E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

> "Beeee...gooood."
>
> - E.T.

***E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial*** is one of three tables in the *Universal Pictures Classics* mini table pack, released in 2017 and available for *Pinball FX 3*. It is based on the 1982 film *E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial*, directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is about a young boy's encounter with the titular lost alien and his efforts to protect him at all costs and ensure his safe return to his home planet, Brodo Asogi.

## Table Overview

### The upper half of the table

The back of the table is themed by the wooded areas and forests of California where E.T. is first found, and where he and Elliot would hide to avoid trouble. A scrolling, mini-conveyor belt dirtpath stretches across the table in front of the back wall, designed to re-enact Elliot's iconic bike ride with E.T. A large orbit wraps around the back of the table, with each side spelling the word LEVITATE. The left orbit has two branching entries behind its main entry (named the Fruit lane and the Chrysanthemum lane respectively), while the right orbit has just one (called the Disguise lane). At the apex of the orbit, the ball can drop into a bumper area gated by four non-cycling rollovers that spell WORD. The bumpers resemble a globe, a fishbowl and a helmet, which are all belongings from Elliot. The left orbit also has a pop-up ramp that brings the ball up to a short, disconnected habitrail ending at a target on the back wall.

In front of the bumper area is a hole where the ball will fall into after passing through the bumpers, as well as a model of E.T.'s spherical spacecraft, which can lift up from the table to reveal a large sinkhole where the ball can be shot into. Besides it is a central diverter ramp that splits into two long habitrails that lead to the inlanes. The right habitrail has a small gate arm that can be swung around to block and lock the ball midway through it. A lamp is placed beside the entrance that may shine a light on the ball during some modes. A diverter gate ensures that balls do not travel down the same habitrail consecutively. Two target posts are placed on the corners of that ramp's entry, as well as another identical target post placed between the left orbit's two branch lanes. The Chrysanthemum lane is gated by a flag shaped into a picture of such namesake flower, which E.T. uses to demonstrate his healing powers.

To the left of the Disguise lane is a short ramp next to the bumper area that leads directly to the right habitrail. It is called the Bike Ramp. Conversely, to its right is a small ball locker gated by two targets that spell ET. The right orbit also has three hidden rollovers that are used for the skillshot (see Plunger below).

The central diverter ramp is flanked by two one-way exit VUKs that pop the ball onto the side habitrails. Each of these habitrails also have traps that open and close every time the ball passes through it, causing balls traveling down the habitrail to alternate between going all the way down to the inlanes as usual or dropping off midway through a trap so that it accesses a mini-flipper installed near the entrance of each orbit. A warning lamp will flash whenever a ball is about to fall through an open trap.

### The bottom half of the table and mini-playfield

The left orbit's main entry is flanked by a left mini-flipper and a single target. The right orbit is flanked by an automatic ball launcher and a right mini-flipper, which are both closer to the player than the left mini-flipper and target in front of the left orbit. The automatic launcher sends the ball through the Fruit lane.

To the left of the left mini-flipper is a sinkhole that leads into the table's mini-playfield installed beneath the main playfield. The automatic launcher also has two targets on its left side that can be hit to open a ball locker representing the shed where ET stays in when taking shelter with Elliot.

The mini-playfield is a cornfield containing 24 cornstalks, arranged in 6 rows with 4 stalks in each row. They are pins and obstacles that block the ball's movement in the mini-playfield. Reeses' Pieces can be found among the stalks and collected for ET, but in the first mission, police agents represented by floating police hats move across the field from side to side as obstacles.

There are 5 return lanes, with two inlanes on the left and one inlane on the right, that all spell the word PHONE. There are two slingshots and two flippers, with the left slingshot containing a chrysanthemum flower pot that wilts and grows depending on its health status and the right slingshot containing a replica of the device ET uses to "phone home". There are two subway kickbacks, one for each outlane.

The bottom half of the table, in contrast to the upper half, is framed by Elliot's bedroom. A figure of Elliot is present on the left apron, while a figure of ET stands on the right apron, right next to the plunger.

### The plunger

The plunger is a straight shaft that brings the ball directly up into the right orbit, with a shark toy providing the plunger force to propel the ball up into play. Lamps for the score multiplier are placed next to the plunger.

