So, funny story.

Somehow the second driver board blew out (I think because the diodes on the upper left flipper coil separated and took out the driver transistors), so I got a new one and replaced it. Thank heaven it's all standard OTS parts, right?

Anyway, when I got it back together, we twiddled a couple parameters, used it for league night, then put them back at the end. Suddenly everybody was asking what I changed, because the game was a lot easier and more fun all of a sudden.

They noted that the ball gates were much more forgiving and it was easier to get the ball in the upper part. I assumed I just diddled something in the configuration and forgot to put it back, but since people were happy about it, I shrugged and let it go.

Well today it started bugging me so I went and looked... both coils were still soldered on, the driver board's fuse was fine... but on close inspection, I noticed that the pink power connector wasn't actually connected properly. No wonder the gates were more forgiving... they were never being energized!

I put the connector back on correctly and of course the ball gates work again.

Where I'm going with this is that I got a flood of people telling me the game was a lot more fun when the gates weren't functioning. I mean a /lot/ of people. TNA was back on peoples' lists.

Maybe consider adding some kind of mode that makes the gates more forgiving and more frequently open?

OK, well the bottom line is that not connecting it properly made the gates misfire… Whether that means they were energized and kept them selves closed or otherwise, a lot of my patrons-- Both hardcore pinheads and regular people alike-- remarked that the game was suddenly a lot more fun.