The Simpsons Pinball Party

Stern, 2003 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open The Simpsons Pinball Party in the Pinball Genie app →

There's a lot happening on this table, but almost everything answers to one clock. Every timed system in the game — TV Modes, D'Oh Frenzy, the Treehouse of Horror rounds — shares a single 30-second countdown, and starting or resetting any one of them resets all of them. Learn to keep that timer alive and the rest of the machine stops feeling overwhelming and starts feeling like one long, connected run.

Feed The Timer

Lite Otto and the Krusty Orbit are the two shots worth memorizing — they're the fastest, most reliable ways to reset the clock back to 30 seconds, and there are at least twenty different triggers across the whole game that do the same thing. The timer pauses the moment the ball lands in the pop bumpers, and the Pop Target buys it back: 2 seconds off a bumper bounce, 5 from a clean flipper shot, 10 if you combo it right off the Cletus Orbit. It caps at 60 seconds, and reaching that cap the first time in a game is worth 2.5 million on its own. Keep this shot in your back pocket at all times — you're rarely more than two shots from a full reset.

Double Scoring And Seven TV Modes

Shoot the Krusty Orbit while Otto's window is open and one of ten zones around the table lights for double scoring — the bumpers, both orbits, both ramps, both loops, the Garage, and the entire upper playfield. It stacks with everything else running, including TV Modes and multiball, and stays doubled until the timer finally runs dry. Clear all ten zones over the course of a game and Otto turns into the door to something bigger.

TV Modes light from the Krusty Orbit and start at the upper playfield's TV Loop — tap the right flipper first to choose which of seven you want. Duffman, Homer's Day, Willie's Woes, Wiggum vs. Snake, Bart's Day, Krusty's Last Stand, and Stop the Monorail each ask for a completely different shot pattern, and each is worth roughly 2.5 million cleared. Finish all seven you've started in one timer run and every major shot on the table turns into a Victory points machine — 100K a shot for one completed mode, climbing all the way to 2.5 million a shot if you cleared the full set.

Hurry Ups, Daredevils, And The Rest Of The Main Game

Comic Book Guy lights a Hurry Up at one of six major shots, and hitting him again stacks a second one running at the same time — worth real money if you can chain three or more collections together. The Bully standups light a Daredevil Mode, started at the Captive Ball; each of the four types tracks a different family of shots toward 750K, paid out only at the end of the ball, so don't tilt while one's live. Off to the side, the Cletus Orbit hands out one of 26 named kids per shot, the Nuclear Value builds in the pop bumpers and collects at the Pop Target, and both the Garage and Springfield Elementary hide genuine grab-bag awards behind repeated shots.

Two real multiballs anchor the base game. Itchy & Scratchy Multiball needs the drop target bank cleared, the hole shot, the bank cleared again, then the hole a second time — pick one of four jackpot flavors with the right flipper first. Couch Multiball needs three balls locked on the upper playfield, after which eight shots pay Jackpots and the Couch ramp itself pays a Super worth five times the going rate. Collecting five Supers across the game — one for each family member — quietly counts toward something much bigger.

Six Hidden Doors

Nearly every major system in this game hides a secret finale behind full completion, and each is worth hunting down on its own:

• Springfield Mystery Spot — clear all ten double scoring zones, then shoot Otto again. Your flippers swap sides for a five-ball round where everything's worth 500K and doubled.
• Alien Invasion — finish all seven TV Modes to unlock four escalating phases of locking balls anywhere you can find room.
• Secret Stash — clear all six Hurry Ups, then hit Comic Book Guy once more for a bonus round built entirely around them.
• Daredevil Mania — clear all four Daredevil Modes, then hit the Captive Ball for an untimed 5 million point target.
• Scratchy's Revenge — play through all four Itchy & Scratchy flavors, and the hole starts firing single balls worth chasing on their own.
• Pretzel Multiball — collect all 26 Cletus Kids for a switch-hitting multiball that's enormous when stacked onto Couch Multiball.

Clear the first five of those — Mystery Spot, Alien Invasion, Secret Stash, Daredevil Mania, and Scratchy's Revenge — along with five Super Jackpots in Couch Multiball, and any hole shot in single-ball play unlocks the Super Duper Mega Extreme Wizard Mode, exactly as dramatically named in-game as it sounds. It's a five-ball round where every shot pays a growing Jackpot, either target bank strobes a 5x Super Jackpot, and locking a ball in the Couch multiplies whatever Super you're chasing for a short window. Getting there takes most of a great game, which is exactly the point — this table rewards depth over speed, and the six doors above are the map for finding all of it.

Goals in The Simpsons Pinball Party

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

• Triple Skill Shot skillshot · Medium

  Three different plunge shots are live before the ball settles: Comic Book Guy, the Kwik-E-Mart loop, or a strobing Bully standup. Each rewards a plunge with escalating points and a genuine head start on that shot's normal game.

  Reward: 500K-1M, plus an extra Hurry Up, extra multipliers, or an instant Daredevil light

• The Master Timer progression · Medium

  One shared timer runs every timed mode in the game — Lite Otto and the Krusty Orbit are the fastest resets, and there are at least twenty things total that can restart the clock.

