CONGO RULESHEET BY Lee Van Doren ____________________________________________________________________________ Summary Congo is based on the movie of the same name. This machine is notorious for being released so far after the movie release it was almost on video. I haven't seen the movie yet but a friend who plays it did and she said it does a good job of reflecting the movie. I personally feel that this is a very good machine. It may not be exciting to wizards but it is fair (unlike most recent Williams/Bally machines) in that it is not a drain hog (unless your saucer kicks are misaligned) and is not really bouncy or have post-cluttered shots. Overall I give it a B+. It would get an A- if it didn't have the sticky flipper syndrome. A special note of interest from Jim Schelberg (pinGame Journal): Congo marks the end of pinball production at the Williams California Avenue plant. That same plant was also home to the very first Williams game, Suspense. The production space is now filled slot machines :-( Games after Congo are being built in the new facility in north-east Illinois. The design teams, admistration and the construction of the first few test games are still there, but most everything else pinball is gone. :-((((( Background Rent the movie... Playfield Here's the various playfield parts, starting from the plunger lane and working clockwise. (* = Diamond Shots, explained later) - Plunger Dual plunger; the manual plunger is used for skill shots, and an autoplunger is also there for ballsavers and Multiballs. - Right Outlane Lights a ZINJ letter if not lit. Tucked away in such a way that a ball that gets in here does NOT come back out! - Inlanes Lights a ZINJ letter if not lit. - Flippers The usual two, in the usual places. No center post. Congo suffers badly from the "sticky flipper syndrome". - Slingshots Standard, just like the flippers. - Left Outlane Kickback here, also your target for a super skill shot. Kickback active for super skill even if not lit and it is not used up when "autofire" (aka ballsaver) is active. - Kickback Targets Three targets. Light all to activate kickback. If kickback is lit, you can accumulate targets towards next kickback, but targets unlight when completed. - Upper Flipper Standard size * Left Orbit Feeds to rollovers, lock, and extra ball collection. A post is here that holds the ball in the lane for certain modes. * Left Ramp Collects M-A-P letters. Each score ??. Ball normally fed to right inlane except when MAP completed, ball is diverted to left flipper to set up shot to MAP saucer. * GRAY Lane Collects G-R-A-Y letters. Each score ??. When completed, ball is held in left orbit while you play the lower playfield. See GRAY Attack below. - Satellite Targets Two targets, each scores (??). After (??) hits, Satellite Transfer begins (see below). * Rollovers and AMY Saucer 3 rollovers labelled A-M-Y. Standard flipper cycling of lit lanes. Completing AMY adds 1x bonus and starts Amy mode (see below). Ball drops in saucer below rollovers and is fed into pop bumpers or backwards along the gorilla's arm to left orbit during Amy mode. - Lock Past the rollovers is a lock that opens at the appropriate time to lock ball. * Upper Upper Orbit Feeds to saucer under rollovers. Can be lit for Mine Hunt or used to score Amy. * Upper Orbit Can be lit for lock (fed to same lock area as above) or looped for 5M+5M (max??) a loop. - Bumpers A triangular pattern of three bumpers, in the middle right of the playfield; fed from the AMY saucer or from the right orbit. Each hit adds a H-I-P-P-O letter in the HIPPO lane which adds 1M to the HIPPO bonus when completed. HIPPO bonus is collected if all letters are lit and the ball falls through a lane on the far right edge and back out to the playfield, or triple bonus collected at volcano ramp. * Volcano Ramp Accessed via right orbit through pop bumpers. Each ramp scores 3x HIPPO Bonus or adds 1M to HIPPO bonus if at 0M. 3 ramps to light extra ball at this ramp (apparently this value reflexes over time). Subsequent extra balls lit at 55(!) ramps. Balls for multiball kicked out of volcano. Ramp feeds right inlane. - Right Orbit Feeds through pop bumpers and up right ramp. - HIPPO Lane As described above in Pop Bumpers. * MAP Saucer Collects MAP award, collects Jungle/Ghost Tribe Jackpots, and starts Skill Fire when appropriately lit. * Mystery Saucer Collects Mystery (complete ZINJ to light), starts Video Mode, or collects Ghost Tribe Jackpots. - Perimeter Defense Target Awards 5M when lit by GRAY lane. - Heiroglyphic Targets Accumulate 3 pieces of a picture that says "We are watching you". Complete all 3 targets to start picture and all 3 targets 3 more times to complete (total of 4 completions of 3 targets). When completed, it lights Video Mode. General Rules No novice/expert mode (at least not by default settings). Tournament mode can be started by holding both flippers a few seconds before starting (see below for specifics). Buy In is disabled in default settings, otherwise you can buy up to (??) extra balls (one credit each); there is a separate buy-in high score board. Software Changes: None known at this time... In general, CONGO is a simple game and probably "the best DE/Sega game Williams ever made". I agree with that statement. It plays a lot like a DE game and the rules are similar. I think it is most like Jurassic Park. Generally you collect letters all over the place, start modes, and collect diamonds. Skill Shot Shoot the kickback targets for standard skill shot. Awards: 10M+5M (for game) if lit