# Episode 17 - Extra Button Gimmicks

**Source:** Wedgehead Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-02-12  
**Duration:** 40m 44s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** Buzzsprout-14409132

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## Analysis

Wedgehead Pinball Podcast discusses extra button gimmicks in pinball machines with guest Jess DiNardo, a pinball technician who recently joined Barrels of Fun. The hosts and guest explore action buttons, magna saves, ball kickers, diverters, shifter mechanisms, and flex saves, emphasizing that the best gimmicks give players manual control and maintain game flow rather than interrupting play.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Every modern Stern game now comes standard with an action button on the lockdown bar — _Alan states this is standard practice, with Gary Stern justifying it as alternative start button and ease-of-use feature for casual players_
- [HIGH] Jess DiNardo moved to Houston to work in quality control and assembly at Barrels of Fun after meeting them at Expo — _Jess describes moving to Houston 'secretly' less than a month after meeting Barrels of Fun staff at Expo_
- [HIGH] The original Black Knight magna save button placement (side of cabinet) makes more intuitive sense than the lockdown bar placement on Black Knight Rage — _Jess directly compares the two designs and notes the original side-button approach feels more natural_
- [MEDIUM] Getaway High Speed's shifter knob is arguably the best interactive alternate launch mechanism — _Alex and Jess discuss it as superior to Indiana Jones' pistol grip and other themed plungers because it actually integrates with gameplay_
- [HIGH] Action buttons on Star Wars interrupt game flow by forcing players to pause play and navigate menus to move multipliers — _Jess criticizes this extensively, calling it 'killing' flow and comparing it to 'navigating a menu' in a pinball game_

### Notable Quotes

> "I play pinball to have a nice time and to have fun. And if I'm sitting there like, hold on, guys, I need to stop hitting these shots until I move the arrows over here... I put instead of numbers, but like smiley faces because I've had a nice time."
> — **Jess DiNardo**, ~10:00
> _Articulates philosophy that gimmicks should enhance fun, not interrupt flow; critiques Star Wars action button design_

> "They can't [find the start button]. Like I'm saying, we run an arcade and they can't. So he's not wrong."
> — **Alan**, ~14:30
> _Defends Stern's action button design choice from operator experience perspective_

> "It makes it dangerous. Like, I do like it because it makes you... pull your hand off and try to slap the cabinet. Like, yeah. You're choosing whether or not you're trying to nudge it out of there or whether you're going to slap the cat."
> — **Alex the Waterboy**, ~22:00
> _Articulates why lockdown bar magna saves create interesting risk/reward gameplay moments_

> "I tied someone in one of my groups at enberg one year on nip it like exact same score... and we tied again"
> — **Jess DiNardo**, ~35:45
> _Anecdote demonstrating the game's consistency and likelihood of exact score ties_

> "The first time I played it and managed to hit like a combo of where you're changing the diverters and feeding the other ramps and just keep going it's like the best feeling in pinball"
> — **Alex the Waterboy**, ~54:00
> _Describes Shadow's diverter gimmick as enabling player agency and flow, a highlight experience_

> "I love when a game makes draining your ball into something that's not frustrating... somehow it takes the sting away"
> — **Alan**, ~75:00
> _Synthesizes philosophy that good gimmicks transform frustrating moments into entertaining ones_

> "Not everyone likes joy, Alan."
> — **Jess DiNardo**, ~40:30
> _Witty dismissal of Alan's criticism of World Cup Soccer; suggests different player preferences_

> "I'm kind of a Steve Ritchie guy. So it's like, I kind of like that. That's why doggy soccer is not my thing. I like, I like Rudy. I like the Black Knight. Like, tell me I suck. It's going to motivate me to play better."
> — **Alan**, ~39:00
> _Reveals personal design taste preference: Alan prefers competitive/critical callouts over affirmative gameplay_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Jess DiNardo | person | Pinball technician, co-host of The Pinball Podcast, owner of Soft Blunch apparel company, recently hired by Barrels of Fun for quality control and assembly in Houston |
| Alan | person | Host of Wedgehead Pinball Podcast, co-owner of Portland Pinball Bar Wedgehead |
| Alex the Waterboy | person | Co-host of Wedgehead Pinball Podcast, participates from basement studio |
| Barrels of Fun | company | Pinball manufacturer in Houston; recently hired Jess DiNardo; known for Labyrinth machine; referenced as doing 'very very right' by hosts |
| Wedgehead | organization | Portland Pinball Bar owned by Alan; hosts games including Nip It (EM with gator gimmick) and various modern machines |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major manufacturer implementing action buttons on all current games; discussed extensively regarding Star Wars and Black Knight Rage |
| Star Wars Pinball | game | Recent Stern release with action button criticized for interrupting flow; features TIE fighter mechanic and multiplier menu navigation |
| Black Knight Rage | game | Recent Stern trilogy completion with lockdown bar magna save button instead of original side cabinet button |
| Black Knight 2000 | game | Classic referenced for side-cabinet button magna save design |
| Rick and Morty Pinball | game | Features button-hold magna save mechanic (vs. timed press) allowing players to swing balls; praised for interactivity |
| Jungle Lord | game | Features button-hold magna save mechanic; compared favorably to timed press alternatives |
| World Cup Soccer / Doggy Soccer | game | Classic game with above-left-flipper magna save used for shot influence; well-regarded but Alan dislikes it; praised for affirmative gameplay and novice-friendly design |
| Medusa | game | Features ball kicker gimmick with side cabinet button to punch ball back up from center drain |
| Fireball 2 | game | Similar to Medusa with 'Little Demon' ball kicker mechanic below right flipper |
| Nip It | game | Early EM with gator gimmick on side cabinet; jaw opens/closes to grab or bump ball; currently on Wedgehead floor; Jess tied twice on exact same score at tournament |
| Getaway High Speed II | game | Features shifter knob launch mechanism integrated with gameplay RPM mechanic; praised as best interactive alternate launch mechanism |
| Indiana Jones | game | Referenced for pistol grip launch mechanism; compared unfavorably to Getaway shifter for interactivity |
| Tales from the Crypt | game | Features door handle launch mechanic and functional button for knocking down stormtroopers on-screen |
| The Shadow | game | Features diverters on each ramp controlled by side cabinet buttons; players manage diverter angles to collect rings; praised for maintaining game flow and player control |
| Gottley Volcano | game | Rare game with left outlane kickback button that requires manual activation (not automatic); enables air ball opportunities |
| Dungeons and Dragons Pinball | game | Features 'magic save' button gimmick that switches inlane/outlane positions; praised for player control |
| Hardbody | game | Early 1980s Bally/Midway split-level game with flex saves (hidden diverters in drain gap); hosts consider this possibly the best gimmick in pinball |
| The Pinball Podcast | organization | Long-running pinball podcast co-hosted by Jess DiNardo and Jeff; releases episodes intermittently; covers games, rumors, and shows |
| Portland Bells and Chimes | organization | Community pinball meetup/tournament group co-founded by Jess; emphasis on casual play and teaching vs. competitive play |
| Soft Blunch | company | Pinball apparel company owned by Jess DiNardo |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Extra button gimmicks in pinball (action buttons, magna saves, ball kickers, diverters, shifters), Game flow and player agency: when gimmicks enhance vs. interrupt gameplay, Stern Pinball's action button design philosophy and operator adoption, Barrels of Fun company and quality control practices
- **Secondary:** Classic and modern pinball game design comparison, Player experience in tournament vs. casual contexts, Pinball podcast community and content creation
- **Mentioned:** Operator vs. collector perspectives on game design

