From: lfs@mitre.org (Lyman F. Sheats Jr.)
Subject: Re: Winter Break post: the game-playing tips list
Organization: The Mitre Corp., Bedford, MA.
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 15:47:43 GMT

In article <nlk20wq@rpi.edu> sigma@degas.ipl.rpi.edu (Kevin Martin) writes:

	 I don't understand why you would want to hold up the right flipper for a
	 Death Save on a right drain.

Well, you've got two ways to get the ball back when it goes down the right
side.  One way is the bang back.  The other is the grave digger.  The one
to use really depends on the speed of the ball, and whether or not you're
dealing with a center post.

If the ball is moving slowly down the outlane, I'll try for the bang back.
With the right flipper raised, as soon as the ball is below the flipper,
about 1/2 to 1 1/2 inches to the left of the pivot point, I'll strike the
lockdown bar hard with the palm of my right hand (my left hand is crossed
over the machine holding the right flipper button.  The force of the blow
is directly behind the ball.  I also try to hit the lockdown bar on a slight
angle upward, probably ranging from 1 to 10 degrees above the horizontal to
get the ball moving forward.  A downward blow is less effective.  And if the
ball is moving too quickly, the momentum of the ball travelling down at an
angle usually exceeds any momentum you can possibly impart on the ball by
striking the lockdown bar.

If executed properly, the ball should travel back up the playfield.  It
will most likely travel parallel to the upraised flipper, give or take a
few degrees in either direction.  If you hit the lockdown bar too hard or
too early, the ball will most likely ricochet off the left slingshot.  If
you hit the lockdown bar too soft or too late, the ball will most likely
come to rest somewhere on the left flipper (and you've got to get your left
hand, which over on the right side of the machine, back to the left side to
hit the left flipper button).

The ideal bang back from the right side will send the ball up the left
return lane.  I've done it on Addams and The Getaway a few times (but I
try not to beat on my own games too much -- usually only when THING misses
and drains down the right side, or the freaking auto-plunger auto-drains
the ball down the right side -- very rare on my games, indeed).  The ball
will drain down the right side, and I'll bang the ball back, forcing it to
travel back up the playfield, parallel to the upraised right flipper and
across the lowered left flipper, up the left return lane.  When the ball
comes back down, it's a shot up the center ramp for THING FLIPS on Addams
or a shot up the right freeway on The Getaway.

The other method for getting the ball back when it's lost down the right
side is what my friend and I call the "grave digger" (I guess this is what
you call the "death save")?  When the ball is moving too fast for a fair
shot at the bang back, I'll try for the grave digger.  When the ball has
drained down the right side, and it is about to hit that piece of metal
or plastic angled at about 135 degrees to the lockdown bar, directly below
(anywhere from 2-4 inches from) the center drain gap between the flippers,
I'll hit the machine down and forward, fairly hard.  Why also down?  Well,
hitting the machine down in addition to forward will keep the tilt pendulum
from flying all over the place, where a strictly forward force will create
more pendulum movement and potentially cause a tilt.

If your game doesn't have a tilt, by all means just hit the machine forward.
It's the most effective.  The down part just keeps your pendulum from getting
out of line and tilting your bonus out.

I do the bang back on the left side the same way as I do the bang back
on the right side -- with the exception that I use my right hand to hold
the left flipper button and my left hand to hit the lockdown bar.  If you
use your left hand to hit the machine when the ball drains down the left
side and your right hand to hit the machine when the ball drains down the
right side, you can usually position your head directly over the ball to
time the hit just right.  If you use your right hand on the left side and
your left hand on the right side, your head will most likely be too far
away from the ball to judge when to hit the machine -- the timing is much
harder for proper execution as your body is usually not in a central location.

	 Also, if you're playing a game with a center post but little or no Tilt,
	 you can sometimes manage a desperation Death Save by holding up both
	 flippers, pushing the machine forward quickly as the ball hits the lower
	 plate, so that the ball comes up past the post - then nudge the machine to
	 the right (putting the post under the ball), lower the flippers, and nudge
	 again to put the ball back into play off of the center post.  (I managed to
	 almost perfect this technique on a very forgiving Pinbot.)

On Pinbot, you can use the bang back just about every time, despite the
anti-biffing bars.  Forget about any other method if the game has a tilt
installed -- your method is OK without a tilt, but with a tilt, consider
the bang back.

	 Also, if you're going to try Death Saves, please pull the game out from the
	 wall.  If you're against the wall, your chances of a successful Death Save
	 decrease to almost nothing, and you run the risk of doing serious damage to
	 the upright portion of the machine.  Or pulling the plug out of the wall
	 (yes, happened to me once).

Yes.  If you happen to be playing with Dallas, you run the risk of losing
your high score and any credits that come with it due to a slam tilt or a
scrunched power cord when the machine inevitably gets tossed into the wall.

:-)

The grave digger almost ALWAYS works on Data East games (most notably Star
Trek, Hook, Lethal Weapon 3, and Star Wars).  Heck, on these games, you can
almost breathe on the machine when the ball hits this piece of metal (or is
it plastic) and the ball is 3/4 of the way back up the playfield and onto
your flipper.

My experience with bang backs and grave diggers has led me to believe that
both work VERY well on DEP Games, both work MODERATELY well on BLY/WMS games,
and both almost NEVER work on GTB games.  Your mileage may vary.  I'm not a
very strong person.

	 Excellent tips - if the pinball masses would read them, there might be hope
	 for them yet.

At the request of a couple of people, I started working on a book on how
to play pinball some time ago.  I'll be finishing up with final exams this
week, and I may actually have a chance to work on the thing for more than
a couple of hours a week.

I'm not saying I'm the best person to undertake such a task, and I'm not
saying I'm even going to try to publish the thing, but I would like it out
and circulating -- one thing I noticed at Expo this year was that there seem
to be quite a few people interested in improving their level of play.
Describing the techniques here on the net is fine, but you can only take
it so far.  I'd like to do a book that not only describes techniques, but
also illustrates them with pictures.

I'd like to see people improve their level of play.  Possibly it could get
more people interested in starting up leagues.  Perhaps it could get people
interested in participating in tournaments.

--
Lyman F. Sheats Jr.
The MITRE Corporation
202 Burlington Road, Bedford MA 01730
e-mail: lfs@mitre.org