DINER tips and tricks

 Article 332 of rec.games.pinball:

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From: ls2r+@andrew.cmu.edu (Lui Sieh)

Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball

Subject: Spoiler! Long (was Re: Diner strategy?)

Message-ID: <UbKdgxu00WBNA2KHV=@andrew.cmu.edu>

Date: 3 Dec 90 18:36:45 GMT

Article-I.D.: andrew.UbKdgxu00WBNA2KHV=

References: <10846@rayssd.ssd.ray.com>

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Organization: Class of '91, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

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Excerpts From Captions of netnews.rec.games.pinball:

 3-Dec-90  Diner strategy?                Gregory M. Paris@rayssd. (415)    

article <10846@rayssd.ssd.ray.com> writes:

>I've had a few opportunities lately to play the game Diner (at airports

>and such), but haven't hit on an effective strategy for winning.  Should

>I run into one of these games again, I'd like to be able to do a little

>better.  Anyone familiar with this game want to provide a summary of the

>best strategy you've found?  If so, please post.

Here is a strategy that was not developed by me but by a collective of people

playin on our campus DINER game.  Credit probably goes to TEC for developing

it fully.  He was the person who got 55 Mil on it (as well as several 45 Mils

on it)

The following strategy however, may become very mechanical and other issues

which relate to strategy will be subject to another post.

1)  Always go and lock the ball.  Hit the right rmap shot to raise the left

ramp in order to lock.

2) lock the ball and release it.  You can release through using either the

"normal" release shot (looks like the Gorby shot on Taxi) or use the "hole"

shot on the side (looks like the planet shot on PinBot) to get the Diner

special start-multi ball.  (I don't think the words are right but you get

the idea I hope).  

3)  With multi-ball try to thrash alot and knock down the targets to collect

the people in order to light Dine-Time jackpot shot.  It is *not* important

to light the 500K ramp shots to get points that way.

4)  Repeat above 3

Deviations to this above outline:

I also make use of the Grill shot (looks like the Taxi one too).  That shot

is worth collectively more than 2.5 Mil.  By hitting down one set of targets

you light Grill shot worth 100K 250K 500K and 1500K (1.5 M).  You can get a

free game just on this strategy alone if for some reason you have a hard 

time getting the ramp shots down.

It is nice also to fill in E-A-T to help light the food shots on the ramps

since it will help you get to the DINE TIME jackpot sooner but again it isn't

all that important because with multi-ball those targets will fall fast with

two balls in play.

Finally, the cup shot with the 10X shot is the one shot *not* to shoot for.

It is not worth it when using the above strategy.  The problem with that shot

is that once you get it, you will have to hit the right ramp shot another 5

times in order to enable lock which as I have stated and will state again is

the *primary* purpose in a game because it will represent the most points and

the fastest way to get points and replay score.  That cup shot depending on

the game's condition will be worth up to 3.1 M or a mere 500 or 750K.  With

these points it will not be worth it for losing the ability to play multiball

which is worth much more.

In this case, I don't agree with David Tate in a previous article about DINER

and how to play it.  The left ramp is rather important because it will light

the extra ball (the Grill shot) and also advance DINE TIME jackpot as will

lighting the E-A-T since this will light the advance the jackpot in the inner

lanes.  The right ramp again is important because it enables lock rather than

for the 10X cup shot.  So, while it is true that DINER's multiball does not

lead directly to a jackpot shot per se, it will help immeasurably in knocking

down the targets in order to light the jackpot shot.

I hope this was rather clear.  If not, send some e-mail

BTW, the above strategy ought to give you an average between 5-7 Million 

points.  Should be plenty for airport games.  Mileage will vary due to skill

and accounting for "off days".  And if you find it becoming  "mechanical"

then vary when boredome sets in.

-Lui

ARPA: ls2r+@andrew.cmu.edu             Postmail: CMU

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