As the first thing you do when walking up to an unfamiliar Hook table, shoot the left ramp. If doing so increases the left ramp value, you're playing on the original code, and left ramp all day is a perfectly viable strategy. If this did not occur, each individual drop target will increase the left ramp value instead, and you should focus on modes and multiball for more efficient and safer points. For multiball, complete the 9 standup targets and then shoot the lock in the back left of the game; for modes, shoot the skull to light one, and then the scoop in the lower right to start one.
The skill shot is a precise power plunge into one of the three numbered holes, as indicated by nearby lights or by the DMD. Unsuccessful skill shots score 100,000 points times the current ball in play. Successful skill shots score 2,000,000 on ball 1, 3,000,000 on ball 2, etc.
If you send the skill shot a bit too far past the #3 hole, it will fall onto the playfield down the right orbit in such a way that it usually won't hit a scoring switch and you can let it drain for another chance since the playfield was not validated. If you send the skill shot way too far, it will loop back around the right ramp's habitrail and back into the shooter lane once, meaning you get one retry; full plunge again and the ball will just end up in the top lanes.
It's very important to get a feel for the skill shot on Hook, since the millions you get at the start of each ball are meaningful and there is an even greater meaning to the skill shot at the start of multiball, which is discussed in the Locks and multiball section later in the guide.
The left ramp scores 250,000 points by default. On the standard game code, making the left ramp scores and advances the value. The order of values is 250,000 - 500,000 - 750,000 - 1,000,000 - 2,000,000 - 3,000,000. If about 15 seconds pass without the ramp being hit, the ramp value will decrease one stage, unless the value was maxed out at 3,000,000, in which case the entire value will just reset. On the updated fanmade code with rebalanced scoring, the ramp instead increases in value whenever a left drop target is hit, and the timer is based on how long it has been since that last drop target hit.
A full left ramp shot gets fed to the right flipper, so the ramp can easily be comboed. If the ramp increases its own value, you can get a very good score from htiting nothing but the left ramp constantly for 3,000,000 points a pop. A shot that only makes it about halfway up the left ramp will fall off the habitrail near the top lanes; a shot that makes less progress than that will come screaming back down the ramp, with its exact destination depending on just how far up the ramp it got (left flipper, right flipper, or SDTM). Be prepared to react to any of these.
A bug occasionally causes the DMD to flash your current score rounded down to the nearest multiple of the current ramp value as though that was what the ramp was worth. This is just a visual bug; the ramp still scored the value lit on the playfield, and there is no double your score feature on the left ramp.
Each target down scores 50,000 points. On the original code, individual drop targets do nothing for the ramp, but completing the drop targets will advance the ramp once, then score the ramp value, then advance the ramp again. On rebalanced fanmade code, each drop target down increases the ramp value once, and completing the bank scores the current ramp value, then advances it.
Occasionally, a quick Pirate mode will start. When a pirate mode starts, you have 12 seconds to complete the drop targets for the listed award: either 10,000,000 points, or an extra ball, or a special. I do not know what prompts these to start! I have seen a pirate mode start off of the right ramp, the skull shot, and a standup target; the real trigger could be ball time, or number of switch hits, or something else. If you suddenly hear the hurry-up music for no reason, take a glance behind the drop targets and see if one of the major awards is lit, and if it is, try to complete the bank quickly if you can.
There are six "modes"; that term is used loosely, as they're actually more like instant awards as seen with the Mirror in Funhouse or the Super Cellar Door in Whirlwind. To light a mode, shoot the skull shot in the center of the table. To start a mode, shoot the scoop in the lower right of the game that's in a similar position as the Swamp kickout on Addams Family. Any shot to this hole or to the skull gets spit out of this hole, pretty quickly. If you shoot the mode start hole when there is no mode ready (flashing), you receive a mystery score, which usually tends to be a multiple of 50,000 points between 250,000 and 500,000. The six modes are:
The bumpers rotate which of the 6 modes will be started with the next scoop shot. After playing all 6, the 7th mode is Bangarang Countdown, a semi-wizard mode where all shots except the right ramp (left ramp, lock, skull, right orbit) score 5,000,000 points for 30 seconds.
Any shot to the skull spots one top lane light for you, allowing you to work toward additional bonus multiplier. An insert pointing at the skull mouth implies there's a way to light it for an extra ball. I've never seen this light come on or this feature be available.
