It took only three decades but the secret to beating Piston Honda in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out has been discovered.

Beating the gargantuan fighters has of course always been possible, particularly if you can land a punch at a precise moment when they leave themselves vulnerable. The problem is that the window of opportunity is so short that by the time you spot the cue from the opposing boxer’s movement, it’s usually too late to react.

In 2009, designer Makoto Wada revealed that he and his colleagues included some more useful visual cues. He noted that the first time you fight Bald Bull, if you watch out for a flashing light in the audience (apparently a camera flash) and immediately punch, you’ll land a fight-ending body blow.

Since then players have been looking for similar cues and a Reddit user going by the name of midwesternhousewives has spotted another one. This works on both Piston Honda and Bald Bull, but only the second time you fight each of them.

The trick is to watch for a bearded front row spectator around seven seats from the left. It turns out that now and again he’ll appear to nod his head. Throw a punch at this precise moment and it’s lights out. Who knows, perhaps the bearded man is a mafia boss giving the cue for Honda or Bull to take a dive?

While the trick appears to always work, there is a major drawback: watching out for the nodding man can make it much harder to pay enough attention to defend yourself while waiting for the magic moment.