The Munsters is the newest creation from Stern Pinball!  Below is an in-depth overview of the machine, and a dive into the features and rules – check it out!

OVERVIEW OF THE MUNSTERS PINBALL

Price

• Pro
• MSRP: $5,999
• Street Price: ~ $5,600
• Premium
• MSRP: $7,599
• Street Price: ~ $7,300
• Limited Edition
• MSRP: $8,999
• Street Price: ~ $8,800

Production/Shipping

• Pros
• Now
• Premiums
• Late February/Early March
• Limited Editions
• February

Who’s Who

• Design: John Borg
• Software: Dwight Sullivan
• Artwork: Christopher Franchi
• Sound: Jerry Thompson

Features

General:

• Laugh track and speech from The Munsters episodes
• VIdeo scenes from the original series
• Six balls (plus 2 mini balls for Premium and LE models)

Features on all models:

• Herman custom molded figurine, reacts when hit

• Playfield magnet in front of Herman

• Custom sculpted pop-up Spot Bash toy (hidden under left ramp)

• Grandpa’s ball scoop

• Custom sculpted Drag-U-La toy car and drag race ball shooter

• 180 degree steel and wire ramp

• Spinning Igor target

• RGB “Zap” button on lockdown bar

Features on Premium Models:

• Unique black and white artwork

Features on Premium and Limited Edition Models:

• Grandpa’s laboratory lower playfield
• includes mini flippers, ramps, Grandpa’s machine bash target, digital numbers display, two mini balls

• Four flipper buttons

Features on Limited Edition Models:

• Limited to 500 600

• Anti-reflection pinball glass
• High definition speaker system

• Mirrored backglass
• LE Exclusive art blades

• Shaker motor
• Gary Stern and John Borg autographs

• Black wrinkle laser cut spider web armor with gold insert and gold metallic legs

RULES AND CODE

A HUGE THANK YOU TO DWIGHT SULLIVAN FOR ALL THE HELP AND INFORMATION IN THIS SECTION!

Overview

From Stern Pinball:

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Players will be transported to 1313 Mockingbird Lane, joining the entire Munsters family on this haunted pinball adventure. Featuring Herman, Raven, Lily, Spot and Grandpa, players will work their way towards Munster Madness in this frightfully funny and action-packed pinball world under glass.

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Your main goal is to get to MUNSTER MADNESS by completing five major areas of the playfield, all of which are associated with a Munsters character.

COMPLETE THE FIVE MAJOR CHARACTERS

There are five major areas of the playfield, and all are associated with a Munsters character.  The major areas are:

1. Herman
2. Grandpa
3. Spot
4. Raven
5. Lily

To see Dwight Sullivan explain the five major areas/characters, click here!

Completing an area/character will:

• advance you to the next level
• start a Mode or Multiball
• put you one step closer to starting Munster Madness

Accomplish the necessary objectives to qualify an area, and start the area to start the mode or multi ball associated with that character which will “complete” that character.  Complete all five characters to start the wizard mode MUNSTER MADNESS.  Players begin the game progressing toward level 1.  After playing Munster Madness you can begin advancing toward the next level.  Level 2 is very similar to level 1. In addition to some rules being slightly different, the scoring is higher, the timers are a bit tighter and more challenging.  Level 3 and beyond is exactly the same as level 2 except the scores will be a bit higher.

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Character/area also has multiple levels.  You complete level 1 for each character to reach MUNSTER MADNESS, then after playing MUNSTER MADNESS all characters reset and begin level 2.  Complete level 2 for more points and reach MUNSTER MADNESS Level 2.

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Ready for details??  Let’s dive in!!

AREA 1: Herman Munster

How to start Herman Multiball

1. Shoot the HERMAN toy until a Hurry-Up starts.
2. Complete the Hurry-Up and the ball will be caught by the magnet.
3. Shoot the ball off the Magnet to start the Multiball.

During multiball

• Four jackpot shots will start off blinking white. When they are shot you will collect a Herman jackpot and the insert light will go out.
• Each time you hit Herman you will advance toward the next jackpot level. This is indicated with the green lights in front of the toy. When you complete them all the HERMAN insert will change from white to blue. Then later from blue to red. Red is the last jackpot level
• Also each time you hit Herman you will lite or relight a new jackpot if possible. The new jackpot will be the same color as the HERMAN insert.
• Every 4 Herman Jackpots will light the HERMAN SUPER JACKPOT.

