Venom pinball tournament strategy: pick Eddie, lock three, stack Carnage
Venom was built around saved progress, and tournaments switch that off. What is left is a game about two multiballs and the order you start them in. Which host to choose, how Mayhem works, and what 452 tracked games say.
·5 min read·Tilt Stats
Venom is a 2023 Stern designed around a player profile. At home or on location you log in, level up, and keep your progress and the extra characters you have earned from one game to the next. In a tournament all of that should be turned off. Everyone starts level with nothing saved, and only the four default hosts can be chosen.
So the tournament version of Venom is a smaller game than the one in the manual. It has 452 tracked games in our data, and the plan for it fits on an index card.
The short version
- Do not plunge right away. Choose your host first. Eddie is the usual pick.
- Use the flipper buttons to choose a skill shot, then plunge.
- Play the lit mini-modes and lock balls at the green arrows.
- When the display says ball two is locked, hold the action button so multiball waits for a third ball.
- During Mayhem Multiball, knock the Carnage captive ball all the way back and shoot the center ramp to start a second multiball on top.
Choosing a host
| Host | What you start with |
|---|---|
| Eddie | Two Mayhem locks already lit, and higher Mayhem scoring |
| Gwen | One lock lit, Infected targets count double, Doppelganger worth more, good combos |
| Peter | One lock lit, combos count double to begin with, Carnage lights sooner and scores more |
| Flash | No locks lit, and an add-a-ball team-up ready |
Eddie's two lit locks put the first multiball closest, and Stern's own tip cards point new players to him. In a three-ball game that head count of locks is hard to argue with.
A common mistake is plunging so fast that the host screen is skipped. Take your time at the start.
Skill shots
Each host has three skill shots, and you cycle through them with a flipper button before the plunge. Every host has the flashing top lane, worth two bonus multipliers. The others depend on the host. For Eddie, Gwen and Peter, the Life Foundation shot spots a mini-mode, which counts toward your next Mayhem lock.
There is also a hidden one. Plunging into the saucer at the top pays 3M and four bonus multipliers, and cancels the option you had selected.
Mayhem Multiball
Mini-modes light the locks, which show as two green arrows, one on each side of the playfield. Stern's tip cards mostly mark the left ramp and the scoop. The arrows on the machine are the final word.
By default the multiball starts when the second ball is locked. Holding the action button at that moment tells the game to wait for a third. Letting it start with two balls is a common mistake.
Where you lock matters. Locks on the left bring in Agony, then Lasher, then double experience. Locks on the right bring in Riot, then Phage, then one extra level of playfield multiplier.
The multiball has two phases. In the first you have one ball and a ball save, and the left ramp and the scoop alternate for up to nine quick jackpots. In the second, every lit shot has to be made to light the super jackpot at the scoop.
Carnage Multiball
The captive ball between the left ramp and the center ramp is Carnage. Hits push him back toward Ravencroft. When he is all the way back, a shot up the center ramp starts Carnage Multiball.
It stacks with Mayhem, and starting it during Mayhem is the play Stern's guide recommends. In Carnage Multiball, repeating the captive ball and the center ramp lights the super jackpot at the scoop, and the other shots and the red Infected targets score jackpots.
The Bell Tower
Two shots up the center ramp light the Bell Tower target, which sits a little to the right of it. Hitting the lit target adds 1x to the playfield multiplier for a limited time, up to a maximum of 7x. The number of ramps needed goes up each time, and the multiplier goes back to 1x on every ball.
When no multiball is close, looping the center ramp and hitting the lit Bell Tower is the best use of a ball.
What blocks what
Lighting a boss battle before Mayhem blocks the Mayhem locks and stops Carnage from starting. Battles need experience level 10 to begin with, and one Tilt Forums regular reckons the two multiballs together should easily get you there. Play the multiballs first.
After a Mayhem Multiball, the locks do not relight until you have fought a boss.
Hazards
One of the bosses, Grendel, reverses your flippers until you hit a lit shot. Some players cross their arms. Another, Knull, can switch the left flipper off for a moment.
A tilt during a battle resets your progress in that battle.
We could not find a reliable source on which shots drain on Venom, so we are not going to guess. Watch the players ahead of you.
Competition settings
A competition install gives two tilt warnings and no extra balls. The mystery awards come in a fixed order, and the first three are three bonus multipliers, 1,000 experience, and three lit locks.
Tournament directors are advised to turn saved progress off and to stop locked balls from carrying between players. If a machine lets you log in and load a saved level during a tournament game, tell the director.
On a Pro there are two ramps. The Premium and LE have four, and some shots change their path depending on the host.
What the tracked games say
| Tracked tournament games | 452 |
| Tournaments it appeared in | 241 |
| Players with a game on it | 274 |
| Typical game | 20:16 |
| Upset rate | 33.4% |
| Difficulty | 37 out of 100 |
Numbers are from late September 2026. The Venom machine page has the live ones.
The upset rate is how often the lower-rated player in a pairing finishes ahead. Venom's 33.4% is two points under the average of 35.5%, a little more open than most Sterns of its age. The full ranking is in upset rates by machine.
The leaderboard is the unusual part. There are 274 players with a game on Venom and only four have played it 20 times. None of those four has a record much better than even. On most machines in this series somebody has worked the game out and wins 70% of the time. Here nobody has, which makes the rules above worth more than usual. The scouting report shows who in your group has history on it.
Where to play it
- Blainbrook in Blaine, 72 tracked games.
- Northstar Pinball Collective in Savage, 67 tracked games since April 2026. See the Northstar guide.
LITT Pinball Bar ran 128 tracked games on one through February 2026. Check the venue page for the current lineup.
Before your next game
The Venom playbook has player tips, videos and rulesheet links, and the scores tab includes Insider Connected scores from local venues. For the full rules we leaned on the Pinball Rulesheets wiki and Stern's own rules guide.
Brian Eddy's other games in this series are Attack From Mars and Stranger Things. The whole series is in the machine strategy guides.