Just picked up a fairly beat up Flash Gordon, but it functions well and has new rubbers. The outlanes are brutal on this game. I can't believe how short some of my games can be. I don't mind a tough game but this thing is nuts. Are there any good playing tips I should try?

I found that video, it was pretty informative. Learned a few things that I can use on any machine. One of the comments was by someone saying If you find FG bad, don't try Xenon. Funny thing is, i have a Xenon and yes I have to be super alert at the bottom end but I find FG more stressful. You get a multi-second break shooting to the top end in Xenon. FG can have the ball back to the flippers in no time no matter where you shoot. I rate it so high for rules and feature but man it's frustrating.

I only got this game 2 weeks ago. My plans were to restore this machine and I need to get over the hump as to whether I want to invest the time. I only restore machines I plan to keep for a long while. Still on the fence with it. The playfield is pretty rough so I don't really know how it will play with a nice smooth playfield. The lower of the two lower pop bumpers is a bit dead in responding so I am probably not getting it firing into the drain as much as it might once its fixed. I also know the rapid fire back and forth in that area and near the saucer will change things once it speeds up (new coil sleeves and switch capacitor and new nearby rubbers).

One question, when my saucer kicks uphill, the ball usually taps the glass, not hard but a definite smack sound. When it kicks upward, the ball never makes it to the pop area. In the IPDB photo (mine has much more wear), it hits the glass where the yellow circles are, then loses a ton of energy and dribbles to the rubber. Second bounce to the left sometimes might hit a target. If it does the ball is dead and drains to the saucer again. If it missed the target and fell where I drew the arrow, I can sometimes bump the machine to get to the flipper (yellow arrow) but most of the time goes where the third white arrow shows, then falls into the right ramp and often threatens to drain. I was thinking or turning the saucer mechanism a little to aim more near the pop bumper, just a few degrees. The factory guys just slapped things in.

In the outlanes, for the first time on any machine, I moved the lower posts to the so-called "Liberal" position. It made a subtle difference. As an experiment I moved the post a little towards the center of the PF and that made a big difference, only balls lobbed directly into the opening went in. For the others I now had a chance to nudge and keep the ball. The amount I moved post inward is maybe 4 mm. The playfield has so many rebounds that head to the sides. The biggest reason it is an outlane monster is the wire divider for the in/out lane is 5/8" toward the bottom compared to the top post (see photo) in the slingshot rubber's post. This means anything heading to the side that clears the top of the slingshot post with any velocity will make it to the side wood rail and drain. I cannot find another machine like this. Here is an IPDB shot of Xenon. Exact same design in that area, but there is a post with a rubber on it bringing the divider even with the height of the slingshot rubber. Other machines without that post have the wire rail ending up higher. I included a photo of Eight Ball from a few years before, it has a longer metal divider. Black Jack is the same as Eight Ball. I half wonder if something got left out of Flash Gordon.

image-13.jpg

874f2.jpg

image-5.jpg

image-9.jpg

I don't do anything half way so I really want to make up my mind, although you guys are convincing me.

Wood beast drops are which ones, the inlines on the right? At my keyboard I can't think what nudge you are doing or what ball movement you are trying to control.

I forgot to add, my best score unaltered is 1.2Million. I got to 1.5Million with my post change.

I will spend another session on the Bowen tutorial, I like seeing someone good struggle to control the ball.

I will have to watch for a right drain from the wood beast drops, have not had that happen yet.

I played my High Speed yesterday, it is not at my house so I don't always get to play it. Not a DMD game but I was nudging things in a way I have never done before and I have owned the game for 3 years. Flash Gordon emphasizes so many ways to lose the ball it makes you try many new strategies where other games have fewer ways to lose the ball so you don't get as creative. As a moderately skill player I still find lots of things I could improve on.

I still want to own an EBD, I have the original Eight Ball already. I play EBD on my iPad and it has pretty short ball times. My impression is FG is still quite a bit harder. Is that accurate?

I played 3 games yesterday, hit 1.4Million on the third one, decided it was best to then turn it off and enjoy the high.

Coming full circle, after starting this thread I did fully restore my Flash Gordon. Looks awesome.