Pro Pinball: Big Race USA "Just the Facts" Rulesheet -Erik Mooney, emooney@attila.stevens-tech.edu , erikmooney@altavista.net Revision History: 1.0: First version, 3/27/99 1.1: Added Skill Shots, Extra Balls, and Bonus, added more scoring info, fixed some typos. 3/28/99, 3 AM :) 1.2: Lots of little fixes, marked with **. Rewrote the Combos section. 3/28/99, 5:30 PM EST Availability: On my homepage http://attila.stevens-tech.edu/~emooney , or by emailing me at emooney@attila.stevens-tech.edu or erikmooney@altavista.net . Also, this guide should be available on Sam Gabrielsson's excellent site The Tower of Pin at www.pcpinball.com . Disclaimer: I do not guarantee the accuracy of any of the information contained herein. I am not responsible for any physical, logical, emotional, or brain damage incurred from this document or the information contained herein. I only guarantee that it will take up disk space (unless someone comes up with a revolutionary new compression technique.) All trademarks contained in this document are the property of their respective owners. I give permission to copy, post, translate into HTML, and otherwise reproduce this document and the information contained herein as long as credit is given to me. Introduction: As you probably know if you're reading this, Pro Pinball: Big Race USA is the latest and greatest pinball simulator from the good folks at Cunning Developments and published by Empire Interactive. The last time I did a guide for a Pro Pinball game (The Web), two other people used it to knock me out of the world Grand Champion spot. I'm still a little miffed about that, but Ade and the boys have outdone themselves with complexity this time around, and I've seen many many requests for a rulesheet for Big Race USA, so I'll provide one. This is a "just the facts" rulesheet; I'm not providing strategy or suggestions. I've encrypted the spoilers with ROT-13. If whatever you're using to view this doesn't have ROT-13 decoding, applets are available on the Web to do it at http://www.brookings.net/~darinaf/rot13.html , http://as.alliancestudio.com/tk/rot13.html , and other locations. Please, give me feedback and corrections on this guide. Anything marked with a (?) needs confirmation! If for some reason my email addresses don't work, I'll always be hanging out in rec.games.pinball as long as it exists. The Table: Going clockwise from the drain, we encounter: Air Bag: Acts as a stopper between the flippers, making it hard to drain when this is up. Left outlane: Lights the T in TRUNK. Left outer inlane: Lights the R in TRUNK. If the MagnoCharger light is lit, it lights the magnet on the right ramp for about 10 seconds. Resets that 10-second timer if it is currently running. Left inner inlane: Lights the U in TRUNK. Open the Trunk saucer: Activates Open the Trunk when lit. Advances the 3-2-1 lights in front of it during city play. When 1 is scored, the Hot Rod raises for Drag Speedway Challenge. Hot Rod: When the Hot Rod car is popped up, you can shoot a ball into him here. Starts Drag Speedway Challenge during normal city play, and is used in that mode and Hot Rod Duel. Left Orbit: Has a spinner on it. It has a diverter to catch the ball if any of the following conditions are met: Enters the next City if lit to do so on the road. During city play, it enters Jay's Secret Stash if that is open. Failing that, it starts Speedway Mania if it is lit. Failing that, it starts Speedway Frenzy if that is lit. If nothing is lit, the ball loops around to the upper right flipper. Left ramp: Advances the 3-2-1 lights in front of it during city play. When 1 is scored, the Sports Car raises for Oval Speedway Challenge. Usually diverts to the lower left flipper. W and N targets: Select destination while On the Road (more later.) Sports Car: When it's popped up, shoot a ball into it. Starts Oval Speedway Challenge during city play, and is used in that mode and Sports Car Duel. U-turn: Shooting multiple U-turns in a row relights Nitro Boost if it is unlit: 3 shots for the first time, 5 for the second, then 7, etc. Starts the Police Chase Quickshot if lit to do so on the road. Advances the Bonus Multiplier if lit to do so. Each shot in a row scores 250,000 more than the previous. Police Car Scoop: If the city mode for the current city has not been played, it starts. If that mode has been played, it switches to road play. On the Road, it starts a Duel if one is lit. Lit Extra Balls may be collected here at any time. MagnoLock: ** This is an under-playfield magnet, located a few inches directly below the Police Car Scoop. Its purpose is to catch shots exiting the left side of the U-turn, and sometimes fling them into the scoop. Mini-ramp: If this is popped up, it blocks shots to the Police Car Scoop, making the ball strike the Police Car instead. Compass target: Is involved with selecting a destination. Mini-loop: Hittable from the upper right flipper, and loops back to that same flipper. During city play, city modes, and Speedway Mania, diverts to the Taxi and locks a Passenger lock if one is lit. Two consecutive loops opens Jay's if it isn't. Shooting 3 loops in a row lights Extra Ball, once per game. If that has been achieved, shooting 10 loops in a row lights an Extra Ball. I don't know what happens if that has been