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The Addams Family

Bally, 1992 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open The Addams Family in the Pinball Genie app →

The best-selling solid-state pinball machine ever made (~20,270 units), designed by Pat Lawlor with the Mansion-tour theme driving every rule. There is no Pro/Premium/LE split — the only variant is the 1994 gold-cabinet Special Collector's Edition ("TAF Gold," ~1,000 units), which is cosmetically different but shares the identical physical playfield, with a handful of ROM-level rules tweaks noted below.

Skill shot

The plunger feeds a curving lane toward Thing's Eject. A soft plunge that just crests the ramp drops into Thing's Eject for the skill shot: 2M the first time, +1M per consecutive success, capping at 5M. Too soft falls short into the Swamp (no skill shot, but banks a lock if one is lit there); too hard flies past into the pop bumpers for nothing but bumper value.

The core shot loop

Four shots form the spine of the entire ruleset: the Bear Kick (center) ramp, the left orbit ("Adv X" loop, the hardest shot on the table), the Million Plus (left/side) ramp, and the Swamp (a wide sinkhole scoring the Graveyard jet-bumper value, boosted 5x when "5X Graveyard" is lit). Chaining these scores the game's two named 3-way combos (5M each) and the 4-way combo (10M, plus the embedded 3-way — 16-25M total once built up). The "Chopping Wood" loop (Thing Ramp → Million Plus ramp → Swamp) is the most-repeated money sequence once ramp value and Graveyard are maxed.

Mansion rooms & Tour the Mansion

Shooting the flashing Electric Chair or Swamp collects whichever of 12 mansion rooms is currently lit: three flat point rooms (3M/6M/9M), five 20-30 second timed rooms (The Mamushka, Hit Cousin It, Fester's Tunnel Hunt, Seance, Raise the Dead), the Quick Multiball and Thing Multiball rooms, Graveyard at Max, and Light Extra Ball. Clearing all 12 lights the "?" insert; shooting it starts Tour the Mansion, the game's wizard mode — an instant 50,000,000 points, relit 3M/6M/9M, Special lit in the outlanes, Quick Multiball lit, Graveyard maxed, and a temporary Extra Ball at Thing's Eject, followed by all five timed rooms run automatically back-to-back. The Vault is locked shut for the whole thing.

The Vault / Multiball

Hitting the Bookcase standups spells G-R-E-E-D, swinging it open to reveal the Vault and lighting a lock. On the very first multiball of the game, locks 1 & 2 can come from either Thing's Eject or the Vault; every multiball after that requires re-spelling GREED and only the Vault locks. Lock 3 is always at the Vault and releases all three balls, activating The Power magnets. Multiball is started at the Electric Chair or the lit Vault. The Jackpot lights at the Train Wreck target and climbs +1M per Bear Kick ramp or Bookcase hit (capping at 25M); the Super Jackpot at the Million Plus ramp pays double on the first multiball, triple thereafter, and relights the regular Jackpot.

Two smaller multiball modes also exist: Quick Multiball (lit at Thing's Eject, opens the Vault for direct 5M-10M scoring) and Thing Multiball (a DMD hurry-up countdown from ~15M to a 3M floor — shoot Thing's Eject before it bottoms out to lock in the value and start a 2-ball multiball).

Multipliers

TAF has no global playfield multiplier — only Bonus X (1x-5x, lit by the right inlane, advanced at the left orbit, applied only to the end-of-ball bonus) and the shot-specific 5X Graveyard, which pays 5x the Graveyard jet value on a single Swamp shot when lit.

Extra balls

Multiple independent paths all serve the ball at Thing's Eject: Bear Kick milestones (~8 and 50 kicks), the Light Extra Ball mansion room, Train Wreck completions, and a temporary EB during Tour the Mansion.

Strategy in one line

Soft-plunge skill shot, loop Bear Ramp into the Million Plus ramp to build value and THING letters, bank a Train Wreck early to carry the built Graveyard value into the next ball, clear every mansion room before ever spelling GREED (rooms can't be collected during multiball), and save the Vault/GREED multiball as the endgame farm after Tour the Mansion.

