Gottlieb's recommendation is the pathetically wimpy 3 1/2°.

is it considered blasphemes to angle EMs at 6.5 like modern games? Wonder how that would feel during play...

I crank mine right up. 3" in back, all the way up.

It's not considered correct for EMs but I've gone to using three inch levelers on the back legs. Two inch levelers cranked all the way up and the game still seems floaty.

Hi Klokkie
many (?) manuals advice as a starting point: The lower line from the player towards the Backbox --- the long side of the cabinet shall be horizontal --- see here http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2253&picno=41023 from left to right I see a horizontal line. This works fine because the manufacturers have an built-in angle --- see it in the picture (also left to right - up in the picture). I have an "bubble level / water level" - I move it upwards onto the lower end of the cabinet - in the ipdb-picture You could see my "water level" on the bottom of the picture.

A general rule - when You kick a ball upwards with the flipperbats: The ball must securely reach the top of the playfield.
Then ther is "personal taste" - the steeper - the less average time a ball is in play before beeing lost. Greetings Rolf

3" back fully extended
2" front cranked in all the way
Then level it

Really though its your game and do what makes it fun to play.
If you don't like the angle you wont play it.
Whats the fun in that?

Hi Klokkie
the manual to my Gottlieb 1971 Orbit says: Adjust leg levelers so that the playboard has desired pitch and is level to the horizontal axis. The same in the "Gottlieb Far Out" Manual.
And the manual to "Gottlieb Surf Champ" has the same and has also: The factory recommended pitch of 3-1/2 degrees is obtained by having all leg adjusters set at the same height.

Therefore Gottlieb recommends the bottom of the cabinet to be horizontal. Greetings Rolf

Hi Hans
You show a good tool in post-9. A thing that can happen is: You buy a "new" EM-Pin - You put it together and it plays --- but the playfield is "much too steep". You toggle-off the pin and adjust the leg levelers to "nice" - You plug-in and want to start a game --- all You have is "Pin is in Tilt".
A good article here http://www.stevechannel.com/tiltmechanism.htm - the last picture shows on the upper part: Ball Roll Tilt. When the Ball rolls "to the right in the picture": The Ball Roll Tilt is active. We then must loosen the screws and adjust this goodie so the ball does NOT roll towards right (then tighten the screws again).
This goodie is from the arcade rooms times --- an operator adjusted the playfield STEEP --- and players tried to cheat - lifting the front of the pin and put some plywood or cardbord under the legs to make the playfield "not so steep". And because of the Ball Roll Tilt: The players could not cheat. Greetings Rolf

Oh man I’m glad I found this thread. I moved my pins around and now I have my old Travel Time flanked by two newer Stern pins and the playfield deck looks flat as a pancake next to the others. I thought something was terribly wrong. I guess not.

However it plays best is the only correct answer.. if you like floaty balls then follow the GOTTLIEB recommendations.
Personally, I jack the back up so the play has some snap to it.. no point being able to make a cup of tea while waiting for the ball to reach the slings

I can add the following... after a mechanical restoration I find my games are more enjoyable set as steep as I can get them. I have found that if the game is not restored it is often the case they are near unplayable this steep because the mechs are girmy and contacts gummed up and nothing has any snap to it.

Not sure where your at on the game but you may find yourself playing with angle depending on what you have/may do to the game in terms of a restoration.

I have my Gottlieb woodrails around 4.2 degrees.

3.5 degrees would be too floaty.

I bet the operators didn't put their games out on location at 3.5 degrees!

Well, I tried screwing the back levelers all the way up, and the front ones all the way down. Still too shallow. Didn't seem to play right.

I saw a trick mentioned in another thread to take the front levelers off, remove the nut and screw the leveler back in without the bottom nut. That may have gotten me a few extra tenths of a degree, but still come up short. So, I decided to try taking the front leg levelers completely off. I ended up at 5.5 degrees, and IMO, the game now plays perfect. BTW, there were no lateral leveling issues with this as it turned out. Even if there was, it would have been pretty easy to shim either leg.

The bottom line seems to be that there is no right or wrong. Just adjust the machine to how you want it to play. I just did a flipper and pop bumper rebuild, so the game was playing way too fast and strong for the weak 3-3.5 degrees it was at.

That's a great idea! And you can put 3 inch levelers on the back.