It's your game, you can add more pitch to it if you want. However EM's by design are supposed to play more laterally than up/down like more modern games. There are many EM games that rely on the lucky bounce from a mech or a nudge from the player to complete a sequence and with more pitch you may not get those bounces anymore and it will be tough to complete the goal of the game.

When I replace leg levelers, I always get 3" ones just for flexibility alone. At the end of the day, pitch the game as to how you like it. If you prefer more floaty playstyle, you do you. I personally prefer a faster ball, EM or not. If the next person wants to lower it, there's room for that too. No wrong answer here.

I always buy the 3" levelers even if I don't utilize the whole length.

Last time I tried to buy 3" levelers for an EM Steve Young nearly blew a gasket.

I use 3” in the back, 2” in the front. I once asked Clay Harrell if he had a preferred slope, and he said “All the way up in the back and all the way down in the front.” I assume he meant 2” levelers all around, so I start with the 3” levelers in the back adjusted roughly as high as the top of a 2” leveler and the front levelers only one full turn above bottoming out, and adjust from there for balance (my basement floor is uneven) and slope if need be, but that’s usually close to how I like it. I like EMs to play fast.

I have seen 3 inch extended start to bend. Not sure if it was the leveler itself or the leg bottom itself.

I also have 3” levelers in the back and 2 inch levelers in the front. I Jack the backs up as high as possible and adjust the fronts so that the game is level (pitched basement floor) and so all my games have 6 degree slope.

I think what Steve Young blows a gasket about is when EM people order 3” levelers all the way around, when the 2” ones are all that’s needed in front.

EM manuals on my games say to level the bottom of the cabinet front to back and then adjust for level side to side. The slope is built in. That's how the game was designed to be played for maximum profit and enjoyability.

As mentioned above, there may be some shots that cannot be made if the slope is too far off what it was designed for. An example is Heat Wave. You cannot make this skill shot - hit all five buttons- if the slope is wrong.

Play it how you like it or how it was designed to be played. It’s your call.

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This.

This.

But I also use 3" on the rear legs of my EM's, I like the added speed. But it is something you have to play around with a bit as the slope, ball speed and angles all change how the game plays from the original intent.

I prefer to put 28-1/2" legs on the front and 31" legs on the back. Levelers all the way in and the game is a solid footing instead of on stilts in the rear.

Boom.

I'm about to do this with my Argosy. Gonna put some tall Gottlieb legs in the back for extra pitch.

I recall reading somewhere that Gottlieb recommended the decline be set at 3.5 degrees. Modern games are set at about double that, I believe.

You can use something like this to measure the angle of decline: https://www.amazon.com/Trend-DLB-Digital-Level-Box/dp/B01HF9FJJU/ref=sr_1_5

They did recommend the 3.5% slope. I can’t imagine how slow that would be especially on Gottlieb EM games which for the most part weren’t noted for being fast playing to begin with.

For me 6% feels right but to each his own.

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3" feet also allow more versatility for leveling on an uneven floor like mine.

The bit about having the leg levelers all the same assumes a level building. They haven’t been to my place.

Steve told me EM leg levelers, with minor corrections for uneven surfaces, should be at or near the bottom on all four legs.

Blech! Nobody got time for dat!

After reading this post, I did an experiment with my Gottlieb Atlantis. The slope was set at 4 1/2 degrees. So I lowered the back legs and set it at 3 1/2 degrees. It was a COMPLETELY different game. It was slower, for sure. But it also made the game BETTER. Some examples:

- At 4.5 degrees, the top three rollovers have very little "play" in them. You gotta really nudge it hard to make the ball move into a different lane. Not so at 3.5 degrees. It bounces all around the top three rollovers.

- Same thing with the bagatelle on the right side of the playfield. There's a lot more play and nudging ability at 3.5 degrees versus 4.5 degrees.

- At 4.5 degrees, if the ball exits the bagatelle at the #2 or #8 rollover, 90% of the time it's going SDTM. But at 3.5 degrees, if the ball exits the bagatelle at those spots, it's more than likely gonna make it to the left flipper.

I gotta believe Ed Krynski factored all of this into his design for the playfield and that's why Gottlieb suggested the 3.5 degree pitch. I'm gonna try to same experiment on my other EMs. Curious to see if there are similar effects.