achieved. :) Each shot in sequence scores 500,000 more than the previous. Upper left ramp: This is the blue ramp just to the left of the taxi. Usually diverts to the upper left flipper, but sometimes (during Taxi Rank Rampage and most speedway challenges) to the lower left flipper. Relights the MagnoCharget light. Taxi: If closed, hitting it during city play, a city mode, a speedway challenge, Speedway Frenzy, or Speedway Mania advances towards a Passenger lock. If open for the fourth Passenger lock during city play, a city mode, or Speedway Mania, it starts Passenger Frenzy. On the road, if Video Mode is lit, it starts Video Mode. Scores quickshots if one is running, and is used in many other modes. Ejects the ball from the Nameless Scoop on the bottom right towards the lower left flipper. Upper right ramp: Usually diverts to the upper right flipper, but sometimes (usually during speedway challenges) to the lower right flipper. Relights the MagnoCharger light. ** There is a very quick ball saver activated when you hit this ramp. If the ball flies past the upper right flipper and directly into the left outlane, the game will give the ball back. Big loop: Just above the upper right flipper, and loops back around to the upper left flipper. Behaves the same way as the mini-loop for Jay's, extra balls, and scoring. Mystery target: Just below the upper right flipper. It is lit during Speedway Challenges and Duels if you have the correct piece of equipment from Jay's. S and E targets: See W and N targets. Right ramp: Advances the 3-2-1 lights in front of it during city play. When 1 is scored, the Monster Truck raises for Stunt Speedway Challenge. Usually diverts to the lower right flipper. However: Magnocharger: A magnet somewhere under the right ramp. When it is active (after hitting the left outer inlane) and the ball enters the ramp entrance, the magnet will fling the ball up the ramp at high speed for you. If this happens, the ramp will divert back to the left flipper for another shot at the Magnocharger, which will remain lit for about another three seconds. Making a Magnocharger shot raises the air bag, or extends its time if it's lit. The first and every fifth Magnocharger light video mode, except for the 10th and 100th magnochargers which light Extra Ball. Each shot in sequence scores 1M more than the last, to a maximum of 5M. ** I'll give a small hint here: if you want to shoot multiple Magnochargers in a row, let the ball bounce off the airbag between shots! Much easier :) Monster Truck: When he is popped up, shoot a ball into him. Starts Stunt Speedway Challenge during city play, and is used in that mode and Monster Truck Duel. He won't pop up if the Magnocharger is active. Right orbit: Advances the 3-2-1 lights in front of it during city play. When 1 is scored, the Mini Beetle raises for Street Speedway Challenge. Loops around to the upper left flipper. Mini Bug (aka Mini Beetle): When she is popped up, shoot a ball into her. Starts Street Speedway Challenge during city play, and is used in that mode and Mini Bug Duel. Nameless scoop: Just ejects the ball after it enters the Taxi or falls into this scoop. Right inlane: N in TRUNK. Right outlane: K in TRUNK. The Meter: On the bottom left of the table. If you are in a timed mode, it shows the time remaining. If not, it shows you your current money total. Nitro Boost: The light next to the plunger lane is lit when Nitro Boost is available. If it's available, press the launch button to use it, which completes all flashing shots on the table. Game Features: There's a _lot_ of these. I'll try to tackle them in an orderly fashion. Skill Shots: Hitting the upper-right ramp after launching the ball is a Skill Shot, scoring the current skill shot value and $5000. Hitting the big loop and then the right ramp in combo is a Super Skill Shot for 2X the skill shot value and $10000. Holding both flippers before launching the ball activates an analog plunger, which is controlled by holding down the launch button. Launching the ball to the upper-right flipper and hitting the upper left ramp is a Secret Skill Shot for 3X the skill shot value and $15000. Finally, using the analog plunger and hitting the mini-loop (passenger lock must not be lit) and then the upper left ramp is a Super Secret Skill Shot for 5X the current skill shot value and $25000. The skill shot value starts at 1M and increases by 1M each time you make any type of skill shot. City Modes: First, you'll notice the map of the USA with 16 lights representing various cities. It's arranged as follows (use fixed-width font to view). Note that the designers took certain artistic liberties with regards to the city arrangements :) /Chicago\ /Salt Lake\ /Detroit\ /Seattle\ /Denver \ / Boston \ San Fran Las Vegas Memphis New York \Los Ang/ \Dallas / \Washington/ \ Phoenix / \Atlanta/ \Orleans/ In any city, you can travel to any adjacent city in an adjacent column. You can only travel from right to left unless you have the Compass from Jay's. In each city, there is a city mode. These rotate around from game to game, but remain the same within one game. San Francisco's mode is always the Big Race. Other than that, the cities are divided into two 'divisions': East: New York, Boston, Washington, Detroit, Memphis, Atlanta, Denver, Dallas