Just curious what everyone's opinions are on tilting pinball while playing.  Is this part of the game or would you consider it a foul?  I, myself, enjoy using a tilt to manipulate the ball especially if it is so obviously going straight down.  It does take a skilled technique to tilt without getting shut down by the machine.  

I am not talking about taking the tilt off of the machine and just rocking the mess out of it.  I am talking about tilting being in play until you push it too far and get fouled out.  I love that part of the game.  It is the ultimate loss to have a great multiball destroyed by over tilting.  

What do you think?  

I think you are referring to a "nudge".  

A "tilt" normally ends the ball for that player (but game play continues).  A "slam" ends the game completely for all players, and triggers a silent alarm that calls out the national guard.

Pinball was designed to be "Nudged" or bumped etc. There are games, like Dr. Dude off the top of my head, that actually award extra tilt warnings, This is evidence to me that it is definitely allowed and encouraged. You can also often adjust the number of tilt warnings on some games.

Dave

You can also adjust the plumb bob to allow the players a rougher nudge (or make them adhere to a gentler nudge), so it is definitely part of the game, no question. In fact the texts on the subject of "Winning at Pinball" go to great lengths to describe how to do it effectively.  I have learned that nudging the machine upwards is most effective when the ball is striking at an angle that you know will otherwise put it near an outlane or dangere zone.

Good players learn a double strike technique where they slap the machien from the side as they are hitting the flipper buttons in order to give the flipper just that bit of reach to nudge the ball away from the out hole.

It seems pretty useless to nudge the machien while the ball is in free roll on the playfield as there is little friction and therefore the course of the ball is not changed much if at all (but someone correct me if I am wrong here).

I know it's part of the game and is designed for limited use... but I prefer not to use the tool.....  I just hate even somewhat abusing my investments....

plus I personally think it lessons the game experience (but that's just me and my opinion - I'm sure everyone has a different one on this topic.).

I'm a fatalist, so I hardly ever bother nudging. Then again, it could just be because I suck at it.

I really need to learn how to "nudge" the machines, as it would really improve my game hehe, oh well, someday i'll learn how

Eric

Quoted from TGlover

I just hate even somewhat abusing my investments....

Nice to see your true colors


it's part of the game. it's an art form

The best players in the world all nudge..  That's gotta tell you something about it...  You can't be REALLY good without nudging.

Mike

I know it's important to nudge and I do on my own machine, but when I play others, I always hold back, subconsciously afraid I'll get kicked out I guess .

Quoted from The Loafer

... but when I play others, I always hold back, subconsciously afraid I'll get kicked out I guess .

I don't understand, nudging doesn't usually require a great amount of force??  Basically what you do is time a push on the machine (that doesn't move the machine off its legs!) so that it corresponds with the exact time the ball is hitting a rubber, bumper, slingshot, etc.  By doing so you help direct the bounce further up onto the playfield, hopefully away from the outholes.

Bringing a ball back out of an outhole from the outlanes is an entirely different beast.  Slapping the flippers from the side sounds ominous, but it's all sound.

Eventually nudging does one thing and that is it causes the legs to loosen and bite into the cabinet (so does overtightening the legs), and this is where cabinet protectors and foam comes into play.

I think unless you are playing rough or at someone's place who doesn't understand nudging, everyone actually loves to see another player skirt the edge of a Tilt (or get one)!

Shaking/Nudging
     

Shaking and Nudging are two methods of controlling the ball which are very important for giving a player that extra edge.  Understanding these concepts will enable you to get better scores on a tournament machine and unbelievable scores on a game with a forgiving tilt.

The basic concept is that you want to move the machine to change the direction of the ball, and you must move the machine in the opposite direction as you want the ball to move.  The ball is relatively frictionless, therefore you must move the machine.  The only times that you move the machine in the same direction as you want the ball to go is when the ball is stuck against something or when you want to send the ball through the Narrow Escape gate in Indiana Jones.  (To get a Narrow Escape you want to hit the ball with the pin on the right side of the outlane, in order to knock the ball through the gate, or have it bounce off the pin through the gate.)

In order to make the ball choose the inlane over the outlane you want to move the machine toward the outlane so that the pin between the inlane and outlane moves toward the outlane and the ball hits the pin on the inlane side and heads down the inlane.  This is nudging, and should be performed as quickly and lightly as possible so to avoid warnings and tilt.  You can also nudge the machine in the opposite direction in which a ball is heading down the playfield.  You do not want to work against the speed and the angle, rather if the ball is heading diagonally left, down the playfield toward the center drain, nudge the cabinet right so that the ball will go more left and you will be able to perform a slap save, hitting the left flipper and then the right in rapid-fire succession.

Shaking is when a player continuously shakes the cabinet up and down when the ball is in the bumpers in order to make the ball hit the bumpers more often.  Shaking is something that should probably not be performed during a tournament unless Super Jets are active because you don't want to have tilt warnings just for more bumpers hits, you want to save them for saving the ball from the outlanes or the center drain.