Ghostbusters Pinball Rulesheet

This is the most frustrating to me, because it isn’t some rare occurrence with a rare setup of X+Y+Z. It happens A LOT.

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must be a ghost in the machine!

Does anyone know how to increase the multiplier for a shot for Marshmallow Man mode? I’ve done it a few times but not quite sure what I did. I think maybe a certain number of switch hits for each X? The Wiki is pretty vague for this.

I believe it’s the Gozer standup target (to the left of the pops nest, and to the right of the L ramp). But I think each Gozer hit randomly multiplies one of the shots?

The Gozer target increases the multiplier of whatever shot is higlighted (you’ll notice one of the shots on the DMD is white while the other three shots are grayed out). The highlighted one moves “randomly” (meaning I don’t know how it moves, probably bumper hits?)

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That segment of stay puft is timed, so you don’t want to get too greedy or you will lose your multipliers and have to requalify the mode. (been there, done that) Think the timer is 35-40 seconds and I don’t think it pauses if you cradle. If you have the 2x or 3x target lit during this time, try not to hit either until you’ve locked in your mode multiplier.

Once you hit one of the major shots, that multiplier applies to all the lit mode shots, not just that shot. In case that wasn’t clear. So aim for whichever multiplier is the biggest, not your favorite shot.

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There is a Spook Central shortcut. If you start Spook Central and let it count down to 1.5M, you can then shoot the left ramp and it will start We Got One and Spook Central will be completed.

Right, but you can’t get the points out of the mode for locking in that hurry up value. But honestly, it’s probably a better move to get onto We Got One more safely. A good multiball there will probably get you way more points.

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Having done that numerous times, what winds up happening is that you stack whatever left ramp mode your started into Spook Central. It’s the only (unintentional) way to basically play two modes at once. Not necessarily a game-breaking strategy - more for minor lulz.

Just had a nice ball ending glitch happen where I shot the video mode and hit both flippers trying to speed past animations (unaware video mode was lit) and it kicked out with flippers frozen while I played video mode to my room (ball in drain)

I have heard about ball ejected during video mode bug before. I am trying to remember, I seem to recall it being caused by flakey switch activating during video mode. But I also might just be misremembering.

The video mode eject bug has been around for a while. I can’t find any rhyme or reason for what triggers it, but yeah, it will just eject your ball and as soon as the video mode ends your ball ends.

The left captive ball not awarding is definitely a problem. I think it happens if you’ve already collected one award from it on its current timer run? (ie after you get a catpive ball award you have to let it time out before it will let you get another)

The WRTBY issues really suck. The super jackpot value always seems to be pitifully low and I’ve also experienced the issue where the video mode sauce holds on to a ball indefinitely.

My other big pet peeve bug is the fact that the left ramp will always divert the ball to the saucer in WCWS if storage facility lock was lit before you started WCWS (or if you happen to qualify a storage facility lock during WCWS).

I’d also really like to see some rebalancing of the video mode skillshot. As it stands now going for video mode right off the bat is almost always the right choice for competitive play which is pretty lame (unless you’re doing herb format I guess). Maybe scale the value of the video mode based on how many ghosts you’ve collected so far? Or maybe your current PKE total? 60M is just too much on GB for a ball 1 skillshot.

It’s absolutely overvalued at the moment. I really like the idea of basing the value on the number of ghosts collected, that way you can save the video mode for your last ball, which in that situation would disincentivize shooting for video mode altogether. Usually you’re plunging for the K to get the multipliers lit at that point.

Maybe a perfect video mode should be worth 20 million + 750K for each ghost collected? That way it will have decent value on ball three if you’re at say 90 ghosts (87.5 million) but again at that point in the game 87.5 million is hopefully a drop in the hat if you’re at 90 ghosts.

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The repetitive callouts are my personal problem with GB. Hearing the same quote when you start or restart a mode (“We got one!” “Ok, who brought the dog?”) gets pretty stale in my opinion. I also think KISS and GOT have the same thing with little variety in speech. Games like Metallica don’t have this problem.

I do think it’s overdue for another code update–one for bugs, balancing, and adding in missing rules (the “Librarian” insert and Are You a God?). Also unrelated to rules: some display effects could use some polish (“Slot Pops” and “Chase Slimer Away”, for instance).

The ramp diversion has no rhyme or reason (at least I haven’t been able to figure it out). During normal play, during modes, multiballs, just totally randomly diverts. Maybe my game is broken somehow?

In terms of things I’d like to see in a future update (if it comes). Just my opinions:

  • More callouts.

  • Spruce up some display effects, including the mystery bumpers and “Chase Slimer Away”.

  • Implementation of “Librarian” insert. Perhaps it could be a fourth Symmetrical Book Stacking mode? Maybe a hurry-up where the scoop collects the value, and the spinner increases it. Perhaps too if you shoot the left ramp, then combo it into the scoop within a grace period, the hurry-up value is worth double. Only problem though is if you have Storage Facility locks ready.

  • Make River of Slime more worthwhile. I barely go for it unless by accident, and even then the points seem slim in comparison to the rest of the game. Perhaps give an award like Hold Bonus or Collect +5 Ghosts for every couple of successful River of Slime shots you manage to pull off? The train display effect could show (as an example): “1 River Award, 4 for - insert special award here -” This could be put in the Instant Info screens, too.

  • Addition of “Are You a God?”. assuming they’re intending on making it. Seems like it could go the TSPP route with six tasks required for the wizard, but we’ll see. Perhaps the tasks could be…

  1. Storage Facility Multiball super jackpot.
  2. “Mass Hysteria” super jackpot.
  3. Lock all balls and make at least one Loopin’ Super shot in “We’re Ready to Believe You!”
  4. Complete all Symmetrical Book Stacking Modes at least once (perhaps result in a mini-wizard?)
  5. Collect all Gear (perhaps result in a mini-wizard?)
    ** No idea, maybe collect a certain number of “slimed” shots from Slimer?

Don’t mean to derail the topic but just some thoughts. Hope GB gets the polish it deserves down the line.

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This is a cool idea! That feature definitely needs a little more meat to it considering how wild of a combo it is.

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So I finally got to “We’re ready to believe you” and it seemed pretty cool… there was a “lock two balls to start looping supers” which I did and then looped like 17 in a row… except the value was like 300,000?!? Nothing in the mode was worth ANYTHING! What gives?

Also, I stacked Mass Hysteria with this and then locked a ball in the right scoop and then the game froze. Or rather, it didn’t kick out anymore balls, the ball just sat in the right scoop forever. Tilting didn’t even get it out. I had to turn off the game to get it to figure itself out. Booo :’(

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Yeah, I’ve been to WRTBY once, no desire to go back. Anyone want to buy a GB Pro in the Chicago area?