Putting the ball into the hyper space chute the 4th time doesn't get you a free ball... it gets you an OPPORTUNITY to get a free ball ("EXTRA BALL AVAILABLE"). To actually get it, you have to get your ball into the vertical chutes to the extreme left or extreme right, all the way at the bottom. You have to do it while the light in those chutes is lit. Here's the real trick with the hyper space chute: DON'T go into it for the 5th time to do "GRAVITY WELL". It's neat to see the ball act funny and you get a few points once the gravity is "normalized", but instead of doing that, try to get your "extra ball", and then wait a few minutes... after a minute or so, the fourth light in the hyper space chute will go out. Once it does, THEN shoot your ball back into it and you'll get another "EXTRA BALL AVAILABLE"! I've managed to rack up 4 extra balls at one time that way. But... "REPLAYs" are more valuable than "EXTRA BALLS", because with a replay, any missions ! that you're currently in the middle of don't get cancelled; you get to continue them. With an extra ball, you start over.