Fish Tales

> "Oh yeah, that's a keeper."
>
> - Fisherman

***Fish Tales*** is one of the four Williams pinball tables released in the first 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. It is a fishing-themed pinball table in which the goal is to catch fish and exaggerate their size.

## Table overview

### The upper half of the table

A large table orbit wraps around most table lanes, with a model of a crashed fishing boat behind the left orbit's apex. The inner wall of the right orbit's apex opens to three bumper rollovers that spell LIE, with an eject saucer just behind the last one. The LIE rollovers provide access to a bumper area. Balls that enter this bumper area exit it through a space underneath one ramp's entrance and beside a special target. Further up the left orbit is a flag that controls a "stretch the truth" meter nearby. To the right of the left orbit is a series of three lanes whose entrances form a simple fishing boat. They comprise two dueling ramps flanking a captive ball lane. Both ramps intersect twice, forming a near-complete figure-eight shape after the first intersection at their entrances, where it is possible for a very weak shot up one ramp to cause the ball to roll down the entrance of the other.

The boat ramps' exit habitrails each lead to an inlane nearest to the ramp entrance. Between the boat ramps is a captive ball target called the Grab Yer Gear captive ball. Along the short, narrow path the ball can travel are a series a lamps indicating what rewards can be earned from it. Between the boat lanes and the right orbit are two more lanes: one leading to a special collapsible spot target and another leading up to a vertical upkicker representing the Caster's Club, a group of elite, competitive fishermen. It launches a ball into a habitrail traveling diagonally to the reel of a fishing rod that's along the left table wall. This is a ball locker that launches the ball up a habitrail that travels straight towards the back of the table, travels across it and then turns to go to the front of the table to drop balls down the right orbit.

### The lower half of the table

Further down the table are two target banks comprising of three targets, with one target bank per table side. A figure of a fisherman stands beside the right target bank. There are four return lanes, two rebounds and two main flippers. Lamps for score multipliers and mission progress are present in the open space in the lower half of the table.

### The plunger

The plunger is a push-button spring-loaded mechanism that launches the ball up a straight shaft that drops the ball into the right orbit. The goal of the skill shot is to quickly hit the Caster's Club VUK quickly after the ball is launched for a 2 million point reward. Each subsequent skill shot is worth 1 million points more than the last one, up to a maximum of 10 million points.

## Objective and missions

The goal of the table is to catch four fish and try to exaggerate their size. To **catch a fish**, the player must strike all targets on the side fishing target banks. After a fish is caught, the player is given an opportunity to **stretch the truth** in a 15-second hurry-up in which the player must shoot the left orbit such that the ball spins its flag. This will in turn spin a roulette that will randomly land on one of several outcomes, based on the attempt to exaggerate the caught fish's size - which may or may not multiply the initial reward for catching the fish of 1 million. The possible outcomes (from worst to best), are: "total lie" (no points), "actual size" (1 million points), "double size" (2 million points), "triple size" (3 million points) or "quintuple size" (5 million points). However, advancing the score multiplier by spelling LIE on the bumper rollovers will remove the worst possible outcome from consideration on the next successful Stretch the Truth if the ball does not drain, and such procedure can be repeated four times to ensure that the only outcome would be a quintuple size for maximum score reward. After successfully attempting to stretch the truth, a fish tale would then be told. Progress towards catching fish or telling tales is saved across balls and is reset once their respective wizard modes are reached.

If the player catches four fish, a wizard mode, **Feeding Frenzy**, will start immediately. The player must shoot both orbits and both ramps each once, with no more than 15 seconds allotted per shot. Each lane shot awards 5 million points. Shooting all four lanes before time expires wins the mode and grants a 20 million point bonus.

However, if the player tells four fish tales, an alternate wizard mode, **Rock the Boat**, will start. This is a timed frenzy mode where any ramp shot or captive ball hit awards 10 million points within the next 30 seconds. This mode can also instantly start as a Grab Yer Gear reward, although it will be ten seconds shorter.

