I am in the
very fortunate position to own a Scared Stiff machine. I really
do think that it is one of the best to be made, and will go down
in history together with The Addams Family, The Twilight Zone
and no doubt others as the best ever pinballs.
Lets not beat about the bush, Scared Stiff is a very sexual
game. There is hardly anything in the commentary by Elvira that
doesn't have a double-entendre. The orgasmic screams from
obtaining a replay on this machine can be positively
embarrassing!
The nine photos
below were taken from my machine, which was one of the very
first to roll off the production line, but did not contain the
original features of the prototype games.
The first photo shows the skull heads at the back of the
playfield. Originally, they were planned to light up (eyes glow)
as each of the first six deadheads were awarded. This was
thought to be too difficult, and the game was changed to light
the skull eyes as features were awarded - however, this feature
was scrapped just before production to save money! There is
software & wiring already in the machine to restore this
feature - you can buy the kit from www.freeplayamusements.com
to restore the machine to what it was intended to look like.
Similarly, photo two shows a revised (dancing) boogieman on the
slingshot extensions. This was due to be part of the production
machine, but was dropped because the arms of the plastic
boogieman didn't last very long. In my opinion, this was the
correct decision, but you can recreate the original concept on
your own machine courtesy of freeplayamusements.
Take a look at the photos (click to enlarge), my tips on playing
the machine follow...
Tips are as follows :
It's quite simple - complete the six
tales of terror, complete the stiff-o-meter (getting 5m points in the
process), and then get 1m for every subsequent jackpot shot. There is no
other way to get a BIG score !!!
That being said...
-
Extra balls
are very important as with every game. Get them from the
right ramp shot (usually about 7), 3 eyeballs from the
backglass spider, and by completing leaper mode (5 leapers
in about 20 seconds). You may be awarded one from
telephaphetic mode if lucky.
-
Keep
getting the deadheads, because the points are incremental. I
have managed to get these up to 600,000, which is a lot of
points if you add them all up.
-
Get as many
points as you can from the crate and coffin multiballs.
-
If lit, go
for the spider shot rather than the plunger skill shot.
There are three main spider strategies :
1 - Get the extra ball first by getting 3 eyeballs.
2 - Start leaper mode, and try to get the extra ball (can be
risky, because you can lose a ball, and not gain an extra
ball!).
3 - Extend the coffin and crate multiball features.
Completing each
spider function starts spider multiball, which I have never seen
done, and have not "forced" on my machine because it
would spoil the surprise.
