I was expecting a thread about leaving games for other players because you wanted be nice. I know anytime I can walk up to a machine and not plunk quarters into it, I'm fairly stoked.

I try to leave games whenever I can, even going forth to drop an extra dollar sometimes, for the next lucky person. There are some games out on route near me that are easy to dominate because the replay fairly low and it's really easy to leave 3 or 4 credits on a dollar. Sometimes, even though I'm bored with all the routed games near me, all the reason I need to go play them is to leave credits for others.

Recently I was at a bar where they have a FT in poor condition, TAF in ok condition, and a Monopoly in good shape for the most part. I had been playing Monopoly for a solid hour+ on $.50, getting replays left and right, loading up the board, etc, when a couple of ladies walked up to TAF with a fistful of quarters.

I paid no mind for a while as they dumped dollar after dollar into TAF, not enjoying it, when I overheard one of the ladies say something along the line of "Well, I've never played pinball before now and I won't ever again. This sucks." I was already about to go, had like 6 credits on the machine, and then knew I had to speak up. I should have in the first place just because there were ladies playing pinball, but...

I dropped another couple of bucks into the machine and handed it over to them. Telling them that TAF is a terrible game for a first experience and to please take my games and enjoy them. Not that Monopoly is much better, but TAF can even be hard for seasoned players, let alone one with a messed up DMD. A little while later after playing TAF for a couple rounds I left, and they were having a lot of fun and even getting close to the replay. And as I turned to leave, they thanked me and asked if I knew of any other games in the area they should go check out. Another one hooked...

One of the things I always try to remember about the silverball is my love for it and stance that the world would be a better place if people played more pins. And sometimes you don't know who's day your going to make by leaving a game or two. It could be a 7 year old whose day was just made, or it could be your arch nemesis on the machine you've never met, who grand champs your own score. Either way, we all win.