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.78) — Hosts express genuine enthusiasm for well-designed gimmicks and pinball craftsmanship. Jess's career move is celebrated. Critical commentary (e.g., Star Wars action button, Alan's World Cup Soccer criticism) is delivered constructively. Overall tone is warm, collegial, and celebratory of pinball design nuance.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Barrels of Fun appears to be ramping production and prioritizing quality control infrastructure by hiring experienced pinball technicians (confidence: high) — Hiring Jess (experienced tech) for QC/assembly; Alan notes 'Barrels of Fun is doing very very right'; emphasis on having personal tech support and company standing behind product
- **[community_signal]** Wedgehead pinball bar actively curates diverse machine selection and hosts competitive/casual play events; strong local community engagement (confidence: medium) — Alan runs Portland Pinball Bar; Jess notes Wedgehead is 'one of my absolute favorite places to play' with 'variety of games'; references to Bells and Chimes community events
- **[sentiment_shift]** Philosophical divide between players: those who prioritize 'fun gauge' and affirmative gameplay (Jess's approach) vs. those preferring competitive/critical feedback (Alan's Steve Ritchie preference) (confidence: medium) — Alan admits 'I like Rudy. I like the Black Knight. Like, tell me I suck. It's going to motivate me to play better'; Jess prefers World Cup Soccer's affirming design; explicit acknowledgment of different player types
- **[competitive_signal]** Star Wars action button discourages tournament play due to flow interruption; players unable to maintain competitive mindset when forced to navigate menus (confidence: medium) — Jess: 'In a tournament, I just can't do it because I play pinball to have a nice time and to have fun'; states stopping play mid-flow is incompatible with tournament strategy
- **[design_philosophy]** Stern's Star Wars Pinball action button implementation criticized for interrupting game flow by forcing players to pause play and navigate multiplier menus mid-game (confidence: high) — Jess: 'having to pause your play in a game that has flow to stop hit the button move your multipliers around then hit the button again... just kills it for me' and 'you're stopping playing actual pinball to navigate a menu essentially'
- **[design_philosophy]** Community consensus emerging that best gimmicks maintain game flow and give players manual control/agency rather than forcing menu navigation or pauses (confidence: high) — Repeated theme across all three hosts: appreciation for interactive gimmicks (getaway shifter, shadow diverters, hardbody flex saves) vs. criticism of flow-interrupting designs (Star Wars action button)
- **[design_philosophy]** Hardbody's flex saves and Getaway's shifter knob represent 'gold standard' for gimmick implementation: thematic integration, interactive control, and enhanced player agency without flow interruption (confidence: high) — Hosts identify these as favorites; hardbody's flex saves called 'really funny' and 'thematic'; getaway shifter praised as 'best interactive alternate launch mechanism'; both allow manual error/timing elements
- **[market_signal]** Nostalgia and appreciation for EM-era gimmick design (Nip It, Hardbody, Gotley Volcano) remains strong in modern player community (confidence: medium) — Detailed discussion and praise of 1980s-era flex saves, ball kickers, and gator gimmicks; hosts express desire for 'episode about Hardbody' due to overall quality
- **[personnel_signal]** Jess DiNardo hired by Barrels of Fun for quality control and assembly role after meeting company at Expo; relocated from Florida to Houston (confidence: high) — Jess states: 'I meet the wonderful humans behind Barrels of Fun... and less than a month later I have moved to Houston secretly and I've been doing quality control and I love it to pieces'
- **[product_strategy]** Magna save button placement (lockdown bar vs. side cabinet) creates different gameplay dynamics; lockdown bar creates higher-stakes, more athletic play (slapping cabinet) vs. side button's more intuitive positioning (confidence: high) — Alex: 'I like it [on the action bar] because it makes it dangerous... forces you to slap the cabinet'; Jess notes original side button on Black Knight 'makes intuitive sense' but new lockdown placement 'makes you choose whether or not you're trying to nudge or slap'
- **[technology_signal]** Modern Stern action button becoming ubiquitous standard across all games; originally justified as casual-player accessibility feature but now integrated into core gameplay on most releases (confidence: high) — Alan: 'every game has to have an action button... you can't release a game without having an action button'; Gary Stern's justification for casual players; now standard on Star Wars, Black Knight Rage, etc.

