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Wedgehead Pinball Podcast
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Episode 24 - Pinball Setup

PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago1 hr listen

Highlights

  • Spooky games are typically set at 6.5 degrees pitch level
  • Scott Griesbach (Rick and Morty designer) measured his personal game at 6.9 degrees when asked on forums
  • All major manufacturers (Stern, JJP, Spooky) ship games with standard rubber, not synthetic alternatives
  • Standard rubber is much cheaper (one-third the price or less) than synthetic bands like Titan
  • Scandinavian Flipper Rubbers are newly available but not yet distributed in the U.S.
  • Tilt bob is a physical plumb bob mechanism that has been standard since the 1940s
  • Modern Stern games have tilt debounce settings (typically ~500 milliseconds) that allow recovery between danger warnings
  • Wedgehead uses tight tilt settings specifically to prevent death saves and excessive nudging
  • Pitch level obsession (measuring to tenths of degrees) is not representative of professional operator practice
  • Jack Danger is a Stern employee who streamed pinball regularly and is known as a great ambassador

Notable quotes

don't complain about the way others set up games... people set up their games differently. That's just the way it is.
Alan
It's not an exact science. The shit changes. There's a lot of variables. It's a physical game.
Alan
I think it's embarrassing that people are trying to measure this. I truly find it strange because being an operator and setting up many, many, many games, it's like we just set them up.
Alex
if you have fresh flippers and the game does not want to get up a ramp no matter how clean you hit a shot that's your sign that it's too steep
Alan
I like the standard feel of standard rubbers... I want the ball to be kinetic. I want it to be, I want the game to, like, I want to have to fight the game a little bit for control.
Alan
I don't want people death saving games so i set them up tight because i want you if you're going to try death saves i want you to either tilt out that ball or get damn close
Alan
when you're rocking a game like a normal nudge it's like that's something that kind of needs to be fine-tuned but that's also something that most people don't touch
Alex
the simplest thing i make the sling sensitive... if you don't lose a ball ever pinball becomes fucking boring.
Alan
literally my argument is that's what they're there for they're there to do that... they're there to create chaos and so i just close the gap so it's tighter
Alan
every game is set up different. It can set up games however you want when it's your own game. uh when it's on location you just kind of have to be aware of how it's set up and there's no wrong way
Alan

Entities

  • Jersey Jack Pinball· company
  • Scandinavian Flipper Rubbers· company
  • Spooky Pinball· company
  • Stern Pinball· company
  • Wedgehead Pinball Podcast· content
  • Lord of the Rings· game
  • Rick and Morty· game
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation· game
  • Alan· person
  • Alex the Waterboy· person
  • Jack Danger· person
  • Scott Griesbach· person
  • Dura Bands· product
  • Super Bands· product
  • Titan Bands· product
  • Portland Pinball Bar Wedgehead· venue

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