Do you nudge Pinball machines?

[jcalder8]

I always feel like I am cheating whenever I nudge one. I don't know if I'm right or not but I figure that the designers wouldn't make a game that had to be nudged. If a ball is going down it was designed that was so I need to learn not to do whatever it was that lead to it.

[kupomogli]

Nope.

[norkusa]

I always nudge the table, especially when the ball is up by the jets and flipper alleys.

I've never considered it cheating. It's part of the game. Just don't tilt!

[Jorpho]

Indeed, I was under the impression that knowing how to nudge the table is a vital and important part of true pinball playing skill.

I lack pinball playing skill. :(

[InsaneDavid]

It's part of the game. The only time I ever really think of it is when playing tables from the 1950's and so forth at CAX - I do get a little nervous that I'm gonna damage something and take it easy with those.

[p_b]

No. Simply because I'm concentrating on the ball too much, so I never even think about nudging the machine. And when I do, I invariably tilt it...

[SpaceHarrier]

I've given Jurassic Park pinball a nudge or two, back-in-the-day..

[Superman]

Nudging the machine is another weapon in a pinball player's arsenal. Instead of just using the flippers, it adds another dimension of control.

It is not cheating to do so, but if it is taken too far, the penalty is a tilt.

So if you are coordinated enough to do it, use it. It seems many of us here are not lucky enough to be able to (myself included).

[NE146]

I figure that the designers wouldn't make a game that had to be nudged

You're kidding right? *_* Of course they do!

Pinball is a physical game, and if you're just sitting there hitting the flipper buttons and relying on the luck of the drop, you don't really know how to play it well. :p

[Icarus Moonsight]

As Ty Webb would instruct on Zen Pinball, "Be the nudge. naaaaa nananananananana."

Or ask Jack Black he'll shoot you straight up the ramps.

You don't always have to nudge her hard
In fact sometimes it's not right... to do
Sometimes you got to make some love
and give her some flipper too
Sometimes you got to squeeze
Sometimes you got to say please
Sometimes you got to say HEY!
I'm going to nudge you... softly
I'm gonna budge you gently
I'm gonna knock you sweetly
I'm gonna bang you DISCREETLY!
Then you say, "Look I got multiball!"
Hey, wait a minute Twilight Zone
You got a credit stuck in your mech
That's a half price game, no
That's fucking teamwork!!!

So, you wanna play on this?
That's cool with me it's not my
Favorite so I'll just watch you play
Do you nudge with palm or hip?
I tried the hip once and the ball wound up in Zanzibar!
The damn thing went on ahead to tilt me
Even though I nudged very sweetly
Wait for the match it gave a 00 90
Just then... is when I nudged it
haaaaaaaarraaaaaaarrrraaaaaarrraaaaaaaard
haaaaaaarrrrrraaaaaarrrrrrraaaarrraaaaaaarrrraaaaa rd...
(spoken softly) Fucking game is rigged. :grrr:

[Niku-Sama]

only if the ball gets stuck, yes i have that sort of luck

[DeputyMoniker]

No. Simply because I'm concentrating on the ball too much, so I never even think about nudging the machine. And when I do, I invariably tilt it...

Same here. When I lose the ball I think, "I wonder if a good nudge would have saved it..."
I never remember to try.

[MachineGex]

I am more of a slapper, but I also nudge. When a ball is going straight down the middle, I will try to give it the old "one-two slap". I slap the left flipper button and then quickly slap the right flipper button. It works really well and saves a lot of balls from draining straight down the middle.

[MoreEbolaForYou]

I'm by no means a pinball superstar, but I've always been under the impression that it is indeed expected, and part of the game. I used to play almost every day for awhile at a bar/arcade, and all the good players would nudge constantly. Does that thus mean "you don't nudge = you're not good"? probably.

[SegaAges]

I nudge, but I seem to have a bad habit of always tilting

[Jorpho]

only if the ball gets stuck, yes i have that sort of luckOn many "modern" machines, if you wait a while without doing anything, the machine will automatically try to dislodge a stuck ball by flipping a bunch of its mechanisms. (It's kind of hard to describe.)

[FantasiaWHT]

(not a pinball afficianado at all)

If the game has built in rules (about tilting), then by its own definitions it is not cheating to nudge the machine so long as the force isn't sufficient to result in a tilt.

[shopkins]

I do, but the guy who ran our college arcade yelled at me once for doing so, so I don't think everyone thinks it's okay.

I'm no master at it. It really doesn't help me as much as it should. And it's hard for me to find a happy medium, I've done it too hard and got a tilt before. Once I gave the game such a shove that the damn thing slid a few inches sideways.

[Suzaku]

I have yet to master the fine art of nudging, so I generally refrain. Not that I ever remember to try until after the fact. I imagine that nudging would be legal, especially considering the functionality is built into most computer pinball games....

[Lady Jaye]

I'm not a nudger, I prefer to just hit the ball with the flippers. I did get the Terminator table to tilt at the last Arcadia fest, though.

[Pantechnicon]

I said no, meaning at least I'm incapable of doing it competently. They few times I've tried it's either been wholly ineffective or a tilt. There's no middle ground.

I haz no nudj sk1llz :(

[NE146]

Does that thus mean "you don't nudge = you're not good"? probably.

