Ant-Man

> "Shrunken in scale but increased in strength - welcome to my world!"
>
> - Ant-Man

***Ant-Man*** is one of the three *Marvel* pinball tables that are part of the *Cinematic Pack*, released in 2015 and available for *Zen Pinball 2*, *Pinball FX 2* and *Pinball FX 3*. Based on the 2015 Marvel Cinematic Universe film *Ant-Man*, directed by Peyton Reed, this pinball table explores the efforts of scientist Hank Pym to recruit the crook Scott Lang to become the superhero Ant-Man and use his size-altering powers to stage a daring heist of the Yellowjacket, a weaponized, shrinking suit produced by Darren Cross' abuse of Pym's shrinking technology.

## Table overview

### The upper half of the table and Underfoot mini-playfield

An irregular large orbit wraps around the major lanes of this table; while shots to the left entrance exit out the right entrance, shots to the right entrance feed a winding habitrail ramp running along the left wall of the table leading to the left inlane. If combos are active, a pop-out diverter gate will activate that forces balls shot up the right entrance to continue down to the left entrance. Near the gate‘s location is an area with 2 rollover lanes above 3 bumpers, which can be entered with weak shots to the right orbit, and generally exits to the left flipper or left slingshot. To the right of the left orbit is a short turnaround ramp that instantly swerves the ball out of the left orbit, with a figure of Hank Pym standing above its entrance.

To the right of this turnaround ramp is an upper flipper used to make shots to a crossramp that loops the ball back around to the same flipper. Gating the left end of the mini-orbit along with the upper flipper is a spinner with four inserts in front of it indicating the current score per spin. This mini-orbit wraps around a central ramp spelling LAB and a circular area with two sets of target banks, with the upper one spelling PYM, right in front of the mini-orbit's apex. The former sends the ball down to the right inlane, but will feed the Underfoot mini-playfield described later or lock a ball if the lift towards the end of the ramp is raised. There is also a large, blue Pym Particle placed in front of the target banks. Behind the right end of the mini-orbit and the crossramp is a sinkhole that the right orbit wraps around, which can either be made with weak shots using the plunger or up the right orbit, or a magnet that forces the ball into the sinkhole once it goes up the right or left orbit.

Between the crossramp and the right orbit is a single standup target that can be hit to raise the Pym Multiball jackpot value. There are also two targets flanking the center ramp that can be hit to make the ramp divert the ball to the Underfoot mini-playfield underneath the center of the table. Hanging on the right wall of the table is a rotating containment pod for the Yellowjacket suit that contains a magnet that can capture the ball.

The mini-playfield is a circular underground area. There are five different targets on its back wall representing various dangers Scott Lang experienced when he first tries on the Ant-Man suit. Towards the bottom half are two wide slingshot bars that can be rotated with the flippers to bounce the ball towards the targets, with an outhole in between the bars where the ball eventually drains to exit the mini-playfield.

### The lower half of the table and Cassie Save mini-playfield

A large scale model of the Ant-Man helmet is placed on the left side of the table, which turns around depending on where the ball is currently located on the playfield. Its mouthpiece can open up to capture balls traveling down the left habitrail before they drop into the left inlane. The helmet is a ball locker, and at the start of Army of Ants Multiball, the balls will be ejected from the helmet towards the right flipper. An elevator trap towards the end of the right habitrail can be accessed via completing the two targets flanking the ramp, and will send balls into the Underfoot playfield or lock balls for Yellowjacket Multiball if they were fed from the containment pod. A figure of Ant-Man stands next to this lift.

Near the helmet and elevator trap are single standup targets that activate one of the two different kickbacks guarding the outlanes of the table; the former activates Cassie Save for 3 attempts or adds 1 attempt if it is already lit, while the latter activates 25 seconds of Magna-Save or adds 25 seconds more if it is already lit. There are four evenly distributed return lanes, two slingshots and two flippers. (The four return lanes and the two bumper rollovers are all marked with an "X" symbol to indicate their multiplier rule.) The left outlane is guarded by a challenge-based subway kickback that must be reached through a mini-playfield game dedicated to Cassie, Scott's daughter, while the right outlane is guarded by a magnetic kickback. Near the latter is a pop-up jump ramp that can launch balls shot towards the right orbit up into Yellowjacket's containment pod, which feeds the elevator trap.

