Success on Aquarius is all about staying at the top of the table. You'll want to collect top saucers, stay in the bumper area, and return to the top by shooting up the right side of the table. If playing for points, always try to plunge for the fourth saucer from left, because out of the three 300 point saucers, it's the one most likely to spit out off a bumper and bounce into another saucer. If playing for specials, plunge any saucer that still has lit numbers next to it. Never intentionally shoot for standup targets in the lower half of the table.
The leftmost saucer scores 100 points and spots target number 1. The second saucer scores 200 points and spots targets 3 and 5. The third saucer scores 300 points and spots targets 2, 4, and 6. The fourth saucer scores 300 points and spots target 7, 9, and 11. The fifth saucer scores 300 points and spots targets 8, 10, and 12. Saucers always have the same point value, regardless of which number(s) are lit. Entering a saucer spots all of the numbered targets associated with that saucer.
The 200-point saucer is the one most likely to hit the center bumper for 100 points when lit or generally stay in the bumper area for a long time. The 7-9-11 saucer (300 points, fourth from left) is the most likely to bounce off a bumper and back into another saucer, and leads to balls bouncing around the bumpers a fair amount as well.
The outer yellow bumpers score 1 point, or 10 points when lit. The center red bumper scores 10 points, or 100 when lit. Either the yellow or red bumpers will be lit at a time, but never all three at once. Which colour of bumper is lit alternates whenever something other than a 50-point number target or a top saucer causes the game score to cross a 100-point threshold.
1 and 2 are in the upper left of the table, requiring pop bumper luck to hit. 3 is in the upper right of the table, and can be shot directly. 4 is a "sucker target" in the table center, but it's far enough away to not be too deadly. 5-6-7 are in the lower right, 8-9-10 are in the lower left. 11 and 12 are the out lanes. All numbers start lit, and unlight once collected. All numbers score 50 points, whether lit or not. After collecting all 12 numbers, one of the 12 numbered targets will be lit for Special. Which target is lit for special will change seemingly randomly every time the lit bumpers toggle. Specials can still be collected from whichever top saucer spots the lit number. Progress on the 12 numbers, as well as whether or not the special is lit, is preserved from ball to ball. Targets lit for Special still give their 50 points, so in a tournament setting where points are the only goal, there's no reason to avoid lighting the specials like there is on some other games from a similar era.
Do not shoot directly at the 5-6-7 or 8-9-10 targets in the lower table. The more horizontal momentum a ball has on Aquarius, the more likely it is to end up in the out lane.
Aquarius has no in lanes. The flippers back up directly to the slingshots. Out lanes score 50 points and award the numbers 11 (left) or 12 (right). Slingshots always score 10 points each, rather than the 1 point that would be common in most other games of this era, so you do get decent points just for keeping a ball alive and staying in slingtown.
There is no end of ball bonus, but tilt immediately ends game. Nudge carefully and at your own risk.
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