EATPM Tactics and Strategies

Sean DonCarlos

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Staff member
Mar 17, 2012
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Yep, yep, yep, standard disclaimer goes here: this is not the only way to score well, don't read further if you like figuring things out on your own, etc. Also, this is not as detailed as some of my other guides, simply because Party Monsters is not a very complex table and most things are pretty obvious, such as the...

General strategy: Multiball. Spell E-L-V-I-R-A occasionally for the 3 Million shot. And get really good at those ramps. That's about it. This ain't the Twilight Zone.

Ball control: Elvira wouldn't be impressed with your uncontrolled balls, and neither will her table. Sling-to-outlane power drains are very common; even without the slings' help, a ball wandering toward the outlane will go in. Ramp rejections often go SDTM, and balls dribbling out of the bumpers to the left have a tendency to fall straight to the trough as well. Because you need to nudge so often on this table, and because mobile devices don't do nudging well, get in the habit of trapping as soon as you can after a nudge and letting the tilt settle. You want to save your dangers for when you really need to get violent to make the save.

Even when you do everything right, EATPM serves up cheap drains from time to time. Such is life.

Upon first crashing the party: Take five immediate shots up the right ramp. This collects an extra ball. Then take three shots to the skull to start multiball. Because ball times are short on this table, you don't want to be messing around with extraneous shots. Get what you need and get out. On the other hand, it is worth taking a shot for the Barbeque Bonus up the center whenever it happens to be lit for the chance at extra ball or special. Don't make a special effort to relight it, though.

Lights! Organ!: Not too much of a strategy needed for playing the actual multiball, since you just need to take a shot at both ramps for jackpot. The problem is that the multiball doesn't last very long, with no ball save and those voracious drains. Trap up as soon as you can to take nice controlled ramp shots. If the third ball is about to drain and you have the other two trapped, let it go. Better to lose the third ball than double- or triple-drain from a botched save. The third ball doesn't do anything extra for you - no playfield multiplier or increased jackpots - so don't bend over backwards to keep it.

Getting more organ: The second and subsequent multiballs you have to light the locks first. Try to spell B-A-T rather than J-A-M; that center target bank is deadly. Take it slow, the locks don't time out or anything, no need to rush. Party Monsters was meant to be a flow game, and it often is when looping ramps, but it benefits from controlled play as well.

Around this time, you can also think about starting to loop the left ramp for the 1 Million shot and letters toward E-L-V-I-R-A. Obviously when you get the "A" you drop everything else for that 3 Million shot at the skull. Again, take it easy! Twenty seconds is a long time if you miss the first shot.

Also pay attention to the value of the right ramp when you hit it, once it reaches 150K or so, you're close enough to another extra ball to begin focusing on the right ramp and collecting it.

Odds and ends: The Boogie Bonus is a nice touch, but never really worth enough to bother aiming for. The Barbeque Bonus is dangerous to relight directly, I usually just let random bounces take care of it. The Dead Heads light the center hole for 1M after the third completion on the same ball, and a special if you can manage the nearly impossible feat of completing them six times on the same ball, but hitting them means more side-to-side motion, which is very bad.

Extra balls and specials: One for 3M (which in itself should give you an idea how fast this table drains sometimes), one from the Barbeque Bonus. The right ramp can award theoretically unlimited extra balls, but it gets very hard to collect past two. The first one is 5 shots, held from ball-to-ball. The second one is 8 shots, reset after each ball. The third and subsequent ones are 12 shots, reset after each ball.

Specials are one from the Barbeque Bonus and the ridiculous one from the Dead Heads.

Fun with bonus: Bonus maxes out at 99K at 5X, for a shade under 500K. Not terribly excited, and ball times are usually too short for the bonus to reach maximum value anyway. So if you get overzealous with your nudging, you're not going to miss too much.

A tip for the 3 Million shot goal: If you're having problems staying alive long enough to collect the six letters and score the 3M, note that the letters do not reset from game to game, as long as you A) don't exit to the main menu, and B) don't quit a game in progress. So you could slowly collect the letters over the course of 10 or 20 games if that's what it takes. Also, don't start over if the 3M shot times out, as you only lose the "R" and the "A".

This can also be "abused" when going for high score, by collecting the first 5 letters and then deliberately draining all remaining balls so as to start the next game fresh with a near-certain chance at the 3M on the first ball (which in turn means you only have to collect 7 letters total for your second 3M shot, which is a lot more doable than 12 letters). You'll have to decide for yourself whether you find this morally acceptable or not.
 

