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kickbacks:

This is a config file reference. Click for instructions.

This page is reference material which explains every setting and option for this section of an MPF yaml config file. See the instructions for config files for formatting and other details. See our guide to config file examples for more examples of real configs in action.

Valid in
machine config files YES ✅
mode config files NO 🚫

The kickbacks: section of your machine config is used to define kickback mechanisms which are a type of autofire coil that kicks the ball back into play, typically located in an outlane.

This is an example:

switches:
  s_kickback:
    number: 1
coils:
  c_kickback:
    number: 1
    default_pulse_ms: 20ms
kickbacks:
  left_kickback:
    coil: c_kickback
    switch: s_kickback

Since kickbacks are a type of autofire coil, they have the same settings as autofire_coils:. See that documentation for a list of all the settings and options.

Required settings

The following sections are required in the kickbacks: section of your config:

coil:

Single value, type: string name of a coils: device. Defaults to empty.

The name of the coil you want to fire. (Actually, perhaps we should phrase it as the name of the coil you want to change the state on, because you can also use these kickback coil rules to cause coils to stop firing based on a switch change.)

switch:

Single value, type: string name of a switches: device. Defaults to empty.

The name of the switch which will trigger the kickback coil. More precisely, this switch is used together with the coil in the hardware rules which will instruct your pinball hardware to pulse the coil.

Optional settings

The following sections are optional in the kickbacks: section of your config. (If you don't include them, the default will be used).

ball_search_order:

Single value, type: integer. Default: 100

A relative value which controls the order individual devices are pulsed when ball search is running. Lower numbers are checked first. Set to 0 if you do not want this device to be included in the ball search. See the Ball Search documentation for details.

coil_overwrite:

Single value, type: coil_overwrites:. Defaults to empty.

You can overwrite recycle, pulse_ms, pulse_power or hold_power of the coil for this device.

This is an example:

switches:
  s_kickback:
    number: 1
coils:
  c_kickback:
    number: 1
    default_pulse_ms: 10ms
kickbacks:
  left_kickback:
    coil: c_kickback
    switch: s_kickback
    coil_overwrite:
      pulse_ms: 20ms

In this example we increase pulse_ms of the kickback.

coil_pulse_delay:

Single value, type: time string (ms) (Instructions for entering time strings). Default: 0

This setting will delay the pulse of your coil by a certain milliseconds after your switch has activated. Please note that this has to be supported in your hardware platform and not all platforms do that.

disable_events:

List of one (or more) device control events (Instructions for entering device control events). Default: ball_will_end, service_mode_entered

Disables this kickback coil by clearing the hardware rule from the pinball controller hardware.

enable_events:

List of one (or more) device control events (Instructions for entering device control events). Defaults to empty.

Enables this kickback coil by writing the hardware rule to the pinball controller hardware.

playfield:

Single value, type: string name of a playfields: device. Default: playfield

The name of the playfield that this kickback device is on. The default setting is "playfield", so you only have to change this value if you have more than one playfield and you're managing them separately.

reverse_switch:

Single value, type: boolean (true/false). Default: false

Boolean which controls whether this kickback device fires when the switch is active or inactive. The default behavior is that the coil is fired when the switch goes to an active state. If you want to reverse that, so the coil fires when the switch goes to inactive, then set this to False. (This is what you would use if you have an opto.) Default is False.

switch_overwrite:

One or more sub-entries. Each in the format of string : string

You can overwrite the debounce setting of your switch in this device.

timeout_disable_time:

Single value, type: time string (ms) (Instructions for entering time strings). Default: 0

To prevent machine gunning of your kickback coils you can define a windows timeout_watch_time. If more than timeout_max_hits hits to your switch (and thus responses by your coil) are seen by MPF it will disable the hardware rule for timeout_disable_time and reinstall it afterwards.

timeout_max_hits:

Single value, type: integer. Default: 0

To prevent machine gunning of your kickback coils you can define a windows timeout_watch_time. If more than timeout_max_hits hits to your switch (and thus responses by your coil) are seen by MPF it will disable the hardware rule for timeout_disable_time and reinstall it afterwards.

timeout_watch_time:

Single value, type: time string (ms) (Instructions for entering time strings). Default: 0

To prevent machine gunning of your kickback coils you can define a windows timeout_watch_time. If more than timeout_max_hits hits to your switch (and thus responses by your coil) are seen by MPF it will disable the hardware rule for timeout_disable_time and reinstall it afterwards.

console_log:

Single value, type: one of the following options: none, basic, full. Default: basic

Log level for the console log for this device.

debug:

Single value, type: boolean (true/false). Default: false

See the documentation on the debug setting for details.

file_log:

Single value, type: one of the following options: none, basic, full. Default: basic

Log level for the file log for this device.

label:

Single value, type: string. Default: %

The plain-English name for this device that will show up in operator menus and trouble reports.

tags:

List of one (or more) values, each is a type: string. Defaults to empty.

Special / reserved tags for kickbacks: None

See the documentation on tags for details.

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