Writing down the rules

The table guide explains the game the way a player learns it: feature by feature, with plenty of “probably” and “about”. To build from it, the rules needed to be in one place, in one structure, with every shot numbered.

The core loop

Zombies march down the playfield toward the Welcome Mat above the flippers. You stop them with the ball and with plants and gadgets you buy:

1. Shoot the Sun Hole to scatter Sun on the lanes, and collect it.
2. Spend Sun at the Flower Pot on ball power-ups and plants.
3. Defeat zombies to drop coins, and spend Money at Crazy Dave’s Car on permanent upgrades.
4. Build toward the multiballs and the BRAINZ Missions, and finally Dr. Zomboss.

A zombie that reaches the top of the Welcome Mat fails whatever Mission or Challenge is running.

Fourteen shots

Every rule hangs off one of fourteen numbered shots, from the Flower Pot (1) to the Magna Save target (14). The rules have a list of all fourteen and what each does, and everything else refers to them by number. That list also became the checklist for the whitewood: a shot is done when it’s on the table and a test proves it can be made.

What the guide doesn’t say

Some answers simply aren’t in the guide. They’re collected as open questions rather than guessed at in the middle of the text:

• how long Ball Save lasts,
• how many slingshot hits set off a zombie attack,
• what a Challenge pays,
• exactly what starts Melon Pult and how many misses it allows,
• the full lists of Jack-in-the-Box and Fertilizer awards,
• the multiplier steps between 2x and 10x,
• whether the Watering Can bonus applies to every switch or only ramps and orbits,
• the Mission and wizard mode bonus values.

Each one will be settled from the gameplay video where possible. Anything still unknown when its rule is built gets a standard pinball value, marked as assumed.