Genie

Quickie Version:

Shoot any lit drop target in the four-bank above the right flipper, otherwise UTAD through the left side or center spinner. If the ball gets near the left bumper, try to nudge it out to the center of the playfield.

Go-to Flipper:

Balanced

Risk Index:

High

Full Rules:

Genie was a better game when first released than it is now. I’ve only played one Genie in the past decade that played fast and clean; the others were slow and tedious, set shallow to attempt to offset weak flippers. Most Genies’ flippers are no longer able to zip the ball around the game adequately. In one case, a wise tournament director replaced the metal pinball with a lighter ceramic one, which made the game play roughly as it originally did. My description of how to play Genie here will presume you have tolerable but not great flipper power. Bonus is important on Genie. Hitting any drop target in the 4-bank above the right flipper will increase your bonus multiplier when the bank is lit. It cycles on switches, so if it’s not lit, go up top through either the center spinner from the left flipper or your choice of spinner or towards the upper playfield from the right flipper. If the spinner is lit, take it from either flipper, but remember getting your bonus X is more important if both the spinner and the drop target bank are lit. Most Genie spinners don’t give a lot of spins per shot. Genie is yet another Gottlieb game with a collect bonus saucer that activates automatically once your base bonus reaches 20,000. As with the other such games, you’re better off not collecting it unless your bonus multiplier is 4X or 5X; if you’re below that, work on raising the multiplier first. When you have the ball in the upper left mini-playfield, try to finish one color set, either red [4 drops] or white [3 drops]. Getting a set scores 10,000 and lights the white targets to be worth more – as the playfield says, 5000 and 3 bonus advances. In my experience, though, most Genies’ upper flippers are too weak to allow you much ball control or the ability to aim precisely, so do what you can to just keep the ball up there. Ignore all standup targets. Also try to avoid the A-B-C-D lanes at the lower left. If the ball does go over there, try to get the ball to exit to the center of the playfield rather than down the 50-50 drain lane below the bumper. If it does go down there, you’ll need some precise nudging to save the ball. Remember when doing so that you’re nudging the machine under the ball, not the ball! Nudge from the right, but timing is critical. Plunge is largely irrelevant, since all lanes score the same, but I like the A since the ball sometimes bounces off the bumper towards the upper left mini-playfield.