Huge Slide saves in our league tournaments, though not illegal, are highly frowned upon, since we are playing on the host collector’s machines. However, when the host slide saves his own machine during the tournament, do you think I am gentle and curt with my slides from that point on? No. If the host abuses his machines, then I respond in kind with my save efforts. Bang backs and death saves are not allowed, but slide saves, depending on how violent they are NOT, are tolerated.

If I am paying to play, then the only referee is either the bartender or the arcade worker flunky watching me or Bob. And if Bob says its ok, then its OK. I am competing with the owner/op to play as much pinball without having to pay for it. If my slide save loosened up the leg bolts a little bit, and scratched the floor, well the owner got a buck out of me for 3 balls which cost him nothing, maybe he can use a little bit of that dollar and pay some flunky $10 bucks an hour to rerubber, clean, wax, and retighten the leg bolts, oh and throw on a new set of leg levelers on the feet once in a while, they cost all of a couple of bucks. A coat of wax on that floor might help with the scuff marks.

Oh thats just not right....

And I have tilted out enough bonus to beat my opponent before in this scenario... sometimes you are your worst enemy.

100% I have done this trying to do a shake out with ball saver on... and the face palm after realizing it really stings too.

When people watch me play a game they consider that my "manipulation" must be illegal, the way I shake, shimmy, and nudge the f out of them. I just look at them and say, oh, I'm sorry, have you never seen a Yeti playing pinball before? At 6 foot 4" tall, I am a big guy and I tend to move the machines around a bit, but Mr T. Bob is right there hanging on his hook, and if he's not complaining, then why are you? For the record, my own machines are on rubber mats and can't slide at all, this helps to condition me NOT to slide save (as much) when I am playing in our pin league.

Massé shots are illegal I believe in regulation billards... @ltg?

Correct... I was never aware it is a rule enforced "by the table owner". I've never shot professionally, but this rule is pretty pervasive where I have played.

Lets see... do operators hate cheaters? You be the judge...

matchbook covers under the front feet to reduce table angle and slow down the ball... they put in the roller tilt to counter that...

Tilt bob to prevent major movement of the machine...

Slam tilts in the coin door to prevent slamming the coin door so hard it makes the coin switch activate...

Table tilts to prevent picking up the machine and dropping it in order to prevent the same thing...

So you can "assume" that operators wanted some protection against cheats that were trying to play for free... so to include the tilt bob, it was to keep cheats from scoring high enough for replays and specials due to man handling and abusing the machine. The other exploits the coin acceptors lock out (slugs, coin on a string, washers) using validator mechs on coin weight, size and magnets and washer hooks to catch steel slugs and a washers.

If an operator sees a user slide his machine and not tilt, he may want to tighten the bob up a bit, but are we REALLY trying to play for free these days when we slide them? Not as much as trying to get the GC score (as far as modern day pinball is concerned.)

No, he's saying the best players know how to slide save with a single tilt warning. A very delicate skill to say the least. Death saves do the same thing, however this is considered cheating since the ball has already left the playfield and you are putting it back in play, the same with kick saves and bang backs, all are prohibited maneuvers, but the slide save is usually tolerated since the ball has not exited the playfield yet, and you are able to regain control in FRONT of the flippers, totally legal and legit.

I knew a guy named Mike Bennet who was a year older than me in high school who could do a slide save that looked impossible to pull off without tilting but he could do it every time. The machine would literally move a couple of inches and not slowly either. He had a knack of getting the bob swinging then move the machine with the swing, then hit the ball, then swing it back and no tilt, and no warnings when they started putting those in the machines. If Mike had a ball left he would bury you with his save skills.

A slide save is NOT a death save... they are two different animals, and death saves ARE cheating since they put balls that have gone out of play, back into play. A slide save saves the ball BEFORE it goes out of play, and mr tilt bob is the judge if you did it right or wrong. How long have you guys been playing pinball? Serious question.