How to Win at Dave & Buster's Games - Kung-Fu Panda

Video is now public - given 26,000 people found it from there I think it's safe to open it up.
This is my newest offering to the advantage play community - a how-to video on Kung-Fu Panda.
The video gives a basic explanation of things, though there's only so much you can cram into 7 or 8 minutes. I'll put the rest here:
The difficulty scale: There are two indicators as to whether or not it's worth playing Kung-Fu Panda (Dave & Buster's or not.) The first, and the one you can always go by, is how many dumplings it wants in the last round to win. The problem? You don't exactly get to see this until you're already playing a game (or watching someone else) so you may have to take a chance and play blind to this information.
The default is 33 to win. Every time the game's won, the difficulty goes up a notch and will ALMOST ALWAYS require more dumplings to be hit - but in some scenarios it'll stay the same. But after so many games played - with a win or not - it'll drop 1 notch.
If no one hits it on 33 for a while, the score to win drops to 30, round 2 gives you 20 seconds instead of 15, and the round 1 gives you 22 seconds instead of 20. If no one hits THAT, the score to win goes to 25, round 2 gives 22 seconds, and round 1 gives 25 seconds.
So if it were a sliding scale, it would go
25 - 30 - 33(a) - 33(b) - 34 - 35 - 36 - etc. (not sure how much further it goes.)
The thing is, "33" is not two separate notches but is more than one. If you hit it on 30, then 33, it will go to 34...but if it was on 33 but getting close to ready to drop to 30, it will go 33, then 33 again, then 34. I don't know how many plays it takes to go between notches.
The patterns:
There are two different kind of patterns; groups of 2 or 3 targets/dumplings, and groups of 6 targets/dumplings; these show up in both round 2 and round 3. If you can't beat round 1 without help you shouldn't play this anyway.
FOR ALL PATTERNS - I'm going to refer to these by numerical values, going from top left, down and around to top right. 1 is top left, 2 is middle left, 3 is bottom left, 4 is bottom right, 5 is middle right, 6 is top right.
First, the patterns of six - these will always show in a pre-determined order:
2 - 1 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
4 - 2 - 1 - 5 - 3 - 6
5 - 1 - 4 - 2 - 6 - 3
Clumps of six will show up all the time in round 2, but will ONLY show up in the final round at the beginning of a game OR when you're lagging behind and the game knows you need a large number of targets to catch up. So the better you're doing, the less you'll see these.
The patterns of 2 and 3 are quite possibly the most important as you'll be seeing these the most often in round 3.
1-2, 1-2-5, 1-2-6; these start out with the two on the left-hand side and MAY include one additional target; if it does include a third target, it will ALWAYS be on the right side. It'll never be one of the bottom two.
6-5, 6-5-2, 6-5-1; the exact opposite of the above. Two right side, with one possible additional on the left side.
1-6, 2-5; the two top across from one another or two middle across.
1-5, 6-2; a top on one side and the middle on the other or vice versa. Still will never include the bottom ones.
3-4, 3-4-1, 3-4-6 - THIS IS IMPORTANT. This is the ONLY time, other than bunches of six, that the bottom two will be used. #3 will ALWAYS come before #4; if a third target shows up it will ALWAYS be one of the ones on top, it can be either side. Another note - when it's ONLY #3 and #4, there will be a slight lag in #4 showing up - you have to hit 3 first. If there's going to be a third target, there will be less lag. This is important because you can't "jump the gun" and hit #4 with any certainty of it not being a spiked ball and eating a time penalty, and this is the only time there will be that much lag.
As far as the X balls - hitting an X in round 3 is NOT certain death; the catch-up mechanic may bail you out. After this video was shot, I played with it on 34 to win, hit TWO X balls in back to back clumps, and the clumps of 6 got me to a win with 0.9 seconds remaining. Don't give up!
On educated guessing - one big thing to keep in mind is in clumps of 2 or 3, you will NEVER see two Xs in the same batch. So if you have a 3-4-1 or 3-4-6, and one of the bottom two is an X, you can immediately go hit one or both of the top corners without waiting to see what it is, knowing you won't hit an X and this may give you a couple extra tenths of a second. In a clump of six it is VERY rare for you to see two Xs, but you can have one in the first 3 and one in the second 3.
May the odds be ever in your favor!

[@4lch3m15t]

I have dealt with this man IRL. he really is that good. You, sir are the true king of games.

[@marshingovender3519]

Really enjoyed the explanation and your timing is insane...

