Eight Ball Deluxe pinball tournament strategy: build the bonus, then multiply it

No machine in our data has been played more than Eight Ball Deluxe. It has 990 tracked tournament games, 777 of them at Blainbrook, and 279 different players have put up a result on it.

It is a bonus game. Most of a good score arrives after the ball has drained, when the machine counts up what you built. That changes how you should play it: the shots that feel productive during the ball are often worth less than the ones that set up the count at the end.

The short version

1. On the plunge, nudge the ball into the lit top lane.
2. From the left flipper, shoot the drop targets until all seven are down, then the 8 ball.
3. From the right flipper, shoot the left orbit.
4. Once your first rack is complete, use the right flipper to climb the inline drops for bonus multipliers.
5. Keep your nudges small. A tilt throws the bonus away.

Where the points come from

Each of your seven pool balls adds 7,000 to the bonus when its target drops. Players one and three are assigned balls 1 through 7, players two and four get 9 through 15, and both sets use the same bank of seven drop targets on the right.

Drop all seven and the 8 ball lights. Hit the lit 8 ball and the game locks in a super bonus of 56,000. A second rack raises the super bonus to 112,000, which is the cap.

Two details matter in a three-ball game:

• The pool balls you have dropped and the super bonus carry over from ball to ball. Work you did on ball one still pays on ball three.
• The bonus multiplier does not carry over. It starts again every ball.

The multiplier comes from the four inline drop targets in the upper left, which step it to 2x, 3x, 4x and 5x. With everything maxed and 5x lit, the count at the end of the ball tops out at 840,000.

What each flipper is for

Each flipper has its own job on this game.

Left flipper: the rack. The seven drop targets are shot from the left side. There are two left flippers, a lower one and an upper one above the left slingshot. The lower flipper is the safer choice for the drop bank because the ball is traveling up the playfield when it hits. The 8 ball sits in the upper right, and the upper flipper has the better angle on it. Do not leave a lit 8 ball sitting there. The rack is not banked until you hit it.

Right flipper: the orbit, then the multipliers. The left orbit pays more each time you make it during a ball: 500, 10,000, 30,000 and 50,000, then an extra ball light, 70,000, a special light, and 70,000 for every shot after that. It also carries the ball to the top lanes, and it is the safest route up there.

The inline drops are the other right flipper shot. The question is when to switch from the orbit to the multipliers, and Bob's Guides gives a clean rule for it. Each multiplier step adds one more copy of your base bonus. While the base is under 70,000, an orbit is worth more than a step. Once your first rack is locked and the second is under way, the base passes 70,000 and the multipliers win.

If the ball is on the wrong flipper, an alley pass or a dead bounce moves it across without a risky shot.

Ask about the saucer

Behind the 8 ball target is a saucer, the corner pocket. It is only open while the 8 ball target is down, and it collects your bonus during play, as many times as you can shoot it.

Whether that collect includes your multiplier is an operator setting. On some machines a 5x saucer shot pays five times the bonus. On others it pays the base. Ask the tournament director, or watch the first collect of the night, before you build a plan around it. If the multiplier applies, looping the saucer at 5x after a second rack is the biggest play on the table.

Ask about extra balls too. Many events turn them off or have you plunge them. In novelty mode, which competition setups often use, an extra ball scores 25,000 and a special 50,000.

The plunge and the top lanes

There is no skill shot award. The plunge always lands in one of the two top lanes, A or B, and a small nudge decides which. The inlanes are C and D. With A and B collected and C or D still open, one top lane lights for 25,000, and the lit lane alternates with pop bumper and slingshot hits.

Completing A-B-C-D knocks down one or two of your pool balls for you, depending on settings, and raises the value of the 8 ball shot.

Where the ball drains

• The pop bumpers send a lot of balls straight down the middle. Be ready to nudge as the ball leaves them.
• The 8 ball target can rebound toward the center drain, more so on a steep machine or a hard hit.
• The inline drops can do the same.
• The drop bank throws the ball sideways, and no two rebounds match.
• When the ball rolls down past the upper flipper, letting it fall to the lower left flipper is often safer than flipping at it.

A tilt ends the ball and forfeits the bonus. On this game that can be most of your score, so find the limit of the tilt early and stay under it late.

What the tracked games say

Numbers are from late September 2026. The Eight Ball Deluxe machine page has the live ones.

The upset rate is how often the lower-rated player in a pairing finishes ahead. At 38.9%, Eight Ball Deluxe is more generous to underdogs than the average machine in our data (35.5%), and well above most modern Sterns, which run from 27% to 35%. If you are the lowest-rated player in your group and the pick is yours, this is a reasonable place to take your chance. If you are the favorite, there are safer picks. The upset rates by machine post ranks all of them.

Games are short. The typical one takes 11:43 from the first plunge to the result being entered.

Among players with at least 20 games on it, the best records belong to Adam Turgeson, Trevor Klungseth and Bryan Moen, each with more than 100 games and more than 40 outright wins. Luke Nahorniak and Chris Frame are next. Run the scouting report against your own group before you pick it.

Where to play it

• Blainbrook in Blaine has had it in tournament play since 2021. The Blainbrook guide covers the room.
• 3rd Lair Skatepark and Skate Shop in Minneapolis has one on the floor, with 13 tracked games so far.
• Julie's Pinball in Farmington lists one, with no tournament games recorded on it yet.

Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative ran 182 tracked games on one through May 2026. Check the venue page for the current lineup before you go.

Before your next game

The Eight Ball Deluxe playbook has player tips, tutorial videos and rulesheet links in one place, and the scores tab shows the best games on record. For the full rules, the Pinball Primer guide, Bob's Guides and the Pinball for Mortals mini guide are the three we leaned on.

The same room holds Comet, Paragon and Nugent. How to play classic games in a tournament covers the habits they share, and every guide in the series is listed in the machine strategy guides.