West: Seattle,Los Angeles, Salt Lake, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Chicago, New Orleans Each division has a set of modes that are randomly assigned to the cities in that division at the start of a game. Completing a quickshot for _maximum_ value (10M) or any city mode awards a Big Race Booster (BRB). Taxi quickshots start at 10M, where it stays for about 6 seconds, and counts down to 2.5M. After playing a city mode, hit the Police Scoop again to go On the Road. Passenger Frenzy may be started during any city mode, but not the quickshots. The East division modes are: Bonus Bonanza quickshot: Make the quickshot to start Bonus Bonanza, which lights the U-turn for 45 seconds. Hitting the U-turn during that time increases your bonus X by 1 for the first hit, 2 for the second, and 3 for the third and all later shots. This is allowed to increase your bonus beyond the normal limit of 10X. Bonus Held quickshot: Make it to hold your bonus X onto the next ball. Money Spinner quickshot: Make it to start Money Spinner, which lights the spinner for 45 seconds. The first spin awards $50, and each spin of the spinner awards $50 more than the previous spin. Jay's Giveaway quickshot: Make it to play Jay's Giveaway (see Jay's Junk for more info.) Taxi Rank Rampage: You have 20 seconds to hit either lower ramp or the upper left ramp, which will always divert to the lower left flipper and give you a 3 second timer to hit the taxi. Do that 3 times to win the mode and a Big Race Booster; the third time, the taxi will be open and you must get it _in_ the taxi to count. You get a short airbag after hitting the taxi. Speed Humps: Timer is 30 seconds. All switches score 250,000. Hit a certain number of switches (20?) to raise the mini ramp. Hit the police car to add 250,000 to the all-switches value and 10 seconds to the timer. You can do that a maximum of 3 times; doing it twice gets the BRB. UFO attack: Timer is 20 seconds. One lit shot cycles between the left orbit, left ramp, U-turn, right ramp, right orbit, and back again. Hit it to score 5M and reset the timer. Do that 3 times for the BRB. I think there's a limit of 6 or 8 timer resets, though I'm not sure. Mall Mayhem: Timer is 45 seconds. The Trunk saucer, Jay's, Police scoop, and the Taxi are all lit for 10M each. Shoot them all in any order to add an extra 10 seconds to the timer and light the U-turn. Hit the lit U-turn to score 20M and the BRB. MagnoLock will catch the ball after hitting the U-turn, but won't put it into the scoop. The West division modes are: Big Race Booster quickshot: Make it for a BRB. Note that if you hit the quickshot for the maximum 10M, you'll get two BRBs. Extra Ball quickshot: Make it for an EB. If it's made, later visits to this city will have an Air Bag quickshot instead: make it to raise the Air Bag for 30 seconds. Nitro Boost quickshot: Make it to light Nitro Boost. Nitro Boosts don't stack, so this is wasted if Nitro Boost was already lit. Attack of the Creature (Tubby): You have 15 seconds on the timer. Each spin of the spinner scores 1M (?) and adds 2 seconds to the timer. Raise the timer above 35 (?) seconds to escape from Tubby and win a BRB. Car Park Calamity: I really haven't figured this one out, so I'll just paraphrase the manual: Shoot loops to search for a parking space. Shoot top ramps to move up floors. When a parking space is found, shoot the open Taxi for a BRB. Car Park Chaos: Shoot the left ramp 4 times in 45 seconds for a BRB. Grid Lock Lunacy: Timer starts with 30 seconds. The mini-ramp raises. It lowers itself at about six-second intervals for about one second; it won't lower if a flipper is being held. Hit the police car (above the mini-ramp) to score 5M and add 10 seconds to the timer. Hit the police car scoop to score 30M and the BRB. Big Race: Always happens in San Francisco, and has its own section. Speedway Challenges: 3-2-1 lights can be advanced during any single-ball city play, but not during Challenges. Complete the 3-2-1 lights in front of any racer to make that racer raise. Hit that racer during city play to start its Challenge. Each Challenge lights three shots: red, yellow, and green. You have 30 seconds on the timer. Making any of those shots adds 10 seconds to the timer. Complete all three of those to raise the racer again; hit it to win for a BRB and some money ($10000?). If the shots are not completed in red-yellow-green order, each scores 5M and the racer scores 10M for a total of 25M. If they are completed in order, they score 5M-10M-15M and the racer is 20M for a total of 50M. If you complete all four shots in order _fast_enough_, you get an extra 10M for a total of 60M, and two BRBs instead of one. I don't know how fast you have to be for the speed bonus. Using a Nitro Boost will count as hitting the first three shots in order, so it's pretty easy to hit the racer fast enough for the speed bonus. If you have the appropriate piece of equipment from Jay's, the Mystery target will be lit during that Challenge. Hitting it spots the next colored shot. See the Jay's section for more information. ** If the big loop or upper right ramp is lit, shooting the left orbit will make the Jay's saucer do a quick catch-and-release, setting up a shot. After a Speedway Challenge ends, whether by winning, losing, or