Focus on multiballs: shoot the Caster's Club on the right to lock balls, and lock 3 balls for multiball. During multiball, relock a ball (or two, for a double jackpot) then shoot the spinner to collect; after 3 jackpots, the captive ball has unlimited super jackpots for the rest of multiball. Other strategies: make 6 shots to the lit center ramp for the big value Monster Fish, or shoot the right orbit when lit (by the left in lane or a previous right orbit shot) to advance the captive ball award.
Shooting the right orbit when it is not lit will send the ball to the top lanes and light the orbit. When the right orbit is lit, making it will send the ball all the way around the back and down the left orbit, scoring a million-plus Long Cast (starts at 1,000,000, caps at 5,000,000) and qualifying the next captive ball.
The captive ball has 5 awards. Lit awards have been collected, and flashing awards have been qualified. More than one can be flashing at once, but only one can be collected per hit. The awards are:
If no awards are flashing, the captive ball awards:
Shoot whichever center ramp is lit to light one of the 6 hooked fish just beneath the center ramp entrance. The ball must go all the way up the side to count: if it chokes up and falls down the other side, a 1,000,000 point U-Turn is scored, by a fish is not lit. Successful ramp shots score 500,000 the first time, increasing by 500,000 each time, until the 6th is worth 3,000,000. At the start of the ball, both side of the ramp are lit. After one made shot, only one side will typically be lit at a time, and it can time out. If neither side is lit, going through an in lane will light the opposite center ramp, which can be easily achieved by making an unlit ramp.
After collecting the 3,000,000 ramp, the spinner in the left orbit will be lit for Monster Fish. This is a hurry-up award that starts at 20,000,000 points, counts down to 5,000,000 over about 15 seconds, and times out a bout 5 seconds after reaching 5,000,000. Hit the spinner even a single time to collect. If the Monster Fish was successfully collected, the next Monster Fish will be worth 10,000,000 more points: the Monster Fish max value caps at 50,000,000 after three or more previous successful collects.
Going through a lit right in lane temporarily enables the Fish Finder at the left orbit. (If the right in lane is not lit, completing the L-I-E top lanes will light it.) The Fish Finder is a mystery award available at the saucer in the very back right of the game, shootable only from a strong left orbit shot. Possible Fish Finder mystery awards are the following:
The mystery does not give awards that are useless to you- it will not give increase bonus X if you are maxed at 7X, it will not give super jets if that is already running, and it will not increase the captive ball if all 5 awards are flashing or collected.
The second captive ball award is video mode, which is also available at the back saucer where Fish Finder is collected. During video mode, the goal is to hit the button on the "plunger" to shoot torpedoes (!) such that they hit the waterskiers driving by. You have 20 seconds and a supply of 20 torpedoes, and 20 waterskiers will drive by in total, at three distances away from your point of view. Hitting a waterskier in the front row scores 500,000 points; the middle row, 1,000,000 points; and the far row, 1,500,000 points. After hitting enough back row skiers (usually between 3 and 5), the next back row waterskier will be replaced with either the letters EB (for extra ball) or BS (for big score, which is worth 20,000,000, and only appears if extra balls are off). Hit at least 15 of the 20 skiers for a 10,000,000 accuracy bonus; go a perfect 20 for 20 and that becomes a 20,000,000 flawless bonus. A single video mode can be worth 40-60 million depending on whether or not the Big Score is available.
There are two standup targets in the lower left, and two more in the lower right. Hitting either target in a bank lights one of the three segments of the fish closest to it. Light an entire fish to score a Stringer, which is one of the large fish across the center of the playfield. Scoring a fish lights the spinner in the left orbit for Stretch the Truth for 15 seconds: shoot the spinner to tell a lie about how big the fish was. The spinner will rotate how believeable the lie was and how many points the lie scores: possible scores are 500,000, 1,000,000, 2,000,000, 3,000,000, or 5,000,000. However, each completion of L-I-E on the current ball will unlight the lowest lit value, making it ineligible to be selected! This makes it easier to score a couple million points per completed fish, anyway.
Lighting all 4 Stringer fish starts Feed Frenzy. The goal in this mode is to shoot shots with lit purple fish (both orbits and both center ramp shots). You have 15 seconds to shoot a purple fish shot. Doing so scores 5,000,000 points, unlights that purple fish, and resets the clock to 15 seconds. The fourth purple fish is worth 20,000,000 and ends the mode.
A timed mode that lasts for 20 seconds (if gotten as the third captive ball award) or 30 seconds (if gotten for telling 4 tales). During Rock the Boat, all boat shots- including both ramps, a U-Turn, and the captive ball- are woth 10,000,000 points. This is fantastic value, especially if a multiball is running, so take advantage of it accordingly.
