White Water

> "Nice paddling, partner!"
>
> - Wet Willie

***White Water*** is one of three Williams pinball tables released in the fourth wave of Zen Studios' Williams pinball collection, available in *Pinball FX 3*, the macOS version of *Zen Pinball 2* and the *Williams Pinball* mobile app.  Designed by Dennis Nordman, this table is themed around the perilous and thrilling outdoor sport of white water rafting, closely following the journey of a group of vacationers led by Wet Willie as they navigate a treacherous river while encountering hazards and the legendary Bigfoot.

## Table overview

### The upper half of the table and elevated playfield level

The rocky terrain of the white water river dominates the back of the table. A raised platform, shaped somewhat like a heart, takes up much of the back table area. At the center is a figure of Bigfoot, a rumored legendary creature and one of two named characters in the table's scenario. He manipulates hidden diverter gates on this platform that can take the ball to different places. The terminus of the table's left ramp, the Spine Chiller, wraps around him, bringing the ball to the upper flipper, which is used to make a shot to one of either two ramps.

The former is the Insanity Falls ramp on the left, which leads away from the elevated heart-shaped platform and takes the ball down a straight, but wildly wavy exit ramp along the table's left wall before looping around the left return lanes to drop the ball into the left inlane. The latter is Bigfoot's Bluff, a shorter ramp that can go either one of two paths, depending on Bigfoot's status. He would divert the ball down a ramp destined for the right inlane, but under certain conditions, it may travel left down an alternate path leading to a whirlpool placed below and in front of the platform, specifically its exit ramp, also destined for the right inlane while converging with the normal exit of Bigfoot's Bluff, should the player fail to make a shot to either ramp with the upper flipper. There is also a vertical upkicker near the Bigfoot figure and within the back loop of the Bigfoot's Bluff, accessed via a particular lane on the main playfield, that pops the ball back onto the exit of the Spine Chiller ramp to bring the ball to the upper flipper.

On the main playfield lie the table's major lanes, with a large orbit wrapping around several others. To the right of the left orbit is the abovementioned Spine Chiller ramp, one of two primary passageways to the raised play area. The ball also exits through this ramp after a high or full-strength plunger shot to enter play. Next to this ramp is a lane leading up to a sinkhole, flanked by two green targets. This sinkhole, called No Way Out, can function as a ball locker, or divert the ball to the abovementioned VUK as the second of two primary methods of reaching the upper level. This lane is also the terminus of a secret path accessed with incomplete shots up the orbits, wedged between the Spine Chiller and the No Way Out sinkhole, before merging into the latter's lane.

To the right of the No Way Out sinkhole is the Disaster Drop ramp, known notoriously for straight-down-the-middle drains. A full shot up this lane takes the ball down the left orbit. A target bank is installed between the Disaster Drop's entrance and the abovementioned whirlpool structure (with the latter being inaccessible from the main play area).

### The lower half of the table

On the left wall of the table, there is a blue target bank spelling RIVER in front of the Insanity Fall's wavy exit ramp. In front of this target bank is a two-way sinkhole called the Lost Mines, a cave where lost items can be found. On the other side of the table are three orange boulder-shaped bumpers forming the Boulder Gardens the left orbit is named after. These bumpers gate the entrance to the right orbit, called the Boomerang Bend, making it difficult to shoot. There is a twin target bank on the left bumper representing Bigfoot, and a single target on the frontmost bumper for claiming extra balls.

There are four return lanes, two rebounds and two flippers. The left outlane is guarded by a high-power spring-loaded kickback called the "bounceback". Two small replicas of rafts rest on the rebounds, with a larger yellow raft being placed on the right apron. Two life preservers are present on the left apron.

### The plunger

The plunger is a spring-loaded mechanism that launches the ball up a straight rising habitrail traveling along the right table wall, ending at the looping terminus of the Spine Chiller ramp on the elevated platform. The goal of the skill shot is to determine the correct amount of plunger force to apply that will keep the ball in the elevated play area (such that it goes up the Spine Chiller exit, but not too strong to go down that ramp backwards), and then shoot the Insanity Falls ramp once the ball drops down to the upper flipper. The initial skill shot is worth 1 million points, with the next one being worth 1 million more up to a maximum of five million.

