Epic Quest

> "I am Max! Fighting for justice, peace and valuable antiquities!"
>
> - Max

***Epic Quest*** is one of two original pinball tables released in the early 2010s to feature a medieval theme, becoming part of the 2-table Medieval pack and available on *Zen Pinball 2*, *Pinball FX 2* and *Pinball FX 3*. This table chronicles the journey of a brave knight named Max as he embarks on quests to conquer evil beasts, collect valuable gear and protect a princess.

## Table overview

### The upper half of the table and raised area

The back of the table is home to two of the three primary environments where Max fights monsters: the forest and the mill. The left rear corner of the table is dedicated to the former, where there is a raised platform that is sloped to allow balls to travel in only one direction, with its back outer wall containing a left mini-flipper that brings the ball to a crossramp leading to the Orcanium on the right side of the table. Balls enter the platform from a short habitrail bridge that links it with the mill's stable on the right corner of the table.

The bridge habitrail passes through this stable, where balls launched up the plunger travel to. Plunger shots that take the ball to the stable, but are not strong enough to take it across the bridge habitrail drop down to one of three rollovers, which drop the ball off to the rest of the table area onto either one of the three right lanes, which are the sword ramp's habitrail, the forest lane or the right orbit.

A figure of a carnivorous plant is placed to at the right end of the raised forest platform, waiting to snatch balls that are returned by the ball saver's full-strength plunger shot and spit them to the main flippers. There is also another way to bring balls to the raised forest platform: via a working toy replica of the mill's water wheel, which catches the ball and raises it to the bridge habitrail, where it promptly rolls to the forest platform. Balls that do not go up the crossramp will drain to the left orbit.

This raised forest platform is installed above a bumper area also associated with the forest - where each of the 3 bumpers is a mushroom. Balls that pass through this bumper area eventually drop to a rotating sinkhole that captures the ball and then launches it to the main flippers. This bumper area can also be accessed with incomplete shots up the main orbit.

The table's main lanes lie beneath the forest platform and the mill stable, starting with a large orbit that wraps around all the other lanes. It is used to represent the continuing travels of Max, as well as his ability to dodge enemies in combat. Balls that pass through the forest platform without being launched up the crossramp travel down the left orbit, while balls that drop through the rightmost stable rollover land on the right orbit.

To the right of the left orbit is a varitarget marked with the word SMASH, and the varitarget can be pushed all the way to unblock a sinkhole. This lane also represents critical hits in battle. Next to this lane is a question mark-shaped ramp representing Max' shield, leading to the second left inlane (or towards the Princess Wheel ball locker described later) and it also spells the word BAT. Next to this ramp's entrance is the abovementioned sinkhole placed directly in front of the forest bumpers, which can rotate to capture and redirect balls. It is also the target to shoot to claim loot from victories.

Next to that sinkhole is a central lane resembling the river of the mill's water wheel, and it leads up to the wheel as the only way to take the ball to the raised forest platform. If a ball is shot too weak up this water wheel, a drop target of a devil-like creature will pop up in front of the water wheel to catch the ball once it touches the wheel, then angles the ball to the rotating sinkhole to the left of the water wheel.

Between the central water wheel lane and the right orbit are the remaining two lanes: a one-way lane that arcs towards the abovementioned forest bumper area and a looping ramp representing Max's sword, which brings the ball to the right inlane while also spelling SWARM.

### The lower half of the table, the Orcanium and the Princess Wheel locker

The abovementioned crossramp leads to the Orcanium, a theater-like structure on the right wall of the table where wooden puppets of characters in Max's story can pop up. Balls that enter the Orcanium through the crossramp travel along the stage and can fall into one of five holes to the left of the narrow lane besides the stage that the ball is traveling down. It will usually fall down the frontmost of the five holes, but there are four spring-loaded pushers located underneath the stage that are activated in tandem with the right flipper button and can pop out to knock a ball traveling across the Orcanium into one of the four other holes if timed properly. All 5 holes take the ball down an exit habitrail that terminates underneath the right rebound, skipping the right inlane's rollover.

Underneath the Orcanium is a sinkhole representing the caves, placed just to the right of the right orbit. It is also used to consume Max's available potions. There are also four lamps near this sinkhole that represent magic spells that Max can learn and use in battle.