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## Transcript

 Hello Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Wedgehead Pinball Podcast. I am Alan, your host and co-owner of the Portland Pinball Bar Wedgehead. I am joined today by my co-host, Alex the Waterboy, in his basement studio. How you doing, Alex? I'm doing great, and we're also joined today by our friend Jess DiNardo down in Houston, Texas. Hey, guys. Hey, Jess. It's good to have you on the podcast. We're excited. Howdy, y'all. Yeah, happy to be here. Good. But, well, I just want to say you're a friend of the show, a founding member of the Portland Bells and Chimes, an OG pinball podcaster and co-host of the longest-running pinball podcast called The Pinball Podcast, owner of a pinball apparel company, Soft Blunch, and for the last couple of years you've been a freelance pinball tech in Central Florida, fixing and maintaining games for arcade owners. Recently, you got offered a very cool job to work at a new pinball company, Barrels of Fun, in the quality control and assembly of the new games. Can you tell us anything about one of the many things that you do? Just, okay, one thing about one of the things. Got it. Yeah, no, it's been crazy few years since I left Portland, and I miss it and you guys terribly. Wedgehead is one of my absolute favorite places to play and ball that I've ever been to, and you guys are lovely humans, and the variety of games you have, forget it. Just, it's wonderful. Yeah, then I found myself in Florida somehow and had to make the best of it by doing teching for some arcade chains and for some house calls, restorations. That was a lot. It was like nonstop every single day. So what do I do from there? I meet the wonderful humans behind Barrels of Fun and the new Labyrinth Pinball Machine at Expo this year. and less than a month later I have moved to Houston secretly and I've been doing quality control and I love it to pieces that's awesome it's a it's a great story and it's just nice to hear something positive like that once where you know things are going uphill and we're to Texas so yeah I don't know you know I mean Texas is cool I don't know my wife's Casey's from Texas so I've been to Texas a number of times there's tons of good stuff in Texas and there's more pinball manufacturers now. Yeah, there's a cool pinball manufacturer. There's 100% more pinball manufacturers. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure that we plugged all your different things. If you're ever interested, you and your co-host, Jeff, host a pinball podcast called The Pinball Podcast. Your episode count is less than it used to be, but I hope you'll make more. I say pleadingly, and for the listeners at home, I will have a conversation with Jeff. But it's a cool show, and you and your co-hosts talk a lot about, well, really everything that y'all do. You cover a lot of the new games and rumors and go into shows and all that kind of stuff. Stuff that we don't really talk about on this podcast because I think other people already do it. Yep. And they do it well. People do it better than us. Yeah, so we don't usually talk about that stuff. But for anyone that's listening, check out Jessica's show. It's cool. Thanks. Thanks. We release episodes intermittently. Yeah. But, you know, get it on, subscribe to it in your favorite podcast app and check her out. Yeah. And every once in a while you'll get a surprise ding that we actually did a show. So we try not to go too much into River stuff just because, number one, I don't generally tend to care about them. Like, I want to see a pinball machine and actually get to play it before I talk about it. Yeah. Which I know is odd in this new landscape of pinball life that we're in. But yeah, I think we're going to talk about a topic for our episode to talk with you today because we're not going to go too deep into your barrels of fun. We don't want to put you on the spot. We don't want to get you in any trouble. Thank you. Yes, but we do think it's very cool that you're working there and you're working hard on getting people their labyrinth and people seem to love the game. So I think you guys are doing a great job down there. Thank you. I can't wait for you to play it. Oh, me too. We're excited. I know how much you love new boutique. here's the thing is there's no dislike for boutique companies there is a concern of previous experiences i that leave us a little bit gun shy when we're buying games and and all that kind of stuff i will say alan immediately was more interested in labyrinth due to there being a designer he knows behind it and yeah there's a lot of things that barrels of fun is doing very very right so when you said you went over there it was different too like yeah that's a big that's a big thing like i i know you know how to work on games so if you're going to be on the assembly line and you're going to be doing quality control it's like i know you know how to tech games so yeah that's the thing is like you just want a game that runs and you want a game that's serviceable when it doesn't run and you want a company that stands behind their product that's all you want yeah 100 and you have uh personal tech assistance anytime you need yeah that's why we're doing this we need that relationship right they have to kick me out of the building every day. I just love being there so much. That's cool. That's very cool. I'm a huge dork. Okay. We all are. That's what, and everyone listened to the podcast. I mean, you gotta be a huge pinball dork to listen to a pinball podcast. No, it's a cool thing to do. It's super cool. Y'all are my people. It's good. But yeah, we're going to get into today's topic. You specifically wanted to talk about, I try to get every guest to choose the topic that interests them and i think we'd we'd settled on pinball gimmicks and specifically extra button pinball gimmicks yes how would you describe that alex how would you describe pinball gimmicks we're talking about extra buttons pinball machine you know it's got a start button it's got a left flipper button it's got a right flipper button we're going to talk about anything that's more than that pretty much on the outside of the game right yeah and you have the goofy bullshit going on that when you're new to the hobby you walk up and you go what the fuck is this rgb light flashing at me in the middle of the game for. I think this is a great topic. I think the extra buttons are always funny. And when I was a kid, I would get so excited if I found a game that had something like that on it. Because what does this do? And so, yeah, I'm excited for this one. I think we're going to start with the first one. And this is what Jess really wanted to talk about. So I'm going to let her run with it. Jess, talk to us about action buttons. Okay. I don't know when exactly this happened, but every game has to have an action button. No, it's like, you can't release a game without having an action button. And it's fine when it's actually functional