# Episode 5 - Beginner Series - EM Pinball Terminology

**Source:** EM Pinball Journeys  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2025-01-26  
**Duration:** 21m 25s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** Buzzsprout-16462900

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## Analysis

David Rick Morgan hosts the second episode of the EM Pinball Journeys Beginner Series, providing a comprehensive educational overview of EM pinball terminology and playfield anatomy. The episode covers core concepts including flippers, playfield structure, cabinet components, common features (bumpers, drop targets, lanes), and specialized mechanics like tilting and nudging. This is educational/instructional content intended for newcomers to EM pinball, with a promise of a follow-up episode covering internal mechanical terminology.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Modern pinball machines typically use flippers that are three inches in length, which first appeared in the EM era in the late 1960s and has been the most common flipper length since the early 1970s — _David Rick Morgan, EM Pinball Journeys podcast, technical specification_
- [HIGH] Pinball machines were made with metal rails starting in 1960, which were more durable, easier to maintain, gave a more modern look, and reduced labor costs compared to wood rails — _David Rick Morgan, EM Pinball Journeys podcast, historical manufacturing detail_
- [HIGH] The transition from wood to metal legs started in the 1950s — _David Rick Morgan, EM Pinball Journeys podcast, historical manufacturing detail_
- [HIGH] Five-inch flippers were used on two pinball games in 1970: Chicago Coin's Big Flipper and Cowboy, and players disliked the size — _David Rick Morgan, EM Pinball Journeys podcast, historical gameplay feature_
- [MEDIUM] The match feature in early EM era used a single-digit number (0-9), and changed to two digits once scores became increments of 10 or more — _David Rick Morgan, EM Pinball Journeys podcast, speculation on feature evolution_

### Notable Quotes

> "When I first got into the hobby, I quickly realized there is a lot of pinball lingo. It was nice to eventually comprehend and communicate better with my pinball friends."
> — **David Rick Morgan**, ~0:45
> _Establishes the motivation for the educational episode_

> "Calling it a pinball machine is my preference, and I believe that I'm among the majority on that one."
> — **David Rick Morgan**, ~1:10
> _Addresses common terminology variations in the hobby_

> "Knowing how hard to influence the game by nudging without tilting is an acquired skill that comes with a lot of intentional practice."
> — **David Rick Morgan**, ~42:00
> _Emphasizes the learning curve for intermediate play mechanics_

> "They were Chicago Coin's Big Flipper and Cowboy. The flyer for cowboy called them new Texas size flippers. Players disliked the size and declared the five inch flippers as bigger is not always better."
> — **David Rick Morgan**, ~44:30
> _Historical anecdote about failed experimental flipper design_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| David Rick Morgan | person | Host of EM Pinball Journeys podcast, presenter of educational content on EM pinball terminology and mechanics |
| EM Pinball Journeys | organization | Podcast series focused on electromechanical pinball education and community engagement, hosted by David Rick Morgan |
| Internet Pinball Database | organization | Referenced as a comprehensive glossary resource for pinball terminology covering both EM and solid-state machines |
| Harry Williams | person | Historical pinball manufacturer who used the term 'jet bumpers' for bumper features |
| Bally | company | Historical pinball manufacturer that used term 'thumper bumper' and produced games with zipper flipper features |
| Gottlieb | company | Historical pinball manufacturer that used the term 'pop bumper' for bumper features |
| Chicago Coin | company | Historical pinball manufacturer that produced Big Flipper and Cowboy games with experimental five-inch flippers in 1970 |
| Adirondack Pinball | organization | David Rick Morgan's pinball community social media handle (Facebook/Instagram) |

### Topics

- **Primary:** EM pinball terminology and vocabulary, Pinball machine anatomy and cabinet structure, Common playfield features and mechanisms, Educational content for pinball beginners
- **Secondary:** Historical evolution of pinball hardware (flippers, rails, legs), Player mechanics (tilting, nudging, skill shots)

