Monopoly

Stern Pinball, 2001 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Monopoly in the Pinball Genie app →

Monopoly was Pat Lawlor's first design for Stern, and it is far deeper than the Stern games that came before it. The lower playfield is taken up by a lit game board turned on the diagonal, with GO sitting between the flippers. Your token moves around that board, and where it lands decides what you play. Land on a property and you collect the whole colour group and start its mode. Land on a corner and a multiball begins. Own all eight groups and all four railroads, and you get Land Grab.

The layout

• Water Works — a saucer guarded by a motorised flipper that sweeps across the entrance. The skill shot, and it scores identically during normal play.
• Roll & Collect lane — beside the Bank door. Runs the ball around the vault into the saucer, where the dice actually get rolled.
• Bank vault door — hits on the closed door spell B-A-N-K. The centre ramp behind it is the lock shot.
• Free Parking ramp — the upper left ramp, reachable only from the upper right flipper. Every multiball jackpot except Railroad lives here.
• Right ramp — relights Roll & Collect, and diverts to the shooter lane to fire multiball off.
• Railroad ramp — an open wire ramp that returns the ball just above the left flipper. Collects railroads and arms super jackpots.
• Electric Company — a short ramp from the upper right flipper into the lower jets. Powers the meter that holds your extra ball.
• Chance scoop — far left, for cards that range from trivial to a free multiball.
• Cop drop target — sits in front of the Roll & Collect lane. Every hit adds five seconds to whatever mode is running.

Roll and collect

This is the loop the whole game runs on. Shoot the right ramp to light Roll & Collect, knock the Cop drop target down so it stops blocking the lane, then take the lane. The dice roll, your token walks the board, and you are paid a thousand times the printed price of whatever you land on. New York Avenue at two hundred dollars pays two hundred thousand. The rolls are quietly weighted in your favour — the game steers you toward colour groups you do not yet own, and when there is nothing in range it aims you at an unowned railroad or a corner instead.

The eight colour groups

Landing on any property in a group hands you the entire group and starts its mode, so you never need to revisit a colour twice. Light blue runs Token Race, where your car races the dog and every major shot advances you. Violet is Free Money, where each Bank door hit locks a digit of the payout on the Electric Company ticker. Orange is a hurry-up starting at half a million on the Bank door. Red is Board Chase, where Cop hits reverse your token's direction and keep it away from the Go To Jail corner. Yellow turns the jets into a scoring engine and stacks with other modes. Green pays a flat one, two or three million. Purple maxes a jet bank. Dark blue lights either an extra ball or a Special, depending on which square the dice pick — and you only get one of the two per game.

Five different multiballs

• Monopoly Multiball — lap the board to light lock, lock two balls up the centre ramp, start on the right ramp. Jackpots begin at a million.
• Railroad Multiball — collect all four railroads. The only multiball whose jackpot is on the Railroad ramp instead of Free Parking.
• Breakout — a corner mode from landing on Just Visiting, jackpots from four hundred thousand.
• Free Parking — the corner mode with a memory. Its jackpot equals the Free Parking value, which grows five thousand per standup hit and carries between games to a half-million ceiling.
• Ripoff — landing on Go To Jail empties the lock and throws your banked balls into play whether you wanted them or not.

Land Grab

Own it all. All eight monopolies and all four railroads light Roll & Collect one more time, and taking it starts a timed four-ball multiball where you build property as fast as you can shoot. The centre ramp builds one house. The Free Parking ramp builds four and adds time to the clock. The Electric Company builds hotels. The right ramp moves you on to the next property. Both of the high-value shots want the upper right flipper, so getting a ball parked up there early is worth more than a fast start.

What to actually do

• Hit the Cop target constantly. It pays up to two hundred and fifty thousand and buys five seconds of every timed mode you play.
• Push the Electric Company to thirty per cent for the extra ball. That is six ramp shots on default settings.
• Complete the A-B-C lanes whenever you can — they advance the bonus multiplier and move your token eight spaces at once.
• Do not shoot the Chance scoop unlit; it only pays Pocket Change, which is not worth the return risk.
• The Free Parking standup is worth feeding even when nothing is lit, because you are banking a better multiball for later.

Goals in Monopoly

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

• Water Works Skill Shot skillshot · Medium

  Plunge into the Water Works saucer past a motorised flipper that sweeps across the entrance. The bonus starts at 25,000 with a 2X multiplier on the first one, and the multiplier climbs by one every time you make it again.

  Reward: 25,000 base at 2X, multiplier +1 per collection

• Roll & Collect progression · Easy

  The engine of the whole game. Shoot the right ramp to light Roll & Collect, then take the lane beside the Bank door. The dice roll, your token moves, you get paid for the space you land on and any mode attached to it starts.

  Reward: 1,000x the property price, plus the colour group and its mode

• Own The Eight Groups progression · Medium

  Landing on any property in a colour group hands you the whole group and starts that group's mode. Eight groups plus four railroads is the qualifier for Land Grab, so this is your scorecard for the entire game.

  Reward: All eight monopolies qualifies Land Grab

• Token Race mode · Medium

  The light blue group. Your race car runs the dog across the display and every major playfield shot advances you. Win and you collect 800,000 plus 10,000 for each shot made, plus a race bonus on top. Lose and it is worth almost nothing.

  Reward: 870,000 and up for a win, around 40,000 for a loss

• Free Money mode · Medium

  The violet group. A timed mode where each Bank door hit locks one digit of the payout, scrolling on the Electric Company ticker — thousands, then ten thousands, then hundred thousands. Once all three are set, hit the door once more to bank it.

