How to get them Super Jackpots on Fish Tales! Pinball FX3 Classic Arcade Tips and Strategy tutorial

There is not too much to Fish Tales in Pinball FX3 (Classic Arcade) other than Jackpots and Super Jackpots but in this short guide I show you some tips, tricks, and my strategy that worked for my 1.1 billion game! See tips / trick addition below.
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I'm trying something new, a shortened format, where the guide will be between 5 - 10 minutes only but where I also link to the full video that I base the guide on (usually my top scoring Top 10 leaderboard game for the table).
Please let me know what you think and how I can improve on it! Any feedback will be much appreciated!
Tips/Tricks: The new shorter format caught me out and I missed a few small details.
- If you hit a lock shot a short while after the ball come from the left orbit i.e. from launch, you get a Fast cast (0:29). Throughout the game, that increases by a million each time you hit it to a maximum of 10 million.
- If you have the ball on the right flipper, and want to lock it, shoot it up the left orbit around the boat to have a shot at the lock target (0:39).
The full 15 minute video of the game is available if you want to watch it for context -
• A tall tale of 1.1 bil...
ShoryukenToTheChin's guide for the table is available from the Zen Studios Blog
blog.zenstudios...
and the LUP's club video guide is available from
• Williams Pinball - Fis...
these guides should help you if you are uncertain about what I'm doing or referring to on the table.
My basic aim with any tips and strategy gameplay video I post is to help the viewer improve his skill in the game and on the specific table. I do this by identifying the safest and most efficient strategy to follow to play through the modes and to reach and beat the wizard mode. This is admittedly not always the most efficient way to achieve a high score, but once you understand the table, including which shots and modes are worth it or not, it puts you in the position where you can concentrate on what you have identified as the best approach to reaching a high score.
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[@Nick_Whiskey]

watching this video doubled my personal best score in recent runs, thanks!

[@PinStratsDan]

Glad it helped!

[@slowandrote]

great succinct and content filled guide! subscribed :-)

[@scottieb147]

You are insane mate 😂 Gonna see if I can beat my score right now 👍🏻

[@PinStratsDan]

Good luck! I had to play the table a lot and try many things before I "found" something that worked.

[@jilesmelvin144]

My favorite part of this table is get Rock the Boat during Multiball. Best I've done: 12 Rock Boats, with two Double Cross shots.

[@Zerbey]

Fish Tales is a brutally hard game but once you learn this strategy it's the easiest and safest way to get a high score. The other one is to keep doing loops and then go for Monster fish, but if you don't get them just right the ball drains straight down the middle.

[@PinStratsDan]

I like the risk-reward of the table. Either a big score or nothing usually 😉

[@Zerbey]

@@PinStratsDan That's a very accurate statement, at least on FX3 it's free and you're not wasting quarters! I shudder to think how many I've fed into this machine over the years.

[@TheWaynos73]

You can usually trap the ball on the left flipper when you start and then you can release and aim at the 1x triangle to get that lock shot - i recently got a score of 3.1 billion which is my all time fish tales high score

[@PinStratsDan]

Great score! I struggle to live catch on Classic Arcade.

[@SwainJohnson-o6y]

I've been trying to hit the super jackpot for like 10 hours dude. Fuck this table.

[@NoahSties]

Great help, thank you mate

[@kespeth2]

One of the hardest multiballs ever.

[@kespeth2]

I do believe the multiball multiplier powerup affects the jackpots and super jackpots too. Of course, that doesn't exist in classic mode.

[@PinStratsDan]

Definitely! Took me long time before I was able to get Jackpots regularly. Super Jackpots are ridiculously hard for me as I just can't figure out a way to hit it consistently.

[@andrewdigregorio3736]

Like as soon as it hates a bumper as soon as it hits the middle of the boat it goes right down into the stupid hole

[@vladimirkuharik34]

Im struggling with ball lock, captive ball can hit with my eyes closed xD

[@PinStratsDan]

On FX3 or FX? On FX3 the lock is reasonable and the captive ball risky while on FX the lock is difficult and the captive ball not that risky.

[@andrewdigregorio3736]

Can't even catch the fish the big monster fish I can never catch it about to just only play practice mode forever because I can't catch anything or do anything this game makes me want to quit pinball all together and I don't want to quit but it's making me feel like I should because I can't obviously hit anything or hold on to the ball for two more than two seconds before it goes down one hole or another

[@Master-hunter2000]

Wow your over powered for pinball

[@careyjohn0144]

Dan, you're an excellent player. I saw your super jackpot fishtales video...wow. i was wondering, in fx3 i have noticed nudging when a ball is going down the middle to drain, that when I nudge in fx3 the ball moves very little compared to pinball arcade. i nudge left or right. is that just part of fx3's physics?

[@PinStratsDan]

Thanks! Nudging in Pinball FX3 is much less powerful than in TPA. I feel nudging is too powerful in TPA. Even though it is not that powerful, it is really important in FX3, especially on Classic Arcade, and can make a big difference in your ability to keep the ball alive. I literally nudge all the time!