Other notes

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You can only play Herman Multiball once per level. Meaning, you cannot get another Herman Multiball until after playing Munster Madness. When you are working your way toward the next level you can not play the multiball again. If you complete the Herman area during this time you will get a Hurry Up but the multiball will not start afterward.

AREA 2: Grandpa Munster (On the PRO)

How to start Enlarging Ray

1. Hit blinking purple targets until GRANDPA’S LABORATORY is blinking.
2. Shoot the hole where GRANDPA’S LABORATORY is blinking and Enlarging Ray will begin.

Enlarging Ray

• In the beginning all shots are white and all four mini-targets are blinking. Shooting either will light one of the shots purple.
• Shooting any purple shot will collect ALL the purple shots currently lit and award a Jackpot for each.
• The more you collect at a time the more they are worth individually.
• Every four Jackpots will light SUPER JACKPOT.

AREA 2: Grandpa Munster (On the LE / Premium)

How to start play in Grandpas Laboratory

1. Hit blinking purple targets until GRANDPA’S LABORATORY is blinking.
2. Shoot the hole where GRANDPA’S LABORATORY is blinking.
3. Your ball will be held in that hole and a ball will be launched on the lower playfield for a few seconds. Use the lower flipper buttons to flip the lower flippers.

During lower playfield play

• If Mystery is lit you can shoot the left ball popper to collect a random award
• You can shoot the right ramp at any time to increase time for the lower playfield timer and all other timers running. The amount of time awarded is reduced by one second each time.

How to start Grandpa multiball

1. While playing on the lower playfield, there are two inserts that say LITE MACHINE. Shoot them until they stop blinking. THE MACHINE will light in the center.  (Note: The left ball popper will spot you LITE MACHINE shot if needed.)
2. Shoot THE MACHINE in the center to start Multiball before your time runs out.

During multiball

• Your lower timer will reset to its starting value..
• The four jackpot shots will light white. The Jackpot lights will go out each time one is collected.
• Each time you hit THE MACHINE all remaining lit jackpot shots will move to the next color, from white to blue to red. Red Jackpots are worth the most.
• Once all four jackpots have been collected THE MACHINE will light for THE MACHINE JACKPOT.
• Collecting THE MACHINE jackpot will light GRANDPA SUPER JACKPOT on the upper playfield.

AREA 3: Spot

How to start Spot

1. There are 4 inserts with the letters S-P-O-T on them.
2. There are two inserts, at each ramp, that say SPOT. When these are blinking shoot that ramp to advance the SPOT rule.
3. Each pair of ramps will give you one letter in S-P-O-T. Complete the letters to start the mode.

SPOT Mode

• SPOT is a timed mode.
• The Spot toy will start up.
• Each time you hit him you will receive a SPOT award and one letter in S P O T.
• Complete S P O T to light SPOT SUPER JACKPOT
• From this point forward he will stay down after each hit.
• To bring him back up you have to shoot either the right ramp or the left orbit. These are marked with  blue inserts.

AREA 4: Raven

• Raven is a Multiball. To start the Multiball you need to light Raven three times and shoot the left ramp three times when Raven is lit.
• Collecting a lit KITTY is the main way to light Raven on the left ramp.
• If you are on level 1 all other major areas will light Raven also.
• Shooting the left ramp while any of the Raven lights are blinking will advance the area. Completing all three will start RAVEN MULTIBALL.

Advancing the Clock

• During the multiball, the clock in the UI on the LCD screen will indicate the current value of Raven Jackpots
• Each spin of the spinner will advance the minute hand. Each time the minute hand goes past 12 the hour hand will move. Each time the hour hand moves the jackpot value increases.
• The clock will be maxed out at midnight.

Raven BOOST

• Raven can only be boosted from within the multiball.
• Each time the left ramp is shot the RAVEN lights will advance for a limited time.
• On the 3rd shot RAVEN will be boosted for a limited time. All jackpots will be worth more.
• If times goes by and the left ramp is not shot the Raven lights will be reduced and boosting will stop until the ramp is shot enough times again.

