That's not exactly the case. The ball returns to the left flipper, meaning you're supposed to back-hand the shot as they intended. It only takes 2 seconds to loop the shot, and they give you 4 seconds in order to make it (after the first grace period). That's plenty of time. I hit 11 in a row once, and time was never an issue. It's designed to run out of time if you miss the shot, so the point of the mode is most consecutive back-hand shots without a miss. That's why the game saves a separate high score table for this mode alone.

BTW, if you can't back-hand the WABAC ramp, then something is seriously wrong with your machine. It's the easiest shot in the game.

My machine is completely restored (hardware anyway), with the correct vintage NOS parts as per the manual. My flippers, linkages, and coils are all brand new and to exact specifications. The whole playfield is in absolutely tip-top shape, and it took me a year and $2,000 to do it. But even so, the back-hand WABAC shot should be very easy even on a beat up machine so long as your flippers are properly powered, serviced, and adjusted.

And by the way, it doesn't matter if Keith agrees with you because you'd both be wrong. The timer resets the 4 seconds every time you trip the loop. So as long as you don't miss the backhand, you can keep it going for as long as you can handle it. Again, that's the whole point of the mode. It's simple, elegant, and makes perfect sense.

The manual shows they are 23-900 coils with a 50 VDC pulse and 8 VDC hold powering them. That's what I have in my machine, and it's more than enough power. The right side flipper can just barely hit a backhand there, but mostly you cannot hit it and must hit the right ramp with the left flipper. This makes sense, since the right ramp is also the jackpot ramp. This again is provided you have the proper coils, power, and the flippers are aligned properly to the divots on the playfield.

I don't see what the problem is. The WABAC mode shot is SIMPLE to understand:

Object:

1. To repeat the same shot as many times as possible without missing (15-sec grace period given on first shot once mode is triggered).

2. Each shot sends you further back in time by a century. If you miss after the 2nd shot, your time will run out before you can recover, thus, it is an "in a row" contest.

3. The furthest back in time player gets to put their initials in for the record (which is battery saved like the high score record).

What's so hard about that to understand? Why is an intended backhand shot mode so "ridiculous"?

Also: " is playable only on machines where a backhanded ramp shot is possible" is a straw man argument. It is the EASIEST shot in the game. Your pin would have to be completely FUBAR for this shot not to work. Your argument could be easily applied to ANY pinball machine's intended shot mode.

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My machine was a rusted pile of junk from having been a road pin for 20 years. Even with that, the shot worked fine before I did anything to it. Of course, I did have to spend 2 grand restoring it, but that was because I liked the challenge of hunting down parts piece by piece.

But again the argument is a straw man because it can be made about any pin. Think about it: Would you really entertain a point made about a mode expecting a specific shot to be "ridiculous" because it might not be possible on a beat up and/or dirty machine? Of course not. But even so, the shot is the easiest to make in R&B, so even a dirty machine shouldn't stop it unless you had something physically wrong with the flipper play.

I'm thinking I may need to make a video demonstrating how straight forward and easy the shot is. It's almost as easy as doing the ramp loop in Earthshaker.