BK's PAPA 4 Strategy Guide
--------------------------
Data East's Jurassic Park
--- Tournament Settings ---
The letters in T-REX reset at the beginning of each ball, and the T-REX
Bounty also resets to 7.5 million.
Possibly, the ball saver might be turned off. Also, the saver on
Raptor Pit kickouts might be off.
Mr. DNA awards are fixed. The first set of awards are 5M, Complete
Egg, Runaway 2OM. I don't know the second set, but the third set includes Lite
Tri-Ball and Lite Special.
Probably, it will take more than one Raptor shot to begin Tri-Ball.
No replays or extra balls. Collecting a lit "extra ball" will award 25
million points. The "Lite Extra Ball" Control Room is still available.
Since there is no replay, there is no "Victory Lap" mode. (Which was:
shoot the ramp for 5M/shot after you get a replay.)
--- Skill Shot ---
JP's Skill Shot is a video game; pull the trigger when the dinosaur is
in your sights. On balls 2 and 3, the dinosaur will pause briefly before going
through the sights. Skill shot is 2M for ball 1, 3M for ball 2, 4M for ball 3,
and any Skill Shot immediately lights Super Pops (1OOK or more per bumper).
--- General Strategies ---
Tri-Ball: Light Tri-Ball by shooting each of the flashing dinosaur targets,
found all over the playfield. At the beginning of balls 2 and 3, three
dinosaur targets will be spotted for you; as a result, Tri-Ball will
always be lit at least once in the game, usually at the start of ball
3. Dinosaur targets are also spotted at the Boat Dock, after rolling
over the left inlane.
In general, you shouldn't bother with the dinosaur targets. Tri-Ball
gets lit anyway, so it's no big deal.
When Tri-Ball is lit, shooting T-Rex (or Raptor; T-Rex is easier)
begins it -- ramp for jackpot (base 15M), loop for jackpot + 15M bonus. Try to
get a jackpot as soon as possible to keep all the balls on the table; it isn't
worth 15 million to try for the more difficult loop unless you have a clean
shot at it.
After a jackpot, you must complete CHAOS to begin six-ball play, and
yes you want to do that. C comes from the left sink, H from the bumpers, A
from the Control Room, O from the ramp, and S from the Power Shed sink. These
shots can be hard, especially the Power Shed, since it can be blocked by the
upper right flipper. Don't be afraid to burn your Smart Missile at this point;
there's a lot of points to be made in multiball, and you usually only get one
chance. Each letter in CHAOS is worth 5 million at this point.
When CHAOS is complete, you begin six-ball play and the five letters
must be shot again. This time, they are each worth 1O million. Again, the
Power Shed is the most difficult shot, but the ramp also becomes hard with all
the balls bouncing around. If you get the chance, go for these two shots
before all six balls kick out in the first place, since the other letters are a
piece of cake. Each letter is 1O million during six-ball play, and note that
just starting six-ball play takes care of H when the balls are plunged to the
bumpers.
Once all five shots are made, T-Rex lights for 5O million. Try to trap
as many balls as you can on the lower right flipper, and make T-Rex by shooting
the Boat Dock first (keeping the upper flipper down until necessary).
After T-Rex, both Jackpots become lit again -- this time, the ramp is
worth 1OO million per ball left in play, and the loop is 15 million more than
that. Both jackpots can be collected. Again, balls on the lower right flipper
are a good thing, since neither jackpot shot requires it.
After that, CHAOS lights up again, and you (hopefully) keep going.
Let's review the scoring: Jackpot 15 million. CHAOS 25 million. CHAOS
again 5O million. T-Rex 5O million. Without any Super Jackpot, there's 14O
million points to be made in Tri-Ball, and if you manage the SJ it's a lot more
than that. It's well worth it to waste your missile in Tri-Ball to keep
yourself on the path toward a Super Jackpot. Don't waste it, though -- keep in
mind that the missile won't bring any balls back unless it's the first run
through CHAOS. Don't waste your missile collecting a jackpot, and don't waste
it as the last of the six balls are draining.
Definitely, Tri-Ball is the only way to score anywhere near a billion
on Jurassic Park.
Control Room: Basically, the only other strategy in Jurassic Park is to go
through the Control Rooms, which are all modes of one kind or another.
Some of them can be pretty lucrative. Light the Control Room by going
into the Power Shed, or for a few seconds by either inlane (much
easier). More than one Control Room mode can be running at a time, so
you can ignore a mode without it boring you too much. Here's a quick
description of each, and the scoring potential:
- Stampede: First target 3OOK, then 31OK, 32OK, etc. Go for the bumpers.
Scoring potential around 15-2O million; you may as well try it.
- Escape Island: The most valuable mode there is. Shoot the bumpers, the Boat
Dock, and the loop for a score. The value starts at 21 million,
counting down 1M every second, and each shot you make scores the value
and adds 1O million to it. Potentially, this round can be worth 8O-9O
million, and may even be worth using the Smart Missile to complete.
- Two-Ball: A quick multiball lights at the Boat Dock. Two balls in play, the
Jackpot is lit at the Raptor Pit for 7M, 9M, etc. Not worth much at
all; you might want to go for bumpers or dinosaur targets or T-Rex
during the multiball. Beware when starting Two-Ball: it ends all other
modes you might have running.
