Disclaimer: English is not my mothertongue. Sorry if I commit any grammar or spelling mistake.

Hi there! The mechanics of The Ol' Pinny B. can be tricky, so I'm going to explain some of the basics of this mini game, and the main strategy to follow to get the achivement Pinball Lizard. I hope it's useful.

You must already know them because you might have seen this screen:


So basic controls are:

• Right Arrow / Click to Right Button: Right Flipper Up
  
• Left Arrow / Click to Left Button: Left Flipper Up
  
• Space Bar / Click the Plunger: Shoot a Ball

It's always better to use the keyboard rather than clicking.

Pretty Obvious, right? But what if I tell you those aren't all the controls for this game? That there's one implicit control it's not said in the main instructions? Well, the game it's called one way for a reason: The Ol' Pinny B.

So what's this new control for? Well, to give it some real life flavor!

• B key: shake/bump/nudge that good ol' machine

Now, you actually have knowledge of all the controls let's talk about how to use B key properly.

Shaking the pinball can be a double-edged sword. If it's used in the right moment it might help you to gain extra points. However in the wrong moment it might only help for the ball to fall down or even... make the ball fall out from the machine!


Shake It When It's Above!
Shaking the machine when is up between the bumpers it's the best moment to make the ball to crash again and gain some nice extra points.


Here an example of shaking when it's above.


Don't Shake It When It's In the Middle Or Lower!
It's very likely to make the ball fall faster, or fall in an undesired direction when it was going straight to the flipper, if we shake the machine at the wrong moment. It's rare to get the ball out of control due to a shake if we never shake when i't at the middle or lower.

Just Don't Shake It Too Much!
If you shake the ball too much, especially if you do it near the bottom part of the pinball, you could cause the ball to fall out from the machine!


Here an example of a ball falling out from the machine!

This might look funny, but it's a problem. You won't get any more balls, but you won't lose your lifes either. Shaking the machine, hitting keys or clicking the mouse buttons to look up for a way to catch the ball and keep playing doesn't seem possible. This means you'll get stuck in this mini-game, without any possibility to fail or win at it and scape.

So the only option is to close the game.

When you are stuck with this achiviment it's a pain if you get between 5000 points and 15000, as you won't get the achivement but you'll pass Joanie's challenge, which means you won't be able to retry unless you finish the day and a new one starts. Having to go through all the game for just one achivement... that's too tedious.

So to avoid this boredom and keep as mentally healthy as possible, quickly push Alt+F4 when you lose the 4th ball and you are under 15000. That way you interrupt the game and don't let it save. Then put the game again, and keep trying.

I must admit that to some extent, the game is a matter of good luck. Try to make use of the arrows and the special B when necessary, but don't be hard on yourself, because sometimes it's simply impossible to hit the ball. Sometimes the ball will take a trajectory in which you won't even have any opportunity to reach it with the flippers.


Bad luck at its best.

If very unlucky, remember Alt+F4. That's all.

Good Luck!