Tommy is the hardest game

[Loki9]

Tommy is the hardest game in my collection (that's a good thing). All
my games are on factory 3 ball settings, or harder. I may not be a
champ, but I don't suck at pinball. I have Ruled the Universe,
Destroyed the Ring, and had many System Failures. I've now owed Tommy
for about a year and have never completed the Union Jack, and have hit
the Super Jackpot exactly once. F'n Lyman is still the World Champion
on my machine. Argh!

I get replays regularly (400K on my machine), but my scores are
generally in the 300K-500K range and I can't find a strategy that
works for really big points. My ball times are just too short to
complete the 12 Union Jack modes, and the Super Jackpot seems next to
impossible (lucked it once). To collect the Super Jackpot you need to
start multiball, hit three ramps including at least one left and one
right, spell TOMMY and then hit another ramp (left for super jackpot,
right for double super jackpot) and all this with at least two balls
in play.

While trying for the Super Jackpot, I can't hold a ball on the left
flipper because I need the upper left flipper to spell TOMMY and shoot
at the right ramp, and I can't hold a ball on the right flipper
because I need the right flipper to feed the upper left flipper. In
theory, it's possible to hold a ball on the lower left flipper and
still work the upper left by letting the button out halfway, but it's
super hard to do it in the excitement of multiball.

I've seen a few claims of players scoring 2 billion or more, how the
heck do they do it? I've never had game kick my ass like Tommy.

[Pinballed]

Anytime I got over 1.5 billion it was a combination of multiple
multiballs and jackpots, super jackpots and having a good score on
alot of the modes. I could rack up close to 200 million on silver ball
alone! It sure aint from bonus...you get squat for that on Tommy.
Also, cousin Kevin could net you alot...you HAVE to extend the time
for those modes to really get scoring, um, its been awhile...sold my
beloved Tommy last year, theres a few modes that wont net you much,
video mode, smash the mirror. Tommy scoring can get you a few.

[bara...@gmail.com]

I think my high score on my dad's Tommy is 1.8 billion? Never super jackpot in multiball. I don't think i have ever been close either. It is hard. I never shoot the stand ups, never the captive ball. I like to backhand the mode start scoop on the right or go for the acid queen one on the left. Shoot the mystery award shot a bunch too and do the bomb droppings a lot.

Getting to the wizard mode is hard too. Honestly i time out a few of the modes, or just try and start another mode if you can stack them. Wizard mode can play out for a long time and worth a ton of points.

[goatdan]

On Oct 20, 4:22 pm, Loki9 <pinb...@lokiresearch.com> wrote:
> I've seen a few claims of players scoring 2 billion or more, how the
> heck do they do it?  I've never had game kick my ass like Tommy.

Backhand, backhand, backhand.

Tommy is tough, but if you backhand the shots from the right flipper,
you can hit the mode hole pretty safely. If you do that, and you are
smart about which modes you play and which modes you skip, you can get
pretty far in the game.

[no_credit_dot]

I agree Tommy is the toughest game I own. I have reached the wizard
mode quite a few times and my high is 1.6 billion. I have never
smashed the mirror successfully or scored the super jp. But, I have
made the wizard mode with a somewhat cheesy strategy of ignore scoring
and start as many modes as possible.
Here are my tips:
Learn to backhand the mode start scoop. As soon as I start a mode I
am already trying to shoot the orbits to relight mode start. Try to
stack as many modes as possible.
You must get good at earning extra balls. Try for 5 loops. 5 loops on
a single ball lights extra ball. Shoot the genius hole 4 or 5 of those
will get you another extra ball.

[tomdotcom]

I love hard games, I own Fishtales, Shadow, and BSD, all of them are
somewhat hard games. Tommy is actually near the top of my "want" list.

[bara...@gmail.com]

Tommy is a great game! Blinders is one of the best tricks ever done in pinball. Good playfield, scoring and everything. Just wish it had actual music from the who.

[Loki9]

On Oct 20, 10:09 pm, baraka...@gmail.com wrote:
> Tommy is a great game!  Blinders is one of the best tricks ever done in pinball.  Good playfield, scoring and everything.  Just wish it had actual music from the who.

I agree, the blinders are worth doing again on a new machine. Such a
good gimmick.

[goatdan]

I agree that they are a great gimmick, but they are totally
underutilized on Tommy.

I love that you can hold Extra Ball when starting a game to have them
show up, I just wish that there was a special high score table that
tracked that!

[Loki9]

> You must get good at earning extra balls. Try for 5 loops. 5 loops on
> a single ball lights extra ball. Shoot the genius hole 4 or 5 of those
> will get you another extra ball.
>
> mike

Oooh! That's one I didn't know about, I'll have to practice my
loops. Those aren't something I usually shoot for.

Thanks for all the tips people! Tommy is a great game.

-Jeff

[Loki9]

Yes! They should have used them more. Other than the one UJ mode,
they only get used deep into the game where few people ever will see
them (wizard mode, etc., not sure really, 'cause I never get there).

[Brighton Ive]

Yep - during multiball and also after getting the Super or Double
Super Jackpot, the multiball sequence starts over but with the
blinders across.

Always thought it would have been cool to have a target or something
that you could hit at some time to activate the blinders and maybe
have a score multiplier running whilst you are playing blind. Or maybe
having a set number of times when you could choose to activate them
via the launch button ....like Bombs on MM and AFM.

[YenningComity]

I dunno, I like that the blinders are not used much. Reason being is
it is a treat when they come out and surprises people. If they were on
all the time it might get old. It is a tough game though, I am still
only in the 400 million range, but am learning.

[Jerry]

> only in the 400 million range, but am learning.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Tommy is great and tough. I've had the game for about 7 yrs and only
gotten to Pinball Wizard a couple of times (I'm a pretty crappy
player). I've gotten super jackpot a few times, at least I finally
bumped Lyman for Grand Champ. I think the key for super jackpot is
hitting the ramps right away, there's a ball save when multi starts so
go for the shots and let the other balls drain. You have to get them
quick, the ball save doesn't last long. I really need to be thinking
about it to use it, usual reaction is to never let anything drain!
The blinders are very cool, my wife used to hate that mode, she just
couldn't get used to it. Until I explained to her it's a good scoring
mode with no downside, if you drain with the blinders up you get an
extra ball, with the drain pressure removed she kills the score with
that mode.

Jerry