## Vacation Planner

The goal of this table is to help a group of vacationers going white water rafting survive the perils of the sport while completing four unique objectives. Three of the objectives have no start procedure and can be worked on at any time simultaneously in any order, while the last must be started after those three are completed to collect the **Vacation Jackpot** but can otherwise be collected at any time. Completed objectives will carry between balls until the Vacation Jackpot is collected. (*Each objective is part of a four-part Vacation Planner card shown on the scoring display when the status report is activated by holding down either flipper, or when Bigfoot's Bluff is shot while Whirlpool is not lit.*)

The following four objectives must be completed to start the wizard mode:

### Class VI River

White water rafting courses are categorized by their difficulty and peril with a six-tier class system, with I being assigned to the tamest, lazy rivers and VI reserved for the deadliest and most extreme ones. To complete this objective, the player must spell RIVER six times at the left target bank (once per River Class) or earn *Advance to Class VI River* from *Mystery Canyon*. A letter can also be earned by hitting a lit return lane which cycles each time a flipper button is pressed. The current river class also functions as a score multiplier for all hazards collected, and as an end-of-ball bonus multiplier; this is only good for the current ball, meaning that this objective will restart from the beginning if the player loses the ball. The objective will be completed successfully once Class VI is reached, marking off the first part of the vacation planner card shown on the scoring display.

### Wet Willie's

At the end of the vacationers' long, perilous adventure is a mysterious ranch, owned by Wet Willie, their enigmatic, but enthusiastic leader for the trip. This objective involves getting the vacationers' raft all the way to the ranch by shooting a sequence of 16 sets of lit lanes, with each set advancing a raft. The number of lit lanes per set starts at 1 and increments up to a maximum of 7 (the total number of major table lanes that can be valid target lanes) after every other set, meaning that advancing rafts becomes more difficult as the player progresses through the objective. (*For example, the first 2 sets are completed each by shooting one randomly lit lane, sets 3 and 4 are each completed by shooting two randomly lit lanes, sets 5 and 6 are each completed by shooting three randomly lit lanes and so on. Eventually, the final 4 sets (sets 13 - 16) must each be completed by shooting all 7 lanes once*.)

Shooting a lit lane awards 500,000 points times the current River Class described above, and adds 50,000 points to end-of-ball bonus. Advancing a raft grants 1 million points times the number of the currently flashing raft, while also adding 75,000 points to the end of ball bonus and raising the **White Water Multiball** jackpot (10 million by default) by 2 million.

Once all 16 sets are completed, this mission is complete as the second section of the vacation planner on the scoring display is marked off, and a two-part bonus round begins once the vacationers reach the ranch, ending once it is completed successfully or if the player takes too long to complete the second phase. The first part involves shooting all 7 lit lanes again, with each lane scoring 10 million points, and the second part involves shooting a lit lane whose position cycles every few seconds for a 100 million point reward within a limited time. Progress towards this objective is saved across balls.

There are a few ways to make completing this objective easier:

* Completing the bounceback target bank if the bounceback is already lit. This will automatically collect the leftmost lit lane from the current set.
* Shooting the Disaster Drop ramp enough times. It can either collect "Spot Hazard", which prioritizes the same shots as the above method (on the 3rd, 12th, 18th, 21st, 24th, 28th, 32nd, 37th, 42nd, 50th, 80th and 99th shots, plus any further shots after the 254th) or award "Advance Raft", which automatically advances the current raft (on the 9th, 40th and 70th shots).
* Earning the *Advance Raft* reward from the **Whirlpool**, which automatically advances the current raft.
* Shooting the secret passage through incomplete orbit shots will automatically advance a raft.
* Earning the *Advance 3 Rafts* award from *Mystery Canyon* advances 3 rafts and scores the values for each (or immediately takes the player to the final set if the player is on sets 13 - 15).

### Whirlpool Awards

Whirlpools are dangerous, watery abysses among the various perils of white water rafting. This objective involves collecting all six of the Whirlpool awards. To earn one, the player must shoot Insanity Falls to light Bigfoot's Bluff to score the award. Bumper hits will change the lit reward, which always starts at *Whirlpool Challenge* and moves up the list with each bumper hit. Each whirlpool award collected also adds 100k to the end-of-ball bonus.

Each reward can only be collected once until all six are collected, which are, from bottom to top:

* *Whirlpool Challenge*: Starts a 2-ball multiball mode described in **Side Modes**.
* *Man Overboard*: Starts the hurry-up mode described in **Side Modes**.
* *Light Extra Ball*: Lights an **extra ball** for collection at the bottom-right standup target.
* *Advance Raft*: Automatically advances one **raft** towards Wet Willie's.
* *Mystery Canyon*: Immediately grants a random award listed in **Perks**.
* *5X Playfield*: Quintuples all scoring for the next 25 seconds.

