On the plunge and whenever you happen to make a ramp (both of which are tight and steep), stay on the upper playfield as long as possible. Complete loops around the red targets to increase the red targets' value, and shoot above the green targets to clear the inline drop targets for bonus multiplier and extra ball. If the ball does drop to the lower playfield, complete sets of coloured targets to advance bonus further; shoot up the center when lit to raise the ramps, opening the Power Loops; or hit the two standup targets on the left side to start 2x Playfield Scoring.
There are 4 Stations around the playfield: Station 1 (Red) is at the top right of the upper playfield, Station 2 (Green) is on the left of the upper playfield, Station 3 (Blue) is in the top left of the lower playfield, and Station 4 (Orange) is on the right side of the lower playfield. Hitting a lit target in any of these banks scores 10,000 points and unlights it. Hitting an unlit target scores 2,000. Unlighting all targets in the bank scores a 10,000 point bonus, resets that bank so all targets are lit, and lights one of the numbers corresponding to that station on the grid of inserts in the playfield. Making a line of lit numbers on the Circuit grid- either horizontally by clearing each of the 4 Station banks once, or vertically by clearing a single Station bank three times- lights the next Tournament bonus. The order of Tournament bonuses is Muscle Beach (bottom to top), then North Shore (bottom to top), then Hardbody (bottom to top). To qualify the Hardbody Pro 350,000 bonus, you must complete the entire grid twice, which amounts to 6 total completions of each target bank over the course of the game.
The scoring for Station 1 deviates slightly from the guidelines listed above for the other three. At first, Station 1's standup targets are hidden behind a set of drop targets. Each drop target down scores 10,000 points, and credit on the standup targets does not count until the drops are completed. The standup targets score the usual 10,000 when lit and 2,000 when not lit, but instead of getting a 10,000 bonus when the standup targets are finished, you get the Blaster Bonus. The Blaster Bonus starts at 20,000 points and is increased whenever the ball traverses the entire loop behind the red targets, in the sequence of 20,000 - 35,000 - 50,000 - 65,000 - 80,000 - 100,000 + Extra ball. (This extra ball can only be collected once per ball in play, so subsequent Red completions score 100,000.) After the red targets are completed and the Blaster Bonus is awarded, the red drop targets re-raise and one completion of Station 1 is marked on the Circuit grid.
A shot from the upper playfield's right flipper that goes just above Station 2 can hit the inline drop targets. The first target scores 25,000 points. The second target scores 30,000 points and increases bonus multiplier to 2x. The third target scores 35,000 points and increases bonus multiplier to 3x. Once all three targets are cleared, the red standup target in the far back left of the game scores 50,000 points and an extra ball (after the EB is collected, further hits score 50,000). Knocking down these inline drop targets frequently causes the ball to drop into the funnel lanes below. The game doesn't seem to actually care that you hit the drops in order; thanks to some weird geometry, it's possible to not always hit them in sequence, so the game makes sure to award 25,000 for the first target no matter which it is, then 30,000 and 2x bonus to the 2nd target no matter which it is, etc.
The two lanes directly below the inline drop targets are what I refer to as the funnel lanes. The left funnel lane scores 50,000 points and returns the ball to the lower playfield. The right funnel lane scores 25,000 points and feeds the ball underneath Station 2 in such a way that it should fall to the upper left flipper.
A very difficult to get special is available at the right funnel lane. First, complete the Muscle Beach tournament by making a total of 4 lines on the Circuit board. Then, go through the left in lane. A special will be lit for 8 seconds at the right funnel lane on the upper playfield. To actually collect it, though, you need to 1) know that all this is happening, 2) reflex the ball up the right ramp, 3) get a decent shot from the upper right flipper, and 4) have that shot actually go into the 25,000 funnel lane- fantastically difficult to do within 8 seconds.
Completing any Station lights the shot in the center of the playfield for Raise Ramps. Hitting this shot raises the two ramps and starts the arrow flashing for Lower Ramps. Once you hit the Lower Ramps shot, the ramps stay down, and cannot be raised again unless the center shot is re-lit by completing another Station. While the ramps are raised, it's impossible to return to the upper playfield. However, you can now make Power Rep loops underneath the ramps. Make the loop in either direction for 50,000 points. Subsequent loops made within 8 seconds of the previous loop, again in either direction, score 100,000, then 200,000, then 400,000 points plus an extra ball. This is a very difficult but satisfying combo to pull off; I wouldn't recommend it for competition/tournament play, where it's safer to just lower the ramps again in an attempt to return to the upper playfield and whale on the Red station more.
