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PINBALL HALL OF FAME: THE WILLIAMS COLLECTION (WII VERSION)

}}}  F U N H O U S E  {{{
      strategy guide


PURPOSE
This guide is not intended to be comprehensive, but hopefully the 
included strategies will prove to be useful.


INTRODUCTION
Funhouse is a very ramp-oriented table, with only a small emphasis on 
target shots, jet bumpers, and rollover lanes. It's arguable whether 
ramp-oriented tables are inherently more or less fun, but it 
definitely allows Funhouse to rely more on skill. Good scores will be 
in the tens of millions, possibly even in the hundreds, although I 
have yet to hear of a 100,000,000 point game.


CORE STRATEGIES
There are many ways to score points in Funhouse, but there two core 
strategies you should follow. These apply to most pinball tables.

1. Keep the ball in control.
Since most of your important targets are ramps, you have very good 
control over where your ball will end up after each shot. Avoid blind 
shots and focus on catching the ball and hitting the ramps. The 
minute your ball hits one of the slingshots near the flippers, the 
odds of it draining to the left or right increase dramatically. 
Survival odds off the slingshots are somewhere between 75% and 50%. 
Not good.

2. Prioritize the extra ball.
Your ball is going to drain eventually. In Funhouse, extra balls are 
fairly plentiful as long as you take the time to go get them. Every 
ball out of the plunger has a chance of being that mega-score ball 
where you get 30,000,000 points or something like that, so you need 
as many as you can get. It's also never fun to be sitting on ball 3 
without a safety net; having an extra ball in reserve will help your 
composure.


DANGER
One of the easiest ways to lose a ball is to miss a Trapdoor loop 
shot. If you don’t make it far enough up the loop ramp, when it comes 
back it will have very little momentum, and it will have a good 
chance of doing one of a couple things: A) Rolling directly over 
toward the left outlane, or B) landing on the left slingshot, which 
in turn will hit the right slingshot followed by the left outlane. So 
if you see the ball rolling weakly down the Trapdoor loop, you’ll 
probably want to start nudging the table *before* it reaches 
freefall. You’ll have to experiment to see what works.


SPECIFIC STRATEGIES
To progress and score big points you need to advance the clock to 
11:30, lock two balls in the Hidden Hallway, hit the Rudy shot, then 
hit the Trapdoor during Midnight Multiball. There are other good ways 
to score points but they will occur along the way toward this primary 
goal. Below are the specific strategies for accomplishing all of the 
above.

1. Center Ramp to advance the clock.
The Center Ramp is a low-risk shot that deposits the ball on the left 
flipper, making it a very safe way to advance the clock. If you want 
to be boring, you can just keep doing this until 11:30.

2. Trapdoor loop to advance the clock.
If you want to gain points faster, use the Center Ramp or the flipper 
switch technique to get the ball to the left flipper, then shoot the 
Hidden Hallway followed by a series of Trapdoor loops to advance the 
clock and score the 500,000 to 1,000,000 point award.

3. Hit Rudy to light Mystery Mirror, leading to a lit Extra Ball.
Every chance you get, hit Rudy in the mouth. This is supposed to 
light the Mystery Mirror, although in my experience it doesn't always 
work (could be a misunderstanding). Always shoot the Mystery Mirror 
when lit, since this is probably the easiest way to light the Extra 
Ball.

4. Center Ramp when Steps are lit.
Although purposely trying to hit the STEPS targets may not be a good 
idea (you lose control of the ball), it's important to take advantage 
of the Steps every time they are lit. Often you will have a chance to 
light the Extra Ball.

5. Mystery Mirror Super Dog/Frenzy exploit.
One of the great things about the Mystery Mirror is that time stops 
when you hit it. This means that timed events such as Superdog and 
Frenzy will be put on pause until the ball is ejected back at your 
flipper. When the ball ejects, you can time a Mystery Mirror / 
Superdog combo shot to advance the Superdog or Frenzy bonus amounts 
with very little drain on the clock. Use this to rack up huge 
bonuses!


IMPORTANT SHOTS
In order of priority, these are the shots you will need to be good at 
hitting. Not all shots are listed here, because I feel some shots 
(Gangway) are not critical to achieving a high score. None of the 
shots in Funhouse are terribly difficult, but I've rated them anyway.

1. Hidden Hallway. Difficulty: Medium
This is the most important shot in the game for three reasons. 1) 
It's the extra ball shot, 2) it's the shot you need to advance the 
clock to 11:45 and midnight, and 3) it's the setup shot you need for 
the Rudy shot and the Trapdoor shot. The only consistent way to hit 
this ramp is from the left flipper.

2. Trapdoor shot. Difficulty: Medium
This shot is important simply because of the point values involved. 
It's the shot that earns you multi-millions during Midnight 
Multiball. It's also a good way to rack up 1,000,000 points at almost 
any time during the game by completing multiple loops in combination. 
If you can consistently do the loop combination you'll end up with a 
lot more points at the end of the game.

3. Rudy shot. Difficulty: Medium
The Rudy shot starts Midnight Multiball, scores 1,000,000 points when 
lit, and also lights the Mystery Mirror.

4. Mystery Mirror. Difficulty: Low
This is one of the key elements to this table, but it's so easy to 
hit that it doesn't make the top of this priority list. The Mystery 
Mirror is where the ball usually ends up when you miss the Hidden 
Hallway shot. It's an important shot because when the ball spits out 
you can easily trap it with the right flipper, which in turn allows 
you to hit the Center Ramp (Steps ramp) and also sets you up to 
switch the ball to the left flipper. Also important are the awards it 
provides, most notably lighting the extra ball in the Hidden Hallway. 
You will probably hit the Mystery Mirror more than any other shot.

5. Mystery Mirror / Superdog combo. Difficulty: Medium
Using the right flipper it's possible to hit the Superdog and Mystery 
Mirror in one shot. With practice, you can repeat this every time the 
ball exits the Mystery Mirror.

6. Center Ramp. Difficulty: Low
Not only is this the route to the Steps, it also advances the clock 
without costing you control over the ball, plus it switches you from 
the right flipper to the left, setting you up for the Hidden Hallway 
shot. During Midnight Multiball it opens the Trapdoor for another 
multi-million point shot. (During multiball the shot obviously 
becomes much more difficult.)

7. Steps plunger. Difficulty: High
While not technically a shot, this is important because it's one of 
the ways to light the Extra Ball. It's tough to be consistent though, 
so you'll probably be trying multiple times.

8. Flipper switch. Difficulty: Low
Again not technically a shot, this is an important technique because 
it's an even lower-risk way to move the ball from the right flipper 
to the left, setting you up for the Hidden Hallway shot. To execute 
the technique, simply hold the ball with the flipper until it comes 
to rest, then quickly release and press the flipper button again.

9. Right Gangway. Difficulty: High
I have not learned to use this ramp well yet. Supposedly the Trap 
Door loop or Gangway shots will light the right Gangway, and you will 
score points every time you shoot the lit Gangway, until eventually 
you light the Extra Ball.