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Monster Bash

Williams, 1998 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

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Design George Gomez, software Lyman Sheats. A two-flipper fan layout in the Attack From Mars family, plus three toys: Frankenstein on his operating table, a Dracula figure that rides a track across the mid-right playfield, and the Creature glowing under a translucent lagoon window. Reissued by Chicago Gaming in 2018 (Classic / Special / Limited) — all edition differences are cosmetic/hardware; the ruleset is identical to the 1998 original.

The objective: form the band

Six classic monsters each have a mode. Starting a mode collects that monster; completing it collects that monster's instrument:

All modes are timed — and every mode timer freezes during any multiball while the modes stay playable. That is the game's defining strategy: start several modes, start a multiball (ideally Frankenstein's, last), then finish the modes with the clocks stopped. "Better to start two things than finish one."

Multiballs and wizard modes

Everything else

How Monster Bash plays

Monster Bash drafts six classic monsters into a rock band -- Creature, Wolfman, Bride, Dracula, Mummy and Frankenstein -- and each one's feature hands you its instrument. Start every monster to light the Monster Bash four-ball at the scoop, and collect all six instruments to headline Monsters of Rock.

The loop

  1. Send the auto-launch through the flashing D-I-G lane -- slide it under the ball with a flipper tap -- for the skill shot and a stored Monster Bomb, then finish D-I-G for a bonus-multiplier step and free jet progress.
  2. Start each monster at its own shot: the lagoon for the Creature, combined loops for the Wolfman, the two Bride ramps, the roaming Dracula, sixty jets for the Mummy, and Frank's target bank.
  3. Stack several modes and then start a multiball, because every mode timer freezes while balls are multiplying, so you sweep the frozen modes at leisure.
  4. Get all six modes started to light Monster Bash; finish all six for their instruments and roll into Monsters of Rock.

Reading the lights

  • D-I-G Top Lanes (lanes) — lit: One of the three D-I-G rollovers is the lit lane; rolling the lit one banks that letter and an unlit letter is one you still need. At ball launch the lit lane is also your skill shot. · flashing: The flashing lane is the one currently selected -- the letter the ball collects if it rolls through right now. · then: Roll the flashing lane off the launch to take the skill shot: a small award (about 150K) plus a random Monster Bomb -- a stored item you fire later with the launch button to spot a shot inside its monster's feature. Complete all three D-I-G letters and you step the end-of-ball bonus multiplier, raise the jet-bumper value, and spot five jet hits toward lighting Mummy Mayhem. · control: Either flipper button: a tap of a flipper button hops the lit lane sideways to the next of the three D-I-G rollovers, so you can line the flashing letter up with the path the ball is taking; every launch is an auto-plunge over the back arch, so you set this before the ball arrives up top (while the launched ball is crossing the arch toward the lanes)
  • The Six Monster Shots (mode) — lit: Each monster owns a shot and an insert: the Creature's lagoon, the Wolfman's loops, the Bride's ramps, the roaming Dracula, the Mummy's jets and Frankenstein. Its insert lights while that monster's feature is available or running. · then: Start a monster's mode at its shot and finish the mode to win that monster's instrument. Getting all six STARTED lights the Monster Bash four-ball at the scoop -- completion is never required for that -- while COLLECTING all six instruments is what opens the Monsters of Rock wizard.
  • The Scoop (mode) — lit: The orange-hooded scoop is the game's hub. Lit, it starts whichever feature is queued -- Drac Attack, Mummy Mayhem, Mosh Pit Multiball, Monster Bash or Monsters of Rock -- and unlit it pays a rotating mystery concert-venue award. · then: Take it to start modes and multiballs, to collect an extra ball once about three monsters are going, and to grab Advance Mummy for ten free jet hits. Keep visiting: the forty-fourth non-multiball visit pays Lyman's Lament, a hidden award that dumps a huge bonus multiplier and boosted switch values -- light a multiball just before you collect it.
  • Frankenstein Bank & Multiball (mode) — lit: Frank's motorized two-target bank blocks the center ramp; its lit targets are the hits still needed to assemble him. Seven hits drop the bank and expose the hidden ramp behind it. · then: Shoot the exposed center ramp to lock in the three-ball Frankenstein Multiball, then bash Frank himself for Super Jackpots -- six Supers award his Keyboard. String exactly three ordinary jackpots between bashes to upgrade each hit to a Triple Super, worth three Frank hits at once. Never start it bare: raise the bank with modes already running so their timers freeze.
  • Mosh Pit Spinner Lane (mode) — lit: The center spinner lane lines up dead with the drain, so a missed Mosh Pit shot tends to head down the center and out -- shoot it only off a fully cradled ball, and it comes easier from the right flipper. Six shots light Mosh Pit Multiball. · then: Start the lit multiball at the scoop, then add balls with more Mosh Pit shots. The same lane cashes the Bash Jackpot during Monster Bash and hands you a Monster Bomb on every third qualifying shot, and inside its own multiball it runs an endless Super Jackpot ladder off the Frank ramp.
  • Jet Bumpers (status) — lit: The three jets count every hit toward the Mummy: sixty of them light Mummy Mayhem and kick off doubled Super Jets. The launch, the rollovers up top and balls kicked out of the loops all funnel into the nest for you. · then: Let the ball churn the jets -- each D-I-G completion spots five hits and the scoop's Advance Mummy spots ten, so the sixty comes largely for free. When it lights, start Mummy Mayhem at the scoop and race to seven and a half million before the forty-five-second clock runs out for the Bass.
  • Tomb Treasure & Bonus X (multiplier) — lit: Bonus here is end-of-ball only -- your switch count times the bonus multiplier -- with no playfield X at all. The big standup beside the Mosh Pit lane is the quick way to climb it: each hit adds one to the multiplier plus a chunk of points. · then: Feed the multiplier through D-I-G completions and stray Tomb Treasure hits, and take Hold Bonus X from the scoop late in a ball to carry it forward. The bonus itself stays modest here, so treat multipliers as gravy rather than a plan -- do not risk a single-ball shot at the standup, and let multiballs batter it for you.
  • Phantom Flip Standups (status) — lit: Three blue standups flank Frankenstein and the left ramp; their lamps track hits toward Phantom Flip. Seven combined hits arm up to two stackable Phantom Flips on the inlanes. · then: Once armed, the game auto-flips for you when a ball rolls an inlane -- a free, timed save that is worth stacking to two before a busy multiball. Bank them ahead of Frank or Mosh Pit chaos so a mis-timed return still gets flipped.