and interesting, but when it's just there because all of the lockdown bars are cut to have action buttons, I don't know, sometimes it feels really forced. There are games that have really great uses for them. There are games that have terrible uses, and then there are ones that are kind of hybrids. So, like, Stern Star Wars is a great example. I love it for the TIE fighters that's great like it alerts you you have to do a thing you have to choose risk reward if you're gonna go for ball control or if you're gonna try and get to that multiball using it but having to pause your play in a game that has flow to stop hit the button move your multipliers around then hit the button again and lock it back in just kills it for me Oh, yeah. It's horrible. I could never, like in a tournament, I just can't do it because I play pinball to have a nice time and to have fun. And if I'm sitting there like, hold on, guys, I need to stop hitting these shots until I move the arrows over here to make sure that this is way more valuable. I mean, scores to me, I don't care. I put instead of numbers, but like smiley faces because I've had a nice time. Yeah, how much fun you had. Yeah. Yeah, have a fun gauge instead of a score gauge. But yeah. And then the action button on Star Wars, you're stopping playing actual pinball to navigate a menu essentially and move things where you want to in the middle of a game. And it's miserable. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Some people love it. I will say that at least does something for your game. At least it has a distinct purpose. Some games don't feel like they have a distinct purpose. Like, I don't. Yeah, I don't know. So what we're talking about, in case we weren't clear, an action button is everything Stern puts on the center lockdown bar. So between your two hands, that metal bar in between that holds the glass over the play field, there's a big glowing button now. And so they put it on all the games and they usually try to incorporate it into a gameplay. What an action button will do is different from game to game. But I know that they put it on there on every game now. And I do know that I have heard Gary Stern say that it's because it'll also if you have credits in there, it'll start a game. If you just press that, you don't have to press the start button on the front of the machine on your settings. Sure. You can turn it off as a operator. However, it comes standard as it's on. And he says that and pinheads kind of roll their eyes and they're like, you know, like you don't need that. Or what people can't figure out how to hit a flashing start button on the front of the game. And I was like, hey, they can't. Like I'm saying, we run an arcade and they can't. So he's not wrong. Eventually someone will fumble around and find it, but they're not putting it only there for that. But I definitely can see why there is some value to them. But not every game needs one. I want to get into the next topic, though, which is because this is a little bit of a hybrid if we go look at one game. But we're going to talk about Magna Saves. So Magna Saves started with Black Knight wasn Black Knight the first game with a Magnus save And then a couple other games like Grand Lizard and stuff And they had a game button that was an extra button on the side of the cabinet near your flipper that you can press and try to save There was a magnet above the right out lane. And if it was going down there, you could press it at the right time and save your ball. It would grab it and hold it and then drop it down the in lane safely. They made a new game. stern made the trilogy complete and made black knight sort of rage but instead of having the extra button on the outside of the cabinet they put it on the lockdown bar so it's so it's an action button push the button on the right hand side to pull the butt the ball that's on the right hand side back in it totally makes sense yes if you are hitting a center button to try and save a right lace drain it just your brain is like nope and it's very rarely you're like do you I don't know. Very rarely do I ever use it, I feel like. I will say the original button on the side of the cabinet makes intuitive sense. Yep. And it's great on the original Black Knight and Black Knight 2000. But I will say that I like it on the action bar because it makes it dangerous. Like, I do like it because it makes you, I like that it forces you to fucking, like, you know, like, pull your hand off and try to slap the cabinet. Like, yeah. Like, because then you're choosing, yeah, you're choosing whether or not you're trying to nudge it out of there or whether you're going to slap the cat like and and i think that leads to really funny moments that's true but i mean it's always dangerous though like if you're playing grand lizard you know when it grabs it that that ball is still moving back and forth in like this little circle and when you release that button is so important because you could just you know throw your ball down the outline yes with the magnet yeah or you can throw it back in What I was going to say is I don't like the Black Knight method of Magna Saves where it holds the magnet no matter you just tap the button once and it holds the magnet for five full seconds or whatever to try to get the ball to come to a complete stop. Whereas like Jungle Lord or Rick and Morty, something like that, the magnet's only active while you press the button. And that's way more fun to me because you can kind of swing the ball around. Yeah. Yeah. Brand Lizard. Yeah. That is a fun moment because it creates like a little dance of you're like, am I going to help myself or am I going to hurt myself? Tapping it and like, yeah. I love that on Rick and Morty. And I know that was brought from older games. It's just the one I happen to have sitting here. Yeah. Can we talk about the Magna Save on Doggy Soccer, though? Because that's a whole different ball game. Oh, yeah. Doggy Soccer, a.k.a. World Cup Soccer. So that's genuinely like you're pulling. So it's not by the inlanes, outlanes. It's above your left flipper. So it's really difficult to actually save a ball from a dream with that. but when you're playing you can influence your shots using that magnet look i've only ever tried i i hate that game so i don't play it much but oh my god yeah i thought we would be friends but now i am not so sure i'll give it another go because now i want to play with the magnet because it is right by the like left flipper i love it when you can save something with it because it makes you feel like god actually doing something with that useless magnet yeah i think the first time i saw But I was like, how did you make that shot? And I watched it and I was like, okay, he's using the magnet to actually influence how the ball is going. Not from a dream perspective, but from a shot perspective. And it was so cool. And also, how can you not? David Bowie is the goalie. How do you not? I will say, I'll admit this, Jessica. I'm not a big