The Gengar Stage is the second Bonus stage on the Red Field. It takes place in a graveyard, with a limit of 1 minute 30 seconds and an unlimited number of balls: losing a ball costs nothing, but the clock keeps ticking. The stage is played in three escalating phases, with a final boss whose footsteps shake the playfield.
How to get there
This stage follows the Diglett Stage on the Red Field: it’s only offered after you’ve cleared that one. As always, you need to light the three Poké Balls on the counter or take the Slot Machine’s direct access. See Bonus stages.
The playfield
The playfield is a graveyard with tombstones and a bluish atmosphere. The tombstones act as obstacles: each hit earns 1,000 points, which is negligible but keeps you from wasting time when the ball gets stuck there. As in every Bonus stage, the ball is a Poké Ball with no multiplier. The timer starts as soon as the ball is launched. The music changes with each phase: the game contains three themes, named in the code “Gastly in the graveyard”, “Haunter in the graveyard” and “Gengar in the graveyard”.
First phase: the Gastly
At the start, several Gastly float above the graveyard. Each Gastly you hit disappears and earns 1,000,000 points; it reappears periodically, so there’s almost always one within reach of the ball. You need to hit ten to move on to the next phase. This phase’s music is “Gastly in the graveyard” in the game’s code.
Second phase: the Haunter
Once ten Gastly have been hit, they give way to Haunter. The principle is the same, with the same requirement of ten hits, but each hit now earns 5,000,000 points. A new track, “Haunter in the graveyard”, accompanies this phase.
Third phase: Gengar
After ten Haunter, Gengar appears. It becomes intangible for a few seconds as soon as it’s hit, which stops you from striking it again right away. It also advances toward the flippers, and each of its steps makes the ball bounce unpredictably: this is what makes the final phase harder than it looks. You have to hit it five times; each hit earns 50,000,000 points. The last theme, “Gengar in the graveyard”, kicks off this final phase.
How many points
| Phase | Hits needed | Points per hit | Phase total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gastly | 10 | 1,000,000 | 10,000,000 |
| Haunter | 10 | 5,000,000 | 50,000,000 |
| Gengar | 5 | 50,000,000 | 250,000,000 |
| Total | 25 | 310,000,000 |
The timer and the messages
The 1 minute 30 timer is displayed at the top right of the screen, and a sound signal rings out when time is running short. The American version announces the stage with “GO TO GENGAR STAGE”, success with “GENGAR STAGE CLEARED” and failure with “END GENGAR STAGE”. These labels use the stage’s American name, “Gengar Stage”.
If time runs out
If the timer reaches zero before the five hits on Gengar are done, the stage is lost: you return to the table with the ball you had before, and the stage will be offered again next time. Points already earned are kept. Conversely, once the stage is cleared, the sequence moves on to the Mewtwo Stage.
Tips
- Don’t linger on the tombstones: they only earn 1,000 points and the ball can get stuck there.
- Save time for the last phase: the first 20 hits (Gastly and Haunter) only earn 60,000,000 points, whereas the five hits on Gengar are worth 250,000,000.
- When Gengar becomes intangible, don’t force the shot: wait for it to reappear and line up the ball calmly.
- Gengar’s steps alter the ball’s path: keep it under control with the flippers before attempting the next hit.
This stage earns 310,000,000 points if completed. Since the timer is its only opponent, a player who falls behind on the first two phases is better off not persisting with Gengar and moving on with the game. Our scoring strategies page covers these trade-offs in detail. No penalty is applied when the ball drains in this stage: only elapsed time counts.
