I got a BF 6 weeks ago and it took a little while but I have 3 scores around 2.9 billion. The 20x bonus is key for big scores . You get it in the Edward awards. I have gotten as much as 900m in bonus. Obviouly you need to hit a lot of ramps and multi-ball after getting 20x. Also jack pots hitting 2 lit ramps are important to light super jackpot. Most modes can get you 50-90-million. You got to hit that right loop when lit to start modes. Good Luck, it is a fun game.

The answer to the title of your post is yes and no. This can be a challenging machine and you haven't owned it for very long. Be patient and work your way up.
This game does a very nice job of tying everything together. This goes for point accumulation as well.
Don't try to conquer this machine all at once. Get good at one thing at a time.
Suggestions:
1) Work the ramps, get your shots down. This scores immediately obviously but the bigger payoffs come later as 2 of the Gothic events involve ramps, then you have the multi-ball jackpots and eventually the ramp bonus. Getting the ramps down first will also do wonders for the flow of the game.
2) Try your best to practice the same Gotham Event repetitively. The game allows you to lock into a particular event until you start it. Also my machine has a tendency to start the game on one or two in particular and then you can launch and start it. As you get better at the various events your points will sky-rocket from 10m... up...up... up to almost 200million for a successful event!

3) Get better at the right orbit. This leads to more event opportunities via the kick-out and/or increased chances to light the B-A-T rollovers which multiply the bonus.

4) I like to lock at least one out of the first two balls. Easier multi-ball.

5) If you are having a good game or when all else fails you might gamble on Mr. E. Some rewards are not that great but the list does include extra ball and extra ball is lit as well as that awesome 20x bonus!

Well those are some of my tips.
Now start to bring all these together during your game play and your scores are sure to increase. We have had this game for several months now and I have improved considerably. Hit 3billion once and can nail 2billion semi-regularly. Great game, glad you like it, and many happy high scores!

Fun game, but the scoring is awful. Way to a highscore is to get the 20x bonus via edward and then get it to hold scoring over to the next ball. Gotten a 900 million bonus followed by a 1.2 billion bonus this way.

A good way to learn the rules, go to YouTube, search tnt batman forever. The video is a little over 16 minutes. They start explaining the rules around the 7 minute mark. And if it helps, I suck also

Spelling out C-A-V-E is indeed difficult. However, the pay-off is terrific if you succeed AND you light a hurry-up extra ball! Be glad the game is challenging instead of "can't wait to get rid of it" easy.

If you pick the ball lock option on the first two balls, ball 3 has the multiball shot ready. That's why the option is no longer available when you launch your third ball.

I have owned this pin for about 2 years, this was my very first pin that i purchased which in retrospect was probably a terrible decision as i based my decision off of the looks, play field and not the actual game play. That being said this pin made me a great player on other machines but took an extremely long time to master. The rules are fairly simple but until you master the play-field your gonna have a rough time. It took me a good 4 months just to enter Forever Mode (3 balls only on hard mode) and another month or so after that to actually beat Forever mode which has got to be one of the hardest shots I've ever encountered in pinball thus far. If you dont know its a 4 ball multiball where you have to shoot the left ramp while the batwing is ALREADY moving, must be timed absolutely perfectly, which is a huge pain in the ass because its almost impossible to hit the ramp from a cradle. then once you make it you have one rotation to hit the mini ramp which is extremly hard to hit as well from the batwing.

Mastering the left and right ramps is KEY otherwise your halfway ramp shots almost always end in a drain. Understand that the easiest way to make the left ramp shot is when the ball enters the outer most in-lane on the right side and its hit on the move. I have the upgraded coil from LOTR and its still extremely hard for me to make that ramp from a cradle (it may just be my machine but who knows). The next easiest way to make the left ramp shot is from the innermost in-lane but the ball loses much of its momentum and i usually capitalize on this with a shot to the mini ramp (progresses Mystery Awards,) or to the ball lock if lit. the reason the ramps are key is for when you get the 20x bonus, each ramp is worth 20mil at this point. If you can make these ramp consistently you can shoot left ramp to right ramp then Baterang is usally activated so another left ramp batwing to mini ramp then middle ramp with upper flipper which restarts the sequence shooting for left ramp again. One sequence is at least 100mil from the ramps alone not to mention the batwing/or 2x batwing.

In addition during 20x its key to activate the hold bonus via matching both good heads, keeping in mind the centerset is usually a death shot if shot with the right flipper.

Mastering the ramps will also help you through 3 ball multiball which imo is extremly boring with no build up at all.

There is a way to activate multiball with 4 balls in play, this is not a glitch with an accidental extra ball sent into play the game knows there are 4 balls. i have absolutly no idea how to activate this but i think it has something to do with a 4way or 5way which is only attainable if if the game is on hard mode and the batwing needs more then just 2-3 baterangs/ramps to activate. i cant confirm this, i have research and cant find anything on the subject. it happens to me usually when i'm having a very good game.

I never activate an event for skill shot always mystery, with a few exceptions, im a mode away from forever especially if the mode is the circus (lighting all bat signals at the ramps and side shots) and i'm far from beating it. The main reason for this is to start the event is only one shot, why waste a skill for one shot vs 4-5 shots for the mystery award. Lock balls and 20mil are a waste as well imo.

Some other strategy i employ

If multiball is lit (2balls locked) i will attempt to lock rooftop chase as any other mode activation locks you out of multiball until said mode is over.

Face two face is one of the deadliest modes, sometimes Ill just cradle the ball until its over.

Brain drain I've only completed maybe 10 times but it was one of the most satisfying shots ever.

Keep laser kick lit as much as possible (non matching heads, bat lanes).

The ? target just to the right of the left ramp is deadly.

Once all mystery awards are awarded they will restart hence lots of mini ramp shots.

Here's a link to the rule set http://pinball.org/rules/batmanforever.html

Here's my score on hard mode, almost went to forever twice. Got the 20x after the first forever mode and so just the bonus from the mode completions was close to half a bil

any questions let me know....

BF Score.jpg

Wow. Thank you very much for the walk-through. And nice score!!!

Also, make sure your flipper coils are right for the job. On mine, the right flipper was too weak to make it up the ramp from a cradle and the upper flipper was so damn strong the ball would routinely fly out of the ramp. The game was much more fun after I swapped coils.

You said that you had put an LOTR coil in the lower right flipper - what did you put in the upper flipper?

I just went through a frustrating experience adjusting the Batcave ball lock mech switches until I realized that I could simply adjust the mech to move the balls forward and make it easier for them to roll past the switches.

Any and every game can be really hard depending on setup, they all play differently