The Coin Game: How to get your Popcorn Pete Plush

I will look at jazzing up this guide with images down the line, but I thought I might type this out and make a first run of it for the benefit of all of you in survival mode.

So, you want that coveted Popcorn Pete plush? Do you want to fill your room with them, or maybe just pawn it for $150 ($300 if it’s in demand)? Most of you out there who have been playing for a while have probably already figured out the timing of this, but this may benefit those of you who are wondering how to approach this game, since it can take a while to get the full set of cards if you are unlucky or just don’t know what you’re doing.

Popcorn Pete is a coin pusher, similar to several others scattered around the island. What makes this one distinct is that you are trying to fire your tokens through the rings as they rotate by the coin slot in a clockwise fashion. When a coin passes through a ring and into the slot, a rotating light will stop and award you additional tokens, additional plays, or even a card drop. What are these cards all about, you ask? If you get the light to stop on this spot, then you will get 100 bonus tickets, and a random card will be dropped onto the pusher. If you collect one of each in the set, then you will be awarded with 2,000 bonus tickets and a Popcorn Pete plush, which can only be obtained in this manner and sells for $150 at the pawn shop ($300 if it is in high demand). For this reason, card drops are your ultimate goal, and the skill involved in this game is to consistently get the light to stop on that space.

You want to start out with an advantage in your card selection, if possible. Not all cards appear with the same frequency. GENERALLY speaking, the cards are rarer as you go from left to right in the marquee at the bottom of the glass on the machine. Devotid has said previously that Kernel Connie (the unpopped kernel with the blue background) is the rarest card. What that means for you is that you should look at which cards are already on the pusher before picking a machine. If you’ve got blue, white, or black backgrounds, then pick this machine. Don’t go for the other one if it is full of red cards. You’ll get plenty of those as you play. When you settle on a machine, resist the temptation to put the full $10 into your game. Instead, go for something more moderate, like $3. The first reason for this is that you don’t get to keep extra cards when you win the plush. They are all paid out as bonus tickets. That means that if you win a plush with a lot of leftover tokens, then you just have to play it out with whatever you have left. Better to have to put more money in regularly than to have money wasted. The second reason, if you are playing in survival mode, is that your health and energy will slowly decrease as you play. I once got a game over because I started a $10 without realizing that I didn’t have the remaining health or energy to play through all of those coins, and I wasn’t able to quit the game prematurely to eat something.

In order to get the tokens to pass through the rings, you’ll need to time it right. The time to hit the “E” key is when the left edge of the ring comes into contact with (or is about to do so, with a margin of just a few pixels) the right edge of the coin slot. It will take a little bit of practice, but you’ll get there pretty quickly.

You’re in it for cards, my dude. Do not get distracted by other things. The card drop light is at 6:00 on the ring of lights, and you want to learn the timing for getting this light. The problem with this is that it ALSO has to overlap with the timing of the ring passing by the coin slot. This is where you learn some finesse in your timing. It’s not 100% foolproof, but there are some principles that can help you maximize your chance of tweaking the lights. Memorize this flow chart to help you determine which ring to pass the coin through:

-Did you get your card drop? Pass the next coin through the FOURTH ring. When you succeed in getting a coin through, it takes exactly 4 rings to make it all the way back around to the same spot.

-Did you miss getting the coin through the ring? Try putting the coin through either the third, SEVENTH, or eighth ring that passes by. This takes some experience to know which way to go with this, but know that the above rule doesn’t apply if you didn’t get the coin through. Succeeding pauses the light just long enough for the fourth ring to work, but missing it means that it will go a little farther than you intended, and the fourth one will be late. The seventh is a good one to try, since it takes that little bit of extra momentum from two passes, then subtracts the movement from one ring.

-Did the light land to the left of the card drop? Keep doing the fourth ring for a couple more cycles. Depending on when you hit it, the light may land in exactly the same spot, or the timing will sometimes move it a little to the right. It’s rare (for me at least) to time it so that the light actually moves left.

-Did the light land to the right of the card drop? This is the one that causes problems. You probably aren’t going to hit it by going for the fourth ring anymore. One thing you can try is getting it through the eighth ring, if it is more than one or two to the right. However, there is a better solution. If the light lands within a couple to the right of the card drop, pass one coin through the SECOND ring that comes by, then pass another coin through the FIFTH ring (i.e. the third ring after your first coin). The reason why this is better is because the timing will frequently let you hit the light at 10:00 with the first coin that will give you 3 bonus plays, prolonging your game. The second coin should then land the light right at the card drop or (usually) slightly to the left of it. You can then revert to hitting the fourth ring.

With that, a player will see something like this:
Card drop. Aim for the 4th.
Card drop. Aim for the 4th.
1 light to the right. Aim for the 2nd.
3x bonus plays. Aim for the 3rd.
2 lights to the left. Aim for the 4th.
Card drop. Aim for the 4th.

…And repeat, reacting as needed to your previous result.

Once you get the hang of it, you can easily get your plush with less than $10 in the game. It still takes some time, especially if you are unlucky with which cards drop, but it makes Popcorn Pete one of the most profitable money-making games available. It isn’t as good for making tickets as Mermaids in Space or Typhoon (if you’re a pro), and you can make money more quickly by being methodical with your shooting in the Shooting Star game at the carnival ($85 profit per banana you win). However, it still makes more money than mowing lawns does, and it provides some fun junk for your room if you choose not to sell the plushes. On a final note, whether or not a prize is in high demand is determined when you load the game. If you save and quit, a different thing will be on sale. Keep this in mind if you run to the UFO arcade because you see that Pete is in high demand. …Or keep it in mind if you want to savescum to make your plushes more valuable, if you don’t mind doing something like that.