draining, its associated Speedway Frenzy becomes lit. (Harder difficulty settings require you to win a Challenge to light its Frenzy.) Hit the left orbit during city play when Jay's is not lit to start all lit Speedway Frenzies. Speedway Frenzies: One ball is added for each Speedway Frenzy you just started. Shots corresponding to the racers for the Speedway Frenzies you just started are lit. The base jackpot value is 1M times the number of Frenzies you started. Hitting an unlit racer shot scores the base jackpot value. Hitting a lit shot scores the base jackpot and advances it to Double Jackpot. Scoring Double advances it to Triple. Scoring Triple lights Super, and the shot then stays at Single until the Super is collected, when it can be advanced again. This sequence runs independently for all lit shots. Super Jackpots are collected by shooting either upper ramp, and a single upper ramp shot will collect all lit Supers. A Super Jackpot is worth 5X the base jackpot value. If you collect all four Super Jackpots at once, you instead get an Ultra Jackpot, which is worth 5X Super, or 25X the base value. The _first_ time you collect a Super during any Speedway Frenzy, you get one BRB for each Super, or 5 BRBs if it's an Ultra. Nitro Boost will count as hitting each racer shot once, and an upper ramp if a Super is lit. It does these simultaneously, not sequentially: if Triple is lit on a shot, the Nitro will collect that Triple but not the Super. Confused yet? Here's an example. Suppose you win Stunt Speedway Challenge, then lose Drag Speedway Challenge and Street Speedway challenge. Then you hit the left orbit to start the Speedway Frenzy. It's a four-ball multiball. The left saucer,right ramp, and right orbit are lit. The base jackpot value is 3M. You hit the unlit left ramp; it scores 3M. You hit the unlit left ramp again, it scores another 3M. You hit the left saucer three times; it scores 3M, 6M, and 9M. You hit the right ramp three times; it scores 3M, 6M, and 9M. Two Super Jackpots are now lit. You hit the left saucer again, it scores 3M and doesn't advance anything. You hit an upper ramp. That scores two Super Jackpots for a score of 30M, and awards two BRBs. You hit the left saucer four more times for 3M, 6M, 9M (Super is now lit), and 3M. You hit an upper ramp for a 15M Super, but no BRB. The highest Speedway Frenzy score is kept as the Speedway King high score. Speedway Mania: Once all four Speedway Frenzies have been played (either all at once or spread out), Speedway Mania is lit. Shoot the left orbit when Jay's is not lit to start it. Speedway Mania gives you 60 seconds on the clock, and that timer does not pause for anything. You get a gratis ball saver for about the first 10 seconds. You must make quickshots into all four racers to win Speedway Mania. One racer will raise, and a quickshot starts counting down from 10M. If you hit the racer, you score the quickshot value, the base value doubles, and another quickshot starts with a racer that has not been hit yet. Do that 4 times to win an Extra Ball. A quickshot expires after about 6 seconds: the racer drops and the quickshot resets back to the base value with the same or a different racer. Nitro Boost doesn't work during Speedway Mania. Passenger Frenzy can be started during Speedway Mania. (there was a bug in early versions of the game that I don't think was ever fixed - occasionally, the game tries to play the Passenger and Speedway Mania musics at the same time, causing massive system slowdown. The workaround is to lower the music volume to 0 until the modes end.) After Speedway Mania ends, the 3-2-1 lights reset and you can begin the Speedway sequence again. Speedway secret, ROT-13'd: Vs lbh pbzcyrgr gur 3-2-1 yvtugf fb gung nyy sbhe enpref ner envfrq ng bapr, naq gura uvg gur yrsg beovg jura Wnl'f vfa'g yvg, vg fgnegf n sbhe-jnl Fcrrqjnl Seraml jvgubhg arrqvat gb cynl gur punyyratrf. Guvf fcrpvny Fcrrqjnl Seraml tbrf njnl vs lbh fgneg n punyyratr orsber uvggvat gur yrsg beovg. Passenger Frenzy: Hitting the Taxi advances towards Passenger locks. For the first PF, you need to hit the taxi 1, 2, 3, and 4 times to light the first, second, third, and fourth locks. Later PFs require 2, 3, 4, and 5 hits for each lock. Hitting the Taxi towards a lock awards $1. (why??) Passenger Frenzy can be a 2, 3, or 4 ball multiball. Passenger Frenzy starts when you lock a ball in the last lit lock. So if two locks are lit, and you lock the second ball, it starts; if four locks are lit and you lock the third ball, it waits till the fourth ball is locked. The first three locks are achieved by shooting the mini-loop (the taxi door will open to admit the ball... cute) and the fourth goes in the front of the taxi. The Passenger Frenzy jackpot shots are the four racer shots, though the racers stay down. One jackpot shot will be lit for each ball in the multiball. The jackpot value is 5M plus $2000. After you make all the jackpot shots (drop off all your passengers), the taxi opens for a double, triple, or super jackpot (5X base, = 25M plus $10000) depending on how many passengers you had, and reloads you with that many passengers again, relighting that many jackpot shots. Each Passenger Frenzy, the first Super Jackpot will also award a BRB. Cow Jackpot, ROT-13: Vs lbh pbyyrpg sbhe