fan of dog soccer either. But it is a well-regarded game. So what do I know? That's fine. Not everyone likes joy, Alan. I think it just plays so long and I hate the spinning soccer ball that doesn't influence the ball. It takes up so much room on the play field to not really spin the ball. If you play one that's all cleaned up, the soccer ball influences the ball. It's like when they're old and they're coated in grit, then it just touches it, doesn't do anything. But if you play one, they're too slick, dude. It's spinning like maybe they don't influence the ball as much as a spinning disc. And it's just like, I don't know, man. It's an OK game. It's well loved. I don't personally. It's worth it just for the goal call outs. The goalie shots are fun. It's got a cool skill shot plunge thing where you kind of like it kind of flip cups in between jerry shots. Yeah. And the ramps are swirly and swoopy and lots of magnets in that game. I will tell you for when I started Bells and I always did Bells as a casual like meet up and not a competitive kind of thing. So it was community, not competition, teaching moments, like just getting people together to have a nice time. And a lot of newer players absolutely fall in love with doggy soccer because it's very affirming. Like it's very positive. There's clear things that you want to go for. Yeah, it's great to walk up to. It's easy to approach. But if you're a great player, you can also work different strategies on it. So it goes, it runs the gamut from people who are just coming into the game to people who've been playing it for a long time. So it's really versatile and it's fun and it's not telling you to play better or how terrible you are, which is a lot of call outs now. I'm like, oh my God, I'm a horrible person for playing this game. I'm kind of a Steve Ritchie guy. So it's like, I kind of like that. That's why doggy soccer is not my thing. I like, I like Rudy. I like the Black Knight. Like, tell me I suck. It's going to motivate me to play better. Alan's got daddy issues. yeah i just i will not argue that we're not going to argue that dog soccer is a bad game people love it so it's like it's just not for me that's that's just it like we're not here to trash dog soccer that's not what i'm here to do at all but i feel like i need to be honest i'm not going to lie to my friend so it's like most people love it most people are in in jessica's camp i just personally it's not it's not my game but it's it's a well-made machine we can get back on the rails now I'll stop. Okay. What's this Medusa ball kicker is next on the list. Have you played that? Have you played Medusa? Once or twice when you guys had it on the floor, but it was there and gone. Okay. So there's like a little post that has some rubbers around it, like some little short ring rubbers around it. And if you press the button on the side of the cabinet near your flipper button, it'll punch, like it'll kind of punch forward. It's in between below your flippers of the center drain. and so you can kind of punch it back up. Dude, that's so good. That's a good gimmick. Fireball 2 also has one. Yes. They call it the Little Demon. Yes. And it's the same thing. It's like below your right flipper button, and it just like punches it back up. It's very funny. I like those mechs a lot. Like, I like the Medusa ball. I think that's like what a lot is going for that game. It's got cool art. Yeah. The game is pretty fun to play for a little while, but what I remember about that game is always trying to punch that ball backup with the flipper like the extra button on the side of the cabinet and i think that's super fun how often are you hoping for a center drain that's it right like that's the best sign of these the gimmicks and that's kind of what a gimmick i guess is it's when you walk up to a game and you go what does that do yes that can be like sometimes i mean starting with the lamest examples of the action button and sometimes it's like something like that and you're like that's what i want yeah i would and we also have a game on the floor right now that has another extra flipper button it it's called nip it it's an old em which is probably one of the first to have like a crazy gimmick like that with the extra button but it has a little gator on the side of the cabinet and it has it's like jaw will come out and kind of grab and swallow a ball yeah and you have to control that using an extra flipper button and i think that is super fun it makes the game yeah it's super cool you can eat the ball or if you time it you can bump the ball yeah so like you can use the get or like snap to kind of hit it away yeah you can try to hit it into that kick on the left or whatever um yeah you can try to you can try to hit one of the stand-up targets that'll release one of the balls for a multiball or you just throw it into the lit pops and just collect hundreds if you have them lit but i think that's a super fun game and a cool gimmick and it's a game that we have on the floor now at wedgehead so any local listeners you can come in and try that fun quick story about nippet yes please i tied someone in one of my groups at enberg one year on nip it like exact same score wow and we had to replay the same game and we tied again no holy shit that seemed twice in a row on nip it that seems like you know i'd like to do the actual odds on it wow that's nuts the exact same score twice in a row yeah and we're just like can we just split the points and they're like no that's not how this works you have to play it again what are the chances come on did you win or lose do you remember i won the third one yeah heck yeah but that's notice how that's not even in my story because the most exciting part oh oh yeah hey we just tied twice on it's true it's way more interesting that you tied once at all to do it twice i mean that's crazy that is but i i want to talk about another one is the shifter knob on getaway high speed getaway the sequel that is a game that's like you know well regarded pretty famous you'll run into them on location but instead of a plunger you have like a little shifter knob because it's a car game and you have to you use that to plunge but then also while you're in the game you get your rpms up which you see on inserts on the play field and the callouts will tell you shift gears and it wants you to shift gears to progress in the game literally literally shift gears what do you guys think about that one i like it i think it's super fun i think it's fun too it's a different like interactive element it makes it challenging like if you're in a place where you can't hear the game very well sometimes you just throw that shifter a couple times just in case yeah you're like am i close yeah or some of the lights are burned out on the play field or whatever it's very embarrassing short shifting it you know what are you doing there buddy you didn't hit red line like if your friend watches you try to go for gear when you wasn ready they will give you shit which i