As a random award, pseudo-random award or general award on a game with kickbacks that can be lit on both outlanes:
The ability to toggle the lit kickback from one outlane to the other with either flipper button until the kickback is collected.
If both kickbacks are lit then the collected award will allow the remaining kickback to be toggled if one of the two kickbacks is used.
Obviously on a game which already has a toggle at the start of a ball this feature wouldn’t apply, but this is a short or non-existent list I think.
The outlane saves on Pokemon Pinball worked this way, haha.
4 Likes
Is right outlane kickback a thing? I can’t think of a game with that feature but maybe there are some.
Stern Iron Maiden for example.
1 Like
TNA essentially already does this with SAVE letters.
5 Likes
Yes great point. I was thinking in terms of untimed ball savers, but I should have specified this originally. I guess Centaur could be thrown in there too as an untimed version of the TNA feature.
IIRC. Stern Star Wars has a ball save, if not a physical kickback on the right outlane.
Fitting a kickback mech in the same area as the ball trough/plunger would be the issue with a physical right outlane kickback I’d have thought.
2 Likes
Stern Guardians of the Galaxy also has a right-side virtual kickback. Maybe we should copy these posts to a new thread called “Games with right-side kickbacks” j/k. Games with right-side virtual kickbacks are fun since you can add a 2nd ball into play with a death save.
The feature I was thinking it would be neat to have would be an award of mobility rather than having this intrinsically part of the ball save like TNA. That is, the ability to move the kickback to the other lane isn’t there when the kickback is first lit and must be added as an award, unlike TNA where that ability is there as soon as the lane is lit to return the ball.
1 Like
Virtual kickbacks as opposed to physical ones are one of the least offensive cost saving measures. At least compared to removing a spinner or something actually worth points. I think we’ve all had a kickback misfire that cost us a ball that should have been saved.
What’s the standard IFPA ruling on a missed kickback? Minor malfunction or do you grant a compensation ball? I’m not sure if it ever happened to me in a tournament but as a player I would try to argue for a compensation ball, however I wouldn’t be upset if the ruling was “tough luck”.
1 Like
IFPA/PAPA rules explicitly say a failed kickback does not qualify as a major malfunction.
3 Likes
I ran into this specific ruling this past weekend, and the IFPAPA rules say, “Unrepeated physical failures, such as kickbacks or balls jumping off ramps, balls flying over flippers, or balls moonwalking into the outlane following a successful shot do not qualify as major malfunctions. This is the physical nature of pinball.” I interpret “unrepeated” to indicate that if the kickback consistently fails, for example, the TD should get a tech to fix it, and potentially consider the issue as a major malfunction that prematurely ended a ball, but individual instances that don’t point toward a larger structural problem with the mechanism are “play on.”
(Totally agree that virtual kickbacks eliminate this type of mechanical issue and I’m a fan of them.)
4 Likes
It honestly sounds fair either way the ruling went. Good to know it’s codified though.
Virtual kickback lights that stay on when there is no longer a virtual kickback to use however…
1 Like