To execute a skill shot, the player must apply a moderate amount of strength to the plunger so that the ball rolls in between the space in the right orbit between the upper right flipper and the "skillshot fail" lamp upon exiting the shaft, then shoot the standup target between the two left orbits from the upper right flipper.

The skill shot is worth a base of 1 million times the current ball number, and its current value can be doubled or tripled if the ball is shot such that it almost hits the "skillshot fail" lamp and passes the double or triple skillshot lamps right in front of it. If the player shoots the ball too strong, or takes too long to hit the target, the skill shot will fail.

## Objective

Help Elliot protect E.T. and ensure his safe return back to his home planet, reliving the events of the film through 6 missions, while assembling a makeshift phone that ET can use to arrange for his return home.

### Missions

To start a mission, the player must hit the toy model of E.T.'s spaceship 2 times so that it hovers up in the air and exposes the large sinkhole, which must then be shot with the ball. Missions must be completed to reach the **Departure** wizard mode, but the **Forest Save** method described following these missions' descriptions can make it easier to complete them. All missions score 5 million when completed.

The following missions must be completed to access Departure:

* **Surrounded**: E.T. stumbles across a cornfield and tries to find a way out while government agents hunt him down. This mission sends the ball to the mini-playfield, where the player must move the ball across the cornfield using the flippers and launch button, collecting 5 candy pieces on the fringes of the field while avoiding the 2 agents that sweep the cornfield. E.T. has three lives and loses one when the ball touches an agent, which disappears for 5 seconds before re-spawning. Running out of lives or letting the 45 second timer run out results in mission failure, while collecting all 5 pieces before either happens results in mission success.
* **Contact**: Elliot discovers E.T., and feeds him the same candy that E.T. used to escape the agents, establishing their bond. Six rows of candy pieces will be placed throughout the table; only two will be active at a time, and the player must shoot all six candy rows with the ball within 60 seconds to complete this mission, with each row of pieces collected resetting the timer.
* **Biology**: After Elliot develops a telepathic link with ET, he begins to act strange, attempting to free frogs from his biology class. Two jars of frog specimens will appear on the table and the player must free the frogs by first destroying the jars containing them with two hits, then hitting the frogs themselves with the ball to send them hopping away. Only 2 frogs can be present on the table at once, and four must be freed within 60 seconds to win the mission. Lit lanes can be shot to increase the rewards for freeing the frogs by 50,000 points.
* **Halloween**: Elliot puts together a covert plan on Halloween to help get E.T. to the forest so that he can phone home. The player takes the two trick-or-treating by shooting 5 different lit lanes to visit houses for candy within 60 seconds, then must juggle a second ball while hitting lanes on either the left or right half of the table, changed with the center ramp, to help Elliot balance while riding his bike with E.T. After 30 seconds of 2-ball multiball play, a "balance bonus" worth at most 5 million will be collected, determined by how many successful shots were made, and the player can finish the mission by locking one ball back into the bumper area.
* **Escape**: Police are seeking E.T., and Elliot must capture him and bring him back to the forest. The player must shoot the correct lit lanes at least 8 times to make turns for 500,000 points each, and complete the getaway within a 60 second time limit that resets for each correct shot. If the player shoots an unlit lane, they will lose 2 turns worth of progress.
* **Farewell**: Elliot ends up getting stopped by a police roadblock, and must keep E.T. hidden from the agents. The player must keep the ball away from the main flippers for 30 seconds to keep him hidden. *(During this mode, the habitrail traps will remain open so that the ball always drops to the mini-flippers to help keep it away from the main flippers.)* If the ball spends 10 seconds detected by flashlights, the mission will fail. The right ramp will then light to start the second phase of the mode, a bike-riding video mode where the player must press the launch button to jump over fallen branches. Jumping over 3 obstacles, while hitting the branches less than 3 times, will complete the mode successfully.

### Forest Save

If the player fails any of the main missions without draining the ball, the ramp in front of the left orbit will lower for 10 seconds to complete the mission regardless of failure, for half the completion value. The ball needs to hit the tree trunk at the apex of the left orbit to gain credit for the forest save, but a successful forest save will also reduce **flower health** to 0%.

