Know the left ramp shot well and be able to hit it from either flipper. If the saucer at the top right of the game lights a Jungle Run, loop the left ramp all day to take advantage of the millions-plus until you miss. Otherwise, collect the Seltzer ingredients from around the table, then shoot the saucer in the middle-right, then shoot the ramp 6 times in 45 seconds to score the 50,000,000 secret treasure jackpot, and repeat.
Constantly scans between 4 values: Light Kickback, Jungle Run 500K, Spot Ingredient, and Jungle Run 1M. Jungle Run is explained later; light kickback is self-explanatory; spot ingredient awards a random ingredient toward the current lava seltzer for free. Light Kickback will also spot an ingredient if the kickback is already lit. Entering this saucer immediately after hitting a bumper scores 100,000 points (or 500,000 points if all 7 ingredients have been collected) instead of any of the awards.
Jungle Runs are lit by the top saucer. The object of Jungle Run is to shoot the left ramp repeatedly. Each shot increases the ramp value. After the ramp is hit once to start the Jungle Run, the mode times out after 7 seconds pass without the left ramp being hit. If the saucer starts Jungle Run 500K, the starting ramp value will be 500,000 points, increasing by 500,000 each time to a maximum of 5,000,000. If the saucer starts Jungle Run 1M, the starting ramp will be 1,000,000 points, increasing by 1,000,000 each time up to a maximum of 10,000,000 per ramp. This is pretty good value, especially if you're really good at shooting the ramp, so it's worth temporarily forgetting about lava seltzer progress to try build up the Jungle Run value.
Collect the 7 ingredients from around the table to make the Lava Seltzer. The ingredients are:
The 7 ingredients to the seltzer can be collected in any order.
Once all ingredients have been collected, shoot the saucer between the center lane and the coconut targets to brew the seltzer. The ramp is now lit for Run to Kona. Shooting the ramp once scores 1,000,000 points and starts a 45 second timer: your only goal now is to make the ramp 5 more times within the 45 seconds. Successive ramp shots score 2,000,000, then 3,000,000, then 4,000,000, then 5,000,000 points. The jungle diverter rotates between each shot, so different ramp shots will go in different directions- this is why it is helpful to be able to reliably shoot the ramp shot from either flipper. The final shot completes the objective, calms Kona the volcano spirit (?), and awards the Island Treasure of 50,000,000 points. When Run to Kona ends- either due to the ball draining, the time running out, or the 50,000,000 being collected- the seven ingredients will unlight, and all will need to be collected again to make another attempt.
The six blue standup targets in the center of the table spell Lagoon. Complete this bank to light the mystery award at the Lagoon saucer (the center lane, where the shells are also collected). Going through any in lane also spots one letter in Lagoon. The awards from the mystery award are:
Gilligan's Island has a conventional in/out lane setup. A light can be moved between the two in lanes and the right out lane via lane change from either flipper (both flippers move the light in the same direction). If one of the in lanes is lit, that in lane will also increase the value of the left kickback. If the right out lane is lit, it will be worth 500,000 points. The in lanes both also spot a letter in Lagoon, whether they are lit or not.
There is an automatic kickback in the left out lane. It is on at the start of each game. When a ball passes through the lit in lane, the value of the kickback is increased: the order is 250,000 points, 500,000 points, Gift of the Gods, 2,000,000 points, then Bonus Ball. Advancing the value again when Bonus Ball is lit will reset the value to 250,000. Using the kickback scores the lit value and unlights it. It can be relit from one of the top saucer awards. Gift of the Gods is an unusual award: it does nothing for the player who earned it, but scores 1,000,000 points for all other player(s) in the game. Watch out for this, to the extent that you can.
Bonus seems to be roughly equal to 5,000 points, plus an additional 1,000 for every switch triggered or target hit throughout the ball. If there is a max bonus, I don't know about it. Bonus multiplier is advanced up to a maximum of 5X by shooting the ramp lane so hard that the ball goes under the diverter, squiggles to the left of the top saucer, goes over the top saucer, and down a secret lane on the right side. This is very difficult unless the flippers are quite strong, and is only available if the ramp shot is not lit for a Jungle Run or for anything to do with Run to Kona. It doesn't really matter, though, because with how many millions are thrown around on this table like candy from lit ramp shots, a few tens or hundreds of thousands in bonus won't do much to your score.
In competition/tournament play, specials score 1,000,000 points. I am not aware of a way to disable the Bonus Ball or have its award be worth points instead.
The exact percentage of the time that the Lagoon mystery lands on each award besides the 150,000 points can be individually set by the operator. The default distribution is: 3% special, 3% multiball, 15% bonus ball, 5% for 3,000,000, 10% for 2,000,000, 15% each for 1,000,000 and 750,000, 10% each for 500,000 and 300,000, and 14% for 150,000.
The left out lane kickback can be set to be lit at the start of each ball instead of the start of each game.
The kickback value and progress on Lagoon letters can be set to carry over or reset between balls. Progress on the Pineapple and Coconut target banks always seems to be carried over.
Run to Kona can be set to have a 35 second timer instead of 45, and Jungle Run can be set to have a 5 second timer instead of 7, on hard settings.
The game can be set to have the minimum bonus multiplier be equal to the ball number. This is off by default.
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