Panthera

Panthera is a bit better score-balanced than some of its peers. It’s also got a dozen drop targets for fans of these which are worth enough to play for.

Bonus is advanced by lit drop targets, the top right star rollovers, the right side bullseye target and lit 1-2-3 lanes. Base bonus goes up to 29K. Advancing your bonus multiplier is a two-step process. First, you need to score top lanes to light the drop targets of matching colors – white, green, yellow and blue. You then need to knock down all three lit targets of the same color to advance you one multiplier, up to 5X. At the end of a ball, any drop targets you knocked down that were lit stay down, ones you hit that were unlit pop back up. Base bonus resets but colored lanes and your multiplier are held.

You want to hit drop targets when lit not just to work on your bonus X but because they’re worth 5K lit, just 500 unlit.

The top lanes also light the corresponding color return lanes and outlanes for 5K rather than 500. The top lanes are only worth 5K the first time you score them; likewise, the 1-2-3 lanes are worth 10K only the first time.

The saucer below the left \#2 lane scores 10K and 3 advances, but the ball doesn’t always settle into it when exiting that \#2 lane. Once you have at least 20K in base bonus, this saucer lights to collect bonus. When collected, base bonus resets but multiplier is preserved.

Basic strategy is to go up top via the left spinner and right rollover star lane to get all the colors lit. Once you’ve done that to make your targets worth 5K and set up getting your multipliers, shoot the drop targets. Focus on completing a color set at a time rather than one or two of each. Since your bonus multiplier is held, it’s important to get it up as high as possible on ball one.

As soon as you have your bonus at 20K with a multiplier of 3X or better, try to get the ball in the left collect bonus saucer. There are at least three ways to do this: shoot at it directly, which may risk a left side drain; nudge the ball into the top of the left \#2 chute, although the ball will sometimes skip through; and have the right slingshot kick the ball into it, perhaps with a nudge assist on your part.

Yes, that sound you recognize is the same as on Counterforce - - thrum, thrum, thrum, thrum, and the wiggly-screech at the end.