How the table is laid out
A diamond of 4 pop bumpers fills the top: cyan, coral, yellow and cyan. The LIFT ramp climbs the left side and a drop-target bank sits on the left of the mid-field.
Coloured rings: cyan and coral share the middle centre, and yellow sits on the middle left. The big bubbles, all 2 shells, are yellow on the middle left and in the lower centre, cyan on the middle right and coral on the lower right. Cracked shells regrow after 40 seconds.
The Mother Bubble blows in two star-shaped clusters of small bubbles, each hanging from a gold-ring anchor, with a bomb bubble and a rainbow bubble among them.
The objective
Mini-boss CLEAN SWEEP: pop every big bubble and both stars of small bubbles before the tighter clock runs out, and finish each big bubble before its shell grows back. Every bubble can be hit from the first ball. Only matching colours pop; paint the ball in a top lane (flippers rotate them), a ring, LIFT or with the two-flipper swap.
Strategy, step by step
- Guardian yellow comes first: the middle left port and the middle left target are neighbours, and the second yellow target in the lower centre sits a single flip below.
- Beat the Guardian's regrowing armour with LIFT: its super ball tears off both layers of a target together, so nothing gets time to heal.
- The Guardian stacks its cyan and coral ports on the same central spot. Paint cyan for the middle right target, then press both flippers to go coral for the lower right one.
- Hold the Guardian's rainbow bubble until two armoured targets are cracked: a rainbow ball closes them both before the armour grows back.
- The Guardian's pair of stars holds a bomb; blast it next to one star's anchor and pop the ring to drop that star whole.
How to get 3 stars
QUICK is harder on this mini-boss: keep at least a quarter of its tight clock. NO BALL LOST: no drains (each costs 5 seconds). WHOLE CLUSTER: pop a star's gold-ring anchor. You pass the mini-boss even with no stars.
Common mistakes
- Letting the Guardian's bomb bubble fall with a star drop before using it; blasting it first opens the second star for a quick anchor shot.
- Cracking a two-shell bubble and leaving it; after 40 seconds the shell grows back.
- Rushing through the Guardian's central ports and firing a coral ball at the cyan target on the middle right.