### Whitewater Multiball

This objective involves activating **Whitewater Multiball**, which can be started at any time, but to collect the Vacation Jackpot, it must be done last. The player only needs to lock the third ball after completing the previous three missions to complete the objective and score the Vacation Jackpot, meaning that the player may lock 2 balls in advance while working on the three other missions.

Balls can be locked into the No Way Out sinkhole if the two targets flanking its entrance are struck, and once all three balls are locked, a 3-ball multiball will start, with the locked balls ejecting towards the upper flipper. Every time the Insanity Falls ramp is shot, a jackpot worth a base of 10 million + 2 million per raft advanced will be collected; the jackpot value can be doubled or tripled if the player can shoot two or all of the balls through that ramp immediately after they are released.

Multiball continues until the player drains down to a single ball. If this happens before a jackpot is scored, the player has 20 seconds to shoot the No Way Out sinkhole to restart the multiball with regular jackpots. After this multiball has been activated once, the player needs to hit both targets twice to light a lock for subsequent iterations; further iterations will only give the player 5 seconds allotted to hit the other target twice once one target is hit twice.

### Vacation Jackpot

Once all four objectives are completed and the Vacation Planner is finished, the **Vacation Jackpot** will be awarded for 200 million points, followed by Whitewater Multiball starting as normal. Crazy scoring display visuals and sounds accompany this massive feat.

## Side modes

The following side modes can be activated:

* **Bigfoot Hotfoot**: Bigfoot guards his cave fiercely, but if the player hits both Bigfoot standup targets in front of the left bumper four times to give him a "hotfoot", a 20-second side mode will start where Bigfoot will be distracted by fire and any shots up Bigfoot Bluff will award a 10 million point jackpot, plus one of three items needed for **Gold Rush Multiball**. If all three were already collected, the next jackpot will collect a camera and award 3 million point Camera Craze awards for any ramp shots for the rest of the ball.
* **Man Overboard**: On their way to the ranch, Willie's group of vacationers encounter a stray rafter in need of rescue. This side mode can only be activated from the **Whirlpool Awards**. The goal of this mode is to shoot any flashing lit lane to save the rafter for a hurry-up value starting at 20 million and decreasing to 3 million. The shots lit to collect the hurry-up value are the currently lit hazard shots.
* **Boulder Bash**: Boulders can bounce rafts in new and dangerous directions! If the player shoots the left orbit at least 3 times, a timed mode will begin where the bumpers are worth 500,000 points for 15 seconds. This mode can only be activated 8 times in a game, with the number of left orbit shots required to activate it increasing with each subsequent activation:

### Multiball

The following two multiball modes can be activated:

* **Whirlpool Challenge**: This 2-ball multiball can be awarded as the default award from the **Whirlpool Awards** if no bumpers have been hit. If less than 2 balls have been locked in No Way Out, the player will plunge the second ball into play; if 2 balls are already locked, one ball will be kicked out automatically along with the ball that was sent into the whirlpool. The goal of this multiball mode is to score jackpots by filling the whirlpool with up to six balls on the scoring display, with only 2 active at a time. To load a ball into the whirlpool, the player must shoot Bigfoot's Bluff. The jackpot starts at 5 million and grows by 2 million points every time it is scored, up to a maximum of 53 million points. Scoring six jackpots to fill up the whirlpool will grant a 20 million point super jackpot, which grows by 20 million every time it is awarded, up to a maximum of 100 million points. This mode continues until either ball is lost. If the player fails to score a jackpot before losing a ball, the player will have 20 seconds to shoot the whirlpool for a pity 5 million point jackpot.
* **Gold Rush Multiball**: Along the way to Wet Willie's ranch are some abandoned mines where gold and treasure might be found. In Zen's recreation, Gold Rush is awarded on the first bounce into the Lost Mines sinkhole, and only subsequent attempts will require three pieces of equipment to be acquired (a flashlight, a map and a key) by either landing in the Lost Mines sinkhole or shooting Bigfoot's Bluff during the **Bigfoot Hotfoot** side mode. Once the Lost Mines are shot with all three pieces of equipment collected, a 2-ball multiball will begin where all switches score 250,000 points until either ball is lost.

