Doozie

Freak Out is a customized Doozie game with totally different artwork. Since PAPA had one they used in competition, I list it here.

Your first order of business after plunging is to try to nudge the ball as it’s initially banging around the bumpers to hit the “open gate” target at the upper left. This opens the gate at the upper right to return balls to the plunger lane. Once the gate is open, you want the ball to go through it either from a flipper shot or further bumper action.

Your basic scoring goal is to get the numbers 1 through 5 as many times as you can, mostly via the center rollovers. You can get two numbers on the plunge, the 5 via the top rollover and one of the other four via a top lane; your Skill Shot is to do that. While the center rollovers give you numbers, you’re better off not shooting at them\! Just go the UTAD route. If you’re lucky, you may get a lane via the ball getting popped up it from below by the bumpers, and when the ball comes back down, it will probably hit one of the rollovers in the middle. Shooting the rollovers directly risks getting a bad kick off the bottom of one of the bumpers, which is a high drain risk.

While the game does have zipper flippers that can close, I tend to not risk shooting at the “close flippers” stand-up targets since 1. they’re narrow shots and the rebounds, hit or miss, can be dangerous, and 2. most balls drain out the sides anyway. If you get the flippers closed by accident, fine, use the closed flippers to help trap the ball easier and use microflips to set up shots to the top. You’ll find that a UTAD strategy via the sides may get the flippers closed anyway, since if you miss low, the close flippers targets are just below the side gaps to the top of the game.

Finishing all 5 numbers scores 300 points. Other than random bumper action, most of your points will come from completing number sets. The game saves your partial number sets between balls, e.g. if you have all but the 4 when you drain, you’ll just need that one when you start your next ball.

When going UTAD, I take a different path on Doozie vs. its near-twin Daffie. I find it’s better to shoot between the bumpers rather than try to go outside them. The gap between the center and side bumpers is wider than the gap along the sides, and it’s hard to aim precisely with these flippers, so your chances of getting through are better with the wider paths. Odds are that the ball will graze the edge of one of the bumpers anyway, which makes it more likely it will start to rattle around up there like you want it to. The thing you most want to avoid is hitting the underside of one of the lower three bumpers directly and having the rebound drain.

There’s one scenario where closing the miniflippers works: when you have the center bumper lit for 100. Then, you can try to get the ball to settle on the zipped flippers and repeatedly shoot at the 100 bumper.