High Hand / Capt. Card pinball rules and strategy
The Strategy
High Hand and Capt. Card make complete four-card suits far more valuable than scattered cards. Finish one suit at a time, stop at fifteen cards when the sixteenth-card award has no value, and repeat the 12,300 center-saucer collect from a slow side angle.
The goal
Complete whole suits, stop at fifteen cards when an add-a-ball has no value, then repeat the built bonus at the center saucer from a slow side angle.
Identify High Hand or Capt. Card and confirm what the sixteenth-card saucer award scores.
Read the four suit banks. Choose the suit that is closest to completion and safe from the current flipper.
From a Hold a raised flipper so a slow ball settles against it, giving you time to plan your next move., attack the upper diamonds and spades. Use the lower clubs and hearts from slower inlane feeds.
Shoot a target on the same side as the active flipper, often from near the flipper base and behind the nearby slingshot. the Q-J diamonds or A-K spades when that angle is available.
Finish one whole suit before you spread shots across other banks.
Build three complete suits plus three cards in the fourth suit, stopping at fifteen when Capt. Card's add-a-ball is disabled.
Send a slow, side-angle ball toward the center saucer to collect 12,300, then repeat it while the feed remains controlled.
If the saucer rejects the ball, recover control before you resume suit work.
Alternative route: One-suit completion
Use this when the center saucer does not hold or several suit banks are dangerous.
- Choose the suit with the fewest standing targets.
- Use safe outer-edge hits instead of center hits on the upper banks.
- Complete the suit for its 4K bonus value.
- Protect the built bonus and wait for an indirect saucer feed.
Need to know
- Edition
- High Hand is the replay version; Capt. Card is the add-a-ball version, so the sixteenth-card saucer award differs.
- Suit targets
- Each suit has four card targets, so finish one complete suit before another when the shot choice permits it.
- Partial-suit bonus
- One, two, or three cards in an incomplete suit add only 100, 200, or 300 to the bonus.
High Hand and Capt. Card build the center-saucer bonus through sixteen suit targets, with complete suits worth far more than partial ones. Stop at fifteen cards by completing three suits and taking three cards from the fourth, then repeat the 12,300 saucer from a controlled side angle. The sixteenth card changes the saucer to Special or add-a-ball, so take it only when that configured award is worthwhile.
The goal
Complete whole suits, stop at fifteen cards when the Captain Card add-a-ball has no value, then repeat the built bonus at the center saucer from a slow side angle.
- Identify High Hand or Capt. Card and confirm what the sixteenth-card saucer award scores.
- Read the four suit banks. Choose the suit that is closest to completion and safe from the current flipper.
- From a Hold a raised flipper so a slow ball settles against it, giving you time to plan your next move., attack the upper diamonds and spades. Use the lower clubs and hearts from slower inlane feeds.
- Shoot a target on the same side as the active flipper, often from near the flipper base and behind the nearby slingshot. the Q-J diamonds or A-K spades when that angle is available.
- Finish one whole suit before you spread shots across other banks.
- Build three complete suits plus three cards in the fourth suit, stopping at fifteen when Capt. Card's add-a-ball is disabled.
- Send a slow, side-angle ball toward the center saucer to collect 12,300, then repeat it while the feed remains controlled.
- If the saucer rejects the ball, recover control before you resume suit work.
Builds toward: Fifteen-card saucer repeat
- Complete one four-card suit at a time.
- Stop at fifteen cards with three complete suits and three cards in the fourth.
- Repeat the 12,300 center saucer from a slow side angle.
- Take the sixteenth card only when its High Hand Special or Capt. Card add-a-ball has more value.