Sinkholes

A hole in the playfield used as a target — the ball drops in, scores, and is either ejected back into play or consumed depending on the game’s design. Sinkholes overlap with related mechanisms such as Gobble Holes, which end the ball, and Cellar Holes, which route it beneath the playfield. The term is a broad one, encompassing various hole-based scoring devices across pinball’s history. In early machines, sinkholes were among the primary scoring elements on the playfield, and their placement defined the risk-reward geography of the game — every approach to a sinkhole carried the possibility of draining nearby.