Williams · 1998
Start all six monster challenges to open Monster Bash. Finish all six challenges and earn all six instruments to open Monsters of Rock.
Get the band together →Advance the band
Each monster has a specific setup and a timed challenge. Starting a monster challenge adds that monster to the band. Finishing its required shots earns its instrument.
Meet the band
The far-left lagoon shot. Repeat it to light Creature Feature, then use all five major shots.
How to try it: Hold the ball still on the right lower flipper. Aim at the flat scoring face of Creature lagoon, not at the nearby plastic or gaps. Expect the ball to rebound toward the middle after contact.
Hit the standing monster until he lowers and exposes the center ramp. Shoot it to start Frankenstein Multiball.
How to try it: Hold the ball still on the right lower flipper. Use a forehand and aim at the pictured scoring part of Frankenstein, rather than the nearby plastic or posts. Watch the first rebound, regain control, and then adjust the next shot left or right.
The lower inserts show started monsters and earned instruments. Read these before risking another setup shot.
How to try it: This is a status area, not a shot. Read its lamps while the ball is held on a flipper, then aim for the named shot whose lamp is still dark.
Orbit shots send the ball to the bumpers. Advance 60 bumper hits, then start Mummy Mayhem at the scoop.
How to try it: Hold the ball still on the right lower flipper. Aim through the open channel at the bottom of Mummy orbit; the ball must pass the entrance switch and continue up the lane. If a weak shot rolls back down the same lane, let it return to a flipper before trying again.
Starts Mummy and Dracula when ready, gives mystery awards, and begins both wizard modes.
How to try it: Hold the ball still on the left lower flipper. Aim at the dark opening of Monster scoop, not at its rim or the nearby posts. After the ball settles in the hole, watch where the machine kicks it back and regain control.
Hit the right-side red standups to light Drac Attack at the scoop. During the mode, hit the moving Dracula toy.
How to try it: Hold the ball still on the left lower flipper. Aim at the flat rectangular faces in Dracula bank, one target at a time; do not aim at the gaps or the plastic above them. Expect the ball to rebound toward the middle after contact.
Top lanes
Send the ball into the top lanes and use the flipper buttons to shift the lit lane toward it. A clean lane award helps the early setup, but the first important decision comes after the ball returns: choose one monster to prepare without accidentally starting every short timer.
A workable opening
Six different jobs
Repeat the lagoon to start Creature Feature. Earn the hurry-up at a lit major shot, then hit the remaining lit shots before time expires. Finish all five for the saxophone.
Make each ramp three times to start Ball and Chain. Then make each ramp three more times during the mode to earn the microphone.
Pound the monster until the center ramp opens. Shoot it for multiball, earn jackpots at lit shots, and complete enough Frankenstein shots for the keyboard.
Score 60 bumper hits, then shoot the scoop. During Mummy Mayhem, switches score and increase the bass value; keep the ball moving rather than aiming one narrow shot.
Four orbit shots start Full Moon Fever. Keep looping either orbit to score and restart the hurry-up. Four awards earn the drums.
Finish the red target bank and shoot the scoop. Hit the moving Dracula toy repeatedly during Drac Attack to earn the guitar.
Freeze the clocks
Hit Frankenstein until the ramp opens, then shoot it. Major shots earn jackpots. Repeated Frankenstein shots raise the values and work toward the keyboard. If the mode ends before the instrument, a short Last Chance can reopen the center ramp.
Advance the center spinner until Mosh Pit lights, then shoot it again to start. Hit the lit major shots for jackpots. It is valuable mainly because it freezes any monster modes already running.
No new monster mode can be made available during multiball. Do the preparation first. Once the balls are loose, finish the active modes and take broad jackpot shots rather than trying to prepare the next band member.
The game’s central trick
The best order is light modes → start modes → start multiball. Creature and Wolf Man have urgent clocks, so start them late. Bride and Dracula share common ramp and target traffic with other features. Frankenstein is the easiest deliberate multiball trigger.
The concerts
Start all six monster modes, then shoot the lit scoop. Four-ball multiball begins with all six monster shots scoring. Complete the lit set for a Bash jackpot, then repeat while at least two balls remain.
Earn all six instruments, then shoot the scoop. Every monster shot scores the current value; completing the full set awards the large Monsters of Rock jackpot and raises the next cycle. The center spinner can help spot a difficult member.
If both finales become ready after the same shot, Monsters of Rock takes priority. That is usually the better payoff, but it replaces the waiting Monster Bash rather than saving it for later.
Priorities
Installed edition
This guide follows Monster Bash, Williams 1998, installed as VPWmod v1.0 with ROM mb_106b. Operator settings can change mode counts, extra balls, ball save and difficulty.
Rules checked against the Williams manual, the contemporary rulesheet, current Kineticist strategy analysis and the installed VBS wrapper. The playfield image comes from the cabinet’s own PinUP recording.