BANG BACKS and DEATH SAVES
                               by Dave Stewart
                               November 1, 1993

When playing pinball, we of course try as hard to avoid draining, so that we
can keep playing on the same quarters and create nightmares for operators
trying to control ball time.  However, what can you do after the ball drains?
Do you just give up hope and swear at the machine?  There are some techniques
for saving a ball AFTER it drains.  That is, after the ball goes down an
outlane or center drain, it is sometimes possible to get the ball back in
play.  In fact, some games (notably DE's Rocky&Bullwinkle and Jurassic Park)
even give you extra points for successfully getting the ball back in play, not
to mention all the extra points from your last second 'extra ball' :-).  The
various techniques I know of for saving a ball after a drain are given below.

I know that some people call bang backs 'death saves', and vice versa.  The
terminology I use in this post is the terminology I have heard partly on
rec.games.pinball, and it is the terminology that was primarily used when
talking to others at the PAPA and AMOA tournaments.  


Technique 1: The Sproing Save

This technique only works on games that have an outlane kickback.  If the
kickback is lit, and the ball drains either down the center or in the right
outlane, it is sometimes possible to get the ball to bounce over to the left
outlane, where it hits the switch, and causes the kickback to send the ball
back into play.  Sometimes this happens through luck, but it is possible
to increase the possibilties of it happening: 

If you have a right outlane drain, and the ball is travelling quickly, 
then the ball will be headed towards the center.  When the ball is
under the tip of the right flipper, bump the machine forward, which causes
it to hit the metal under the left flipper, and roll up the left side
to the kickback switch.  

If you have a right outlane drain, and the ball is travelling slowly, 
then you can bang the machine in the same way as you would for a
bang back (as described below).  With a bang back you try to send the ball
onto the left flipper; but if you miss, you may send it up towards the
left outlane kickback switch.

The sproing save can also happen on a center drain.  If the ball is draining
down the middle, but coming from the left hand side of the playfield, bump the
machine as the ball hits the through.  It may hit the corner of the metal on
the right side of the through and roll up towards the left outlane.  If you
have a plastic post in the drain area, like on most Gottlieb machines, then the
ball can really fly to the left outlane; the problem is that most Gottlieb
machines don't have the left kickback :-(.

If the ball is draining down the middle coming from the right hand side of the
playfield, and you don't think that a slap save would work (or especially if
your slap saves are not working for you that day) you can hold up the left
flipper.  As the ball passes by the right flipper, slide the machine to the
left.  If the ball just hits the tip of the flipper, it will bounce up the left
outlane to the kickback switch.


Technique 2: The Death Save

This technique is used to save a ball after a right outlane drain (and on
gottlieb machines a left outlane drain also).  Death saves are usually easiest
on Data East games, although they are sometimes possible on other manufacturers
games when the Tilt setting is not very sensitive.  If you are just learning
the technique, then definitely practice on a DE game before trying it on other
games.

There are a few variations to this technique, but they all have the same basic
concept.  Immediately below the flippers, there is a piece of metal facing up
and to the right.  It is designed to help balls roll into the ball through
(which is where balls are stored and fed to the plunger).  When the ball drains
down the right outlane, it will collide head on with that plate.  By pushing
the machine forward (and possibly to the right, see variations below) really
hard as the ball collides, the ball can bounce back into the playfield through
the space between the flippers.  The variations with this technique deal with
how you move the machine and what to do with your flippers.

Variation 1: With this variation, don't hold either flipper while the ball
travels down the outlane.  As the ball hits the metal plate, bump the machine
on both sides equally.  The ball will travel straight up the playfield a few
inches, going passed the flippers.  Since your timing is never absolutely
perfect and the ball often has a spin, it will actually travel up slightly to
the right or left, enough so that after the ball has gone a bit passed the
flippers, you can then flip the flipper that is closest to the ball to send the
ball up the playfield.  This variation is the one that tolerate a more
sensitive tilt mechanism then the other variations, but is not always as
successful.

Variation 2: With this variation, hold the left flipper up.  As the
ball hits the metal place, move the machine hard forward and to the right
(therefore you will be placing more force with your left hand then with
your right hand).  As with variation 1, the ball goes up passed the flippers;
but because you are also pushing the machine to the right, the ball always
heads towards the right flipper.  Holding up the left flipper is done so 
that the ball doesn't hit it then head back towards the drain.  This 
technique is usually more successful then variation 1, but because the
machine has both forward and sideways motion, there is more possibility
to tilt the machine.  

Variation 3: This is just like variation 2, except that it can be used on games
with practically no tilt or unsensitive tilt settings.  Instead of just using
your arms to move the machine, use your body.  That is, you hip check the
machine to get more force.  If you use this technique, make sure you don't
hit the coin box or you'll slam tilt the machine.  Also, make sure there is
no bar across the front of the machine (operators often put bars to make
it more difficult to break into the coin box), as that can really hurt!

