Pinball Game Theory

Interesting. I find TAF and TZ multiballs so boring that I almost rather not even play them.

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I know Stern likes having “close to the start button” multiballs now to give beginners more excitement and success, and I think a lot of them are multiballs with lots of jackpots lit that allow for even more success for beginners: Maiden Aces High pity, GZ main, AIQ Thor, JP T-Rex, GOTG Quill, and Stranger Telekinesis (and Monger on IM gives you a very easy jackpot shot to hit). TNA and JJP Gnr, DI, and WOZ have some pretty easily accessible multiballs too

I think I have a feel for where @raydaypinball is coming from with his original question, since like me, he is relatively new to the industry, and is probably pondering how to improve his craft.

In every game for which I’ve had the privilege of doing rules + code, I’ve tried to offer at least one multiball that has “weird” rules: something more interesting than the baseline concepts that Ray lists… because I like to explore what might be unique and fun. This is a tricky effort: I prefer to keep the “close to the start button” rules fairly straightforward, so that casual players don’t get confused… but if I hide the “weird stuff” too deep in the game, I’m only getting feedback from a small segment of players. Add in the problem that many players don’t read on-screen instructions, and even those that do might not remember them in the heat of battle, and it gets really challenging to try new concepts in a way that players will understand.

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And away with that goes 95% of my TZ tournament strat. :stuck_out_tongue:

TZ is brilliant in that the base Jackpot value of “regular Multiball” depends on how many balls you’ve locked. It’s not hard to get into a multiball; it’s hard to make that multiball be worth much… unless you’re lucky enough to capture an easy Powerball Mania. But even then, collecting one (or several) Powerball Mania Jackpots is tough for the average player.

That said, I’m guessing that many casual players of TZ never actually get any multiball!

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Twilight Zone is very unforgiving to casuals - no ball save and that scoop kickout can be downright mean. I really like it for that reason but I can’t imagine people not in the hobby do.

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I really like the rules of the UK 1971 Tour (“Shots” Multiball) on LZ. Starts with only the far leftmost shot lit for JP. Shooting that adds in the next shot to the right. The jackpots continue to spread from left to right in this manner until you get to the far right eject which scores the SJP and is the sum of all the other jackpots made. This makes for some good strategy since you can activate the Icarus playfield X for a base time of only 15 seconds. Do you wait to activate Icarus to make sure it is running when you get the SJP? Or are you accurate enough to start Icarus early and get all the shots done in that 15-20 seconds?

Or do you even have Icarus primed and ready to go when start this MB? SJP’s in this can get huge!

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One of my favorite Multiball types and one I think continues to work well today is the “shoot X jackpot shots to light X for super jackpot, which can be increased endlessly” rule. Demo Man did this with Cryo-Prison MB, No Fear uses it for Fear Fest MB, I think one of the Doc Ock modes in Spider-Man does a similar thing. It’s especially nice in No Fear where you don’t score jackpots for every shot - they just add to the value and you can either risk raising the jackpot, or collecting it at the Skull and guaranteeing a higher jackpot value the next time you collect one.

My favorite type of multiballs are multiballs where you have to lock more balls to unlock the next level or a jackpot. Some examples would be T2 and alien invasion in TSPP

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