The left kickback is a mini-playfield in of itself with a picture of Cassie, Scott's daughter, embedded in the table's left apron. It is shaped into an upside-down triangle, with the actual subway kickback jutting right out of the right corner. A saucer is placed at the base of the mini-playfield, with a gobble hole right next to it that the ball will fall into upon running out of Cassie Save attempts. The walls of the mini-playfield are lined with rubber bands, and the mini-playfield is tilted with the flipper buttons to bounce the ball against the walls and up to the exit to save the ball.

### The plunger

The plunger is a spring-loaded mechanism that fires the ball straight into the right orbit. The goal of the skill shot is to drop the ball into one of the two bumper rollover lanes, which is achieved by determining the correct amount of power to apply to the plunger to shoot the ball there. Skill shots score 100,000 points.

Alternatively, the player can execute a super skill shot by holding the left flipper and applying full force to the plunger to take the ball down to the left flipper for a chance to shoot the central Lab ramp for a base value of 2 million, increasing by 1 million for each super skill shot on the same ball. There is also a third, secret skill shot that can be scored by plunging the ball just short of the apex of the large orbit so that the ball falls into the sinkhole behind the crossramp. Along with scoring 1 million, the secret skill shot will score whatever is currently lit at the sinkhole.

## Objective and missions

The goal of this table is to help Scott Lang master his abilities as Ant-Man to steal the Yellowjacket suit before its creator Darren Cross, a former colleague and protégé of Hank Pym, seeks to use it for destructive purposes, through seven missions - four single-ball missions, and three multiball modes.

Each mission has its own start method and must be completed successfully (or in the case of the mandatory multiballs, simply started) to progress to the wizard mode, The End. Draining the ball during a mission will result in failure of the mission, and missions can be repeated even after they are successfully completed to increase the jackpot values in the wizard mode by 1 million. Starting a mission after having completed it also increases the base scoring for the mission by 1 million.

Outside of **Sparring with Hope** which takes priority over normal play, all single-ball missions can be brought into Multiball modes and their timers will stop for as long as the Multiball is active.

The following missions must be completed successfully to reach the wizard mode:

* **Sparring with Hope**: Hope Van Dyne, Hank's daughter, offers to train Scott and help him master his evasiveness as Ant-Man by shooting paintballs for him to dodge. If the player completely fills the yellow ring gauge marked SPARRING in the dead space above the flippers with shots to the spinner, the next shot up the left or right orbit will start a mission where the player assumes the role of Hope trying to track down and shoot Ant-Man with her paintball gun. Ant-Man shrinks and stands near a particular lane entrance, indicated by a red radar symbol, and the player must aim and fire the paintball gun at the lane where he's in front of five times to win. Only 3 shots are available at the beginning, with each successful hit adding 3 more and each hit to a post between the lanes removing a shot (although shots that do not hit a post will roll back into the outhole and can be reused). 30 seconds are given to make the necessary hits on Ant-Man before this mission ends in failure, which also occurs if all paintballs are destroyed from hitting posts; if the player finishes the mission, a bonus round will start where the player can use their remaining ammo to score a million per successful hit. The flippers are disabled during this mission, as their buttons instead control a turntable in the sparring ring meter that determines where the paintball gun will be aimed, with a yellow arrow indicating the direction it is aiming. The launch button operates the paintball gun's trigger.
* **Chase**: Hank and Scott's operations are not exactly legal, and the police are quick to take notice and pursue them. If the player spells COPS by shooting either orbit 4 times, then shoots either orbit one more time, a hurry-up will begin where the player helps Scott evade the police by shooting the orbits four times, with each shot collecting a dwindling score on the scoring display that starts at 2 million and increases by 1 million after each successive shot, meaning better points are awarded for shots made sooner. After 4 orbit shots, a 20 second bonus round will begin where further orbit hits award the most recently collected value, before the mission ends successfully. It will fail if the player takes too long to make any of the 4 necessary orbit shots to win. Note that if a ball falls into the bumpers during this mode, the hurry-up will continue to decrease in value. Each hurry up lasts about 15 seconds.
* **The Crims**: After being out of jail, Scott moves in with three other men he refers to as "The Crims": Luis, Kurt and Dave. The three eventually help him steal the Yellowjacket. If the player shoots the crossramp 4 times while a combo isn’t active, once for each of the three Crims and again to start the mode, a mission will start where the crossramp must be hit another 3 times in 30 seconds to collect 2, 4, and 6 million. The mission is completed after collecting all three values, and the player can continue to hit the crossramp as many times as possible for triple points until the 30 second bonus round time limit runs out. If the player takes too long to make any of the needed shots, the mission will fail.
* **Mischief**: Becoming small and strong leads to a lot of trouble for Ant-Man, especially considering his willingness to use the suit for his personal gain. If the player hits the turnaround ramp 5 times, a hurry-up mode will start where both ends of the mini-orbit and all ramps outside of the crossramp (a total of 4 lanes) will start flashing. Each shot scores a value from a dwindling score pool starting at 1 million, and must be shot before time expires. Making all four flashing lanes successfully will start a 30 second bonus round where the same lanes can be hit again for the most recently scored value. Each hurry-up lasts about 15 seconds, and the mini-orbit shots will take priority over the timer resets until either have been made.

