Tiny Tip 14

This is the fourteenth installment of a 20 part series of tiny tips to help improve your fortunes in pinball. I hope you find it useful, and share with friends if inspired!

July 28 Book Launch Event !!

Please join us for the Pinball: A Quest for Mastery book launch party hosted by Ten Trees Books in Natick, Massachusetts. The event will feature a Q&A with Mark Patenaude from Backhand Pinball followed by a book signing, prize giveaways, crunchy snacks and tasty drinks. Tickets are free, but space is limited!

Details and tickets here: July 28, 2026 Book Launch Party

Managing Multiball

Multiple active balls on the playfield present an opportunity to rack up huge points! They also presents key challenges when dealing with playfield obstructions and determining where to focus your attention. Below are a few factors to consider and some tips to help promote high scoring gameplay:

Go in with a game play
Know enough about the rules that you can identify which targets award jackpots and the yield the most points. Flailing about a flurry of balls can be fun, but it seldom yields more points than strategically coordinating the action so you can take deliberate shots at high value targets.

Consider Playfield Obstructions
Balls on the playfield become obstacles between the flippers and high value targets in the upper playfield. Knowing where to find the lucrative targets is one thing, but successfully shooting them through a field of moving balls is another.

Focus
Multiball mode presents a challenge to mental focus. Rules and objectives change during this mode, balls are flying everywhere, and it is difficult to know where to focus your attention. Do you look at the flippers? Do you look at playfield lights indicating active targets? Do you look to the backglass for guidance? The answer to all these questions is yes—but the challenge lies in striking a balance that factors in both point scoring opportunities and ball control.

3 Primary Strategies

Players generally adopt one of three strategies:

Keep all balls in play: This strategy entails keeping all the balls in play at once—and favors multiball modes that award points based on the accumulated number of switch hits. By keeping the balls on the playfield, you will maximize the number of switch hits accumulated during this mode.
Strategic draining: Some players choose to allow balls to drain from the playfield while the ball-save feature is active. They are able to do so without losing those balls, since the ball-save feature, when active, returns lost balls to the playfield. This strategy offers a couple of benefits. When balls are drained from play, the playfield is cleared of obstructions, allowing for clear shots at juicy, high value targets. In addition to clearing the playfield of physical obstructions, your mind is freed from the labor of managing multiple objects simultaneously, allowing you to devote undivided attention to making one shot at a time. This can be effective when aiming for difficult targets.
Catching and holding balls: Some players find it helpful to catch one or more balls on a single flipper, using the other flipper to shoot at targets on the playfield. As with the draining strategy, the playfield is clear of obstructions, providing clear shots at high value targets. Again, your mind is freed from the labor of managing multiple balls simultaneously, affording greater clarity, the opportunity to reassess your game plan, and a little more time for careful aiming at tricky shots.

WARNING: The disadvantage of this strategy is that holding one flipper in the up position creates a much-larger gap between the flippers, inviting center drains. Additionally, having use of only a single flipper is like having one hand tied behind your back. It restricts your ability to perform many types of passes and catches and limits you to the targets accessible from the single free flipper.

Mind the gap! Exposure to drains will vary based on the location and direction of approaching balls.

Cradled Ball Control

Despite the risks of exposure the to the drain, capturing one or more balls on a raised flipper is fun and has many advantages. Consider a couple of these ball-management strategies when confronted with your next multiball:

Separating 2 balls allows for a controlled shot at lucrative targets.

Separating 3 balls can be more challenging, but provides the same benefit

The over / under requires a light touch and quick timing.

Stay tuned for more tips to help you improve your game, and for deeper dives check out my forthcoming project published with Schiffer Books: Pinball: A Quest For Mastery, hitting book stores everywhere July 28, 2026.

Stay curious, practice with intention, and keep it fun: your fortunes in pinball (and in life) are sure to improve.