Winchester Mystery House Rulesheet

Games Wiki Rulesheets
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Main Play Modes

Modes/Rooms:

Seance Multiball
Wheelbarrow Ghost Multiball and Hurry-Up

Thirteens:

Playfield Multipliers
Mementos
Mystery Awards
Spirit Board/Oracle

Acknowledgements

Overview

Winchester Mystery House by Barrels of Fun Pinball

Game Design: Karl DeAngelo
Software: Eric Priepke
Sound: Jeff Dodson
Artwork: Brad Albright
Animation: Joshua Clay & Julian Brown
Mechanical Engineering: Paul Sulisz & Luke Underwood

525 Relic machines made, matching the numeric address of the Winchester Mystery House

Skill Shots and Drop Targets

Welcome to the Winchester Mystery House! Your first order of business is to plunge into a set of drops and hopefully collect a skill shot.

The three bank of drops angled up through the center of the playfield are ordered (from top to bottom):

  • Call Spirits
  • Light Mystery
  • Advance 13

The skill shot will shine one of these drop targets lit at a time, followed by a period of all 3 lit, and rotating back around. You have to plunge the drop that is lit as the first switch hit to get the award indicated on the screen. At the start of the game, these are:

  • Complete “OPEN”
  • Max Spirit Energy
  • Advance (all) 13ths +3
  • (all lit) Some score value (on default code on current settings, 1.3m)

After the skill shot, the drops will strobe while all up through the three lights. Hitting a drop will lock in the award shown for a period of time, which will be given should the entire 3 bank drop.

There is a second 3-bank of drops in the upper left of the playfield that will award Keys upon completion. Keys allow you to unlock rooms, or to skip past rooms to continue building shot value. A player can only hold up to 3 keys at a time, and their current inventory is displayed at the bottom center of the screen.

Main Play Modes

Your tour through the mansion will take place over three phases, starting in the Foyer when you begin the game:

  • Choosing a room to advance to, followed by
  • Traveling to the room (or running to it)
  • Outside the Door/playing the mode

Selecting a Room

Selecting a room is accomplished by hitting any shot with a lit “Advance Tour” insert. The color of the insert will correspond to the color of the inserts on the playfield, as well as the list of available rooms to travel to displayed on the left side of the screen. Additional rooms may be displayed on the left side of the screen with “Use Key to Unlock”. Should you wish to open that room as a travel option and have a key (indicated at the center bottom of the display), you can unlock travel to that room by hitting the action button to consume a key. This scores 2m and adds that room to the available shots to travel to.

Traveling to the Room

Once you select a room to travel to, you will begin travel to that room. There will be a timer at the center top of the screen indicating how many seconds it will take to travel to that room, as well as a room shot value on the bottom left of the display. By hitting shots, drop banks, spinners, and targets lit dim white during this phase, you will build the shot value for the mode you will be playing. Additionally, Mystery may award +2 million (or more! see Mystery Awards) room value as an award.

Draining during travel will start your next ball at the Outside the Door phase and with half of the shot value you earned the previous ball.

You may HOLD the action button to sprint to the room you are traveling to. This will skip to the Outside the Door phase at the expense of forgoing any additional boosting to your shot value.

Outside the Door

Once the timer ends, you will be outside the door to the room and can begin your mode by hitting any lit “Advance Tour” shot. Alternatively, if you walked to the room (did not sprint) and did not drain in the Travel phase, you can move to another room by using a key and “skipping” past the room you are outside. This will put you back in the Travel phase and will keep you shot value as it was, allowing you to continue building shot value. You can choose what room you will travel to (if possible) by hitting the left ramp before consuming a key.

Hitting a lit Advance Tour shot advances you to the mode associated with that room, listed below:

Rooms (and their modes):

Before we begin, a quick note about the Help target, located above the right inlane. Once per mode, you may hit the Help target during play, and a helpful spirit will be dispatched to the house to help you in the mode. You will see the spirit on the map traveling to the room you are in (on a dark blue path). Once the spirit gets to your room, it will spot a shot in the mode.

You can continue to hit shots while the spirit is en route! It will only spot a shot once it gets to the room you are in.

Foyer:

Nothing happens here… or does it?

Twin Dining Room (The Mirror Banquet)

A faceless spirit is trapped on one side of the two identical dining rooms in the mansion. You must help them “break free” by hitting teal/cyan shots, starting up the middle of the hallways and moving throughout. As of current code, the shots seem to appear in the same sequence each time this is played. You complete the mode by following the shots available.

