Cradling is super fun to me. Especially when I'm in a three to four ball multi-ball mode. I love trying to keep as many balls in play at once, juggling like crazy. That's pretty exhilarating for me.

In terms of higher level play though, cradling at least here and there is pretty important for consistency. If you are firing away on-the-fly all the time, you are going to get punished. Either you are going to hit the wrong shot, your timing may be off and the ball may not go all the way up a ramp, or you will hit some form of a post and the ball will likely fly towards the drain. Of course, that can happen even when you cradle a ball prior to shooting, but at least then you made a conscious effort to control the flow of the game and didn't leave the ball's outcome entirely to dumb luck.

Some games are better for flow gameplay though than others, and even though I consider myself a very controlled player, on games like Star Trek, AC\DC, Rolling Stones and Spider Man, I purposely go for combos a lot as well (the ramps and orbits mostly). Those ramp shots generally aren't that difficult, and the combos feel good and they can pay off points-wise. Plus, going for combos and getting the flow going in those games opens up loop passing for those orbit shots, which is another skill that feels really good to do and requires some on-the-fly thinking.

It depends on the angle the ball is coming towards the drain. Keeping a close eye on the ball, the idea is to push the outlane post or rail into the ball, forcing the ball's movement upwards. It will then sometimes ricochet upwards into the far outlane wall and back towards the playfield.

For anyone that wants to see various ways to save balls from outlane drains, I highly, *highly* recommend watching Pinball 101.

Push the machine to the left or right, from whichever way the ball looks closest to a flipper. If it's going down the middle but it looks like it might skim the edge of a flipper, that's where you "slap save". Again, like above, the idea is to push the flipper into the ball. Even the slightest touch can make all the difference and save it from draining.

If the ball requires a heavy push of the machine to save it, then, well, depending on the tilt settings, push it! If the tilt setting allows it, push the hell out of it if you have to. It may cost you two tilt warnings if the game even allows, but that's better than draining completely.

"Winning" to most of us IS "having fun". And the "having fun" factor snowballs when we play better.

More skillful play = Having Fun = Winning.