Slingshots

The flippers keep the ball alive, but the bottom of the table is quiet. A ball rolls down a guide, lands on a flipper, and waits for you. Real tables put two angry rubber triangles above the flippers so that never lasts long.

Kicking rubbers

A slingshot is a strip of rubber with a switch behind it. The ball presses the rubber, the switch closes, and a solenoid (an electric magnet that yanks a rod) snaps a bar into the rubber from behind. The ball leaves faster than it came in.

Kicking rubbers are credited to Gottlieb's Double Feature, around 1950, designed by Wayne Neyens (Double Feature at the Arcade Museum, Pinball News on the middle years).