David Wonn
Smash Ace
Spectator Mode isn't just for watching other matches and witnessing the occasional advanced tactic. It is a great place to rack up on coins and stickers! Judging by the lack of topics in this area (zero ever, AFAIK), it seems to be quite underutilized. Therefore, this mini-guide is long overdue. Even if you have 10+ copies of every single sticker in the game like I do, you may want to give Spectator Mode a second look if you haven't.
First, let's break down the number of coins you can potentially earn. If you are spectating a duel or a Team Battle, the number of coins you invest get a 1.8 multiplier, rounded up to the nearest whole number. In other words, you stand to lose the number you bet, or gain 1.8 times your coins minus the original bet, making it a net 0.8 multiplier, or a potential gain of 80% of what you bet. For 3-player Basic Brawls, you get a 2.8 multiplier, rounded up to the nearest whole number. This makes a potential net gain of 1.8 times your initial bet or 180% of it. Finally for 4-player Basic Brawls, your investment gets a 3.8 multiplier, rounded up to the nearest whole number. Your net gain can be 2.8 times what you initially bet.
And just when you thought the math portion was done, you will occasionally see a "Bonus Chance" appear on the screen. I always recommend taking a chance on these, since you can now gain more than the expected coin multipliers. You might get a small, medium, or large sticker bundle, rare trophies, or even double or triple the coins. In theory, betting 100 coins on a 4-player Basic Brawl could end up tripling the 380 coins to 1140 coins. Subtracting the initial 100 coins, that's still a 1040 coin net gain!
"OK, that's all great, but how many coins should I bet?" This all boils down to how much time you really have. Technically speaking, any bet that is 4 coins or fewer will have the best payoffs, since 80%, 180%, and 280%, all round up to 100%, 200%, and 300%, respectively. In other words, if you bet 4 coins on a duel or Team Battle, you stand to either lose or gain exactly 4 coins. Likewise you could gain 8 or 12 with 3- and 4-player Basic Brawls. You can expect to break even over time with such small bets, and that's not even accounting for the Bonus Chance bets, so you can expect to gain in the long run. However, time is the factor holding most people from betting such low bets all the time, so it may not be practical to bet so low.
Also, never bet a multiple of 5 coins on a duel or Team Battle. It may not be immediately obvious, but when you compare potential winnings of a 5, 10, 15, etc. coin bet with one coin fewer, you'll find the winnings to be the same due to the way the multiplier rounds up. So even if you're thinking of going with the max of 100 coins, drop it to 99 coins. The only exception to this may be during a Bonus Chance if you think you may get double or triple the winnings.
If you are getting close to 9999 coins, pay close attention to your bets. It would be a waste to bet coins that bring your total over the top, so it helps if you can quickly do the math in your head on the fly as you are increasing or decreasing your bet. Also be mindful of potential double or triple winnings during Bonus Chances.
And when you do finally reach 9999 coins, there is obviously little point in making bets, unless there is a Bonus Chance coming up. In those cases I always bet a single coin due to the potential sticker winnings. And even when there aren't Bonus Chances and you lose bets, you can still get stickers for your efforts. Sometimes I get as many as 10 for a missed bet, but never during a Bonus Chance, though. Anyway with a max of 9999 coins, it is best to spend them offline either in the Coin Launcher or to use them for continues in Solo modes. Just don't park on 9999 coins for too long; otherwise you are wasting them!
Finally, here are a few miscellaneous tips: Bonus Chances never happen on your first time spectating. You could just watch or bet a single coin here and hope for a Bonus Chance to pop up for the 2nd match. Sometimes, you will even run into a few in a row. This might be your time to make those high bets. Also, anytime you lose your connection on the betting screen, you can lose everything you bet! If you suspect your connection is unstable, make your bet, move the cursor away from all players, then move it back when the countdown timer is under five. Better yet, if your connection is really unstable, don't make bets here at all! Also, don't always make bets based on your favorite or highest tiered characters. Even if the matchup looks lopsided, you may find a rather high number of victories with the low tiers. It really does reflect the better representation of low tiers vs. the high tiers that you would randomly run into yourself online. And if you watch really carefully, you might spectate your own match!
