I'm all for nudging, for me it's an essential part of the game.

But I do have a friend that arguments that tilt warnings are the same as yellow cards in soccer and the tilt itself id like a red card. Then he goes on arguing that yellow cards are given for doing something wrong, so nudging is wrong.

The only thing I don't like is people kicking and shoving the machines out of anger AFTER the ball has already drained.

I guess his point is that i hardly ever make it through a game without at least one tilt warning...

My problem is when I'm at his place it's extremely difficult for me to watch the ball drain without nudging. In the heat of the battle I also sometimes forget his rules and just react (nudge) without thinking.

If the decal wrinkling part worries you, why are you not using some kind of leg/cab protectors, just in case someone is a bit over-motivated? Actually, after some years in this hobby i've never met anyone not using protectors.

My machines are usually either re-decaled or have very good original decals. The pins are nudged, slap saved and even slide saved heavily and there is no sign of decal wrinkling at all.

I also don't use any kind of casters under the legs as they kind of "stick" the legs to the floor shifting the complete pressure from nudging from the leg/floor connection to the leg/cab connection. The legs need to be able to easily slide on the floor, otherwise you are unnecessarily stressing the leg/cab joint.

I've been using felt ones for many years without any damage to the pins. BUT the ones I'm using are made of very thick and rigid felt and most important, they are cut just slightly smaller than the legs are. You can't see them on the machines, you can only see that the metal of the legs seems to be "floating" above the cab at the edges.

"Oversized" plastic or felt protectors are meant to dress up existing damage, not to protect. Actually they will make the damage worse.

If I would get into the protecting business these days I would use the "Stern-Style" (metal or plastic) protectors. The effect is pretty similar to the oldschool felt ones I'm using.

I think if the plastic is flush with the legs edges you might still get wrinkles over time. The point of the "to small" (Stern-style or felt) protectors is to keep the edges of the legs away from the cab. The legs are almost never folded exactly to 90degrees but a tiny bit more - enough for the edges to dig into the cab and decals.