target hit. If all are flashing, score a fixed 10M. The cycling of lights speeds up as more skill shots are collected. Super skill shot is shot into the left outlane for 25M. If you are lucky, you can get the Kickback Combo out of it. NOTE: If you don't hit any switches, ball saver is not activated and you get another free shot, so let it drain! If you do hit a switch, ball saver is activated (but skill shots are still active if only a slingshot is hit!), so play the ball and take a shot at the skill shot if you want. Skill shots are active any time the ball is delivered to the plunger after a lock as well. Note some locks do cause a ball to be kicked out of the volcano if it is full from previous player locks. Collecting Diamonds One of the game objectives is to collect diamonds. Number of diamonds required for each lock at each multiball level is 4, ??, 10, ??, ... Diamonds are collected either by making lit diamond shots or by completing various objectives. Diamond shots are re- lit when all are completed or via other awards (e.g. MAP, Mystery, Mine Shaft, etc...). Completing certain modes can give diamond rewards (e.g. AMY mode, GRAY Attack, etc.). Once you collect 100 diamonds you start the Super Multiball. Super Multiball This is the wizard mode: All balls ejected (4) with lower playfield active. Jackpots at ramps and lower saucers for (??). Super Jackpot for defeating gorilla in lower playfield for 50M(??). Relight Super Jackpot by scoring a Jackpot. Mode ends when one ball remains. Combos - M-A-P Completed in a Row: 20M - Kickback to Mystery Saucer: 5M?? - Loop Combo: GRAY Lane -> Upper Orbit: 20M - GRAY Lane to Perimeter Defense target: 5M - Upper Loop repeat: 5M+5M Multiball The standard multiball is started after locking three balls. Once that is done, the three balls are ejected from the volcano and fed to the right flipper. The left and right ramps are lit for jackpots. Jackpots stay lit for the whole multiball and score (??) each. The Super Jackpot must be lit by shooting a ball into the AMY saucer. The ball will then be fed back to the upper flipper with the Super Jackpot lit for approximately 20 seconds. Score the Super Jackpot for 2 x Jackpot back at the saucer. Scoring the Super Jackpot resets the timer. M-A-P Awards Shoot the left ramp to collect M-A-P letters. Once three letters are collected, the shots to the ramp are diverted to the left flipper for a shot at the MAP award saucer. If you collect all 3 letters in subsequent shots, you collect the MAP Combo for 20M. If MAP is lit at the saucer, you may collect additional letters but if you complete they will be lost. Her are the MAP awards in order (need help here!??): - 25 Million - Re-light Diamonds - ?? - Light Extra Ball - Jungle Jackpot - Light Skill Fire - Diamon d Hunt Multiball somewhere... - Most awards after this are trivial: diamonds, points, or diamond relights... - There is at least one ? on the map by the volcano, wonder what it awards?? Rumor is, it is only 5 diamonds... or it could be a mystery award. Diamond Hunt Multiball This mode is started as an award at Mystery or MAP. You get 1 diamond for starting and all diamond shots are lit for 2 diamonds each. This is a 3 ball multiball with play continuing until 1 ball is left. A good way to collect diamonds towards your 100 diamond goal. Jungle Jackpot -> Ghost Tribe Multiball This mode is started from a MAP award. The ball is released and a countdown from 20M is started. Collect the Jungle Jackpot by re- shooting the MAP saucer. Once the countdown reaches 5M it stays until timed out. If you collect the Jungle Jackpot, you start Ghost Tribe multiball. This is a 2 ball multiball where either MAP or Mystery saucer scores the Jungle Jackpot. Scoring both saucers at the same time awards a bonus of 40M. Skill Fire This is a very unique mode and the most valuable mode of the game (other than the "wizard" mode). Skill Fire is lit at the MAP saucer by a MAP award. Once the MAP saucer is shot, Skill Fire begins. Normal game play ends, flippers die, and the ball is ejected and drained. You have 20?? seconds to shoot as many skill shots as you can. Shoot for the super skill shot obviously. Each skill shot scores 20M+20M up to 100M. If you miss at this point it goes down to 50M. (Need more input about specifically what happens on a miss: divide by 2??) With a perfect run you can score 1B+ on this mode alone!! Note that the software does not expect this and has trouble displaying a 1 Billion score at the completion of this mode. I usually score 1B on a perfect but I have scored 1B missing one shot so I think it is possible to score one more. After the mode times out, the machine waits until all the balls settle in the trough before restarting your ball and allowing you to start the ball off with yet one more skill shot! Our machine has a problem in that sometimes the game refuses to serve another ball and effectively ends your mode prematurely, anyone else have this problem? A-M-Y Mode Completing the rollovers lights the saucer for AMY mode which the ball will drop into next. A countdown is started at 25M and the ball is delivered to the holder in the left orbit to be fed to your left flipper for a shot at the upper upper orbit back to the saucer. If you collect via the upper upper orbit you get Super Score (double). If you collect the award, Amy will say something nice to you and start another countdown. If you collect 3 awards you get 15 diamonds for completing it. If the countdown times out, the mode is over. GRAY Attack Once you complete G-R-A-Y