When I was a young pinball player (teen)- I was born in the late 60s, so that gives you a timeframe- 80s was my decade. Anyway, I used to perform all manner of abuses to pinball machines, lifting, dropping, banging, trying to defeat the coin takers, taking the back off to credit up video games, and many other things that I'm sure I should have spent time behind bars for. Hell if some little rug-rat did that to my games now I'd call the police! That said...

There are things that might be questionable. For instance, I saw a maneuver on Youtube the other day where you bang the machine in a certain way and the ball will pop back out if it drains. I forget the technical name, but I don't see how it could be too effective if the tilt were set correctly. So that I would think would be a bad thing, abuse for sure, If I saw someone hitting my games in this manner I would ask them to stop or leave. Now. "Don't be violent with my games man! Come over here and play this punch bag game..."

How about the Whack-Launch of the pinball by hitting the plunger instead of pulling it back the way it's meant to be used? I've been wondering- Is that against tournament rules? As long as you don't tilt it, it goes? Seems to me though that if a person did that to their game on a regular basis the'd be buying some of outer shooter springs from time to time. However, I recall using that maneuver on Black Knight when you have a ball in the shooter lane AND the extra ball lit, sometimes if you hold the right flipper and whack the plunger, it'll roll up and score the EB. I guess that borders on abuse. Opinions?

Sometimes I wonder about my flipper usage. Honestly, I'm sort of a hermit and don't play pinball with too many other people. One of my only pinball friends Rob, was watching me play the other day and commented on how much, and how I use the flippers. I'm not saying the child-style wildly banging both flippers, but more I'll tend to hold one flipper on at all times, on the side that the ball is coming down on - that way, if the ball comes really fast, I'll have a chance to grab it with the other flipper. I find this technique invaluable on some of the newer games that spit the ball down extremely fast - um, Circus Voltaire? And there are some other games where the upper part of the playfield is shielded, so sometimes you won't kno exactly WHERE the ball will shoot out from. BK2K can be a little like that, but I can't think of a great example at the moment. Playing my Old Chicago with those pop bumpers right by the flippers, it's just part of the game play on that one.

Using the flippers even when there is no ball to hit - is that abuse?

I know several times when I was a teen I heard people say to me, "Hey, leave some for the rest of us!" And to all those times when I let my testosterone get the better of me, I apologize to all the operators (and repair men) who's games I abused, and to the people who had to play the games after me.

-dPinball

I'd be interested in taking a look at the confessional, but my right to self incrimination makes me think just generally anecdotally is good enough- and really, those things I described were the complete extent to my abuse.

Thanks for the feedback regarding personal treatment of games, and how owner/operators, may feel about some of the less conventional methods of play. I guess that's the whole reason behind the tilt.