The following 3 multiball modes must also be started up to access the wizard mode. Pym Multiball can be started during either of the two other Multiball modes, but stacking is disabled otherwise:

* **Pym Multiball**: The Pym Particles power the shrinking technology Hank has patented. The giant Pym Particle functions as a captive ball and it must be hit so that it is pushed against the top target bank to spell PYM. Once PYM is spelled, the particle will shrink in size, and it can be shrunken to the size of a pinball after PYM is spelled one more time with that shrunken particle. Once it is the same size as the ball, the Pym Particle will be released into play to start a 2-ball multiball. The lower target bank below the PYM target bank can be hit with the normal ball for jackpots starting at 2 million and increasing by 100,000 for each shot to the right standup target during normal play, which will then shrink the ball to a very tiny size for a chance to hit the target bank again for a super jackpot worth 10 times the normal jackpot value. A new jackpot can be made available by hitting the lower target bank with the particle ball. Once either ball is lost, the player can restore the Pym particle by shooting the particle ball towards the target banks within the mini-orbit. Draining back to single ball play with the normal ball will allow the player to make one more shot at scoring a jackpot / super jackpot before restoring the particle.
* **Army of Ants Multiball**: True to his name, Ant-Man can also command an army of ants. The player can summon his ant army by locking 3 balls for a 3-ball multiball, with each ball locked by shooting both large orbits and the three ramps to gather each unique species of ant comprising Ant-Man's army on both large orbits and all ramps, then making a strong shot up the right orbit to take the ball down the winding left habitrail so that it's captured into the ball locker in the model of Ant-Man's helmet. Alternatively, 3 consecutive strong shots up the right orbit will score a fast lock, scoring a million once fast lock has been lit. Once 3 balls are locked into the helmet, the multiball will begin as 3 balls release from it. Four of the lit lanes (excluding the crossramp) score jackpots starting at 2 million, increasing by 100,000 with shots to the mini-orbit and multiplied by 10x by the "X" rollovers. After collecting all four normal jackpots, a strong shot up the right orbit will award a super jackpot worth 5 times the original jackpot value and reset the process of collecting jackpots to light the super jackpot. If the super jackpot has been collected once during the current Army of Ants Multiball session, subsequent shots to the crossramp will score Ant-Thony Jackpots (a name given to Ant-Man's flying ant) worth 3x the normal jackpot value for the rest of the Multiball.
* **Yellowjacket Multiball**: Darren Cross seeks to use the Pym particle technology to create a powerful shrinking suit called the Yellowjacket, and as he suffers from insanity, he seeks to sell it to terrorists as well and fight off anyone who interferes with his plan. If the player spells LAB on the central ramp, a jump ramp will pop up in front of the right orbit and a ball can be shot up the ramp and into the containment pod on the right wall of the table, which will drop the ball down the right habitrail and into the elevator trap near Ant-Man to be locked. Locking 3 balls in this manner starts a 3-ball multiball depicting a battle between Ant-Man and Yellowjacket. For the first five seconds of the mode, the turnaround Mischief ramp will be lit for a one-time double jackpot, becoming a normal jackpot afterward. Once it's collected, a super jackpot worth 5x the normal jackpot value will be available on the jump ramp and is scored if the ball is shot up the ramp and into the containment pod again. After a super jackpot has been scored, the player must hit the lower target bank 4 times, increasing by 1 for each super jackpot scored, to light the next jackpot. The same jackpot value rules as described in **Army of Ants Multiball** apply here.

