[Note: This text file automatically generated from a formatted document. As a result, formatting may not be perfect for textual screens. See the accompanying PostScript file for a more professional-looking document.] Professional and Amateur Pinball Association's Guide to Williams' Star Trek: The Next Generation Version as of January 11, 1995 DISCLAIMER: This rule sheet is meant as a guideline only, and is not an official documentation. To the best of our knowledge, the information contained in this rule sheet is accurate. However, due to various ROM editions, operator setup options, and tournament modes, the rules of any particular game may deviate from those listed below. The rules of the game are always final, and any dis- crepancies between this rule sheet and the actual game rules cannot be used as a basis for protest. This rule sheet is based on Rules for Star Trek: The Next Generation, by Cameron Silver , available in the rec.games.pinball archive, and modified by Dave Stewart for distribution at PAPA-5. 1. Playfield Description Starting from the Left in/out lanes, and going the long way round to the right: Left Outlane: Has a kickback. Relight the kickback by hitting the flashing yellow target. Left Inlane: Starts Hurry Up on the right orbit at 50M, counting down to 10M in 10 seconds. `Light Hurry Up' is lit by getting to warp factor 6. Guns: Two Probe Launchers sit above each sling shot. The launch- ers can swing out to shoot the ball into various shots for the launch probe skill shot, battle simulation mode, and at the start of multiball. Left and Right Targets: Three yellow stand-up targets just above each of the left and right slingshots. The flashing target relights the kickback and spots a rollover lane. These targets are also used to increase the Ferengi Jackpot when that multiball is running. There is no direct shot from the flippers to the lowest target, so to hit it you must rely on a ricochet off the slingshot. Spinner/Left Orbit: The left orbit has a spinner, which scores points for each spin. The spinner begins the game worth 1 unit, and increases by 1 unit each time a Time Rift target is hit. Warp Factor 6 also doubles the current unit value. If the spinner is not lit, then scoring is 1K times the current unit value of the spinner. If the spinner is lit (by obtaining warp factor 4), it is worth 100K times the current unit value. The orbit is also used for shooting warp factors (described more below.) A hard shot around the orbit will loop around to the upper right flipper. Time Rift targets: Two red stand-ups between the Spinner lane and the left ramp. Each target adds 1 unit to the spinner value, and is used during the Time Rift mode. Delta Quadrant: Left (or side) ramp, which can only be hit by the upper right flipper. The ramp normally diverts balls to a habitrail that crosses the playfield and goes to the right inlane. Undiverted balls go to the Borg ship to be locked, or for 3x Jackpot. Until you've reached Warp factor 9 once in the game, each shot up this ramp scores the next Warp factor. Command Decision: Small sink hole next to the left ramp. When lit it lets you choose which mode you want to start next; you can even rerun modes that you already played (for a second time, but not a third time). In tournament mode, you cannot rerun modes. This shot also advances rank when lit. Neutral Zone: This consists of two stand-up targets, with a hole in between. Three lights can point to either target, or the hole. It is used to start one of three rounds. The weird thing about this is that there is no sensor in the actual hole, but rather a stand-up target behind it. To successfully start a mode, a ball must deflect off the target into the hole. If a soft shot lands in the hole without hitting one of the Neutral Zone targets, then the machine treats it as though you hit command decision. There is a green Lock arrow that points to the Neutral Zone in the playfield, but it doesn't seem to ever be used in normal play. Alpha Quadrant: Center ramp, which feeds balls to the left inlane, and is used during some rounds. Subsequent shots (made within 10 seconds of each other) to this ramp and Beta quadrant score 5M+5M to 50M until the 10-second timer is up (the timer is indi- cated by the flashing yellow "explosive millions" lights, which blink faster and faster until the shot times out.) Start Mission (center sinkhole): In the centre/back of the playfield, used to start a mission (i.e. mode). It is also used for the multiball jackpot, extra ball and in several of the modes. Borg Ship: Sitting above the center ramp, and the Start Mission hole is a full-on model of the Borg ship. The left ramp can feed balls into the ship, but we warned, they get shot back out in the air towards the flippers. Rollover Lanes: Three lanes at the top are used to increase