FunHouse

Williams, 1990 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open FunHouse in the Pinball Genie app →

FunHouse is a clock game. It starts at 8:00, holds its value from ball to ball, and getting it to midnight is the whole point of the machine — that is when Rudy falls asleep, his mouth drops open, and the game finally lets you shoot him. Almost every shot on the playfield moves the clock, so knowing which ones move it most is the difference between reaching midnight and running out of balls.

What actually advances the clock

• 30 minutes — the Manhole below the jet bumpers, and starting a ball. The Manhole is the single most efficient shot on the machine and it opens the Steps at the same time.
• 15 minutes — the Wind Tunnel, and the Center Ramp. The ramp then climbs to 20, 25 and 30 on repeat hits, but resets every ball.
• 10 minutes — the Hidden Hallway, the Trapdoor, and the Trapdoor loop.
• 5 minutes — the S-T-E-P targets and the Superdog targets.
• 0, 5 or 10 — the jet bumpers, depending on whether they are unlit, lit or flashing. Lighting them first genuinely matters, and the Mirror's Jet Bumpers At Maximum award leaves all three flashing for the rest of the ball.

Two hard limits are worth committing to memory. The clock will not move past 11:25 during Quick Multiball or during Frenzy, so do not waste those seconds trying. And once you reach 11:30, the only thing that advances the clock is locking a ball in the Hidden Hallway — that takes you to 11:45, and the next lock is midnight.

The Trapdoor ladder

Running the Trapdoor loop opens the Trapdoor for about eight seconds. The first one is worth 500K off a single loop. After that the price goes up with the prize: two consecutive loops for 750K, three for a million.

A quirk in your favour — whenever the Trapdoor is open, a ball rolling back over the loop sensor behind it also collects the award. That usually happens when a shot just clears the sensor and rolls back down over it, so some collections arrive unearned.

The Mystery Mirror

With the white MIRROR light on, the Wind Tunnel pays whichever of six awards is flashing: Extra Ball Is Lit, Million Is Lit, Jet Bumpers At Maximum, Steps Open, Quick Multiball and one more. The light is on at the start of every ball, goes out when you collect, and comes back when you hit Rudy's jaw — or briefly, about four seconds, from the right centre lane.

There is a reward for exhausting it. Once all six awards have been collected, the Wind Tunnel stops giving awards and starts Super Frenzy instead: 1.5M base with every target worth 100K, against the 120K and 50K of an ordinary Frenzy. Nothing on the playfield announces this.

Rudy, and the shot most players never find

Jaw hits from the side flipper are the quiet scoring engine here. Your end-of-ball bonus is 50K per Rudy hit, hits carry from ball to ball, and you start the game already holding one. Each jaw hit also relights the Mirror.

The hidden one is the Rudy Gulp. Rudy comments on your play constantly, and while he is talking his mouth is open — putting a ball in there mid-sentence is worth 250K. Most players assume his mouth only opens at midnight and never try it.

Midnight Multiball

Get to midnight, shoot Rudy's open mouth for a million — two million if you are holding Million Is Lit from the Mirror — and the Trapdoor becomes a ladder. The first hit scores 2M and closes it; the Center Ramp reopens it for 3M; each cycle adds another million up to a ceiling of ten. The Steps and Mirror are disabled throughout.

Know the ending before it happens to you. If the multiball finishes with at least one Trapdoor hit made, the clock simply resets to 5:00 and normal play resumes. If you made no Trapdoor shots, the Hidden Hallway lock relights and a countdown starts on the playfield clock — relock the last remaining ball in time and another ball is served. Nothing can stop that timer.

Two things in your favour

Shooting the Steps ramp all the way to the top buys twenty seconds of Superdog. Its real value is not the time itself but that the Frenzy timer stops whenever the Superdog timer would stop — Superdog is how you make a twenty-second Frenzy last.

And FunHouse is unusually generous about bad plunges. A ball that runs from the plunger to the drain without hitting a scoring target is returned, and in practice the game often gives back weak plunges that dribbled through the bumper lane into the right outlane even though those did touch switches. Do not panic on a bad plunge.

How FunHouse plays

FunHouse is a Williams carnival ruled by Rudy, a wisecracking dummy head, and one relentless clock. Push that clock from eight in the evening around to midnight and Rudy nods off with his mouth hanging open, which is your cue to start Midnight Multiball.

The loop

1. Nearly every switch nudges the clock ahead, so chase the fat advances first -- the Manhole beneath the jets and each new ball are half-hour jumps on their own.
2. Run the right loop to swing the Trapdoor open for a breath under ten seconds, then bury the ball through it for a climbing award.
3. Feed Rudy's jaw off the upper side flipper to stack end-of-ball bonus and re-arm the Wind Tunnel mirror award.
4. Once the hands reach half past eleven, only a Hidden Hallway lock moves them, so lock there and again at eleven forty-five to hit the top of the hour.
5. At midnight, shoot Rudy's open mouth, then climb the Trapdoor ladder as it grows a million richer each cycle.