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Educational, welcoming tone toward beginners. Enthusiastic about pinball hobby and terminology. No criticism or negative sentiment toward machines, manufacturers, or community members. Encouraging and supportive throughout.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** EM Pinball Journeys podcast creating structured educational content for newcomers to EM pinball, with planned multi-part terminology series and invitation for community feedback and suggestions (confidence: high) — Episode promises follow-up content on internal mechanical terminology, invites listener contact and feedback, references community resources like IPDB Glossary

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## Transcript

 This is the EM Journeys Pinball Podcast. Hello and welcome back to the EM Pinball Journeys Podcast. I'm David Morgan. This is the second episode in the Beginner Series. The Beginner Series episodes are for those who are new to EM Pinball or pinball in general. If you aren't new to EM Pinball, you are also welcome, of course. Today I'm going to talk about EM Pinball terminology as well as some pinball anatomy, including commonly found features. Rather than just listing words and definitions, I'll use the terms with context. When I first got into the hobby, I quickly realized there is a lot of pinball lingo. It was nice to eventually comprehend and communicate better with my pinball friends. There are also a lot of words and terms that are interchangeable. I'll cover many of these words as well. Let's get started. If you're listening to this podcast, I feel that I can safely assume that you know what a pinball machine is. They are also often referred to as a pin or a pinball table. You'll rarely hear me call a pinball machine a pinball table. Calling it a pinball machine is my preference, and I believe that I'm among the majority on that one. Pinball machines are primarily controlled by flippers, which are sometimes referred to as flipper bats. Flippers are tapered paddle-like pieces that are used to hit the ball. The flippers allow the player to control the game more than any other feature and help keep the ball in play. Flippers are typically at the bottom of the playfield and are controlled by buttons on the side of the cabinet. In many games, there is an additional flipper or additional flippers farther up on the playfield. These are called upper flippers. The left button controls the flippers on the left side and the right button controls the flippers on the right side. The buttons are called flipper buttons and there is typically one on each side of the cabinet. When the button is pressed, the flipper quickly raises up. When the button is released, the flipper lowers down. Modern pinball machines typically use flippers that are three inches in length, which first appeared in the EM era in the late 1960s. That length has been the most common flipper length since the early 70s. Before that, the flippers were typically two inches in length. The playfield is the sloping surface where the game is played and is also considered to be the whole area of the game where the ball is launched and moves around. The lower playfield refers to the bottom half of the playfield closer to the player. The upper playfield refers to the upper half of the playfield closer to the backbox. The playfield is inside the cabinet, which is the main rectangular-shaped structure of the pinball machine that is sometimes called the body. The cabinet also holds the glass above the playfield, as well as many of the gameplay mechanisms. The glass is typically referred to as playfield glass. It protects the playfield from dust, outside objects, and hands, not to suggest that you cheat. Playfield glass is typically tempered glass, which is more durable and safe in comparison to plate glass. The playfield glass can be removed for access to the playfield. There is a metal or wooden bar that holds the playfield glass in place called the lockdown bar. There's a lever or latches inside the coin door that when moved allows the lockdown bar to be lifted up and removed. The glass can then slide out from the front of the machine. There have been some unique variations of glass removal over the years. I'll talk about them in future episodes. The wooden bar that I referred to is found on pinball machines made until the early 1960s, known as wood rails, because of the wooden side rails along the edges of the playfield. If you hear someone refer to a pinball machine as a wood rail, try to remember that these were made during the 1930s through the very early 1960s. Pinball machines were made with metal rails starting in 1960. The metal rails are more durable and easier to maintain. They gave pinball machines a more modern look and at the same time reduce labor costs. The pieces that hold up the cabinet are called legs. Early in the EM era, the pinball machines had wood legs, and later in the EM era, the legs were made with metal. The transition from wood to metal legs started in the 1950s. At the bottom of the legs are leg levelers, which give the legs a solid footing and can be adjusted to help level the pinball machine, which includes adjusting the height and angle of the playfield. Leg levelers screw into the bottom of the leg and are inexpensive to replace. Legs are mounted to each corner