There are two standup targets on the left side of the lower playfield. One is labelled Normal with a red light, and one is labelled Double Playfield Scoring with a white light. At first, only the red light is lit. Go through either in lane to light the white Double Playfield Scoring light, then hit that target to start 2X Playfield. This double scoring lasts until the ball drains, or until the unlit red Normal target is hit. The targets themselves score minor points (2,000 when not lit, 4,000 when lit, but these numbers are affected by the 2X playfield itself).
Completing a Station while Double Scoring is activated gives two credits for that station on the Circuit board. I am not aware of any scoring anywhere in the game that is exempt from the 2X playfield.
The flipper positions and slingshots are mostly normal, but there is only one lane on either side, with clear plastic reading Flex Save just above the flipper. These lanes serve as both in lanes and out lanes. There are additional buttons on the side of the cabinet next to the flipper buttons that operate this Flex Save, which pops up a small rail that closes off the gap and allows the lane to feed the ball to the flipper. It can be triggered at any time, lasts for about a second and a half, and then also has a cooldown of about a second before it can be used again. Dexterity and reaction time are required to operate these effectively given how quickly the ball can sometimes move in this game.
Don't use the Flex Save needlessly, as every 14 uses will decrease the amount of time it stays closed by 1/6 of a second, down to a minimum of 5/6 of one second.
When the star rollovers in these lanes are flashing, the Auto Save is on, meaning the Flex Save will pop up automatically. The auto save is always on until the player's score reaches at least 200,000. Outside of this situation, a single Auto Save can be earned on the left side by completing the blue Station 3 targets and on the right side by completing the orange Station 4 targets.
The Flex Save can still be manually used, even when the Auto Save is on. Doing so when a single-use Auto Save is lit can prevent that Auto Save from being used up if done quickly enough. It's generally good practice to use the manual Flex Save when the single-use Auto Save is on, just to keep the Auto around for when it's really needed, but don't use the manual save if one of the semi-permanent Auto Saves is running, or you'll just be making progress toward shortening future manual Flex Save timers.
It is possible for the ball to go through the lane so fast that even the auto saver does not react in time and the ball is lost; there is no compensation for this occurring.
Bonus is calculated as 5,000 points per lit number on the Circuit board, plus the sum of all lit values in the Tournament columns, which are lit by making horizontal or vertical lines on the Circuit board. The first four circuits collected scores 20,000, 20,000, 20,000, and 40,000; the sixth circuit resets the Circuit board (since it would then be full), but keeps all tournament progress; the fifth through eighth circuits again score 20,000, 20,000, 20,000, and 40,000; the ninth through twelfth circuits score 25,000, 25,000, 25,000, and 350,000. At 12 circuits, the Circuit board resets since it's now full for a second time, and all Tournament lights except the 350,000 Hardbody Pro turn off, allowing you to play through the tournaments again and continue building up the bonus. I haven't seen if and when the bonus sequence ends so I won't list a max bonus here, but coupled with the 3X multiplier you receive from clearing the three inline drop targets, the max bonus is definitely worth more than 1,200,000 points, which is very sizable on this game.
There is no mid-ball bonus collect. All tournament progress is carried over from ball to ball, but the bonus multiplier is only held if the ball-in-play number doesn't change (that is, same player shoots again because an extra ball was collected).
The game manual does list a setting that allows Specials to be set to points, but the value is not listed, and I have not been able to determine said value myself from gameplay. I would expect a fair value for a Special to be between 200,000 and 500,000 points. There does not seem to be a setting where extra balls can be set to points.
By default, a special is awarded when the first Tournament is completed. This can be changed to have the special be awarded after completing 2 or 3 columns instead.
The time limit for how long the special at the funnel lanes is lit after the ball rolls through the left in lane can be set to 4, 6, 8 (default) or 10 seconds.
The Blaster Value can be set to increase one stage when the drop targets in front of the red standups are completed. By default, this is on. The Blaster Value can also be set to return to its initial value of 20,000 after the red standup targets have been completed. By default, this is off.
The scoring threshold at which the semi-permanent Auto Save is disabled at the Flex Save lanes can be set to 0, 100,000, 200,000 (default), or 300,000. The starting duration of a Flex Save can be set to any multiple of 1/6 second between 5/6 seconds and 2 full seconds, inclusive. The number of manual Flex Save activations required to decrease the Flex Save duration by 1/6 second can be set to 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 (default), 16, 18, or 20.
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