"Once upon a time, in a happy forest, in the happiest tree, lived the happiest creatures the world has ever known - the Trolls! They loved nothing more than to sing, and dance, and hug, and sing, and dance, and hug, and - did I mention Trolls love to dance?"
- Cloud Guy
Trolls is one of the Animated Heroes tables exclusive to Zen Pinball Party, released on September 3rd, 2021 for Apple Arcade. The film depicts select events from the two Trolls animated films that had released at that point, depicting the Trolls' adventures outside their home and into the wild, as well as their discovery of the 6 Strings and the introduction of music to their world.
Trolls was the first Pinball FX table designed by Anna Lengyel, Zen Studios' first female pinball designer. She originally designed Trolls to appeal to casual pinball players like she once was. Following this table's release, she refined the digital display for Curse of the Mummy.
Objective[]
Play through three missions, then restore color to the world of the Trolls in the wizard mode.
Missions[]
There are three missions available to play on this table; only one mission can be active at a time, though either multiball mode can be activated during non-Strings missions and progress can be made towards any of the Super Modes. Each mission is untimed, and if the player drains during a mission, their progress towards completing the mission will be saved for the next ball. Missions are listed from left to right.
- Wildlife: The Trolls encounter a hungry spider during their first journey into the wild. Shooting the center sinkhole 5 times (+1 per activation) will summon a spider that jumps directly in front of the center sinkhole. To defeat the spider, the player must first shoot the spider directly with the ball, then use the jump ramp to land a ball into its mouth. Repeat this process 5 times, without messing up the jump ramp shot 5 times, to win the mission.
- Whack-A-Troll: Rather familiar looking trolls invade the Trolls' home turf. Spelling TROLLS by shooting all orbits, ramps, and the center sinkhole once will start this mode, where pop-up targets of trolls will appear around the playfield. Each target raised scores a hurry-up value counting down from 2.5 million and decreasing to 100,000 points; the player must hit 8 troll targets to win the mission.
- Strings: The 6 Strings give the Trolls the power to play any music they want. Shooting the left ramp 5 times (+1 per activation) will raise the jump ramp, as a model of the 6 Strings begins floating from left to right above it. A second ball will be launched into play for 2-ball multiball, and the player can shoot the 6 Strings toy seven times with either ball to score 1 million points per shot (+100,000 per left ramp shot during the mission). If two balls remain in play after all six shots, the "HUG HOUR" drop target will lower, and the player can shoot behind it to collect all the points scored during the mission and end it. Otherwise, the mission will end after all six shots are made.
Wizard mode[]
The wizard mode is a 4-ball multiball mode that starts as soon as all three missions have been completed successfully, with a brief 30-second ball saver. Restore color and harmony to the Trolls' world by shooting all major shots for a 5 million point bonus; then, collect as many jackpots (worth 500,000 + 50,000 points per jackpot) as possible before returning to single-ball play. Lighting the jackpots during the wizard mode will also light an extra ball.
Side modes[]
- Super Modes: There are three Super Modes that can be activated: Super Bumpers, Super Ramps, and Super Spinner. Making 20 (+10 per activation) bumper hits through the curvy lane starts Super Bumpers, making four shots (+1 per activation) to either ramp starts Super Ramps, and making four shots (+1 per activation) to either orbit starts Super Spinner. All Super Modes have 30-second timers and multiply the scoring for each playfield feature by 10x, for about 1 million points per shot made. Playing all three Super Modes in a game lights an extra ball.
- SING Hurry-Up: Spelling SING with four hits to the right standup target lights a random lane for 500,000 points, for 30 seconds; each lane shot during the timer will light a different random shot for the same value. The mode ends after the timer expires or after five shots are made.
Multiball modes[]
Playing both multiball modes in a single game lights an extra ball.
