A little while after I rediscovered pinball I was invited by Marco (pinfan) to check out his collection. Now, the last time I had played pinball was in the arcades as a kid. He gave me a game on his Black Knight and I totally forgot where I was, I was playing like I was back in the arcade. I don't know exactly what I was doing but I was obviously being a bit hard on the flipper buttons. He watched for a while and then said really quietly: "yeah, I'm pretty gentle with my machines." I thought that was a really cool way to handle it, not referring to what I was doing but pointing out what he did when he played. I got the message and quietened down. After that, I changed my technique, now I try to push the buttons only as hard as is required. After all, if you are slapping the game your hand won't be ready for the next shot if the ball comes back at you quickly.