bonus multiplier to 2x, 4x, 8x, and 10x. 10x also lights extra ball. Light all three rollover lanes to advance the bonus X. The flippers can be used to rotate the unlit lanes. Pop Bumpers: Advance the multiball jackpot value, and score 1M a pop when Super Pops are lit (from Warp Factor 3). Balls fall into the pop bumpers from the rollover lanes. Balls exit the pop bumpers either down the middle, or through a passage way that feeds the upper right flipper. Bumpers also rotate the currently lit mode. Q target: A solitary stand-up below the left-most bumper. It advances the lit mode, and is used during Q's Challenge. Beta Quadrant: also called the Shuttle Ramp. It is the right ramp, which counts up to features such as Extra Ball, Light Holodeck, and Lite Command Decision. This ramp is also used in several modes. Normally each ramp shot increments the counter by one. However, two red "shuttle 2x" stand-up targets on each side of the entrance to the ramp double the counter for about 10 seconds. The targets work independently; if you hit the ramp with one flashing, you get credit for 2 shuttles, and if you hit the ramp with both flashing, you get 4 shuttles. Right Orbit/Top Sinkhole: This is the Hurry Up, Holodeck, lock, and light lock shots. There is a drop target and a sink-hole behind it at the top of the orbit. When the target is up the ball will hit it and go into a rollover lane. When the drop target is down, the ball goes into the sinkhole. Shoot the drop target to light the lock for multi- ball, which also leaves the target down. Shoot the orbit again to get the ball in the sinkhole to lock the ball. Right Inlane: Inlane lights left orbit for warp factors. When lit (at warp factor 6) will start Super Spinner for 10M a spin for 10 sec- onds. The timer resets if the ball goes through the inlane before it times out. In tournament mode, Super Spinner is disabled. 2. Missions There are seven missions (also called modes). An eighth `Final Fron- tier' is started when the others are completed. Every shot has an STTNG emblem (i.e. white arrows) at the entrance that lights when the shot needs to be hit. Start the flashing mode by shooting the center sinkhole. The flashing mode is advanced by the bumpers, and the Q target. After completing a mode, it remains lit. Start all modes to light final frontier. You can only start one more at a time. You can also start modes from the command decision. Totals from each mode are added to your score as the game goes on, and not during the bonus count. Artifacts are collected during each mode and are used for the Final Frontier round. Each artifact is worth 50 million, and the computer will tell you when you have collected one. You can collect each arti- fact more than once. Note that artifacts can also be collected in the shuttle simulation and through warp factors. The missions are the following: Time Rift: Timer starts at 20 seconds. You have all shots lit, shoot them for 10M each. The Time Rift targets add 5 seconds to the time and 5M to each shot. The time rift targets can be hit a maxi- mum of three times in the mode, after which time the timer can not be reset, and the point value remains at 25M per shot. An arti- fact may be randomly awarded for one of the shots. Worm Hole: Timer starts at 20 seconds, payout value starts at 30 million. The right ramp adds 10M, the spinner adds 1M per spin, and the side ramp collects the value and an artifact. Search the Galaxy: Timer starts at 40 seconds, with the center ramp, right ramp, and left lamp lit. Shoot each for 10M and an artifact. Shoot them in order (center, right, left) to light the Neutral zone for 50M and another artifact. Battle Simulation: This mode lasts 20 seconds, and uses the guns. Shoot the lit shot (neutral zone from right gun, center sinkhole from left gun) to score 10M and move to the next level. If you miss, shoot command decision, neutral zone, center sinkhole, or right orbit to reload gun. Artifact is awarded at level 5, extra ball at level 6. Note: A known design flaw in this game is that shooting the neutral zone hole without hitting one of the targets surround- ing it will not register as a successful hit. In tournament play, you must live with this, like it or not. Q's Challenge: Some shots will be lit, when you hit one shot it will be replaced by another one. The Q target also adds a new shot. Shots score 10M+10M to max of 100M. There is no fixed timer for this round. Each shot times-out after about 10 seconds if it's not hit. The mode ends when all shots time-out. This is the only mode that continues to run during multiball, and in such case shots never time out. Starting multiball while in Q's challenge can be quite lucrative (1B points or more is possible!) Score five shots to collect an artifact. Rescue: You have 30 seconds to rescue 50 people. Each time a