You must have just seen the game listing for the Pinballz PAPA tournament like me

If you're human, try not to make any bad moves while playing Centaur.

Heh...

Genie is all about racking up a big end of ball bonus. get the multipliers when they're lit. the bonus itself tends to increase just by just banging the ball around the field in general. stay safe and avoid the weird left bumper / outlanes area.

Centaur ... try to maintain a perma-multiball. you can keep adding balls indefinitely (up to 5). to add a ball, complete the "orbs" drop targets in order, or complete "orbs" in any order and then bash the captive ball enough times to drop all the targets in the captive ball area to release however many "orbs" you've completed. (also the flippers move the targets over the inlanes/outlanes -- completing these also adds a ball)

Better hope the tilt isn't tight on Centaur and you know how to nudge back in from the outlanes off the star posts. Best "death save" in all of pinball as far as I'm concerned.

I don't know how accurate the TPA version of Genie is, but getting the ball anywhere in that left side outlane usually results in my ball being lost on the emulated version.

True, having a huge end-of-ball bonus is great, but Genie has a "collect bonus" saucer in the upper right that is invaluable for achieving real high scores.

Build your bonus fast with the spinner when lit. The spinner lights when fed through the inlanes, but you only get one shot - once any other switches are lit, the spinner goes out.

The yellow drops are your bonus multiplier when lit. The light alternates with the pops, so when lit- nail it.

The bonus collect is lit after you rack up enough bonus (10k, 20k? don't remember off the top).

Build. Collect. Repeat.

My table wasn't that bad. I was able to save much more than I lost with really gentle nudging, and my tilt was really tight. But you're right, why risk it though.

Haven't played enough Centaur to give an opinion

Centaur is about keeping balls in play and maximizing the bonus during play and at the end of ball.

ORBS (in order) is the safest and easiest way to add balls. Hitting them out of order increases the ORB count but the balls must be released via a lit release target.

For bonus related features, knock the 1-4 targets down (any order), get the arrow at the right orbit lane lit and time the 5x shot to collect 5x your lit bonus while the ball is in play. Repeat. Increase and maximize the end of ball multiplier by completing the 3 upper rollovers. Try to reach the super bonus tiers 20 40 60.

A few multiball notes:

Most tourney Centaur games will have the number of ORBS reset ball to ball. So the player has to keep rebuilding.

Completing the lower 4 lanes (blue lights-guardians) will generally add a ball into play, but the settings are important. It can be set to add a ball each time the 4 lanes are completed, or once per ball (useful as a one-time ball saver). In tourneys I have seen it as add a ball one time per ball max. The lower lanes work somewhat like in Transformers (I suspect TF used the Centaur idea). The left flipper controls the lower left lanes and the right controls the lower right lanes.

Also the upper right ORB release target can be lit by hitting 1-4 in order or using the upper right target next to the bumpers to spot a target (assuming they are still dropped in order). Reset the targets by hitting the target on the left side of the playfield if the 1-4 targets are out of order. (All of the inserts are color coordinated to see what things are related). Keep in mind if the 1-4 targets are reset before all 4 are knocked down, the ball-in-play bonus collect feature at the upper right will not activate until all 4 targets are knocked down.

If the outlane posts near the one-way gates are removed or the rubber is off, then saving the balls is practically a moot point.

Risking a tilt is not advised to save a ball unless you are in dire straits. Bonus can add up fast and in a 3 ball game can be worth about 1 MIL points over the course of a game. Not trivial.

Hope that helps.

On Genie, I have differnt theory regarding the 'collect bonus' saucer. I avoid it UNTIL my bonus is maxed. The saucer will light once you've got more than 20k in bonus. However, if you don't have your multiplier maxed at 5x - I stay away from the saucer. If you hit the saucer, it will give you your bonus, then you start over. So if you've for 20k and collect - your bonus is now zero. Why collect when you're maybe just one shot away from getting 2x, or 3x? I think it's better to wait until you've almost maxed the bonus - then collect.

Oh, I totally agree. I probably wasn't very clear before, but yes, my "Build. Collect. Repeat." strategy includes multipliers. I always go for a multiplier if I have a clear shot, because it's much easier to relight the spinner than it is to rely on random pops to light my drops.

I can't speak much about Centaur, but Genie is a game I know well. We play it in league all the time and I also won a high score tourney on Genie once. The yellow drops are your friend, pound them at every opportunity, especially if they are lit for bonus x. As someone already stated, the 4 yellow drops lite on/off with every pop bumper hit, and also with the star rollovers that lead to the large upper bank of drops. You can thread the needle and shoot the ball directly to the upper drops. But, I prefer to aim through the spinner, as you will often get a pop bumper hit, AND the ball will get over to the upper drops. To aim well with the upper mini flippers, just try to hit everything as a backhand.

Another important thing with Genie is don't get too cute with the flippers. There is rubber on the right inlane, and other things to mess you up. It is far better to play Genie more like an EM and go against your instincts and just hit most of your shots on the fly. Also, full bonus (29K times 5x) is only 145K. So bonus is a large part of your score, but it is unlike many other games where bonus is everything. Also, on the plunge, try for lane A or D. Lane B is the worst.

Summing up Genie strategy, "Yellow drops and pops"!

For Centaur, learn that nudge-save when it gets into the outlanes.Those gates are there for that reason.