love yeah i think that probably my favorite alternate launch mechanism you know like of all of the i guess it the only one that interactive because it like like indiana jones has the pistol grip and like yeah there's skills that have real yeah but it's like the shifter's cool because you actually you're like shifting gears is cool everyone wants to slam gears and uh like it actually does something it's just it's fun there are a few of the like there are so many of the gimmicky launch like tales from the crypt that has the you know door handle yeah oh yeah there are some that are actually functional though like the data east star wars where you have that weird like the shifting it doesn't do anything but the button on it launches yes so it times like your skill shot with something on the screen but then like when stormtroopers pop up you jam the button and then it knocks a row of them down but if you're not paying attention then you're toast so things like that where it actually matters i think are really interesting yeah i think that's always cool if you're going to give me a gimmicky you know plunger or shooter rod it's like make it interactive with the game and shifting the gears on getaway is just so cool yeah and yeah it's fun and it does the same thing where it's like it wants you to quickly pull your hand off of a flipper button and shift gears but i do see people sometimes use their knee you know or something else or are really awkward if you're from behind somebody their friend next to them reaching over and kind of flipping the thing for them and it looks very uh suspicious or it's suggestive um as to what exactly they're doing but uh i think that that makes the game fun i love a good like multiball like guardians of the galaxy or whatever if you've got hadron collider lit and you've got balls on both flippers be like do i use my knee or my nose to hit this button how are we going and i do love that and that's like that's the fun part about the action button right like alan was saying forcing you to take your hands off the flippers or making you do something weird to hit it like with your belly or your knee or yeah when i'm in a situation like that yep but if you're shorter that probably doesn't work as well that is cool yeah but if you're really short you can use your chest you know like you just got true i've used my chest to do it before oh yeah another one that i think is a big one is the diverters on the shadow. So the shadow pinball has these diverters on each of the ramps, and there's an extra button on each side of the cabinet to swing the diverter so your ball path will go either left or right on each ramp. Yep. And you control them. And you're collecting these rings for each shot, each different ball path. So you have to kind of manage those and then shoot all the shots and collect all your rings and that stuff. And I think that's super fun, too. Those Furbos are crazy, too. But those shots are so cool. And it has a sound associated with it. So you're not just doing it and it just moves. Like, the sound effects in the game, it's like a funk sound. Like, you hear it happening as it's flipping over. So it makes it a big feature part of the game. Yep. And those diverters themselves are just beefy compared to most diverters. They all weigh, like, five pounds. They're cool. And they break a lot, too. But they're cool. Yeah, they do. They do break a lot. Yeah, as the person that doesn't have to fix the games, I love them. I don't think they were, I don't think they were, like, bad. Like, at a different episode, it might be fun to talk about just, like, famous mechs and pinball and talk about which ones are, you know, like, famously unreliable and what operators hate. Power and Associates, like, rank all of the pinball games, the classics, you know, ones that have kind of proven, not new stuff. I don't think that the Divers, while you do have to maintain them and work on them, I don't think they're the worst. defenders by any means honestly the upper play field is worse it's so sick the first time so the the kind of guy back in the midwest that got me into pinball had a shadow in his basement and the first time i played it and managed to hit like a combo of where you're changing the diverters and feeding the other ramps and just keep going it's like the best feeling in pinball you're like oh wow because it's it's even better than hitting a normal combo because you're like i did that like you're manually doing like more shit it gives you control in the flow of the game too it doesn't interrupt the flow which is really cool it is cool i want to talk about this one i don't i'm sure jessica's played it because she's been in pinball forever i you probably haven't played this one alex no but there's a game gotley volcano it's a relatively rare game but it has the left out lane like where Steve Ritchie used to put you know the kickback yeah coils it has that there just like that but it gives you a button where you have to make it you don't roll over the switch and automatically fires the ball back into play you have to press the extra button to fire it in time to kick it back up onto the play field i bet you can get some good air balls with that you know i don't remember the air balls we have one and it's a fun weird game and that's cool though it's really cool it's really cool yeah i think we're seeing kind of a theme here all the gimmicks we like it's like the more manual it is like the more we're into this you're like we all like having control over aspects of the games that we wouldn't normally have that's kind of the fun part about like pinball yeah that's you're physically getting involved with it so of course you feel like more invested and more involved because you have to do the thing yeah so the other one i want to say is we don't have one of these but i know the pops guys in boston have one it's a dungeons and dragons um have you guys played much dungeons and dragons the pinball machine no not much my friend dave in Brisbane has one so I played it when I've been over there mostly I don't know if I've ever played it in the states it has awesome music it's a it's a weird game it's a very weird game I think it's fun it does have like a magic save where if you hit the buttons it'll switch your inlanes and outlanes oh that's cool I like so yeah like it's they call it a magic save and it's cool Again, it's something you control, which I think the common theme is we all like that. Yeah. The other one I remember a lot is Hardbody and the flex saves. Do you remember Hardbody? Yes. I think Hardbody has maybe my favorite of all of these gimmicks. Hardbody also has my favorite of any intro sound effects with like the grunting or whatever. Oh, yes. dude i have a hard body is a phenomenal game for anyone listening it's a bally midway right it's got to be early 80s yes and it's a split level game i don't know the designer i'm just kind of doing this all the time i think it's ward pemberton that would make sense and it's like 80s