Totem

Quickie Version:

UTAD from both flippers. Once bonus is maxed with a multiplier of at least 3X, shoot the saucer to collect it.

Go-to Flipper:

Balanced. NOTE: flippers are offset, with the right one higher than the left!

Risk Index:

High; see Key Feeds

Full Rules:

Totem is a mixed bonus / lane game with a unique tie-in between the top lanes and the drop targets. Top lanes combine with drop targets to advance bonus, and top lanes make the targets more valuable: targets score 500 if you don’t yet have the matching top lane, 5000 if you do. Base bonus goes up to 20K and is advanced by all lanes and targets; the bottom return lanes and outlanes give additional advances. Bonus multiplier goes up to 5X and is advanced four ways. First is by completing the two B or two C drop targets along with the corresponding top lane. Second is completing all six drop targets, which also scores 5000. Third is hitting the top left vari-target all the way back, which also scores 5K. Fourth is by draining out either side, again also worth 5K. The drop targets don’t reset until you complete all six. Total bonus therefore goes up to 100K. Bonus can be collected during the ball in play at the saucer on the right once the base bonus is maxed at 20K. You should wait to collect until you have made good progress with your multiplier, but once that’s at 5X, you should make collecting bonus your top priority. After collecting, bonus resets to be filled again but the multiplier is preserved for the remainder of that ball. Both base bonus and multiplier reset each ball. While the drops score points and increase your multiplier, the safest play is just up top from the left flipper and top left vari-target from the right flipper. This avoids risky rebounds off the drops; don’t bother shooting them unless you need only one more to advance your multiplier, and even then take the vari-target instead if you have the ball on the right flipper. On three-ball play, the A and D lanes at the top are connected; making either scores both. Set for five balls, they’re independent, as the B and C always are. Key feeds: balls coming down from the top over the rollovers on the right and the rebound from the vari-target channel. Note the rubber below the vari-target sticks out so that the ball bounces off it on the way down rather than rolling smoothly to the left flipper. Balls coming down the right side can and often do come cleanly to the right flipper for a cradle. Balls coming down through the gaps between the two B and the two C targets may need to be nudged as they exit the top of the playfield to avoid center drains. If the ball is banging around on the right bumper, try to get it to go through the gate to the right. Besides scoring 5K, this allows the ball to come to the bottom via the usually-safer right arc than the more dangerous gaps between the drops. While extra balls should be off, if on, getting all four A-B-C-D lanes lights the extra ball target just below and right of the D lane.