Top 9 Games To Play On A Pinball Machine

Dead Flip·video·9m 57s·analyzed·Jan 13, 2021

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.013

TL;DR

Nine alternative pinball game formats for home/tournament play beyond standard scoring.

Summary

Dead Flip presents nine alternative gameplay formats for pinball machines to refresh play on owned games or create tournament tiebreakers. Formats range from social multiplayer variants (Split Flipper, Ghost, Gauntlet) to scoring challenges (Tommy Dollars, Price is Right) to skill-building exercises (one-handed, cross-handed play). The video emphasizes creative reuse of existing machines and community engagement.

Key Claims

Split Flipper requires patience, understanding, and communication between two players controlling left and right flippers respectively on the same machine simultaneously
high confidence · Direct explanation of Split Flipper mechanics and player coordination requirements
Tommy Dollars is historically a four-player game where players place dollar bills on glass covering shots they predict will disrupt other players' scoring
high confidence · Detailed walkthrough of Tommy Dollars gameplay with variants including extra ball rules
One-handed pinball practice makes players better overall and is taught by some of the world's best players
medium confidence · Speaker's personal experience and assertion about best players using one-handed practice; stated as opinion based on coaching experience
Gauntlet works with as few as two machines and involves timed completion of specific objectives on each machine with exercise/movement component
high confidence · Detailed mechanics explanation with timer-based scoring
Stall Ball was played for the first time by the speaker in Australia and involves elimination-style queue-based gameplay where draining eliminates a player
high confidence · Direct personal experience claim with specific geographic reference

Notable Quotes

“Split Flipper is essentially you and one other person playing the same game at the same time. One person will be on one side of the game, controlling the left flipper. One person will be on the right side of the game controlling the right flipper.”
Dead Flip host@ 0:49 — Foundational definition of the Split Flipper format
“It is the closest you can get to the other player and still have what looks to be a center view of the playfield.”
Dead Flip host@ 1:28 — Explains the 'Butt-to-Butts' positioning named by Zach Sharp and Josh Sharp
“I typically like to take a dollar and lay it over the flippers because, yikes, that screws everybody.”
Dead Flip host@ 2:16 — Strategic advice on Tommy Dollars gameplay; speaker's preferred tactic
“This is all you doing mental math while you're playing and trying to get to that four million without going over four million, and this becomes a very nerve-wracking sort of game to play.”
Dead Flip host@ 3:40 — Describes the psychological tension of Price is Right format
“For the love of all that's good, make sure you two are comfortable with each other, because it requires being very, very close to each other.”
Dead Flip host@ 5:15 — Safety/comfort warning for physically intimate Ghost gameplay
“One-handed play, just from a practice standpoint, will make you a better player. It's how I was taught how to practice.”
Dead Flip host@ 7:00 — Personal coaching experience and endorsement of one-handed practice

Entities

Dead FlippersonZach SharppersonJosh Sharpperson

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.030

0:00

Do you have pins at home that you've absolutely beat the crap out of and you're looking for a new, unique way to play them? Or, are you looking for a fun way to decide a tiebreaker in a tournament that you're running? Well, I've got some great ideas for you coming up right now. Intro! I don't... I probably won't have an intro ready for this. So if you're like me and you've absolutely destroyed games that you have here in your place, or on location, you know, you're just tired of beating up the same game, getting the same high score, Well, I've got a whole list of new ways of playing these games that is going to blow you away. Now, a lot of these are a lot more fun with more people, and then once we're able to play with more people, trust me, you're going to have a blast playing these games. So let's get right into it. The first one, obviously, Split Flipper. So Split Flipper is essentially you and one other person playing the same game at the same time. One person will be on one side of the game, controlling the left flipper. one person will be on the right side of the game controlling the right flipper it takes a lot of patience with the other player and it takes a lot of understanding and communication to make sure you put up the best game that you can there's several ways of standing when you play it depending on how well you know the person you can do the side by side which offers like a weird perspective on the game or you can do with the sharp brothers zach and josh call nuts to butts which is essentially spooning while you play. And it is the closest you can get to the other player and still have what looks to be a center view of the play field. Give it a shot. It's a blast. There will be a lot of yelling, both good and bad. Get to it. The second game you can play, and definitely one of my favorites, it's called Tommy Dollars. Now, if you don't want to be gambling, You can use fun pieces of paper, but historically it would be four players. You could just do two people, two, three, or four. Each take a dollar, all right? And what you do with that dollar is you place it on the glass of the play field over a shot you think you know really well, well enough without seeing, but is definitely going to screw the other players. I typically like to take a dollar and lay it over the flippers because, yikes, that screws everybody. A lot of people like to cover up important shots that are worth a lot of points Some folks like to cover up the in lanes the out lanes It can get kind of nasty So you playing with four shots sort of obscured on the glass and then you just play And you play, and whoever wins gets to take those four pieces of paper, or those four dollars, or whatever denomination you put on the play field.