## Perks

*Note: The River Class mission and the Whirlpool Awards award perks, but they are classified as objectives because they are necessary to collect the Vacation Jackpot.*

The following perks can be awarded during play:

* **Ball Saver**: At the start of each ball, a ball saver will activate for balls that drain directly down the middle off of strong plunges.
* **Bounceback**: At the start of each session, the left outlane will be guarded by a kickback. If it is used up, it can be reactivated by completing the bounceback target bank next to the whirlpool. The kickback will persist across balls.
* **Multi-Millions**: Rolling over the right return lane will light the Spine Chiller ramp for Multi-Millions. Looping the ramp will score increasing points (2, 3, 4, maxing out at 5 million) until the timer for the shot runs out.
* **Combos**: A two-way combo can be scored by shooting the Spine Chiller, then hitting the Insanity Falls ramp for a 2 million point reward. It can be extended into a 3-way combo by shooting the Disaster Drop ramp, the right orbit or the No Way Out sinkhole for 5 million points. If the player uses the last of these three lanes to extend the combo, it can be extended again to a 4-way combo for 8 million points by shooting the Insanity Falls ramp again; this can be extended to a 5-way combo for 10 million points by shooting either the Disaster Drop ramp or the right orbit.
* **Disaster Drop Awards**: Certain awards are collected after the Disaster Drop ramp is shot particular numbers of times; along with spotting hazards and advancing the current **raft**, Disaster Drop shots will light an **extra ball** on the 14th and 60th shots. "Bonus Hold" is awarded on the 6th shot, but this does nothing but play a sound effect due to a bug in the original software.
* **Mystery Canyon**: A mysterious spirit of the river can grant gifts to aid the rafters. This is a random award that can be collected from the Whirlpool Awards, usually awarding points (5-10 million), but can also award Advance to Class VI River, light an **extra ball**, or award a **Special**.
* **Boulder Garden**: Every time the player shoots the left orbit, the bumper value, which starts at 50,000 points, increases by 50,000 points, up to a maximum of 300,000 points.
* **Special and Extra Ball**: Extra balls can be instantly earned by surpassing the 90 million score threshold or earning the Special from the Mystery Canyon random awards. An extra ball can also be lit from the 14th or 60th Disaster Drop shot, or as one of the six prizes from the Whirlpool Awards.

## Tips

* 5x playfield scoring leads to the highest scoring on the table, and can be stacked with Whitewater Multiball. If you're playing for score, complete the Whirlpool Awards and purposely save 5x Playfield for when you just have one lock left for Whitewater Multiball.
* Play very carefully on this table, and always make sure you have the ball safely on either flipper before making a shot. It's very easy to drain the ball due to the gap between the flippers, and there's also a good chance that making poor shots to the Disaster Drop lane or hitting the lock targets to open the No Way Out ball locker can bounce the ball quickly straight down the middle, so you need to quickly determine if you'll need to nudge the table. The Boulder Garden and the Lost Mines kickout have a tendency to send the ball down the right outlane, which will similarly require on-point nudging skills.
* Both Insanity Falls and Bigfoot Bluff can only be hit from the upper flipper, are valid target lanes for the Wet Willie's objective, and are needed to collect all six Whirlpool Awards. Be familiar with how to send the ball to the raised elevated area to make these shots, whether by shooting the Spine Chiller ramp or the No Way Out sinkhole when it's not lit for a lock.
* Be strategic in how you go about tackling the missions or going for certain perks. Since it's tough to advance the River Class to Class VI on a single ball, you could try instantly completing the River Class mission by getting the "Advance to Class VI River" award from Mystery Canyon. In the meantime, you should constantly focus on advancing rafts, and only collect perks that spot or advance rafts if a shot you have trouble with is lit.

## References & Easter Eggs

* The second Bigfoot Hotfoot award after all three items for Gold Rush Multiball have been collected is a cow that moos. If you collect Mystery Canyon on the same ball that the cow was collected on, a display labeled "The Secret of the Cow" will be seen featuring the Spirit of the River pulling a string on the cow.
* A cow can very briefly be seen in the display animation for shooting the Disaster Drop ramp, right before it cuts to the ramps required for the next award.
* The Bigfoot depiction with enhancements turned off is modeled after table designer, Dennis Nordman.
* The game pretending to crash preceding the Vacation Jackpot would be replicated in several later tables; *Cirqus Voltaire* does this after completing Ringmaster Battle.

## Censorship

* A woman among the vacationers rafting in the backglass was wearing a midriff-exposing bikini that was changed to a one-piece suit.
* Various cigars were removed.
* The entrance to the Insanity Falls is marked with the face of a man impaled by an oar, which was edited out.

## Tournament notes

* Mystery Canyon will always award random points (between 6 to 9 million). Extra Ball & Advance to Class VI River are disabled.

## External links

* Table walkthrough by ShoryukenToTheChin