Try to always be in multiball. The three multiballs are Cannister (shoot the drop target in front of the scoop, then the scoop itself, 3x the first time), Chase (5 shots to the ramp the first time), and Cow (9 lit orbits). Modes and awards from the Twister standup targets or the Compass lights around the playfield require too many dangerous shots to be worth the risk.
The skill shot is a precise power plunge that gets the pinball stuck to the magnet at the center of the spinning disk on the playfield. Failing to do so gives 5,000,000 compensation points. If you succeed, you receive the lit award from the DMD, which can be any of the following:
There are three multiballs in the game. None of them are particularly hard to start, at least not the first time around, so try to always be progressing toward or playing one of them.
Canister Multiball: requires lock shots at the scoop, which is protected by a drop target and surrounded by the Twister standup targets. Hit the drop target, then shoot the scoop to score a lock. The first multiball requires 3 locks, the second requires 4, and anything after that requires 5. For the final lock, the drop target will only stay down for about 10 seconds before it resets, giving you a time limit to make the lock. The number of balls in multiball is equal to the number of balls you locked.
During Canister Multiball, jackpots are at the ramp. Jackpot starts at 10,000,000 points times the number of balls at the start of multiball, and is increased by 5,000,000 for shots to the lock scoop and 200,000 by any other switch in the game. When you make a jackpot, you have 10 seconds to shoot the ramp again for double jackpot, and if you make a double jackpot, that 10 seconds will qualify a triple jackpot. If the time runs out, the jackpot will just be a single. After three jackpots (regardless of multiplier), the fourth jackpot will be a super jackpot equal to the sum of the previous three. After collecting a super jackpot, the jackpot value resets and the sequence starts over until single ball play resumes.
In some early versions of Twister, this is called Dorothy 2 Multiball after the events of the film, but this was changed early in production.
Chase Multiball: requires 5 ramp shots the first time and 9 ramp shots after that. This is a 5-ball multiball. Hit 40 switches anywhere in the game to light the ramp for jackpot. The first jackpot is 20,000,000 points, plus 500,000 for each switch hit after the jackpot is lit. After collecting a jackpot, you need switch hits again, 20 more than it took to light the previous jackpot. The base value for subsequent jackpots will be 20,000,000 higher than the previous collected jackpot, and can still be increased further by collecting switch hits after the jackpot is lit. If there is a maximum to the number of switches required to light a jackpot or the jackpot value itself, I have not encountered it.
Cow Multibull: shoot lit orbits. 9 lit orbits starts Cow Multibull, a 5-ball multiball. Orbits are lit for a jackpot that starts at 20,000,000 and increases by 250,000 per switch hit. Collecting a jackpot resets the value back to 20,000,000.
Hit the Twister standup targets in order to spell Twister, which scores 50,000,000 points times the number of completions of the Twister targets on the current ball, and starts the next mode from this list in sequence.
All scoring related to these Twister modes is paused during any multiball or Weathervane mode.
There are 8 compass targets around the game: two in the lower left, two in the lower right, one on other side of the ramp, and the two in lanes. Lighting all 8 compass directions starts one of the four modes listed below. Which mode gets played is random, but a mode will not be replayed unless all 4 are played.
One of the two orbit entrances is lit at all times. Going through an in lane moves the light to the opposite side orbit. Shooting an unlit orbit will light that orbit, and the ball will come all the way around the other side. Shooting a lit orbit will cause the ball to catch at the top on a magnet, where it will be dropped into the top lanes. Lighting all three lanes (lane change in both directions is available) increases the bonus multiplier toward the maximum of 8x. If you complete the top lanes with the bonus X already maxed out, you will light an extra ball the first time, and score 20,000,000 points any future times.
Bumpers score 250,000 points, or 1,000,000 if super pops is running. Hitting any bumper the number of times indicated on the display scores a 10,000,000 point Turbo Pop Bumper award.
Twister has a conventional in/out lane setup, with a center peg between the flippers. In lanes correspond to 2 of the 8 compass directions and also light the opposite orbit. Out lanes are lit alternately for Blown Away, an on-the-way-out award that seems to be a somewhat-random value, usually betwen 5,000,000 and 20,000,000 points.
Bonus is 1,000,000 per ramp, plus 1,000,000 per Twister target, plus 3,000,000 per lit orbit, plus 3,000,000 per lock made, all multiplied by bonus multiplier. The quantities used are the number of each shot made during that ball in play only. Bonus multiplier is increased by completing the top lanes, up to a maximum of 8x. Bonus can be quite good on a ball with a lot of orbits and several bonus multipliers.
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