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From: kjohnson@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Keefer) Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball Subject: Keefer's Guide to Fish Tales! Message-ID: <C17509.4x2@csugrad.cs.vt.edu> Date: 21 Jan 93 09:00:09 GMT Organization: Virginia Polytechnic Bureaucracy, USA Lines: 367

Keefer's Guide to Fish Tales ============================

This rule compilation is public domain. Do with it what you want. However, if you do have any changes/updates/additions/corrections to make, by all means let me know. Reach me on internet at kjohnson@csugrad.cs.vt.edu.

Fish Tales is probably a registered trademark of Williams Electronics, etc. etc. So there.

No holds are barred in this Guide. I'm going to talk about EVERYTHING I know about. If you really want to learn all the undocumented features yourself, then stop reading!

Important Things ----------------

This section describes key elements and/or shots to be made in Fish Tales. They will be constantly referred to in the play discussion.

Rod - This is the auto-plunging device on Fish Tales. It's a little fishing rod handle with a button on the top of it. Hit the button to launch the ball. You also use the button during video mode to launch torpedos. Really. Autocast - This is a timed device designed to protect you from instant drains. While it is flashing, you will get any ball back that you lose, instantly. If the game sees it hit an outlane microswitch, you'll get the next one before it even finishes draining! If you can death-save the ball you lost, you can have a mini-multiball. Long Cast - This is the right looping shot, exactly like the Chase Loop in Terminator 2. Making this shot when lit scores million+, and lights the next thing on the captive ball. If this shot is not lit, then the upper left gate will be closed, and the ball will go into one of the LIE lanes. LIE lanes - Spell LIE to increase your bonus multiplier up to 7x. After 7x, each LIE made will be worth 5M, 10M, 15M, then 20M for then on (until you lose the ball (unless you had bonus held)). Don't forget you can change which lanes are lit with either flipper button, so you should never repeat a letter. Boat - This is the inclined plastic figure right in the center of the game. There are 3 shots: The left ramp, the right ramp, and the captive ball. Because it is inclined, it is harder to hit the ball than on most other games with one (like Earthshaker). Any one of these 3 shots counts as a "boat shot" during Rock the Boat. Captive ball - The captive ball is trapped in the middle of the boat. A dead-on shot will send it up to the top, where there is a target that it can trigger. If you don't hit it hard enough, it won't hit the switch. Only hitting the switch has any effect and counts as a captive ball hit. Eject hole - This shot is equivalent to the Escape Route shot on T2. You usually get it by shooting up the left side, through the spinner, and into the hole. However, whatever it is lit for, you can still get it if it just happens to plop in there (if it's bouncing around the LIE lanes, for example). This is where you collect the regular Jackpot, the Fish Finder, and Video Mode. Fish Finder - If you hit the Fish Finder, you are given ("randomly") one of several awards from points to multiball to light extra ball. Video Mode - Lit by hitting the 2nd value on the captive ball. Shooting the eject hole will start it, and you have to shoot boats with water skiers going across the screen at 3 different distances. Stingers - There are 2 targets on the left and right sides near the slingshots which have a 3-part fish in front of them. Hitting either target spots one of the segments, and a whole fish lights a Stinger, which is one of the 4 big fish with lights in them on the lower part of the playfield, just under the boat. This also lights the spinner for "Stretch the Truth" for 10-15 seconds. 4 Stingers starts the Feeding Frenzy. Stretch the Truth - When lit, scores 1 tale (for end-of-ball bonus, and the current set of 4 is displayed under the stingers). The value of your fish ranges from 0-5M per fish. 4 tales starts a 30 second Rock the Boat. Feeding Frenzy - There are 4 purple fish you need to hit. One on each of the ramp shots, one along the Long Cast, and one at the spinner. You have 15 seconds to hit a fish for 5M points. Doing so gives you another 15 seconds to hit the next one, etc., until you have 15 seconds to hit the last fish for 20M points (a total of 35M). Rock the Boat - For a certain amount of time (20 seconds from the captive ball award; 30 seconds for 4 tales), each boat shot counts 10M (including U-turns). Monster Fish - Right under the boat is a string of 6 fish (a "school" of fish - look closely!). Each time you make a LIT ramp shot, you light another fish. Getting all 6 lights the spinner for the Monster Fish award, which is a hurry-up award. Caster's Club - A fairly hard-to-hit shot where you shoot balls to lock them. The balls don't even stay here; the game kicks them up a habitrail which leads to the reel all the way on the left side of the game. Reel - Nothing really important, except this is where balls are stored. It can spin to accept new balls, or to let a ball out to have it kicked back into play. Balls kicked out go around the top of the machine and out a habitrail aimed for your left flipper.

