Warning

This is the dev documentation for an unreleased version of MPF!

This is the documentation for MPF 0.55+, which is the “dev” (next) release of MPF that is a work-in-progress. Unless you’re specifically looking for this version, you probably want to use the version of documentation called “latest” which is for the latest released version of MPF. That documentation is at docs.missionpinball.org/en/latest.

Combo Switches (“flipper cancel”, etc.)

Related Config File Sections
combo_switches:

MPF contains support for “combo switches” which are special combinations of switches that post events when they’re hit together.

The most basic example of this is the “flipper cancel” combination, where a player can cancel a show or bonus by hitting both flippers at the same time. In fact MPF contains built-in support for the flipper cancel combo. If you add the tag left_flipper to your left flipper switch, and right_flipper to your right flipper switch, then whenever the player hits both flippers at the same time, an MPF event called flipper_cancel will be posted.

Combo switches are also used for things like different kinds of skill shots. For example, in Attack From Mars, if the player hits the launch button, the ball is launched into the pop bumper area, but if the player holds down the left flipper button while pressing the launch button, the ball gate (Bally part A-17796) in the upper playfield is raised and the ball is allowed to pass through and is delivered to the flippers for an attempt at a super skill shot. The left flipper + launch button combination is something you can enable with MPF’s combo switches.

MPF’s combo switches also generate events once both switches are hit together, then one switch is tapped while the other is held in. This can be used to scroll through certain information screens with one button while the combo is active.

You can set various timing options for combo switches, including how close together the two switches have to be hit to count as a combo, how long they have to be held, and how long they have to be released.

Built-in flipper cancel combo

MPF’s mpfconfig.yaml (the built-in machine config that’s merged in with all machine configs) includes the following section:

combo_switches:
  both_flippers:
    tag_1: left_flipper
    tag_2: right_flipper
    events_when_both: flipper_cancel
This example is tested to be valid MPF config. However, it is not integration tested.
combo_switches:
  both_flippers:
    tag_1: left_flipper
    tag_2: right_flipper
    events_when_both: flipper_cancel

This means if you tag add tags: left_flipper to your left flipper button and tags: right_flipper to your right flipper button, you’ll get an event flipper_cancel posted anytime the player has both flipper buttons pushed in which you can use to cancel shows or whatever else you want to do. If you want to change or override this (perhaps you want to set a max_offset_time: to make sure this event is only posted if the player hits the flipper buttons within 500ms, then you can copy and add this section to your own machine config file and it will overwrite this default config.

Here is an example of using flipper_cancel to cancel a show:

switches:
  s_flipper_left:
    tags: left_flipper
    number:
  s_flipper_right:
    tags: right_flipper
    number:

shows:
  mode_intro:
    - duration: 5
      slides:
        mode_intro_slide:
          widgets:
            - type: text
              text: Hit 50 switches to light jackpot
              color: white
              font_size: 100
show_player:
  start_mode_intro_show:
    mode_intro:
      loops: 0
      events_when_stopped: mode_intro_show_ended
  flipper_cancel:
    mode_intro:
      action: stop
This example is tested to be valid MPF and MPF-MC config. Additionally, our integration test passed. Click to show the test and full config.
switches:
  s_flipper_left:
    tags: left_flipper
    number:
  s_flipper_right:
    tags: right_flipper
    number:

shows:
  mode_intro:
    - duration: 5
      slides:
        mode_intro_slide:
          widgets:
            - type: text
              text: Hit 50 switches to light jackpot
              color: white
              font_size: 100
show_player:
  start_mode_intro_show:
    mode_intro:
      loops: 0
      events_when_stopped: mode_intro_show_ended
  flipper_cancel:
    mode_intro:
      action: stop
##! test
post start_mode_intro_show
advance_time_and_run .1
assert_slide_active mode_intro_slide
hit_switch s_flipper_left
hit_switch s_flipper_right
advance_time_and_run .1
assert_slide_not_active mode_intro_slide

The start_mode_intro_show will play for 5 seconds unless both flipper buttons are pressed which will cancel the show.

Monitorable Properties

For dynamic values and conditional events, the prefix for combo switches is device.combo_switches.<name>.

state
String which reflects what state this combo switch is in. Options wil be one of the following: inactive, both or one.