body builder themed with like muscular women and i guess some dudes on it yeah so cheesy and so I love the theme in the same way that I love No Fear. Yeah. The arcade, like, the place I kind of, like, started playing pinball at as an adult, he got one, and I just loved that thing. The flex saves are so good, though. Yeah, basically, the flex saves are, it has, like, from that era, it has the inlanes that go kind of straight down into the outlane. Like, it just goes straight down, and you usually have the swoop on the outlanes that sort of swoop over, and those are, like, technically your inlanes. They sort of have them swapped. But in that gap where you would train, there's these hidden diverters that if you hit the button, it'll slam closed and it'll create like a lane guide for the ball to roll down to your flipper like you would normally think about. And it's just really funny. It's really loud. It's just so much fun. I love those so much. Yeah. Talk about giving people you're playing with a hard time when they're playing hard body and they're trying to do the flex save. and it's always awkwardly timed. Yes. You've always hit it a little bit too soon or a little bit too late. Yeah, because it only pops in for like a second, right? It's quick. Yes. And so it's very easy to mistime it and then just lose the ball, which I think is really funny. It's just fun. It just makes it really fun. And I think it's thematic. It's called flex save. I love it. It's so good. That game is just good in general. We could just do a whole episode about Hardbody. We should. Sometime in the future. I love when a game makes draining your ball into something that's not frustrating so like yes okay you messed that up but it's hilarious that you've done it so I don't know it somehow takes the sting away I can definitely agree with that and it feels like you're in more control even when you lose it's like something you could do better next time especially when you're just kind of getting going in the hobby that feels good be like oh I could have done that to save it we have another couple saves like that i think of the freddy claw save from nightmare on elm street oh that's cool yeah yeah not one of my favorite games but very cool theme and well integrated they got like a little hand claw flipper too but you just use the regular button on that but there's claws that come up through freddy's claw glove comes up in between your flippers and like will grab do they stop the ball from draining down the center and you have to use a button to do that if those blades aren't all broken i was gonna say and those blades definitely never break yeah they never break because they weren't just made out of cheap plastic but if they they're not broken because they never do uh it's a very cool effect and then we get into some other stuff like there's some other ones that i want to talk about before we get off this episode but it's like there's the extra buttons that are for Johnny Mnemonic that... For video mode, for Snarf. Yeah, for Snarf. Oh, yeah. So that's kind of... Oh my gosh. Extra buttons that exist just for video modes is kind of its own thing. Yes, for video modes. I think, don't you move the glove with that too? Those extra buttons too? Because you need to go X, Y. Yeah, you move the glove with it also. Yeah. You got a four-way coordinator. Which again, that's another really cool mech that's almost always broken. Yeah, you guys probably hate that thing, but I love it. I think it super fun when you play it man I love those 90s Bally Williams games because they really swung for the fences They just did stuff that people don do anymore Because you know they proved to be unreliable or whatever in the field or just a pain to shop out and fix things But back then they were just they were swinging for the fences and it was cool Well, and then you have stuff like Judge Dredd and Revenge from Mars where you have your mode selector buttons are on the side by your flippers. Yeah. So you're like deciding which modes you're going to play. And sometimes like the ball launch on Dredd is on the side too. So sometimes you have someone who's trying to select a mode and they accidentally launch the ball. So that's always funny. But yeah, like just stuff that you wouldn't think. It seems almost like bad design. Like you're like, do we need these extra buttons? Like horrible idea, but it would just love the image. Yeah. It forces you to pay attention or read something. I don't know. But I love those. My, okay, other extra button things that we haven't talked about yet. What about using the extra ball button for things like the cheat on jackpot? Oh, yeah, that's cool. Good one. That's a good one. Your troll bombs on medieval or your garlic cloves on Monster Bash. Sure, yeah. Recycled, well, yeah, because those ones are like recycling the launch button for kind of like a hidden feature, right? Yeah, yeah, having the extra button on the front, yeah. Those are a lot of fun, and I have to imagine that really fucked with people like back in the 90s before common, you know, knowledge was just shared on the internet or whatever. because that's the kind of thing that your friend would tell you that you'd be like no way like that's gotta be made up it sounds like a cheat code there's somewhere in between a fun easter egg or infuriating to lose in a tournament if you don't know that like i think all those features are like now those games are really old and if you're a serious tournament player you probably already know those things but i can't imagine how aggro some people get at tournaments anyway imagine like losing because you don't know how to use the cheat button on jackpot you know or like yeah or how to use your garlic cloves you know or your troll bombs like yeah i could see that i love the first time like the moment you see someone who is watching jackpot for the first time and seeing someone just jamming because yeah it has to be fast you have this like super fast awkward like hooking the finger motion to the extra ball button under the start yeah they're just going for you just like what is happening right now and you see people like what are they doing like what are the animations are so cool when it's like you know he hits the table and then the dice turn from like snake eyes to double sixes extra card comes out of the sleeve yeah the ace comes out of the sleeve or when you're in casino run and you can avoid those bombs yes yeah it's so creatively used and so thematic i agree the integration of the theme is so cool and it's is such an easy thing for them to put in and you know you can disable it if you uh have you know no soul but do it i agree why would people do that the last thing i want to mention is because we talked about it sort of in the super pins episode but i want to get jessica's take on these because i'm a fan of demolition man the pinball machine demolition man the movie a movie yes and i love using the big handles that stick up on the side and because they have