Once all 7 missions are completed, the wizard mode, **The End**, will be made available with one shot up the right orbit. This wizard mode depicts the final confrontation between Ant-Man and Yellowjacket, and it is fought automatically as a 4-ball victory multiball. Any lane awards a jackpot, worth a base value of 7 million + 1 million per successful mode completion for the current wizard mode run. A double jackpot can be earned by shooting the large orbit once to capture the ball then knocking it out with a second ball, while jackpots collected with the Pym Particle ball award a quadruple jackpot. Ant-Man will also attack Yellowjacket for every double jackpot collected. This victory multiball will continue until all but one ball is lost, and the table will reset.

## Side modes

There is only one side mode on this table, and it is the **Underfoot** mini-game. It is available to start once the 2 targets at the central LAB ramp are hit, opening a time-limited chance to shoot that ramp to lock the ball into an elevator trap on the way down its habitrail, which will take the ball to the Underfoot mini-playfield. The player must then rotate the slingshot bars with the flipper buttons to bounce the balls at the slingshot targets at the back end of the mini-playfield as many times as possible before the ball drains from the mini-playfield. Each successful target hit scores 100,000 multiplied by the number of target hits made during the current Underfoot session. Making 20 target hits in a row will light an extra ball.

### Multiball

*There are no optional multiball modes; all multiball modes are mandatory and required to start the wizard mode.*

## Perks

The following perks can be earned during play:

* **Ball Saver**: A 30-second ball saver is granted at the start of each ball and multiball mode. Once it expires, it cannot be reactivated again normally. A free short ball saver will activate if the player drains the ball through the outlane and raises the bonus multiplier at the same time by lighting all 6 multiplier rollovers.
* **Cassie Save**: Scott does not want to disappoint his daughter Cassie and is determined to support her. If the player hits the left target near the Ant-Man helmet, the Cassie Save will activate as the left kickback, which is a mini-game that the player must win to successfully save the ball. The first target hit awards 3 tries for the Cassie Save mini-playfield in the left kickback, with subsequent hits adding an additional try. Once the ball drains down the left outlane, it will be diverted to the Cassie Save mini-playfield, where it will briefly rest on a saucer at its base, before popping up briefly to begin a try. The player must rapidly rock the mini-playfield such that the ball will bounce up the walls of the mini-playfield and make it to the sinkhole at the top of the mini-playfield, where a bonus will be scored based on the number of tries left over and the ball will return to play. If the ball lands back in the bottom saucer, the current try fails and is subtracted from the total number of tries available. Once all tries are used up, the ball will be dumped from the starting saucer into the gobble hole right next to it, and the ball will be drained immediately regardless of whether the ball saver was turned on. The "Danger" lamp will be lit if the player has only one try left. Cassie Save tries will persist between balls, and after one use of the Cassie Save, regardless of success or failure, the mini-playfield becomes inaccessible until the left target is hit again.
* **Magna-Save**: If the player hits the target near the figure of Ant-Man, a magna-save will activate the right outlane for 25 seconds. Unlike the typical magna-save seen in Zen tables, this magna-save activates automatically if a ball is about to drain near the right outlane, and sends balls into the right inlane. The timer for magna-save will pause in between balls, and shots to the target while magna-save is already lit will add 25 seconds to the timer.
* **Bonus Multiplier**: Lighting all 6 rollovers (the 2 at the bumper area and the 4 in the return lanes) will raise the bonus multiplier by +1x, which is only good for the current ball unless the multiplier hold is activated by completing **Super Jets** once. The 6 rollovers are all connected, meaning that when the flippers are operated, the positions of the lit rollovers will cycle across all 6 rollovers. Completing the 6 rollovers during a **multiball** mode will instead increase the **jackpot multiplier** by +10x.
* **Super Jets and Multiplier Hold**: If the bumpers are hit 50 times with the same ball, Super Jets will activate, awarding 100,000 points per bumper hit. Hitting the bumpers another 50 times with Super Jets active (for a total of 100 hits) will hold the bonus multipliers for the next ball and end Super Jets. Completing Super Jets while the multipliers are held will light an extra ball.
* **Pym Capsules**: Pym particles can be stored in capsules and are used to both power the Ant-Man suit and alter the size of objects. If the player hits all 5 targets on the lower target bank, a Pym Capsule is acquired. It can be used to score a lit shot in any of the 3 standard single-ball missions by tapping the launch button while any of those three missions are in progress. Pym Capsules can be stacked, and persist across balls.
* **Combos**: Hitting the left orbit, the Mischief ramp, either mini-loop entrance, the crossramp, and the right orbit in any order - without repeating shots, and within 10 seconds of each other - scores combo values worth 1 million times the number of shots made in the combo (ie. 4 million for a 4-way combo). Scoring a 5-way combo increases the combo values by 1 million points for the rest of the session, and lights an **extra ball** the first time one is collected.
* **Extra Balls**: Extra balls can be lit at the large orbit sinkhole by completing all 4 single-ball missions, achieving a high score of 20 or higher on the Underfoot minigame for the first time, maxing out the bonus multiplier at 10x, scoring a 5-way combo or completing Super Jets while the multiplier hold is already active. Each of the 5 unique extra ball methods can only be claimed once per ball.