Variation 4: The "Gottlieb Death Save".  Many recent Gottlieb machines
have a plastic post on the right hand side of the ball through.  As a
result, that post can be used to do a death save of a ball coming down
the left outlane.  Use the technique from one of the previous variations,
and time it such that you hit the machine as the ball hits the plastic post.
The biggest problem is that recently Gottlieb's have had very sensitive
tilts, and so you are much more prone to tilting.

In all cases above, it is not how far forward you hit the machine, but
how quickly you accelerate it.  Sometimes even on machines with only
moderate tilt settings, you can get away with a single 'danger' warning,
and therefore do two death saves per ball (most games tilt after 2 warnings).

If you are going to attempt death saves, pull the machine away from the wall,
otherwise your efforts will be futile.  The exception is on games where
the legs are not very tight, and the game bounces around without the base
of the legs moving.  I've actually been more successful in getting
death saves on those 'bouncy' machines then on sturdy machines that I
have to pull away from a wall.  


Technique 3: The Bang Back

This technique involves bumping the ball back into play after it goes down the
left or right outlane.  I would have never thought that this would work from
word descriptions, until Rick Stetta showed be how to do it.  I then spent a
month practicing it continuously until I got by first one.  Now I can get them
consistently on some machines, and not at all on others.  I still have not
figured out what characteristics of a machine allow you to do bang backs.  I
get them very consistently on a Twilight Zone (TZ) at one local bar, but can't
get them at all on a TZ at a different local bar, and only sometimes on yet
another TZ.  All these games are set against the wall, and tilt settings seem 
to be about the same.

Anyhow, for the technique:  If the ball is heading down the right outlane, hold
up the right flipper.  When the ball is below the flipper, hit the metal
lockdown bar quickly, hard, slightly upward, and sligtly to the left,
immediately below where the ball is.  The ball which was travelling towards the
drain will change directions from the hit, and travel diagonally upwards
instead, towards the playfield above the left flipper.  Once the ball is above
the left flipper, you flip, and the ball is back in play.  Since you want to
hit towards the left, it is often easier (at least for me) to cross your
hands:  hold the right flipper with your left hand, and hit the bar with your
right hand.  On TZ, which is a wide body, you can also hit a little below the
lockdown bar right on the wooden cabinet between the coin-box door and the
plunger.  On regular width games, there really isn't any room there, so you
must hit the lockdown bar.  You don't want to hit the coin door, because 1) you
may slam tilt, and 2) it hurts like hell!

The trick to the bang back is not to hit as hard as you can.  The timing,
direction of the hit, and force acceleration are the most important.  You must
hit the ball at just the right time.  You must make sure you hit up and to the
left.  And you want to hit the machine 'quickly', not 'hard', so that the
force is 'instantaneous' instead of being spread out over a quarter second or
so.  When I started doing the bang backs, I kept tilting the machine and never
succeeded.  As I've gotten better, I never tilt that same machine (not even a
warning) and I've got over 75% success on balls going down the right outlane.
And just to show that you don't have to hit hard:  one time I did hit really
hard, and yeah, I saved the ball, it went all the way up the left inlane and
back down the left outlane.

A bang back also works for balls coming down the left outlane.  In this case,
hold up the left flipper (optionally cross hands to do so), and hit
upwards and to the right, so that the ball travels onto the right flipper.

Bang backs are also possible on center drains.  In the same way that a ball can
travel up to the left outlane for a sproing save, you can get a draining ball
to travel towards the left or right outlane.  As long as the ball goes a little
beyond the flipper, it will have to roll back down to the through, and hence
you can perform a bang back as it rolls back down.  I have (surprisingly) found
that the slower the ball is moving, the easier it is to do the bang back.
Mainly a slower moving ball gives me more time to cross my hands and
better chance at getting the timing just right.

On twilight zone, bang backs are much easier from the right outlane, because
the right outlane is much narrower than the left outlane.  However, bang
backs are still possible from the left outlane; you just have to have
your timing that much more accurate, and you must hit a little harder.

Yes, I have hurt my hand doing bang backs, but in each case where I did hurt
myself I did not hit the machine at the right place (e.g. caught the edge of
the coin-box door), and did not succeed in getting the bang back.  When I did
succeed, there was no pain at all (although I guess that because I succeeded
even if there was pain I wouldn't notice it :-) ).

Before you attempt any bang backs, look over that machine closely.  For
example, I was used to doing the bang back on TZ.  I tried one on The Addams
Family, but because it is not a wide body, the plunger is closer to the
center.  Around the plunger is a square steel plate that is protruding, and
I caught the corner of that; OUCH!!!!  So if you are going to try bang backs,
look at the game closely beforehand so you know exactly where you will hit
the game.


Summary:

Different techniques work better on different games.  If you play a new
game, just try the various techniques and see which one works for you.

I hope this helps.  I know I was never able to do any of these saves until
I saw someone else do it first (maybe it was only psychological :-)).
But even if you aren't able to do them yourself, hopefully you will
have a better understanding of the different techniques in case other
r.g.p.netters talk about them.


~dave