Jurassic Park Pinball Tip Sheet
Compiled By Jerry Duffy (duffy@mik.uky.edu)

LAST UPDATE - 30 SEPT 1993

This sheet will outline some of the strategies/hints I've picked up during my
several hours (and dollars) playing JP.

See "Sigma's Guide to Jurassic Park" if you need an explaination of the play-
field and/or rules to JP.  ("Rules/jurassic" in the Archive.)

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Random "Shoot Out":
After killing the dinosaur during the random shoot out that occurs during
play, Super Pops are activated. If you have functioning pop bumpers, it might
be worth shooting the ball into them, if you have no other shot from the
right flipper. A lit control room or Mr. DNA should take precedence
over the super pops though.

Advance X: (Visitors Center)
The left orbit shot (Visitor's Center) is a very dangerous, shot IMHO. On all
JP's I've played, the ball will most of the time hit the piece of rubber
sticking out above the last pop bumper and come screaming back towards the
flippers, usually SDTM. If your machine doesn't do this, feel extremely
lucky. 

Computer Screens:
There are definitly some CRT rounds that can be ignored. The rounds, for
the most part, require making dangerous shots that just aren't worth the
points awarded. These are:
Mosquito - Hard enough shot, and only worth 5M to start. (Sometimes you
           can hit the captive ball when shooting for the T-Rex saucer.)
Raptor Rampage - Sometimes the ball saver isn't enough if you drain and the
                 ball rolls up behind the flippers. (Cool music though.)
Electric Fence - Usually, the bumpers aren't working well enough to generate
                 the 15 hits needed. If yours are, then definitly go for it.
Bone Busting - The ramp is very difficult to hit 3 times in the 20 seconds
               you are given. (See below) 

Then there are the computer screens that are almost to easy to pass up..
Escape - Can be worth around 70-90M if done correctly. The best way to TRY
         to complete the escape sequence is as follows:
* Trap the ball when its shot out of the bunker after starting escape. Shot
  the boat dock.
* Boat dock saucer kicks the ball out..Make a shot for the helicopter pad.
* Finally, when the ball returns to the upper flipper, shot it into the
  pop bumpers.
This is an ideal situation, of course. Normally, you will miss the 
Helicopter Shot, but will probably will still be able to hit the
pop bumpers, for at least 20-30M.

Spitters - An easy 30M, if you get the shots. The ball will get 
somewhat out of control shooting the Spitter targets, but sometimes
you'll get lucky and the ball will fall into the Bunker or (even better)
the Control Room.
System Boot - This is a good computer screen because you can collect
              points while relighting and collecting other CRT's.
Feed T-Rex - Excellent chance to pick an additional 30M, plus get
             another letter in T-REX.        

Anytime you have a shot at a lit control room, take it. Getting system
failure should be your first goal of the game. This includes a ramp shot that
gets returned to the left flipper...Backhand the ball into the control room.
(The ramp really does nothing useful outside of TriBall, besides light Mr
DNA. Therefore, multiple ramp shots really aren't worth the trouble.)

MULTIBALL ROUNDS: (Raptor 2-Ball, Tri-Ball, CHAOS)
Raptor 2-Ball:
Try to keep one ball trapped at all times, if possible. Wildly shooting at
the raptor pit with both balls is likely to net you two quick drains. The
ball saver is active for about the first 10 seconds of two ball. (I assume
this adjustable.) After that, even a raptor pit shot that drains will not
be returned. I'm not at all sure what increases the raptor jackpot, besides
hitting the raptor pit. I've had raptor jackpots as high as 19M, and really
have no idea why!

Tri-Ball:
Hitting the raptor pit is the preferred way to start your first Tri-Ball.
This will sometimes allow you an immediate shot at the ramp jackpot, if
the ball comes out of the raptor pit just right. During Tri-Ball, every
target increases the Jackpot values. (Some probably more than others.) Always
try to keep an eye on the upper half of the machine for a possible double
jackpot shot. The ideal situation is to try to trap one or two balls on the
right flipper, and hope you get lucky and can get an easy ramp shot from the
left flipper. If you start Tri-Ball with TRex, it might be possible to "speed 
pass" the ball to the left flipper when it is returned from TRex to the right 
flipper. This will allow you a shot at the ramp before the other two balls get 
autolaunched into play.
Note: For a double jackpot, the ball does NOT have to complete the
helicopter loop. It's enough to trip the two rollovers in the beginning
of the loop. It also possible, if you get extremely lucky, to have the
ball go through the helicopter loop in reverse. This will also score the
double jackpot.
If you fail to score a jackpot during Tri-Ball, you will have 15 seconds for
a two ball restart. Be careful, because when you restart two-ball, there is
NO ball saver active, even if you hit the raptor pit to restart it.
After your first Tri-Ball, the best way to start subsequent Tri-Balls is
the TRex shot. 

CHAOS:
If your machine has a newer ROM, it will start awarding CHAOS letters
immediately after you get a jackpot. If this is the case, try to hit the
ramp for the O and the power shed for S as quickly as possible. After 5-6
balls get launched, it's next to impossible to get a clean shot at anything
in the upper half of the playfield. You will probably get the C-H-A letters
by just flailing around trying to save balls.

If you machine does not award letters until all balls have been launched,
try to trap as many as you can on the flippers until you see the H awarded
from the pop bumpers. You should get the C and A letters easily, but the
O-S will probably be very difficult unless you only have 2 or 3 balls on
the playfield.

It's been my experience that getting the TRex shot is more or less blind
luck if you have over 3 balls on the table after spelling CHAOS your 
second time. Just make as many shots as you can toward the egg. Eventually,
one of them will bounce into the TRex saucer for 50M. Then comes the
super jackpots. Tri-Ball tips apply here. (And if you have your smart missle
at this point, use it!)

Victory Ramps:
When you win a replay, the victory ramp feature becomes active. There is an
odd quirk during Victory ramps that is very helpful. While the victory ramp
timer is counting down, all other timers for all other rounds that you had
going at the time of the replay are suspended! This includes any CRT's you
start during the victory ramp round. (The only one I am unsure of is System
Failure...I would think that this would be the one round that the timer
would NOT be stopped on.) It has been confirmed that the Victory Ramps
CANNOT be collected with the smart missile. 

System Failure:
Obviously, the place to be during System Failure is the pop bumpers. If you
have active pops, your system failure total will probably be in 150M range.
Otherwise, expect totals around 60-80M. Using the smart missile will add
exactly 50M to your SF score. Be patient after SF ends. Sometimes, JP has 
a hard time locating all the balls in the trough. Eventually, a ball will
be launched and play will resume normally.
 

Smart Missile:
IMO, the smart missile should be saved for (hopefully) your second CHAOS,
or at the very least to start Tri-Ball on ball three. Another good use
for it is to max out the Escape round or if you have three or more good
computer screens running at the same time. (Good meaning you actually score
some points from them.)

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Send corrections, updates or large sums of American Currency to
duffy@mik.uky.edu
[EOF]