erthyne wnpxcbgf va beqre sebz yrsg gb evtug, fhcre wnpxcbg jvyy vafgrnq or n pbj wnpxcbg jbegu gjvpr nf zhpu nf fhcre wnpxcbg. Avgeb Obbfgvat gur sbhe wnpxcbgf qbrf abg pbhag nf uvggvat gurz va beqre. Open the Trunk: Completing TRUNK lights the Open the Trunk saucer. It can be collected both in the city and on the road. Lit Trunks do not stack. The trick here is that Open the Trunk is _not_random_. There's four categories of trunk awards, small, normal, great, and super. The category is dependent on which opponent it is, and what the dollar amount is (only matters whether or not it's >1000.) Here's your chart: Dollars <1000 >1000 Hot Rod ? ? Sports Car small ? Monster Truck ? ? Mini Bug ? ? So if you open the Sports Car's trunk when the dollar amount is less than 1000, you will get a small award. Have fun figuring them out, or un-ROT this: fcbegf pne fznyy zbarl, zbafgre gehpx ynetr zbarl, naq ubg ebq ynetr zbarl tvir fznyy njneqf. ubg ebq fznyy zbarl, zvav oht fznyy zbarl, naq fcbegf pne ynetr zbarl tvir zrqvhz njneqf. zbafgre gehpx fznyy zbarl naq zvav oht ynetr zbarl tvir terng njneqf. Also, anytime you accept cash of less than 1k, the *next* Open the Trunk award will be one category greater than it would otherwise be. This is the only way to get Super awards. Small awards are small points and small cash. Medium awards include: Big Points, Big Cash, Bonus Boost, Jay's lit, Challenge lit (city only), Duel lit (road only). Great awards include: Really Big Points, Really Big Cash, immediate 4-ball Passenger (city only), immediate Police Chase Frenzy (road only), Jay's Giveaway. Super awards are: EB lit the first time in any game; every time after that will be a 90-second Really Big Air Bag. Jay's Junk: Probably the number one frequently asked question about the game. Here goes. To open Jay's, shoot either loop twice in a row. To enter Jay's, shoot the left orbit in city play. The tires, spoilers, engine, and brakes, $3000 each, each correspond to one of the four racers. If you have the corresponding piece of equipment, the Mystery target lights during that racer's Speedway Challenge and Duel. Hitting the active Mystery target spots one shot towards that Challenge or Duel. Also, having the appropriate piece of equipment makes it take longer for that racer to overtake you during the Big Race. If you don't want to figure out for yourself which racer corresponds to which upgrade, un-ROT-13 this: ratvar:ubgebq, fcbegfpne:fcbvyref, gverf:gehpx, zvavoht:oenxrf. Jay also has a number of other things: Lottery Tickets, $1, Cookies, $3, and Extra Ball, $50000: pretty obvious. Planner, $1000: This is only available when you have already played the city mode for the city, and there is a choice about where to go next (if you don't have the compass, this item won't appear in Chicago, Salt Lake, Seattle, New Orleans, Phoenix, or Dallas.) Buying it lets you select your next destination, and immediately puts you On the Road. If you do not have the compass, you can only go left; if you have the compass, you can go to any adjacent city. A planner can be overridden by the compass - see On the Road, below. Ferry, $2000: This is available in Chicago or New Orleans after you have played the city mode. It takes you up or down the Mississippi River to the other of those two cities. Cruise Control, $2000: Each spin of the spinner increases your Road speed by 2 MPH instead of 1. City Guide, $5000: When you're On the Road and the display says "XXX miles to City, home of ...", if you have this item, the "home of ..." will be filled in, letting you know what mode is in that city. Air Bag, $5000: 30 seconds of air-filled goodness. Compass, $10000: Lets you choose your destination. See On the Road below. Big Air Bag, $25000: 60 seconds of good-filled airness. Mystery, $100000: Starts Really Big Race, see below. Only appears if you've qualified for Really Big Race, of course. Big Mystery, $1000000: Starts Million Dollar Madness, see below. Jay's Giveaway: ** This can be started either by a city quickshot or from Open the Trunk. Items from Jay's begin flashing on the display. Press both flippers or the Launch button to take the current item. He will not offer equipment you already have, or a planner or compass or cookie. If you press the launch button while the audio "Jay's Giveaway" is going, he'll give you a lottery ticket; otherwise lottery tickets can't be awarded. ** J. Weaver Jr (JWJ) says that the Giveaway awards don't appear randomly, but there's different sequences: "There's one that starts with the EB first and repeats the EB fifth that happens frequently." Stay tuned. Combos and Duels: Combos are available during just about any non-multiball time. Combos award increasing numbers of points. The base value starts at 1M on each ball, and is increased by 250K by completing TRUNK. The multiplier increases by 1 for each combo shot in sequence after the first. ** Having the correct equipment for a racer also increases the value of their combos - the base is 1M extra for such shots. ** Combos progress towards Duels. To light a Duel, you need to make a racer's combo (these are different from the 3-2-1 shots) three times to light the Duel the first time, and four times for later Duels. ** Legal combos are: Advances towards Duel: Upper right ramp -> left