The mode is timed, and time can be added via Mystery award, which boosts 15 seconds on to the timer displayed at the top of the screen and on the spirit board apron.

Kitchen (The Hungering Flame)

You have to light the candles douse the stove, but in order to do you need to distract Agnes’ spirit. This mode is a two ball multiball that is untimed, but will end when you drain down to one ball. Hit the red shot (hall front facing scoop) to distract Agnes and have her investigate the spirit screen. While she is distracted, teal/cyan shots will light around the playfield to progress the mode. Hit enough shots to complete the mode.

Venetian Dining Room (The Flickering Flame)

NOW it’s time to light the candles. This mode is timed, and additional time may be awarded via mystery. The spirit box shows 6 candles plus a lit center match, and shots are indicated around the playfield either flickering as blue flames or red ones.

You must hit flickering blue shots to keep the central match lit, and then use that candle to light the 6 in the spirit box by hitting flickering red shots. If your central match goes out, you must hit a blue shot to relight it before hitting red shots to progress the mode. The mode ends when all candles are lit.

Basement (Whispers in the Dark)

The lights are out in the basement, just some fuses to fix, no big deal… oh right, there’s also an angry spirit chasing you out of the basement to deal with. This mode starts with a bit of a tutorial on how the mode will play out. When you hear the screeching sound and see the angry spirit on the spirit screen, you have to hold the action button down as the lighting on the rails climbs towards the spirt and commences in a flash. That will give you enough time to hit red flashing shots that only reveal themselves during the heartbeat sound.

Once enough shots have been hit, you will reach the fusebox in the basement, where subsequent red shots will begin restoring the lights in the playfield.

You’re never safe in this mode, as the spirit will return and force you to put a hand on the action button to dispel it for a period of time. Failing to hit the action button, or hold it long enough to produce a flash, will chase you out of the basement with the mode incomplete.

Seance Room (The Thirteenth Toll)

Who doesn’t like to tour the mansion? This mode starts in the seance room and takes you through a few other rooms only to return back to the other entrance of the seance room. You must complete lit shots while the bells toll, and make it back to the room before the 13th toll rings, and the spirits are released.

There’s no explicit timer displayed, but the top of the screen indicates how many bells have been tolled already. If you don’t hit all shots before the 13th, the mode will end.

The Daisy Bedroom (Lullaby of the Hollow Eyes)

Who doesn’t like a creepy doll motif? The Daisy Bedroom is the home to Mirabelle’s spirit and a bunch of dead-stare dolls. Hit a cyan shot to display an item in the spirit display that belongs to one of Mirabelle’s dolls. You must then hit the shot that corresponds to the doll you think matches the item. Thankfully, hitting the left ramp does light another shot cyan, and that does appear to match the doll you’re looking for.

Mirabelle won’t wait forever though - you need to hit the matching shot quickly, or things will get sour (and atonal… and creepy).

Grand Ballroom ()

This is not implemented in the current version of the code

Sarah’s Bedroom ()

This is not implemented in the current version of the code

Hall of Fires ()

This is not implemented in the current version of the code

South Conservatory ()

This is not implemented in the current version of the code

North Conservatory ()

This is not implemented in the current version of the code

Callroom ()

This is not implemented in the current version of the code

Witch’s Cap ()

This is not implemented in the current version of the code

Seance Multiball

Seance Multiball is one of the two main multiballs in the game. It can stack with most modes after starting a mode (notably, it can not stack with Hungering Flame), but modes cannot be stacked in after the multiball starts.

Locks are qualified by shooting the seance room behind the three inline drop targets on the lower left of the playfield. To lock a ball, you may hit all three dropdowns and head in to the seance room behind. There is an easier way, with the spirits’ help: Hit musical instrument targets or collect spirits at the drop targets to light the captive ball green. Hitting the captive ball when green will make the spirits drop all inline targets, giving you a clean shot to lock a ball!

On default settings, if Seance Multiball hasn’t been played by the start of ball 3, all drops will be down and a single shot to the seance room will start multiball.

Scoring:

Jackpots are collected at blue shots. After collecting enough jackpots(?), hit the red lit captive ball to add a red arrow shot with a super jackpot at the right ramp, behind the fallen tower.

Add-a-ball is available at the Help target.

Wheelbarrow Ghost Multiball and Hurry-Up

It’s time for a trip to the basement, to help Clyde with the boiler.

