Fun-Fest

Well, it’s got bright colors. And three ball saving features. But it’s a luck box and I don’t recommend it for tournament use.

The Skill Shot is to make the center saucer for 5000 [huge points on this game], but that’s much harder than it sounds. The two top lanes and top saucer all cycle on the tens digit counter, which is advanced by, among other things, the two top unmarked bumpers. The 3000 lanes are on a simple, on-off toggle. The 5000 lane is on a five-way cycle, indicated by the lights above it, advancing clockwise, i.e. you’re one hit away when the white light at the right end of the four-light arc is lit, and you’re active for 5000 when the orange arrow light above the saucer is lit. If you’re not starting with either the 5000 light already on or with the indicator on one of the two right-hand white lights, you’re unlikely to be able to score the 5000. It’s hard to get more than two bumper hits and still have the ball go in the saucer [and it sometimes goes right through the center without dropping into the saucer]. Focus on getting a 3000 top lane Skill Shot instead, remembering the on-off rule.

Once the ball is in play, you can protect against drains down the left outlane by hitting either of the marked outer top stand-up targets. The two small “up post” disk rollovers next to the swinging target protect against center drains until you hit a “down post” rollover.

The center swinging target is the other high-value item, but it’s a risky shot due to the randomness of rebounds off it or, when you miss, the rubber behind it.

If you get the center post up, let the ball settle onto it and use micro-flips to set up your shots. Best strategy is UTAD, aiming just to the center of the down post rollovers [you want to miss them].

The winner of the game is usually the player who gets the most lucky bounces from the bumpers into the saucer when the saucer is lit for 5000. There’s also a lot of luck in draining, i.e. which value the center target is on when you drain [with or without the kicker or gate lit]. After the Skill Shot, 80%+ of the large points earned tend to be random. Even lighting the bumpers, which can add up with enough time up top, is a matter of a lucky or nudge-assisted bounce into the “on bumpers” stand-up targets - - you can’t shoot them directly.