It's been a while since we've had a good EM thread. I'm excited to see where this goes.

Anything that is avoidable by not missing shots shouldn't be considered a cheap drain. You don't get house balls on most modern games. Pretty much every game in the DMD era allows for a certain level of control from the initial plunge or has a ball saver to safeguard against a very fast drain. If you miss a shot and it drains, that's not cheap, it's just hard. A drain from a sling shouldn't ever be considered cheap, because proper play should have you avoiding the slings at all costs unless the initial plunge directs the ball to the slings.

EMs are notorious for house balls, and so are many early SS games. To me, the house ball is the only real "BS cheap drain" in pinball, even including games that often punish you from made shots (because you can avoid them).

If they aren't, you better call it flawed!