Three shots to the right ramp score AM, then PM, then Shoot Clocks. During Shoot Clocks, the lock shot and the right ramp are both worth 5,000,000 points for about 15 seconds, and you get 5,000,000 points with your end of ball bonus just for starting Shoot Clocks. On updated code, this works a bit differently; once Shoot Clocks starts, the first shot to the lock or right ramp is worth 8,000,000, subsequent shots are worth 3,000,000 more than the previous, and the extra scoring you get during the bonus is equal to the last Clocks value you collected (or 5,000,000 if there was none).
Three shots to the right orbit score Strike 1, then Strike 2, then Home Run. Home Run is worth 5,000,000 points.
To light a lock, hit the 9 standup targets around the center of the playfield. Their position and odd angles mean the ball needs to be backhanded into some and ricocheted into others. Making any of the three skill shot holes or shooting the lock shot when it is not lit will spot one target for you. Completing the first two banks awards 1,000,000 points each; the third bank completion scores 2,000,000 and lights the lock. Shoot a ball into the lock to start the multiball sequence.
A ball will be fed to the plunger for up to two skill shot chances.
If you miss the first skill shot, you are not given a second skill shot; 2-ball multiball begins. You must upgrade the multiball to 3 balls before the jackpots become available. To do this, relock one of the two balls in the lock shot, and then shoot either ramp with the other ball within 12 seconds of the relock.
If you make the first skill shot but miss the second, standard 3-ball multiball begins.
If you make both skill shots, you start 3-ball multiball and receive a 10,000,000 point Bangarang Bonus.
The first of the two skill shots will almost always be into hole #2, but I have found that making hole #1 gives credit for the first skill shot anyway. If this is true on your machine, then you can safely short plunge the first skill shot to guarantee that you start 3-ball multiball with jackpots ready.
During multiball, jackpots alternate between the two ramps; left first. The jackpot starts at 5,000,000 points (10,000,000 on updated code) and is increased by 1,000,000 with each pop bumper or standup target hit. Collecting a jackpot resets it to the base value. After collecting both a left ramp jackpot and a right ramp jackpot, the next left ramp jackpot will have a base value of 5,000,000 more than the previous pair of jackpots had. Continue going back and forth collecting jackpots until single ball play resumes. If you started 3-ball multiball but lose two balls before collecting any jackpots, there is a multiball restart available at the lock shot for 12 seconds. The multiball restart does not give you back 3-ball multiball for free: you return to the skill shot portion, and this time the first skill shot is not always pot #2.
Hook has a conventional in/out lane setup. One of the two out lanes will always be lit, alternating with each time either flipper button is pressed. If the ball goes down a lit out lane, it will score I've Lost My Marbles, equal to 500,000 points times the number of the current ball in play. If the out lane is not lit, the award is Big Score instead, which is just 250,000 points times the ball in play. The in lanes cannot be lit for any specific features.
There is an automatic kickback in the left out lane. By default, it is on at the start of each ball, and unlights when used. Relight it by hitting the Slingshot target just to the right of the mode start scoop. There is no way to upgrade the kickback such that it does not expire when used.
I do not know the exact formula for the end of ball bonus; it seems to just be a function of the switches hit on that ball. If there is a maximum base bonus, it is at least 250,000 on the standard code and 2,500,000 on the updated code (the updated code seems to give quite a bit more bonus per switch hit too). Bonus multiplier is advanced in the order of 2x-4x-6x-8x-10x by completing the top lanes. Any shot to the Skull spots one of the top lanes for you. One of the six modes is an instant 10x bonus on that ball. Completing the top lanes again when the bonus is maxed out at 10x scores 1,000,000 points. When 10x bonus is achieved, the base bonus count will also be held over to the next ball. This is the only bonus hold of any kind; it is impossible to carry the multipliers over from ball to ball. There is no mid-ball bonus collect.
This game shows the replay score or highest score after each ball. Occasionally, the DMD will flash a very large number- sometimes 10x your current score or more- between balls instead. This does not necessarily correspond to the replay score or the current grand champion score, so I assume this is some kind of visual bug similar to the the one mentioned regarding the left ramp above.
The manual does not list any way to set specials or extra balls to be worth a point value for competition/novelty play; the can only be turned off instead.
The lit out lane can be set to be toggled by slingshots instead of flipper lane change.
The Croc Hurry-up timer and the ramp value timer can be set to any of 5 settings, but the exact values are never shown in the settings pages or in-game. Factory for each seems to be around 12 seconds.
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