FunHouse

> "Quit messing with the clock!"
>
> - Rudy

***FunHouse*** is one of three Williams pinball tables released in the sixth pack of Zen Studios' Williams pinball collection, available in *Pinball FX 3*, the macOS version of *Zen Pinball 2* and the *Williams Pinball* mobile app. The table takes place in a funhouse, whose main attraction, a talking ventriloquist named Rudy, constantly amuses and mocks the player. The player must put him to sleep by advancing the funhouse's clock to midnight, and uncover the surprises awaiting inside the funhouse's trapdoor.

A spiritual sequel, *Red & Ted's Road Show*, was released in 1994 and is available in Zen Studios' fifth pack of digital Williams' pinball table conversions.

## Table overview

### The upper half of the table

A slightly asymmetrical large orbit wraps around the major table lanes, representing the funhouse's gangways. The back left corner of the table, in front of the right orbit's apex, features a billboard advertising the talking ventriloquist Rudy, its main attraction.

To the right of this left orbit is the entrance to a long ramp that stretches across the table to drop the ball into the left inlane. However, this ramp has a diverter mechanism that can send the ball down a parallel exit habitrail along its own that puts the ball into the left Crazy Steps plunger when conditions are fulfilled. The funhouse's tower, complete with a clock that reflects the current time, is placed near the second diverter mechanism. The front corners of this ramp entrance have targets spelling the middle of the word STEP ("T" and "E"). To the right of this ramp is a sinkhole representing the funhouse's wind tunnel and mystery mirror, positioned further towards the back of the table than the ramp's entrance.

To the right of that sinkhole is a miniloop representing the funhouse's hallways that takes a left turn to go behind the two abovementioned sinkholes to branch into the left gangway orbit, with a saucer placed midway to hold the ball briefly before dropping the ball there. A large toy replica of Rudy's head is right next to this miniloop, with its mouth opening to form a sinkhole accessed via the upper flipper at the entry of the left gangway orbit. A side orbit with a trapdoor in front of it, which can open to allow the ball to enter it, is positioned near Rudy's head and wraps around back to the upper left flipper. Rudy's secret hideout is located directly behind his head, accessed from weak orbit shots.

### The lower half of the table

The entrance of the right gangway orbit is closer to the front of the table than its left counterpart. It passes through a bumper area that can be entered through either orbit, with the exit being around its frontmost bumper, whether to its left back out of the right orbit, or to its right towards the steps saucer and the right return lanes. There is an outer bumper area wall to the left of the leftmost bumper that also contains a side-facing target bank marked with inserts of the FunHouse's famous superdogs, which can be hit from the upper flipper. The last STEP target is just to the left of the right gangway orbit. There is also a sinkhole in front of the frontmost bumper that balls can pop out of, when they enter either the Mystery Mirror or steps saucer.

There are 5 return lanes, 2 slingshots and 2 flippers. The first STEP target is behind the left slingshot. The left outlane has a diverter that can take the ball to the left Crazy Steps plunger. The rightmost inlane briefly lights the mystery mirror at its respective sinkhole. In the center of the table, there are lamps indicating the current time of the funhouse and the current gangway value.

### The plungers

There are two spring-loaded plungers on this table. The right, primary plunger launches the ball up a straight shaft along the right table wall. Depending on plunger strength, the plunger can drop the ball into several possible locations: the right return lanes, the manhole saucer, down the right orbit, into Rudy's hideout, or towards the left flipper (from weakest plunger strength to strongest). The goal of the **skill shot** is to determine the correct amount of plunger force to shoot the ball such that it drops into Rudy's hideout, the secret sinkhole behind his head. The reward of the first four skill shots made in a session is 250,000 points times its ordinal number, with subsequent skill shots being worth 1 million.

The left plunger represents the Crazy Steps, and can be accessed via the ramp or the left outlane when lit. This plunger takes the ball up a straight, clear ramp, and depending on plunger strength, it can drop the ball into one of three holes all lined up in a column that put the ball back down the left orbit. At full strength, the plunger will take the ball around a tight right curve towards the back of the table that drops the ball down the entrance of the ramp.

## Objectives

As an early 90s pinball machine, *FunHouse* can be classified as a score attack table. There are two primary objectives: getting to **multiball** by putting Rudy to sleep, and getting to **Super Frenzy** by collecting all the **Mystery Mirror** rewards. Combining both strategies will result in the highest scores.

