There are only 4 posts on Pinside with the text "high tap", so I think it's time for an adult discussion about this. Can we mess up our EMs with high tap? If you get a high score with high tap, does it count? What does high tap have to do with high-gravity beer?

Actually, I can answer this one. My friend left me a high-gravity (13%) beer last night, and as I poured it into my glass tonight it reminded me that I wanted to high-tap my new Abra Ca Dabra.

This is great feedback, thanks everyone. I've changed the title to be less silly.

I think Clay's guide mentioned using high-tap, so I'd love to hear his thoughts on this. I would guess high-tap makes a lot more sense for a setup like the PHOF, with lots of games on the same circuit.

I have to admit that I've modded many older games to make them more playable. I upgraded the flipper mechs on my Black Knight, and I used a bigger coil for the upper flipper on Whirlwind. Whenever there's a "money shot" that's too hard to make with the stock coil, I upgrade it. I should probably keep those games away from PAPA tournaments though.

Having said this, all of the shots on my Abra Ca Dabra and Jumping Jack can be easily made. In fact I can see stronger flippers being a problem for JJ - if the ball goes screaming into the top, it could easily jump over into the wrong hole. I really just want the pop bumpers to be stronger.

I don't think an EM should play like a DMD. I have mine at 5.5%, and I may drop back to 4.5% after reading this thread. The "floaty-ness" of EMs is indeed part of their charm. One thing I noticed on Abra is that at 4.5%, it's hard to get the ball to go to one of the numbered inlanes. The ball wants to bounce off the lane guide and over to the outlane. Making the game steeper makes it easier to make the inlanes, but it's cheating. Instead you're supposed to nudge the inlane UNDER the ball...and you have plenty of time to do it.

I'm with the yellow cat guys. In fact I'm going to change my avatar to my yellow cat tonight.

More on the pitch/angle discussion...With my levelers all the way in, I'm measuring 3.5 degrees on my ACD. I'll play it this way for at least a month. Here are the problems I had with the game set to 5.5 degrees:

- It's harder to nudge for the critical 1-2-3-4 rollovers
- I couldn't shoot the rollovers from the flippers
- Less horizontal action, because gravity!
- The mid-playfield slings couldn't get the ball up to the top drop targets. This is actually one thing I love about Abra, you can clear both sets of drop targets without ever having the ball come down to the flippers. Skillful nudging keeps the ball up top!

I'm pretty sure I'll leave it at 3.5 degrees for our league night in August. I agree with ccotenj, the game is designed for a lower angle, and it doesn't play as well at 5.5 degrees.