AREA 5: Lily

• Anytime you complete Lily you will start an Everything Scores mode for some time.
• There is a counter that starts at 100 and everything the ball does will count it down. Each time it reaches zero the LILY SUPER JACKPOT will light.
• Lily can stack with almost everything else adding to value of the other mode or multiball.

MUNSTER MADNESS

Munster Madness is a multiball that moves between stages as needed until the player drains down to one ball. Like all other multiballs completing DRAGULA during will light ADD A BALL.

Munster Madness Ready

• After completing the 5 Major areas and after all currently running modes or multiballs are done, the game will go into Munster Madness Ready state.
• When the game is ready for Munster Madness shoot the Munster Madness arrow to start Munster Madness.

Stage ONE – Complete an area.

• There are seven areas that are all ready to be completed: HERMAN, LILY, GRANDPA, SPOT, RAVEN, EDDIE, and MARILYN.
• Each area has its own dedicated lights keeping track of your progress. Each time you shoot the area you will advance it. For example, Marilyn only has one light, on the right ramp, and only needs one shot to complete. Lily needs four, Spot needs four, Grandpa needs four, Herman needs three, Eddie needs two, and Raven needs three.
• When an area is complete you will collect a buff for that area and then move to stage two. The buff will last until stage three. Meaning the buff will happen for all remaining areas completed as well.
• Each area has a different buff:
• Herman – Start Ball Save
• Raven – Light Kitty
• Eddie – Double Jackpots
• Marilyn – Light Super Jackpot
• Lily – Everything Scores more
• Spot – Everything is Boosted
• Grandpa – Lower playfield jackpots (on the PREMIUM / LE or Add Time on the PRO)
• The order you complete the areas will have strategic implications.

Stage TWO – Collect Jackpots

• When area is complete you will move to stage two.
• All the possible Jackpots are lit at the start. Meaning:
• By default you get four lit jackpots blinking the normal speed.
• If you have completed Eddie, all Jackpots will start off double. They will start off blinking fast. When you shoot it once you be awarded a jackpot and it will slow down to the normal blinking speed. When you shoot it a 2nd time you will receive another jackpot and the light will go out.
• If you have completed Grandpa and you are playing on a PREMIUM or LE you will light all the lower playfield jackpots too and balls will be kicked to the lower playfield.
• Jackpots are on a short timer. If the timer runs out the stage will end. Each time you shoot a new jackpot the timer resets.
• Like all other jackpots if your Zap meter is charged when you collect one you will light a Zap Jackpot.

Stage THREE – Hurry ups

• After you completed enough areas Stage three will begin
• Stage three is an opportunity to collect four cascading hurry-ups.
• The value of the first one is a dependant on how many Jackpots you collected in the previous two stages.
• The value of the last three is the same plus what you collected in the previous hurry-up.
• The shot order is left ramp, right orbit, right ramp, and finally left orbit.
• When you complete the four or any of them time out you will return to Stage one.
• When this stage ends all the buffs from stage one will reset.

MORE RULES DETAILS

Levels

• At the end of Munster Madness the five major areas all reset allowing the player to begin advancing to the next level of each.
• Level 1 is relatively easy to complete.
• Level 2 is, for the most part the same as level one but harder. It’s also worth more points.
• Level 3 and beyond is the same as level 2.

To hear Dwight explain the levels, click here!

Marilyn

• One of the three return lane lights are lit all times (except during Munster Madness).
• You can change which is lit by hitting either of the flipper buttons.
• When the ball rolls over the blinking MARILYN return lane Marilyn on the right ramp will light for a few seconds.
• Each time you shoot the right ramp when Marilyn is blinking you will be awarded a Marilyn ramp. At thresholds of ramps you will start Super Pops and light MARILYN SUPER JACKPOT.

Eddie

• One of the three return lane lights are lit all times (except during Munster Madness).
• You can change which is lit by hitting either of the flipper buttons.
• When the ball rolls over a blinking EDDIE return lane both orbits will light for a few seconds.
• Each time you shoot an orbit with Eddie lit you will be awarded an EDDIE LOOP. Every five EDDIE LOOPS will light EDDIE SUPER JACKPOT.
• Consecutive Eddie loops are worth increasing amount of points.