  Reward: Keeps every active mode alive

• Double Scoring progression · Medium

  Springfield Elementary, shot while Lite Otto's window is open, arms double scoring at one of ten zones around the table — worth chasing since it stacks with everything else running.

  Reward: 2x on whichever of ten zones lights

• The Seven TV Modes progression · Medium

  Seven very different TV Modes are lit at the Krusty Orbit and started at the TV Loop, each worth roughly 2.5M for a clean clear.

  Reward: 250K to start, up to 2.5M to complete

• Victory Points progression · Hard

  Once every TV Mode you've started in a run is fully completed, every major shot on the table starts paying Victory points on top of its normal score, for as long as the timer keeps running.

  Reward: 100K per shot for one mode, up to 2.5M per shot for all seven

• Hurry Ups mode · Medium

  Comic Book Guy lights a countdown at one of six major shots — hit it again to stack a second one running at the same time, and chain enough collections together for a real bonus.

  Reward: 200K down to 50K, more per collection when stacked

• Daredevil Modes mode · Medium

  Clear the Bully standup bank to light a Daredevil Mode, then start it at the Captive Ball — each of the four types tracks a different category of shot toward a 750K goal, paid at the end of the ball.

  Reward: 750K+ per type, paid at end of ball

• Itchy & Scratchy Multiball multiball · Medium

  Clear the drop targets, shoot the hole, then do it again to actually start this one — pick from four jackpot flavors with the right flipper before it locks in.

  Reward: 100K+ jackpots, up to a 2.5M Super

• Couch Multiball multiball · Medium

  Lock three balls in the upper playfield's Couch to start it, then work eight major shots for Jackpots before cashing a Super on the Couch ramp itself.

  Reward: 200K+ Jackpots, 5x Super Jackpots

• D'Oh Frenzy mode · Easy

  Spell SIMPSONS through the Garage and Treehouse Ramp and every switch on the table starts scoring at once.

  Reward: 10K+ per switch while it runs

• Treehouse Of Horror mode · Easy

  Enough Moe's Ramp shots light a Treehouse award, collected at the Treehouse Ramp — the list cycles through eight-plus different prizes before repeating any of them.

  Reward: A new prize every time, until the list repeats

• Cletus Kids progression · Easy

  Every Cletus Orbit shot introduces a new kid and pays a little more than the last — there are 26 of them to find.

  Reward: 25K climbing 5K per kid

• Nuclear Value strategy · Easy

  The Cletus Orbit lights it, the bumpers build it, and the Pop Target collects it — how you hit that last shot changes the payout by up to five times.

  Reward: 100K-500K, up to 5x on a clean hit

• Clean The Garage secret · Easy

  The Garage hides a genuinely wide grab-bag of awards behind its door, from small points to instantly lighting Extra Ball or a TV Mode.

  Reward: One of a very long list of awards

• Chalkboard Awards secret · Easy

  Repeated Springfield Elementary shots eventually trigger a Chalkboard Award — mostly ways to hold something valuable into your next ball.

  Reward: A Hold award for the next ball

• Shot Combos combo · Medium

  Chaining shots together pays real money on top of their normal value — three shots for 250K, four for 750K total, five for a full 1.5M.

  Reward: 250K to 1.5M depending on chain length

• Kwik-E-Mart Value strategy · Easy

  The standup in front of the Kwik-E-Mart loop pads the loop's own value before you even take the shot, and the loop itself keeps stacking bonus multiplier.

  Reward: Up to 200K per shot, plus multiplier steps

• Springfield Mystery Spot secret · Hard

  Clear all ten double scoring zones and Springfield Elementary turns into the door to a genuinely strange round where your flippers swap sides.

  Reward: 500K per shot, all zones doubled, 5M Super

• Alien Invasion multiball · Hard

  Finish all seven TV Modes and this unlocks — four escalating phases of locking balls anywhere you can find room for them.

  Reward: 500K+ per lock, 1M x balls in play per phase

• Secret Stash secret · Hard

  Clear all six Hurry Ups and one more Comic Book Guy shot opens a bonus round built entirely around them.

  Reward: 500K down to 100K per Hurry Up, plus a completion bonus

• Daredevil Mania secret · Hard

  Clear all four Daredevil Modes and the Captive Ball opens an untimed round with a single, simple target: 5M in Daredevil-type points.

  Reward: 5M target across all Daredevil shot types

• Scratchy's Revenge multiball · Hard

  Play through all four Itchy & Scratchy Multiball flavors and the hole starts firing out single balls worth chasing on their own.

  Reward: Double-value Jackpots, up to a huge Super

• Pretzel Multiball multiball · Medium

  Collect all 26 Cletus Kids and one more orbit shot kicks off a switch-hitting multiball that's especially huge when stacked onto Couch Multiball.

  Reward: Switch points plus escalating Super Jackpots

• Super Duper Mega Extreme Wizard Mode wizard · Hard

  The machine's true final boss — finish all six major achievements over the course of the game, then land any hole with only one ball in play to trigger it.

  Reward: 500K+ Jackpots, 5x Super Jackpots, multiplied further by Couch locks