Nudging is part of pinball. That is why the machine has a tilt bob hanging inside the cab.
I however do not agree with death saves that move the machine across the floor.
-Mike

Got to play the machine....

A pinball machine is an industrial quality machine and it is TOUGH!

You bouncing it around a little is what it is built to handle.

Pushing so it slides the machine though is too much, nudging is perfectly acceptable, in fact encouraged!

I've been a bit worried about this myself. While a pinball cabinet is pretty strong the legs are only fastened with two bolts so any force applied to the pin will stress those two contact points a lot. The tall/long legs will also increase the force applied through leverage. I'm worrying that nudging more than just a tiny amount might crack the wood in the cabinet corners (in the case where the legs don't slide on the floor but rather stay stationary but flex sideways).

Am I worrying too much? By the way, i'm speaking of 25 year old 90s games here, no idea how brand new pins hold up.

Both of you are worrying too much. Nudge the shit out of it. It will be fine.

Case closed.

The only game that I owned with loose legs was #myfairlady and that was made in the 50’s. The cabinet had taken decades of abuse, but it was still holding together. Remember the games are industrial machines like pins4u said, they’re incredibly tough.

This wasn’t my game, just a random epic from the net.

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No need to fear breaking the game. You need to be the hulk high on PCP to actually break a game.

What you should do is practice being subtle and noticing how tiny nudges and bumps can alter the travel of the ball.

Every vibration you add to the cabinet will find its way to the ball.

Another way to think of it is this: Every surface is another potential flipper. A well timed and subtle nudge will affect the ball path and potentially give you a longer game.

You can even nudge and tap when the ball is already on your flippers. It’s often crucial for getting the ball to calm down.

Eventually you can work on more harder shakes and testing the limits of a games tilt sensor.

If you’re not nudging, you’re not trying!

I was the same way being new and owning a HUO machine. I was afraid to even look at it wrong. Then my friend reminded me that these are vending machines designed to be out in public taking peoples money.

Shake that damn thing! You won’t hurt it.

Yes. But if you have wood floors I would put some sort of feet on the game to not scratch up the floors.

Watch these.

https://youtube.com/channel/UCcX-RTccjyvQS2k3ozBKW8Q

Agreed! About your concrete floor, if your machine has metal leg adjusters (very bottom foot part) it may just be unpleasant to the senses to hear them scraping a little. There are various different types of those you can buy for example ones that have nylon on the bottom. As for legs damaging machine, the legs do tend to gouge in and nudging might exacerbate that. there are also many products that are cabinet protectors that go between the leg and cabinet. Newer machines come with these but older 90s don’t.

Concrete is better imo. You’re not worried about the levellers marking up a finished surface. The whole machine will move before you ever worry about damaging anything. Unless its on carpet gliders then i guess it would slide easy. My point isn't to confuse nudging with moving the entire game like you would with a slide save. My point is concrete is very forgiving when it comes to relieving pressure on the legs. Unless you keep the rear legs jammed up against the wall or something like that lol. That said, it doesn’t take much to influence the ball path. Timing is everything.

I’ll take it a step further and say if you are not nudging you are not winning. Learning the game means learning where and when to nudge so that the ball doesn’t drain. Especially on EMs and the early SS games.

Adjust the tilt so the plumb bob is at its most slim. Once you know the machine you can make it harder.

Nudging is the game.

This may sound silly but focus on your stance when you play. First stand with you feet parallel to the game. Push/nudge the lockdown bar forward. You may see that as you push forward you actually knock yourself backwards.

Now drop either your left or right foot back 12-24”. Push/nudge forward again. You should see that momentum is more on your side due to your stable base.

The point is with a proper stance you can get a better nudge without using as much force.

In any event, these machines are built tough and nudging and slap saving isn’t going to hurt it.

