Stay on the upper playfield whenever possible. Make the drop target banks "match" by hitting the same targets in each bank to earn Pharaoh letters. You get 2 Pharaoh letters for free; get a total of 4 to light locks for multiball, and get all 7 to light extra ball. Multiball is only 2 balls, and all scoring is doubled when 2 balls are in play. Shoot the candy cane lane at the top left of the upper playfield to start a hurry-up worth 25,000 points times the number of lit Pharaoh letters that can be collected at the captive ball or either lock shot. On the lower playfield, notice the magna save on both in lanes; refresh your magna save by making individual drop targets on the right. From the lower left flipper, backhand the center ramp to go up; from the lower right flipper, shoot the left lane to be kicked to the upper playfield.
Individual drop targets score 3,000 points and a bonus advance. The goal with the two banks of targets is to hit the same target(s) down on each bank. Doing so resets both banks and earns a letter in Pharaoh, and is what I will refer to as "completing" the upper drop targets. If, for example, you hit the blue target in one bank and the yellow and red targets in the other, you'll need to knock down all 3 targets in both banks to score a completion. However, you can also complete the targets as simply as hitting only the blue target in both banks to make them match.
Each ball starts with 2 Pharaoh letters spotted for free. Earn 2 more letters, for a total of 4, to light the lock lanes for multiball (top center lane of the upper playfield, and the lane between the center and right ramps on the lower playfield). If you have already played multiball on the current ball, you must complete the upper drop targets once to relight the locks, regardless of how many Pharaoh letters you have. Lighting all 7 Pharaoh letters in a ball lights an extra ball that alternates between the upper playfield candy cane lane and the lower playfield left lane every time a slingshot fires.
Hitting the captive ball on the upper playfield hard enough that it makes a complete loop around its chamber scores 5,000 points for each lit Pharaoh letter.
Two hurry-ups are available. The lower value hurry-up starts at 15,000 points times the number of lit Pharaoh letters, and is started whenever you shoot the left lane of the lower playfield, which kicks the ball up to the upper playfield. The higher value hurry-up starts at 25,000 points times the number of lit Pharaoh letters, and is lit when you shoot the candy cane lane in the top left of the upper playfield. Hurry-ups stay at their max value for a few seconds, then count down to 0 very quickly (though the countdown rate is the same for all hurry-ups, so higher value hurry-ups are active for longer). One of the score displays other than your own will show the current hurry-up value. All hurry-ups can be collected by hitting the captive ball or shooting either lock lane.
The candy cane lane also scores 20,000 points straight up and lights one of the out lanes for ? before initiating the hurry-up.
Locks are lit at the top middle lane on the upper playfield and the lane between the two ramps on the lower playfield after lighting at least 4 Pharaoh letters. Shoot either lock lane when lit to start multiball. The same insert lights on the playfield are used to show "collect a hurry-up here" and "lock is lit here", so try to keep track of the game state so you know which reason these lanes are lit (and the answer can be both at once). When you lock one ball, a second ball is fed to the plunger. Multiball will begin about 5 seconds after the second ball hits a switch on the playfield; or, you can start multiball instantly by locking the second ball as well, which is easier if you locked ball 1 on the lower playfield.
Multiball on Pharaoh is always a 2-ball affair. All scoring is in play (including things like hurry-ups), with all scoring doubled for as long as two balls are in play. If you lock a ball and then drain the second ball before the first ball kicks out, you will lose the multiball chance, but you can continue single ball play with the locked ball. There are no multiball-specific scoring features such as jackpots. There is no reason to relock a ball in multiball; it will just get spit back out. Progress toward another multiball cannot be made until the previous one ends, and you must complete the upper playfield drop targets once to relight locks.
When flashing, the bullseye standup targets increase bonus multiplier in the sequence 2x-3x-5x. To flash the standup target on the far left of the lower playfield, go through either in lane. To flash the standup on the top right of the upper playfield, shoot the left lane upkicker on the lower playfield.
Hitting any drop target scores 3,000 points and one bonus advance, and also adds 1 second to the available magna-save time for one side of the playfield. The far rightmost target bank adds to the right magna-save, and the nearer target bank adds to the left magna-save. When a target is knocked down in either of these banks, a 10-second time limit begins, indicated by the flashing light in front of the drop targets and an accelerating sound effect. You must knock down the remaining targets in the bank before this time expires or the bank will reset. Complete a bank to score 10,000 points and 3 bonus advances. Complete both banks once each and the left lane upkicker will be lit for a one-time bonus collect, which is simply a base bonus collect that ignores multipliers.
Pharaoh has a conventional in/out lane setup. In lanes score 10,000 points and 1 bonus advance, and they also light the lower playfield's standup target for bonus X advance for a few seconds.
Out lanes score 10,000 points and 3 bonus advances when not lit. Out lanes can be lit by shooting the candy cane lane on the upper playfield. Lit out lanes score 30,000 points and a random number of bonus advances between 1 and 10 inclusive. Lit out lanes can also award bonus multipliers, but this seems to only happen if you were at 1x bonus already.
There is a magna-save on each in lane, operated by the buttons behind the flipper buttons on the sides of the cabinet. The magnets are only active for as long as you push the button; they do not stay on in an attempt to catch the ball. Magna-saves can be used for about 1 second per lit time unit on the playfield. Hit lower playfield drop targets as described above to power up the magna-saves. Up to 7 seconds of magna-save on each side can be stored. The amount of magna-save you have is remembered from ball to ball. Games always begin with 1 second of magna-save on each side.
The in lanes and any individual drop target score 1 bonus advance. Completing a bank of lower playfield drop targets, earning a Pharaoh letter, or going down an unlit out lane score 3 bonus advances. Lit out lanes score a random number of bonus advances between 1 and 10. Max base bonus is 49,000 points. If base bonus is maxed out, anything that would award more bonus advances will give a flat 10,000 points instead. Bonus multiplier is advanced in the order of 2x-3x-5x by hitting lit standup targets or by randomly receiving a bonus multiplier as a reward from a lit out lane. Bonus multiplier of 2x and 3x are carried to the next ball, but a bonus multiplier of 5x is reset for the next ball. Base bonus is always reset for the next ball. There is a mid-ball bonus collect (without multiplier) that is made available at the upkicker lane after completing both sets of lower playfield drop targets once.
In a multiplayer game, the player with the highest score after everyone has played all of their balls in proper turn receives a bonus ball. The bonus ball is a timed 25-second multiball with unlimited ball save and double playfield scoring lit throughout. Extra balls are disabled during the bonus ball. When time expires, the flippers lock up and bonus is immediately counted and the turn ends, no matter where on the playfield the balls are.
The game manual only says there is an option for special to award points, but does not say how many: I would expect 50,000 or 100,000, but have not tested for sure. There is no way to make extra balls just worth points instead. (I'm not even sure where in this game a proper Special can be earned, as there's nothing of the sort on the playfield, and the Special award is separate from the replay score award. Maybe the ? lanes can give one somehow?)
The timers on the lower playfield dropt argets and the bonus X standup targets can be set to anywhere from 5 to 14 seconds. Default is 10 for each.
There are 9 settings for how quickly the hurry-ups count down. The factory default is setting 5 in the middle, but I can provide no more helpful frame of reference.
The bonus ball can be disabled outright or set to any length from 1 to 99 seconds.
The game can be set to spot 0, 1, 2, or 3 Pharaoh letters at the start of each ball. Default is 2. Also, the number of letters needed to light locks can be set to 3, 4, or 5. Default is 4.
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