### Getting the clock to midnight & Multiball

To activate multiball, the player must advance the FunHouse clock to 11:30 pm to put Rudy to sleep; the clock starts at 8 pm by default, but subsequent multiball activations will have the clock start at 5 pm. This can be accomplished by shooting particular shots, as seen below:

 Hitting the jet bumpers when they are lit or flashing
 Shooting the Hidden Hallway or the trapdoor
 Shooting the Mystery Mirror when lit or unlit
 Shooting the ramp
 Plunging the ball into play or landing into the steps saucer

Once the clock reaches 11:30 pm, the clock will no longer advance, and the **lock** will light at the Hidden Hallway. Two balls must be locked in the Hallway to move the clock to midnight, with each lock advancing the clock by fifteen minutes. As the clock strikes midnight, Rudy will fall asleep, but his mouth will be wide open...

To start 3-ball **multiball**, the player must shoot Rudy's open mouth from the upper flipper. The trapdoor will be open at the start of multiball, and will be lit for **million plus** - the first shot to the trapdoor during multiball will score 2 million, increasing by 1 million points each time the trapdoor shot is made during the current attempt (to a max of 10 million). The trapdoor will close after the million plus value has been collected, and the player must shoot the ramp to relight the trapdoor shot. The ramp is constantly lit to score a smaller jackpot value of 250,000 points for the duration of the multiball.

If the player failed to earn a single million plus before draining out of multiball, a 20 second timed period will activate where a shot to the Hidden Hallway will restart Multiball with only 2 balls in play instead of 3. If the player drains during the restart timer or if time runs out, the player will have to relight the locks manually.

### Mystery Mirror & Super Frenzy

Surprises await in the FunHouse's many mirrors. At the start of the game, one of the four yellow inserts on the Mystery Mirror will be flashing, and the "Award Mystery Mirror" insert will be solidly lit. Shots to the bumpers change the currently lit reward; when a reward has been collected, the player must either shoot Rudy's mouth to solidly light the Mystery Mirror for the next reward, or roll through the rightmost right inlane to briefly light the Mystery Mirror.

If *Quick Multiball* is still available when the player has **multiball** lit, the reward will automatically switch to the topmost reward that hasn't been collected yet if more than one can be collected. This is because Quick Multiball can stack with the normal multiball, lighting both the million at Rudy and the million plus at the trapdoor until multiball ends.

From top to bottom, the awards that can be given are:

* *Light Extra Ball* - Marked red. Lights an **extra ball** for collection at the Hidden Hallway.
* *Light Million* - Marked yellow. Lights Rudy's mouth for a million points; this stacks with other million point shots that can be lit there.
* *Jet Bumpers At Max* - Marked yellow. Makes all three jet bumpers flashing, meaning they will award 10 minutes of time per hit.
* *Light Superdogs* - Marked yellow. Starts the timed **Superdog** mode described in **side modes**.
* *Open Crazy Steps* - Marked yellow. Opens the **Crazy Steps**.
* *Quick Multiball* - Marked green. Starts a quick 2-ball multiball, where Rudy can be hit for a million point jackpot as long as both balls are in play.

Once all six rewards have been collected, the next shot to the Mystery Mirror will automatically start **Super Frenzy**, a 20-second timed mode where all switches add 100,000 points to a bonus collected at the end of the current ball, which starts at 1 million points. The timer for the mode can be extended by 20 seconds by starting **Funhouse Frenzy** while the Super Frenzy timer is running, as described below. Once Super Frenzy ends, the Mystery Mirror will be unlit for the rest of the current ball; the rewards from it can be collected again when the current ball drains.

## Side modes

*FunHouse* has two 20-second timed modes that allow the player to score more points than usual, with their timers pausing every time the ramp or Hidden Hallway is shot, and extending by 20 seconds when their activation method is repeated:

* **Funhouse Frenzy**: If the player plunges for the lowest hole on the **Crazy Steps** ramp, Funhouse Frenzy can be started with a shot into the open trapdoor. Every switch hit during the Funhouse Frenzy timer adds 50,000 points to the frenzy end-of-ball bonus, which starts at 100,000 points. Starting **Super Frenzy** while a Funhouse Frenzy is active will convert it into a Super Frenzy.
* **Superdog**: Making a full-strength **Crazy Steps** plunger shot, or earning *Light Superdogs* from the **Mystery Mirror**, will start a timed mode where the player can shoot the Superdog targets as many times as possible. Each target shot awards 200,000 points plus 25,000 points per shot.