Well.. it means you pretty much have zero control over a ball that's falling down doesn't it? :) The flippers are only half the game. So in other words if it's heading straight down the middle, you'll just sit and watch it helplessly and lose the ball :p Any time you have no influence on how a game is played, you're not really playing, you're just watching it.

The good pinball players are good at controlling the power and aim of their flipper shots, stopping the ball, AND having some influence on where the ball is coming down to them on the playfield and what it hits.

I guess you have to really see someone good to get it... just the right amount of nudge without tilting the machine. Some players even pick up the machine and shift the front a couple of inches left or right depending. LOL And no I'm not good.. I've just been amazed at watching some good players.

[kingpong]

Nudging is definitely part of playing pinball. It is a skill to be learned and practiced, but is lower on the importance ladder than drop catches, passes, slap saves, and the like. As for how much physicality is appropriate in pinball, as long as the legs stay on the ground anything goes, except for bang backs.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Do you nudge pinball machines?


No..

Because I never was really good at Pinball...and I also lack pinball playing skill..

Pinball Machines wasn't something that were in the little candy stores around me when I was a kid....though Arcade machines were..

I really hadn't got into Pinball machines until I was in my 30s..I got the desire to own one ..Got the push and found mine for sale the town over.,,

My Dad having always wanted one I gave the push to buy one and he wound up getting three.,He'd have a whole line of them if he had the room..He really loves pinball

He plays like he knows what he's doing with nudging and bumping of the machines..He says Pinball Machines were a big part of his youth life.

For some reason I'm not used to doing that,I play without nudging,,
I play better when I don't focus on the game or otherwise I just stink at pinball.. BUT I LOVE IT..
I can play my own machine well enough but I'm no master of it.

Wife..No nudge but she always beats my score.

My Son is pretty good though he's too short to nudge the machine.

Father in Law,he nudges and plays like he has played before..

My step Dad,Whew....Forget about it...I can't let him play my machine...He nudges and bumps it so hard that he makes tilt over and over.I never seen my machine do what it did when he played it.
My tilt bob is set right but I tried to re do what he does and I can't.
I'd have to really shake the machine,It's like he's lifting the machine up and making the security switch in the coin door go off.
....He has played lot of pinball but I feel bad for the pinball machines he's played.

[RPG_Fanatic]

only if the ball gets stuck, yes i have that sort of luck

Same here!

[scooterb23]

Nudging is integral to pinball. Especially on the older machines. Some of the early (60s and before) Gottlieb's, they have 6 inches between flippers. You HAVE to whack those tables a little bit if you want to keep a ball in play. You have to learn just how much you can "finesse" the machines, some are touchier than others. But a well-timed nudge can be every bit as important as any flipper hit.

[The 1 2 P]

Nudge? No. Drop kick? Hell yeah.

[thepiratemonk3y]

I always nudge. If you weren't supposed to nudge the tilt mechanism would be more sensitive and penalize you more. Its part of the game IMO.

[Damaramu]

Yup, I nudge. It's that or lose the ball. Hell, I even nudge on games like Pokemon Pinball and Devil Crash.

[Captain Wrong]

Hell, I nudge Robotron. I'm a very physical player and, as has been noted already, nudging is part of playing pinball well.

[Kid Ice]

Hell, I nudge Robotron. I'm a very physical player and, as has been noted already, nudging is part of playing pinball well.

Yeah, that's me too....I nudge pinballs, I lean into turns in racing games, I hold the controller in the air when I'm pushing buttons fast, etc.

[FABombjoy]

Gotta nudge, just gotta. But for me it's gently - my pins are on carpet & don't really slide well.

[jcalder8]

Ok, so for all the nudgers out there, since there seem to be lots, whats the trick? I've tried to nudge but it's never worked.

[Jorpho]

I've never understood it either. I read once something about how you're basically nudging the machine underneath the ball, so in fact the ball will end up moving towards the side where you applied the nudge..? It's rather counterintuitive.

[Captain Wrong]

Ok, so for all the nudgers out there, since there seem to be lots, whats the trick? I've tried to nudge but it's never worked.

Each table reacts a little differently due to a lot of factors. You really have to play a while and get the feel for it. For instance, I know my Lethal Weapon 3 table pretty well because I can play it all the time. But when I have people over, they tend to stumble a while until they get the feel for it.

Basically, you're going to lose some quarters. Don't be afraid to nudge to the point of tilting and then back off a hair. Once you do that a couple of times, you should have an idea of how far you can push a table without pushing too hard.

well, that's how I do it anyway.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I don't nudge. I wink suggestively. Doesn't work. Well, not on the machine.

[Tempest]

Do you nudge pinball machines?
No..

Because I never was really good at Pinball...and I also lack pinball playing skill..

That about sums it up for me. I've watched the 'pros' do it and tried to imitate it, but I never seem to get the desired results. Either I don't nudge it hard enough to make a difference, or I nudge it too late. Pinball playing is a real art form, one I'm just not skilled at.

Tempest

[Tempest]

I've never understood it either. I read once something about how you're basically nudging the machine underneath the ball, so in fact the ball will end up moving towards the side where you applied the nudge..? It's rather counterintuitive.
Well if the table is smooth enough (and I believe they are if well maintained) then the equally smooth ball should stay relatively in place and glide over the table while it is moved. So if what you say is true, the trick to nudging is not to hit it with a lot of force, but rather to move the actual table/machine without moving the ball.

It sort of makes sense to me, but it goes against what I've always done. Maybe that's why it never works for me?

Tempest