Start by lighting all O-P-E-N inlanes, which will put a pulsing Cyan shot on the left and right ramps. Hitting the ramps will spin the turntable to set you up for a shot at the Stairs to Nowhere and start the timer for a Wheelbarrow hurry-up. Hit the cyan shot on the turntable (middle hall if the left ramp was hit, left hall from the upper left flipper if the right ramp was hit) to take a trip up the stairs and into the basement. Hitting the shot will award you the hurry up value remaining and grant one lock towards Wheelbarrow Ghost Multiball (on default settings: your first ball locked in a game will start the multiball. Subsequent hurry ups will require 3 completions and hurry ups to start another multiball)

Multiball

Once multiball starts, you are trying to manage the pressure of the boiler while keeping angry spirits away from your efforts. Shoot the spinner loop to increase your jackpot value and lower the pressure, and hit red shots to banish angry spirts. You must survive a countdown (shown on the gauge and on the spirit board) to earn a jackpot based on the shots you’ve hit and the current boiler pressure (lower is better). After a jackpot is awarded, hit the front hall scoop to relight the spinner and carry on.

If too many angry spirits make their way to the basement, they will raise the boiler pressure, preventing you from collecting jackpots! So you need to hit red arrows as they appear and walk to the basement to keep scoring, and then lower the pressure at the spinner.

Add-a-ball is available at the Help target.

Thirteens

Legends say that Sarah was obsessed with the number thirteen, and now you will be too. The thirteen modes are mini modes that are qualified by actions taken on the playfield. When 13 of those actions are completed, a shot at the right orbit will start the associated mode with that particular thirteen. If multiple thirteen modes are started simultaneously, scoring is increased by the number started (for example, starting 3 modes at once grants 3x scoring in all).

Status for the thirteen modes is shown in the upper right portion of the display.

Thirteens can also be awarded via the skillshot, by hitting the bottom target when it is flashing. Doing so awards +3 to all five categories.

Summons

Spirit summons are spawned on shots throughout the playfield by hitting the large annunciator target near the front of the hallway carousel. Doing so will put a faint green flashing indicator on a playfield shot. Hitting that shot will collect the summons and add to the total.

Mode: Summon the Mortals

Webs

Awarded by collecting mystery awards by hitting the inner or right orbit when the spider web insert is lit.

Mode: Spider Web Frenzy

Shoot halls to web

Targets

Hitting any illuminated instrument target on the playfield will add it to the sum total.

Virtuoso

In this mode, hit each of the 5 illuminated yellow instrument targets. Completing the set of targets will light the captive ball for a jackpot value.

Loops

Hitting the inner loop adds to the total

Mode: Summon the Mortals

Combos

Combing shots adds to the total

Mode: Banished

Thirteenths

Once all 13th modes have been played, the mansion will flood with a yellow pulsing light to indicate Thirteenths is available at any yellow arrow lit shot. The goal of thirteenths is to hit sets of shots to increase multiplier, and after two sets are complete, cash out with the highest value and multiplier available.

Thirteenths begins with five shots on the playfield illuminated, each representing one of the thirteen modes. The shots will also be listed on the spirt monitor. Hitting the shots will award the points indicated on the displays and add to the displayed cashout value. Hit the indicated shots until none remain to complete a set, add one to the current multiplier, and relight 5 more shots. The help target will randomly spot a lit shot when lit.

Thirteenths starts a single ball mode, but another ball is plunged on to the playfield every 13 seconds. If a ball is drained, the multiplier goes down by one, the timer on the next ball reverts to 13, and a new ball is plunged (if less than 2 are in play).

Once two complete sets have been made, the player can continue to make shots to increase the cashout value, or press the action button to collect the value. All balls in play drain, all 13 counters are back to zero, and normal play resumes.

Playfield Multipliers

Playfield Multipliers are one of the more unique aspects of Winchester Mystery House and operate differently than most other games with multipliers. During playfield X, the spirits will freeze your score and divert all points to a bank that is multiplied. You must collect the bank without draining to actually receive the fruits of your labor!

Filling the Spirit meter

The spirit meter can be filled primarily by hitting the spinner during play. Alternatively, the meter can be filled by Mystery Award, completely filled by a skill shot, or augmented by a memento. Once over half of the spirit meter is full, you must start your multiplied scoring.

Start the multiplier

When ready, the “X” target near the key drop targets will pulse. Hit the X target to begin 2x playfield and freeze your current score. While in playfield x, the lighting will turn blue, and both displays will show the value of your banked multiplied points as play continues. Hitting the X target again will start 3x playfield. You will remain in accelerated scoring while you still have time on your spirit meter, which will deplete by one every second. Once the spirit meter is empty, collect phase is on.

