For me (and Zach) personally when setting up for any official IFPA events, it’s not a timing issue, but rather an issue of fairness for all players when playing a given machine. It’s also not an issue of trying to balance out a skill to luck ratio problem (as seen by the fact that 3 out of the top 4 qualifiers at IFPA12 were the top 3 overall finishers - we won’t talk about the one player that didn’t make it) :slight_smile:

When you add a ball saver to the game, let’s say 3 seconds, this situation now becomes available:

Player A --> Plunges, ball comes down to the flippers, player gets two shots, drains out the right outlane in 2.8 seconds. Their reward = EXTRA BALL

Player B --> Plunges, ball hangs out in the jets, sling/sling/outlane in 3.3 seconds. Their reward = END OF BALL BONUS

IMO Player A doesn’t deserve a reward nearly as extreme as an extra ball in play over Player B in this situation. The idea behind ball savers is to eliminate house balls from the equation, but it doesn’t guarantee that it does. House balls still happen after the ball saver timer ends, and balls that weren’t “house balls” (player had control of the ball) can then drain before the ball saver timer ends.

The only options we feel keep things as fair and balanced for both players is to either A) offer no ball saver if possible and start the ball in the plunger lane, or B) offer no ball saver and always place the ball on a flipper to start the game.

Seeing how option B is a giant pain in the ass, and option A is how pinball has been for decades and decades before the 90’s, we prefer option A.

Pinball has always been about trying to control a ball that is out of control, with no guarantee that a player will have a minimum of 1 opportunity for a flipper to make contact with the ball on any given ball in play.

With respect to ball savers in multiball, most games don’t have a setting to turn those off