- Hug Hour Multiball: Shooting the drop target in front of Poppy four times (+1 per lock until the next multiball played) will lower the drop target, and allow Poppy to hug and lock the ball. After 2 balls are locked (+1 per multiball played to a max of 4), Hug Hour Multiball will start, and the player can collect jackpots worth 500,000 points each by shooting the flashing lanes; shooting all the jackpots will relight them. Shots to the drop target during multiball increase the jackpot value by 50,000 points. The jackpot value resets to 500,000 at the end of multiball.
- Sweet Home Multiball: Locking 3 balls in the bunker behind the linear drop targets will start Sweet Home Multiball and light all major shots for jackpots worth 500,000 points. Jackpots can be relit and increased in value by 50,000 points by shooting the bunker, which also scores a super jackpot worth the value of all jackpots collected so far. The fifth (and only the fifth) Sweet Home Multiball played during a game will have jackpots maxed out at 8 million points.
Perks[]
- Skill Shot: Skill shots, worth 1 million points + 1 million per skill shot, can be scored by plunging the ball into the top rollover lanes and using the flippers to get the ball to enter the flashing rollover lane.
- Ball Saver: A 15-second ball saver is active at the start of every ball and multiball mode; wizard mode starts with a 30-second ball saver.
- Kickbacks: Spelling SING at the right standup target, then shooting the ball into the sinkhole behind the target, will light both of the kickbacks. As soon as the SING Hurry-Up times out, or if the player drains during the hurry-up, the player will have to respell SING to get another chance to light the kickbacks.
- Bonus Multiplier: The three top rollover lanes change locations with the flipper buttons. Lighting up all three lanes increases the bonus multiplier by +2x up to 10x, at which point the rollovers will be solidly lit for the remainder of the ball and an extra ball will be lit.
- Playfield Multiplier: Spelling DANCE at the return lanes will activate or count down towards activating a playfield multiplier; the first playfield multiplier is 1.5x, the second is 2x and is activated after DANCE is spelled two times, and the third is 3x and is activated after DANCE is spelled every three times thereafter for the rest of the game.
- Party Award: Every 30 spinner spins will lower Cloud Guy's hand in front of the left orbit to collect a random award, selected from the following: points (between 5 - 10 million), activating the kickbacks increasing the bonus multiplier, starting a Super Mode, starting SING Hurry-Up, or lighting an extra ball. Awards that contradict the player's current state won't be given.
- High-Five: On random occasions (usually if 3 minutes pass), Cloud Guy will lower his hand in front of the left ramp to give the pinball a high-five. A hurry-up value on the display will start counting down from 1 million points when this occurs, and a shot to his lowered hand will collect the value.
- Combos: Repeatedly shooting the ramps scores combo points, starting at 125,000 points for a 2-way combo and increasing by 25,000 for every further combo shot in the sequence.
- Extra Ball: Extra balls can be lit at the center sinkhole by winning the wizard mode, playing all three Super Modes, playing both multiball modes, maxing out the bonus multiplier at 10x, or from a random Party Award. Extra balls can only be collected once per game from each method.
Tips[]
- The drop targets can be fairly dangerous, but they're worth going for - Sweet Home Multiball is a very high-scoring multiball, with the fifth multiball in particular being the highest scoring feature in the game.
- Sure, Cloud Guy loves his Super Modes and they can score solid points, but focus on going for them during multiball rather than in single-ball play. During multiball you don't have to intentionally shoot for them like you would during single-ball play.
- The bumpers can occasionally lead to house balls on this game - meaning they will send balls down either outlane or straight down the middle if you aren't paying attention. Remember to nudge to avoid potential drains from the bumpers, and to light the kickbacks as soon as possible.
- Manage your DANCE lights accordingly to make the best use out of playfield multipliers - they're best to activate before any multiball mode. Events like the ball being held at the start of the Strings & Wildlife missions don't pause the multiplier timer. The number of DANCE completions required to activate the next multiplier can be seen in the status report, by holding both flippers and then flipping through the available options.