The left wall of the table is where a figure of Max, the story's main character, acts out battle events and travel. The portion of the table's left wall nearest to him is a motorized scrolling background that moves while he travels on a toy horse stick. A trapdoor is installed in front of him that opens to serve him potions whenever they are used.

There are five return lanes, three on the left and two on the right, that spell the word SMASH - the onomatopoeia used to represent critical hits in battles. There are two rebounds and two flippers. The left rebound contains a treasure chest and the right rebound contains a toy replica of a castle tower. There are two low-power spring-loaded kickbacks, one in each outlane. Near the flippers are meters gauging Max's health, as well as that of the monster he is fighting. There is also a red experience gauge above the table's outhole.

The shield ramp's exit habitrail normally takes the ball to the second left inlane (marked with "A" in SMASH), but a diverter gate is present before the terminus of this habitrail that takes the ball down a branching habitrail towards a ball locker on the table's left apron. This ball locker represents the princess that Max protects and woos, and it is a rotating wheel divided into 8 different sections where balls can be dropped into and captured. When a ball goes to the Princess wheel ball locker, another gate at the end of the branching habitrail stops the ball short of being dropped into the wheel as it spins, which will then release once a flipper button is pressed to drop the ball onto one of the 8 sections of the wheel.

### The plunger

The plunger is a straight shaft that curves left through the mill's stable and goes through the bridge habitrail over to the raised forest platform. Strong shots that take the ball through this entire plunger path will drop it down the left orbit, provided that no successful cross-shot is made to take the ball to the Orcanium. The bottom of the plunger shaft contains a mace. A simple spring-loaded plunger mechanism provides the force to launch the ball into play, and as the plunger is pulled, a picture of an ogre-like creature's face will begin to open its mouth wider and wider. There are four different markers, each progressively showing eyes turning from normal to fierce, to help gauge the plunger's strength.

At the start of each ball, and if the ball is captured in the sinkhole behind the Smash varitarget outside of battles, the player is challenged to guess the correct amount of plunger strength that will precisely take the ball to the middle rollover in the mill stable for a skill shot that grants a random award, plus 300,000 points times the number of times it was made, up to a limit of 10 for a maximum of 3 million points. Alternatively, the player can go for a Spell Skill Shot by making a stronger shot that brings the ball to the forest platform, then make a cross shot that takes the ball to the Orcanium, where the player must then operate the pushers underneath its stage to push the ball into one of four balls behind the frontmost one to collect a scroll that will teach Max how to conjure a particular spell. The possible spells to learn, from the rearmost to the frontmost of these four holes, are Fire Storm, Cold Blast, Lightning Bolt and Force Strike. (*If Max learned all four spells, then any hole will grant 2 million points instead.*)

## Objective and missions

The goal of this table is to help Max embark on a great quest to slay twelve monsters while collecting precious gear, developing combat skills and protecting a princess, before eventually confronting a powerful dragon that threatens his kingdom.

To find a monster to fight, Max must choose one of three general areas to hunt for one: the tranquil forest, a mill or a dark, dungeon-like cavern. Each area contains four monsters that Max must fight. A monster battle begins through the following procedure:

* First, the player decides which of the three areas Max should go to:
	+ If the forest bumpers are hit 15 times, Max will go to the forest.
	+ If the player shoots the center lane with enough strength to take the ball up the mill's water wheel (which will then bring the ball to the raised forest platform) and then makes a cross shot to take the ball to the Orcanium, Max will go to the mill.
	+ If the player shoots the cave sinkhole twice, Max will go to the cave.
* Once the player takes Max to any of these 3 areas, the player must choose one of four monsters in the area to fight, depending on where he is:
	+ If Max goes to the forest or cave, the player uses the flippers to select which of the four monsters in the area and presses the launch button to confirm, which automatically occurs after a time limit is exceeded.
		- In the forest, Max can fight a **Bandit**, an **Evil Tree**, an **Ogre** or a **Wolf**.
		- In the caves, Max can fight a **Spider**, a **Goblin**, a **Troll** or an **Imp**.
	+ If Max goes to the mill, the player must carefully watch the ball as it travels to the Orcanium and must time the pushers underneath its stage so that they knock the ball into one of four holes behind the frontmost hole. Each hole represents one of the four monsters at the mill, which are, from the rearmost of those four holes to the frontmost one, a **Rat**, a **Ghost**, a **Skeleton** and a **Vampire**. (*If the ball gets to the frontmost hole, Max will leave the mill without fighting any of them and the player must get the ball to the Orcanium again to take Max back to the mill.*)

