Trackballs - how much space between ball and monitor/bezel?

[ABACABB]

Okay, you guys realize there is NO wind, green, or other such stuff inside a Golden Tee machine, right?

There is no wind in there holding the trackball back??!! OMG that's why I have been rolling the trackball so hard all this time!! I thought the wind was actually in the cabinet blowing around and I had to compensate by rolling the trackball harder.  Oh thank you so much Max for clearing this up.  Now I can try to play the game the "correct way" since I don't have to compensate for all of that wind blowing around inside the cabinet!!  WHEW!!

I still maintain that if I were to use this pathetically inadequate method in a bar or arcade, I would immediately be accused of "cheating", and you yourself have pretty much confirmed that.

 

Once again Max, you are a complete ding-ding.  I never once said this is cheating.  I said it is an advantage to utilize the backspin vs. not using it....  But it is the player's choice as to how they want to play.

I will not respond to this thread again.  You are too ignorant to even understand what I'm saying and it is pointless to try to teach you.   

[Typefighter01]

@MaxVolume-I think I made a boo-boo. I tried your paper ball experiment, but instead of paper, I removed the balls from both my x-arcade trackball housing and an old Happ one I had sitting around (I thought using the balls themselves would be more representative of the actual game). I was surprised, but my results were different. The one I threw went from my living room went all the way past my kitchen and out a bathroom window (it was closed of course , wife is gonna kill me). Worse still, the one I flicked with my finger, only move a couple of inches and I am sure I did some damage to one of the joints as I can not make a fist anymore. Sorry to thread hijack, but does anyone know where to get replacement trackballs

[CheffoJeffo]

Wow ... and I thought that the old timers who insist on proper, dedicated controls are freaks (wait ... wat?), but Max is over-the-top and off-the-charts insane with his need to prove the virility of his thumbs.

It's a freaking video game -- play how you want, as long as you have fun (and, yeah, I like the "moron" way simply because it is fun).

 

[MaxVolume]

Wow ... and I thought that the old timers who insist on proper, dedicated controls are freaks (wait ... wat?), but Max is over-the-top and off-the-charts insane with his need to prove the virility of his thumbs.

It's a freaking video game -- play how you want, as long as you have fun (and, yeah, I like the "moron" way simply because it is fun).

 

I get that I'm probably beating a dead horse here, but my whole point has been why spend all this time worrying about how far your trackball is from your monitor, when there's no real need to do the "Superman" move in the first place?  To me it's like saying "how can I mount my joystick into the side of the cabinet sticking straight out, so I can lean to the right at a 90-degree angle when I play because I don't know any better."

'Scuse the ---fudgesicle--- outta me for trying to impart some knowledge... sheesh!

[CheffoJeffo]

No, I don't think I will ... excuse you.

First, you seem to think that you are the first person to point this out and that makes you so smart and convinces you that you need to beat the horse until it is thoroughly and completely dead.

That leads to the second point -- you obnoxiously (!) dismiss or belittle anybody who disagrees with you.

And, finally, you completely miss the only point that matters -- some people like the Superman move and, while I can see why you may be stuck playing your cab all by your lonesome, cabs should be designed so that a variety of people (on earth we call these "friends and family") can use it and don't injure themselves.

 

[Typefighter01]

O.K. I have to admit, I am completely lost. In what way is a crumpled up piece of paper analogous to a trackball. I guess if I crumpled up at least 4 sheets of 8 1/5 x 11, it might be similar in shape (somewhat round). It's weight, composition, texture, drag coefficient (which is what your ridiculous "analogy" was testing),  moment of inertia (which is what we should be testing), are not similar in any respect. I can break it down mathematically in a few different ways to explain why using your whole body (including the surface area and length of your hand) instead of your thumbs, will produce greater "moment of inertia". The best example (and one that is more "analogous" than crumpled up paper), is whats called the "flywheel effect" or Polar moment of Inertia. Think of your arm as a lever and once in motion, will carry with it a stored energy. If we use Newtons 3rd law "something in motion will stay in motion unless an external force acts apon it" the stored energy in your arm (length of the lever-your arm, the distance it travels-how far you pull it back, it's velocity-how fast you move your arm) will be transfered to the ball. It is just not possible to produce the same kinetic energy from your thumbs as you can from your whole arm (unless you are Bruce Lee).

Even though I felt like a complete door knob, I went into the computer room and crumpled up a virgin sheet of standard letter paper, I set it on the kitchen counter and gave it the old MaxVolume flick. I marked it's spot and then gave it the old, I am a drunk, loud, obnoxious, red neck idiot, look at me testosterone throw (I think I actually did use the help of my own balls) and guess what, it went further.

Just bugging you Max, I don't care either way, I am a Shmups man you know. Don't use them fancy trackin balls

[MTPPC]

Plus, you look like a girl when you use your thumbs.

[rCadeGaming]

It is just not possible to produce the same kinetic energy from your thumbs as you can from your whole arm (unless you are Bruce Lee).

Yes, what you are all missing is that there is a third method which is best, the one-inch punch method!  The best Golden Tee style is the style of no style.  The true meaning of track ball arts is to express yourself honestly.

[PL1]

WWBLD? - What Would Bruce Lee Do?

I think he mentions the right technique here for dealing with this thread.


Scott

[MaxVolume]

And, finally, you completely miss the only point that matters -- some people like the Superman move

You're full of crap.  It's not that they LIKE the "Superman" move, it's that they don't know any better.  It wouldn't have been such a long debate if it were a simple matter of preference, but now that everyone has run out of ways to try and claim it's BETTER, the fallback argument is "well... I like to play that way, so THERE!"  Pretty lame if you ask me.

[CheffoJeffo]

And, finally, you completely miss the only point that matters -- some people like the Superman move

You're full of crap.  It's not that they LIKE the "Superman" move, it's that they don't know any better.  It wouldn't have been such a long debate if it were a simple matter of preference, but now that everyone has run out of ways to try and claim it's BETTER, the fallback argument is "well... I like to play that way, so THERE!"  Pretty lame if you ask me.

And there you go again, claiming to know what other people think ... you are an obnoxious, arrogant and intolerant little ---fudgesicle---, aren't you ?

The only thing lame here is that you mistake your preference (which is valid and, as I said, nothing new) for something that everybody should agree with, if only they were as smart as you are.

I believe that the best joystick ever made is the Wico leaf stick. I have all sorts of arguments and justifications for that belief, but I would have to be a Class-A ---uvula--- to think that people who use Sawna's are just stupid and don't know any better.

 

[Typefighter01]

What was the point of the paper thingy again

[saint]

Good grief folks, turn it down to 10 please...

[CheffoJeffo]

[Loafmeister]

First time I log onto this site in months and this is the first thread I read. 

Personally, this debate on whether some should or should not swing hard is pointless.  People do and even if they don't have to, I am not about to start giving them a 10 minute speech on the physics behind why they should not.  For the same reason why people use body language when playing a racing game while holding a controller in their hand, some will use muscle when they spin a trackball and some won't.  It's all about the fun ain't it?

Ie to the OP, if you can spare a few extra inches between the trackball and backglass, it's not a bad idea.