Shoot the right saucer repeatedly, as it gives the most reliable points in the game and an extra ball chance. If the ball ends up in the bumpers, try to nudge it into either the left side for a couple thousands and a bonus advance, or into the top right mushroom bumper for a bonus advance.
There are 4 top lanes, but none are perfectly vertical: they kind of form two V shapes, like this \ / \ /. The lanes on the outside score 1,000 points. The middle left lane scores 100 points and lights the green bumpers; the middle right lane scores 100 points and lights the red bumpers. Both middle lanes have rollover buttons above them that score 10 points and advance the bonus once. Always try to shoot for one of the middle two lanes.
Two red and two green. Score 100 points when lit, or 10 when not.
A small green passive bumper in the far top right of the game that scores 10 points and advances the bonus.
There are three places to enter the left side lane structure. The top gives 3,000 points, the middle gives 2,000 points, and the lowest gives 1,000 points. When the ball leaves the lane structure, bonus is advanced once. There's a one way gate at the bottom, so the structure can't be shot into from below. If the ball ends up in the left side of the pop bumper area, see if it can end up here, but otherwise, don't go out of your way to make ending up here a shot.
Has 5 possible values: 1,000 - 2,000 - 3,000 - 5,000 - extra ball. Any 10-point switch will rotate the lit award. This saucer is not particularly difficult to shoot and is the only reliable way to get points in the thousands at a time, so make it the primary shot of the game. The extra ball award scores no points and does nothing at all if shoot again is already lit, so in that exact case, shoot around the playfield to reroll the award first.
Zip-a-Doo has no in lanes; the flippers back up to the slingshots directly. The out lanes score 100 points and can be lit for collect bonus (explained in the next section). The slingshots score 10. There are no out lane kickbacks or gates.
This game has a center post. It is raised at the Up Post button in the center of the playfield and lowered by the Down Post buttons immediately above the flippers. Because the Down Post buttons are so close to the flippers, don't rely on the post being there unless the ball is on a flipper already, because a ball coming down the playfield and hitting one of these buttons unexpectedly leaves no time to react.
This game has an end of ball bonus, but in practice, it actually works a little bit more like a jackpot. The bonus has no value to start out. It is advanced by 1,000 points every time a top rollover button or the upper right mushroom bumper is hit, or the left side lane structure is exited. The bonus maxes out at 10,000 points. It is only collected if the ball drains through the lit out lane, and which out lane is lit alternates with every 10 point switch. If the bonus is not collected, it is retained for the next ball. This includes being retained from player to player; in a 2-player game, if player 1 does not collect the bonus upon draining, player 2 starts with that bonus value. Scoring on Zip-a-Doo is generally pretty low, so it may be worth not trying to nudge the ball away from an out lane if that out lane is lit for 5,000 or more in bonus, especially in a 2 player game.
When collected, the bonus starts out empty for the next turn, and also starts out empty at the beginning of each game.
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