Pinball Electromagnets

Some machines feature electrically operated magnets below the playfield to affect the ball's speed and/or trajectory depending upon certain conditions that are met during the game. This may be done to make the ball's movement unpredictable, to temporarily halt the ball (as a ball saver, for example), or to otherwise control the ball by non-mechanical means. The electromagnets may also be used to pick up the ball and move it to different parts of the machine. The Williams machine The Twilight Zone featured a mini-playfield that used electromagnets controlled by the flipper buttons, allowing the player to flip the ball on the mini-playfield, essentially working as invisible flippers. Contrary to somewhat popular myth, there are no professionally produced pinball machines known to contain magnets under the playfield intended to clandestinely make game play harder or increase losses, increasing gains for the machine makers.


This diagram shows one of the ways that the ball might be controlled by electromagnets during the game, making it much more unpredictable and harder to win.