Alternate TAF Games To Play Different games to play on an Addams Family pinball game.

 
Many people consider the Addams Family pinball game to be the greatest pinball machine every created. It's is certainly the most popular, with 50-percent more units made than the number two Twilight Zone game. Still, for those lucky enough to own an Addams Family game, there may come a time when simply trying to get a high score by playing the game as designed looses its interest. For those moments I suggest creating your own playfield challenges. Many of these are drills that improve your shot making ability while others show the wisdom, or folly, of various strategies. What follows are descriptions of several alternate games I play from time to time. From these I'm sure you'll be able to come up with your own, unique game challenges

Drill Games:

These are simply attempts to make the same shot as many times in a row as possible. The side benefits are that you improve your ability to make the shots, and increase your focus and stamina, two qualities needed for billion-plus games where you not only have to make a shot, but have to do so when mentally fatigued. Visualization is a powerful tool in making any shot. It's how your conscious mind communicates to your unconscious mind what you want accomplished. Don't limit visualizations to images. The unique sound of the ball as it hits the intended target is also an effective cue.

Because these games don't require game scores, play can be speeded up by removing the coverglass and blocking off the drains. Balls can then be quickly returned to their starting positions without having to wait for the game to calculate scores and eject a ball into the shooter lane.

Left Flipper Electric Chair Shot: Capture the ball in the left flipper and see how many times in a row you can shoot it into the electric chair. The trick is have the game set up so that the chair kicks the ball out so that it can be caught by the left flipper again and again. My highest score is 10 shots in a row. In as much as much as making the electric chair shot is critical to working your way through the mansion rooms, you can how useful this drill game is to playing a regular game.

Right Flipper Electric Chair Shot: Same as above but shooting the chair from balls caught on the right flipper. This requires a game set up with a reliable ball bounce off the left flipper to the right after being kicked out of the chair.

Vault Shot: With the coverglass removed, trigger ramp switches and mansion rooms as needed to get into the Quick Multi-ball mode. With the drains blocked, practice firing balls from the left flipper into the Vault. I find this to be the second hardest shot on the table to make.

Rear Loop Drill: I seldom attempt shooting the ball from the left flipper up and around the rear loop so the ball ends up in the Graveyard area. The pop bumpers eject the ball is such unpredictable directions that's it's a risky shot to make. Still, there are times in normal games when it might be advisable so this drill may have so value.

Swamp Kickout Shot: From the left flipper, attempt to shoot the ball into the Swamp Kickout. This is potentially a very valuable shot to make in billion-plus games because when you complete GRAVE with this shot you can score a quick $10 billion. This is the hardest shot for me to make. The firing position has the ball so far down the flipper that it's rolling too fast to accurately gauge position. Adding to this problem is the hazard that because the ball is being shot with such speed and so close to the center drain that it can rebound down that drain faster than anyone can react.

Single Ball Transfers: See how many times you can transfer a ball from one flipper to another and back again. This is a critically useful skill because many times you end up needing to make a shot with the ball trapped on the wrong flipper. One example is during Quick Multiball, where you must shoot the ball from the left flipper into the Vault. If you have a ball trapped on both flippers, then after making the Vault you need to transfer the ball on the right flipper to the left so you can catch the ball ejected from the Swamp on the right flipper. This lets you shot the Vault again, this time with its value increased $1 million. Mastering these shots and transfers can be real money makers in normal play.

I make these transfers with a very quick, soft flipper trigger that causes the ball to hit the lower tip of the slingshot and bounce over to the opposite flipper held in up position.

Double Ball Transfers: Trap two balls on one flipper and see haw many times you can transfer other outer ball to the other flipper without losing the inner ball. I make this shot by using a quick, gentle tap to send the outer ball up the front face of the slingshot so that when it comes back down it hits the inner ball and gets deflected over to the opposite flipper.

 
Pattern Shots:

Instead of single shots, there are sequence of shots that all have to be made in order. Many of these sequences can be used for scoring strategies that completely ignore the intended plan for the game.

Bear Kick Loop: This sequence of shots it key to earning high scores. From the left flipper, fire the ball up the Bear Kick Ramp, then when it loops around onto the right flipper, shoot it up into the Thing Ramp, after it cycles through the Skill Shot Kickout, use the upper right flipper to make the left (or Millions) ramp and finally shoot the ball into the Swamp as it drifts past the Thing (upper left) flipper. Let the ball bounce off the lower right flipper after being ejected from the Swamp and capture it on the lower left flipper.

Besides earning a lot of points in normal play and getting the ball back into a controlled, scoring position, This drill can be used as an effective way to play the game. I call it the Bear Kick Strategy. Simply focus on making this loop over and over again in normal play, completely ignoring the mansion rooms, except as they come to you by accident. Because you repeat the same shots over and over, you can develop very high accuracies and keep balls in play a long time. I've topped $800 million with this technique.

Graveyard Loop of Death: This is a high-risk game because it involves intentionally shooting the ball repeatedly into the Graveyard pop bumpers. The goal is to drive the Graveyard award up as high as possible and then shot the Swamp from the Thing flipper to see how high an award you can get. After the ball's kicked out of the Swamp, bounce it over to get captured by the left flipper and repeat as many times as possible.

Intellectually, the real value of this alternate TAF game is that it proves just how dangerous shooting balls into the Graveyard area is.

 
I hope you find these drills and games interesting and helpful. There are many other possibilities so experiment to create your own. I think they'll help add extra dimensions to the enjoyment of your Addams Family pinball game.

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