Northstar Pinball Collective · Savage, MN · 130 games · first seen Dec 12, 2024 · last seen Oct 16, 2026
Strategy notes, tutorial videos, and outside resources.
Eight Ball Champ pinball machine has 130 recorded tournament games in Savage, MN. A game runs about 13m, the median of 128 timed games, so budget for that in a round with a clock on it. The better-ranked player loses here 52.4% of the time, which puts it at 33/100 for difficulty. That is a low-variance machine: scores hold up and the stronger player usually wins, so it rewards the favorite.
Left orbit can be huge scoring. 100K orbit max, 100K saucer max, at 3X playfield that's 600K per shot!
Work the lanes at the top. Remember, you are trying to put lights out, not light them!
Each drop target resets after your ball drains, but drop target will not reset during play until you hit the standup behind it.
Knock down upper left and upper right drop targets first. Because, if you drain, they reset next ball, helps as you need to drop them twice.
Left orbit almost all day (if not for the need to also complete pool ball racks). Feeds top lanes, which complete for playfield multiplier!
When ball is at top, lane change (if not disabled) to always keep HAM lanes lit. Spelling CHAMP is playfield multiplier until end of ball!
Bonus is permanent on this game, so in later balls, concentrate on left orbit all day, to build bonus multiplier up to 5X.
Shooting the upper hole will increase the bonus multiplier. It will increase up to 5x. It is easier to do so with the upper flipper than the bottom right flipper.
