Table of the Week Club...week 7: CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON!

[shutyertrap]

Highly enjoy this table, as with most season 1 and like a good number of pins, the big Wizard Goal is still eluding me (the Super Jackpot in this case) Top score I've managed so far was a 325 mil

Learn the backhand off the right flipper to snack bar shot, and learn it well. I'm talking spending a few games where any time you have the ball caught on that flipper, you shoot for nothing else. Once you have that in your back pocket, get comfortable shooting the 'move your car' gap that leads to the roll overs. Less important from a caught ball on the right, more important from a roller. What this will allow you to do is control the ball when things get hectic. Shoot that shot, it goes up, through the bumpers (which are important for Super Jackpot), and drops down where you can catch it with the right. These two shots are the single most important things to know on the table.

I've said it various other places, but it bears repeating. During multiball, you can often get all the way to collecting Super Jackpot with a ball caught on the left flipper and just doing everything with the right. The only time for sure you'd need to flip from the left is if the girl can't be found in the snack bar or the KISS lane. The other advantage to holding the ball there is if you lose the other ball, you can quickly shoot the snack bar to save multiball without worrying about the countdown time. It's a boring as hell way to play, and your left finger will cramp up for sure, but it's highly effective.

 

[vikingerik]

The single biggest aspect about scoring on CFTBL: The jackpot value permanently doubles when you collect a super while the base value is not yet over 400M. Your fourth SJ is worth 8x as much as your first. That's where the inflationary cliff jump scoring comes from. One SJ at 4x gets your game to about 400M, but four get to 6400M.

The multiball multiplier: At the start of every multiball, the multiplier is 1x, but the game remembers your previous multiplier on the same ball for the next increase. If you ended the previous multiball on the same ball at 2x, the next multiball will increase 1x - 3x - 4x. If you ended the previous multiball at 3x, the next one will go 1x - 4x. If you ended the previous multiball at 4x, that was "maxed" so you cannot increase the multiplier beyond 1x until you drain this ball. I'm pretty sure this is all ROM behavior and not due to TPA. I also think it's intentional to nerf the runaway jackpot scoring, and not a bug.

Playing the table without extra balls sounds intriguing indeed, as there's a lot of strategy in your limited opportunities of access to 4x. I would probably try to run the first multiball without ever increasing beyond 2x, then the next at 3x, then the next at 4x but only right before collecting the jackpot or super.

Everything shutyertrap says about multiball is correct. Hold one ball on the left flipper forever except only if you need to shoot the right orbit to find the girl. You can and should grind all the way to the super jackpot every time without the second ball ever leaving the left flipper.

 

[masterthes]

Thanks kindly for the tip sir. And yeah, talking about that move your car shot. It took me forever to get that goal, let me tell you lol

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

When starting multiball, a full-strength plunge allows a catch on the left flipper.

Another bug I discovered today: if you collect F in FILM from the Snack Bar and it's your 2nd/6th/etc. KISS, the KISS count is incremented, but the EB is not lit. The count required for an EB remains at 2/6/etc. but the next KISS will be 3/7/etc. meaning you will not be able to light another EB via KISS.

Oh and I always play Move Your Car because I love the animations.

 

[Kratos3]

Love this table!

I have all goals and a high of 2B or so.

 

[Locksley]

Okey. Been gone for a week and played some pinball in a small arcade, that was fun.
So now back to virtual, this table has been on my back burner but I like the theme (wish it was even more Black Lagoon oriented rather than 50ish as main theme like now).
And I might come down with something so maybe I will have to skip work; not really ideal as I don't want to loose the money, but hey if youre ill one better stay home and get cured (especially if you can play some pinball).

Cheers!

 

[Extork]

Love this table. The last ToTWs, I didn't get a 'whole' lot of practice on. So this time I better practice up! But strangely enough, I had been playing the ToTW the week before it being announced. Psychic? Pshycho maybe lol.

But ok. Multiball strategy is key for CFTBL. My advice would be, just take it slow. Don't keep trying to nail the tunnels with both balls like a madman. Send up at least one to the whirlpool. And try to subconsciously know how much time it spends in there. It's not exactly the same every time, but you know what I mean. Then try to sharpshoot those tunnels.

On the other hand, I find myself trapping both balls on the right flipper right away. And I've had it before where 1 flip gets them into the left and center tunnel at the same time. Chaching. Probably not the smartest like I said before. But I always try for that now. I've never been a fan of doing the smart thing. Like timing out the seance on TAF. But that's how tournament style is different.

As far as plunging the extra balls this time... I think it's great. But I also think it should depend on the table. So last time only AFM would've been plunged. This time, all of them are plunges. But if something like el durado pops up next, I say we should take a vote on it. It's just an idea. I get that this time it's to cut down on time for the tables as a whole, so maybe it doesn't matter. But then again, a super drainy table with extra balls wouldn't increase the tournament time by very much anyways, ya know?

