The act of letting the ball “pass” through upraised flipper(s) while the center post is up.
New Pinball Dictionary: Bail Out / Safety Valve
When you are flailing and unable to get control of the ball, this is a shot that moves the ball far away from the flippers for a short while. It helps you regain control of the game and can also give you time to think about your next move.
New Pinball Dictionary: Stack
Activating a combination of two or more modes, features or multiballs simultaneously. When making a shot, the player is rewarded with the points from all of the stacked features active on that shot, even though only one scoring notification is seen on the display.
New Pinball Dictionary: The Big Six
One of the greatest stacks in the history of pinball.
New Pinball Dictionary: Succubus
An outlane that seems to draw the pinball towards it, constantly. All of the balls seem to go down this one particular outlane all of the time.
New Pinball Dictionary: Driver vs. Drunk Driver
A driver who chooses games based seemingly more on luck to counteract the perceived difference in skill between him and his opponents.
New Pinball Dictionary: Heartbreaker / Maxwell Smart
Occurs when a player tries to make a comeback on the last ball and fails to pass the opponent’s score by less than 1%.
New Pinball Dictionary – Bubble Boy
The player who is currently the highest ranked player below the cut line in a pinball competition (for example: 17th place out of 16 qualifiers).
New Pinball Dictionary – Gatekeeper (player)
The person who is currently in the last qualifying position at a pinball tournament (for example: 16th place out of 16 qualifiers). The Gatekeeper must be sure to rigorously defend the position or work quickly to move higher in the standings.
New Pinball Dictionary – Gatekeeper (concept)
In games with a wizard mode, it is the one requirement that is much harder than all the others. It is usually the one you complete last before achieving the Wizard Mode, making the other requirements not as relevant.
Pinball Excuse #005 – Gravity
Gravity is a fickle mistress. Wait … what?!
Pinball Excuse #004 – Earthquake
That earthquake tilted my game! Didn’t you feel it?