What Lights What ----------------

The left return lane ALWAYS lights the Long Cast. (The light is always on.) Also, shooting the ball up the right loop while Long Cast is NOT lit will light Long Cast (seemingly until you make the shot). After making a Long Cast or lighting it from the left return lane, it will time out after 10-15 seconds or so. (So I'm not TOTALLY sure...) The first Long Cast you make scores 1M points, then 2M, and so on, probably without a limit. I've never gotten above 6M, personally. As stated, each long cast lights the next highest value on the captive ball. If your current value is about to time out, and you go through the left return lane, it will relight for the full amount of time again, and KEEP the current value.

The right return lane lights Fish Finder when lit. It starts the game lit, and will remain lit until the Fish Finder is collected. When you go over the microswitch, you have around 15-20 seconds to shoot the eject hole. If you get it, the right return lane will go off. To relight it, spell LIE (this is non-cumulative; i.e. you can't spell LIE 3 times and expect to get 3 Fish Finders in a row). The right return lane will NOT be lit during multiball and if Video Mode is lit. If it goes off for one of those reasons, it will come back on when it can.

The left and right ramps start the game lit, so you get 1 "free" shot at each side. After that, shooting the right ramp OR going through the right return lane will light the left ramp, and vice versa. The point is to alternate ramps, shooting the left ramp from the right flipper and the right ramp from the left flipper. It is fairly easy to backhand the ball up the ramps too, to if the left ramp is lit and the ball is on the left flipper, you should be able to make it up. Depending on the machine, it may even be easier to backhand! Making 6 LIT ramp shots lights the Monster Fish.

You can light the extra ball 1 of 2 ways: Hitting the Fish Finder, or as the 4th award on the captive ball. The extra ball is just to the left of the Caster's Club, and is probably the hardest extra ball target to hit yet. You may THINK you have a shot at it from the left flipper, but the bottom right of the Boat is in the way. The only way to aim for it is to backhand it from the right flipper, and even then it's not terribly easy. Depends on your machine. The one I played on the most you had to make an absolutely direct hit on it because I think it may have been a little flaky, but I also have played on one where it wasn't too bad.

To light the special, you have to complete the captive ball awards (get instant multiball), then hit the captive ball a certain number of times after that. Usually (and probably is the default) 4 more hits. The special is collected on the outlanes, is always lit on both of them, and stays lit the entire game.

The Stretch the Truth spinner shot usually shots all 5 lights lit, but sometimes some of the lower lights become unlit, leaving just the higher values. A few times I've had ONLY the 5x lit. I honestly have no idea what unlights the lower values, but it sure is nice. If the lower 3 are off, then the spinner oscillates between 3x and 5x. Anyone?

Misc. Scoring -------------

Long Cast scores 1M the first shot, and each shot thereafter increases it by 1M while it is lit. As soon as it goes off, it'll start at 1M again.

The Fast Cast is scored by hitting the Caster's Club (or the drop target when it's supposed to be up) right after a Long Cast or ball launch (not an Autocast, though). The first Fast Cast is worth 2M and goes up 1M each time you get it. Not sure if there's a limit.

The captive ball awards are: 1. Hold Bonus (1M) - self-explanatory; holds your bonus and multiplier. 2. Video Mode (2M) - lights the eject hole for Video Mode. 3. Rock the Boat (3M) - Rock the Boat for 20 seconds. 4. Light Extra Ball (5M) - What do you think? 5. Instant Multibal (10M) - immediately starts multiball. The numbers in parentheses are the amount of points you get for that award. You don't keep getting those points, though the game will display "Grab Yer Gear" and a certain number of points. I think it just does it to show you what award you're at if the lights go out.

After getting Instant Multiball, the captive ball becomes worth 5M points per hit, going up 500K per hit. So the 3rd hit is worth 6M. Not sure of a limit here, either. I've only gotten it up to 9.5M. If I had to guess, I'd say 10M.

