Gobble Holes

Holes in the playfield that swallow the ball and end it — no eject, no return. The ball drops through and is gone, awarding its score but costing the player that ball of play. Gobble holes were a defining feature of pre-Flippers and early flipper-era machines, where the entire playfield was a landscape of risk: every hole was a potential ending. As Flippers gave players more control and game designs shifted toward keeping the ball in play longer, gobble holes largely disappeared from mainstream pinball, surviving primarily in novelty games and as historical curiosities.