Reading the lights

• The Clock (ladder) — lit: The clock face is the master progress bar; it opens in the evening, holds its reading between balls, and almost every switch you rattle walks it toward midnight. · then: Chase the biggest jumps first, then respect the wall at half past eleven, where a Hidden Hallway lock becomes the only thing that moves the hands. Reach midnight and Rudy sleeps for the multiball this whole game is building toward.
• Trapdoor (shot arrows) — lit: Running the right loop pops the Trapdoor open for roughly eight seconds; while it gapes it is the richest single target on the lower playfield. · then: Loop, then drop the ball through the open door for a reward that climbs from half a million to a full one as you chain more loops per opening. During Midnight Multiball this same hole becomes a ladder worth millions.
• The Steps (ladder) — lit: Clearing the S-T-E-P target bank lights one step on its own little ramp, always in a fixed order, and a lit step only pays while its lamp is on. · then: Complete the letters to light Frenzy, then a points step, then the extra ball last; hit a lit step to bank it, or send the ball the whole length of the ramp to buy Superdog time.
• Mystery Mirror (status) — lit: The white Mirror lamp glows as each ball begins and lets the Wind Tunnel pay one of six mystery awards; collect it and the lamp goes dark until you arm it again. · then: Cash whatever award is flashing, then relight the Mirror with a hit to Rudy's jaw or a quick roll through the right-center lane. Draw all six awards over a game and the Wind Tunnel upgrades into Super Frenzy instead.
• The Gangways (lanes) — lit: A Gangway starts flashing only when the opposite inlane feeds it, and the flash is gone within a couple of seconds, making this a snap collect rather than a shot you line up. · flashing: A flashing Gangway is live for its climbing award; strike an unlit one and it merely begins flashing instead of paying. · then: Roll the inside right inlane and immediately take the left Gangway, or use the left inlane and the loop to arm the right one. Its value grows across balls until it finally lights the extra ball.
• Jet Bumpers (status) — lit: Unlit, the three jets add nothing to the clock; lit they are worth a few minutes each, and flashing they are worth double that. · flashing: All three flash for the rest of the ball after the Jets At Maximum mirror award, turning dead bumper time into the fastest clock climb on the table. · then: Light the jets from the lane beside them before you send the ball into the nest, or draw Jets At Maximum from the Mirror to leave them flashing. Every rattle then feeds the run to midnight.
• Rudy (status) — lit: Rudy talks all game and his mouth hangs open while he speaks, not only at midnight; each jaw hit off the upper side flipper banks bonus that carries between balls. · then: Work the jaw to build bonus and relight the Mirror, feed his open mouth mid-sentence for a sneaky Rudy Gulp, and hold a Million Is Lit award so the first midnight mouth shot pays double. During Quick Multiball every Rudy hit is a flat million.

Lane change: not verified for this machine yet.

Start scoring

• Ball one — Bank the safe, repeatable stuff and feed the clock. Take the soft-plunge skill shot into Rudy's Hideout, work the jaw for carry-over bonus, and grab the Manhole whenever you can for a half-hour jump that also opens the Steps. — Plunger Skill Shot, Build The Rudy Bonus, The Manhole Shortcut
• Building — Turn shots into modes. Loop the Trapdoor for its climbing award, finish S-T-E-P to light Frenzy and the extra ball, and pull awards from the Wind Tunnel while keeping a Million Is Lit ready for later. — The Trapdoor Ladder, The Steps, Frenzy, Mystery Mirror
• The big one — Drive the clock to midnight, shoot Rudy's sleeping mouth, and climb the Trapdoor ladder as it grows by a million per cycle to its ten-million ceiling. Reopen the door with the center ramp each time to keep the ladder rising. — Midnight Multiball

Does FunHouse have an action button?

FunHouse comes from well before cabinet buttons existed. A manual plunger, two flippers and a nudge are your whole toolkit, and even the skill shot is a matter of plunge strength — you want a soft one that stalls in the top loop, not a button press.

Goals in FunHouse

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

• Plunger Skill Shot skillshot · Medium

  Not a full-power plunge. You want the ball to run out of speed in the top loop and roll back down into Rudy's Hideout. It pays 250K the first time, then 500K, 750K and a million every time after.

  Reward: 250K climbing to 1M

• Advance The Clock progression · Medium

  The clock is FunHouse. It starts at 8:00, holds between balls, and getting it to midnight is the entire game. Almost every shot moves it, so knowing which ones move it most is the difference between reaching Rudy and running out of balls.

  Reward: Progress toward Midnight Multiball

• The Trapdoor Ladder strategy · Medium

  Run the Trapdoor loop and the Trapdoor opens for about eight seconds. The first is worth 500K off a single loop; after that it takes two consecutive loops for 750K, and three for a million. The price goes up as the prize does.

  Reward: 500K, then 750K, then 1M

• Center Ramp Repeat combo · Easy

  75K and 15 minutes to start, climbing to 100K, 125K and 150K with 30 minutes from then on. It resets every ball and after Midnight Multiball, so the value is something you rebuild rather than bank.

