The game focuses primarily on Madness features. Every time you complete a task (such as shooting the castle to destroy it or shooting the left ramp to stir up angry peasants), it lights a Madness feature at Merlin's kickout for Multiball Madness. The more modes you have lit at the kickout, the more balls you get during Multiball Madness and the more jackpots are worth. This makes it fun to stack features for a really awesome multiball.
Another multiball mode, Castle multiball, has traditional lock rules. Light 3 locks at the castle wall to the left of the drawbridge, and shoot the ball through the hidden gate (not sure if you knew this) to launch cannonballs at the castle on the display. So the game has both a traditional multiball and a deeper multiball. This is one reason why the game is so accessible.
Like advancing your raft down river in White Water, the obvious major objective is to destroy the castles of King Payne's men. Each time you do this, that castle is lit at the emblem above the flippers and each castle after it becomes progressively more difficult to shoot. If you get all the way to King Payne, there is a special mode just for that. It's quite fun.
Now, beyond the obvious stuff there is still more to do. Every time you complete the catapult shot for a Catapult Slam, you get to choose on the display what you want to launch at the castle, and your choice effects how many points you get. Timing is key here, and it's a fun little addition.
You can also light video mode at the in lanes. These of course can be moved around using the flipper buttons like any generic lane change feature.
The game also has a hurry-up mode called Castle Hurry-Up. If you hit the castle drawbridge before time runs out, you get a hurry-up score. Also, the skill shot is to immediately hit the drawbridge after the plunge while the red arrow insert is flashing.
And while I'm talking about plunges, if you hold the left flipper up when you plunge the ball will come around the left orbit instead of being diverted into the swordfight bumpers in the upper right. This makes it easier to get back into play quickly.
Another side mode this game features is Trolls. Each time you hit the troll targets on either side of the drawbridge, it advances towards Trolls. Once the trolls are disturbed enough they will pop out of the ground on both the display AND the playfield as bash toys (not sure if you knew this). Hit each troll enough times to complete the mode. They will alternate positions much like Buzz and Bud do in No Good Gofers).
Merlin's kickout is the main award shot in the game. Complete the Merlin standups on the right to light the shot, and he chooses a random award from his scroll on the display. It can range from points, to advancing a certain shot for Multiball Madness, to starting an entire mode. This feature often gives you what you want; say you have Trolls almost lit, he will start that mode for you so you can get that out of the way and open up shots for Multiball Madness. There is quite a lot of strategy here at this shot that involves Multiball Madness that really keeps the game from getting repetitive.