Get Control
Playing pinball can be more fun if you know what you’re shooting for. I’ve also just collected way too much pinball trivia and need an excuse to share it! Each week I’ll include a tiny guide for one of the machines you can play here.
Get Control
You see the ball headed down towards the drain. Your flippers are your only tool to prolong the game. What do you do?
Obviously you flip at least one of the flipper! Maybe even both for double the odds. What about trying a catch instead?
Counterintuitively, one of the best options when the ball is coming quickly towards the middle of a flipper is to not flip at all. The ball will often gracefully bounce to the other side where it can be easily caught and cradled, giving you the perfect setup for a well-aimed shot.
Notice in the image above that the ball is travelling across the playfield, from the right side to the left flipper, which produces a solid bounce. If the ball were instead coming from the left side to the left flipper it would be much more dangerous and might not bounce enough to clear the gap.
Balls coming from the same side of the playfield as the flipper (right side to right flipper) are much better suited for a live catch instead of a dead flip. In a “perfect live catch” the ball will make contact with the flipper at the exact moment that the flipper reaches the top of its stroke. When this happens the ball seems to magically come to a stop with no bounce at all before rolling back into a cradle.
In most cases, however, the the ball hits the flipper and rolls towards the base and up the in-lane. Keep the flipper held up and it’s usually possible to bring the ball to a stop.
Next time you’re here, try to catch the ball a few times using dead flips and live catches. It takes a lot of practice, but it’s the first step towards developing consistency and being able to hit what you’re aiming for.
If you have any questions or topics you think would be interesting to cover, please let me know!