I have a Pistol Poker that seems to cause an issue with new players.

When you launch a ball, the ball goes down the shooter lane to a scoop that sends it up to the upper playfield. There's a thin spring steel flap on the play field that forms a one-way gate. The problem is that if you underpower your launch the ball gets stuck between the PF and the flap. It would seem impossible to do, but it happens to EVERYONE that plays the game for the first time.

I have a custom made 'poking stick' that I use to dislodge the ball. This is a HUGE PITA because the steel is so strong it holds the ball fast and it cannot be shaken loose. I must pull the glass to poke.

I don't know of other games with a flap like this, but they must exist. Ideas?

The hole is clean; the flap is clean; the ball is clean.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!
faz

I was afraid you were going to ask for that. I can't actually recreate it any more. It happened to me 2-3 times when I first got the game. Then it happened to my wife, her sister and each of my kids.

The amount of force needed to launch a ball in a normal game will cause the ball to hit the scoop and come back to the shooter rod. This is phase 1 of the syndrome. Next phase is where they try to add just a **little** more power and it hits this one spot.

I can get a photo of the flap... but it's just a piece of ramp flap material (that thin blue-ish stuff).

Let me get in there with my camera. Maybe I can stage the ball in the position to show the issue. It's really hard to get in there as it's in the far back part of the playfield. I'll probably need to pull the PF out a few feet to get in there. It's a really odd PF design. Because of the upper raised PF, I can't tip the PF up to inspect. I need to lift it straight up onto the PF glide rail.

Thanks for looking.
faz

The plunger is totally smooth... although it is the wrong shooter. The guy replaced it with a DE Maverick shooter assembly. Other than looking FUGLY as all get out... it works just fine. That's on my list too.

I can blast the ball through as well. I'll try to get a video of that to show. That's easy.
faz

Ok. Everyone stand down.

Holy cow... I can't believe this.

I went to make the video of the action happening...guess what I find. The plan was to plunge the ball several times to get a range... (1-soft) to (5-full plunge). Guess what happened. The ball got stuck at a plunge of about a level 4. Really hard. I could not imagine why it came out the flap with a lighter plunge (2-3) but got stuck with MORE power.

I studied what was happening and what do I find.... a piece of loose wire at the base of the scoop. When I plunged the ball, I heard a little thump, but I thought it was the ball hitting the base of the scoop.

The lightest plunge must have hit the wire and kicked it back. The 2-3 plunge appears to make the ball lightly skip over the wire forcing the ball out.

But when I apply a lot of force on the plunger, <<< GUESS >> I think it hit the wire so hard it bounced in the scoop such that it pushed the flap straight up and down pinching the ball. I got it stuck three times in a row.

I removed the scrap of wire... and it's all much smoother and it does not get stuck at all and any pressure.

My assumption was that when the newbie player could not get the ball out of the shooter lane, they progressively added more force. But it now appears the next plunge is 100% power just to make sure it gets out.

Unreal. Darn Physics!
faz