- Electric Fence: Hit 2O bumpers (slingshots or pop bumpers) in 2O seconds for
3O million. Depending on the bumpers, this can be easy or impossible.
Note that the bumpers can be hit from any flipper. If a crowd is
watching you, do NOT complete this mode.
- Spitter Attack: First shot to left 3 dinosaur targets worth 5M, second 15M,
third 1OM. (Not a typo!) Comparatively easy to complete.
- System Boot: The three sinks light up. First shot 5M, second 1OM, third 15M.
See also "Fester's Tunnel Hunt." The Power Shed is pretty hard, so
save it for last.
- Raptor Rampage: For 2O seconds, the Raptor Pit awards between 5 and 1O
million. Don't bother.
- Mosquito Millions: For 2O seconds, the Captive Ball is worth 5M, 6M, etc.
Don't bother.
- Feed T-Rex: All you have to do is shoot T-Rex in 3O seconds for 3O million.
No big whoop, just take the points.
- Bone Busting: 3 ramps in 2O seconds for 2O million. The first two ramps
don't award much, so unless you're confident you can finish, don't
bother. The ramp is hard enough to shoot once.
- Light Extra Ball: duh. The Extra Ball is, effectively, a very easy 25M at
the Boat Dock.
After all 11 Computer Screens are lit, shoot the Control Room for
System Failure. It lasts 45 seconds and every switch is 1M. The Smart Missile
will award 5O million during this round, but you can do better than that. :)
A good System Failure is worth around 1OO million, which means you can get
around 3OO million total from all the modes if you play them all well. Nowhere
near what you can get from Super Jackpots, but nothing to scoff at.
Egg Cracking: Shoot the Captive Ball enough times to crack an Egg for points.
Two ball hits score 5M, then 3 for 1OM, 4 for 15M, etc. In general, it
isn't a great idea to shoot for the ball since it is a potential drain
shot. Your choice, of course.
Mr. DNA: Shooting the ramp three times in the game lights Mr. DNA at the Bunker
(left scoop). Mr. DNA cycles through three awards, your choice. In
tournament play (see above), the first set of choices isn't very
lucrative, with the best choice being Runaway 2OM (unless you have
several Eggs cracked). I don't know the second set of choices (it
takes five, then seven ramps to light Mr. DNA again) but they should be
better, and the third set includes Lite Tri-Ball.
--- Point-Specific Strategy ---
If you need... Try doing this!
5 million: Shoot the Raptor Pit or Captive Ball to get a quick score.
These are dangerous though.
2O million: Get the Mr. DNA Runaway award, or start a good Control Room
mode.
5O million: Two Control Rooms or Tri-Ball ought to do it.
1OO million: Tri-Ball. The Escape mode can also bring in a bunch.
2OO million
and over: Go for Tri-Ball, and don't be afraid to use up the Smart
Missile. During Tri-Ball is the best time to use it.
--- Techniques ---
Flipper Passing: Post transfers works well; the Control Room is a very easy way
to get the ball from the right flipper to the left. From the left to
the right, either go for the Power Shed (difficult) or just do the post
transfer. You won't need to do this much; the left flipper has all the
important shots anyway. The Boat Dock shot gives a nice kickout to the
upper flipper, so the back orbit isn't necessary.
Death Saves: Not likely -- as usual, it depends on the game's tilt sensitivity,
and games at PAPA tournaments tend to be quite sensitive. But if you
pull one you'll get 3 million bonus and a way-cool animation! Yippee!
May as well try, too -- JP's bonus stinks.
Bang Backs: Bang Backs have been done on JP, but I don't recommend them; you're
more likely to bang the plastic lockdown bar right off! And believe me
I know this.
Nudging: Pretty typical. Nothing that really tends to bring your ball to an
outlane, except maybe a missed shot at the Bunker.
--- Scoring ---
Average scores on JP will probably be around 15O to 2OO million, with
the highest scores coming in around 8OO million (those who managed a Super
Jackpot, basically). Compared to TZ, IJ, and the Gottlieb games, Jurassic Park
will be fairly inconsequential in the overall scores.
High Scores to Date: Masaya Horiguchi (Japan) 2.1 billion
Many many players ~1.5 billion
Horiguchi scored both 6OO million Super Jackpots without the Smart
Missile.
--- For More Info ---
If you need JP's full rules, get Kevin Martin's rule sheet by anonymous
ftp. FTP rahul.net; go to the Pinball Archive (cd pub/sigma/pinball) and type
"get Rules/jurassic".
If you'd like to know the exact tournament settings for JP, or other
information, it should be available at PAPA 4. I'll try to get the best
information I can before the tournament. If you'd like to contact Steve
Epstein, call him on Monday thru Wednesday mornings at 212-247-3725. If you
want some entirely useless information, call 1-8OO-FLIPOFF. :)
If there's anything you'd like to add to this, just contact me:
bowen@cardinal.stanford.edu, especially if you have a high score to report.
Hope this helps; the Strategy Guide for Judge Dredd should be around as
soon as I am!
Bowen
