Straight from Uncle Willy :

Question: On the Whitewater pinball, does "Secret of the Cow" mean anything?
Is the rumor true that on higher difficulty settings that one must
get "Secret of the Cow" in order to achieve the Vacation Jackpot?

Answer: (Quick You do not need the "Secret of the Cow" for Vacation
jackpot, and it does not effect the Vacation Jackpot.

(Long To get secret of the cow, you must collect all of the
Gold Rush items (Flashlight, Map, Key, Camera, and Cow) before
completing the Boulder Garden. Then, get a Boulder Garden award.
Instead of the "Spirit of the River" display, "Secret of the Cow"
is shown. Note that "Secret of the Cow" is for entertainment only,
no points or anything else is awarded by it.

LTG : )™

The gold rush items are really Hotfoot items as they are obtained during hotfoot (you can get the first three by going into Lost Mine repeatedly as well). The camera and the cow are only from Bigfoot Hotfoot by going through his cave.

Nice answer Lloyd. Always wondered how that worked.

I just saw this for my first time moments ago, completely without even trying for it, as I didn't even know it existed! : O

Seems like all the great games have at least one tiny little thing hidden away that's virtually impossible to see under normal circumstances. WH2O has more like half a dozen such things. : B

Must be secret of the cow week. I've had our WH2O for a couple of years and only moments ago saw "Secret of the Cow" come up on the screen. Did a search on Pinside, and found this thread.

I saw the camera and cow come up after going through Big Foot's Cave 2 or 3 times in a row. Darn cool. Heard some "snapshot" sounds... glanced up, and it looked like Big Foot was captured on film or something... Hard to watch/play at the same time... then saw "Secret of the Cow" come up shortly afterward along with a "Mmmmmooooo!" sound effect.

Love little surprises like this... especially after owning the machine for some time.

Actually... speaking of little-known White Water secrets, I wonder how many people know of this one: If you press a flipper button right as the game is ending while the final scores are displayed, Bigfoot growls at you! : O

that happens in attract mode when a button is pushed

During Attract mode, with no credits, press the following sequence:
3L, 1S, 15R, 1S, 23L, 1S

During Hotfoot, 5th item in bigfoot cave is a cow.

When the cow in Bigfoot´s Cave has been collected, getting the Mystery Canyon as a Whirlpool Award will show a picture of the Spirit pulling a string on the legless cow. A loud "moo" is heard.
This picture can also be seen very briefly in the Vacation Bonus award.

Does the secret of the cow work on home ROMS?

only when not in freeplay. in freeplay the game starts on the last hit.

Take out the three 1S's and it looks like a code for a safe....hmmmmmm

Yes. It happened on my home ROM.

What about the random, "Ya Wiener!" call out? I've never heard that on my home ROMS?

I have heard it on mine.

it happens, but its really rare, and cracks me up every time.

I see that the pinballaction.com roms page no longer works..

Is there another page somewhere that describes all the revision changes in roms?

I'm curious as to what the home rom changes for WH2O

Ball save on the home rom... I don't think that was on the original. Might be wrong.

Not all of them but since 5
WhiteWater LH-6

Changes since L-5:
- Display effect for combos now shows "X 5" during 5X mode.
- Occasional big scream at game start / player add.
- Occasional Big Foot scream when the final ball drains down an outlane.
- Initials timing out no longer causes them to reset.
- Vacation planer is no longer displayed during multiballs.
- Lost Mine will not kick for about 1 second after No Way Out.
- Added goofy lamp effect for End Of Ball Bonus.
- Added simple ball-saver.
- 10 point switches won't score before first score of a ball.
- Big Foot Hot Foot is now correctly cleaned up at tilt.
- Jet Bumper values corrected for multiplayer games.
- Bonus Held value corrected for multiplayer games. Added a page in Bonus
count (including last ball). Added Bonus Hold award on additional
ramp shots (6, 35, 65, 95). River Class no longer reset when bonus
is held.
- Camera Craze is now awarded on loops.
- Boomerang Bend (large right loop) is awarded if a slow ball exits
through Secret Passage. (Boomerang Bend hazard is awarded before
secret passage).
- Total Bonus display is now correct in Status Report.
- BounceBack is correctly re-lit at the start of multiball, even if it
is in the process of timing out.
- Whirlpool Challenge effects show correct state when started a second
time during the same ball.
- Kickback is now fired during ball-search.
- Mode times (including 5x) are paused while the ball is out of play, and
during multiball start effects.
- Added grace period for main multiball. Scoring a jackpot during re-match
will not cancel the re-match.
- Waterfall lights restarted after tilt.
- Added game over lamp effect and music.
many improvements over l-5

