Very realistic, in that if you had to pay quarters to play it you would go broke very quickly, which was the design intent of IRL pinball machines. If I had a nickle for every time on the the side chutes caught the ball, launched it, and had it go right back down the (now inactive) chute I would probably have enough to go buy a coffee by now. Combined with the bad hit detection on the paddles and the inability to see the whole board at once, it's rather frustrating.