### Phone Home

In order to escape Earth, ET must assemble a makeshift phone and use it to contact his people on Brodo Asogi. This objective requires six steps to be completed, which can be advanced towards whenever a mission isn't currently active; 5 **Phone Part Hurry-Ups**, and a final **Phone Home Hurry-Up**.

* **Phone Part Hurry-Up**: Spelling PHONE at the return lane rollovers, without rolling over already lit lanes, will briefly spawn one of the five phone parts around the playfield to be collected with the ball within 10 seconds. The five parts that must be collected are a circular saw, a coffee can, a Speak n' Spell toy, a radio transmitter and an antenna attachment - each scoring 1 million points. *(Phone parts can also be collected as a random prize from the ET award, which can skip one step.)*
* **Phone Home Hurry-Up**: After all 5 parts are collected, spelling PHONE at the return lanes again will begin a 10 second hurry-up for 2 million points at either the spinner lane or the right ramp. This final step can be repeated for bonus points, but it must be completed at least once to unlock the wizard mode. A completed phone will also increase scores for slingshot hits by 5,000.

### Departure

Once all 6 **missions** are completed and the player has completed the **Phone Home Hurry-Up**, the player can witness E.T.'s **departure** in the wizard mode, which is started the same way as the preceding mission. This is a timed, 4-ball victory multiball mission; as the player shoots lit jackpot lanes for 1 million points each for 30 seconds, E.T. finally boards his spaceship to return to Brodo Asogi, but not before giving Elliot an emotional goodbye. After the spaceship leaves, the player can lock balls inside the large sinkhole - with each locked ball scoring a 20 million point super jackpot. The progress towards completing the missions and assembling the phone then resets.

## Side modes

When no modes are running, the following side modes can be completed for extra points. Video modes (**Disguise**, **Bike**, and **Cornfield**) can be skipped if the player desires by using the flippers to choose the "SKIP MODE" option before they start.

* **Agents Hurry-Up**: 10 shots to the center ramp will start this hurry-up side mode, where the player must first draw the agents' attention by hitting one of the constantly moving spotlights for 500,000, then shoot a random lit lane to escape for 1 million points. Every time the hurry-up mode is started, the player will be able to make 3 lit lane shots, and the value of each shot increases by 500,000 points per activation.
* **Disguise**: If the upper right orbit is shot 3 times, and the shed isn't currently open or occupied, the player will have a 10-second chance to start a video mode by shooting the shed. During the video mode, the player must press the correct combination of buttons (left, right or launch) that scroll from the right side of the scoring display at the precise moment to avoid detection from Elliot's parents. Completing the mode scores 1 million; each completion of the mode scores 500,000 points more than the last, and completing this mode three times will light an **extra ball**.
* **Bike**: Shooting the right ramp 5 times will lock the ball midway through the right habitrail and start this video mode, where Elliot and ET will go to the back of the table and Elliot will ride the bike with ET in its basket. The player then tries to avoid as many tree branches as possible, by pressing the launch button to jump over obstacles about a second after they appear. Each obstacle scores 500,000 points; hitting 3 obstacles will end the mode, while avoiding a total of 10 of them will light an **extra ball**.
* **Cornfield**: Making 5 shots to the left sinkhole will give the player an opportunity to take the ball into the mini-playfield to get more candy for E.T.; the player can collect up to 3 pieces of candy per attempt, within 30 seconds. A successful cornfield video mode scores 1 million, increasing by 500,000 points per success; however, agents will spawn on subsequent attempts to make the mode more difficult.