First, let's break down the number of coins you can potentially earn. If you are spectating a duel or a Team Battle, the number of coins you invest get a 1.8 multiplier, rounded up to the nearest whole number. In other words, you stand to lose the number you bet, or gain 1.8 times your coins minus the original bet, making it a net 0.8 multiplier, or a potential gain of 80% of what you bet. For 3-player Basic Brawls, you get a 2.8 multiplier, rounded up to the nearest whole number. This makes a potential net gain of 1.8 times your initial bet or 180% of it. Finally for 4-player Basic Brawls, your investment gets a 3.8 multiplier, rounded up to the nearest whole number. Your net gain can be 2.8 times what you initially bet.
And just when you thought the math portion was done, you will occasionally see a "Bonus Chance" appear on the screen. I always recommend taking a chance on these, since you can now gain more than the expected coin multipliers. You might get a small, medium, or large sticker bundle, rare trophies, or even double or triple the coins. In theory, betting 100 coins on a 4-player Basic Brawl could end up tripling the 380 coins to 1140 coins. Subtracting the initial 100 coins, that's still a 1040 coin net gain!
"OK, that's all great, but how many coins should I bet?" This all boils down to how much time you really have. Technically speaking, any bet that is 4 coins or fewer will have the best payoffs, since 80%, 180%, and 280%, all round up to 100%, 200%, and 300%, respectively. In other words, if you bet 4 coins on a duel or Team Battle, you stand to either lose or gain exactly 4 coins. Likewise you could gain 8 or 12 with 3- and 4-player Basic Brawls. You can expect to break even over time with such small bets, and that's not even accounting for the Bonus Chance bets, so you can expect to gain in the long run. However, time is the factor holding most people from betting such low bets all the time, so it may not be practical to bet so low.
Also, never bet a multiple of 5 coins on a duel or Team Battle. It may not be immediately obvious, but when you compare potential winnings of a 5, 10, 15, etc. coin bet with one coin fewer, you'll find the winnings to be the same due to the way the multiplier rounds up. So even if you're thinking of going with the max of 100 coins, drop it to 99 coins. The only exception to this may be during a Bonus Chance if you think you may get double or triple the winnings.
If you are getting close to 9999 coins, pay close attention to your bets. It would be a waste to bet coins that bring your total over the top, so it helps if you can quickly do the math in your head on the fly as you are increasing or decreasing your bet. Also be mindful of potential double or triple winnings during Bonus Chances.
And when you do finally reach 9999 coins, there is obviously little point in making bets, unless there is a Bonus Chance coming up. In those cases I always bet a single coin due to the potential sticker winnings. And even when there aren't Bonus Chances and you lose bets, you can still get stickers for your efforts. Sometimes I get as many as 10 for a missed bet, but never during a Bonus Chance, though. Anyway with a max of 9999 coins, it is best to spend them offline either in the Coin Launcher or to use them for continues in Solo modes. Just don't park on 9999 coins for too long; otherwise you are wasting them!
Finally, here are a few miscellaneous tips: Bonus Chances never happen on your first time spectating. You could just watch or bet a single coin here and hope for a Bonus Chance to pop up for the 2nd match. Sometimes, you will even run into a few in a row. This might be your time to make those high bets. Also, anytime you lose your connection on the betting screen, you can lose everything you bet! If you suspect your connection is unstable, make your bet, move the cursor away from all players, then move it back when the countdown timer is under five. Better yet, if your connection is really unstable, don't make bets here at all! Also, don't always make bets based on your favorite or highest tiered characters. Even if the matchup looks lopsided, you may find a rather high number of victories with the low tiers. It really does reflect the better representation of low tiers vs. the high tiers that you would randomly run into yourself online. And if you watch really carefully, you might spectate your own match!
