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Use Flash, not Ruffle:

I got so tired of using waterfox with flash and having to refresh over and over, sometimes for over an hour (multitasking, of course), just to connect to the server and play some pinball.
And Ruffle simply does not get along with pinball at the moment.

So far the below solution is working well. I tested it out first on an old laptop just in case it didn't turn out to be a safe download. Portable Firefox with Flash. There's also another possibility I've found.

Please use these with caution, I am not responsible for the content of these sites. Do scan downloads with antivirus software and be skeptical of .exe files from sources you don't trust.

You could also follow instructions to create your own portable Firefox or other browser with flash, though, I don't know how difficult it is to do.

With the portable firefox, it often takes only a few refreshes to get past the server errors. But not always, if you spend a while refreshing and it still isn't connecting, try again later.
Waterfox with flash also works alright, but frequently takes many more refreshes to connect.

10/31/24 - I'm contemplating gathering info and putting together an updated pinball guide with tips. Even though I don't have particularly high scores or anything...
I found a thread with some general guides as well as tips from various users, here.

Update, here's a guide!
Last updated: 11/1/24
My current high score: 1,060,375

Tips/In-Progress Pinball Guide:

Important note: at the end of a game, it doesn't always display your score and gold, click new game and it'll pop up.
On that screen it frequently says 0 gold, I promise you are getting gold/platinum from it, watch your $ in the upper left corner go up after a game ends.
Occasionally that screen says absurdly wild numbers and even negative numbers for gold earned. Don't worry about it.

Also, with the above alternate browsers, they can get a bit slow after browsing for a while, before playing pinball I recommend fully closing (all tabs and windows) then opening and going straight to games to open pinball.
Also if you leave pinball open and browse on another window for a while and come back, it may become laggy.

Controlling Direction:

The part of the paddle the ball hits determines directions, hit in the middle goes up, hit in the back (near the fulcrum) goes backwards, hit near the tip goes forwards.

For example, when the mansion/lab is ready, if the ball goes in the ramp to the right bottom paddle, let it roll to almost the tip before hitting /? to launch it into the mansion.

Note that when sticky ball is active (paddles turn green) the paddles attract the ball, but also draw it to the middle of the paddle. This is important to consider depending on where you want the ball to go. It can also make it harder getting into the spaces behind the left and right (bank? and ???).

You can also "catch" the ball as it flies out of the mansion/lab, the shop, and the fishing hole by holding your paddles up. Depending on the speed of the ball, it may stop entirely and sit nicely, or may roll off.

With practice, you'll get used to directing the ball and sometimes practically passing it between different flippers.

Other Tips:

To quickly use a power up, hit the number associated with it twice, once to scroll to it, the second to activate. Otherwise, keep the floaties up so you can quickly rescue the ball with the up arrow or 1. Using bag of marbles can also prevent the current round from ending.

You can hit p to pause and activate a power up while paused (pretty sure).

Get your grunnies (green fellas above upper right paddle) to up your field multiplier. This multiplies your points for the round when you sink the ball. Your current multiplier is in red in the middle (between the arena and your paddles). Fool's gold also ups your multiplier.

Each rebuild of the mansion/lab also activates a kickback each time (OMG/WTF turn red and gate appears which will prevent the ball from sinking down the side chutes). Insurance policy power up activates both.

If "gaia" is almost complete (each rebuild of the mansion adds a letter), having a sticky ball on hand will make Von Helson's a lot easier. As soon as you enter, hit 3 twice to activate sticky ball. Or scroll to it with the left/right arrow keys then up arrow to activate.
I'm not certain if multi-ball works with Von Helson's, and activating it may be a waste if you are about to enter or have entered.

When you see a cow, rock puppy, UFO, or avatars, hitting them gets points, but beware the ball bounces off them fast, be prepared to prevent it from sinking. Waiting until cow/puppy/UFO is not in the space between the arena and bottom paddles helps prevent this.

Fishing hole: To level up your fish, clear them all and then enter the shack again, or use the fishnet power up.

Supposedly guild ramp bonus and slots multiplier are based on how many times the blue spinner spins, a faster ball will make it spin more.

Events:

SLOTS: opens slots ramp (next to the shop ramp), enter to play slots, faster ball increases multiplier

TRADE: (on the left of the arena, across from the mansion/fishing hole), result depends on how many times it's been activated reset:
first: left gate opens (below mansion) to the bank
second: right gate opens (below grunnies) to the market
third: going up the guild ramp (above grunnies) to activate kiki multiball (same effect as bag of marbles)

Above TRADE is the guild target, activates guild ramp bonus (entrance above grunnies).

VOTE: in the arena, if activated they turn green and get more points, great for multiball from kiki or bag of marbles

Shopping:

Coins, for the shop with rufus (the cat), comes from a few sources:
entering the mansion (destroy or rebuild), fishing hole shack, bank (left), marketplace (right), ...

The shop always redeems the item associated with the for the coins you currently have.

I suspect that whatever coins you end with does redeem when it's game over. Not confirmed though. Sometimes I also wonder if a really high scoring game gives some power ups too...

If you accidentally repeatedly knock the ball back into the shop right after it shoots out, don't smack the ball the instant it pops out, delaying a tiny bit changes the direction. (Same for the fishing hole shack)