[@DrewtheDisneyDude]

I'm here to see you use the tips you just sent me!! 😎👍🏻

[@crazym108]

This game looks a bit stupid, until you realize he's making $50 an hour.

[@Im_Behind_You]

+crazym108 I too read the only article on the internet that links to this video

[@theblinkboxie6451]

I'm korean. Help me how to get there / is DDR possible with the tickets?

[@Kekachu1107]

I did 2 out of 3 on this game. One was on 30 dumplings and that's guarantee jackpot and both was on 33 dumplings but I lost on 33 and play it again and got the jackpot the second attempt on 33 dumplings. I noticed when bottom 3 dumpling comes, I hit bottom 6 dumpling but sometimes the spike can trick me. I never played it when it was on 35 or 37 but I did hit it on 34 a couple of times but not twice in the row. Just different days.

[@SABOTENArtCraft]

In India you will get 500 tickets and i almost won 2500 tickets for this game..and the swipe card just costs 60rs which means 1 dollar and 75 cents i think..but this game is awesome

[@quachyq]

Interesting stuff. This has been my go to game for tickets at my DnB for quite some time but could never win it as consistently as it looks like you can. Too bad the machine has started to fail lately :(.

[@MewtwoStruckBack]

quachyq Tell the techs which pads are failing. They will fix these things, even if it takes some time!

[@RedFeng007]

Batch of 6, sometimes top right comes with spike.

[@Jdevy]

Cool!

[@palace_pro4923]

Nice!!!!

[@dannysanchez846]

I knew that guy looked familiar I saw that dude at dave & busters in new Mexico wth

[@bertterm3014]

if the game requires 34-36 dumplings to get the jackpot, how does the game reset back to 33 dumplings to win?

[@MewtwoStruckBack]

After a certain number of plays, the difficulty drops by one unit. I'm not exactly sure how many, but on a busy night it's not unheard of to see it roll back multiple times.

[@holden6104]

If you hit a spike ball on an earlier round, does it affect the next round? I never understood why it's anywhere between 33-35 for the last round.

[@MewtwoStruckBack]

No, previous round spikes do not affect the last round. Whether the last round is 33 (normal), 34 (hard but winnable), 35 (designed to be near impossible), 30 (easy), or 25 (super easy) depends on the game’s payout control and how many people have won recently. If the game has been won to the maximum it wishes to allow, it will be on 35 in the last round. Once a certain number of plays occur, this will roll down to 34, then 33, then 30 (and the first two rounds give more time), then 25 (and the first two rounds give even more time), with it moving one notch up that ladder for each win.

[@holden6104]

@@MewtwoStruckBack this is amazingly insightful. Were you the developer lol? Thank you!

[@MewtwoStruckBack]

@@holden6104 No - but those who look to profit long-term from arcade games need to know everything they can about how they work. This includes looking up game manuals, obtaining settings sheets from arcades where this is possible, etc. - there need to be situations where we as players know more about how a game functions than the developers themselves, and it’s happened on certain other games shown on this channel in the past.

[@holden6104]

@@MewtwoStruckBack Cool. I beat this game on my third try, but with only 33 dumplings. I thought I accomplished something big lol. My kids were pretty happy.

[@MewtwoStruckBack]

@@holden6104 To be fair, you DID accomplish something. Most casual players can't hit Panda without cheating (2 at a time) and to pick it up on your third play is still pretty good. I know a number of people in advantage player circles that STILL don't go for Panda on 34 as they're not comfortable with it.

[@RedFeng007]

35 is the highest difficulty. I hit twice and it never increase to 36.

[@TechnoHelper]

Im confused in the description what patterns

[@alancooper3306]

This game only uses preset patterns, rather than just spitting out targets completely randomly, as one might initially think. The dumplings come up in groupings of 2, 3, or 6 in a limited number of permutations. The patterns he listed in the description are (most of) the possible permutations you will see them pop up in at a time. For clarity, I'll put the pattern mappings from his two 3rd ("last") round attempts below. Like he said in the description, we'll let each of the 6 drums correspond to a number: "1 is top left, 2 is middle left, 3 is bottom left, 4 is bottom right, 5 is middle right, 6 is top right." Below, I also put parenthesis around the ones that fulfill the pattern but are bombs, which he avoids punching. Starting at 1:40 [5 1 4 2 (6) 3], [1 5], [6 5 2], [1 (6)], [1 2], [3 4 1], [(2) 6], [3 4], [6 5 1], [1 2], [(3) 4], [6 5 2], [(6) 5], [1 6], [2 6], [1 6] Starting at 4:30 [5 1 4 2 (6) 3], [1 5], [6 5 2], [3 4], [(6) 5 2], [1 5], [3 (4) 6], [6 5], [3 4], [1 (2)], [1 6], [3 4 6], [(1) 6], [1 2 5], [2 (6)], [1 6]

[@juliuscaesart]

33 dumplings are difficult to get. I feel like sometimes not enough come out

[@MewtwoStruckBack]

The faster you hit, the faster they spawn. If there's not enough coming out for you to get 33, the problem is not with the game. You are not predicting where they are going to come up quickly enough.