Once a monster battle begins, the player must help Max defeat it in battle by quickly dealing enough damage to it so that its health bar near the left flipper drains completely before the monster lands enough attacks in 10-second intervals to drains his health bar at the opposite flipper. (*The exact health values are shown on the scoring display, with the monster's health at its upper left corner and Max's health at its upper right corner. Below each of these counters are also the exact amount of damage that will be inflicted with a successful attack.*)

There are three ways Max can attack the monster:

* Max can slash his sword at the enemy every time the sword ramp is shot, dealing damage and resetting the enemy attack timer to 10 seconds.
* Hitting the SMASH varitarget results in a critical hit that deals extra damage, but it does not reset the enemy attack timer.
* Max can also cast magic spells to attack the monster. To cast a spell, the player must first get the ball to the Orcanium through the crossramp, accessed with a strong shot up the mill's water wheel at the central lane, which will take the ball to the raised forest platform where the cross-shot must be made. Then, once the ball enters the Orcanium, the player watches the ball closely and then uses its pushers to knock the ball with good timing into one of four holes that corresponds to a spell that Max had learned outside of battles.

The enemy monster will attack in 10-second cycles (with the remaining time before the next attack measured by a large countdown at the center of the scoring display), but Max has various abilities at his disposal to respond to monster attacks:

* Shooting either orbit will cause Max to evade the incoming attack, resetting the enemy attack timer. Two consecutive orbit shots will result in a double dodge that grants extra experience points.
* Shooting the Shield ramp results in Max parrying the attack, taking less damage from it than usual should it succeed. If the player then shoots the Sword ramp before the next attack, Max can then counter-attack, dealing extra damage and resetting the attack timer because it is a sword attack.
* Hitting the forest bumpers will increase the attack timer and slow down the enemy, with each hit adding back one second.
* Shooting the cave sinkhole consumes one health potion from Max's inventory, which will fully replenish health.

There is no limit to how many times Max can fight a monster, but he needs to defeat all twelve monsters at least once to reach the wizard mode. The player must win every battle without draining the ball, and if the ball is lost, Max will flee from the battle automatically.

After all 12 monsters are defeated once, the wizard mode, the **Level Ending Story**, will be ready to start at the loot sinkhole in front of the bumpers. This is a final battle that pits Max against a powerful **Dragon** that threatens his kingdom, and the same battle system used for the 12 monsters will be used for the wizard mode. The player must help Max vanquish the dragon, but it will be a very difficult battle because the dragon takes less damage from melee attacks and the dragon's attacks deal massive damage, meaning that Max can more efficiently defeat the dragon using spells and can't survive any more than a few hits from the dragon. The player is only allowed one attempt of the wizard mode and once the battle ends, regardless of outcome (win, lose or flee), Max must fight and defeat all 12 monsters again for another round against the dragon. (*All 12 monsters must be defeated in one session; progress to the wizard mode does NOT save across table sessions, unlike Max's level and gear.*)

## Side modes

There is only one side mode in the strictest sense and it is the **Bat Frenzy**, which begins when the shield ramp is shot thrice outside of battles to spell BAT. In this mode, Max encounters a swarm of bats that intimidate his princess, but not him. He bravely confronts the bats in a time-limited mode and the player must kill as many bats as possible within a time limit by shooting lit lanes marked with a bat icon. Time is also extended with bumper hits, and magic spells can also be cast to kill more bats by bringing the ball to the Orcanium via its crossramp (accessed with a strong shot up the central lane to the mill's water wheel, which will take the ball to the raised forest platform where the cross-shot must be made) and then using its pushers to knock the ball into a hole representing a spell that Max learned. The score for each bat killed increases as Max kills more bats, up to a hard cap of 1 million, but it will reset at the end of the mode. Killing 20 bats will also award an extra ball as well as count as defeating the Vampire at the mill, allowing the player to skip a battle against him there. This side mode ends when time expires or the ball is drained.