## Tips

* The crossramp is a very difficult shot, as the only way to consistently shoot it is to make a slow shot up the mini-orbit so that the ball slowly rolls down to the left end for a chance to line up a cross-shot right into the crossramp. The crossramp is needed to light locks for the Army of Ants multiball, as well as start the main mission The Crims. If the crossramp shot is too difficult for you, practice the Army of Ants fast lock with 3 consecutive strong shots up the right orbit, and get 3 Pym Capsules that you can use to skip The Crims once you make the necessary 4 crossramp shots to start it up - just make sure you have the capsules before you start the mission.
* Because the kickbacks are not reliable and the ball saver is impossible to reactivate after the beginning of balls or multiballs, focus on earning extra balls as backup to extend your session. The easiest one to earn requires performing a 5-way combo.
* The Sparring mission can't be skipped with Pym Capsules. Use trial and error to determine which angles you need to shoot at to hit Ant-Man, and use the segments of the turntable's ring gauge as reference points to determine which segments can be used to shoot which lanes. This mission becomes easier with time, so determine the angles that work for you and you’ll be able to complete this mode consistently.
* The End is the highest scoring mode on the table - as it should be, considering it's the final wizard mode - but the normal Multiball modes can also be very high scoring if you focus on completing the multiplier lanes to increase the jackpot value by 10x. Super jackpot values of over 200 million during Yellowjacket Multiball are very possible if you put in the effort.

## References & Easter Eggs

* The layout is similar to a mirrored version of the layout of *Theatre of Magic*, which was later recreated as part of the second volume of the Williams collection. Both tables have an orbit shot that either loops around or falls into the bumpers depending on the strength, and an upper loop that quickly sends the ball around the center area.
* Like *Black Rose* before it, the table has a ball cannon; unlike that table, however, the cannon in *Ant-Man* consistently feeds and shoots balls. Coincidentally, the table was released in the same volume of the Williams collection as *Theatre of Magic.*
* Other real-life tables that have a larger captive ball which can be hit with the flippers include *Cirqus Voltaire*'s Menagerie ball and *Cue Ball Wizard*'s 8-ball.
* The smaller Pym particle ball behaves similarly to the rubber "Powerball" in Bally's 1993 *Twilight Zone* table. Both are balls made out of very different materials that cannot be magnetized like normal pinballs, but are used primarily in a single, high-scoring feature.
* The Cassie Save feature is a tribute to a highly advanced nudging technique possible on real-life tables, where the player rapidly shakes the machine to get a ball to bounce right out of an outlane. This is very difficult to do in real-life and will likely trigger a tilt, but *Ant-Man* emulates this feature by having the mini-playfield move left and right, with highly elastic rubbers on both sides.
* The sounds heard for each bumper hit during Super Jets are reminiscent of electro-mechanical chimes heard on very early pinball tables.

## External links

* Official table trailer
* Table walkthrough by ShoryukenToTheChin (PDF)
* Official table soundtrack on Bandcamp