Tee'd Off

Gottlieb, 1993 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Tee'd Off in the Pinball Genie app →

Tee'd Off is a round of golf with a gopher problem. The whole game is built on playing nine holes in strict numerical order, and what you get for finishing them changes each time round. It is a Gottlieb, which means catch-all flippers that hold nearly anything, and that turns out to be the single most important thing about it — every enormous score on this machine comes from trapping balls and looping one shot over and over.

The layout

• Volcano — a vertical kicker under a plastic volcano. Spots holes one, six and nine, and starts modes when lit.
• Mean Hole — a saucer in a walled pocket right of the volcano. Mystery when lit, and where Anything Goes and Quickpick are offered.
• Right ramp — loops behind the captive ball and feeds the top flipper. Spots holes two, four and eight.
• Saucer — a standard Gottlieb saucer on the left. Spots holes three, five and seven.
• Centre lane — reached through a gap in four coconut drop targets. A hole in one with all coconuts standing, a Gopher wheel spin with any of them down.
• Gopher wheel — a twelve-hole roulette wheel sunk into the lower playfield. Spelling GOPHER on it starts a multiball.
• Captive ball — top right. Each hit builds the end-of-ball bonus and pushes the multiball jackpot up.
• Slice target — spots letters in SLICE for a fifty million hurry-up, and collects a lit extra ball.
• Top flipper — angled at the volcano, the twenty million target and the feed to the Mean Hole, with a post that can trap the ball for a clean look.

Playing the nine holes

Three shots cover all nine holes and each only spots the one you are currently on, so shots at the wrong feature are simply wasted. The volcano covers one, six and nine. The right ramp covers two, four and eight. The saucer covers three, five and seven. Reaching the ninth hole starts something different every time: the first completed round gives you Multiball, the second gives Raining Cats And Dogs, the third Multiball again, the fourth Anything Goes, and then the cycle begins over. That escalation is the game's real structure, and getting to the fourth round is what separates a decent game from a huge one.

Holes in one are a separate counter

Do not confuse them with the nine holes. Holes in one come from three places: the plunge skill shot, the centre lane with every coconut still standing, and the Mean Hole when lit — which the right orbit also feeds around into. Both outlanes are permanently lit for one as well, so a drain down the side at least buys you something. Seven holes in one awards an extra ball, and nine lights the Mean Hole for Quickpick, a straight choice between lighting a Special and starting a lightning storm. That coconut detail is a real trade-off: each drop target you knock down adds a million to your bonus but converts the centre lane from a hole in one into a wheel spin. Decide which you are chasing before you start swinging.

The five modes

• Skins Game — spell SKINS at the volcano, then take ten million or gamble it on a random shot in twenty seconds. Lose and your score goes to zero, but Recover Score lights at the Dogleg for the rest of the ball.
• Find The Gopher — fifteen seconds to shoot any hole. Thirty million if he is in it, insults if he is not.
• Extra Ball — the slice target lights for fifteen seconds. Trap first, then shoot; do not swing at a live ball.
• Tee'd Off — repeat the centre lane for a value starting at five million and climbing.
• Pitch And Putt — ten million per Mean Hole shot for fifteen seconds, with the lane post available to hold the ball for you.
• Modes start at a lit volcano. First time round the volcano relights itself; after that the right ramp does. All five lights the big score target and ends modes for that ball.

Where the points actually are

Plain Multiball is two balls unless you launch the second one straight into the Mean Hole for a third. Jackpots run around five million and the captive ball pushes them up, so bang the captive ball a few times before you start cashing. Clear down to the last remaining jackpot and taking it pays three hundred million and relights the lot. The storm modes are better still. Raining Cats And Dogs strobes every jackpot shot and the centre lane at twenty five million each into a running total, and Anything Goes doubles that to fifty million. Both pay at the end of the ball, which means a tilt throws away everything you built.

The loop that runs up the score

Start any multiball other than the plain one, trap two balls on the right flipper, and loop the centre lane with the third. The catch-all flippers hold what comes back from the volcano and the centre lane reliably enough that this becomes a rhythm rather than a gamble, and at fifty million a shot in Anything Goes it is where the billion-point games come from. Two rules go with it: build the captive ball value before you cash jackpots, and never nudge hard while a storm total is unpaid.

Goals in Tee'd Off

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

• Skill Shot Hole In One skillshot · Medium

  The plunge skill shot spots a hole in one. That is the cheapest hole in the game and it costs you nothing but a careful launch, so take it on every ball.

  Reward: One hole in one

• Play The Nine Holes progression · Medium

  The whole game is a round of golf. Nine holes, hit strictly in numerical order, and three shots spot them: the volcano covers 1, 6 and 9, the right ramp covers 2, 4 and 8, and the saucer covers 3, 5 and 7. Finishing the ninth starts a headline mode.

