Strategy for this table.

[Zaphod77]

1) learn what modes are worth playing and what ones are not.

Worth playing

1) Mardi Gras. Just keep shooting fire in the hole. you score will shoot up pretty fast if you have the one time down. you will get over 100 million on this mode.
2) Atlanta. one time it into fire in the hole, then shot super blast. easy 60 million.
3) Denver. just keep shooting that ramp to boost your multiplier and collect points. another good chance to break 100M.
4) vegas. wheel spins are GOOD. They can give you extra balls.
5) Dallas. you can just keep shooting fire in the hole to finish.
6) super payday. this also gets you wheel spins, and the points can be pretty good.

Possibly worth it

7) minneapolis. you can finish it with effort and it has respectable points. shoot bunker a lot, and let the ball hit the magic standup.
8) Kansas. this can pay off if you are good at that bunker shot, and its' easier to control the balls after then nashville, which can led to a double drain if you aren't careful

Not worth it.

Everything else, including the west coast modes (you wanna get your locks for super payday for those) Most don't score enough to be worth the trouble.

Bonus X and souvenirs are the most important point source. and extra balls too. buy every pinball souvenir. never sell except on ball 3 when you have no extra balls and a maxed multiplier.

When you get the chance drain after a skillshot (if it didn't start a mode) to get a second one, and another souvenir.

Multiball IS important, because every lock gives you another skill shot, which is another 60 million in bonus for the rest of the gme, assuming you max the bonusx on every ball.

Modes lock out advancing towards multiball but you can still do fire in the hole, and bridge out, which you should try to do if you aren't playing the mode for real.

Master bridge out! multipliers are GOOD.

Try to reach the west coast multiple times on ball one.

Buying souvenirs IS worth it, so do make an effort to shoot that right loop beside ted to relight bobs.

Never play construction mania after you have the wizard goal.

Fun fact. Bad Weather can run during super payday. if it is, even if you are down to one ball, super payday keeps running until it ends.

Fun fact 2. a well times nudge can cause the ball to pass through the gate at the plunger and go BACK into the plunger lane! great to do this during multiball. BUt it's hard to set up on purpose.

 

[invitro]

1) learn what modes are worth playing and what ones are not.

What is your high score with this strategy?

 

[Maggie]

I'd amend that strategy some. The only thing that really matters is the end of ball bonus. In my 31B game, my last big bonus was just north of 4.5B. To maximize those bonuses, notice that the game unfolds in stages.

1. Stage 1. Focus on collecting souvenirs and lighting cities. I try to collect a few souvenirs before lighting a city, because the souvenir mode gets cut off by so many things (a spin the wheel to collect, multiball lock, city mode, extra ball to collect). But it's good to progress on the cities too. You need to get all 16 cities lit to make stage 3 really shine. When a city mode is lit, focus on raising the bonus multiplier and collecting spins on the wheel. For many of the cities, points will happen. The one exception is Vegas, when you want to collect spins. (Or at least most people do, I never get much out of that).

Play as safe as possible in this stage. You want lots of souvenirs and cities before balls start draining.

2. Stage 2. Once the end of ball drain gets big enough, lock down the 6x bonus multiplier as quickly as possible at the start of each new ball. Left ramp, Left Ramp, Right orbit can do this rapidly. That's the first priority. Once you've got 6X go back to building up cities and souvenirs. By this stage you've been across country at least once. Go for unlit cities when you have a shot at them. Work on souvenirs when the game wants to start a city mode you've already lit, if an unlit city is nearby that could get switched to.

Stage 3. Once you've got all the cities lit, forget about the cities. I don't try hard to avoid lighting a city, but cities now get in the way because they shut down Bob. Just relight Bob, and visit Bob as many times as possible. Those are pretty safe shots and you can go a long ways. I haven't checked it out since my big game, but it seemed to me that if you do this enough, you will generate enough extra balls to keep going for a good while. So basically, once all the cities are lit, for each new ball lock in the 6x, and then do nothing but collect souvenirs.

That's it. I don't have the combo wired solidly enough to guarantee myself 6X on every ball. But once the 6X is set, it seems to me you can pretty much collect souvenirs all day. You might want to have a lot of no-doze on hand.

I don't think anything else on the table is worth risking an early drain to go for. No blasts (plenty happen incidentally), No MB's (plenty happen incidentally -- and you want to shoot the locks once that's triggered, because when the lock light is lit, Bob is shut down, and you never want Bob to be shut down), and not even spinning the wheel (Lots of upside to spin the wheel, don't get me wrong. But it's incidental to the main strategy. When you've raised the multiplier, you've got to spin the wheel in order to get Bob back into play, so you'll get your spins in. But you'll be keeping your eye on the main prize -- getting to Bob as often as possible.

p.s. I wouldn't ever trade at Albuquerque. Even on the last ball. As long as I'm visiting Bob, I never know what ball is my last ball!