### Multiball

The following two multiball modes can be started up outside of battles:

* **Skeleton Swarm Multiball**: Undead skeleton armies are also among the various enemies that knights like Max fight. If the player spells SWARM with 5 shots up the sword ramp, quick 2-ball mutliball will start where the player can shoot lit lanes marked with a skull icon to kill a skeleton. Each skeleton defeated increases a jackpot called the Bone Pool, which can be collected for more points. The target that must be shot to claim this jackpot cycles between three locations: 1) the Orcanium, accessed via a shot up the mill's water wheel in the central lane that takes it to the raised forest platform, then a cross-shot into the crossramp, 2) the cave sinkhole and 3) the loot sinkhole. Defeating 20 skeletons will award an extra ball and also counts as defeating the skeleton at the mill, allowing the player to skip a battle against it there. This multiball ends when either ball is lost.
* **Princess Multiball**: Max's great combat prowess is enough to woo the princess he protects. Every time a monster is defeated, there is a chance to lock one ball at the Princess wheel ball locker, with the next shot up the shield ramp diverting the ball to a branching habitrail that will drop it into there as it rotates. (*A pop-up puppet of the princess will pop up from the toy tower in the right rebound to notify when a ball can be locked for this mutliball.*) Once the ball goes there, it will stop at a gate at the end of that habitrail and the player must watch the wheel carefully and tap a flipper button to release the gate and drop the ball into one of eight sections of the locker, which each can only hold one ball. Only one ball lock is available per monster defeated, meaning that at most 3 monsters must be defeated to start this multiball mode. The 3-ball Princess Multiball begins if the ball is dropped into a section marked "multiball" (which instantly begins the multiball) or the locker captures 3 balls. Depending on which sections were filled, the following features can be added to the multiball:
	+ **Extra Ball**: An extra ball will be granted if a ball *drains* into the outlanes during the multiball.
	+ **Jackpot** (2 sections): Adds a jackpot at either of the 2 ramps.
	+ **Super Jackpot** (also 2 sections): Adds a super jackpot lane at either the cave sinkhole or the Orcanium crossramp.
	+ **Add Ball**: If one ball is lost, the loot sinkhole can be shot a limited number of times to recover one.
	+ **Ball Saver**: The ball saver will activate at the start of this multiball. (*The Ball Saver does NOT usually activate at the start of Princess Multiball if no ball landed in this section.*)
	+ **Multiball**: Starts the multiball immediately.

Once the multiball begins, the locked balls will be launched into play directly from the wheel in the left apron and the multiball will run with whatever features were added to it, depending on which sections of the Princess wheel ball locker captured a ball, until only one ball is left.

## Perks

The following perks can be activated during play:

* **Quest Again Ball Saver**: A short ball saver will activate 1) at the start of each ball, 2) when Skeleton Swarm Multiball begins, 3) when the Smash target is hit enough times outside of battles to drop the ball into a sinkhole behind it that takes the ball back to the plunger, or 4) the Princess Multiball begins with a ball locked in the "ball saver" section of the Princess Wheel ball locker. If the ball drains when the ball saver is active, it will be shot back up the plunger with full force, but a carnivorous plant will capture the ball near the bridge habitrail and spit it right towards the main flippers, so caution must be exercised when the ball saver is used.
* **Kickbacks**: Each outlane contains a low-power, spring-loaded kickback that can save the ball from draining. Kickbacks are immediately available at the beginning of a session and persist across balls. Once a kickback is used, it can be reactivated when a kickback award is granted from traveling, or the next time Max levels up.
* **Smash Score Multiplier**: Every time SMASH is spelled on the rollovers, a score multiplier increase will be available at the Smash varitarget. (*If SMASH is spelled multiple times, multiple score multiplier increases can be claimed at the Smash varitarget depending on how many times it was spelled.*) The multiplier can rise to a maximum of 10x and it is only good for the current ball.
* **Random Awards**: Random awards can be granted every time a successful skill shot is performed, the large orbits are hit enough times, Max defeats a monster or visits an area where all 4 of its monsters are defeated at least once. Random awards can include more experience points, more loot, activation of a kickback, a health potion, a new spell for Max to learn (if he didn't learn all 4 spells yet), the instant start of a random enemy battle (only through the large travel orbits) or instant defeat of an enemy to progress towards the wizard mode (only through the large travel orbits).
* **Extra Ball**: There are three ways to earn extra balls: a) Lock a ball in the Extra Ball section of the Princess Wheel ball locker, then drain one ball into an outlane during the ensuing Princess Multiball, b) kill 15 bats in Bat Frenzy, or c) kill 20 skeletons in Skeleton Swarm Multiball. Extra balls obtained from method a) are claimed immediately, while extra balls obtained by the other two methods must be claimed by taking the ball to the Orcanium via the crossramp (accessed with a strong shot up the central lane to the mill's water wheel, which will take the ball to the raised forest platform where the cross-shot must be made) and then using the Orcanium pushers to knock the ball into one of four holes marked with "EXTRA BALL".

