Northstar Pinball Collective · Savage, MN · 48 games · first seen May 29, 2026 · last seen Oct 18, 2026
Strategy notes, tutorial videos, and outside resources.
Mystic pinball machine has 48 recorded tournament games in Savage, MN. A game runs about 11m, the median of 48 timed games, so budget for that in a round with a clock on it. The better-ranked player loses here 55.6% of the time, which puts it at 34/100 for difficulty. That is a low-variance machine: scores hold up and the stronger player usually wins, so it rewards the favorite.
Spinners are worthless (only 10 points) unless lit by shooting "Bally hole" at top center of playfield, then they are worth 1000 points!
Best scores come from completing grids by hitting drop targets and acquiring bonus. Then shooting captive ball to multiply bonus.
Hole at top lights spinner
During first ball, concentrate on drop targets to complete tic-tac-toe rows, each row is permanent bonus that holds over for entire game!
Shoot captive ball for bonus x
Completing stars twice lights extra ball
Complete any line on the "tic-tac-toe" board with same symbol to advance bonus.
If you have built up a big bonus, concentrate on Mystical Power Shot (captive ball) to increase multiplier, up to maximum of 4X.
Learn which drop target corresponds to each of the 9 possible tic-tac-toe board spaces. Helps when completing lines.
all bonus carries over, so build bonus on ball 1
slingshots toggle the tic tac toe boards
Complete all 9 squares on the tic-tac-toe board, with any symbol, to clear the board for your next ball.
If the "wrong" symbol is lit and you don't want to put it on the tic-tac-toe board, aim for orbits instead.
