This is the miniature pinball game designed as a ticket redemption game. It is not to be confused with its full-size, conventional pinball cousin, which is just called Super Mario Bros. (Premier Gottlieb, 1992)
To play for score, hit the standup target in the back center of the game to light the ramp, then shoot the ramp. Ever other lit ramp starts a video mode worth 30,000,000 points if you win.
To play for specials/game progress, complete banks of targets to advance through "worlds"- keep track of what world you're on, and be sure to get a good shot at the flashing drop targets as soon as possible when world 8 starts to get the most points from the wizard mode.
The plunge puts the ball into the bumpers. Hitting a bumper off the plunge scrambles the icons displayed on the DMD. The more bumpers you hit, the more likely it is that one or more of the four picture slots will display a sensical image, but ultimately it is truly random. When the ball leaves the bumpers, you get awards for any completed images- 500,000 for a hammer, 1,000,000 for a mushroom, 3,000,000 for a music box, and a free World advance toward wizard mode for a Starman. Then, the ball gets kicked out of the red pipe at the bottom of the table, very fast and directly at the left flipper.
Hit the target in the back of the game between the two scoops to light the left ramp. Every odd-numbered lit left ramp starts a Video Mode: use the left and right flippers to jump and run in the Athletic mode, or to go up and down in the Swimming mode. Both are pretty easy. If you fail, you'll score between 1,000,000 and 3,000,000 points. If you succeed, you'll score 30,000,000 points. Even-numbered shots to the left ramp can be worth points (I've seen 500,000 or 1,000,000) or Luigi's Surprise (which always spots the current world), Rarely, the Warp Whistle target will start Mario's Countdown at the left ramp, which is a hurry-up worth up to 10,000,000 points.
Complete all of the drop targets to advance a World. The number of completed worlds can be seen by the LEDs on the apron. They go in the order of the 8 worlds that Mario traverses in the Super Mario Bros. 3 video game: Grass, Desert, Water, Giant, Sky, Ice, Pipe, Dark. The first 7 worlds just ask you to complete the drop targets: as you progress further, more and more drop targets are needed to advance a world.
World 8, Dark Land, is the closest thing this game has to a wizard mode. The drop targets in each bank will flash one at a time: first the left target, then the right, then the middle, then #2, then #4. Hit a target while it's flashing to score the value shown above it, but do so quickly, because the target will be knocked down on its own after about 3 seconds, with the flashing light moving to the next one in the sequence. Flashing targets score 20,000,000 for the far left, 10,000,000 for the far right, 5,000,000 for the center, 3,000,000 for target #2, and 2,000,000 for target #4. This mode ends very quickly, so be ready as soon as you see that World 7 is almost done.
Worlds can also be spotted for you on the plunge at the beginning of the ball or by Luigi's Surprise at the left ramp.
The scoop in the back left of the game just left of the Warp Whistle target is Princess Peach's Scoop. This is an up-kicker that sends the ball into the bumpers. The Tail Attack or Block Buster mode will last for as long as the ball is in the bumper area. You want to time pop bumper hits with when Mario swings his raccoon tail or hits a block. The more times this happens in one trip to the bumpers, the more points you get- 250,000, then 500,000, then 1,000,000, then 3,000,000, then a repeatable 10,000,000. This is once again luck-based, with the only player input being nudging to keep the ball there- the more active the pop bumpers are on your game, the more this is worth going for.
Just to the right of the Warp Whistle target is Boom-Boom's scoop. This sends the ball underneath the table to the yellow pipe near the flippers, where the ball gets aggressively shot directly at the right flipper. After three Boom-Boom scoop shots, a second ball will be served to the plunge for a 2-ball multiball. Progress on the 3 shots is shown by small red lights above the Boom-Boom scoop. During multiball, everything is in play with no multiball-specific features, other than the fact that the lit left ramp will not give video modes until one ball is drained.
There are no out lanes. There are in lanes, but the left in lane is just for the ball to return to the flipper from the left ramp, and the right in lane isn't really used unless the ball leaves the bumpers in a specific way.
The yellow and red pipes are kickout holes. The yellow pipe on the left is where the ball is kicked out from Boom-Boom's saucer, and the red pipe on the right is the kickout for when the ball leaves the bumpers most of the time. These kickouts should be very fast, directly at the opposite flipper, and controllable relatively easily with a dead bounce. If the kickouts go down the center drain, ask your operator to adjust them. If a pinball ends up falling into one of these exit pipe holes, points will be scored- 50,000, then 500,000, then 1,000,000, then 2,000,000, then 3,000,000, then 4,000,000, then 5,000,000, then returning to 50,000. The points will not score if a ball was just kicked out of that hole, though, as the game will assume that the kickout failed.
You receive 500,000 points per completed world at the end of each ball. There is no bonus multiplier, mid-ball collect, or anything else.
Super Mario Bros. Mushroom World was designed to be a ticket redemption game for children. Completing each "world" via drop targets will add tickets to the DMD counter, and drop targets during the Dark Land "wizard" mode can be set to give 5-4-3-2-1 tickets instead of the point values described earlier.
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