triggers and they have little buttons on top so they're like little like kind of yes for bombs yes and much missiles they're so fun i like i feel like i have great control of the game i know there's a lot of players that hate it and they're like i can't nudge the ball or i don't have i can't make my you know my tap pass or by whatever i don't have my drop catch or whatever skill that they feel like they're losing but i'm just like i love that they did that thing and actually it's ergonomically fun like i i can nudge the game i play better with the handles like i really do like you get a bonus for only using the handle yes i love that they reward you for it because it did nothing it would i mean i would use them but it would be really dumb you know like yeah yeah you're like It kind of forces you to use them. It is funny. I have two funny Judge Dredd things. Or Demoman things. Hello. Sloan on the brain. So my escape room team name is the Three Seashells. Yes. Which was also my pinball duo, like when it was like team head-to-head kind of thing. That was also the name there. But the very first tournament I ever played, which was at Scarlet City Coffee in Oakland, it's not there anymore, but it was a Star Trek themed coffee shop slash beer cider house that had Brad pinball machines. That's a cool idea. by this woman named Jen and I adore her and Eka Taylor Snyder who started Bells originally the very first Bells in Oakland was running like a novice tournament there and my friend Matt lived right upstairs so I was in town the tournament was going on so we went downstairs I did not want to like I don't I'm not a competitive person normally so I was just like I just like playing to have fun and he's like no no he's like this one won't be serious it's all just for newer players if you were ranked with, I don't remember what the rankings were, but if your IFPA rank was above something, you weren't allowed to play in it. And it was, I somehow made it into the finals, which I didn't think I did. And the last game, which I didn't know was the last game, or I would have freaked out, was on Demoman. And I had never played it before. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. The best way to go in. piece of advice that my friend gave to me was only use the handles yes yes and i won the game and i won the tournament that was my first ever turn oh yes jessica this game yes that's great very very fond moments with demo man and i mean it's a great game i think it's just a lot of fun it's a lot of fun to shoot super flowy cool gimmicks and jessica and i are both big fans of the movie i know that Jessica and I both love the same cheesy action movies. We love that shit. So I know that's like what we bonded on as friends. Aside from Pitbull, we both genuinely love those movies. So this is so late. Genuinely adore them. Yeah. This is so late to be asking this, but Alan, were you on Jessica's podcast in the past? Yes. That was okay. Is that the only podcast you've been on prior to this? Yes. Okay. That answers your question. Yeah, yeah. She was the one that... People would care. People would care about... Yeah, because I just remembered you guys talking about movies. That's why you just suddenly came back to me. Yeah, Jessica's the only one that I've been asked before, and I've tried to make it work. But, you know, as Wedgehead was going through some rough times, and I was wearing a lot of hats and working, you know, 80 hours a week. And so it was difficult, and Jessica was always very patient and was like, well, you know, whatever. I think I had to cancel on you a couple of times, a reschedule, and she was just very patient and understanding and, like, really, like, really tracked me down. Like you really did like, oh, but it was fun. I had a great time. So I remember really enjoying that episode. So I guess I have listened to your podcast. I didn't didn't remember that. Thanks. That's one of my episodes when I went broke because it was like pandemic times. It was really it was frustrating for me because I was seeing a lot of my friends as operators go through really rough times. Yeah. So I'm like, we have a platform like it's not we're not using it, you know, like big thing like we don't record as much as we used to. But I wanted to have something that I could put out there to highlight and say, hey, like, get back to your local arcane, support them how you can while they're closed, like buy some merch, buy some gift certificates, do something and just, you know, keep the word going. And when they open, go there and like be patrons and go back in. And it's like trying to encourage people by letting them know about all of these really great, unique spots that are going through hard times, which everyone is going through. and I did like around that same time is when I made a bunch of like masks like soft plunge masks and I offered to operator friends like if you guys are opening and you're using like safety precautions and that kind of thing like I'll send you masks yeah so I just wanted it to be like I want people to feel comfortable and safe and taken care of and I want people to go back out and play more pinball on location I mean we do the same thing on this podcast I'm motivated obviously as an operator, but I always appreciate that. I mean, that's the message of each and every one of these podcasts and this is how I'm going to sign this episode off right now. I just want to thank you, Jessica, once again for being on the show. It was lovely to talk to you and I'm sure Alex, you know, for Alex to get to meet you for the first time. It's great. Yeah, this was really fun. Thanks for having me. Yeah, it was a great time and we appreciate you joining us on the show and I'm going to end this podcast like I always do with a plea for everyone to go out there and play some pinball on location go out and have some fun it's fun to be on the internet and talk about pinball it's fun to listen to pinball podcast what's even more fun than that just go out and play some pinball support your local operators it's labyrinth yes yeah play the new game labyrinth yeah play the new game labyrinth or play any of the games we talked about with these extra button gimmicks be on the lookout for it if you're ever playing a game and you're like what are these extra buttons for look at the rule card try to figure it out because it does something and they're mostly fun. I think when we went through the list we realized we all kind of like them. Yeah, we're positive on all of them because that kind of gimmicky shit is what makes pinball fun and memorable. Yeah, go find a haunted house and use those extra flipper buttons for the upper and lower levels. Yes, that's true. We didn't even talk about that. But there's a lot of cool games that have extra buttons on them that do cool stuff. So go out, play on location, and until next time, good luck. Don't suck. We'll see you next time.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: fa7bd751-02be-4699-87ce-bec2b18af029*