Are you talking about the rubber on the south side of the lane to the Mystery hole? That rubber there is to rebound the ball into the Mystery hole when the ball comes spitting out of the pop-bumper area.

It would actually help a lot if you could take some pictures of the spots you are unsure of, and then I can tell you how it's suppose to be.

Both are correct. The long rubber in the first pic is to give bounce to the ball. If you're lucky and the ball hits it just right, it will send the ball into the mystery hole. There's about a 30% chance of this on my machine when the pop-bumpers spit the ball down there.

The 2nd example I also switched to star posts. The rubber between them (missing in your pic) prevents the ball from hitting the ramp and lights there on the right.

Lastly, I'm sure you can see the nail there in the 2nd pic, and these were last-minute fixes by Data East to correct ball-trapping flaws in the design.

BTW be sure to SAVE those metal posts that you swap out for star posts. They are no longer made and cannot be found anywhere online.

I just secure mine with a short screw that extends enough to thread a nut on the underneath. Here's a pic from a machine that was supposedly factory mint, and it looks like just a simple screw without a nut was used:

R&B Pinball Cab Photos - 012 - Playfield Hat Trick Targets (NOS condition).jpg