Bowser's Pinball Machine is a board found in Mario Party DS.
Description[]
This board is modeled after a two-tabled pinball machine, where the players act as the small silver balls bouncing through the course. Stars can be purchased in the standard manner, for 20 coins at randomly chosen spaces on the board.
Interesting Spaces[]
? Spaces[]
The ? Spaces here fall into several categories:
- The Cannon: A large cannon is situated at the upper-left of the board and its zone encompasses two spaces on the upper loop. A player who lands here will be flung into the cannon. He or she can then select to rotate the cannon either left or right, and depending on the direction selected, will be shot to the space immediately after the Item Shop in the lower-left loop or immediately prior to the Plunger on the right loop.
- The Wheel of Wonder: Similar to that of a vertically oriented roulette wheel, this occurs as a zone of two spaces on the right loop's origin, just past where it branches off the upper loop. A player landing on this space will be asked how many coins he or she wishes to wager, and can wager any integer number of coins between 1 and their current coin count or 99 inclusive, whichever is smaller. Then the player is asked on which of three zones he or she wishes to place the wager on--marked with a "x2", "x3", and an "x5". The player is then shown the actual wheel--its outer rim divided into 12 sections--6 of which form the x2 zone, 2 the x5 zone, and 4 the x3 zone, starting at the bottom and proceeding clockwise. A red light rapidly flashes around the rim, and the player must press A to stop the light. If it lands in the section wagered on, the player wins coins equal to the wager times the multiplier wagered on. The original wager is not returned to the player.
- The Plunger: Occurs on the right loop as a zone of three spaces approximately midway to the flippers. A player landing here is immediately dropped into a hole and into the plunger on the right side of the board. Bowser taunts the player, stating that he or she will be plunged into the Bowser Zone. The plunger then pitches the player in a loop over the edge of the board and into the Bowser Zone proper. Occasionally, the player will be fortunate enough to be spared the zone, and will instead be deposited immediately prior to the Star Zone. The odds of being sent to the Star Zone are currently unknown.
- The Flippers: Occurs as the last two spaces of the right loop and the lower-left loop. A player landing here will immediately be hit by a plunger and sent to the space where the upper loops merge, run into a bumper, and receive 10 coins.
- Bowser Zone: Occurs as a zone of five spaces at the left edge of the board. A player who has the misfortune of landing on a space in this zone is treated to what Bowser terms the "Zero Flame". The "Zero Flame" is a meteor impact. If it hits the player, this reduces the player's stars and coins to zero. (That is, of which a number "0" in purple appears.) The player loses everything except for items (guaranteed for last place). In effect, it resets the game for the player, which is a nuisance at best and a disaster at worst. A player with no stars or coins to his or her name will not suffer this attack. The path leading from this zone merges with the path from the Star Zone and enters the lower-left loop a couple of spaces downstream from its origin.
Other Board Features[]
- The Spinner: Occurs in the main channel joining the lower table to the loops in the upper table. A player enters a doorway, and the shuffling lights above the doorway randomly stop on a number from 1 to 6 inclusive, indicated by the pips of a standard die with coins as the pips. The player is then asked to "tap the spinner, to see if they are a winner!" A tap or pressing A will stop the central spinner. Should it match the other two shown numbers, the player receives coins equal to 10 times the number showing. A miss has no penalty, and the player proceeds to the upper loop.
- The Star Zone: This is where the player is sent if he is fortunate enough to dodge the Bowser Zone. The player is then given a bonus of 1 to 3 Stars, chosen at random.
- Two Item Shops exist: One in the upper loop, one in the lower-left loop. Two Hex Spaces exist--one in the upper loop immediately after where the main channel merges into it, and one in the right loop immediately after the Wheel of Wonder.
Strategy Notes[]
- The Wheel of Wonder is perhaps what sets this board apart from the others, because it offers the player a chance to win immense sums of cash. The wheel has a 6-space stop-down interval--that is, when a player stops the wheel, the red light will proceed an additional six spaces around until it officially stops. This allows a shrewd player to win hundreds of coins, because he can control precisely where the red light stops. Once you learn how to time, it is best to head there first and multiply your coin supply a couple of times, as to never having to worry about cash for the rest of the game--short of a Coin Swap Hex or the Bowser Zone.
- Given that one standard roll of a Dice Block has a 50-50 chance of bankrupting the player in the Bowser Zone, it is best to come prepared--have a Star Pipe, Warp Dice Block, Double Dice Set, or Triple Dice Set ready. The Star Pipe is the only way to guarantee that the player will not go bankrupt--however, the alternatives are not that bad--rolling two dice reduces the bankruptcy odds to 1 in 10, and three dice to 1 in 100. Using this, it may be in the player's advantage to deliberately aim for the Plunger on the off-chance that he or she is sent to the Star Zone at very little risk to the player.
- It is not known what determines if a player is sent to the Star Zone--it could be merely chance, or there could be a more complex algorithm at work.
Trivia[]
- Despite being a Bowser board, this board has no Bowser Spaces (similar to Bowser's Enchanted Inferno! from Mario Party 7).