Kolchak357

Senior Pigeon
May 31, 2012
8,102
2
Well done. I've played this a lot in real life and you nailed it. I love machines that are fun, challenging, and have easy to understand rules. I'm really enjoying EATPM.
 

Matt McIrvin

New member
Jun 5, 2012
801
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A tip for the 3 Million shot goal: If you're having problems staying alive long enough to collect the six letters and score the 3M, note that the letters do not reset from game to game, as long as you A) don't exit to the main menu, and B) don't quit a game in progress. So you could slowly collect the letters over the course of 10 or 20 games if that's what it takes. Also, don't start over if the 3M shot times out, as you only lose the "R" and the "A".

This is a game that really makes me wish TPA had some way of saving the machine state long-term (which would also take care of Taxi's accumulating jackpot, the specialized mode-champion lists in Monster Bash and Twilight Zone, etc.) I realize there are doubtless practical problems with this.
 

phreaker47

New member
Jul 15, 2012
352
0
I scored just over 50 million on this last night, and the way to do this is simple: just keep shooting the monster slide ramp. Collect the million, then keep shooting it for the ELVIRA letters. Finally, hit the 3 million shot when it lights. Rinse and repeat.

Multiball and jackpot isn't going to be as much of a payoff. The maximum jackpot is 4 million, and it's usually less. The double-shot ramps (500k each) on the Monster Slide ramp can rack up good points though.

The only other thing I'd even bother to go for is the right ramp, for the extra balls... but basically, it's all about the monster slide ramp and the 3 million shot.
 

mark21667

Banned for Multiple Accounts
Aug 29, 2012
42
0
I scored just over 50 million on this last night, and the way to do this is simple: just keep shooting the monster slide ramp. Collect the million, then keep shooting it for the ELVIRA letters. Finally, hit the 3 million shot when it lights. Rinse and repeat.

Multiball and jackpot isn't going to be as much of a payoff. The maximum jackpot is 4 million, and it's usually less. The double-shot ramps (500k each) on the Monster Slide ramp can rack up good points though.

The only other thing I'd even bother to go for is the right ramp, for the extra balls... but basically, it's all about the monster slide ramp and the 3 million shot.

Fr sent. But you're wrong. If you can work the right ramp, you're golden. I might youtube it.
 

alexk3954

New member
Mar 8, 2012
126
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I scored just over 50 million on this last night, and the way to do this is simple: just keep shooting the monster slide ramp. Collect the million, then keep shooting it for the ELVIRA letters. Finally, hit the 3 million shot when it lights. Rinse and repeat.

Multiball and jackpot isn't going to be as much of a payoff. The maximum jackpot is 4 million, and it's usually less. The double-shot ramps (500k each) on the Monster Slide ramp can rack up good points though.

The only other thing I'd even bother to go for is the right ramp, for the extra balls... but basically, it's all about the monster slide ramp and the 3 million shot.
This is the strategy for sure. Setting up the 3 mil shot with the left ramp works out to just over 250K per shot, so its pretty much the same as just hitting that ramp during multiball, except that you get a 3 mil bonus every ~ 18 shots.
I would first shoot nothing but right ramp until you have 4 EBs and then just try to spell ELVIRA over and over at the left ramp. Anytime you lose a ball, ignore everything but the right ramp and get back to 4 EBS. Sometimes Elvira is just cruel and serves up multiple cheap drains in a row, so you want to have that insurance
 

phreaker47

New member
Jul 15, 2012
352
0
This is the strategy for sure. Setting up the 3 mil shot with the left ramp works out to just over 250K per shot, so its pretty much the same as just hitting that ramp during multiball, except that you get a 3 mil bonus every ~ 18 shots.
I would first shoot nothing but right ramp until you have 4 EBs and then just try to spell ELVIRA over and over at the left ramp. Anytime you lose a ball, ignore everything but the right ramp and get back to 4 EBS. Sometimes Elvira is just cruel and serves up multiple cheap drains in a row, so you want to have that insurance

Yup, that's how I adjusted my strategy (keeping 4 EBs piled up)... and yet, a game ending glitch ruins everything.

See here:http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...-extras-in-reserve-Call-attendant-not-working

Edit: yes, you're aware of it... but for anyone else's benefit....