He also says, "say your prayers" if the spirit of the river gives you 6x when the ball is about to be shot out of the lost mine.

Thanks for that!

I thought that callout was for every time you reached 6x, not just from the Spirit of the River? Or is that perhaps a ROM difference?

I could swear it happens every time too.....guess I will have to play well today and find out

You could be right. I only notice it when I get it from the Spirit.

I got Secret of the Cow for the first time this weekend, and I loved every minute of it. I shot Bigfoot's cave three times during Hotfoot for the key, the camera, and "a cow!?!?". Next, I lined up the Spirit of the River, shot the lit whirlpool, and I was in heaven. HIGHLY recommended!

It wasn't. I turn off the ball save on mine though. It always felt like cheating after playing the commercial roms for so long.

Hi,
I'm new too on a WW, and i wonder what is hazard value and how to raise it?

Concernant gold rush, there is only 3 items on mine. Some of you talk about the camera and the cow.
I only saw the camera yesterday but i can't remerber how i got it, 3 bigfoot's cave? And then the cow?

What is the Spirit of the river?

I was advised to upgrade my L-4, i suppose i need to do quickly if i want to play fully this game.

Thanks

The "hazard value" is the number of points you get for hitting a shot with the flashing orange "hazard" triangles. If you want to raise the hazard value you have to collect "river letters" You can do that by either hitting the bank of blue targets on the left side of the playfied OR by having the "spot river letter" light lit when the ball rolls over the inlane switches (use the flippers to cycle the lights through the in and out lanes). Every time you spell "river" you go up a "river class". River class 1 is 500,000 for each hazard you pick up. River class 2 is 1,000,000 for each hazard, River class 3 is 1,500,000 and so on. You can go up to River Class 6.

Reaching river class 6 is one of the things you need to do to get the "Vacation Jackpot".

The river class resets after each ball making it really hard to reach river class 6. If you hit the "Disaster Drop" ramp 6 times, the game is supposed to "hold bonus" which saves your River Class for the next ball, but that function does not work on L-4. This is why people ususally say its a good idea to upgrade to LH-6.

You get the Camera and Cow by activating the Big Foot Hotfoot. Once that's activated shoot "Bigfoots Bluff". That will spot you the "map" then the "key" (these also help activate the Gold Rush Multiball) but after those the next award is the "Camera" and then the "Cow".

"Spirit of the River" a/k/a "Mystery Canyon" is one of the awards you get for hitting the Whirlpool when the red light above it is activated (the other awards are Ride the Whirlpool, Man Overboard, Lite Extra Ball, etc). If you complete the Bigfoot Hotfoot and get the "Cow" prior to getting awarded the "Spirit of the River" then you'll get the "Secret of the Cow" animation.

Wow, this sounds really freaking complicated as I type this. Pinball! Haha.

Recapped like a true River Master.

Thanks buddy, i will try and let you know!
First of all, upgrading my rom!

Jam Burglar is the go to person regarding wh20.helped me out once or twice.

I've got a love hate relationship with mine.Had it 2 years and it still kicks my arse on a regular basis.

Hi,
Is There a way to add seconds to "playfield X5"?
Other day i get wet Willy light. Don't really know How i got It ( suppose i had the 6 modes of boulders and...?) and how i activate it.
Thanks

No way to add time/seconds.

You get to Wet Willy's by completing all the rafts, by shooting all the lit hazards.
Getting to Wet Willys is one of the 4 things you have to do to get the vacation jackpot, along with all 6 boulder modes, river 6 class, and then 3 balls locked. 3 locked balls have to be LAST

What is shooting all the lit hazards? Is there a link with hazard value and class river?

