Table of the Week Club...Week 56:FISH TALES

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish...sounds like Fish Tales is our next TotW! Cast all your thoughts and strategies below, as we tackle the finer points of this table. This is the 4th table for our tournament that is on this Saturday the 26th. As a reminder, the tables being played are...

The Champion Pub
Cyclone
Road Show
Fish Tales

This also means there are only 4 tables left to play from the first 4 seasons. Anyone wanna figure out what they are? First person to post correctly gets their choice of one free game code: TAF Xbox 360 or PS3 (I'll include a gold upgrade for the 360), ST:TNG for Xbox One, or Party Zone for PS4. If you are a mobile or Steam user, I can't promise anything but I'm fairly certain I can get a code from Mike for something. Please only post the answer if you are interested in winning.

My memory is not great, but I don't recall playing Twilight Zone, Jack-Bot,Black Knight and Junk Yard. I have little confidence in three of my selections. I'm pretty sure about BK because we've been waitin' for emulation.

I remember we've played Twilight Zone frank but the rest I don't remember playing. I think you're memory is pretty impressive!!




For fish tales strategies, absolute first thing to learn is the backhand to lock. After you plunge let the ball bounce from left flipper to right, then hold up right flpper to trap the ball, backhand the lock. Repeat.
Second I guess would be the left loop, mainly to collect jackpots.
Then for the really big scores, you want to have the shot to captive ball down for super jackpots. My rough strategy is if I shoot from left flipper I want the ball to be trapped and from the right flipper I want the ball to optimally be slowly rolling. I try to send a ball or two up the left loop so they stay up there a little while to give me more time and space with ball(s) down at flippers.

Another thing I try to do is to have the captive ball rewards maxed before starting super jackpot round, you light them by shooting right loops when lit. One of the last rewards you get is multiball, so after you collect a couple of super jackpots, as every super jackpot shot to captive ball also collects a captive ball reward, you will start a multiball during your multiball, meaning you get three balls again and ball save for a while and next shot to captive ball/super jackpot will give you an extra ball. Oh, and one of the captive ball rewards is also video mode, which also gives you an extra ball if you shoot enough of the boats the furthest away (one will eventually be an extra ball you have to shoot to collect).

Also something one might want to do is shoot the fish finder the first thing you do in a new game. It always gives you an extra ball lit if you shoot it before starting any multiball. It's supposed to be random but always starts with extra ball if you restart a game. But after a multiball it gives you another "random" reward. You light the fish finder for a limited time in the right inlane, so easiest way is to shoot the right boat ramp, which will feed the right inlane, then shoot up the left loop so the ball ends up in fish finder.


For 3 ball strategies, I guess multiballs is the way to go as well. But for a real pinball I played Fish tales lots of tourneys, and multiball pretty much never worked out well for me. It's mostly working boats and collecting monster fish, although I've had quite a bit of good luck with going for long casts and captive balls actually. It's somewhat of a kamikaze strategy but it usually works out if I go at it straight away on ball one, going for long casts to light captive ball then shoot captive ball for rock the boat (10 mil boat ramps for a limited time) then the video mode scores pretty nice as well. Fish tales is one of the harder pins for sure IRL.

Definitely no Jack*Bot or Black Knight. The other two, I'm hazy on as well. Enough to go on for those who want a code...?

Anyway as for Fish Tales, if you can get Multiball going it's worth big points, but it's not exactly safe. With only three balls to play with, maybe Monster Fish are safer?

Fish Tales absolutely definitely needs to be the Put Up/Shut Up table, though. IMO it's the best tournament table in TPA.

Great write-up Switch3flip! I actually was playing FT yesterday after a long period of not touching this table. It can drive me nuts! I have the backhand to lock down and even can shoot the lock with the left flipper so reaching MB is no problem. I just can't control it! It quickly becomes a flailing affair in the hope that one ball rolls into the lock. I'm experimenting with letting balls drain with the ball save on to get some time to aim. Anyway, I improved from 1B to 1.3B so I'll say that I continue my unbroken string of improved scores in TotW...

How about Class of 1812.

Yeah I don't remember playing class of 1812!

Thanks slam, yeah controlling the multiball is definitely not easy! I don't have any easy way to go about it but just keep sending balls to the lock from left flipper until it sticks! I do however try two things first that sometimes work out: The first multiball ball that gets shot out towards the left flipper I try to make it kind of slow down when it hits the flipper by nudging to the side. Timed correctly it will roll a little up the inlane and back down to the flippe and give you a chance at a running shot to lock. If I don't make it I try to trap next ball that comes on right flipper and yes let the other two drain (might need to nudge a little to avoid having two balls trapped on right flipper) and then you get a shot at lock from trapped ball on right flipper. But if I don't make THAT shot it becomes a good ol' spray and pray!! Well actually I also try to trap a ball on each flipper (or two on one and one on the other if possible) and backhand the lock and maybe shoot from left if I miss the backhand.

Just placed #2 on the weekly leaderboards with a score of 1.5 billion and I have a new appreciation for this table. While I think the table is tough to play physics-wise, there's so much risk / reward in things like whether or not you want to double your Jackpot before collecting it. Plus, once you get multiple Supers in a row (which happened to me this game), it's one of the most satisfying things in pinball.

Nice score Cap'n! The multiple supers feel on par with scoring triple jackpots in BSD. Great risk but great pay-off. It also divides games in black and white: it's excrement or nirvana.

Edit: got a 2.3B game today, it seemed just by changing camera angle to 4 instead of the usual 1. I find shooting the lock easier and all the focus is near the flippers which leads to less drains. Or that is what I belief anyway....