 

[Slam23]

I'm with Maggie on this one, except for these things (this is a fun table to discuss strategy over!)
- In stage 2 I think where it is said to go for the right orbit, it's probably the right ramp (this will feed the left-most flipper for a blast shot). That ramp will give an additional bonus X. In theory you could get Bonus X up to 6 if you repeat left ramp, left ramp, right ramp 3x.
- I think going for blasts is a good thing because of the direct extra ball possibilities and one possible from Flying Rocks, also blasts count toward bonus. EB lits automatically at 7 and 50 blasts and if you ever go around the clock (>255 blasts, granted that could be somewhat of a tall order, haven't been there myself ) they will light again. Also, Flying Rocks itself gives you one chance for an EB if you exit the ball at the third rail exit (before hitting the head of Ted). You'll get multiple chances for this, and that's good because it's not very easy to do. I get my blasts from one-timing balls that are released at the City Hole right up the "fire in the hole" alley. Pin that ball by keeping the left flipper up. Learn how to go for a Super Blast (15M, not much but accumulative over a game not bad also). Rinse and repeat. You'll collect cities and spins much safer than shooting for that city hole. Also, what Zaphod says --> in a couple of modes, the fire in the hole alley stays lit for repeated shots (New Orleans Mardi Gras, Dalls Monster Cab).

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

- Big Millions (hitting Red) caps at 25M and while a bit risky is worth decent points since you'll be shooting Bob's a lot.
- Million Plus likewise is good to get lit because you'll be shooting the right ramp a lot. Not sure where that caps at.

I scored 22B last night (and lost 1.5B in bonus when I tilted one ball), and I was up to ~120 blasts. So I'd say if you're going to be approaching 255 blasts, you're going to have around 40B or so already.

Getting to San Francisco is tricky. I believe you can only get there from Vegas, and you can only get to Vegas from Denver? Or is there another route?

 

[Slam23]

- Big Millions (hitting Red) caps at 25M and while a bit risky is worth decent points since you'll be shooting Bob's a lot.
- Million Plus likewise is good to get lit because you'll be shooting the right ramp a lot. Not sure where that caps at.

I scored 22B last night (and lost 1.5B in bonus when I tilted one ball), and I was up to ~120 blasts. So I'd say if you're going to be approaching 255 blasts, you're going to have around 40B or so already.

Getting to San Francisco is tricky. I believe you can only get there from Vegas, and you can only get to Vegas from Denver? Or is there another route?

Good one about Big Millions, I also cash in on that every time I go for Bob's. A good shot at Red can be catched quite easily on the right flipper after some ricochets. Million Plus caps at 12M I believe (says so in the TPA rules). I don't think you'll be around 40B with 255 blasts because scoring goes up exponentially by bonus.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Good one about Big Millions, I also cash in on that every time I go for Bob's. A good shot at Red can be catched quite easily on the right flipper after some ricochets. Million Plus caps at 12M I believe (says so in the TPA rules). I don't think you'll be around 40B with 255 blasts because scoring goes up exponentially by bonus.

Well while EBs are technically infinite since you can repeat the wheel and blasts, they're not easy to set up. Since you need an EB to collect your bonus every time... how often are you going to drain on purpose?

Really we should be aiming to complete the wheel on every ball, forget about everything else. Since Hold Bonus is a wheel award, no need to worry about getting 6x.

So optimal strategy boils down to:
1. Light all the cities ASAP.
2. Shoot Bob's/make skill shots to collect souvenirs. This should be your priority. Play Nashville and Kansas, and light locks, for additional skill shot opportunities.
3. Get 6x bonus.
4. Complete the wheel (or at worst get the wheel EB and bonus hold).
5. Drain, rinse, and repeat.

 

[Maggie]

I'm with Maggie on this one, except for these things (this is a fun table to discuss strategy over!)
- In stage 2 I think where it is said to go for the right orbit, it's probably the right ramp (this will feed the left-most flipper for a blast shot). That ramp will give an additional bonus X. In theory you could get Bonus X up to 6 if you repeat left ramp, left ramp, right ramp 3x.

That's what I was trying to say! Still working on pinball lingo!

- I think going for blasts is a good thing because of the direct extra ball possibilities and one possible from Flying Rocks, also blasts count toward bonus. EB lits automatically at 7 and 50 blasts and if you ever go around the clock (>255 blasts, granted that could be somewhat of a tall order, haven't been there myself ) they will light again. Also, Flying Rocks itself gives you one chance for an EB if you exit the ball at the third rail exit (before hitting the head of Ted). You'll get multiple chances for this, and that's good because it's not very easy to do. I get my blasts from one-timing balls that are released at the City Hole right up the "fire in the hole" alley. Pin that ball by keeping the left flipper up. Learn how to go for a Super Blast (15M, not much but accumulative over a game not bad also). Rinse and repeat. You'll collect cities and spins much safer than shooting for that city hole. Also, what Zaphod says --> in a couple of modes, the fire in the hole alley stays lit for repeated shots (New Orleans Mardi Gras, Dalls Monster Cab).