### Leveling up

Max must develop stronger combat prowess to be worthy of defending his princess and his kingdom. Every time Max defeats and enemy, combo shots are performed, a multiball mode starts, or extra experience is granted from random awards, he gains experience, indicated by a red bar above the outhole as well as a counter on the lower-left corner of the scoring display. Once the experience bar fills completely, Max will level up, starting from level 1 all the way up to level 100. (The current level is shown on the upper-left corner of the scoring display.) After the 100th level is reached, Max will advance up a nine-tier rank system, starting from Minor Knight and progressing to Knight, High Knight, Champion, Monster Hunter, Golden Knight, Arch Knight, Veteran Looter and lastly, Epic Hero, for a total of 900 levels. The current rank is shown on the upper right corner of the scoring display.

Leveling up will affect gameplay in the following ways:

* Monsters become stronger and also develop certain strengths and weaknesses towards certain spells.
* Jackpots and Super Jackpots for Princess Multiball will increase permanently.
* The Princess wheel ball locker spins faster.
* More powerful loot and gear can be obtained.
* Greater ballout bonuses will be granted.
* The amount of experience needed for the next level will increase.
* A special score multiplier will increase based on Max's current rank, once he advances past the first one, Minor Knight.

Max's level and rank will carry over from one session to the next until the player uses the operator's menu to reset Max.

### Gear

Max can obtain more powerful gear to help stand a better chance against the many monsters he must fight. Every time Max defeats and enemy, combo shots are performed, a multiball mode starts, or loot is granted from random awards, loot will be available to claim at the loot sinkhole in front of the bumpers. Two pieces of random loot will be available to claim at the sinkhole, and the player must choose which one to pick up and equip with the flippers and confirm the choice with the launch button.

There are two types of loot gear: armor to improve Max's defense and weapons to improve Max's offense. Armor is also divided into 3 parts: a shield, body armor and a helmet. There are also three rarity tiers: minor (yellow), major (blue) or epic (purple), indicated by the color of the scoring display when one of the two loot is selected. The unselected loot is then sold for extra points.

An Epic Set Bonus of 10 million points is granted if Max equips an epic sword and epic versions of all 3 armor parts. The next Epic Set Bonus will then occur once Max obtains another full Epic gear set that's different from the Epic gear he obtained for the previous one.

Max's gear collection will carry over from one session to the next until the player uses the operator's menu to reset Max.

## Tips

* While it is a tall order to defeat all 12 unique monsters to get a chance to face the dragon, there are a few shortcuts you can take. First, you can try your hand at the Bat Frenzy or Skeleton Swarm Multiball, and if you kill enough enemies in these modes, you can skip the Vampire and Skeleton battles at the mill. Second, you can also instantly defeat an enemy as a random prize if you do enough traveling by shooting the travel orbits outside of battle.
* Since wizard mode progress is also not saved, it is imperative to get extra balls from side modes/multiballs so that you will have the stamina and resolve to get all the way to the dragon and at least get a chance to win.
* While wizard mode progress is not saved, and losing the wizard mode means starting all over again, Max's level, rank and gear will persist from session to session. You should leverage this to build up Max through constant level-ups, rank increases and acquisition of progressively better loot equipment so that he becomes stronger and more capable of holding his own against the dragon the next time you ever get to the wizard mode.

## External links

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