"Look everyone, we have guests!"
- Gomez
The Addams Family is the #1 best selling Williams pinball table ever made, based on the 1991 film of the same name. Originally released in 1992, the table was converted digitally by Zen Studios and released as standalone DLC for the Pinball FX reboot with the launch of the game. As the table that popularized the current nomenclature of "modes" in pinball machines, the table's primary goals are to start Multiball by locking balls in the vault, and to tour the Addams' mansion by collecting mansion rooms throughout the game.
Mansion rooms[]
There are, fittingly, 13 rooms in the Addams Family mansion (though only 12 are visited during each cycle of modes), including the "?" insert at the very top of the mansion that corresponds to the game's wizard mode, Tour the Mansion. Flashing mansion rooms can be collected in several ways:
- Shooting either ramp (the center or side ramp) lights the electric chair and swamp scoops to collect a mansion room. Rolling through the right return lane also lights the electric chair to collect a mansion room for a few seconds. Once the room has been collected, the scoops will have to be relit by making another ramp shot.
- The currently flashing mansion room is "spotted" and immediately collected after 15 bear kicks and every threshold of 10 bear kicks following, up to 95 bear kicks. This cannot be used to spot the "?" room.
At the start of the game, the currently flashing mansion room will always be either "Mamushka" or "Hit Cousin It". Shots to the bumpers toggle the lit mansion room starting from the top left and moving to the bottom right. Some mansion rooms award modes, while others are simply points awards or other perks.
Most mansion rooms award points instantly, but points during "Mamushka", "Hit Cousin It", and "Raise the Dead" are only awarded during end-of-ball bonus and are thus negated if the player tilts.
From the bottom to top of the mansion, left to right, the mansion rooms are:
- 3M - Awards 3M points (and spots the "6M" mansion room if it hasn't been scored yet).
- Graveyard at Max - The bumpers are instantly advanced to maximum for the rest of the ball (they can be held via the Train Wreck target). If the bumpers are already at max, this room does nothing.
- Hit Cousin It - Frenzy mode. All switch hits score 200k points for 20 seconds. The switch value can be advanced by 50k with shots to the Cousin It target above the electric chair scoop.
- Mamushka - Frenzy mode. All switch hits score a flat 250k points and a "hey" for 20 seconds.
- 6M - Awards 6M points (and spots the "3M" mansion room if it hasn't been scored yet).
- Quick Multiball - Lights the Thing saucer for quick multiball, overriding any locks and the THING award. During quick multiball, the vault is lit to score 5M + 1M per vault millions award scored. Shooting the center ramp also adds 1M to the vault millions value. The value maxes out at 10M.
- Fester's Tunnel Hunt - The three scoops (electric chair, vault, and swamp) are lit for increasing scores for 20 seconds. The first shot scores 5M, the second shot scores 10M, and the third and final shot scores 15M.
- Seance - The two ramps are lit for increasing scores for 20 seconds, and the Power magnets are active. The first shot scores 5M, the second shot scores 10M, and the third and final shot scores 15M. During Seance, ramp shots always divert the ball to Thing's mini-flipper.
- 9M - Awards 9M points.
- Thing Multiball - A hurry-up value on the display starts counting down from 15M and decreasing to 3M over about 30 seconds. Shooting the Thing saucer locks in the value and begins a 2-ball multiball where shots to the vault score the locked in value. There is no way to increase the value like there is in standard Quick Multiball.
- Raise the Dead - All five bumpers are lit for 20 seconds to summon the spirits of the graveyard. Each bumper must be hit 4 times each to score 4M, for a total of 20M for completing the mode.
- Light Extra Ball - Lights extra ball at the Thing saucer.
Tour the Mansion[]
Once all 12 rooms of the mansion have been collected, the electric chair and swamp will immediately be lit to start Tour the Mansion without having to shoot either ramp to light them - indicated by the yellow light near the electric chair flashing. Tour the Mansion awards the following, once collected:
- 50M points are scored instantly.
- Special is lit at the left outlane. Slingshot hits toggle the location of the lit Special.
- The graveyard bumpers are advanced to maximum.
- Extra ball is lit at the Thing saucer.
The player is then challenged to play through all five of the orange mansion rooms, one at a time (and "Thing Multiball" if they make it through all of them), in the following order: "Mamushka", "Hit Cousin It", "Seance", "Fester's Tunnel Hunt", "Raise the Dead". The vault is permanently closed for the duration of Tour the Mansion; therefore, Multiball cannot be started until the wizard mode ends. After "Thing Multiball" is either started or the hurry-up times out, or if the player drains during any of the modes, the wizard mode ends and the player will not be able to collect any more mansion rooms until the start of the next ball, though Multiball can still be progressed towards and started.
Multiball[]
Spell GREED with shots to the vault bookcase to open it and light the locks. At the start of the game, a GREED letter is spotted at the start of each ball; one can also be spotted by tilting the game, if the vault is currently closed, and sending a ball into the vault while the bookcase is closed instantly completes GREED and locks a ball. Once GREED has been spelled, the bookcase will open and the lock sequence will start:
- For the first multiball, the first lock can be collected behind the vault, or at the Thing saucer. The second lock can be collected at either of the above shots, or at the side entrances of the swamp (a weak plunge also counts).
- The second and all subsequent multiballs played in a game require balls to be locked behind the vault.
- Once the two balls have been locked, multiball can be started either at the electric chair (taking priority over lit mansion rooms) or the vault.
Multiball is played with three balls. The two shots from the upper flipper are lit for jackpots worth 10M + 1M per shot to the bookcase or center ramp - the trainwreck target at 1x value, and the side ramp at 2x value (3x value for the second and subsequent multiballs). After scoring either jackpot, the vault has to be shot to relight the jackpot, which can now only be collected at the side ramp. There is a short grace period to score a jackpot if one is lit when the player exits multiball.