Shoot the Caster's Club just to the left of the right orbit to lock a ball. (If multiball has already been played and a jackpot has already been collected in the game so far by the current player, the first shot to Caster's Club will knock down a drop target in front of it, which then lights the locks.) If the Caster's Club is shot immediately after a plunge or a right orbit Long Cast shot, a Fast Cast will be scored, which is worth 2,000,000 the first time, and an additional 1,000,000 each subsequent time, to a max of 10,000,000. Locking three balls in the Caster's Club, or collecting the multiball award from the 5th captive ball or the Fish Finder, starts multiball.
The goal during multiball is to collect jackpots. Jackpot is lit for 15 seconds after re-locking one ball in the Caster's Club. To collect the jackpot, shoot the left orbit; the jackpot is at the Fish Finder saucer. After collecting a jackpot, the relocked ball will be spit out, and yet another ball must be put into Caster's Club for the next jackpot. The first jackpot is the Tropical jackpot, worth 20,000,000 points; the second is the Fresh Water jackpot, worth 30,000,000; the third is the Deep Sea jackpot, worth 40,000,000. Any relocked balls will be automatically kicked out if a jackpot is not scored within 15 seconds of the relock. After all three tackle box jackpots have been collected, the captive ball will be lit for a 100,000,000 point Super Jackpot, which can be collected repeatedly for the rest of the multiball.
All of the jackpots do not need to be collected in a single multiball- progress is carried across multiple multiballs. If the Super Jackpot was lit but never collected, it will be lit at the start of the next multiball as well. Collecting a super jackpot, though, means the jackpot sequence restarts for the next multiball- but with an increased multiplier for all jackpots, including the super jackpot. The jackpot sequence can be completed repeatedly to continue increasing the jackpot multiplier, up to a maximum of 6X Jackpots if at least one super jackpot has been collected on five separate previous multiballs.
If 3 balls are in play, jackpots can be doubled again, on top of the multipliers discussed in the previous paragraph. To do this, relock two different balls in the Caster's Club- the second one will restart the jackpot timer at 15 seconds and double the lit jackpot if collected during that time. This can only be used on the three tackle box jackpots, not the Super Jackpot. A drop target will pop up in front of Caster's Club to prevent the player from relocking a third ball during 3-ball multiball, or from relocking the second ball if multiball is down to 2 balls.
Rock the Boat and Monster Fish can still be started and collected during multiball. Watch the lights on the playfield and listen for their callouts to keep tabs on this. A really good Rock the Boat round, especially, can out score multiple jackpots if played will during multiball.
During multiball, putting two different balls up the two different center ramps at close to the same time scores a 5,000,000 point Double Cross. This is very hard to do and comes with a rare and cool looking DMD animation.
Fish Tales has a conventional in/out lane setup. The out lanes are lit for special by hitting the captive ball a certain number of times after collecting the Instant Multiball award- typically 4. The left in lane lights the right center ramp for progress towards Monster Fish and always lights the right orbit for Long Cast. The right in lane always lights the left center ramp for Monster Fish progress, and it will also light the Fish Finder when lit. The right in lane can be lit by completing the L-I-E letters at the top of the playfield.
Bonus is equal to miscellaneous small points per switch hit, plus 250,000 points per fish caught (from the lower standup targets) plus 500,000 points per tale told (from the left spinner after catching a fish).
Bonus multiplier is advanced by completing the L-I-E top lanes, accessed by the left orbit (always) or right orbit (only when Long Cast is NOT lit). Bonus multiplier maxes out at 7x, so max bonus is 7x 3,000,000 = 21,000,000 points. Completing the L-I-E lanes also lights the right in lane if it is not already lit, and removes the lowest scoring option from the spinner value for the next Stretch the Truth.
Bonus cannot be collected mid-ball. The fish caught and tales told counts in the bonus are cumulative throughout the game so far, so they always carry over and build from ball to ball. Bonus multiplier can only be carried over via the Hold Bonus award from the captive ball or the Fish Finder, though. If the Hold Bonus award is received on the final ball of the game and no extra balls are earned, the end of ball bonus will be counted and scored twice when that ball drains.
In competition/novelty play, specials score a measly 1,000,000 points. Extra balls cannot be set to have a point value.
The following timers can be adjusted: the amount of time a center ramp is lit (5-20 seconds), the amount of time Fish Finder is lit (3-20 seconds), the time for which Stretch the Truth is lit (5-30 seconds), and the time on the ball saver at the beginning of the ball (4-20 seconds).
The game may start with none, some, or all of the captive ball awards flashing.
The out lane specials can be set to light after anywhere from 1 to 10 hits of Sell Yer Gear (by hitting the captive ball repeatedly on the same ball after finishing the awards).
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