Hot Hand

Quickie Version:

Hit the drop targets, Ace first, from the left flipper; shoot the spinner from the right.

Go-to Flipper:

Balanced

Risk Index:

High

Skillshot(s):

Land the ball in one of the top pockets; on ball one, try for the Jack right where the ball comes into play. Since the arm moves counterclockwise, it may then knock the ball into one of the saucers left of that to score another card. On balls two and three, try to land in the pocket for a card you don’t already have. You’ll find the ball often rims out of the pockets without landing in them. A ball in a pocket will continue to score points until the arm knocks it out of the pocket.

Full Rules:

A one-of-a-kind game with its sweeping second-hand-like flipper-shaped arm up top. There are 10 shallow pockets at the top which the ball can settle into. It will score the indicated card in the suit lit at that time: 2 each of Kings, Queens and Jacks; 4 Tens. The sweeping arm will eventually push the ball out of any pocket, but it may bounce around and into another pocket. Bonus is big here, with both base and multipliers built by cards. Each card is 1000 bonus – 5 cards, 4 suits, 20K total. Multipliers are earned by good poker hands: a pair for 2X, three of a kind for 3X, four of a kind for 4X, all twenty cards scored for 5X. If you get all twenty, that turns on your “super bonus” where 20 cards are held to all future balls; actually, all of your bonus and your multiplier are always held. Get to super bonus on ball one and you’re guaranteed a minimum of 100K in bonus on each of your next two balls. Bonus goes up to 40K for 200K at 5X. Making all five cards in any suit raises other values: all the diamonds makes the top pockets score 2K instead of 200; hearts lights the top left standup target and right return lane for 5K; clubs lights the left return lane for 5K; spades makes the Ace target worth 5K, lights the spinner and turns on the kicker chute on the left for an extra ball if enabled. The kicker chute is otherwise worth 10K. Now for a few keys to success. First, get a lot of cards a.s.a.p. since both base bonus and bonus multiplier carry over. Second, try to score an Ace right away; finish the drop targets, then change suits to get a shot at a different Ace. You can get the non-Ace cards with drop targets, standup targets and the top pockets, but the Aces come only from that center drop target. If you knock down the Ace target when you already have the Ace of the lit suit, you have to both finish the target bank and change suits for a chance at a different Ace. Changing suits is part skill, part luck: the spinner, slingshots and bumpers all change it, but getting them to _stop_ changing it at the suit you need is chance. Lighting the spinner is not as big a deal as on some games since it’s already at 1000 per spin and lit just doubles it to 2K. You want to shoot it lit or not for both points and to get the ball up top for more cards in the pockets. Once you have your bonus maxed out, just keep shooting the spinner and, if you can’t transfer the ball to the right flipper, the drop targets. Ignore the standup targets completely.