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Monster Lab: how to play

Three stories, then the wizard mode. Charge the lab and strike it twice to wake the creature. Spell W-I-T-C-H and carry the witch's brew to her cauldron. Lock two balls in the vampire's coffin. Finish all three for All Hallows' Eve.

New to pinball? How to play covers the basics. Monster Lab is a three-ball game with an 8-second ball save. Everything you build up carries from one ball to the next, apart from a brew in progress.

The shots

1. 1The lab, where the creature lies on his slab. The left flipper's shot: let the ball roll down a raised left flipper and flip as it reaches the middle.
2. 2Coils, a target on each side of the lab's lane. They charge the lab.
3. 3Witch ramp, up to the witch's tower and her cauldron.
4. 4Vampire ramp, climbing over the lanterns to the belfry at the top.
5. 5Belfry lanes, where the vampire ramp drops the ball.
6. 6W-I-T-C-H targets down the left wall.
7. 7Bats, three drop targets on the right.
8. 8The crypt, a hole on the right.
9. 9The coffin, a real lock on the playfield.
10. 10Trapdoor in the graveyard, open only while the cauldron is lit.
11. 11Lanterns, the three pop bumpers.
12. 12B-O-O lanes at the top.
13. 13Upper flipper above the right slingshot, on the right button. Shoots across to the crypt, the bats and the right coil.
14. 14The cauldron on the witch's tower.
15. 15K-I-C-K lanes across the inlanes and outlanes; the kickback is in the left outlane.

Up close

Each numbered shot as it looks in the game.

The creature

1. Hit the coils (10,000 a hit) to charge the lab. The five lights in front of it fill as you go, and at full charge LIGHTNING lights.
2. Shoot the lab with lightning lit for a strike: 250,000. The creature sits up on his slab. Charge the lab again.
3. The second strike (500,000) wakes him. He stands up in front of the lab and Creature Multiball starts: three balls, with a 15-second multiball save.

Jackpots, 1,000,000 each, are lit at the lab, both ramps and the creature himself: hit him while he stands. Collect all four and they light again. Charge the coils during the multiball to relight lightning; then the lab is the super jackpot, 3,000,000. Your first jackpot finishes the creature's story. When the multiball ends he lies back down, and waking him again takes two more strikes.

The witch

1. Hit all five W-I-T-C-H targets (5,000 each). The last letter starts Witch's Brew, a hurry-up worth 1,000,000 that counts down to 100,000, and the witch flies round the table.
2. Get the ball into the cauldron on her tower before time runs out. The witch ramp leads up to it, and while the brew runs the trapdoor in the graveyard opens (50,000) and pops the ball up on the tower over the cauldron.

The cauldron pays whatever the brew shows, and collecting it finishes the witch's story. If time runs out (THE BREW GOES COLD), spell W-I-T-C-H again. The brew is called off if your ball drains.

The vampire

1. Knock down all three bats (10,000 each) to light the lock at the crypt.
2. Shoot the crypt. It kicks the ball up into the coffin, and the ball is locked inside.
3. Knock the bats down again to relight the lock, and lock a second ball. The vampire rises out of his coffin, both balls roll out, and Midnight Bite starts: two balls, with a 10-second multiball save.

During Midnight Bite every crypt shot is a 750,000 jackpot, and the first one finishes the vampire's story. A lit lock waits while another multiball is running.

The belfry. The vampire ramp delivers the ball into two lanes at the top, 10,000 each. One is lit, and either flipper switches which. Through the lit lane while the bats are the vampire's next step, the ball knocks down the next bat for you.

What things cost

Your first story is cheap, so a multiball comes early. Every story you finish makes the next one cost more, and so does playing the same story again in a game.

Both strikes on one creature cost the same; relighting lightning during Creature Multiball for the super jackpot costs the next level up.

All Hallows' Eve, the wizard mode

Finish all three stories and All Hallows' Eve starts. If a multiball is running, it waits until that ends, with the three story lights below the lab blinking fast. Then four balls are in play, with a 20-second multiball save.

The lab, both ramps, the cauldron and the crypt are each worth 2,000,000 once (4,000,000 from your second All Hallows' Eve in a game). Collect all five and they light again. The cauldron's jackpot opens the trapdoor. When it ends (MIDNIGHT HAS PASSED), the stories can be played again.

Extra balls

• Finishing your second story lights the extra ball at the lab, once a game. If lightning is lit, the lab gives the strike first.
• The tenth ramp in a single ball gives an extra ball, once a game (the ramp ladder, below).

Around the table

• Skill shot. The middle B-O-O lane blinks when a ball is served, and the flippers move it. Plunge into it within 10 seconds for 500,000.
• B-O-O. Light all three lanes to raise the multiplier a step, up to 5X. The flippers move the lit lanes. When one lane is left before the next step, the lanterns' arrows blink slowly.
• K-I-C-K. Roll over all four letters across the inlanes and outlanes to relight the kickback (25,000 if it is already lit). The kickback is lit when the game starts and goes out when it fires.
• Ramp ladder. Each ramp in a ball pays more than the last: 50,000, 100,000 and so on up to 500,000. Every fifth raises the multiplier a step; the first award from the tenth on is the extra ball, once a game.

Scores

Switches and the ladder are multiplied by the multiplier. Strikes, the skill shot, the brew and jackpots are paid as listed.

Reading the table

• The three story lights below the lab: blinking slowly once a story is under way, solid when it is finished, all three fast while All Hallows' Eve waits.
• One story at a time is the one the table points you to, the unfinished one closest to done. Its next shot blinks fast; the other stories' next shots blink slowly.
• Arrows blinking fast: a jackpot, lightning at the lab, or the witch ramp during a brew. Blinking slowly: a lit lock, a lit extra ball.
• The trapdoor's two arrows blink fast while it is open.

Tips

• The lab is a cradle shot from the left flipper: catch the ball, let it roll, and flip when it is about a fifth of the way down the flipper.
• During the brew the trapdoor is often closer than the witch ramp. Either one gets the ball to the cauldron.
• The upper flipper works with the right button. A ball coming down the right side can be sent straight back to the crypt or the bats.

This guide describes Flipped Out Pinball 1.1.