[@careyjohn0144]

@@PinStratsDan thanks Dan for your reply. but my question...in fx3 -- say the ball's coming down the middle to drain. If i nudge simply left or right, it seems to have no effect at all. How do you nudge usually? maybe up+left/right? or?

[@PinStratsDan]

@@careyjohn0144 the effect is subtle whereas in TPA it is exaggerated. At best you can get it into reach of the flipper tip on FX3. That seems more realistic than TPA. This post is on my use of nudging in FX3 (with examples)... facebook.com/PinStratsDan/videos/544429369653352/

[@andrewdigregorio3736]

My problem is the ball keeps falling right into the middle and I'm about ready to give up on ever playing fish tales again because I can't ever get it

[@PinStratsDan]

I only ever go for the middle if ballsave is on, but especially during multiball. In single ball play you are looking for trouble.

[@andrewdigregorio3736]

@@PinStratsDan exactly I literally can't play the one one ball challenge and it's the only one that I haven't maxed out that & the 5-minute challenge 5 minute challenge I only have one more or two more stars to get one ball challenge I only have eight stupid stars and I can't get past eight

[@кирофф]

looks like a cheat, since I scored 111 million points in the challenge with one ball after only 2 hours

[@andrewdigregorio3736]

This is officially the most unfair pinball table in the entire world and I'm so glad that they at least give it to you for free if their pinball games are this impossible to play should I even keep playing should I even buy any of their other games is it worth it or are they all this hard to play?

[@PinStratsDan]

This is one of the hardest ones, but you can get better at it. It takes a while though 😉

[@urosilovar]

not unfair. fair but unforgiving. and i love it for it. shorter flippers than other tables. hard to controll the ball, if you're a bad shooter and can't hit the lanes the bumpers tend to send the ball straight down the middle. captive ball is also a drain magnet shot, so you have to find ways to shoot it to minimize draining. all of what i mentioned make it sound a terrible table, but it's not. it's not chaotic, it has rules you have to obey, and punishes lack of skill. i think it's the best table to learn basics of ball control and shot making. after hours of practicing on this table, if I switch to any other table they look like a joke. There's no random smashing here. Shoot, control, nudge, plan, recover, nudge, shoot, control... then do it again. And patience. Controlling the ball is more important than the expiring monster fish or jackpot timer; missed shot is more dangerous than getting a high score. It's a masterful table and I haven't found one that I enjoy more as a "begginer". If you learn pinball here (shorter "lightning flippers") you'll do well anywhere else. It forces you to play pinball the "right way" and it exposes your mistakes. You can't do anything on this table until you learn to controll the ball (so it teaches beginners that making shots isn't everything). Right orbit return basically forces you to learn that nuding is a fundamental part of the game. Once you improve with ball control and you get to focus on shooting a bit more, it punishes your mistakes and makes you focus on your shooting. Once you have those down you go for multiballs where both skills are absolutely necessary to get anywhere. That being said, while drop catches and live catches (both, extremelly advanced to do properly) are useful, "dead bounce" and "fake drop catch pass to opposite flipper" are vital skills for this table. This table is an absolute masterclass and encapsulates everytihng that you need to learn about pinball.

[@PinStratsDan]

Great insight! This table taught me a lot.

[@urosilovar]

@@PinStratsDan Hi Dan, this is the comment I referred to on yday's stream; it's was nice to watch you play on Twch :) The question wasn't realated to the comment though. I was merely interested on your take of VPX, FX and FX3 games (physics etc.). Especially your talke on Fish Tales comparison.

[@PinStratsDan]

@@urosilovar thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. The VPX version by VPW is by far the best playing version. The team spent a lot of time to fine-tune the physics to play as realistic as possible e.g. how tough the backhand lock should be. That was directly informed by some of the team and testers that own/have owned, or play the table regularly.

[@spookylive2k]

you make it looks so easy but you know how many fucking creative ways the balls drains on me , its sooooooooooo irritating , that I am about to hulk smash my keyboard

[@PinStratsDan]

Zen's Fish Tales is so difficult. In between my good games, there are many bad games with drains worthy of Hulk throwing my controller 😉. At some point they will update the physics in FX3 so it plays more like Monster Bash, but no idea when.

[@spookylive2k]

@@PinStratsDan UPDATE !!! I GOT IT I BEATEN MY FRIEND RECORD WITH 332 mill points Thank you DAN

[@PinStratsDan]

Great! Well done! Did you get a Super jackpot?

[@spookylive2k]

@@PinStratsDan sadly no :(

[@PinStratsDan]

Must have been close. Next time 😉

[@JulianDG]

The most stupid, hardest table ever seen. The "tourney" physic ball is ridiculous as hell.

[@PinStratsDan]

I look forward to play it once Zen updates the physics to their latest physics as implemented in Vol's 5 and 6. It should be easier at least.

[@thibaultriberagonzalez408]

Gg