On Dec 12, 12:17*am, John Kuthe > wrote:

> We discovered we could play this pinball machine forever if when the
> ball counter reached 21 or 23 (it went to 25 before game over) and
> we'd press both flippers and jam on the coin return, it would set the
> counter back to 0! And we'd get to play again! And it would do it over
> and over! All we had to do was stop at 21 or 23 every time, and...
>
> I have NO idea who discovered this or how, but it was the coolest
> thing when we were 12, yano?


I grew up playing pinball and am proud of my skills, which were
honed mainly by having the ability to practice at no cost using the
method I will describe below. But first, in order to know what I'm
talking about you'll need to know what a roll-over is. They are the
metal rods the ball goes over when it goes through a tunnel or
passageway. Every time the ball goes over a rollover, an appropriate
score is racked up on the scoreboard. The metal rods today are
straight. But back in the 60s they were hump-backed.

We would place the front legs of the machine on our feet so the
playing field became almost level, slowing the ball dramatically. The
coin would not be placed in first or the machine would tilt. The
machine is placed gently on one's feet and then the coin inserted.
Then the game starts. When the ball goes over a roll-over it will do
so slowly, so slowly that you can trap it by ever so slightly shaking
the machine back and forth - slightly so as not to tilt it - and the
trapped ball would stay on top of the rolloever and rack up points
galore until the full limit of 26 games. I also had a key to the back
of all Gotleib machines. A friend gave it to me. It was easy to open
the back and turn that wheel by hand to 26 games. But there was
something more creative and pioneer-ish about raising the legs to
one's feet that I enjoyed more.

Practice makes perfect, almost
TJ