of the cabinet with leg bolts. There are typically two leg bolts on each leg. The backbox is the upright piece that sits at the back of the cabinet, facing the player, and holds the back glass as well as many mechanisms, including the scoring mechanisms, that display the score. The backbox is sometimes also referred to as the head or light box. The back glass is actual glass with art Marc Silk screened onto the back of the glass. In the early EM era scores were part of the artwork on the glass and are backlit As the score changes different areas are backlit showing the numbers for the score In the latter part of the EM era there are small clear areas on the back glass revealing scores using score reels which are behind the back glass The score reels rotate to show the score and are typically white with black colored numbers. Also on the backbox, you'll often find a small window with a number that represents the number of credits available to play. Inside the machine is a rotating wheel with numbers. The wheel adjusts the displayed number up as coins are deposited or replays are awarded. The wheel adjusts down as credits are redeemed toward gameplay. Zero credits means there are no available credits unless the game has been altered and is set on free play. Free play means that no purchase is necessary to play. Underneath the cabinet is the on-off power switch. This is typically a toggle or push-button switch that shuts power off to the entire machine. On the front of the cabinet is the coin door, which is typically a metal door where the player inserts coins to play. The operator also uses this door to access the money that's in the coin box, which is metal or sometimes a plastic bin that is removable to help gather the earnings. Also on the front of the cabinet is where you'll find the start button, which is typically next to the coin door or right on the coin door. The start button is used to redeem a credit and start a game, and in the case of multiplayer games, it is also used to add additional players by pressing the start button again for each additional player. Many older games didn't have a start button. The game started by inserting a coin into the coin slot. Sometimes there's an extra step of pushing a mechanism similar to the ones used on a pool table, which also pushes the coin into the game. The plunger is used to launch the ball into the game. The plunger, also known as a ball shooter, is a spring-loaded rod with a rubber tip that is pulled back by the player and when released the plunger hits the ball, launching it up the shooter lane and onto the main part of the playfield. Before the ball can be launched into the game with the plunger, a game must be started and the ball needs to be resting in the shooter lane. In older games, just under the plunger there's a metal rod that you must press in. This manually engages a mechanism that lifts the ball into the shooter lane. The mechanism is called a ball lifter. In later EM era games, the ball is automatically launched into the shooter lane at the start of a game and after each ball in play. There is typically a kicking mechanism that kicks the ball from the out-hole below the flippers. The ball is kicked from the out-hole to the shooter lane. The out-hole is the ball's resting place at the end of a game and where the ball ends up after it gets by your flippers or is lost down a lane on the sides of the playfield. At the top of the shooter lane is a gate with a metal flapper that the ball passes under and is meant to prevent the ball from re-entry back into the shooter lane. There is a second type of gate used elsewhere that has metal wire that sometimes swings open from one position to another and is used to reroute the ball somewhere else in the playfield or back to the shooter lane. The shooter lane is sometimes called the plunger lane. When the ball enters the upper playfield through the gate, it either hits another gate facing the opposite direction or more typically a round piece of rubber called a rebound rubber and after a few bounces the ball then starts its decline down the playfield. The rebound rubber is often brown and is mounted above the upper left part of the playfield. This section of the playfield where the ball comes through the gate and bounces off the second gate or rebound rubber is called the top arch. A skill shot is a bonus awarded for completing an objective after plunging the ball into the playfield. The apron is the decorative scorecard holder mounted at the bottom of the playfield where you will find the rules of the game as well as the pinball company logo. Typically the instructions are printed on one card and the other card shows what scores win free games or free balls. In many games, the operator can change settings that make the game easier or more challenging. The machines typically came with a set of scorecards that indicate the various rules based on the different settings and can be switched out to match the settings. The easy and difficult settings are inside the pinball machine and are typically labeled liberal or conservative. You might see Bob Libbe for liberal and CONS for conservative. Pop bumpers are one of the most common features of almost every pinball machine since their invention. They're sometimes called jet bumpers or thumper bumpers and even just bumpers. What they were called was typically