### Multiballl

The following two multiball modes can be activated:

* **Shed Multiball**: Hitting either of the two targets in front of the shed 4 times (+1 for every time Shed Multiball has been activated during a game) will open the shed, and allow a ball to be locked inside. Once a ball is locked there, a second ball will be plunged, and the player can then hit the shed targets 3 more times to release the locked ball for 2-ball multiball. Lit lanes can be shot for jackpots starting at 1 million points, which decrease over time, while the shed will light for a super jackpot worth a flat 1 million that relights and resets the jackpot scores. The super jackpot value increases by 200,000 points each time Shed Multiball is activated during a game.
* **Levitation Multiball**: Shooting either orbit a total of 8 times to spell LEVITATE will light a lock for Levitation Multiball at the E.T. award hole; E.T. will lock the balls by levitating them into orbit above the table. Locking 3 balls this way will start the **Arrange Mode**, where the player must complete a minigame for a chance to multiply the jackpot scores by freezing the rotating balls in certain positions with the launch button. After the Arrange Mode ends, the balls will drop onto the playfield to start the 3-ball multiball. Lit lanes award jackpots worth at least 2 million points; after 5 jackpots are collected at any shot, E.T.'s spaceship will light to score a super jackpot worth double the jackpot value.

## Perks

The following perks can be earned at any time during play:

* **Ball Saver**: A 15-second ball saver is granted at the start of each ball and multiball mode, and whenever the center ramp is shot after lighting all 3 target posts while both kickbacks are already lit. It can also be awarded from the **E.T. Award**.
* **Kickbacks:** Hitting the 3 target posts will grant an opportunity to activate a kickback by shooting either orbit; the left orbit activates the left kickback and vice versa. If one kickback is already on, shooting either orbit will activate the other one regardless of side. As subway kickbacks, the kickbacks safely return the ball to the habitrails via the exit VUKs. Kickbacks carry across balls.
* **Flower Health & Playfield Multiplier**: E.T. first demonstrates his powers to Elliot by healing a wilted flower. Every shot to the spinner in front of the spinner lane will add 1% of health to the flower heal percentage shown on the display. At 50%, all playfield scoring will be multiplied by 1.5; at 75%, all playfield scoring will be multiplied by 2 and the **Levitation Save** described below will be qualified. The flower health percentage instantly decreases to 0% when the player makes a successful **Forest Save** or uses up the **Levitation Save**, and will slowly dwindle by 1% per second if the spinner hasn't been shot for a while.
* **Levitation Save**: Once the **flower health** is at 75%, the next time the ball is about to drain and no multiball mode is active, E.T. will attempt to use his powers to save the ball; usually, the Levitation Save will drop the ball towards the tip of either lower flipper, so pay attention to where the ball is headed. Using up the Levitation Save decreases the flower health to 0%.
* **E.T. Award**: Making two shots to the two E.T. standup targets near the ball locker will light the hole behind them for a random award; these include small score (around 500,000 points), boosting the scores of ramp shots by 5,000 points, **ball saver**, activating either **kickback**, collecting a **phone part**, or lighting an **extra ball**.
* **Bonus Multiplier**: Dropping the ball into the bumper area 4 times while a multiball isn't running to spell WORD will raise the bonus multiplier, which increases by +2x per completion up to 10x and resets when the ball drains. Completions of WORD while the bonus multiplier is already maxed will award 2 million points.
* **Scoring Boosts**: The scoring for bumpers can be increased by 500 by hitting 20 pop bumpers, the scoring for lane shots can be increased by 5,000 by shooting the upper left orbit three times within 5 seconds of each shot, and the scoring for ramp shots can be increased by 5,000 as a random **E.T. Award**.
* **Extra Balls**: Extra balls can be lit at the standup target to the right of the left orbit by completing the **disguise** mode 3 times, jumping over 10 obstacles during the **bike** mode, collecting a total of 30 **candies** throughout any mode, finishing 3 main **missions**, or by lighting one from the **E.T. Award**.

## Tips

* Always have the flower health at above 75%; along with the useful levitation save, a 75% healed flower will also give you 2x playfield scoring that can heavily impact scoring. The spinner lane required to advance its health is a low-risk shot from the left flipper.
* The highest scoring modes in the game are Levitation Multiball and the departure wizard mode. Levitation Multiball can take a bit of time to start due to the 8 orbit shots required to light each lock, but the orbits are very low-risk and the mode can be very high scoring; while the departure mode guarantees at least 80 million points from completing it.
* An easy way to collect the extra ball from 30 candies - complete the Surrounded mission successfully, then nearly finish the Contact mission and fail it, then attempt it again and finish it successfully without skipping it.

## External links

* Official table trailer
* Table walkthrough by ShoryukenToTheChin (PDF)