ramp* Hot Rod Right ramp -> left ramp Hot Rod Left ramp -> right ramp Hot Rod Upper left ramp -> right ramp^ Hot Rod Big loop -> right ramp^ Hot Rod Right orbit -> right ramp^ Hot Rod Right ramp -> left orbit Sports Car Left ramp -> left orbit* Sports Car Upper right ramp -> left orbit* Sports Car Upper left ramp -> right orbit^ Sports Car Left ramp -> right orbit Sports Car Big loop -> right orbit^ Sports Car Right ramp -> right orbit* Sports Car Mini-loop -> upper left ramp Monster Truck Left orbit -> upper left ramp Monster Truck Upper right ramp -> upper left ramp Monster Truck Right orbit -> upper right ramp Monster Truck Big loop -> upper right ramp Monster Truck Upper left ramp -> upper right ramp Monster Truck Left orbit -> mini-loop Mini Bug Upper right ramp -> mini-loop Mini Bug Upper left ramp -> big loop Mini Bug Right orbit -> big loop Mini Bug *These combos are only available when the first ramp diverts properly to allow you to complete the combo. ^These combos are available anytime; let the ball fall past the upper left flipper to the lower left. Shooting multiple loops in a row pauses the combo sequence, letting you continue it when you hit a different shot. Shooting multiple left ramps, right ramps/magnochargers, or right orbits consecutively are not combos and cancel the current combo sequence. There are eight combo maneuvers (manoeuvres to our British friends). Four of them are three-combo (4-shot) sequences that count as two combos towards a duel; four of them are four-combo (5-shot) sequences that light a duel immediately. If you perform a maneuver, the racer whose duel towards which it counts will announce it. The Two-Wheeler maneuver is: anything->right orbit->big loop->upper right ramp. This counts as two combos towards Monster Truck Duel. (and of course the right orbit and big loop shots will count towards their duels) Barrel Roll: anything->right orbit->big loop->UR ramp->UL loop, which counts as 4 combos towards (lights immediately) Mini Bug Duel. ** Bootlegger's Reverse: anything->right ramp->left ramp->right ramp. Counts as 2 combos towards Hot Rod Duel. Others include a Powerslide, which I think I remember is a reverse Barrel Roll (anything->spinner->miniloop->UL ramp->UR loop). I can't seem to find my notes where I wrote these down, so you're on your own. I'm also not sure of the scoring on maneuvers, but it is more than just plain combo scoring. (maybe the base value is doubled for shots that complete maneuvers?) I think I've covered all the city features, so now let's go On the Road: When you go On the Road, you start 250 miles away from the next city. (the 250 is different for different difficulties.) Your speed starts at 30 MPH. Each spin of the spinner or hit on the closed taxi increases your speed by 1 MPH, or 2 if you have cruise control. Making any shot except the left orbit subtracts your current speed from the number of miles remaining. When the distance remaining reaches 0, the left orbit becomes lit to enter the next city and you can no longer increase your speed from the spinner (you can from the taxi.) If you drain on the road, the next ball starts in the next city except on the hardest difficulty. When your speed reaches 56 MPH, Speed Trap becomes lit at the U-turn. Shoot it to start the Police quickshot (see Police Chase Frenzy below.) Video Mode can be started by hitting the open Taxi during road play. Combos and Open the Trunk are still available, but the Challenge sequence is not. Duels are available by hitting the Police Scoop when a Duel is lit. Selecting a Destination: /Chicago\ /Salt Lake\ /Detroit\ /Seattle\ /Denver \ / Boston \ San Fran Las Vegas Memphis New York \Los Ang/ \Dallas / \Washington/ \ Phoenix / \Atlanta/ \Orleans/ This is confusing. When you leave a city, the game randomly selects one of the cities to the left as your destination. (if you're in Boston, it can pick Memphis or Detroit.) If you _do not_ have the compass, this happens: Each hit of a slingshot while on the road changes your destination, but it is always to the west. These changes won't happen if you bought a planner. These changes will happen during Duels and Police Chase Frenzy. If you _have_ the compass, things change. Now, hitting a valid pair of W-N-S-E targets and then the compass target sets your destination. So, if you're in Dallas, and hit S and E and the compass, you will go southeast to Atlanta. If you're in Salt Lake, and hit N, the W target will not be active (since you can't go northwest from Salt Lake.) These destination changes happen even if you used a planner! These destination changes do not happen during Duels and Police Chase Frenzy. This is _contradictory_ to the cookie "With a compass you'll never go back". In fact, a compass is the _only_ way to go backwards. Video Mode: If it is lit, hit the Taxi while on the road to start it. You drive your taxi through the video mode, killing or avoiding other cars (your choice.) You start 1000 (miles? yards? it doesn't say) away from your destination, with 60 seconds on the timer. After you kill 10 cars, the police car comes at you. ** Kill him to make a special object appear. The special object will be a giant pinball, or if you've already killed it this game, it'll be a question mark. Killing the pinball wins an EB (duh); killing the