Not to be confused with Hi-Deal (Bally, 1975).
Shoot nothing but the left lane to get back up to the top of the playfield until all four suits have been collected. Once bonus is maxed and doubled, next steps depend on whether extra balls are on: if not, focus on 40,000 point horseshoes, but if they are, complete two banks of drop targets to light the horseshoe for an extra ball first.
All top lanes score 1,000 points and advance the bonus. From left to right, the top lanes correspond to the card suits of spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. Going through a lit lane collects that suit by unlighting it. Unlighting all 4 suits instantly awards 2x bonus; maxing out the bonus at 2x 100,000 points should be the first priority of any ball.
Scores 10,000 points for each suit collected so far (maxing out at 40,000 points). This is a very difficult direct shot, and is usually made with the assistance of a pop bumper. If both the 1 and 2 stars are lit (see Drop targets below), going around the horseshoe shot also scores an extra ball.
There are three: one to the upper left of the pop bumpers, one between the entrances to the horseshoe, and one in the lower left of the game. All three score 500 points and a bonus advance; the 500 points increases to 5,000 once all four suits have been collected.
Become very comfortable with making this shot- it's pretty much the only way to return to the top of the table and reliably get additional card suits. It scores 500 points and a bonus advance, or 5,000 and a bonus advance once all 4 suits have been collected.
Each target down scores 1,000 points. The first two times that either bank is cleared, one of the stars will light up, and the cleared bank only will reset. If the 1 and 2 star are both lit up, the horseshoe shot will be lit for an extra ball, and a special is earned for each completion of both drop target banks (neither will reset until both are completed at this point).
Drop targets are to be avoided entirely unless extra balls are on; being an EM game, specials and extra balls cannot be set to be worth points.
Big Deal has a conventional in/out lane setup. All four lanes score 500 points (or 5,000 once all four suits have been collected) plus a bonus advance. The four lanes also correspond to the suits, allowing suits to be collected here instead of from the top lanes: spade, heart, diamond, and club from left to right just like the top lanes.
Bonus is advanced by any lane or standup target. Notice that bonus advances award 10,000 points each instead of the conventional 1,000. Max base bonus is 100,000 points. Double bonus is earned by collecting all four suits in one ball; there are no further multipliers beyond double. Bonus and bonus multiplier can never be carried from ball to ball, and there is no mid-ball bonus collect.
On 3-ball play, the heart and diamond suits are always tied together, so that collecting either one gives credit for both. On 5-ball play, they are always separate.
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