 

[shutyertrap]

But then again, a super drainy table with extra balls wouldn't increase the tournament time by very much anyways, ya know?

For the average player, no. For some of our pinball savants? It's like giving them an extra quarter each time. Normal tournament rules have EBs turned off anyways.

 

[Heretic]

im not a have of really long games, this morning i ran outta steam on a game of taf and couldnt pause so i drained four balls stuipdly with anither 2 extras lined up. im not saying totm should have a time limit but when there is ya need to make every shot count instead of x amiunt of hiurs to play

 

[Extork]

For the average player, no. For some of our pinball savants? It's like giving them an extra quarter each time. Normal tournament rules have EBs turned off anyways.

For sure. But just for you I plunged my extra balls on FP last tournament that's my story and I'm stickin to ig. And for good measure, I made sure to tilt the EBs

 

[shutyertrap]

For sure. But just for you I plunged my extra balls on FP last tournament that's my story and I'm stickin to ig. And for good measure, I made sure to tilt the EBs

Why tilt the EBs? That sets certain games up for immediate tilts thereafter. Just plunge. Whatever points you earn while the ball bounces, you keep.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Well, I just shot 38B - except of course it was only 18B thanks to the ol' rollover bug. Quite dispiriting to spend 2 hours on a game only to lose half your score thanks to something as stupid as that. I really don't like having to micromanage my scoring just so I don't trip the bug, one of the rollovers I miscalculated my jackpot value, the other, I'd stopped caring.

 

[Extork]

Why tilt the EBs? That sets certain games up for immediate tilts thereafter. Just plunge. Whatever points you earn while the ball bounces, you keep.

Just messin. I had 2 EBs and I tilted them (and ball 3) so fast that it looked like it was on purpose. It was a way of jokingly trying to justify those balls bein so horrible

^ 38bil :-0

 

[superdan]

This is a Table - along with lots of others - that I've not given enough love.

I'll try playing with and without EBs and see how I do.

Missed NGG last week - so may try and squeeze a few games of that too.

Enjoyed last tourney here - But must admit I got right into TPA's last Mobile one - Still stuck in Silver, but was happy with my 60th-ish place
How did anyone else in Silver do?

These CFTBL tidbits are like finding gold nuggets in the desert...Of course, there is theory and there is practice. In terms of HOW, I made silver on last 20 min max TPA tourny, 13th of 1049 players, so that and $2 should get me a cup of coffee But kind of proud after suckin wind on these tournies, perhaps finally shedding the adrenaline and nerves. Anyway, scores should be very interesting on CFTBL, esp. for me where it seems it's all over the map. I wonder if others experience the same or they have consistency in scores on CFTBL?

 

[workshed]

Ran into a weird bug I haven't seen before on this table. Lit the super on ball one but drained a ball due to some dumb pilot error, ending the multiball. Got back into multiball and scored a jackpot still on the same ball, then put the ball in the jets to relight the super. Got some decent bumpage first time and looked up at the DMD to see how close I was...247 bumper hits left! I don't know how many hits I had before I looked up, but 8 seems about right, which makes this sound like some kind of 8 bit integer overflow. This smells like a bug in the original table to me, not a FS emulation bug, but I haven't heard of it before. Has anyone else seen this?

 

[Heretic]

yeah thats another rom bug too

 

[workshed]

yeah thats another rom bug too

Thanks! Do you have any idea what sequence of events triggers this?

 

[superdan]

Most of you are probably aware of the notes available on pinball.org of tips and tricks. But in case your not, more gold nuggets for playing CFTBL
http://pinball.org/rules/creaturefromtheblacklagoon.html

 

[workshed]

Most of you are probably aware of the notes available on pinball.org of tips and tricks. But in case your not, more gold nuggets for playing CFTBL
http://pinball.org/rules/creaturefromtheblacklagoon.html

It might also be worth mentioning that many rule sheets, including this one by sigma, are linked to at http://www.ipdb.org, which is a fantastic site for info on almost all pinball games. It is also worth mentioning that sigma (the writer of that rule sheet) is Kevin Martin, the person currently in charge of PAPA. PAPA is the Professional and Amateur Pinball Association. Check out their website (http://papa.org) if you haven't heard of it. They do fantastic live coverage of competitive live pinball, along with an archive of gameplay videos. They also have a collection of tutorials, mostly from Bowen Kerins. They live cast many pinball tournaments at http://www.twitch.tv/papatvpinball and often stream on Wednesday evenings with PAPA TV live. Check them out!

edit: Actually it seems these days Kevin Martin is no longer in charge of PAPA, or at least not to the extent he was. Link from a couple of years ago on pinside: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/t...-under-the-ownership-of-the-replay-foundation . I need to check my facts before stating old info. I swear I saw him looking like a tournament director at PAPA 17 last year tho...we'll see if he's around at PAPA 18 this weekend. Get excited, Louisville was a great show this past weekend and I can't wait to watch PAPA 18.

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

Played the table this morning and scored 6 billion and a 1k HOF score.