Flipper Skills
Knowing how to control and direct the ball is the foundation of any good player. Check out these easy-to-follow short videos which can improve your game drastically with a little bit of practice.
You can jump to a specific video by clicking on the menu bar in the top right corner of the video.
Pinball Playing Tips
In the realm of classic arcade games, few experiences rival the sheer joy and satisfaction that come with learning and playing pinball. It’s a timeless journey into a world where physics, reflexes, and intuition collide to create an experience that is as captivating as it is gratifying.
This page is here to help you understand the very basics, from starting games to improving your flipper skills. Once you get the hang of it, pinball can be very satisfying and rewarding, not to mention you can win free games!
How to Pay for Games
At all NYC Pins locations, there are three ways to pay for games—quarters, bills, and through an easy-to-use app called PayRange.
How to Start Games
Do you want to play a game alone or with friends? You can do either, just remember each player has to pay to enter the match. If four players want to play together and the game costs one dollar, each player must pay a dollar and the screen should say there are four credits. Now you must hit the start button four times—once for each player. Every player will have three balls for their game, and it will rotate through all the players before you move on to the second ball. The exception to this is if a player earns an extra ball, they will immediately play it after their current ball drains.
The graphic above shows exactly how this works on the screen with a 4-player game. The score that is bigger than the rest is the player that is up. Once their turn is over, it will follow the order of the dashed line. After the first ball is over for everyone, it returns to the first player for Ball 2. You can play any combination of 1 to 4 players.
Pinball Pointers
• Many games (but not all) have a ball save feature which will return the ball to you if you drain within the first 6 seconds
• Physically nudging the game is acceptable to help direct the ball, but the game will only allow so much. If you push it too much, the game will “tilt,” and that player’s ball will end
• If you hear a loud knock, you’ve won a free game which is awarded as a credit. Once the current game is over, you can hit the start button to play again
For game specific rules, check out this awesome collection of Pinball Tutorials on the PAPA pinball YouTube channel