System-J Pinball

Newbie Strategies

For scoring, the first thing to note is where the 2 saucers for locking balls are, the spinner is, and the “light spinner” target is. There’s 2 main paths to blowing up a score on Fathom
1. Light Spinner, Hit Spinner.
2. Work towards multiballs.
Strat. #1 Explained: There is a ton of points in a lit spinner. You are also hitting ABC lanes too, which can help leading to a good game. In this strategy there are 2 main things to worry about. A: The “light spinner” target (the yellow stand-up target on the right) can be dangerous: This is one of the more dangerous shots in the game. B: The ball coming out of the Pop Bumpers is always going to be random and therefore dangerous. This all said, it’s a still a solid strat. to go for.
Strat. #2 Explained: Working towards multiballs also inherently raised your bonus multipliers. A big bonus on it’s own can make for a solid game. But there is an even bigger payoff if you are successful in starting a multiball. There is a 2x playfield multiplier, but until you have the spinner lit, this won’t be as big as it sounds. The big payoff comes if you can hit riskier shots like the ‘light spinner’ target while in multiball. Even if you lose a ball, having completed a dangerous shot is worth that ball, and you have likely a nice bonus waiting for you when you eventually drain (Then, back in single ball you could switch you strat. to hitting the spinner).
At the beginning of this strategy it is often safer to focus on the mind-right saucer (Cave Trap) as it’s the much easier of the 2 caves to hit.

For ball control and saving balls near the outlanes, it’s important to learn if you save a ball that is coming through the (un-orthodox) outlanes. Fathom is a great game to learn some nudging and slapping techniques.
…more to come

Skill Shot

There is a slightly better shot at the top. The “B” lane raises both the blue and green bonus (a total of 1k extra!! (*wink*)). The “A” only raises blue bonus, and the “c” only green. It’s more important to get the un-lit lanes (the right flipper cycles) than worrying too much about the “B” lane. See right v2 card for completed A-B-C lane perks. The B lane often seem to be the less likely hit lane (in my experience) than either the A or C, since each also light a pop bumper for 1k, it is ideal to hit the B on the plunge, and there seems to be no drawback to attempt it.

Tournament Notes

…under construction

-Take note if the bottom left gate is removed.
-If Extra Ball is turned on, it’s worth going for even if it’s no/one flip. On factory settings, the Extra Ball holds the bonus and multipliers. So you *can* get a lot of extra points from just the plunge.

Video: Tournament Strategy

Tournament Settings

Fathom Specials and Extra Balls can be set to points.
-50k for Specials
-25k for the flashing EB target.

This is page 4-5 in the manual on how to change the settings: