So I'm looking to scratch build my first pinball table, but as I'm more an artist and less of an electrician or programmer, I'm going to settle with a non-electric table to start with.

As I am working out the design of the table playfield now, (right now I'm thinking of a 'bride of pin-bot layout) I thought I'd ask if any of you have played many of the older (or newer) non-electric tables that rely only on the ball landing in scoring pockets or scoring lanes and such. Even though I'm doing this as an experiment, I'd like it to turn out fun, even if it is simple. So any features you could call out, or pit-falls to avoid would be appreciated!

I'm currently wondering how to deal with scoring points on the table. 1) have balls fall into pockets on the field that have their points marked, and you add up all your pocketed ball points at the end of the game. 2) have balls fall into scoring pockets, that lead them back to the plunger, and you rack up your points manually on an 'abacus' type system. Simple ideas, but its going to be a simple game. Which would you prefer?