specific to the manufacturer. Jet bumpers was the name used by Williams. Thumper bumper was the name used by Bally and sometimes Williams. Pop bumpers was the name used by Gottlieb. Pop bumper is still the most common term today. Down close to the playfield, pop bumpers have a ring called a skirt that the ball touches. The skirt, when hit, closes a switch underneath the playfield, which activates a solenoid coil. When the solenoid coil fires, a metal ring is quickly pulled down and kicks the ball away from the pop bumper. Pinball machines typically have two or more pop bumpers. Three seems to be the most common number on modern games, but was also common in the EM era as well Older games had bumpers that were called passive bumpers which simply deflected the ball without kicking the ball away from the bumper like pop bumpers An example of a passive bumper is a mushroom bumper which is a small post with a small disc on top. When the disc is hit, a switch is activated that awards points or activates another game feature. Drop targets are a popular feature. They are rectangular targets that when hit disappear into the playfield. They're typically in a row as a bank of drop targets, but sometimes there's just one drop target or there are several in a game that are spread out. A few games have as many as 20 drop targets total. The targets are reset at the start of a new game or at the start of a new ball, depending on the game title. Stand-up targets are a bit different. They are typically round and are stationary. When hit by the ball, a switch is closed and points are rewarded or another feature of the game is activated. A target bank can refer to drop targets or stand-up targets that are arranged together. Inserts are also known as playfield inserts and they are clear or colored plastic pieces that are embedded in the playfield with a light underneath. The light indicates a status of a feature or an objective such as a target to hit. Another example of the purpose of inserts is to highlight the bonus amount that has been achieved. In the case of a series of bonus inserts. These inserts that show the bonus progress amount is known as a bonus ladder. I don't hear the term bonus ladder very often though. A captive ball is a ball or sometimes several balls that are separate from the ball in play. They're in a separate area but can be activated by being hit by the ball in play or by a kicker mechanism. The captive balls move within their own area, sometimes striking a target or hitting a switch. Lanes are simply a narrow path for a ball. inlanes are lanes that deliver the ball back to the flippers and are sometimes referred to as a return lane. outlanes are lanes that lead the ball going out of play and are typically next to the inlanes, closer to the edge of the play field. When the ball goes out of play, that is known as draining. Another example of draining is when the ball goes between the flippers out of play. Outlanes commonly have a switch that awards bonus or points just before the ball drains. Next is gobble hole. Some pinball machines have one or more gobble holes and they are often in the middle of the playfield. If the ball rolls in, the gobble hole causes the ball in play to end, but often points are also rewarded. A kick-out hole is a small hole where the ball lands on the playfield and at some point will be kicked back into play, sometimes instantly. A kick-out a hole is sometimes also referred to as an eject hole. A lot of terms involve kick or kicking. A kickback is a kicker typically in the out lane and is a reward to prevent a ball from draining by kicking the ball out of the out lane and back into play. Slingshots, also known as kickers, are typically near the flippers, often inside a triangular area that kick the ball toward each other and slightly farther up the playfield. Some kickers are at the bottom of a seemingly dead-end lane on the upper playfield, and a kicker will kick the ball up the lane and back into play. There are different types of posts on the playfield that deflect the ball. There are small metal pegs that typically have a small rubber ring toward the top. There are also plastic posts that are used as a corner of other features of the game. The playfield rubbers of various sizes are typically wrapped around these plastic posts. A playfield rubber kit can be purchased with the exact amount and sizes of rubber pieces needed for most pinball machine titles and includes rubber for the flippers and the plunger tip. Next is a rollover, also known as a rollover switch. One type of rollover uses a wire form sticking up from under the playfield. When the ball rolls over the wire form, a switch is under the playfield activating a score or other ward. There are also rollover buttons which are usually plastic and round and the ball will hit and roll over activating a score or other ward. Another type of rollover is part of a round insert and looks like a star. The star part is pressed down into the insert. These star rollovers don't impact the trajectory of the ball as much as the button rollovers. Roto targets are a fun feature of several EM pinball machines, and they were used in a few early solid state machines as well. Rototarget is a spinning group of targets, and each spin changes which target values are available for the ball to hit. Some rototargets are vertical disc-like targets