The Fish Finder awards are: 1. Light Extra Ball 2. Super Jets Lit - each jet bumper (the 3 under LIE) scores 500K! 3. Instant Multiball 4. Inc. Captive Ball - lights the next value, like hitting Long Cast. 5. Bonus x - lights the next bonus x value. 6. 1-5 million - varies each time. Fish Tales is *EXTREMELY FAIR* about the Fish Finder. If you keep hitting it, and you haven't gotten the extra ball from it all game, it will eventually light it no matter how well you are doing when it does. It will never light bonus x if you are at 7x already.

The first Monster Fish you get will start at 20M and work its way down by 100K each 1/10th of a second, stopping at 5M. At 5M, you have 5 more seconds to try to get it. If you don't get it, it stays at its current value the next time 'round. If you DO get it (no matter when or for how much), the next time it'll be worth 10M more, up to a maximum of 50M. The amount per 1/10th second the score decreases goes up too, by 50K.

The 6 ramps leading up to the Monster Fish are worth 500K, 1M, 1.5M, etc., up to 3M. So lighting a Monster Fish is worth 10.5M.

If you make a ramp shot that doesn't quite have enough uumph to make it all the way up a ramp and it comes down the other side, you get 1M points for a "U-turn." The U-turn is a valid shot for Rock the Boat!

Each fish you've caught (hitting the Stingers) awards 250K bonus at the end of each ball, cumulative through the game. Each tale told (hitting Stretch the Truth) scores 500K at the end of the ball for every ball.

There is a bonus cap of 3M for any given ball. Of course, this can be multiplied by 7, for a total of 21M, plus how many fish and tales you have.

If you get hold bonus, then everything is held over to the next ball. If you had 7x bonus, then whatever value the LIE lanes were when you drained is the value they are worth the next ball.

During Video Mode, each ship closest to you that you hit gets you 500K, each ship in the middle distance scores 1M, and each ship farthest away scores 1.5M. Be sure to lead your targets a little bit. You have 20 seconds and 20 torpedos, but be sure always to keep a couple near the end, since the extra ball almost ALWAYS shows up sometime. Seems to show up faster if you shoot more distant boats than the closer 2 levels. If you score between 15 and 19 hits, you get a 10M bonus. If you're a perfect 20/20, you get a 20M bonus!

Multiball ---------

The main goal in multiball is to get jackpots! Nothing else really matters.

To light a jackpot, shoot a ball into the Caster's Club. The game yells "Up to the top for jackpot!" Your next goal is to shoot the eject hole within 15 seconds (there's a timer on there!) to score it. The jackpots are worth 20M, then 30M, then 40M. The tackle box shows you which one you're on (flashing) and which ones you've gotten (lit).

Completing the Stingers during multiball adds 1M to the jackpot. (Whoopee!) Notice, though, that the Stingers are also flashing during Feeding Frenzy and Rock the Boat. I'm not sure what they do here, but I think they add 1M to the jackpot when they're completed as well.

If you have 3 balls out, the Caster's Club will flash for "Doubles Jackpot." Shooting another ball in here at this time does just that, and resets the timer at 15 seconds.

I've heard that you can lock a 3rd ball in here and get a triple jackpot, but I have yet to try it. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Does that mean that if you have only 2 balls out, you can still double the jackpot? I just never bothered to try it out. I thought about it, though. %)

After getting all 3 jackpots in the tackle box, the fun really begins. The captive ball becomes lit for the Super Jackpot, and I DO mean Super! Every time you hit the captive ball, you get 100M points, until multiball ends.

Don't worry; you needn't get all jackpots in 1 multiball in order to get to the super jackpot. Whichever jackpot you are on is remember through the whole game. If you lit the super jackpot, but never hit the captive ball, then the next multiball the captive ball will still be lit for 100M until you've hit it at least once during multiball.

Of course, it'd be anticlimatic to have to go back to the 20M, 30M, 40M jackpots, now, wouldn't it? Well, after going through an entire jackpot sequence (i.e. you've gotten at least one SJ), all of the jackpots become worth minimum 2x their original value! INCLUDING the captive ball super jackpot! And you can still double the jackpots, so you can make major amounts of points on this game. And it keeps increasing with each completed sequence. I have actually gotten the 60M, 90M, and 120M jackpots and had the captive ball lit for 300M. I never hit the 300M shot, though. Rumor has it that this can increase up to 6x original scores.

Oh - one other thing about multiball... If you shoot a ball up each ramp at about the same time (at any rate before the previous one hits the return lane), you get 5M points for a "Double Cross."