## Side modes

The following side modes can be activated during play:

* **Monster Fish**: The search for fresh fish to catch also may lead to an opportunity to encounter a giant, monstrous one! This side mode starts when the player makes a full-strength shot up a lit ramp 6 times. Both ramps are lit at the start of a session and a ramp will darken when shot. To make another lit ramp shot from then on, the player must drain the ball into an inlane, which will quickly light a ramp opposite of that inlane, which must be shot immediately to progress towards activating the side mode. Once six of such shots are made, the player can shoot the left orbit to start this side mode, which is a hurry-up in which a dwindling score pool starting from 20 million points must be collected by shooting the left orbit again to catch the giant fish, with whatever amount of the score pool being redeemed at the moment the flag in the left orbit is spun. If the score pool shrinks to its minimum of 5 million points, the player has 5 more seconds to shoot the left orbit before the monster fish escapes, resulting in failure of the side mode. A successful completion of this mode raises the starting score pool value by 10 million points, up to a maximum of 50 million points.
* **Video Mode**: If the player earns the Video Mode from the Grab Yer Gear rewards and locks the ball in the eject saucer behind the bumpers, a video mode will begin where the player can take aim and knock out rival fishermen with torpedoes. The player watches the scoring display and presses the launch button to fire a torpedo at oncoming fishermen when they enter the line of fire. The player has 20 seconds and 20 torpedoes. Hitting 15 - 19 fishermen grants a 10 million bonus, while hitting all fishermen grants a 20 million bonus. Hitting fishermen up close will award 1 million points, while fishermen at moderate distance award 1.5 million points and fishermen far off will award 2 million points. If the player knocks out enough fishermen from long-distance, an extra ball target can then appear to be shot down to earn an extra ball.

### Multiball

There is only one multiball in this table and it is the **Caster's Club Multiball**, in which a group of competitive fishermen compete to hunt the ultimate catch. It activates when three balls are shot up the Caster's Club VUK, which locks balls into a fishing reel ball locker on the other side of the table. Once three balls are locked there (or when an instant multiball reward is granted via Grab Yer Gear or Fish Finder), they are all launched out of a long habitrail coming from the table's model fishing rod that drops into the right orbit. The multiball is divided into two phases:

* In the first phase, there are three jackpots available to score: the Tropical Jackpot (20+ million points), the Freshwater Jackpot (30+ million points) and the Deep Sea Jackpot (40+ million points). Each jackpot can be raised by catching a fish (see Objective and Missions). All three jackpots must be claimed to advance to the second phase and unlock super jackpots - although progress towards doing so is saved across multiball instances. To claim a jackpot, the player must lock one ball into the Caster's Club VUK, then shoot the eject saucer with an incomplete shot up the left orbit within the next 15 seconds. Successfully scoring the jackpot, or locking another ball into the VUK before time expires, will start a new 15-second opportunity to score a double jackpot in the same manner.
* Once all 3 jackpots are scored, the multiball transitions to its second phase and remains there until all but one ball is lost: each strong hit of the Grab Yer Gear captive ball awards a super jackpot worth 100 million points. The super jackpot remains until it is collected or the session ends. If one super jackpot is scored, the player must score the three jackpots again on the next multiball to get super jackpots on that instance of multiball. Scoring a super jackpot increases the initial base values of all jackpots and the super jackpot, with the maximum base values of the three jackpots being 120 million points, 180 million points and 240 million points respectively, with the maximum super jackpot base value being 600 million points.

If one jackpot was scored, a drop target will block the Caster's Club at the end of the multiball that must be knocked down for 100,000 points before balls can be locked in it again. This mode continues until all but one ball is lost.