  Reward: 75K to 150K plus 15-30 clock minutes

• Gangway Awards combo · Medium

  The inlanes cross-light the Gangways — right inlane flashes the left one, left inlane and the Trapdoor loop flash the right. They pay 150K, 200K, 250K and then 250K plus the extra ball light. The lights die after a few seconds, so this is a reflex shot.

  Reward: 150K climbing to 250K, then lights extra ball

• Mystery Mirror mode · Medium

  With the white MIRROR light on, the Wind Tunnel pays whichever of six awards is flashing. The light is on at the start of every ball, goes out when you collect, and comes back on when you hit Rudy's jaw — or briefly from the right centre lane.

  Reward: One of six awards

• The Steps mode · Medium

  Three lit steps on their own ramp, reached via the Center Ramp or — unusually — a left outlane drain, once Steps Open has been awarded. The S-T-E-P targets light them in a fixed order, and the last one is the extra ball.

  Reward: Light Frenzy, 500K, Light Extra Ball

• Frenzy mode · Medium

  Light Frenzy from the Steps, then hit the Trapdoor. Every playfield target adds 50K to a bonus that pays out at the end of the ball — which is the catch, because a tilt throws all of it away.

  Reward: 120K base, +50K per target, paid at end of ball

• Super Frenzy secret · Hard

  Hidden behind the Mirror. Once all six Mirror awards have been collected, the Wind Tunnel stops giving awards and starts Super Frenzy instead — 1.5M base with every target worth 100K.

  Reward: 1.5M base, +100K per target

• Quick Multiball multiball · Medium

  A Mirror award. A second ball arrives, and the first launches as soon as the new one hits anything. While both are alive every Rudy hit is worth a million — but the Trapdoor is switched off and the clock will not pass 11:25.

  Reward: All Rudy hits worth 1M

• Midnight Multiball wizard · Hard

  The whole point of the machine. Get the clock to midnight, Rudy falls asleep and his mouth drops open — shoot it. The Trapdoor then becomes a ladder: 2M, then 3M, climbing a million each time up to ten.

  Reward: 2M climbing by 1M per Trapdoor hit, max 10M

• The Midnight Relock strategy · Hard

  A rule worth knowing before it happens to you. If Midnight Multiball ends without a single Trapdoor hit, the lock relights and a countdown starts on the playfield clock — relock the last ball in time and you get another ball. Nothing stops that timer.

  Reward: A second attempt at Midnight Multiball

• Build The Rudy Bonus strategy · Easy

  Jaw hits from the side flipper are the quiet scoring engine of this game. The end-of-ball bonus is 50K per Rudy hit, hits carry from ball to ball, and you begin the game already holding one.

  Reward: 50K x total Rudy hits at end of ball

• Rudy Gulp secret · Hard

  Rudy comments on your play constantly, and while he is talking his mouth is open. Putting a ball in there while he is mid-sentence is a Rudy Gulp for 250K — a shot most players never realise is available outside of midnight.

  Reward: 250K

• Million Is Lit multiplier · Medium

  A Mirror award that turns the next Rudy jaw or mouth hit into a flat million. Stack it before Midnight Multiball and the opening mouth shot pays two million instead of one.

  Reward: 1M on the next Rudy hit, 2M stacked at midnight

• Light The Outlane Specials secret · Hard

  Get the clock to 11:30 a second time in one game and both outlanes light for Special. The catch is that the lights toggle on and off every time the ball hits a slingshot, and an uncollected Special is gone at the end of the ball.

  Reward: Special at both outlanes

• Superdog Time strategy · Medium

  Shooting the Steps ramp all the way to the top buys 20 seconds of Superdog, and while it runs the three Superdog targets pay 200K and climbing. Both the Superdog and Frenzy timers freeze whenever the ball is in the Wind Tunnel, on the Steps ramp or in the Hidden Hallway lock, and collecting Superdog again mid-Superdog adds another 20 seconds.

  Reward: 20 seconds of 200K Superdog targets

• The Manhole Shortcut strategy · Medium

  The single most efficient shot on the machine. The Manhole under the jet bumpers advances the clock 30 minutes — as much as starting a whole ball — and opens the Steps at the same time.

  Reward: 30 clock minutes, opens the Steps

• You Can Have It Back secret · Easy

  FunHouse is unusually generous about bad plunges. A ball that goes from the plunger to the drain without hitting a scoring target is returned — and in practice the game often gives back weak plunges that dribbled through the bumper lane into the right outlane, even though those did touch switches.

  Reward: Ball returned

• Jet Bumpers At Maximum multiplier · Medium

  A Mirror award that leaves all three bumpers flashing for the rest of the ball. Flashing bumpers are worth 10 clock minutes each instead of nothing, which turns the bumper area from dead time into the fastest clock advance on the playfield.

  Reward: All bumpers flashing, 10 clock minutes each