same table, on another day, suddenly you're in total control and it becomes so EASY?

(Or...you ZONE! Has anyone else ever ZONED while playing a table, if you know what I mean? Hmmm...this might be a good new thread, huh?)

 

[maf]

Yeah, isn't it odd that some days you're just screwing around with some table (here OR in real life) and every ball just vanishes NASTILY off the table...and, on the same table, on another day, suddenly you're in total control and it becomes so EASY?

(Or...you ZONE! Has anyone else ever ZONED while playing a table, if you know what I mean? Hmmm...this might be a good new thread, huh?)

Oh definitely. Some days I just suck at whatever table I'm playing, real or VP. Some days I doubt the skill involved in pinball. But then, like tudnut says, the "zone" reappears and the millions roll in again :)

 

[tudnut]

To explain further, in case some of you haven't been there (or aren't sure that's what I meant):

You can play pinball, or perhaps a sport. Maybe even doing whatever it is you do at work (or at school, for that matter). Same old, same old. Watch the ball drain, watch another baseball flash by your bat (or, for that matter, just hit it nicely...but same old). Whatever.

Then, all of a sudden, under the right circumstances on the right day at the right time...you OWN it. You don't know what it is, you've no idea what is making the difference...but suddenly you're absolutely ONE with whatever it is you're doing.

To continue using pinball as the example, suddenly you're one with the machine. Every touch of the flippers, every move of the ball, is something that you have complete control over. It's not that you're having a good ball (though it usually only lasts for one ball...oh well!), it's that you're actually IN TOUCH with everything, you are ONE WITH THE MACHINE.

I think the most telling thing about such times is that, whereas ordinarily you're waiting for the ball to drain sooner or later...when you're in the "zone," when you eventually lose the ball, THAT'S what comes as a surprise.

At such times you feel like you've transcended your own limitations, and your humanity.

You've had a taste, just a very mild taste, of what we're all capable of, but which we can only hope to grasp on very fleeting occasions.

 

[maf]

There's some guy called TAB who plays the local TZ; I've seen him play the table a few times. Sometimes he's there for like two hours hitting all the Jackpots over and over, getting replay after replay, and topping all the high scores he owns on it; his highest, about 4 and a half billion. He is really in the Zone with that table :)

 

[destruk]

Yes Maf - that is called 'skill'. When you can control the ball and do well on a game consistently, as opposed to 'luck' where the ball happens to roll your way one day, and you your game sucks the next.

 

[maf]

Yes Maf - that is called 'skill'. When you can control the ball and do well on a game consistently, as opposed to 'luck' where the ball happens to roll your way one day, and you your game sucks the next.

Well I'm sure he has his good days and bad days just like the rest of us, despite being skillful.

 

[destruk]

Yeah, 2 billions is different than 4 billion. A few people always seem to have days like that, so there must be some system to it. I mean being able to turn skill on and off like Aaron Boag, Jim Hernandez, and Gravitar...

 

[PacDude]

If I play say 6 games on a moderately difficult game, I might get 2-3 decent games, 2 bad ones and 1 or 2 where I just can't lose. Sometimes the trend will continue and sometimes it won't (i.e. sometimes it seems like a warmup/adjustment thing, but some more difficult games just seem very "in the zone" for sure).

 

[tudnut]

I've gotta go along with des as far as maf's TAB guy goes; anyone who CONSISTENTLY wins isn't "zoning," he's just damn good (at least with that particular machine).

The zoning I'm talking about isn't consistent at all (though I'd be willing to bet there are yoga disciplines that try to teach you how to achieve it more often! Take that any way you'd like, humorously or otherwise, but it hints at des' mention of people who can "turn it on and off"); it's a very pleasant, unexpected and ephemeral surprise. While it's going on it's a sort of high...and when you finally lose the ball it can take you a minute or two to readjust to reality! (That's maintaining the pinball connection; like I said, "zoning" can happen with anything.)