## Perks

The following perks can be activated during play:

* **Auto-Cast Ball Saver**: At the start of each ball and multiball, a short free ball saver will activate. Once it expires, it cannot be reactivated.
* **Lie Score Multiplier**: Spelling LIE on the bumper rollovers, whose lit positions cycle with flipper operation, will advance the score multiplier. The multiplier is only good for one ball, unless the multiplier hold is earned from the Grab Yer Gear awards.
* **U-Turn**: If the player makes a tricky weak shot up one boating ramp such that it stops at the first intersection between boating ramps and rolls back down the other boating ramp's entrance, the player earns a 1-million point U-Turn award.
* **Long Cast**: Some fish can only be caught by making a long cast of a fishing rod. At the start of each ball, and whenever the ball lands in the left inlane, there will be a 10 second chance to make a strong shot up the right orbit to perform a "long cast". The first four long casts will be worth 1 million points times its ordinal number; any further long casts score 5 million points. Long casts also unlock the next Grab Yer Gear reward in sequence.
* **Grab Yer Gear Rewards**: To catch a fish (and avoid getting wet too much), one needs excellent gear. The Grab Yer Gear captive ball between the boat ramp entrances can dispense one of several rewards if it is struck hard enough to hit a target at the end. There are five rewards that are available, but can only be collected in this sequence: multiplier hold + 1 million points, unlocking of video mode, an instant start of the Rock the Boat mode, an extra ball and immediate start of the Caster's Club Multiball. Only the first reward can be obtained at the start; to unlock subsequent rewards, a Long Cast move must be performed for each reward to unlock. Only the lowest reward can be granted per captive ball hit, and all rewards will lock and must be unlocked with Long Casts again if the ball is lost. If there are no Grab Yer Gear rewards unlocked, hits of the captive ball award a fixed score of 500,000 points. Once all five rewards are collected once, any further hits of the Grab Yer Gear captive ball will "sell yer gear" for the rest of the current ball, awarding at least 5 million points. Subsequent hits will be worth 500,000 points more, up to a maximum of 10 million points. The Grab Yer Gear reward ladder then resets once the ball is lost.
* **Fish Finder Rewards**: There is special electronic equipment that can track fish and find better ones to catch. At the start of a session and every time the player advances the score multiplier, the player will have a 10 second opportunity to lock the ball in the eject saucer with a shot up the left orbit when the ball drains in the right inlane to get a random award. Possible awards include an extra ball, super jets that score 500,000 points per hit for the rest of the ball instead of the usual 11,110, unlocking of the next Grab Yer Gear award, immediate start of the Caster's Club multiball, advancement of the score multiplier or extra points.
* **Special**: After the first cycle of Grab Yer Gear rewards are obtained, the next four hits of the captive ball lights a special in both outlanes.
* **Extra Balls**: Extra balls can be earned as rewards from the Grab Yer Gear or Fish Finder awards, or by shooting the extra ball target in the video mode or achieving the replay score of 100 million points. All extra balls are clamed by striking the spot target between the right "starboard" ramp and right orbit.

## Tips

* There is no outlane protection on this table, so play carefully! It can be easy to drain the ball if you directly aim for the fishing target banks, or attempt to hit the Grab Yer Gear captive ball.
* It pays to master incomplete shots up the left orbit, which you can use to advance the score multiplier and earn one free drawing of the Fish Finder that is claimed by hitting the eject saucer behind the bumper rollovers right after the ball drains in the right inlane.
* Another move to master is the Long Cast. It is pivotal to unlocking Grab Yer Gear rewards, including an extra ball and one instant start of Rock the Boat, which is quite difficult to unlock normally. If you want these rewards, just be cautious when you hit its captive ball.

## Censorship

* Images of fishermen with tobacco products in their mouths, particularly ones in the center of the table and at the LIE bumper rollovers, have been censored such that they do not have them.
* On the backglass, it appears the the word "beer" may have been stricken from red cans of cold beverages on the boat where a fisherman is fishing from.
* On the sides of the backglass, there is a mermaid who normally wears a bikini, but it is fused with a scaly fish-skinned midriff that replaces her normally human-skinned one to reduce suggestive imagery.
* On the cabinet walls, there is a pelican smoking a pipe. While the pipe remains in his bill, bubbles emerging from it have been edited out.

## External links

* Table walkthrough by ShoryukenToTheChin (PDF)