This ONE Skill Will Instantly Improve Your Pinball Game

[@Johnny-re9kg]

Along with cradling... I employ the dead bounce whenever possible. Slowing the ball down, taking the energy out it as much as possible, ...can lead to quicker cradles. This goes along with what you said Travis about resisting the urge to just hit the ball always. dead bounce develops the trust of not hitting that ball, and letting it bounce over to the other flipper, and often a cradle can come out of that, or maybe just an easier shot as the ball is now moving slower

[@josephlefebvre9213]

Cradling is Def very important but the one thing that really opened the game up for me and improved my control: NOT FLIPPING. Bounce passing, ski pass, dead flip etc. Most beginners don’t realize that you don’t have to flip at the ball every time.

[@mtlarsen1125]

Cradling is great advice. Getting the ball to a cradle is the problem. There are a number of skills that are required to really cradle consistently. You mentioned a few if I remember correctly, dead bounce was one. Other skills you need to develop for cradling purposes are micro flips, over unders (Multi-ball), post bounces to slow the ball so you can cradle. My point being people have to develop other skills to be able to consistently and effectively cradle.

[@kressenstein]

Very true. I think the dead bounce is the simplest one to explain and to pull off. It has the additional wow effect when people see how easy you can decrease speed by just doing nothing for a moment :)

[@ThePinballCompany]

Correct. The good thing about a total focus on getting a ball to a cradle is that you'll find yourself developing those other skills because they're necessary to achieve the end game goal. Once you get a baseline understanding, then those specific skills can be further refined.

[@combochuck]

Good stuff 🔥! I like this as a good first goal to focus on. By telling someone to practice cradling, you are giving them an easy to understand goal to work towards. It's less about the end-goal (actually having the ball cradled) and much more about what you will learn in the process of getting it there. You will find that you won't be looking at targets anymore, you'll be paying more attention to the ball's location, its behavior, and how you react to it in the lower third of the playfield. Pair this goal with watching "pinball skills" videos and you've got a good recipe for getting better. Over time, you will eventually learn that you have more control than you think you have, giving you the confidence and ability to better keep the ball in play. The best part about the skills you learn in the bottom third, is that they translate well from table to table.

[@kennytieshisshoes]

This is great advice. I’m still new to pinball and working on getting my scores up. I would love to see more videos like this.

[@silverballmania]

So true - but I tell people, first patience (dead bounce) then control (cradle) - not 100% the same but pretty close to it ;-)

[@joaoromero8867]

Sometimes is better/ safer to flip than trying to stop the ball. After losing tons of balls trying to stop it I now usually know when is best to shoot or stop the ball

[@CatSlinky]

I would love to hear Travis (or even all of Triple Drain) discuss what pinball game or games they would suggest for improving your pinball skills. And ideally, what pinball games are best for first time home buyers.

[@bollerSAB]

I would say Pat Lawlor and Steve Ritchie games Pat Lawlor games are great for figuring out weird layouts and how to navigate them, and it works on other games. I've been playing a lot of Addams Family lately and tried taking the left loop a couple times, even though it's a kind of risky shot. But recently I've noticed as I got more comfortable with this shot, so did I get more comfortable doing the right ramp on Road Show. I haven't played Iron Maiden in a while, but I'm sure I'll be better at hitting the left ramp now too, since it's a similiar shot (Dead End in Twilight Zone too, but why would you shot for that?) Steve Ritchie games has these tight shots that you would have to hit exactly, otherwise the ball goes straight down the middle (No Fear, Terminator 2) Once you figure them out and get comfortable doing them, you'll see yourself playing better at A LOT of games. Attack From Mars is a great game to improve at flipper skills in general, it has a open playfield and the ramps feeds the ball back to the flippers. If you want to get good at flipper skills and techniques fast, you'll have to stand at this game for hours

[@kanwisher]

Pinball is about managing chaos. Poetic.

