Ben Granger, my friend

We taking a break for a minute. Time to regroup

Hola pinboleros,

There’s no easy way to say this: I’m tired of writing eulogies for our friends. This year we lost 3 nudge contributors and each one took a lot out of me. This last one is so hard to write because of all the tragedy and mystery surrounding what happened to Ben Granger, but I’m not going to delve into that.

When I first started Nudge, Ben was key, but I didn’t know it. He was just some dude who was friends with a local arcade owner that used him for tricky repairs on games to resell to old rich guys with cabins.

I didn’t realize the entire life Ben had already lived in pinball up to that point. I didn’t realize he had written an amazing play about getting sober and finding pinball. I didn’t know he was the Midwest’s best pinball player. I didn’t know that he’d enter my life, fill it full of joy, then boot the fuck out just fourish years later.

I mean, what the fuck, right? What the fuck, god? When I found out, I only told a couple people. One of them was Tim, the guy who had introduced us way back when. I told him that i realized right before our call that three years earlier we had all been celebrating Christmas at his arcade together. Now Ben is gone and I don’t see Tim too much. Life, right?

It’s crazy to think I’ll never get my ass beat on any game by Ben ever again. You see these people at the arcade and you think they’re gonna be there forever. They’re not. And you know what? That’s OK. We all have a shelf life. We all only get three balls. It’s all in how you play them. This week, I’m going to include Ben’s article Confessions of an Ex Rage Tilter. It’s so funny and full of life.

I miss my friends, guys. I think this means a little break from me for a while. I need to regroup. I’ll see ya when the games turn back on.

Confession of an ex-rage tilter

Ben Granger

The polevault. the coffin drop, the lockbar/elbow smash – rage tilting is greasy business. Like most bad habits though, It’s surprisingly easy to justify smacking the glass like a little bitch when you know the performance did not live up to the skills or standards you’re capable of. The thing is: literally nobody gives a shit. You’re objectively acting like a toddler, and it’s a really stupid look no matter how you twist that kaleidoscope.

And just like eating a sleeve or two of Girl Scout thin mints, the catharsis is quickly replaced by shame, self-loathing, and embarrassment. And now you’ve got chocolate on your face, dummy. In all seriousness, if you’re not embarrassed by the following behavior, you really should be. But before I go full Roman Catholic, here’s a quick look at the many ways to get handsy with a pin.

Wholesome maneuvers: just good, clean physical interactivity, lauded by Saint and sinner alike.

The nudge

(ayyy): needs no deep explanation. Generally a simple up-down push or bump, either to get the ball out of danger zones (outlane), or into where you want (skill shot, rollovers, ski-jumping over flippers, dead flips, etc). Masters of this make it look easy.

Wicked shimmy

by definition, this is when you shake the game side to side rapidly to rattle the ball up out of the outlane and into safety. This move is also effective to change the path or direction of the ball slightly when headed for the drain. (As a side note, I first saw this maneuver done by the legendary Paul Madison on a Bally Strikes and Spares with a fairly tight tilt, and the ball was a solid two inches down the outlane already. That’s smooth, round steel on wood and wire, moonwalking up and over to the inlane. Insane.)

Slap save

a hard slap on one side of the cabinet will move the machine just enough to get a little piece of a near center-draining ball and tip it to the other flipper a split second later. The pinball version of a drummer’s flam. When performed with vigor, the bouncer may yell.

Lock bar or cabinet slapping:

On a game with a tight tilt, you can change the direction or momentum of the ball slightly by hitting the lock bar or sides of the cabinet.

Questionable, faux pas, or even banned under certain social or competitive circumstances

These are generally acceptable and common to see at most pinball-centric locations or your homies basement. (Not you, collector who keeps the play count under 300 intentionally. Not throwing shade, we just know that if you even let us play a game or two, that shit won’t fly on your HUO POTC CE.)

Slide save

when playing that clapped out dive bar machine the tilt bob fell off of years ago (or never got installed?), slide that puppy 6 inches to the left or right to bail you out of a center drain. Not even a single danger.

Death save

depending on tilt settings, you can usually perform this with zero to two tilt warnings on a modern game. When a ball is draining down the right outlane, slide the game up and to the right just as it contacting the trough or left apron wall. Pops up to the right flipper.

Bang back

The sexier cousin of the death save, this can be performed from either side on an outlane drain. As the ball passes under the flipper toward the drain, hold up the flipper and smackthe front of the machine above the coin door. The ball will pop out of the drain and onto the opposite flipper. You will probably hurt yourself learning this. Focus your Chi or something.To be fair, any of those moves could get you yelled at, but they’re not objectively bad for the machine. But it can be, and this is where it gets sketchy— don’t try this at home, etc etc.

Moves that put you at the top of the door guy’s hit list. (We DO NOT condone)

Death save via leg kick

have you ever seen a twisted up Stern leg and wondered what happens when you go home at night? Kicking the leg gives that death save a snappier pop, but it can bend the shit out of it. No bueno.

The Coffin drop

This is a pure rage maneuver. You finally drain that ten minute ball (doesn’t this game know who I am? The audacity!) and you reward the inanimate device with some Schwarzenegger-style payback, lifting the front of the cabinet up 6 to 8 inches and letting it slam to the floor. Yeah, I know. People actually do this.

The pole vault

this is the pinball version of a bar fight where two drunk bros just shove each other really hard. Except one bro doesn’t shove back, has 4 legs, and two of them are against the wall so all that kinetic energy has nowhere to go but up. Both front legs off the ground if the shove is really spicy. No, fuck you bro!

The elbow drop/glass smash

: punching, slapping, or elbowing the glass after a drain. It’s super loud and jarring, and everyone in the place will probably jump. The bouncer is on to you.

The classic rage tilt

I’ve taken some liberties with naming some of these “moves,” but there wasn’t a single descriptor for the act at the center of it all. Making damn sure the game tilts at all costs. Shoving, sliding, whatever, just need to see the TILT on screen for satisfaction.

Pick your poison

For me, I like some good rabid dog side-to-side action. Usually it starts with a wicked shimmy attempt and ends with the tilt bob rattling like the front end of a Town and Country. I’m the only person I know who has received a yellow card at every Pinburgh tournament I’ve played in. Turns out slapping the glass in the cathedral-esque halls of David Lawrence convention center is a little louder than it is in Mom’s basement. Pair it with obscenities in the key of dickface and you’ve cemented your pinball image for everyone in earshot who cares to remember. And I know some champion tilters who think that should be worn like a badge of honor. But facts is facts: it’s a really, really bad look. No, I’ve never coffin-dropped a game or kicked a leg, but there’s levels to the shit.

In the end, nothing really matters

Like that movie with the drunk pilot who lands the plane safely, most people will see the merit in an aggressive move that pays dividends in the form of extending ball time. That same aggression after draining tho? Tsk tsk. Passion for the game is great, but the temperance of one’s behavior, or lack thereof, leaves a lasting impression far beyond any high score or shit performance. It’s also the difference between a seasoned tournament player or an old-school casual player and a hotheaded jabroni at the peak of the Dunning-Krueger bell curve. Gotta take the high scores and the power drains alike in stride

The End

I’ll see you guys soon. RIP Ben.

Ian Jacoby,

Editor in Chief, Nudge Magazine