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.
How Monopoly plays
Monopoly turns the board game into pinball: a lit token laps the board between the flippers, and every property you land on hands you the whole colour group and starts its mode. Own all eight groups and all four railroads to reach Land Grab, the build-it-all wizard multiball.
The loop
- Hit the right ramp to light Roll & Collect, knock the Cop drop target out of the lane, then take the lane by the Bank door -- the dice throw moves your token and pays you for the space it lands on.
- Landing on a property gives you its whole colour group and starts that group's mode; landing on a corner or a railroad space starts a multiball or an award instead.
- Lap the board past GO to light lock, drop a pair of balls into Jail with centre-ramp shots, and start Monopoly Multiball at the right ramp.
- Feed the Electric Company from the upper right flipper to climb its power meter toward the extra ball, and complete the A-B-C lanes and the loops to build the bonus multiplier.
- Own every colour group and all four railroads to qualify Land Grab, then race to raise houses and hotels across the board.
Reading the lights
- Colour Groups & Land Grab (status) — lit: Each colour group you own lights on the board, and an owned group is yours for the rest of the game -- there is nothing to defend and no reason to revisit a colour you already hold. · then: Every group you land on adds itself here permanently and starts that group's mode. Own every colour group and all four railroads and Roll & Collect lights for Land Grab; because ownership never resets, each new group is one step closer to the wizard.
- Roll & Collect (shot arrows) — lit: The right ramp lights Roll & Collect, and while it is lit the lane beside the Bank door is armed to roll the dice; you relight it on the right ramp each time you spend it. · then: Take the lit lane -- the ball runs the vault into the saucer and the dice roll, quietly weighted toward the groups and railroads you do not own yet. Knock the Cop drop target down first, because while it stands it blocks the lane and kills the shot.
- B-A-N-K Vault Door (letters) — lit: Each hit on the closed vault door lights the next letter of B-A-N-K, and the door only takes letters while it is shut -- an open door scores nothing until you close it again. · then: Shoot the centre ramp to slam the door shut, then bash it to finish B-A-N-K and blow the vault open for Cash Grab, where every ramp, loop and lit shot pays a rising value. The game usually spots you a letter at the start and one more each ball, so you rarely need more than a hit or two.
- Bonus Multiplier & A-B-C Lanes (multiplier) — lit: The bonus inserts climb 2X, 3X on up to 6X and then Light Extra Ball; the lit rung is your current multiplier on the end-of-ball bonus, which counts your board laps, railroads and monopolies. · then: Finish the three A-B-C top lanes, or take a lit outer loop, to click the multiplier up a rung. Finishing A-B-C also jumps your token eight spaces -- your biggest move without a dice roll -- so those top lanes pay you twice.
- Electric Company Power (ladder) — lit: The power meter fills five percent per Electric Company shot and holds its level between shots; its lit thresholds relight Roll & Collect, light your extra ball, and top out at Special. · then: Work the Electric Company from the upper right flipper -- about six shots reaches the extra ball at thirty percent, and the upper jets nudge the meter up on their own. Push it all the way to full for Special.
- Monopoly Multiball & Jackpot Ramp (shot arrows) — lit: Lapping your token past GO lights lock; a lit lock resets the centre-ramp diverter to send balls into Jail instead of back to the inlane. · then: Lock a pair of balls into Jail with centre-ramp shots, then launch the multiball at the right ramp. Every jackpot but Railroad's lives on the Free Parking ramp, and the two-million super arms when you shoot the Railroad ramp and cash it at the Electric Company. Both of those shots are made only from the upper right flipper.
- Railroads (shot arrows) — lit: An outer loop lights Advance To Next Railroad above the Railroad ramp; a railroad you collect stays banked toward the four you need. · then: Collect the lit railroad on the Railroad ramp, whose return drops the ball right above the left flipper for an easy repeat. Four railroads light Railroad Multiball -- the one multiball whose jackpot is the Railroad ramp itself -- and they also tick toward Land Grab.
- Free Parking Value (status) — lit: The Free Parking standup pays a value opening at seventy-five thousand and rising each hit, while a separate jackpot figure builds alongside and persists between whole games up to a ceiling, so a machine fed across many games starts you far higher than one just switched on. · then: Feed the target in normal play to bank both values, then start Free Parking Multiball -- the rare multiball that collects its jackpot right on the standup rather than up the ramp. That built figure resets low the moment the multiball is over, so cash it while it is high.
- Chance & Community Chest (mode) — lit: Whatever insert glows under the far-left scoop sets its award -- a Chance card, or the Community Chest hidden behind it, and only a throwaway Pocket Change when neither is on. · then: Take Chance only when it is lit -- relight it on the Free Parking ramp -- for a card that can be anything from small points to an instant multiball. During Land Grab, with a Chance already collected, the scoop hides Community Chest, whose award doubles on every successive collect until the last ball drains.
Lane change: not verified for this machine yet.
Start scoring
- Ball one — Beat the sweeping flipper for the Water Works skill shot, then get Roll & Collect running on the right ramp -- the dice roll is the engine that banks colour groups, starts modes and feeds every multiball. Bank the groups the dice hand you as you go. — Water Works Skill Shot, Roll & Collect, Own The Eight Groups
- Building — Lap the board for Monopoly Multiball and gather railroads for Railroad Multiball, climb the Electric Company power meter to the extra ball, and build the bonus multiplier on the A-B-C lanes and the loops. — Monopoly Multiball, Railroad Multiball, Power Up The Electric Company, Build The Bonus Multiplier
- The big one — Bank every colour group and each of the four railroads and Land Grab lights at the Roll & Collect lane: a four-ball, timed race to stack houses on the centre ramp, four at once on the Free Parking ramp, and hotels off the Electric Company. Chase the hidden Community Chest at the scoop while it runs, since its award doubles on each successive collect. — Land Grab, Community Chest
Does Monopoly have an action button?
The lockdown bar is bare. This is a 2001 Stern, built well before the era of a button in the middle of the bar, so you get a manual plunger, two flippers and a start button. Your token moves because you made a shot, never because you pressed something.
Goals in Monopoly
Every goal below is tracked step-by-step, with shot paths drawn on the playfield map, inside the app.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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A hidden second use for the Chance scoop that most players never see. Two things gate it: Land Grab has to be running, and you need at least one Chance collected already. Pay both and it awards a Land Grab Bonus — and that bonus DOUBLES on every successive Community Chest collect, which is what makes it worth going back for.
Reward: Around 100,000-300,000, doubling each time
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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%
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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
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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
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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
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