[@johnragusa9034]

Excellent advice Travis! You hit it spot on with "Managing Chaos" Pinball is full of highs and lows. How you control the pace of the game really helps in scoring more and more points every time you play. We'll see you at SLAP in a few weeks! 😎💪🏆

[@vivimeowersoniii7183]

This is what I always say to people wanting to learn games. Cradle the ball first and then the game can eventually open up for you.

[@pezjohnson]

A great video for everyone. Thanks Travis!

[@retroreplay1980]

I’m also a competitive foosball player and it’s the same thing. Cradling the ball, slow the game down, learn to control the ball. This is the most important base to build from.

[@jarons]

This advice is good for complete beginners, but for everyone else, I'm going to disagree with the video, mostly because this video describes the way I used to play. I am someone who played competitively as a "start and stop" (cradling) player since 2017. I got my friend into pinball during the pandemic, but he always insisted on playing on the fly, no matter how much I tried to tell him to just cradle the ball and slow down. After 2 years of playing together daily, it got to the point where he was competitive and even beating me-- even my league team considers him more consistent than me. Sure, it could be talent (or I could have problems), but my theory is that cradling the ball allows you to play for the game for longer, but does not give you as much practice as playing on the fly. When you play on the fly, you make mistakes at a much faster rate, and learn much faster what to do and not to do intuitively. Because he was insistent on always playing on the fly,-- not only was he able to pick up my flipper and nudging skills by watching me, he was able to practice those skills at a much faster rate than I was able to practice those and overtake my years of experience. And become more accurate in his shots-- even if I used a "quiet eye" or mentally visualized my shots, he's become much more adept at dialing in shots and making critical plays. If I were to give my own advice then, it would be to find a style that's fun for yourself (so you keep playing), then play to master one cool skill you saw someone else do. Eventually you'll be playing towards a Universal Style. When I finally conceded to him and started playing on the fly, it was a revelation.

[@ThePinballCompany]

Indeed, it's all relative when finding ones style. At a high level, there's only a handful of players that can truly play on the fly and excel. Very difficult to do, thus the need to slow things down.

[@jeffmeyers8417]

Thank you. I appreciate it will definitely start doing it

[@RafConUSMC]

This is seriously great advice. Thanks for the video Travis!

[@ThePinballCompany]

No problem, thanks for watching.

[@Sayntin]

First thing I tell people that are learning to play pinball is only flip one flipper at a time, there first thought is if I flip both flippers then the ball will never go down. I then show them why it doesn't work that way.

[@ScottParisi]

Very sound advice Travis. Thank you. Is that Elvira a prototype?

[@ThePinballCompany]

You're welcome. It's not a prototype, but was NIB last summer.

[@lanceleavitt7472]

Excellent advice. I notice the pros cradle during multiballs.

[@ThePinballCompany]

This is a skill that's very helpful and comes with plenty of experience. There's also a lot of other fun flipper techniques built in with multiballs. Sounds like that'd be a fun topic to explore.

[@kiwifrenzyonvideo]

Great advice. 👍

[@joshgrube84]

Great advice! Also, it's cool that you had Jaws a year before it was released.

[@ThePinballCompany]

There’s two possible reasons for this. Either I messed up the date or I’m a time traveler. 😎

[@JOKERider1995]

Fllow you right now , nice videos 👌

[@ThePinballCompany]

Thanks!

[@johndoe-yw7eb]

If this is #1, then #2 would have to be to have some understanding of the game you're playing. Too many casual players don't know what they're supposed to be shooting at most of the time. Have a plan.

[@TiltingT]

Control control you must have control!

[@SegFaultMatt]

In order to cradle, the ball needs to slow down. What helped me with that is just letting the ball dead bounce. If you don’t take that immediate hit on a speeding ball, you’ll be surprised how often you’ll get a manageable ball on the other flipper.

[@nicholasmirra8228]

more Jaws strategie videos 🥹

[@timborski1210]

I don't cradle enough on multi balls. I see alot of better players doing this.

[@kressenstein]

Good one! We need more basic recommendations like this one for beginners to get people excited for the game 🪩