CSI

Stern Pinball, 2008 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open CSI in the Pinball Genie app →

Pat Lawlor's CSI is built around the number three: three flippers, three pop bumpers, three drop targets, three interactive toys and — the part that decides your score — three multiballs. There is no mode ladder to memorise. Instead you get a crowded, unusually flat playfield with exactly one ramp on it, and overlapping multiball rules that reward knowing which pieces fit together.

Reading the playfield

There are three inlanes — two left, one right — and they spell C-S-I, which is why the flippers sit slightly right of centre. Above the left flipper is the Lab saucer, with a bullet target beside it and three DNA drop targets out on the left rail. Directly above the saucer is the mini flipper, which fires diagonally to the top right corner; nothing else on the machine can make that shot.

The Suspect Shakedown lane loops behind the mini flipper and past the Skull, feeding an enclosed bumper pocket that empties back down to the mini flipper. Right of the bumpers is the Centrifuge, a spinning disc reachable from either lower flipper, and threaded past its right edge is the machine's only ramp, which feeds the Skull locks. Beyond that: the Fingerprint spinner, the Morgue sinkhole in the top right corner, the magnet-loaded Microscope horseshoe below it, and a wide right loop.

The shot you keep coming back to

The Morgue sinkhole has two names depending on how you get in. From the plunger or the lower flippers it is the Morgue — 500K on the skill shot, and every later lit collection is worth 100K more than the last, all game. Entered from the right off the mini flipper, the same hole becomes the AV Lab: 250K, Light Special at an outlane, Light Extra Ball at the saucer, or a points award starting at 325K and growing 25K a time.

Three multiballs, three sets of rules

Skull Multiball is the simplest to start: shoot the ramp to light a lock, shoot it again to load an eye socket, repeat. Later locks cost more ramp shots. The multiball is a four-level ladder — six yellow-arrow shots at 250K, then six bullet targets at 500K, then the Skull for 750K plus a repeat with your other ball inside five seconds for 750K more, then the Morgue and right loop for a million each. That last level completes it, and the ladder restarts.

Centrifuge Multiball is a counter. Every disc spin is 100 points and takes one off a target starting around a hundred spins and growing all game. At zero the disc becomes a ball lock; hit it again and a second ball is served. You then get roughly twenty seconds to inflate the jackpot: switch hits with the live ball at 250 apiece, or flipper-pumping the trapped ball for 100 a spin — the Big Wow. Drain the live ball in that window and the whole build is thrown away.

In multiball, a collected jackpot briefly lights a double, and a collected double briefly lights a triple. A triple counts as completing the multiball. Going back into the disc during all this pays Super Spins at 15K a spin, climbing 1,250 each collection, multiplied by your best jackpot since the last one — so cash a triple first and the disc pays triple.

Microscope Multiball is the deep one, and it needs Evidence first. Shoot the Microscope loop to light Evidence at every major shot, then collect five pieces of one colour from red, green and blue, starting at 600K and climbing 100K per piece. Collecting from a shot changes that shot's colour rather than clearing it, so you may need two or three hits to cycle one round. The loop then starts a six-stage, twenty-three-shot marathon: 275K jackpots, 550K doubles, 875K triples for opposite directions, 1,375K quadruples, a fifteen-lamp grid at 550K a shot, and a 5.5M mega jackpot at the Morgue.

What to do with the rest of the game

• Fingerprint Frenzy — built from right spinner revolutions at 3K each. Once running, every switch is 10K for twenty-five seconds, and both spinner lanes feed the bumper pocket.
• Suspect Shakedown — fifty spins of the left spinner completes a face and starts a twenty-five second hunt. Six shots light yellow; one hides the suspect for a million, the rest pay from 300K upward.
• Ballistics — five bullets off the standups at 75K, 250K for the fifth, sixth at the Lab saucer. Forty seconds, awards from 500K rising to a 750K cap.
• DNA and Lab awards — clearing the three drops lights an award at the saucer: extra ball or 4x bumpers in single-ball play, usually an added ball during a multiball.
• The Photo award — as a ball leaves the bumper pocket, a mini-flipper shot to the Morgue briefly lights and pays exactly what the bumpers just scored.

The stack that matters

Skull stacks with Centrifuge, and Centrifuge stacks with Microscope. Skull and Microscope will not stack, because Evidence stops counting while the Skull is running. Light Evidence early so your ordinary shots are always banking progress, then layer a frenzy or Ballistics on top of whichever multiball you are surviving. Finish all three multiballs — the three lamps between the flippers keep score — and the machine offers a single shot worth fifty million. Very few players ever see it.

Goals in CSI

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

• Morgue Skill Shot skillshot · Easy

  Plunge up the right wall into the Morgue sinkhole. It pays 500K the first time, and every later lit Morgue collection in the game is worth 100K more than the one before it.

  Reward: 500K, +100K per later collection

• AV Lab Awards mode · Medium

  The same sinkhole becomes the AV Lab when you enter it from the right off the mini flipper. In single-ball play it hands out 250K, Light Special at the outlane, Light Extra Ball at the saucer, or a points award that starts at 325K and grows 25K each time.

  Reward: 250K, Special, Extra Ball or 325K+

• Start Skull Multiball multiball · Medium

  Shoot the Skull ramp to light a lock and watch the Skull rise, then shoot it again to put a ball in an eye socket. Two locked balls start the multiball. Each later Skull Multiball demands more ramp shots to light each lock.