The orange arrows that are "lit hazards." When you hit all that are lighted, you move the raft ahead. Then more orange lights are lit, hit them and move the raft ahead.
The yellow rafts in the middle of the playfield, that have numbers on them 2, 4, 6, 8..., move up till you get all of them and that's wet willy.

No link with river class. River class are advanced by hitting the river targets, or when lit in the inlane.

So when wet Willy is lit, i need again to hit all yellow arrows to get it, correct?
Thanks

I think so...it will say "Welcome to Wet Willy's" and each shot is worth more points and has different animations.

That's correct.

Concerning The river class 6 and the LH-6 rom to hold bonus for The following ball after hitting The disaster drop ramp 6 times, it does not work on my machine. It's ok for The extra ball only as with L-4 rom. Some one can confirm?
Thanks

Hmmm...the last LH-6 home rom it is supposed to hold your river class that way.

I miss my Wh2o.

The Extra Ball award does not always occur at the same number of Disaster Drop ramp completions ("Drops"), rather it will change. For example, sometimes the Extra Ball is awarded at sometimes at 3 Drops, sometimes at 4 Drops, sometimes at 5, sometimes at 6, etc. The Drop at which the Extra Ball is awarded will change (I think) every 50 games.

So, what is probably happening (assuming you have the LH-6 ROM) is that your Extra Ball award is cycled onto the 6th Drop and that overrides the "Hold Bonus" award that you would normally get for the 6th Drop. Once the Extra Ball award cycles off of 6 Drops you should be able to get "hold bonus". In other words, whatever number of Drop the Extra Ball lands on will override the normal award for that number of Drops.

i don't understand the relation between extra ball and the bonus hold or if there is a link.

i was playing a ball, i had the river class 6 by award. i saw on the DMD "hold bonus" when i hit the disaster ramp for the 6th time. Fine. i loose the ball. so i had bonus X6. i have had an extra ball award during this ball. so i played it. when i loose this ball, also had bonus X6. But when i started to play the next ball, bonus came down to 1. should i have bonus 6 hold? does the EB make me loose the bonus hold for the next ball? if i have the bonus hold since the first ball, should i have it for the ball 2 and 3, whatever i get EB award?
thanks

Yes, an extra ball is 'the next ball'. Not a 'continuation of the current ball'. So ball-to-ball awards will reset.

The ONLY relationship between extra ball and hold bonus is in the Disaster Drop awards. If the (Lite) Extra Ball award for Drops lands on the 6th drop then it will overide Hold Bonus and you won't be able to get that Drop award. It doesn't matter if you actually acheive the Extra Ball or not. If you get the Hold Bonus your river class and letters will carry over to the next ball, regardless of whether the next ball is and "Extra Ball", "Ball 2" or Ball 3". The Bonus only carries over for a maximum of one ball (regardless of if its an Extra Ball or not) so on the next ball the River Class will reset to River Class 1.

Also, unless you have the LH-6 ROM set you will never get the Hold Bonus even though the sixth Drop Award says "Hold Bonus". The game acts like you get the Hold Bonus but once the next ball comes up your River Class will reset to 1. Your River Letters will always carry over from ball to ball.

the confusion comes that i'm pretty sure that i had this bonus hold on the current ball and the EB with the L-4 rom. but maybe i'm wrong.

I might be misunderstanding the source of the confusion, but "hold bonus" should hold the bonus for the next ball *only*, not all subsequent balls. Any extra ball collected will count as the "next ball".

I'd double check on that if I were you and see if you can ever get a bonus to hold. The game will tell you that you'll get the hold bonus award when you hit Disaster Drop but when it actually comes time to hold the bonus and the next ball starts then your River Class will reset. I had the L-2 ROM and the L-5 ROM and Hold Bonus never worked. My understanding is that it only works on LH-6.

Lh6 bonus hold does hold river class

Just saw the secret if the cow pretty dam cool. Just when u thought you've seen everything on wh20 it keeps giving . What a great pin and is probably one of my top 2 of all time.