Can someone explain the multiball add-a-ball rules to me? I’ve read Bowen’s rulesheet and seen my share of it in competitions, and now I actually OWN one, and it still eludes me.
My understanding is that it’s hitting each of the 5 shots, but in some cases, shots that you’ve hit before the multiball carry over, so you may need as few as one shot.
I swear I just played a few Jam MBs in a row in which the sequence was: MB start cannon to bell shot, left ramp, right ramp, left orbit… wait till just before draining back to single ball, hit VIP (maybe a few for good measure)… nothing. I’m trying to take advantage of the VIP to play with a safety net but something in my rules knowledge is failing me.
The thing you’re missing is you have to light the five main shots first by completing the current song objective.
Examples. To light mode shots in TNT: drop each TNT target and then hit the target behind them (or on the Pro, just hit any one of the TNT standups after completing the set). To light mode shots in Rock N Roll Train: hit left ramp and then combo into the right ramp, right orbit, or ROCK targets.
Once you “do the thing” for the mode, then all five main shots will light. Completing those will add a ball if you’re in MB. Any progress you’ve made in single ball play carries into the MB.
The shots will be lit, so if you’re hitting unlit shots, you’ve either: already hit them, or you didn’t “do the thing” for the mode. If you make progress on your mode shots, and then drain, you lose progress, so you’ll have to “do the thing” again on the next ball.
The lighting is confusing on a Pro because the lack of RGB inserts takes away some of the clues as to what is lit for a mode shot and what is lit for a jackpot. I’m sure maybe they’re lit differently, as an attempt to indicate, but it’s hard to tell while balls are flying around. I believe it shows two different colors on the Premium to indicate it’s both a mode shot and a jackpot?
Oh. Oh. Wow, okay. And the last few times I played, I was playing specifically to figure out the addaball rules, and ignoring mode shots entirely, thus enabling a confluence of circumstances wherein I learn nothing.
Once all the main shots light up, they will all be flashing. Use Rosie as a good way to learn this. If you go through the top lanes, everything lights up below and is flashing. Make a shot or two, then go back up top and get another lane. The shots will all light back up, but you’ll notice the ones you’ve already hit, will be lit solid instead of flashing. That’s how you keep track.
But Ryan is right. It’s confusing sometimes in MB (tour or jam) as those shots are flashing for JPs too.
2x Devil Horns. That means whichever shot, bell or orbits, is lit by the devil horn insert is 2x. Right? Or is it all devil horn shots regardless of light? Does that include the mode points? Is this just for the remainder of the ball? The “you just made a 2x shot” animation appears to be pretty low priority.
Cheers, never really understood how AAB on AC/DC works. What happens if I hit all the flashing shots before multiball, do they start flashing again and I have to hit all of them again for AAB?
Yeah - the song bonus throws a lot of people for a loop and it can be a game changer. I don’t have the order of tours and albums committed to memory, but I do know that if you’re about to start Tour or Album, and you’ve had a long enough ball, try and change song to TNT before starting MB, as it’s very early on both. Also TNT in general can be worth a lot of points (and built up song bonus/jackpot) when paired with any multiball (cause it’s dangerous as hell).
I’ll also add that I found an old pinside thread about the Cannon Fodder, Volley, and Chaos inserts. It sure sucks to have prominent inserts like that mean nothing. Apparently Fodder was supposed to function as it does now, Volley was the lit target would rove, and Chaos was that it was random (so said @sk8ball in that thread).