If the player exits multiball play without having scored a single jackpot, the Thing saucer will be lit to restart multiball as a 2-ball affair for 20 seconds. An extra skill shot attempt is given at the start of the multiball restart. Only one multiball restart attempt is given per multiball.
Other scoring[]
- Skill Shot: Plunge the ball into the Thing saucer to score the skill shot award, worth 2M + 1M per skill shot to a maximum of 5M. This also collects whatever is currently lit at the Thing saucer (THING award, lock, extra ball, or either quick multiball).
- Bonus Multiplier: Rolling through the right return lane lights the left orbit to increase the bonus multiplier by +1x to a maximum of 5x. The bonus multiplier only applies to the "mansion rooms" and "bear kicks" sections of end-of-ball bonus and resets every ball.
- Thing Flips: Rolling through the leftmost left return lane lights the center ramp for Thing Flips, sending the ball to Thing's mini-flipper. Using data from previous attempts, the game will attempt to flip the ball into the graveyard shot for you. A successful Thing Flips shot will score the current 5x Graveyard value with a unique callout and display.
- GRAVE & bumper scoring: Spelling GRAVE at the five blue arrow shots (three blue targets, the center ramp, and the swamp scoop), or shooting the side ramp to spot a letter, scores a value starting at 1M + 1M per completion. Each letter in GRAVE that hasn't been collected also lights one of the bumpers, then causes it to flash. Lit and flashing bumpers add different values to the graveyard award. The bumpers can also all be advanced to max value off of the "Graveyard at Max" mansion room.
- Million Plus: Shots to the side ramp score more and more points throughout the game, resetting at the end of each ball. The side ramp value starts at 1M and increases by +1M per shot, to a maximum of 10M. Each side ramp shot also scores a THING letter.
- Train Wrecks: Shots to the train wreck target above the side ramp advance towards and score train wrecks. Each train wreck is worth 5M and holds the graveyard award and current bumper status to the next ball, and requires more hits than the last to collect - 2 train wreck shots for the first, 3 for the second, etc. Scoring four train wrecks in a game lights extra ball at the Thing saucer.
- THING award & stars: At the start of the game, three letters in THING are spotted, and the remaining two can be collected via shots to the side ramp. Up to two optional stars can also be collected by shooting the left orbit, quickly followed by the side ramp. Spelling THING lights the Thing saucer for a bonus worth 5M + 5M per star collected, increasing by 5M per collection for a maximum base value of 15M.
- Bear Kicks: Shots to the center ramp score bear kicks that count up to awards throughout the game. At a percentage-based number of center ramps (6 in Pinball FX) and 50 center ramps, extra ball lights at the Thing saucer. At 15 center ramps and every 10 center ramps thereafter, the currently flashing mansion room is collected and started. Once 99 bear kicks have been reached, subsequent center ramp shots will score a Super Bear Kick bonus worth 5M.
- Swamp Millions: If a ball rolls above the mini-flipper, every shot to the targets surrounding the side entrance of the swamp will score 1M for about 5 seconds. Swamp Millions is not enabled on lucky bounces into the targets.
- Graveyard Award: The graveyard award is scored by shooting into the side entrance of the swamp, either through the mini-flipper or a lucky bounce; and is built up with hits to the bumpers, up to a maximum of 4M. If a ball rolls above the mini-flipper, 5x Graveyard will light for 5x the value, up to 20M for a single shot. The graveyard award can be held by collecting train wrecks.
- Combos: Three hidden combos await the best players.
- Center ramp - left orbit - side ramp: Three-way combo for 5M, +1x bonus multiplier, and one THING star.
- Left orbit - side ramp - graveyard: Three-way combo for 5M, one THING star, and the current 5x Graveyard value.
- Center ramp - left orbit - side ramp - graveyard: Four-way combo for 15M, +1x bonus multiplier, one THING star, and the current 5x Graveyard value.
- Extra Ball: Extra ball can be lit at the Thing saucer from the "Light Extra Ball" mansion room (once per game), by starting Tour the Mansion, by scoring 6 and 50 bear kicks at the center ramp, and by scoring 4 train wrecks. In Pinball FX, extra balls are either limited to 2 or 5 per game.
- Special: Special lights at the left outlane by starting Tour the Mansion and awards an extra ball. The lit special can be toggled with slingshot hits.
- End-of-ball bonus: (100k per bear kick + 500k per mansion room collected) x the bonus multiplier + the totals from the "Mamushka", "Hit Cousin It", and "Raise the Dead" mansion rooms.
Tips[]
- The best scores will only be achieved with a balance of mansion rooms and multiball. Play for both objectives equally - later multiballs with the 3x jackpot enabled can score tons of points, and each cycle of mansion rooms provides more chances at the lucrative "Tunnel Hunt" and "Seance" mansion rooms & 50M for reaching "Tour the Mansion".
- Thing Flips is currently very inconsistent in the Pinball FX port - ignore this feature at all costs, and let balls that head towards Thing's mini-flipper travel past it. The feature is more worthwhile on tournament physics, however, and should be worth considering. UPDATE - Flip the flipper before the ball drops - Do a manual shot yourself - no harder than Red and Ted shot on their table.
- The bumpers are similarly worth ignoring - the risk of SDTM drains is very high for the low reward of 5x Graveyard or scoring during "Raise the Dead". Ignore the right orbit, and never full plunge.
Extra reward - Extremely hard to get!! -> Get a ball into the Library while door is closed. Unsure what reward is now but you will have this quote "Dirty Pool Old Man, I Like it!". Managed twice on real table and just recently on Pinball FX.