question mark scores a BRB. Both police car and special object kills count towards your kill total. Scoring ** (fixed, thanks to JWJ): For uncompleted VM's, scoring is 500K per kill. For a completed VM where nothing got past you, 500K per kill plus a 50M perfect bonus. For a completed VM where you did noy kill any other cars: 10M. For a completed VM where you did not touch any other cars: 50M perfect. For a completed VM that is _not_ perfect, the per-kill points are doubled to 1M each, plus a 4M completion bonus. Completing Video Mode starts you in the next city. The highest number of Video Mode kills is kept as the Video Master high score. Police Chase Frenzy and Quickshot: When Speed Trap is lit, on the road, shoot the U-turn to start Police Quickshot. This quickshot starts at 5M and counts down to 1M, where it stays for well over 5 seconds before timing out. Shoot the U-turn again while this quickshot is running to start Police Chase Frenzy. ** MagnoLock will catch the ball and fling it into the scoop. The jackpot value for PC Frenzy is the value of the quickshot when it was made. PC Frenzy is a 3-ball multiball. ** Jackpots are collected at the U-turn. Anytime a jackpot is lit, the mini-ramp will be raised; hit the police car to raise the jackpot by 1M to a max of 10M. Anytime a jackpot is collected, the MagnoLock will attempt to catch the ball and put it into the scoop. Collecting a jackpot also gives you about eight seconds of airbag. Hitting the taxi once lights the U-turn for a jackpot. After collecting that, hitting the taxi twice lights Double Jackpot. After collecting that, hitting the taxi three times lights Triple Jackpot. Collect the Triple Jackpot, and the taxi will open. When a ball goes into the open taxi, you have a 15-second timer, and the mini-ramp will raise. Hit the police car during that time to score a Super Jackpot of 5X the jackpot value. The sequence resets after the timer expires or Super Jackpot is scored. The 15-second timer keeps going even if multiball ends during it - it's a grace period. The first Super Jackpot of a PC Frenzy also awards a BRB and relaunches balls to bring you up to 4 with a fresh ballsaver. (I know I said I wouldn't do any strategy, but when that 15-second timer is about to expire is a _great_ time to use a nitro boost.) After Police Chase Frenzy, you are still on the road, but the distance to the next city is now 0, and you cannot relight Speed Trap while you are still on the road. If Open the Trunk awards an instant PC Frenzy, the base jackpot value will be 2.5M. If a ball goes into the saucer during PC Frenzy, it will hold it for about 15 seconds or until a jackpot is scored. Duels: When On the Road, you can start a Duel at the Police Scoop if one is lit. If more than one Duel is lit, one is chosen in this priority order: Hot Rod, Sports Car, Monster Truck, Mini Beetle. (This is the left-to-right order on the playfield of the racers.) When a Duel starts, a second ball is launched. The Duel lasts until you win it or lose a ball. You get a pretty long ballsaver to start, around 30 seconds. The shots that advanced toward that racer's duel begin flashing. (for the association list, see Combos.) Hit either of them a total of three times (you get 10M per shot) to raise the racer. Put one ball in the racer for 5M, and the taxi will open; you have about 10 seconds to put the other ball in the taxi for the win, a BRB, 10M, and $20,000. If that timer runs out, the racer ejects the ball back at you and you must relock it. When you lose a Duel, you go back on the road. When you win a Duel, you go on to the next city, and the ball that you locked in the racer stays there until the Big Race. After all four Duels have been played, Police Duel will light. This Duel is started and plays pretty much the same as the others. The associated shot is the U-turn; hit that three times. Then lock one ball in the Police scoop, and put the other in the taxi to win. Scoring for Police Duel is double that of the other duels, and winning lights an Extra Ball. The Duel sequence resets after Police Duel if there are no balls locked in the racers. If any racer holds a ball, the game waits until after the next Big Race to reset the sequence. The Big Race: When you start the city mode in San Francisco, the Big Race starts. Your position in the starting grid is determined by how many cars you have beaten in Duels. Any car you have beaten starts behind you; any car you haven't beaten starts in front of you. For starting, you get 10M, plus 10M for each car you've beaten, or 100M Pole Position if you've beaten all four. 100 seconds go up on the timer, with unlimited ballsaver and airbag. During the Big Race, each lit or flashing shot is worth 2M for each Big Race Booster you have. Racers that you have beaten will be down; racers that you haven't will be raised. One of the raised ones will be flashing; lock a ball in it to pass it. One of the lowered ones will also be flashing; it's trying to pass you. If you go about 10 seconds without either passing another car or hitting the shot of the flashing one behind you, the one behind you will pass you, pop up, and eject its ball. That 10 seconds is extended if you have the right piece of equipment for the car that's trying to pass you. Using a Nitro Boost will reset