#1 is bounce passing at the right time, IMHO. This goes hand in hand with “ball control”. A bounce pass executed at the right time will suck the energy out of the ball and let you cradle up. A bounce pass at the wrong time will send the ball to the opposite slingshot or down the drain. #2 is drop-catching, which I learned from my first “modern” pin, Space Station.

Some of the guys that beat me consistently drink Monster Energy while I’m drinking Dale’s Pale Ale. I think there is something to that.

Someone should make cards like this for the top 50 players. But with things like Multiball, Accuracy, Flipper Skills, etc.

4th-Edition-Character-Card (resized).jpg

Back when my father in law used to come over, he'd play my games and shake the shit out of them. That's how I learned to nudge.

Just watch the movie “Tilt!” and do the same things Charles Durning does, especially that little dance.

Something I haven’t seen mentioned is recovery skills. I’d put those in 3 categories:

- recovering a ball that’s headed to drainland
- recovering a game after a really bad ball
- recovering a tournament after a really bad game

The first is physical, but the other 2 are 100% mental. I actually find those to be harder. When someone has 2 house balls and rallies to win on ball 3, that’s some Jedi-level stuff right there. Very rare for me.

LOTR_breath was the first guy I saw cradling multiple balls on a flipper during a multiball. I had all of these thoughts within about a second:

1. Wait, is that legal?
2. That’s kinda like juggling.
3. Jugglers are kinda nerdy. Is this nerdy?
4. No. This is cool. I need to learn this.