2:47

There's variance to this. Like, if you want to play an extra ball, you have to throw another dollar on the glass. That can get pretty wild, especially on a game that gives a lot of extra balls. You could end up with a whole lot of the play field covered completely. Tommy Dollars, check it out. All right, next on our list is a little game we like to call Price is Right, for lack of a better term. What you're going to do is whatever game you're playing on, you're going to find a piece of paper that's thick enough to not see through or a piece of cardboard, and you're going to cover up the screen, cover up the display, cover up anything that's going to give you any sort of information in the back box. cover it up then you're all going to agree on a score that you need to get to as close as possible without going over and you're no tilting so that you're not you have to trust the bonus this is all you doing mental math while you're playing and trying to get to that four million without going over four million and this becomes a very nerve-wracking sort of game to play but the explosion the excitement that comes with pulling that paper away and seeing who won is just unmatched it is so much freaking fun give it a shot it's even fun to play by yourself slap a piece of paper over that screen say like i'm gonna get five million points and you're trying to get 4,999,000. Just don't go over. You got it. Another game that you could play with someone else and you have to be extremely, extremely comfortable with the other person is what we like to call Ghost. To throw back to the Patrick Swayze movie where Patrick Swayze is behind the actress and I'm spacing on her name. You know what? I'm sure you'll let me know in the comments below where they're making a pot. I don't know what they're making. It's been a minute since I've seen the movie. So what's going to happen is one player is going to stand at the game and they're going to have their hands on their flipper buttons and their eyes are going to be closed. Then the other player is going to be behind that person and they are going to be their eyes And you can use vocal cues you can use tapping on the arms or something but you're getting the person who is unable to see to flip. So you're going to be like, left, right, left, or you're like tapping their arms to get them to flip. It is a blast, but for the love of all that's good, make sure you two are comfortable with each other, because it requires being very, very close to each other. Another one, if you have multiple games, is called Gauntlet. This is also really, really fun. It's fun to do in groups, but it's great to do by yourself too, and you might sneak in a little bit of exercise. So what you'll do is you'll see all the games that you have in front of you. If you've only got two, that's fine. And you pick a score objective or just an objective in general on the game. start a multi-ball get five million hit this one shot and make sure those instructions are very clear on each game and what you're going to do is you're going to start a timer go and a person's going to run up to the first game try to get that objective once they do they just let the ball move on to the next game get that objective once that's done so on and so forth with how many ever games you have and then run back time end it it's nice to have a bell so you can get a nice little loud ding so you know that you're done. Also, let the person drain and restart games as much as possible. If you're playing, play all three balls. If you didn't make it, keep going. It's a time thing. So you don't fail. It's just how long did it take you to get through the gauntlet and compare your times with other folks. It's a lot of fun. Now, two other very simple ways of playing. There's one handed, which is kind of obvious, but I'll explain it. And then there's cross handed. So one handed is you want to take your non-dominant hand, put it behind your back, and then your dominant hand. You're going to play a whole game with just this hand. Right flipper button, left flipper button, back and forth, nudging. Right. One handed play. What's interesting about this is one handed play, just from a practice standpoint, will make you a better player. It's how I was taught how to practice by some of the best players in the world. and it just teaches you to read that ball sooner and it forces you to dead flip more often. Bounce pass, whatever you want to call it. One-handed, a lot of fun. Cross also self Cross your hands Left flipper button right flipper button My brain couldn even process that And just play like this Some people don have the arm reach for it It just happens But give those a shot. Very simple, but very effective if you're trying to just break a tiebreaker or just learn how to get better. Another great tiebreaker or fun game to play that's also sort of training at the same time is taking a skill from pinball and turning that into a game. Trapping up the ball and seeing how many times in a row you can post-pass the ball back and forth, right? If you only did three, hopefully the person behind you doesn't do four. How many times can you tap pass? Get a good drop catch? It's little things like that, little objectives in the game that you could turn into their own fun way of playing, and it teaches you how to get better at those skills. Now the last game on here, and probably the most fun, is called Stallball. This was something that I played for the first time in Australia, and it was a riot. So what you want to do is build a queue of people, line everybody up, you know where you're supposed to be. Someone's going to start a game, and you play. If you drain, you're out. But if you put the ball in a scoop or a lock or somewhere where the ball can be held for a moment by the game, you run away from the game to the back of the queue. The person behind you steps up, takes over play, and they have to do the same. Don't drain. If you drain, you're out. Try to get the ball in a place where you can have the game hold it, and then you run out and have the next player come in. And you do this until everything dwindles down. And there's some games where, like, you know the lock is going to screw the person behind you, or there will be arguments on whether or not that was a place where the ball could have been stalled. But I'm telling you, it is just a blast. And if you want to turn it into, like, a little bit of a tournament for the paper, just have everyone pay a dollar to get in, and then you just walk away with the cash. It's great. Well I hope this video enlightened you as to a few things you could do with this game that you've probably completely beat the crap out of and gives you a little insight on how to look at it differently and maybe enjoy it a little bit more. Don't forget to like and subscribe and I'll see you on the next one. Later Pinheads!