It goes something like this

I found these videos very helpful as I am starting to play more

I've been playing for years and have only started to become more comfortable nudging in the last year or so. My whole body will twist while I try to nudge, but my arms are thinking "don't hurt the machine" and convey 10% of my movement. Pins are definitely made to be jiggled! I think if the feet are sliding around that might be a bit "too hard", but if the pin feet stay planted I think you'll always be ok.

I think this is common for newer players, when I first got back into pinball, I was hanging out at the PPM and having a background in working in museums I was reluctant to nudge too much, I was like "this is a museum, don't break shit"
Then I started spending lots of time with Mike Shiess, dude who owns the museum, when he walks up to a game, first thing he does is shake the shit out of it, nudge it, to see how it moves, every game! Shit from 1930's, wood rails, rare games, didn't matter, shook the shit out of them, before even playing. Then I saw Berkeley Mac do it, then Dan Fontes, all the old timers.
It's part of the game. Like someone else said, it's why you've got a tilt Bob. Set your tilt tight if you're worried but learn to nudge, it's ok, even at the museum.
B

Get sliders or something to go under feet. Otherwise they can scratch your floor. Don't worry about damaging pins.

How are you defining nudging? Correct nudging is fairly subtle yet firm… there is a tilt bob after all

On concrete, get some pin shoes to keep the pin from sliding all over.

Just dont nudge too hard

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What most call nudging, I've always called shaking. Regardless, I keep the tilt bob on the lowest setting on collection.

I was invited to Vic Camp's house in NJ to play his pristine collection of Gottlieb EM's. Most looked new and were perfectly dialed in. I played them with great respect with a slight nudge here and there. When Vic saw that, he scolded me for not doing more nudging. Then I watched him play. Holy shit, he gave them such a workout I would swear the tilt pendulum was removed.

So they are built to take it!

I bought these for all of my machines from Home Depot. They are felt on the bottom and work great from a scratching standpoint. Also if I am moving games I just slide them around as well. Work great!

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Death metal and death saves, all day, every day. You'll be fine (hint: Do NOT death save on other people's games lol)

If you're concerned about the legs digging into the cabinet as you nudge, I'd recommend some leg spacers like these from Marco: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/535-0599-00

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These will have the leg floating just in front the cabinet so they won't touch it as much. I'd say a protector like this is especially important if your games are on carpet, since a powerful nudge will cause the legs to bend a bit instead of slide.

With that said, all you have to worry about is cosmetic damage. You don't need to worry about nudging causing structural damage to the game.

Think of your game like a vending machine in the lunch room at your work and the pinball like a Zagnut bar that didn’t quite dispense. You want your damn Zagnut bar but you don’t want to alert the whole office that your shaking the vending machine down, you know the machine was built to take the abuse.. so the dance begins!

Your not going to hurt the machine..

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Only fear I have when it comes to nudging is hurting my wrists or hands. It's probably over nudging at that point but I loosen up the tilt to where it allows a couple of big moves without immediately tilting and can get carried away sometimes.

Join Team Death Save and don't look back. Your game will be fine.

What kind of vending machine you got, gourmet chocolate? Hand over a big Texas those sweet rolls are good.

I can tell you one of my very few pinball skills is nudging without tilting.
If you can’t make the shot, develop your nudging game to control the ball when you screw it up.

I was having pain in my forearms. Not sure if it was from golf or pinball. So I put felt on all of the pinball feet. Then I waxed the floor around each foot. Now I can do slide saves pain free. Seems like it's a lot less stress on the pinball legs too.

I get the feeling in this thread that you should throw your machines around, which is not good.
From my experience, if you have to protect your wooden floor thus using rubber feet, make sure to release stress on the legs and cabinet with self-adhesive felt gliders- if you want to slide or death save! Especially if you are new and don't know how to use your force.
If you hear your machine with rubber feet rattling over your floor thats not good and I would not alow you to do that on my machines.
You can simply avoid that by adding those felt sliders/gliders. Also try out different ones, some might slide easier than others.