that protrude up into the playfield, and only the top few targets are visible. One, two, or three of those targets are available to be hit depending on the game title. There were a few games that had a carousel type of roto target, where the entire set of targets is above the playfield and spins horizontally. A spinner is just like it sounds. The ball rolls under the target that spins when struck. A switch is activated repeatedly as the spinner spins and the score reels also move repeatedly, causing the score to increase quickly Special or special when lit is something that you see A special is a reward for achieving an objective and the reward is most commonly a replay Special when lit is just like it sounds There typically an insert that lights up Once you hit that target or switch associated with special when lit, the special is awarded. There are many more playfield features that are unique to a game or a few games. For example, disappearing pop-up bumpers that lower into the playfield are used in solid-state pinball machines, but they were invented and used in the EM era. There are hundreds of innovations that designers used in a game in the EM era. Some were repeated, many were not. An example of a feature that was never used again is five-inch flippers, which were used on two games in 1970 that were basically the same game but with different art. They were Chicago Coin's Big Flipper and Cowboy. The flyer for cowboy called them new Texas size flippers. Players disliked the size and declared the five inch flippers as bigger is not always better. A better flipper feature than the five inch flippers was the zipper flippers used on many bally pinball machines with the two inch flippers. When certain targets were hit, the flippers moved together for a brief period of time, closing the gap between the flippers. The mechanism under the hood that makes the zipper flippers move together is really cool. I have one more flipper feature to mention, and that is the inline flipper, which is very often called scissor flippers. An extra flipper was placed right next to the typical flipper. Some games had two extra flippers for a total of four of the three inch flippers at the bottom of the playfield. If you try to catch the ball with the inner flipper, the ball will drain right between the two flippers like open scissors. So you have to adjust your strategy with these scissor flippers. Tilt or tilting is when you have physically moved the game in some way too hard and is designed to maintain fair play and prevent cheating. The tilt mechanisms cause the ball in play to end. In some older games, you forfeit the rest of the game. The main tilt mechanism is called the tilt bob or tilt pendulum, which swings and if it swings too far in any direction will close the circuit tripping the tilt. Modern games often have a warning before the game tilts. There was no such warning in the EM era. Nudging is moving the pinball machine slightly to help influence the ball's direction while you're playing without tilting the game. Knowing how hard to influence the game by nudging without tilting is an acquired skill that comes with a lot of intentional practice. I nudge a little bit, but I'm not great at it yet. A feature on many EMs is the match light, which shows on the backbox at the end of a game, indicating a chance to win a free game. Theoretically, you have a 1 in 10 chance. The match is a two-digit number, and if it matches the last two digits of your score, a knocker sound will be heard and a replay credit will be awarded. In games earlier in the EM era, the match was a single-digit number using numbers 0 to 9. I assume the match feature changed to two digits once scores became increments of 10 or more, and single-digit scoring was no longer used. I'm going to end here. You might have noticed that I didn't talk much about terms related to the inner workings of an EM, so I'll need to make a part two of this episode covering terms related to the parts that you as a player don't see. If you want to learn more about some of the terms that I talked about, I'll include in the show notes a link to the Internet Pinball Database Glossary. This is a great resource. You'll find that the IPDB Glossary is fairly comprehensive and covers some of those rare features of EM games that I hinted at. Some of the terms that you may hear from other pinball enthusiasts may relate more to solid state or more modern games. Those terms are likely to be found in the Internet Pinball Database Glossary as well. If you know of a better pinball glossary, please let me know. And that concludes today's episode. I want to thank you for joining me today on the EM Pinball Journeys podcast. I hope that you enjoyed this episode. If you want to contact me, I can be reached at empinballjourneyspodcast at gmail.com. You can also follow me on Facebook or Instagram at Adirondack Pinball. And Adirondack is spelled A-D-I-R-O-N-D-A-C-K. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, corrections, or suggestions of future EM pinball topics. I would love to hear about your journey so far. Next time on EM Pinball Journeys Podcast, as I mentioned, I'll be continuing to talk about EM pinball terminology and anatomy. thanks again for listening I'll be back again in two weeks you

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 0b21b61b-f38b-4ac2-b07d-08d8de443ed3*