[Invigilator]

I have started playing again and have been reviewing my traditional stragety.

"Aces through 5" has been my traditional thought. I have never had a service Ace beyond level 5 and aces are the best way to stay out of trouble as you try to get into level 7 or 8 with all of your lives. (without which it becomes impossible to take a shot at a top 3 score).

15 consecutive service aces may not be the best strategy for earning points though.

Aces end the round quickly which earns you maximum level bonus, but it is possible to offset the loss of SOME of this score with curve and super curve bonus points.

The average successful level gains a player between 3200 and 3700 points on average. In a recent series of games I tested this theory. What I am showing here is only a comparison between 2 games, but it shows that service aces are not an absolute "trump all" good.

Level 1

game1 - 3140 with no aces
game 2 - 3255 with 3 aces (negligible advantage)

Level 2

game 1 - 3470 with 1 ace
game 2 - 3305 with 3 aces (NO advantage)

Level 3

game 1 - 3570 with 0 aces
game 2 - 3570 with 2 aces (negligible advantage)

Level 4

game 1 - 3685 with 2 aces
game 2 - 3290 with 2 aces (395 point dif attributed to non-ace point)

Level 5

game 1 - 3330 with 0 aces
game 2 - 3715 with 1 ace (possibly supports original strategy)*

* the last point, in fact, all of them would be better served if I did a point by point analysis. However, while I may be a geek, I am not THAT big of a geek. (yet)

Summary:

Aces are good. However, they are not the best clear path to a high score. They should still be pursued in my opinion to keep the player out of trouble as they attmpt to get past level 6 with all lives in tact. This is especially important for tournament play.

carry on...