Lane change: the flipper buttons move the lit lane. Because the launch is automatic and always dumps the ball up among the three top rollovers, the real skill is moving the lit letter before the ball gets there: a tap of a flipper button hops which D-I-G rollover is lit. Line the flashing one up with the ball's path for the skill shot (about 150K plus a stored Monster Bomb), and rolling all three letters steps the bonus multiplier, boosts the jets, and spots five jet hits toward Mummy Mayhem.

Start scoring

  • Ball one — Take the D-I-G skill shot and pocket its Monster Bomb every ball. Then bank easy monster progress on the safe shots -- the lagoon, the left ramp, a loop -- to get three modes started, which lights an extra ball at the scoop. Keep away from Frank, Dracula and the drain-hugging center lane until balls are multiplying. — D-I-G Skill Shot, Beginner: First 30 Seconds, Creature Feature
  • Building — Loop the two Bride ramps for the Ball & Chain 3X farm, the safest repeatable scoring on the table. Bring several modes to the brink, then start Frankenstein or Mosh Pit Multiball so the mode timers freeze and you finish instruments in bulk while jackpots pile up. — Ball & Chain 3X Ramp Farm, Frankenstein Multiball, Mosh Pit Multiball, The Stack: Modes into Frank Multiball
  • The big one — Collect all six instruments to headline Monsters of Rock, worth at least fifty-five million the moment it starts -- and another fifty million on top if you got there without ever starting Monster Bash. Lap the six monster shots inside it for repeat four-million jackpots. Monster Bash, the six-mode four-ball, is the near-guaranteed replay you pass through on the way. — Monsters of Rock (Wizard), Monsters of Rock Jackpot Lap, Monster Bash (Mini-Wizard)

The Launch Button (Monster Bombs) on Monster Bash

The launch button on the cabinet, in place of a shooter rod.

Monster Bash launches every ball for you, which frees the launch button up for a second job: firing whatever Monster item you are carrying. Each item belongs to one monster and spots a shot or a hit inside that monster's feature, so think of the button as a stored free shot you get to time yourself.

Goals in Monster Bash

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

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