ah bad reading on my part.
I would add to that “unless the tilt is particularly tight.” What you said is true in most cases, but there are plenty of machines out there for which you can’t slap save a ball that’s going perfectly STDM without tilting.
2 Likes
I thought about that too. Since this text is quite short I might add it, thanks.
1 Like
Here is the latest tutorial, thank you all for your help, I am really pleased with the result! 
I decided to leave the tip shot as it is, but included an explanation for when and how to use drop catches, also in real time with no slow motion, I hope you like it too.
15 Likes
Great video! The “keep your balls clean” at the end could be a turn off to some in this day of endless political correctness. I had no problem with it personally, but it did seem a little out of place with the rest of the content.
5 Likes
I am working on the slap save and nudging videos right now and as i’m diving deeper, some questions occur.
I found myself slapping the machine earlier with the single slap save than with the double slap save.
Its a mix of a slap save, nudge/tip pass and live catch (cancelling out the momentum). That seems to be the most effective way of doing it, since the balls momentum get reduced alot for best control.
The downside is, i shove the machine a little more and the flipper does not hit the ball at a horizontal level for maximum reach.
For me its a slap and it works, but i’m interested about the terminology, overlapping techniques and best practice.
Any thoughts?
Random thoughts -
What you showed in that video is for me not a single slap save, or, as I’ve heard it referred - a “half slap”.
In that video the ball is reachable and save-able by the flipper with out any nudge.
Imo a half-slap is a situational usage choice. almost always the setup is the same where a player could or might just use a regular slap save, but because of various factors chooses to use a half slap (which usually requires a bit more physical input on the single side as compared to a regular slap save).
Half slaps are riskier imo because you really need to be dialed in to that specific machine. The reasons I would choose to use one are:
-
I need to be doing something with the other flipper or hand at that time, or shortly. Either the other flipper is being made use of, or I am using the other hand for some type of nudging that means I can’t do a full slap save.
-
I really really need the ball on a flipper sooner than a regular slap save would provide (time, situational play, risk of sending the ball “wild,” whatever).
-
I know the tilt well enough on the machine that the situational play and control I need outweighs the potential tilt-dangers I am going to incur for using a half slap. (with a half slap you do not get the luxury of being able to quickly re-center the machine and avoid, or lessen dangers).
2 Likes
Hey Cayle,
thanks for putting so much effeort into your answer!
Let me recap this in my own words, to make sure i understood everything.
You are saying the half slaps on my video were not nessasery.
This is how it would have looked without a nudge, hitting the ball at an horizontal angle for maximum reach. The ball barely would have made it to the other flipper and I would have been forced to flail it away with the downside of losing ball control.
So basicly you are saying the “half slap” is just an option, if the tilt is set up medium or lose, because you can’t counter shake the machine with the second slap. Thats why you preferably use slap saves (double) in tournaments or on machines where the tilt is set up tight.
My concept is based on control vs. sending the ball “wild” and thats why I prefer the half slap over the slap save. I do not play with very tight tilts so that would make a huge difference. However, I’m not sure if i want to teach tournament play style, since I have no experience there at all and I want to help newcomers and “medium” players. I can not teach pro players like you since I am also quite new to pinball.
Here is the impact of a single slap on a lose tilt, but it would also work on tighter tilts.
And here is my explaination of the half slap for the upcoming video:
Slap Save (single)
This is the advanced version of the slap save. The goal is to get the ball with just one slap to the opposite inlane or flipper area. A well-timed slap takes away the balls momentum and gets you back in control. This makes single slap saves superior to the double version. The distance from the ball to the flipper determines which version of the slap save should be used. Closer means single and farther means double.
So I could add there, that the single version affects the tilt more than the double version.
Hmmm. Ignoring preferences of nomenclature, personally I consider the single-flipper slap save and the double-flipper slap save to be two completely different skills … not one being the advanced or inferior version of the other. Sometimes a ball is falling toward the center drain in such a way that a flipper-slap on the closest flipper can only nudge the ball toward the tip of the opposite flipper, requiring a quick flip of that flipper to keep the ball in play – the double-flipper slap save. In other situations, the initial flipper gets enough bite on the ball to get it up and away, without needing the other flipper – the single-flipper slap save. There are pros and cons with either choice: if a single-flipper slap save is called for but you choose the double-flipper variant, there’s a risk of flipping the ball into the underside of the opposing flipper, which expedites its path into the drain. On the other hand, a player might elect a single-flipper slap save that knocks the ball toward the tip of the opposing flipper, which could be savable if you hit that flipper promptly, but quickly drains if you don’t. I might argue that the double-flipper version is more powerful, but also more dependent on precision timing. Personally, I’ve used both techniques, and had instances where I was pretty sure I should have chosen the other variant. 
A good idea, maybe I should approach it differently.
I could just explain the standard version and hand-waving over the single/half version. I don’t want to describe every possible scenario and I have not enough knowledge for that anyway.
1 Like
Hey there, here is the latest tutorial, but its not official yet.
I hope I presented the techniques well enough for the majority of players. I also learned alot during the production.
Thank you all for your support 
and I hope you like how it turned out.
cheers
17 Likes
LOL, great video as usual. Some humo(u)r in this one as well! 
Very useful and hilarious also, awesome job!
Thanks for the work you are putting into these videos!
Thanks for the kind words, I guess I need a littlebit of a break now. 
2 Likes
Awesome video, @ABE_FLIPS! I love seeing the demo with the playfield removed to show the impact on the tilt bob.
1 Like
Hey there,
Does anyone use nudging to decrease the rebound of the ball? I know you can do it on certain left/right bounces like slingshots or maybe deadbounces. Is this technique really reliable?
I find no more information on this online.
I only use this on a couple games, but I have used a move where I pull the game towards me to lessen the bounce of a ball off a rubber to get into a lane I want the ball to go into.
Like the top lanes on Big Game. If I do nothing it bounces too far and goes in the left lane. If I pull back on the game it lands in the middle lane consistently.
Not sure if that’s what you mean.
1 Like
Yes thank you, thats what i thought. Its quite rare to nudge with the balls path/force, not against it.
cheers
1 Like
- I’ve done this in particular games with frequent and consistent scoop kickouts directly to one flipper, where I attempt control with a deadbounce, and the “do nothing” deadbounce is too strong (too much bounce), so I’m trying to deaden the level of the bounce for higher % chance of controlled shot on the other flipper.
Not sure if it’s really all that effective. At a minimum, it keeps me actively engaged in the game with my nudging.
- You can use timely upward nudging to change the trajectory/impact of slingshots kick on the ball, by either nudging just before, or at-the-moment the ball engages the slingshot coil… depending on the relative position of where the ball hits the slingshot (high or low, effectively relative to where the kicker arm is located vs where the ball hits the hypotenuse of the slingshot triangle). Your goal, each time the slingshot fires and sends your ball horizontally, is to decrease the chance of the ball going to the opposite outlane,
or to the opposite sling for additional danger of further sling impact from the opposite slingshot. @dbs wrote a great guide on this many years ago, I believe back when he was helping run the FSPA.
1 Like