Monopoly - that rotating flipper, and what else should I know?

gibbous

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Monopoly - that rotating flipper, and what else should I know?

So we just got a Monopoly. Sweet game. My first DMD. Love playing it. :D But I decided to remove the rubber on that rotating flipper. With the rubber on there, the ball gets stuck when you hit the waterworks hole, and you have to mash the regular flippers just to jar the ball so it will eventually pop out. Without the rubber, it pops the ball out with relative ease.

Are there any drawbacks to doing this? The bat seems pretty sturdy, but do I run the risk of cracking it with a good ball strike? Are there any rubbers out there that won't grab the ball so much? Can I coat the rubber with triple thick or something to make it slide better? What do Monopoly owners do?

This is my first pin newer than 1988. Are there any other quirks I should know about with this game? It doesn't look like it has the latest ROMs. Is it generally a good idea to have the latest version on there?
 
Thanks, Greg. Some nice looking fixes there. But the ball gets stuck on mine even if the flipper is rotating counter-clockwise. Taking the rubber ring off seems to help more than anything. There's a "divot" that helps the ball pop out if it's rotating counter-clockwise, I can see how it could get stuck rotating clockwise because there's no divot going that way. I guess I could try waxing it really well....
 
Good grab on the Monopoly. I think that game is a lot of fun.
These newer flippers aren't as prone to cracking as the ones from the 70's, but without the rubber it will happen eventually, escpecially when it gets a good direct whack from the left flipper. I would order an extra one to have on hand.
I wouldn't recommend putting Armorall or anything on the rubber to make it slippery as this will rub off onto the ball and get everywhere.
 
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Yeah, maybe elmer's white glue?? I dunno, something that will make it slippery rather than grabby.

This service bulletin: http://www.sternpinball.com/downloads/sb130.pdf

...also suggests checking to see that the flipper isn't mounted too high. This could push the ball down rather than dig it up and out of the hole. A rubber ring that isn't all the way down on the bat could have the same effect. I think this is my best lead as far as a culprit at this point.

After working with just older SS pins, it's a little weird to find all these answers in a nice, formatted PDF rather than an old RGP post. Also found the answer to the ball lofting and hitting the switch gate when you go up the center ramp.
 
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