How The Addams Family plays

The Addams Family is a 1992 Bally romp through a haunted mansion. Tour all twelve mansion rooms to reach the game's wizard mode, and open the hidden Vault to run multiball.

The loop

  1. Feather the plunge so the ball settles into Thing's Eject for the skill shot, then work the Bear Kick ramp and the Million Plus ramp to spot THING letters and bank a rising one to ten million.
  2. Take the flashing Electric Chair or Swamp whenever a mansion room lights -- some rooms pay a flat award and five of them run a 20-second timed mode.
  3. Feed the graveyard jets to raise the Graveyard value, then cash it at five times over with a single Swamp shot.
  4. Spell GREED at the Bookcase to swing it open and expose the Vault, lock three balls, and start Vault Multiball.
  5. Clear all twelve rooms to light the question-mark insert, then start Tour the Mansion for an instant fifty million.

Reading the lights

  • Thing's Eject (status) — lit: Thing's animatronic hand lives in this saucer; a soft plunge trickles in for the skill shot, and later a lit insert here means a mansion-room extra ball is parked and waiting. · flashing: Flashing means Quick Multiball or the Thing hurry-up is lit -- shoot it and Thing serves the ball to the Swamp to start a fast, separate multiball. · then: Groove this plunge before anything else, since its value climbs from two million toward five and holds for the whole game. It is also the only place a lit extra ball is collected.
  • Ramp Loop (shot arrows) — lit: These are your bread-and-butter shots: the Million Plus ramp lights a rising one-to-ten-million and spots a THING letter each pass, while the center Bear Kick ramp advances its counter toward mansion rooms. · flashing: When Thing Flips lights off the far-left inlane, the Bear Kick ramp flashes and diverts to Thing's mini-flipper so you can send it at the Swamp. · then: Chain Thing Ramp, then the Million Plus ramp, then finish in the Swamp -- the Chopping Wood loop -- and it resets each cycle, so you can farm it for tens of millions once the Graveyard value is built.
  • Advance Bonus X (multiplier) — lit: A right-inlane rollover arms Adv X at the left orbit; a shot through the lit orbit steps your end-of-ball bonus multiplier up one, to a five-times ceiling. · then: Grab it whenever it lights, because the window times out in seconds and the multiplier resets each ball. The left orbit is also the opening leg of every named combo, so the shot pulls double duty.
  • Graveyard Value & 5X Swamp (multiplier) — lit: The jet bumpers build a shared Graveyard value that climbs as you feed the nest; when 5X Graveyard lights, the Swamp pays that value five times over on one shot. · then: Pump the jets to raise the value, then cash it at the Swamp while 5X is lit. Bank a Train Wreck target first and the built value follows you into the next ball rather than resetting.
  • GREED Bookcase & Vault (letters) — lit: The GREED standups on the Bookcase stay lit until you knock down all five letters, which swings the bookcase open and reveals the Vault glowing green for a lock. · flashing: The Vault glows red once two balls are locked -- taking that last lock, or the red Electric Chair, kicks off Vault Multiball. · then: Lock three balls to start multiball; every one after the first makes you re-spell GREED and locks only at the Vault. The jackpot waits at the Train Wreck target, and on repeat multiballs the Million Plus ramp Super Jackpot pays triple.
  • Mansion Rooms (mode) — lit: A yellow-lit Electric Chair or Swamp is a mansion room ready to collect; some pay a flat award, five start a 20-second timed mode, and every room you take stays banked toward the twelve. · flashing: A red-lit Chair or Swamp starts a multiball instead of a room. · then: Keep taking the lit Chair or Swamp until all twelve rooms are cleared, which lights the question-mark insert; shoot it to start Tour the Mansion for an instant fifty million that relights the playfield and runs the five timed rooms back to back.

Lane change: not verified for this machine yet.

Start scoring

Does The Addams Family have an action button?

Nothing extra to press on this cabinet — it is 1992, two flipper buttons and a manual shooter rod. The third flipper in the upper left corner runs off your left button (and the game fires it for you during Thing Flips), and the two playfield magnets are entirely the game's doing, not yours.

Goals in The Addams Family

Every goal below is tracked step-by-step, with shot paths drawn on the playfield map, inside the app.

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