Archived 2026-10-16 from https://tiltforums.com/t/balance-in-scoring-playing-for-fun-vs-score/656
(thread from June 2015). A summary of the thread with the key sentences quoted, not a byte-perfect
copy.
Cited from design/research/story-chain/scoring-benchmark.md for the players' definition of a
balanced scoring design.
btw75, summing up a C2C podcast: a well-balanced game is one where players never have to ask
"Are we playing for fun or score?" - the most efficient scoring is playing through the modes and
reaching the wizard modes.
- Tron (acp): if you're not working through its objectives, "what else is there to do?"
- The Addams Family / Shrek (acp): most scoring comes from playing the modes out.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation (acp): good modes mean huge scoring in Final Frontier.
- Metallica (the podcast's main example), Iron Man (btw75, genex), The Walking Dead.
- Twilight Zone (acp): most ramp shots feed the piano, so Lost in the Zone follows from normal play.
- Stern Star Trek (acp): newer code goes a long way towards fixing the "just sit and time
everything out" problem.
- PinballNarcissist: "you can go for a 100 mil super during 6th gear multiball if you're trying to
reduce a massive deficit in scoring" - a non-mode catch-up route still exists, "slightly mundane"
next to what the game asks.
- darthxaos: "If you are ever timing out a mode, that means they didn't make it worth enough
points."
- soren: "Playing for points never interested me at all" - progress through modes is the point.
No poster gives a percentage of score by source.