Here I think it's a matter of skill. I've tried to add in the super blast shot to the combo: left ramp, left ramp, right ramp, catch on flipper at fire in the hole and then... for you shoot Super Blast, get good things. For me, shoot at Super Blast, get a hard to control ricochet with a propensity to drain!

I do usually light up Flying rocks enough during a game to get the EB there. And I also get the 7 blast EB. But that's with blasts that happen incidentally. I've never gotten the second one. IF Bob coughs up pinballs at the rate I saw, there's enough new balls at Bob's to compensate for giving up the strategy of pursuing EB's through blasts and spinning the wheel.

 

[Zaphod77]

If you trap the ball on the mini flipper, you should NEVER miss a super blast. If you are hitting the blast targets, flip sooner, or make sure the ball settles into the trap. the timing is around 1/2 t 1/3rd of a second. just play a few games concentrating on nothing but super blasts, and you'll learn it.

The modes i'm listing as worth playing are reasonably safe. Denver gets you bonusx fast and scores well, mardi gras scores very well, and monster cab is pretty good too. and of course spins from the wheel at las vegas. shoot bobs, let it bounce off the magic standup, catch on right flipper, post pass to left, shoot bobs again. repeat.

Playing these lucrative cities boost super payday a lot, and there are many points to be had there. So i do think it's worthwhile to play any city mode you can complete without draining reliably.

Collect wheel awards by shooting the super blast. this frees up bobs for the souvenirs. you will get a LOT of blasts once you got the shot down.

The catch for relighting bobs is that the relight shot goes into the bumpers, and CAN drain. Main reasin my scores aren't in the stratosphere is i haven't mstered the ramp shots yet, and haven't mastered how to get the ball back out of the bumpers every time.

 

[Slam23]

Shooting Super Blast too quickly mostly lands you a shot to the city hole, so it's not that risky to practice. And it's a very repeatable shot in my experience, it has a broad sweet spot to boot. But I have seen these discussions before: for one player something is very easy, the other can't get the hang of it. I have seen it with the trapdoor shot in Funhouse, Thing Flips in TAF etc. Maybe it's those pesky short and high flippers that are positioned to shoot horizontal shots. Those are also hard to see under certain camera angles.
I haven't played Super Payday enough to get a feel for the scoring possibilities and it's been quite hard to keep those MB's going for a while. It sounds a bit like going to Atlantis in RBION with modes boosting scoring options. Will try that for sure!
About Bob's: there certainly is risk with that upper orbit to bumper shot. I find that balls that exit to the left from the bumper area can be somewhat dangerous. Other exits not so much. [MENTION=5109]Maggie[/MENTION] : any tips for this?

 

[invitro]

- Big Millions (hitting Red) caps at 25M and while a bit risky is worth decent points since you'll be shooting Bob's a lot.

Since the alternative is letting the ball roll down to a 100% caught ball on the L flipper, and Big Millions doesn't award souvenirs or advance toward an EB, I think shooting Red is a very poor strategy.

 

[invitro]

Well while EBs are technically infinite since you can repeat the wheel and blasts, they're not easy to set up. Since you need an EB to collect your bonus every time... how often are you going to drain on purpose?

Really we should be aiming to complete the wheel on every ball, forget about everything else. Since Hold Bonus is a wheel award, no need to worry about getting 6x.

So optimal strategy boils down to:
1. Light all the cities ASAP.
2. Shoot Bob's/make skill shots to collect souvenirs. This should be your priority. Play Nashville and Kansas, and light locks, for additional skill shot opportunities.
3. Get 6x bonus.
4. Complete the wheel (or at worst get the wheel EB and bonus hold).
5. Drain, rinse, and repeat.

The Wheel isn't that hard to set up... just use Las Vegas and Super Payday. I had 92 Wheel awards in my 67B game; that's 7 or 8 EBs, if I'm figuring correctly (the correct number is in my original post).

An optimal strategy must mention Las Vegas and Super Payday, I think. I'm generally not very good at strategy, but I think I'm right on this one. You'll be lighting Start City while collecting souvenirs, and you should hit it when it's lit, except that it's very important to go to Las Vegas, and it may be important to go to Nashville and Kansas (especially if you need 6X). In Super Payday, go for Wheel awards exclusively, unless you got an EB in Las Vegas.