  Reward: A multiball or storm mode at the ninth hole

• Holes In One strategy · Medium

  A separate counter from the nine holes, and a valuable one. Three ways in: the skill shot, the centre lane with every coconut still standing, and a lit Mean Hole. Seven of them awards an extra ball and nine lights Quickpick.

  Reward: Extra ball at seven, Quickpick at nine

• Quickpick secret · Hard

  Nine holes in one lights the Mean Hole for Quickpick, a straight choice between lighting a special and starting a lightning storm. Very few players ever bank nine, which is what makes it worth knowing about.

  Reward: Light Special, or start a lightning storm

• The Five Modes progression · Medium

  Five modes, all started at the volcano when it is lit. The first time round it is the volcano itself that relights mode start; after that it is the right ramp. Play all five and the big score target lights, and no more modes can start that ball.

  Reward: Big score target after all five

• Skins Game mode · Medium

  Spell SKINS by repeating the volcano, then choose: take ten million and let the machine call you a chicken, or gamble the whole thing on a shot it picks at random with twenty seconds to make it. Miss and your score goes to zero.

  Reward: 10M, or double, or nothing

• Find The Gopher mode · Easy

  Fifteen seconds to shoot any hole on the machine. Find the gopher and you take thirty million; find nothing and the machine has a few things to say about your golf.

  Reward: 30M if the gopher is there

• Extra Ball Mode mode · Easy

  The shortest and most valuable of the five. The slice target lights for an extra ball and you have fifteen seconds. Know where that target is before the mode starts, because you will not have time to go looking.

  Reward: Extra ball

• Tee'd Off mode · Easy

  A repeat-shot mode at the centre lane with a value that starts at five million and climbs with each hit. The centre lane returns to your flipper cleanly, which makes this one of the better modes to be caught in.

  Reward: 5M climbing per centre lane shot

• Pitch And Putt mode · Medium

  Ten million for every Mean Hole shot, with fifteen seconds on the clock. The post in the lane feeding the top flipper traps the ball so you can line the shot up properly rather than hoping.

  Reward: 10M per Mean Hole shot

• Mystery mode · Easy

  The Mean Hole pays a Mystery award when it is lit. The right orbit can also come around into it with Mystery lit, so you have two angles at the same award without ever going near the top flipper.

  Reward: Mystery award

• Spell SLICE combo · Medium

  One standup, five letters. Completing SLICE lights a fifty million hurry-up. The same target is where a lit extra ball gets collected, so it is worth learning the angle to it early.

  Reward: 50M hurry-up

• Multiball multiball · Medium

  Awarded for the first and third completion of the nine holes. It is two balls unless you launch the second one straight into the Mean Hole, which buys you a third. Strobing jackpots run about five million each and the captive ball pushes them up.

  Reward: 5M jackpots, 300M super jackpot

• Raining Cats And Dogs multiball · Medium

  Your reward for the second round of nine holes. A three-ball lightning storm where every jackpot shot and the centre lane strobe for twenty five million into a running total. The total pays at the end of the ball, so a tilt throws all of it away.

  Reward: 25M per shot, paid at end of ball

• Anything Goes multiball · Hard

  The fourth round of nine holes lights the Mean Hole, and shooting it starts the storm again at fifty million a shot. Same rules as Raining Cats And Dogs, double the value, and after this the whole sequence starts over.

  Reward: 50M per shot, paid at end of ball

• Go-Fore-Par-Tee multiball · Hard

  Spell GOPHER on the roulette wheel to start a three-ball multiball where the centre lane and the volcano each pay twenty million on the spot, no conditions attached. The wheel is fed by the centre lane whenever a coconut is down.

  Reward: 20M per centre lane or volcano shot

• Feed The Captive Ball strategy · Easy

  The captive ball in the top right does two jobs at once: every hit adds to your end-of-ball bonus and every hit during multiball pushes the jackpot value up. It is the cheapest points on the machine and most players ignore it.

  Reward: Bonus and jackpot growth

• The Coconut Trade-Off strategy · Easy

  Each coconut drop target adds a million to your end-of-ball bonus, but knocking any of them down converts the centre lane from a hole in one into a Gopher wheel spin. Decide which you are chasing before you start swinging.

  Reward: 1M bonus per coconut, or wheel access

• The Storm Loop strategy · Hard

  Every big score on this machine comes from the same pattern. Start any multiball except the plain one, trap two balls on the right flipper, and loop the centre lane with the third. The catch-all flippers hold everything the volcano and the centre lane send back.

  Reward: The machine's entire scoring ceiling