at the GRAY lane, the ball is held at the holder in the left orbit and the lower playfield is activated. You use the flippers to have the gorilla bat the ball with his hands at 5 C-O-N-G-O targets. Score 10M a target and complete the targets for an award before the timer runs out (20 seconds??). Awards in order: - 20 Diamonds - Multiball - 20 Diamonds - Light EB (Left??, Right??) - 50M (from then on...??) Once you get to the 4th level, a letter scored stays lit for only about 5 seconds so you have to act fast! Note that the mechanics are a little strange. There are 3 positions to the gorilla: hands parallel, left hand back/right hand forward, right hand forward/left hand back. So in order to move the right hand back, you need to hit the left flipper to move the left hand forward. This gives you a better angle shot at the corner targets. Don't just bat wildly, think a little about what you are doing and you should score it every time. If you don't, you are a loser ;) Mystery Awards - 25 Million - Light Extra Ball (Left) - Light Lock - Diamond Hunt Multiball - Multiball (Advance to) - GRAY Complete - GRAY Attack - ?? Video Mode "Watch out for the HIPPOS!!!" You steer a boat, avoid rocks (1st wave), Hippos (2nd wave), etc... as follows (scoring unknown??): 1st Wave: Rocks 2nd Wave: Hippos 3rd Wave: Rocks and Hippos 4th Wave: Rocks (collect diamonds) 5th+: ?? Watch out for this video mode, the boat moves in a sluggish manner when you initially move it but speeds up as you hold the flipper button so you need to develop a sweeping type of motion, because you are a boat in water! Video mode scores ??M for each object avoided and (20 diamonds??) for completing. Video mode is lit by completing We are watching you via heiroglyphic hits (see above). Mine Shaft This is lit at the upper upper orbit by (??). Scoring it puts you in a really really stupid video mode where you simply choose an entrance and get an award. No skill here whatsoever. You go through different stages. The first has 2 choices, 2nd has 3, 3rd has 4, 4th has 5, and (5th has 5??). Choosing an entrance will give you either 5 diamonds, a snake biting your head off, a bear mauling you, or N * 10M for completing stage N. If you get the point award you move to the next stage and continue. If you mess up, you continue at the same place the next time with previous choices boarded up. If you complete the whole 5 stages you get 15 diamonds and next time you start over with a new pattern. I BELIEVE there are a small number of fixed patterns. I mapped one once and I see that same one repeated, so the actual maps of the mine will be listed here as they become available if you want to memorize them(!). [Actually, memorizing them would give a serious competitive advantage!] Satellite Transfer You hit each satellite target to light a panel on the satellite. You need to complete both targets 4 times to start Satellite Transfer mode. Each hit to the targets scores 10M. There are different images on the screen for each hit. This is a timed mode lasting 20?? seconds. From RGP: The first six or seven hits will get you various pictures of gorillas, diamonds and the like. The eighth hit gives a cow that mooohhs at you. The next hit gives a duck that quacks, I believe it to be the peking duck from Shadow. After that comes the picture "move your car" from CFB, with the appropriate sampling. Then follows the "Here's Your Hotdog" picture without the original sampling, a picture I do not remember, and after that it wraps around and goes from the beginning. Bonus At the end of the ball, bonus is 500K a diamond, thats it! This bonus is then multiplied by the current bonus multiplier which is not held. Extra Balls There are many ways to collect extra balls in this game: - MAP award lights left orbit - 3 Volcano Ramps lights Volcano Ramp - Mystery lights left orbit - GRAY Gorilla Defeated Award #4 lights (left/right??) - Complete Bonus 5x lights (left) - (...others ??) Tournament Mode Like most Bally/Williams games, Congo can be switched into "Tournament Mode" by the operator. Like the last few Bally/Williams games, the player can also do this; just insert the money, then hold down both flippers, wait for "TOURNAMENT MODE ENABLED--PRESS START" to pop up on the display, then press Start. Only thing we have noticed so far is that random awards are given in a fixed pattern every time. That pattern will be printed here when available. Extra balls are still awarded! Strategy This game has a remarkable linear scoring pattern to it. That is, there are no BIG POINTS areas (except for Skill Fire and maybe the Wizard Mode), so you have to just keep plugging along and slowly edge your score up. This makes competition more fun I think because one person can't just break through. The skill fire does unbalance the game because the super skill shot is too easy. So the idea is - 1: Get the extra balls! They are easy to get, so get them! 2: Get MAP awards while locking balls along the way. 3: Play multiballs as they come. 4: Keep your kickback lit! That's all there is! Seriously, if you just do that, you do as good as you can (that's why most wizards don't like this game). One trick I use is to collect 3 MAP letters to set the diverter to the left flipper, then shoot the volcano ramp repeatedly to get the extra ball while the ball is always delivered to your left flipper for repeated shots. Collect the extra ball, then move back on the MAP bandwagon... it's easy safe shots. That's about all for now... Please post additions to RGP or email them to me! The End