I had 378 million, Ball 1, 4 extra balls... ruined.

Oh well. The endless extra balls make the game not so much a test of skill, but of endurance... I spent over 3 hours and probably HUNDREDS of shots up the right ramp just to have it all wasted.

I'll just be happy to keep my Gorgar crown...heh
 
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Zaphod77

Active member
Feb 14, 2013
1,316
2
Yeah, this is a pretty easy game. the right ramp is very easy, and your ticket to extra balls.

left ramp is your ticket to million and 3 million shots. Once jackpot is high enough, go for multiball if you dare.

I've pwned this machine in real life. the only problem is getting your flippers on the ball in the first place. :)
 

Paul Petrissans

New member
Jan 4, 2013
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A very easy way to lock balls and get the 3 mil shot is to first hit the monster slide, then the ball lock. The momentum of the ball makes hitting the lock much easier. Hitting the ball lock from a trapped ball is much more difficult and probably riskier. The Monster slide is a pretty safe shot and sets me up for the ball lock.
 

Zaphod77

Active member
Feb 14, 2013
1,316
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I tried this on iOS. for some reason it's a lot harder than real life. Most likely it's those DroopyFlippers that you people at TPA seem to love to put on tables that i've never seen have them in real life.

How do you people determine if the tables are supposed to have them or not?
 

Zaphod77

Active member
Feb 14, 2013
1,316
2
Okay, here's how to pwn the table. Revised to account for new discoveries.

Step 1. get the ball to the lower right flipper by weak plunging. with practice this is a 100% shot.
Step 2. SHoot the left ramp and nothing else until the three million is lit. A shot that's a little too late and hits the post will come to rest on a raised right flipper. A shot that is a little too early and fails to make it up the ramp will safely dead bounce back to that right flipper.
Step 3. shoot te 3 million cave shot. by this time y9ou will have your score extra ball.
Step 4. ball is locked. return to step 1 until either you drain, or get multiball.

Ignore the multiball. you want to avoid shooting the party punch ramp until you have drained your score extra ball.

Ideally you should have over 15 million by now if yo have yet to drain.

Once you have lost the score extra ball, then the strategy changes.

Now you need to collect the party punch extra ball. once again if a ball fails to make it up the ramp a dead bounce is your best bet. Once you have collected the extra ball hold the flipper up to pass ii to the right flipper and return to whacking it up the monster slide. At this point the skull lock might not be lit. when it sends the ball to the bumpers try your best to juggle the lights so lock is lit, then shoot the ramp for the elvira letter. Once you light the lock you can weak plunge the next ball and get back to shooting the monster slide.

the feeds for failed ramp shots are wayyy too kind. especially the monster slide, which should drain down the middle at least 50% of the time. "Oh noooooo" indeed.
 
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Zaphod77

Active member
Feb 14, 2013
1,316
2
Other tricks.

Once you lose the ball, and that extra ball light is flashing, weak plunge to a trap on right flipper. attempt the post pass to the left flipper. if it fails just let the ball drain, you will get it back. soft plunge AGAIN, and try it again until the post pass works. grab extra ball from the party punch ramp. then try and flip the ball up the middle. hopefully it will return to the right flipper.

if you get it on left, try a post pass, or try to backhand the monster slide. you will fail.... BUT a dead bounce afterwards will transfer the ball. you can then shoot the monster slide for real.

Eventually you will be forced into multiball. this is a good time to aim for the flip up targets and the dead heads, if you want to get that special.

If an elvira letter is lit, the correct thing to do is nearly always to try to shoot the monster slide. Even if the ball is on left flipper, try the backhand to freeze the elvira letter timer and transfer the ball for a shot from the right. The exception is if you don't have your extra ball from the party punch AND you DO have the one from points. Extra Ball is always top priority, so you can keep playing forever.
 

Zaphod77

Active member
Feb 14, 2013
1,316
2
This table has received a tuning pass. it is more difficult now.

1) it's much harder to short plunge and trap now you actually have to do a live catch instead of just hold up.
2) barely failed ramp shots are much harder to handle now. especially the monster slide, the backhand to transfer and trap the ball trick doesn't work any more.

The party punch is still eminently loopable on the fly, and nudge stall shoot still works for the monster slide, but it sometimes fails to catch, and shots on the fly to the monster slide are a lot riskier than they used to be.
 

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