Zap Jackpots

• You have a ZAP METER that can be charged. It can hold up to 5 ZAPs. You can see this meter on the main user interface.
• Each time the ball hits one of the 4 mini-targets (and /or THE MACHINE on the PREMIUM / LE) the ZAP BUTTON will blink for a few seconds.
• Hit the ZAP BUTTON while its blinking electric blue to charge your zap meter.
• When you shoot any Jackpot in the game, if your zap meter is charged, the game will eat one of your charges and leave behind a lit ZAP JACKPOT.
• Lit ZAP JACKPOTS will stay lit until the end of the ball if not collected.
• Every four ZAP JACKPOTs collected will light ZAP SUPER JACKPOT.

Super Jackpot

• There are 10 different ways to light SUPER JACKPOT: HERMAN, LILY, SPOT, GRANDPA, RAVEN, EDDIE, MARILYN, ZAP, MYSTERY, and ENLARGING RAY.
• You will collect all that are stacked when you shoot the lit SUPER JACKPOT arrow at the DRAGULA hole.
• The value of each SUPER JACKPOT is worth more the more you have stacked.
• The Super Jackpot arrow insert will behave differently depending on how many Super Jackpots you have lit. If you have only one lit it will not blink. If you have 2 it will blink slowly. If you have 3 it will blink fast. If you have 4+ then it will blink really fast.
• You can cancel the award if you hold the ZAP BUTTON for ⅓ seconds. If you cancel, your lit stacked Supers will still be there for you to collect later.
• You can not get all 10 because ENLARGING RAY and GRANDPA is the same thing on the PRO. On the PREMIUM / LE Mystery can only award Start Enlarging Ray or Light Super Jackpot.

Kitty

• Completing any major area will light Kitty.
• When Kitty is collected she tries to award four things:
• End of ball Bonus multipliers
• Special on an outlane
• Advance the Playfield Multipliers
• Light Raven
• Kitty, even when not lit, will restart the Playfield Multiplier timer if it was running.

Dragula

Hitting the Bank

• Collects the currently blinking value and lights 5X DRAGULA on a timer. When the timer expires 5X DRAGULA will unlight and the bank will go back one step.
• But if the bank was complete then they entire back will reset.
• The DRAGULA letters will advance one step down making the feature more valuable.

Dragula Hole

• Each time the ball enters the Dragula hole you will be awarded:
• 1X or 5X the current bank value up to 500K
• Bonus multipliers
• Relights the 5X so you can hit it again
• And will BOOST one of the following areas: HERMAN, SPOT, GRANDPA, or LILY

Playfield Multipliers

• Playfield Multipliers can have 4 values: 1X, 2X, 3X and 6X
• When a lit Kitty is collected the multiplier will advance as far as it can and a timer will start.
• When the timer runs out the multiplier will reset to 1X.

BOOSTED

• All five major areas can be boosted.
• When an area is boost its award values will be increased.
• Dragula is the main way to BOOST four of the areas: HERMAN, LILY, SPOT, or GRANDPA.
• When one of them is BOOSTED their flasher dome will glow.
• Raven can only be boosted within Raven.

Mystery

• Mystery is lit only once per game, when you push start.
• Mystery will randomly give you one of over a dozen awards.
• Mystery is the only way to lite MYSTERY SUPER JACKPOT
• Mystery on the PREMIUM and LE can start ENLARGING RAY. Which is a bonus mode.

Super Pops

• The Marilyn feature will eventually light SUPER POPS.
• During SUPER POPS the pop bumpers will blink.
• During SUPER POPS the right orbit will stop the ball at the top when shot so that the ball will fall into the pop bumpers.

Skill Shots

To hear Dwight explain the skill shots, click here!

• Skill Shot: Plunge into the lit (right) top lane, or short plunge to the right flipper and shoot the left ramp.
• Super Skill Shot: Hold in the left flipper button, then shoot the right ramp.

• Double Super Skill Shot – Premium / LE: Hold in the left flipper buttons, then shoot the scoop, then shoot the saucer in Grandpa’s Laboratory.

• Skill shot is timed. You have ten seconds to complete it.
• If you don’t complete it before the time runs out the feature will end. Also shooting any shot that would have been a skill shot will end it to. Also starting Herman Hurry up will end it.