## Perks

The following perks can be activated during play:

* **Ball Saver**: If the player drains a ball without hitting any switches whatsoever, Rudy will give the ball back. There are no ball savers on this table otherwise.
* **Crazy Steps and Kickback**: Among the FunHouse's various gimmicks are twisted staircases. If the player drops the ball into the steps saucer or collects *Open Crazy Steps* off the **Mystery Mirror** award, the next shot up the ramp will take the ball to the left Crazy Steps plunger; if this process is repeated while the Crazy Steps are already open, the left outlane diverter will open to feed the Crazy Steps, functioning as a **kickback** of sorts. Spelling STEP at the blue standup targets will light one of two rewards corresponding to the three holes the ball can be plunged into; spelling it once will light the 500,000 point reward at the third hole, and spelling it twice will light the "light **extra ball**" reward at the second hole, which can only be collected once per game. The first hole will always be lit to light **Funhouse Frenzy**, and the exit will always start **Superdog**. If the player shoots an unlit hole, a flat 100,000 point bonus can be awarded.
* **Gangway Value**: If the ball rolls through the left or right inlanes, the player will have a few seconds to shoot the opposite orbit to collect the current Gangway Value. There are six gangway values - 75,000, 100,000, 150,000, 200,000, 250,000, and 250,000 + light **extra ball**. The player will start at the third Gangway Value at the start of a session and progress will be saved between balls, but after lighting the extra ball for the first time this way, the player will have to collect all six values and progress will reset between balls.
* **Rudy's Mouth**: Hitting Rudy's closed mouth will add 50,000 points to the **end-of-ball bonus**. Shooting the ball into his mouth, when multiball isn't lit, will scores a "Rudy Gulp" for 250,000 points. Hitting Rudy will also light the **Mystery Mirror** if all the rewards haven't been collected yet, and making a total of 6 shots to Rudy's mouth in a game will score a "sausage bonus" worth 1 million points.
* **Trapdoor Bonus**: If the player shoots the trapdoor loop, the trapdoor in front of it will open for 8 seconds, which can be shot for a 500,000 point bonus. After this first trapdoor reward is collected, two consecutive shots to the loop will light the trapdoor for 750,000 points; then, 3 consecutive loop shots will light the trapdoor for 1 million points. The trapdoor bonus value carries between balls.
* **Combos**: Shooting the ramp, then the right orbit and then the trapdoor loop counts as a 3-way combo worth 500,000 points. Immediately after a 3-way combo, the player can shoot Rudy's mouth for a 1 million point 4-way combo. The player can also score a 3-way combo by shooting the ramp when lit for **Crazy Steps**, quickly plunging the ball into the second or third exit, then shooting the trapdoor loop twice.
* **Special**: If the player **advances the clock** to 11:30 pm twice in a session, a special will be lit at both outlanes and will toggle on and off with slingshot hits; it will be disqualified if the player drains while the special is lit. Specials award an **extra ball**.
* **Extra Balls**: Extra balls can be lit for collection at the Hidden Hallway by earning *Light Extra Ball* from the **Mystery Mirror**, by scoring the sixth **Gangway Value**, or by plunging for the "light extra ball" **Crazy Steps** reward when it is available. If the extra ball was lit from Crazy Steps, it will be disqualified if the player drains while the extra ball is lit.
* **End-of-ball bonus**: At the end of each ball, a bonus is scored worth 50,000 points + 50,000 points times the number of shots to **Rudy's mouth** the player has made over the course of the game. After the bonus is calculated, the points from either **frenzy** mode will be awarded.

## Tips

* You can get to midnight quickly by either shooting the ramp over and over again without losing the ball, or shooting the pop bumpers when they're flashing; the latter can be especially important in the early game, as only 3 hours and 30 minutes are required to light the locks, amounting to about 18 flashing pop bumper hits.
* The trapdoor loop can be a difficult shot to make on the fly, but it can be made reliably off of either the Hidden Hallway eject or the eject out of Rudy's Hideout with a late flip from the upper flipper. This is an important shot to master, as it scores the lucrative million plus jackpot during multiball.
* During multiball, trap one ball on both flippers after collecting the million plus; then, shoot the ramp with the ball on the right flipper, transfer the ball to the left flipper to the right flipper, and shoot the Hidden Hallway from the left flipper (with the ball traveling down the ramp) to set up another million plus. This is the most controlled way to play multiball, and with patience, you can score tons of million plus jackpots in a single multiball by using this method.

## References & Easter Eggs

* Pat Lawlor's infamous red button can be seen in Rudy's left hand on the backglass.
* Directly behind Rudy's Hideout is a drawing of a sign reading "I-70 Kansas - Feel the Power". This is a reference to Pat Lawlor's previous machine, *Whirlwind*; the game prominently features the phrase "feel the power" on the drop targets.
* Rudy calls the players of a multiplayer game different names; if he calls you "Slick", he'll have more aggressive callouts than usual towards you.

## Glitches

* The skill shot is very difficult to make on classic / tournament physics, and nearly impossible on default physics, due to the plunger strength being incorrectly calibrated.

## External links

* Table walkthrough by ShoryukenToTheChin (PDF)