Thanks for that! Neophyte here with lame nudging skills but I can see how this will help prevent those "tilts out of nowhere"

Another option (and better, imho, if you you have access to the coin door): install the ear plug mod on tilt bobs, which dampens the bob swinging in a matter of 3-5 seconds with no additional nudging required. http://tiltforums.com/t/ear-plug-tilt-hack/2365

gr3yh47 It would also be useful to show that same Whitewater tilt bob with a similar starting swing, with doing nothing other than waiting for one minute, to show the difference between doing nothing and the "pecking" method.
Note that in your video, you show the pecking method after around 45 seconds of pecking, and not 15 seconds. You took the camera off the tilt bob around 1:20, began pecking, and then showed the bob at a standstill at 2:10.

This is a very cool technique. I'd also like to see a video of it with only the 15 seconds of pecking to see if you already get the desired standstill without the additional 30 seconds of continued pecking.

Physically, the action also makes sense. If you're looking down on the tilt bob, then using 3-dimensional coordinates: I think it's the Z-axis motion/jiggling from pecking that makes the X-axis swinging less pronounced and less smooth.

Thanks again for sharing this.

Interesting! Definitely works. Thanks for posting the videos.

On the downside, if this becomes prevalent in tourneys I may have to stop attending them, just for my own sanity.

Thanks. This is perfect, and impressive.
The initial portion of video shows how that era of tilt bob notoriously swings FOREVER.
I noted at the 1:48 mark is when you start pecking, and the bob's essentially at standstill by 2:00. Twelve seconds! Nice!
I'll definitely be using this at future tourneys where they haven't installed ear plugs on the tilt bob.

It begins.

But it would mean 1-2 minutes less waiting per tilt. That’s good for everyone.

And ear plug mod still solves the issue in the best possible way.

I can't speak for everyone, but hearing BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG after every move or before every ball would drive me insane. Any decent sized tourney with savvy payers will sound like a construction site. The requisite 1-2 minute wait is already a blight on tourney flow, but at least it's silent.

If "pecking" becomes prevalent I would expect the IFPA to ban it pretty quickly, due to machine owners not wanting their games beat on, and the distraction to adjacent players.

Agreed. No wait, no noise.

It's also a technique in nudging although how much it does anything the jury is out on, but it is a nice little tap on in/out lane selection.

It's going to do zero damage to the game though.

Irrelevant. What matters is if game owners don't want it done to their machines. Perception is reality. It looks & sounds like machine abuse.

Then they shouldn't take it to tournaments.

anyone have a picture of the ear plug mod? having a hard time visualizing how it goes

Agreed. Let's see where that leaves the money and WPPR-hunting crowd, very few of whom actually supply games themselves.

You honestly think that the light hitting on the metal rail (as shown in the video) does damage to pins? As the Black Knight would say, "No way!!"

In Texas events that I -- and others -- run, many of pins are supplied by those who participate in tourneys.

Doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what the guy whose game is getting pounded thinks. If players do it like the video in post #6, many game owners will not like it. That’s not “light hitting,” it’s a pretty strong pounding/banging.

If everyone does it like the video in post #1, I guess it’s just annoying. No matter how you slice it, would prevent me from competing in a tourney if people were doing that crap on either side of me. Distracting & dorky in a hobby that already exceeds its dork quota.