"Properly-Set-Up Machines" --------------------------

Fish Tales is probably the least tolerant of any game to incorrect alignment of any kind. On a lot of machines, there is a little bitty piece of rubber at the end of the left loop which, if the ball is travelling against the left side as it usually does, will cause the ball to go straight down the middle of your flippers. Also, the upper-left gate seems to cause a lot of problems for people. If you look closely, you can see that it is a one-way gate that should always allow the ball to go through from left to right. However, there is a little rod that the game can control and open the gate when it wants. It should ONLY open for right-to-left shots when the Long Cast is lit, or when you are launching a ball from the plunger (not necessarily for an auto-launched ball during multiball, though). If the gate is always open, this is not really a bad thing except that it makes it a bit harder to get LIE, since the ball will never stop on its way around the Long Cast. HOWEVER, if the gate is always CLOSED, you are in big trouble. This is because you can't advance the value of the captive ball except to get lucky on the Fish Finder. If your gate is always closed, or if the rubber at the end of the left lane is screwing your balls, then complain to your operator! The game is not worth playing in these cases.

Another problem that I recently discovered is the Caster's Club drop target. The game is supposed to be able to drop the target when it needs to. When does it need to? Well, for example, if you get instant multiball while it is up, it should go down to allow you to light the jackpot. I've played a game where the machine couldn't retract it, and it took 2 hits at the Caster's Club just to light a jackpot, then to double it, etc. It is next to impossible to get a jackpot when this happens. Out of 6 games, I managed 1. It's hard enough to light it, but when the drop target goes up, it really hurts things. THE ONLY TIME IT SHOULD COME UP is when you have gotten a jackpot during the last multiball (and maybe during multiball if you only have 2 balls so that you can't double it, but I'm not sure).

Strategies ----------

You can usually get replays just by going for the Monster Fish bonuses. If you are good at the ramps and making the spinner shot, I highly recommend it. But after the replay, you're going to have to go for multiball.

At any rate, if you have a Monster Fish lit, ALWAYS ALWAYS go for it. If you don't get it, the Fish value won't increase, and you'll be stuck right back where you just were. Even if it's at 5M, try to get it because the potential for the next Fish is so great. Of course, once you're at 50M, it doesn't really matter as much.

When shooting for the Monster Fish, keep a careful eye on how many fish in the school you have at the moment. I NEVER shoot the final fish from the right flipper, because that wastes time (and points) needed to get the ball to the right flipper from the left. Be sure to check your parity right after making a ramp shot. If you've just shot an even-numbered fish from the right flipper, shoot something else from the left, like the Long Cast if the captive ball isn't maxed out yet, the Caster's Club otherwise. Likewise, if you shot an odd-numbered fish from the left flipper, shoot for the Fish Finder from the right. Basically, keep careful track and you'll get the most Monster for your money.

If you're in multiball, try not to get Instant Multiball from the captive ball. It's a total waste, especially if you hit it right at the beginning of normal multiball. If you have 2 balls locked and Instant Multiball lit, always try for regular multiball first, since getting Instant Multiball means no locked balls after you lose them.

In Rock the Boat, go for the ramps and not the captive ball. They're both much easier and much safer to shoot for, though obviously not as fast.

For Feeding Frenzy, don't get the Boat fish right away. Try for the harder looping shot ones first. If you get low on time, shoot a Boat fish, then use the next time to try for the looping ones again. Note that you only need to hit the Boat ramp sensor to get a fish and NOT the actual ramp sensor. So if you got a U-turn, you'd get both Boat fish. For the left fish, all you need is barely touch the spinner, and the right fish is the microswitch just before the LIE lanes.

The most important shot to master (and the one that needs the most practice) is the Caster's Club. If you can get it down, then you'll do very well. Of course the captive ball and Long Cast are very important in conjunction as well.

Don't aim for the Stingers. Just let the ball hit them as it pleases. If you have nothing better to do, or are really close to Feeding Frenzy or Rock the Boat, then go ahead and try for them.

============================================================================

This is my second rule sheet, now. Be sure if you have a question/comment/ answer to one of my questions/correction that you mail it to me, or post it on r.g.p. Thanks a lot and enjoy the guide. -- Keith Johnson @ VA Tech -- |kjohnson@csugrad.cs.vt.edu|> SUPPORT <|"I heard it was exciting - just like | |.....Keith P. Johnson.....|>SHAREWARE<|a spike in volleyball!" | |.1711 Whipple Dr. Apt. 11.| Help keep | | |...Blacksburg, VA 24060...|prices down| - Kelly on "Saved By the Bell" |