Maybe I should do another tutorial on that specific thing.
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I was actually going to ask about Billy Bob style haha... does anyone actually nudge with their hips or is that just overkill?

Would these work on carpet? What is the best under the feet on carpet? Is having just the metal on carpet the best?

If your games are on carpet, get these. The leg leveler feet fit perfectly inside them, and when you need to move a game for maintenance, it's an easy 1-man job to slide the machine over carpet. I have them under all my games.

sliders (resized).jpg

Does anybody have their back legs on hardwood and their front legs on a Persian style rug? What do you do for a situation like that?

Nudging is just that - a NUDGE!

A nudge DOES NOT mean the machine should be pushed across the room - the feet should NOT move when nudging.

If they do, you ARE NOT nudging, you are shoving!

Im not experienced with concrete floors, but you can also try the hard carpet sliders attached on the rubber feet. Please do not add wheels
If a machine has a very tight grip on the floor I would not force any slides. I would adjust and simply avoid big moves. Those can also hurt your arms if the machine has no give to it.

Take care if you play on a carpet. The metal feet will leave a black residue on it over time. Install rubber feet and attach those carpet sliders on them like seen in my video and on the image above.

I saw bigger people nudging with their belly already, why not... but the nudge will be slow and imprecise so the tilt bob gets heavily affected.

The rear legs only have a small effect on your nudging. If you dont have to protect the wooden floor, I would just use the carpet rubbers + sliders on your front legs.

Depending on the floor and feet material, "Shoving" can result from a stronger nudge, so there is no clear line between nudging or shoving- its more like a linear curve. Thats why these discussions are not easy over the internet. Everyone has a different opinion about it, and maybe we mean the same thing without even knowing. Anyway the Tilt Bob is the final judge.

I'll do some light nudging on location occasionally. I'm usually just trying to play some short casual games, and not trying to go all out.

I had to convince someone that nudging was not cheating. It was a way longer conversation than I'd like to admit. These things were made for commercial environments. The things kids put these things through back in the day was scary.

"cheating". It's like these people forget these machines are designed to take your quarters. The tilt bob is there for this exact reason, so as long as you're not activating tilt you're not cheating in my books. (assuming not competition play of course)

Rubber feet for back legs your option on front depending on how big the rug is. If you use rubber feet the rug will shift depending if there are other pinlegs holding it down. The rug might get a rust stain if the bottom of the leg leveler gets corroded over time so that might be a concern. I also use small 3"x3" carpet squares that I have cut from industrial carpet squares that work very well on my hardwood and concrete floors. Cheep alternative to the rubber feet. I think Steve at pinball resource has the best price on the rubber feet. I have 12 pins upstairs on hard wood so needing 48 of them Steve was a lifesaver plus you get a discount when you order more than $100 from him which for me is easy to do! Another tip is add a small tab of alien tape or double stick tape to bottom of leveler so the rubber feet don't fall off when you move this pins with your pinball cart.

Good luck and don't be afraid to move those game around when you play them. They were designed to be nudged and slapped around a bit it is truly part of the game. If you don't your letting too many balls go down the drain or outlane. Keep on flippin' and nudging just keep all 4 on the floor!
Regards,
Al

Every time I read the topic name I get this stuck in my head. Been playing way too much Iron Maiden lately.

Fear of the nudge, fear of the nuddddge. I have a phobia the operator is watching me

These are the best. They fit perfectly and slide easily. Never buy the rubber ones unless you want your pin glued to the floor. Handy to be able to slide games around to either work on them or when adding/removing games.

Ugh, stop it! I cannot get this out of my head. Maybe listening to "Nudge of the Beast will help"... aahh!

This thread is the beast that’s been created in the era of 10K+ machines and collectors. I’m not proud of it, but my buddies and I used to beat the shit out of the W/B games at the arcades in the 90’s. Slam tilting seemed to be the norm rather than the exception. If we didn’t break them, nothing will.