So I recorded a kind of tutorial of the stuff I mentioned about Fish Tales. First I also try the fast lock a couple of times but don't make it, but I do make one later on in gameplay. A little bit rusty on fish tales so takes a little while to start getting the shots down. The first one or two games are pretty poor then next game is 3.75B. It starts at about 20 minutes into the stream. Lots of spray and pray but also some controlled play.

https://www.twitch.tv/switch3tv/v/55738904

Something that's really annoying about dx11 fish tales is that you can't fire rapidly on video mode. There seems to be some input detection problem if you fire shots too fast one after each other which makes collecting the extra balls in video mode pretty much impossible, as you usually have to clear boats in front of the oncoming extra ball so that's a real bummer.

Edit: Ok, so turns out using plunger button to shoot torpedoes was the problem now flipper button works much better!

switch3flip said:

So I recorded a kind of tutorial of the stuff I mentioned about Fish Tales. First I also try the fast lock a couple of times but don't make it, but I do make one later on in gameplay. A little bit rusty on fish tales so takes a little while to start getting the shots down. The first one or two games are pretty poor then next game is 3.75B. It starts at about 20 minutes into the stream. Lots of spray and pray but also some controlled play.

https://www.twitch.tv/switch3tv/v/55738904

Something that's really annoying about dx11 fish tales is that you can't fire rapidly on video mode. There seems to be some input detection problem if you fire shots too fast one after each other which makes collecting the extra balls in video mode pretty much impossible, as you usually have to clear boats in front of the oncoming extra ball so that's a real bummer.

Click to expand...

I've had no problem collecting EBs in video mode in DX11. Do you use a controller? And which buttons do you have mapped to the flippers?

EldarOfSuburbia said:

I've had no problem collecting EBs in video mode in DX11. Do you use a controller? And which buttons do you have mapped to the flippers?

Click to expand...

Ok, that sounds promising. I use keyboard. I have the ctrl button mapped to plunger which I used for shooting torpedoes. Hmm maybe I'll try different mapping see if it helps.

Edit: Yes thanks!! No remapping needed but just using flipper button/key instead of plunger button/key made a world of difference!! Awesome!!
How great that there was such an easy solution to a problem for once!!

"Old fisherman never die, they just smell that way"
Monster fish and multiball jackpots. Prefer to collect some monster fish before attempting jackpots to ensure a decent score, esp. With no backup extra balls.
Video mode nice... No drains and can get nice points and good stress relief.
Cheers

(hummed to theme song of the table "ohhh i'mmm-suurre wishin' weeee-werrren't goin'-fishin'"... this is a tough one! i try at it sometimes on my own just to try to pump up my table/wizard goals, but i sure never seem to get very far. it is much better though than the "golfing" tables (ngg and t'd off!) gotta keep on your toes, even on the plunger launch!

Captain B. Zarre said:

Just placed #2 on the weekly leaderboards with a score of 1.5 billion and I have a new appreciation for this table. While I think the table is tough to play physics-wise, there's so much risk / reward in things like whether or not you want to double your Jackpot before collecting it. Plus, once you get multiple Supers in a row (which happened to me this game), it's one of the most satisfying things in pinball.

Click to expand...

Congrats!! Amazing score on the "stinking fish" table. My best result was something about 300-400 Million points. Some weeks ago I´ve reinstalled win 10 and TPA and all the earlier results are gone.

I feel a bit torn about posting now because of the events in Brussels but I just got a 9.9B game for a 7th place on the overall leaderboards. If I had watched those more closely I could have gone a bit higher, but rolling over is a definite risk I didn't want to take. I'm very happy with my 1000 HOF points too. I can honestly say that for me the recipe was to change the camera angle as I said above. I went from 1 (standard, less steep) to 4 (most steep). This gave me a very good view of the lock area and provides the most viewing space of the flipper area and lower playfield which helps in controlling balls in MB. This was my gameplay recipe (almost identical to Switch3flip):

1. Get the almost freebie EB from the Fish Finder
2. Light all rewards above the captive ball by doing Long Casts (I try to feed the left flipper with a left Boat Ramp and onetime it to the right Long Cast orbit). You'll get these (including that important EB) by shooting Super Jackpots later on.
3. Lock balls from preferably a right backhand to the lock area, or from a slightly rolling ball on the left
4. Start MB and try to catch the first ball with a nudge on the left flipper for a cradle. The next ball will often bounce on the cradled ball and land on the right flipper for a cradle.
5. Backhand the lock with the right flipper
6. Make a Boat Ramp from the left to the right flipper and one-time the ball up the left orbit to the Fish Finder/Jackpot area.
7. Repeat straightforward if possible toward 3rd MB and Super Jackpot, otherwise lock 3 balls again and try again. Control is more important than finishing MB's, just get good at locking those balls. Remember also that the rewards just go up with every instance of MB, so the next MB will be better (great reward system by the way!)
8. Get the same position again with one ball on each flipper. Now I found out (the hard way ) that shooting the Captive Ball with the right flipper leads to more drains right of the bat. Shooting from the left flipper often gives back immediate control (with some nudging). I was playing this in reverse at first and often couldn't make more than one Super Jackpot. Getting more in a row is not only good for scoring but will also get you the Captive Ball rewards. EB and also MB. This last one is essentially a potential ball saver when you are still gunning for those Supers, because it starts MB again, even if you just drained back to one ball after hitting that reward. I had that happen at least once in my game. See also Switch3Flip' post above, he mentions the same thing.

It's very funny to say this now after first complaining how hard I found this table, but with the right view angle and some practice time, I scored relatively easy and even had some EB's to spare at the end. And this after not playing this table for at least two years out of frustration....