[@jollama]

30-33 dumplings is easy. When it's 34 or more then you're screwed

[@RedFeng007]

@@MewtwoStruckBack Only manage to hit 35 once. But that is like once in 10 Attempts. Still didn't understand the pattern. Only understand I must hit 2 at one time. Predict which is the third one.

[@MewtwoStruckBack]

@@RedFeng007 You're not hitting the first 2 exactly simultaneously because one of them could be a spike - you have to either slightly slow down, or make an educated guess based on where the third one could potentially be. If you're right on the borderline or lagging behind the pace you need to win, this guess may be even if there's the possibility of a spike. For example, there's like 1 and a half seconds left you've hit 31, you need 34. A dumpling appears in position 3 (bottom left.) You know from the patterns in the description that a dumpling in position three GUARANTEES there will be SOMETHING (dumpling or spike) showing up in position 4 (bottom right), and there's the possibility (but not a guarantee) that something (dumpling or spike) can also show up in position 1 or 6 (top left or top right.) So in this situation where you absolutely have to hit 3 dumplings, you're hitting 3, then 4, then reaching up with both hands and hitting 1 and 6 - if you're right, you won, if anything's not a dumpling or there's no third dumpling, well you were going to lose anyway.

[@RedFeng007]

@@MewtwoStruckBack If 2 appear at the same time, then it is a bonus to hit both. If one appears ahead the other, then no choice to hit the second one slower. Just predict the third one and forth one in a pattern, is tricky. The last 2 seconds also depend on luck whether they give spikes or enough dumplings.

[@96Warobelisk]

So this is purely a skill game with a jackpot that isn’t tied to a payout system? Interesting. Tried this game for the first time yesterday with some friends. They went first and tried to cheese it by having one person use the left pads, other used the right pads. They didn’t get the jackpot. I do it solo, jackpot on first attempt!

[@MewtwoStruckBack]

There IS a payout system - it just makes it NEAR impossible rather than LITERALLY impossible. I recently had three consecutive 35s (but was not filming.) That said when you pull off the “win in one shot after multiple people try and cheat together” that’s when you can spread some misinformation that’s helpful to the AP community. You can tell them “a good few of these machines have anti-cheat on them if they detect multiple people” - which is a thing on some games, you’re just not telling them Panda doesn’t actually have it. This will possibly stop them from trying to cheat again where they may be successful, and also put doubt in their heads about trying it on other random games where their dual play may take away from an AP’s rate of return later.

[@pistachiovr7147]

I managed to get 30, then 33 twice then 34 twice then 35. Also it managed to glitch out so I didn't have to pay and play points and got to do 40 free rounds

[@MewtwoStruckBack]

If this was a D&B your card would have been locked for redemption and you would have been unable to use the points, unless this was so long ago it paid physical tickets. I've seen it do a weird glitch years ago where there were like 100 credits on it and it locked up any card that was used with that that got more than 1,200 tickets.

[@TechnoHelper]

I dont understand a single thing

[@forestwanderer]

I beat Kung Fu Panda like six times today without memorizing any stupid algorithms or pattern bullshit.

[@MewtwoStruckBack]

+ForestLogic How many more times could you have beat it with the additional help? I don't see why you have a problem with researching games for profit.

[@CursedHeretic]

Cringe worthy. Yeah I'll stick with a normal career over constant repetition of games meant for children in a loud sticky room full of 4 yr olds screaming.

[@TheSquareOnes]

+CursedHeretic Seriously, I could barely hear this guy over all those unruly children.

[@cupcakeswirl2446]

I can't even hear children scream here, this is not Chuck E Cheese and this arcade is for more mature people. Games like these are for all ages.

[@ClubDevon]

+CursedHeretic What?!? Who wouldn't wanna play arcade games for a living?!

[@WeAreSoBackBros]

he makes 50 an hour fuck my pride for that much money to play games

[@DrewtheDisneyDude]

This is DAVE & BUSTER'S. That's such an untrue comment. I make money having fun... who doesn't want that?