Collect Points

When the playfield lighting returns to normal, you will have 20 seconds to reclaim the points the spirits have been holding captive! You can collect the points by hitting the right orbit before the timer runs out. There may be a memento that may grant you more time, should you be able to find it…

If you drain at any time after starting your multiplier, or should time run out in the collect phase, the points are gone.

Mementos

Remnants of the mansion, mementos are powerful artifacts with strange powers to guide your path through the house. You can qualify mementos by completing modes, which will light the captive ball cyan to collect. Alternatively, mementos may be qualified for other feats you accomplish, including:

  • Collecting a Super Jackpot in Seance Multiball
  • Collecting a Super or Mega Boiler Jackpot in Wheelbarrow Ghost Multiball
  • Completing/Playing the Thirteenths wizard mode
  • Collecting your 3rd Tier 3 Mystery Award

Mementos can be tied to completion of rooms, or wild card (randomly awarded). The known mementos are:

  • Twin Dining Rooms - Mirrored Teaspoon
    • Perk: +5 to 13 Combo Meter (one time)
  • Venetian Dining Room - Snuffer Bell
    • Perk: +3 to all Thirteen tasks (one time)
  • Servant’s Kitchen - Matchbox
    • Perk: Light Extra Ball (one time)
  • Daisy Bedroom - Porcelain Locket
    • Perk: +5m base mode value (permanent)
  • Basement - Boiler Gauge Dial
    • Perk: Spirit Energy Jackpot Collect Timer +13 seconds (permanent)
  • Seance Room - Spirit Board
    • Perk: Spirit Spinner Timer +13 seconds (permanent)

Wildcard Mementos:

  • Servant’s Pin - A tarnished silver pin, shaped like a keyhole
    • Perk: Multiball Extender - Revives Seance Multiball after draining to 1 ball (one time)
  • Pocketwatch - A heavy silver pocket watch with no hands
    • Perk: +15 seconds to all Thirteenths modes (permanent)
  • Miniature Ruler - A perfectly preserved wooden scale rule used to design the mansion
    • Perk: +1 Help Target hit per mode (permanent)

Mystery Awards

Mystery awards are lit by either clearing the 3-bank when the mystery lamp is lit, or from the rebound switches (under the shooter exit, and over the captive ball). Mystery can be collected by hitting either Spider Web shot (inner orbit or right orbit) when lit.

Mystery awards have 3 tiers of reward. Cleaning the 3-bank when mystery is lit will advance awards 1 tier. Hitting the captive ball while purple will advance the mystery tier to tier 2 awards, and hitting the side ramp when purple will advance the award to tier 3. There’s no indicator as to what tier reward you currently possess, so you’ll need to infer based on context clues and what you’ve done in the game thus far.

List of possible awards:

  • 1 or 2 loops
  • 1, 2 or 3 summons
  • +2m room value (this can increase to +3m on level 2, or +5m on level 3)
  • 1, 2 or 3 keys
  • Light OPEN letter
  • Complete OPEN
  • Spirit Energy Lit (advance to 15)
  • Spirit Energy at Max (Advance to max energy)
  • Collect Bonus
  • Collect Last Energy Jackpot
  • Light Return Kickback
  • Add 15 seconds to timer (must be in a timed mode)
  • Reset 13th timer (must be in an active 13th mode)
  • Light Extra Ball (level 2+, estimated)
  • Seance Lock Lit

Spirit Board / Oracle

One of the more unique features of Winchester Mystery House is the spirit board and W-adorned oracle on the apron. The middle portion of the apron will light up in various colors, as will the YES and NO portions of the board, as well as the oracle. In addition to ambiance, these also serve a gameplay purpose. They can display:

  • The player currently up
  • The ball number currently in play
  • When locking balls, can indicate which number lock was awarded
  • During modes that are timed, when a timer gets below 10 seconds, the numbers will light corresponding to the timer expiring. It can also do this for multiple timers: I’ve seen a mode and 2x playfield timer displayed at the same time in different colors! Much easier than looking up
  • Match status (and number)

Acknowledgements

Thank you to all the wiki authors on this sheet. Also to the spirits who have sent information from unknown places in filling out some of the detail within.

Thank you to the early streamers who had the game, whose streams I watched to confirm these rules: WildDogArcade, Fliptronic, and Pinbolls on Twitch.

Thanks to BoF for the amazing game and for getting me mine early enough to kickstart this sheet. :slight_smile:

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