I had 96 Blasts in my 67B game. I don't think going for Blasts beyond 50 is worth special shots to the L loop. But I still don't have that caught-ball on the small flipper shot down. In any case, it's not worth it unless you can get 262 Blasts .

 

[invitro]

The modes i'm listing as worth playing are reasonably safe. Denver gets you bonusx fast and scores well, mardi gras scores very well, and monster cab is pretty good too. and of course spins from the wheel at las vegas. shoot bobs, let it bounce off the magic standup, catch on right flipper, post pass to left, shoot bobs again. repeat.

Playing these lucrative cities boost super payday a lot, and there are many points to be had there. So i do think it's worthwhile to play any city mode you can complete without draining reliably.

Collect wheel awards by shooting the super blast. this frees up bobs for the souvenirs. you will get a LOT of blasts once you got the shot down.

The catch for relighting bobs is that the relight shot goes into the bumpers, and CAN drain. Main reasin my scores aren't in the stratosphere is i haven't mstered the ramp shots yet, and haven't mastered how to get the ball back out of the bumpers every time.

Las Vegas must certainly be played. I am not convinced that Denver or New Orleans should, especially if you've already got 6X.

I think you are making a big mistake about Super Payday: your focus should be on the Wheel awards, not the shots to re-collect city points (except for a re-collected Las Vegas EB). I'd like to see a detailed argument for the ramps/loops . Of course, you will hit some ramps/loops anyway.

So what is your high score? C'mon, don't be coy!

 

[invitro]

Getting to San Francisco is tricky. I believe you can only get there from Vegas, and you can only get to Vegas from Denver? Or is there another route?

Good questions... I have a note that says after Butte, you can go to Salt Lake City or Las Vegas. This needs confirmation.

Most of the rules for which city you can visit next "should" be obvious, but they aren't to me... I know the color can't repeat, and the general E -> W direction, and that there's something tricky about getting LV and SF. Anyway, my notes say...

After: You can go to:
Miami ... OH or Atlanta
Atlanta ... NO or OH
OH ... Nash or NO
Nash ... Chicago or Dallas
Chicago ... Dallas or KC
KC ... Albuq or ?
Albuq ... SLC or Butte
Butte ... SLC or LV
SLC ... Seattle or LA

I suppose all of that needs confirmation.

 

[invitro]

Getting to San Francisco is tricky. I believe you can only get there from Vegas, and you can only get to Vegas from Denver?

sorry i can't resist

 

[Maggie]

About Bob's: there certainly is risk with that upper orbit to bumper shot. I find that balls that exit to the left from the bumper area can be somewhat dangerous. Other exits not so much. [MENTION=5109]Maggie[/MENTION] : any tips for this?

I've played some more to see if I could give you an answer, but I really don't have one. It's not that I never lose balls coming out of those bumpers. It's just that I do so more rarely than I do from other shots. I'm getting better at the superblast shot off the fire in the hole hold, but I still lose a couple balls a game from that when the ball goes flying to the right outlane, and I have zero time to react. The balls coming out of the bumper into the playing field come out slower and I have more reaction time to nudge it into something manageable, or catch it with some fancy flipper work.

As an aside, for me I find that nudging the table can save balls from a left outlane drain pretty often (though not always). But I can never save a ball headed for the right outlane.

 

[Zaphod77]

Actually it seems the bonus hold award on the wheel is quite counter productive.

Once again, if bonus doesn't get held the bonusx extra ball becomes available (after 6X, bridge out LIGHTS EXTRA BALL, and it's repeatable. So once you got a decent umber of completed cities and souveniers, just shoot nothing but bridge out until you get the extra ball lit, then collect it spinning the wheel once. at this point just keep going for souveniers and blasts until you drain, ignore all cities, and ignore super payday. Until the game forces a bonus hold onto you. at this point, you have to collect the wheel extra ball to make it back up, so THEN go for vegas and super payday to recover the lost extra ball.

 

[invitro]

Once again, if bonus doesn't get held the bonusx extra ball becomes available (after 6X, bridge out LIGHTS EXTRA BALL, and it's repeatable.

The Bonus X EB is repeatable? Are you sure about that?

 

[Zaphod77]

pretty sure i got it twice in one game. there's no operator adjustment that I can see for it in the manual. so i have to assume it's unlimited. i can try and test more.

hmm was unable to reproduce this. i tried to get it a second time just now and it didn't light it. never mind. skip the four way combo (ramp, left ramp, right ramp, fire in the hole). you lose out on a wheel spin. it does get you to the next city fast though.

btw construction mania off of a bob's freebie will pause any mode timers. it will also keep multiball modes going like super payday until it runs out. so once in a while it CAN be worth it.

 

[invitro]

pretty sure i got it twice in one game. there's no operator adjustment that I can see for it in the manual. so i have to assume it's unlimited. i can try and test more.

Did you read the rules?