the timer for the car trying to pass you. When less than 25 seconds remain in the Big Race, and you're in first place, the taxi will open. Hit the open taxi to win the Big Race for 100M, $50,000, and an Extra Ball. If time expires, you lose the Big Race; you get 10-40M for fifth through second places. After winning the Big Race, you play a Victory Frenzy. This is a 5-ball Speedway Frenzy, except that the base jackpot is 5M. Victory Frenzy scores are not eligible for Speedway King scores. Win or lose, the Big Race returns you to New York afterwards. The highest Big Race score is kept as the Big Race King high score. The Really Big Race: To qualify for this, you must: play Speedway Mania, play Police Duel, win Passenger Frenzy (get a Super Jackpot), win Police Chase Frenzy (get a Super Jackpot), win the Big Race, and have $100,000. These six tasks correspond to the six blue lights right above the flippers. Each of these resets after the Really Big Race, except for the $100,000. To start the Big Race, buy it from Jay's after completing all six tasks (it costs $100,000 to start.) Really Big Race is a six-ball multiball, unlimited ballsaver and airbag. You must make 15 shots to win. 100 seconds are once again put on the timer. All four racers raise. You must hit each racer three times; the third time, it'll hold the ball. These 12 shots total $50,000 and 50M. The 13th shot is to hit the police car (the mini-ramp will be up) for $50,000 and 50M. The 14th shot is to hit the police scoop for another $100,000 and 100M; the scoop will hold the ball. You must lock the last ball in the taxi for the win, an EB, and another $300,000 and 300M for a total of $500,000 and 500M. After winning a Really Big Race, you play a Really Big Victory Frenzy. This is a six-ball Speedway Frenzy with the base jackpot being 10M (so Ultra Jackpot will be 250M.) Really Big Victory Frenzy scores are not eligible for Speedway King. Really Big Race returns you to the city you were in afterward. Using a Nitro Boost will spot the first or second shot on each of the four racers, or the mini-ramp shot if that's lit. Million Dollar Madness: Once you reach $1,000,000, the game stops counting your money. You want to go to Jay's and buy the Big Mystery to start Million Dollar Madness. Its existence is no secret (Jay's cookie: "Some day you'll be a millionaire" kinda gives it away), but I've ROT-13ed the description of it in case you want to find out for yourself. Zvyyvba Qbyyne Znqarff vf n gra onyy zbqr. Gur nveont naq onyyfnire ner npgvir sbe nobhg n zvahgr. Rirel bar bs gur rvtugl-sbhe yvtugf ba gur gnoyr vf synfuvat. Fubbg n fubg gb pbzcyrgr bar bs vgf yvtugf. Nyy fjvgpurf fpber bar zvyyvba, gb n znkvzhz gbgny bs bar ovyyvba. Pbzcyrgr nyy rvtugl-sbhe yvtugf gb fpber nabgure bar ovyyvba. Avgeb Obbfg fcbgf bar yvtug sbe rnpu fubg, nobhg n qbmra gbgny. Guvf zbqr qbrf abg raq jura gur zhygvonyy raqf. Jura lbh'er qbja gb bar onyy, lbh zhfg rvgure pbzcyrgr Zvyyvba Qbyyne Znqarff jvgu vg be qenva vg. Nsgrejneqf, jva be ybfr, lbh jvyy unir $0 ntnva. Extra Balls: You can get extra balls in the following ways. The first four are repeatable; the rest are once per game. Win the Big Race (lights EB) Win the Really Big Race (lights EB) Win Police Duel (lights EB) Win Speedway Mania (instant EB) One from Jay's (either buy it or win it in the Giveaway; instant EB) Video Mode when you "kill" the EB (instant EB) Three consecutive loops (lights EB) Ten consecutive loops (lights EB) 10 Magnochargers (lights EB) 100 Magnochargers (lights EB) ** 40 U-turns (lights EB) Extra Ball Quickshot (lights EB) Open the Trunk (lights EB) Lit EBs are collected at the Police Car scoop. Additionally, at the end of a game, you can use credits to buy extra balls, to a limit of 10 per game. Credits are won by posting high scores, or winning replays, or matching. The replay score maxes at 1 billion. ** The maximum number of credits is supposed to be 30, but there seems to be a bug that there is no limit. It'll only display up to 30, but will keep track of more beyond that. Bonus: When you drain, you get this much bonus: 10,000 for every U-turn you've hit. 20,000 for every Loop you've hit. 30,000 for every Combo you've hit. 100,000 for every city you've entered. This total is then multiplied by your bonus multiplier. The bonus is cumulative throughout the game; the bonus multiplier resets to 1 after each ball unless it's held. Miscellaneous: You get three tilt warnings per ball; if you use them all and trip the tilt sensor again, you tilt, forfeiting the current ball in play and its bonus. There are audits for Super City Bonuses and Ultra City Bonuses. I _think_ these are awarded upon visiting a certain number of cities before visiting San Francisco, although I've never gotten either. This rulesheet doesn't cover Head to Head play at all. Mostly because I really don't like that mode. I play a slow, control and strategy oriented game... Head to Head is pretty much just whoever can make shots the fastest. It's fun, much more intense than, well, anything else, but it's not my type of game. ** Anyone wanna put together a head to head rulesheet for me to include? Credits: Author: Erik Mooney (emooney@attila.stevens-tech.edu , erikmooney@altavista.net) ** Corrections and fixes: J. Weaver Jr. (jwjr@pobox.com)