  Reward: Up to 999,000, plus 1M for three of a kind

• Tax Refund mode · Easy

  The orange group, and the simplest mode on the machine. A hurry-up starting at 500,000 that you collect at the Bank door. You can collect repeatedly while it runs, so this is a pure repeat-shot mode.

  Reward: 500,000 falling, collectable many times over

• Board Chase mode · Medium

  The red group. The cop chases your token from Jail toward Go To Jail and you score by hitting Cop targets. Each hit pays 250,000, rising 50,000 a time, and also speeds the token up and flips its direction.

  Reward: 250,000 per Cop hit, +50,000 each

• Utility Overload mode · Easy

  The yellow group. Jets are worth 10,000 a hit and climb 5,000 for every Electric Company or Water Works shot you complete. It also stacks with any non-multiball mode, which makes it the best mode on the machine to start early.

  Reward: 10,000 per jet, +5,000 per utility shot

• Green Millions mode · Easy

  The green group is not really a mode — it is a flat payout that depends on which green you land on. Pacific pays a million, North Carolina two, Pennsylvania three. Nothing to shoot, and nothing you control.

  Reward: 1M, 2M or 3M

• Park Place Or Boardwalk mode · Medium

  The dark blue group lights an award instead of running a mode. Park Place lights extra ball, Boardwalk lights Special, and the game will only give you one of the two in a game — so which square the dice pick genuinely matters.

  Reward: Extra ball or Special

• Cash Grab mode · Medium

  Spell B-A-N-K on the closed vault door to blow it open. Every ramp, loop, lit shot and the Chance scoop then pays a value starting at 250,000 and climbing 25,000 per shot. Miss everything and you still get a 100,000 consolation.

  Reward: 250,000 per shot, +25,000 each

• Chance Cards mode · Easy

  The scoop on the far left pays 100,000 plus a card from a long deck. Some cards are small, some are enormous — Breakout or Ripoff multiball, Cash Grab, Light Lock, Light Extra Ball, or an advance that jumps your token to a specific property and starts its mode.

  Reward: 100,000 plus one card

• Community Chest secret · Hard

  A hidden second use for the Chance scoop that most players never see. It only exists after Land Grab has been started and after Chance has been collected at least once, and it pays a Land Grab bonus that doubles with every successive collection.

  Reward: Around 100,000-300,000, doubling each time

• Monopoly Multiball multiball · Medium

  The main multiball. Move your token past GO to light lock, put two balls in Jail off the centre ramp, then take the right ramp to launch. Jackpots start at a million on the Free Parking ramp, and the Railroad ramp arms a two-million super at the Electric Company.

  Reward: 1M jackpots, 2M super jackpot

• Railroad Multiball multiball · Medium

  The only multiball whose jackpot is not on the Free Parking ramp. Collect all four railroads to light it, then take the Railroad ramp itself for a 250,000 jackpot. Each subsequent one needs more railroads than the last.

  Reward: 250,000 jackpots on the Railroad ramp

• Breakout Multiball multiball · Medium

  A corner mode, started by landing on Just Visiting. Jackpots begin at 400,000 and climb 50,000 each, collected on the Free Parking ramp like every other corner multiball.

  Reward: 400,000 jackpots, +50,000 each

• Free Parking Multiball multiball · Medium

  The corner multiball with a memory. Its jackpot starts at whatever the Free Parking value has been built to, and that value carries from game to game up to a 500,000 ceiling — so a well-fed machine hands you a much better multiball than a fresh one.

  Reward: Jackpot equal to the built-up Free Parking value

• Ripoff Multiball multiball · Hard

  Landing on Go To Jail empties Jail — it rips out whatever you had locked and puts it into play. Jackpots start at 400,000 and climb 50,000 each on the Free Parking ramp.

  Reward: 400,000 jackpots, +50,000 each

• Land Grab wizard · Hard

  Own it all. Collect all eight colour groups and all four railroads, light Roll & Collect and take the shot to start a timed four-ball multiball where you build houses and hotels as fast as you can shoot. Water Works is set to 7X and both jet banks pay heavily.

  Reward: Houses, hotels and a completion bonus

• Power Up The Electric Company strategy · Medium

  The power meter is where your extra ball is. Each Electric Company shot adds 5% and the upper jets nudge it further. Roll & Collect lights at 15% and again at 60%, extra ball lights at 30% by default, and Special waits at 100%.

  Reward: Extra ball at 30%, Special at 100%

• Four Way Combo combo · Hard

  A four-shot chain added in the later software: left ramp, centre ramp, right ramp, then the Roll & Collect saucer. It is awkward because the first shot needs the upper right flipper and the next two need the lower ones.

  Reward: Four Way Combo award

• Build The Bonus Multiplier multiplier · Easy

  Six inserts run up from 2X to 6X and then Light Extra Ball. You advance them by completing the A-B-C lanes or by making an outer loop while its Bonus X insert is lit, and the bonus itself counts your board laps, railroads and monopolies.

  Reward: Up to 6X bonus, then an extra ball light

• Cop Stops strategy · Easy

  The single most underrated target on the machine. Every Cop hit adds five seconds to whatever mode is running and pays a value starting at 125,000 that climbs 25,000 a hit to a 250,000 ceiling. It is reachable from all three flippers.

  Reward: 125,000 to 250,000 per hit, +5 seconds