  Reward: Two-ball multiball

• The Four Skull Levels multiball · Hard

  Skull Multiball is a ladder, not a free-for-all. Six yellow-arrow shots at 250K, then six bullet targets at 500K, then a 750K Skull shot you have to repeat with the second ball inside five seconds, then the Morgue and right loop for a million each.

  Reward: 250K / 500K / 750K / 1M by level

• Centrifuge Multiball multiball · Medium

  Feed the disc and let it spin the ball. Each spin is 100 points and counts down toward multiball — roughly a hundred spins the first time, more every time after. At zero the Centrifuge turns into a lock, and hitting it again raises the post and auto-plunges a second ball.

  Reward: Two-ball multiball with a built jackpot

• Big Wow strategy · Medium

  With a ball trapped in the Centrifuge, pumping the flipper buttons throws it around the disc and pushes the jackpot up 100 at a time. Do it hard enough and the whole cabinet shakes. Every second you spend pumping is a second the live ball is unattended, which is the trade.

  Reward: +100 per spin to the pending jackpot

• Super Spins multiplier · Hard

  During Centrifuge Multiball, going back into the disc pays 15K per spin, and that rate climbs 1,250 every time you collect it. It is also multiplied by the best jackpot you have taken since the last Super Spin, so cash a triple first and the disc pays triple.

  Reward: 15K+ per spin, up to 3x

• Double And Triple Jackpots combo · Hard

  Collect a Centrifuge jackpot and another shot lights briefly for a double. Take that and a triple lights for an even shorter moment. A collected triple counts as completing the multiball, so this ladder is how the middle lamp between the flippers gets lit.

  Reward: Jackpot, 2x, 3x, and multiball completion

• Collect The Evidence progression · Medium

  Evidence is the gate to the biggest multiball on the machine. The Microscope loop lights Evidence at every major shot, and you need five pieces of one colour — red, green or blue. Values start at 600K and climb 100K per piece.

  Reward: 600K climbing, and Microscope Multiball ready

• Microscope Multiball multiball · Hard

  The deep end of CSI: six stages and at least twenty-three shots with more than one ball alive. Start it at the Microscope loop, where the magnet holds your ball for study while a second is auto-plunged.

  Reward: 275K jackpots climbing to a 5.5M mega jackpot

• Fingerprint Frenzy mode · Easy

  Built purely out of spinner revolutions at the right spinner, 3K a spin. When it starts, every switch on the machine is worth 10K for twenty-five seconds — and both spinner lanes dump into the bumpers, which is a lot of switches in a hurry.

  Reward: All switches 10K for 25 seconds

• Suspect Shakedown mode · Medium

  The left spinner builds a face on the display at 3K per spin. Fifty spins completes it and starts a twenty-five second hunt worth 500K up front, with six major shots lit yellow. One of them is hiding the suspect and pays a million.

  Reward: 500K to start, 1M for the suspect

• Ballistics mode · Medium

  Collect six bullets to start a forty-second shootout. Five come off the bullet targets at 75K each — the fifth pays 250K — and the sixth is collected at the Lab saucer. The first time all six shots are lit at once; after that only one lights at a time.

  Reward: 500K per bullet rising to 750K

• DNA Drops And Lab Awards mode · Easy

  Each DNA drop is 25K and clearing all three lights a Lab award at the saucer. In single-ball play that means extra ball, 4x bumpers, or a Special or extra ball lit at the outlanes. During any multiball it usually means another ball, up to four on the glass.

  Reward: Extra ball, 4x bumpers or an added ball

• Spell C-S-I For Bonus multiplier · Medium

  Three inlanes spell C-S-I for 100K and a bonus multiplier. Collecting the Lab award it lights adds another, and that in turn briefly lights the right loop stop for three more. The catch is that the whole thing has to be cashed at the saucer and none of it carries to the next ball.

  Reward: 100K and up to 5x bonus

• Build The Bumper Value multiplier · Easy

  Bumpers reset to 3K per hit at the start of every ball, and each right loop adds 1K to that. It sounds trivial until you remember the bumper pocket is enclosed — a ball that gets in there rattles a long time, and the Photo award pays out whatever it earned.

  Reward: 3K rising by 1K per right loop

• The Photo Award secret · Hard

  As a ball leaves the bumper pocket it briefly lights a mini-flipper shot to the Morgue for a Photo award, and that award equals everything the bumpers just scored on that visit. Build the bumper value first and this quietly becomes one of the better shots on the machine.

  Reward: Equal to the bumper points from that visit

• Stack Your Multiballs strategy · Hard

  Longer multiballs and larger jackpots come from running two at once, and CSI is specific about which pairs work. Skull stacks with Centrifuge. Centrifuge stacks with Microscope. Skull and Microscope cannot stack, because Evidence is switched off while the Skull is running.

  Reward: Longer multiball, larger jackpots

• The 50 Million Shot wizard · Hard

  There is no traditional wizard mode. What there is instead: complete all three multiballs — the three lamps between the flippers track it — and the machine offers you a single shot worth fifty million.

  Reward: 50M

• Learn The Mini Flipper strategy · Medium

  Two of the five bullet targets and the entire AV Lab award set are only reachable from the mini flipper above the Lab saucer. Ignore it and you are playing a smaller machine than the one in front of you.

  Reward: Access to the AV Lab and two bullets