switch closes, another person is added to the shuttle, which also scores 1M points, so the spinner and bumpers are the best places for the ball. Shooting the center or right ramp then rescues that many people (and that many million points). Shooting Start Mis- sion rescues 5 people, regardless of the contents of the shuttles. Completing this mode successfully thus scores you 100M (50M for loading them into shuttle, 50M for rescuing them). The mode ends either when time is up or all 50 people have been rescued. Load at least 25 people into the shuttle to get an artifact. Asteroid Threat: This is a 2-part mode. In the first part, 20 Million counts down quickly; shoot the center sinkhole to collect the value. All shots then light for that same value for the second part of the mode. If the countdown value reaches 5 million, you auto- matically start the second part with all shots worth 5 million. You have 20 seconds to hit all seven shots. An artifact is awarded for hitting at least three of them. Final Frontier: This is a six ball multiball. Note that the guns are loaded at the start of this round, the machine will kick the balls out itself. The only reason it uses the guns is because it has the balls already stored in the guns. Every major shot (except command decision) will be lit and when any of them are hit, you collect a jackpot. The jackpot value is determined by the amount of arti- facts you have. At the beginning of final frontier, you get 100M per artifact collected thus far in the game, plus a bonus of 1Billion for every four Artifacts that you have collected (e.g. 8 artifacts = 2B, 12 artifacts = 3B). The jackpot value is then set to 25M * number of Artifacts (to a maximum of 250M per shot). (Note: Older ROMs are slightly different. Maximum is 100M per shot, and if you have 4 or more artifacts, you get 1B; you cannot get 2B for 8 artifacts). 3. Plunger Choices While waiting for the player to launch the ball, the display shows 5 choices which light up alternatively. Launch the ball when the one you want is lit. You can speed this up with the flipper buttons. Plunger choices are: Start Mission: Will start the currently flashing mission. Flipper Skill Shot: The ball gets launched into the top sink-hole, and the display tells you what award you are shooting for. The ball is fed to the left flipper. Shoot the right ramp to collect the award. Possible awards are extra ball, light extra ball, special, 10 million, hold multipliers, double spinner, advance rank, warp factor x. Launch Probe: The ball goes into the sink-hole and a launcher is loaded. A shot will be lit (ramp/sink-hole etc.) and if you get the shot, you are told your award. Note: When the right ramp is lit, you only need to trigger the gate at the entrance. If the left orbit is lit, you only need to trigger the spinner. Light Lock: Lights, and locks the ball. You can only use this twice, the third time it is replaced by Light Holodeck. In tournament mode, this choice is instead what you would have gotten from the flipper skill shot, such as hold multipliers, double spinner, or advance rank. Warp factor 4: Starts you off at Warp factor 4. See the section on warp factors for more detail. If you have already been at warp 9, this will be Warp Factor 2. 4. Warp Factors Every ball starts at Warp 1 (unless you start at another Warp because a plunger choice, or flipper skill shot). The right inlane will light the spinner to increase the warp factor. A shot to the spinner will also light it for advance warp. (Note: Warps are only advanced if the ball goes all the way around to the upper right flipper. If the ball dribbles into the multiplier lanes, you will not be credited.) The left ramp will always increase warp value unless you have been to warp 9. Each fac- tor has it's own award: factor 2: Awards 5M, and adds 1 unit to spinner value. factor 3: Sets jets at 1M per hit for the rest of the ball, and increases the spinner value by 1 unit. factor 4: `Spinner' is lit, value becomes 100K times the unit value of the spinner. factor 5: Bonus held is lit. Spinner value remains the same. factor 6: Return lanes lit. Spinner value remains the same. factor 7: Double spinner, doubles the unit value of the spinner. factor 8: Extra ball is lit. If already collected once or extra balls are disabled, then an artifact is awarded. factor 9: Start Factor 9 mode. Each shot to the spinner or left ramp increases the warp factor by .1. (You can always use the left ramp during factor 9 mode.) The first shot (to get it to 9.1) is worth 20 million, 9.2 awards 25m, 9.3 awards 30m and so on until 9.9 which is worth 60 million. You have 10 seconds to make each shot (which Geordi counts down), but it is quite hard. Once you have finished Factor 9 mode, you return to warp factor 1, but in your end-of-ball bonus it counts as warp factor 10+. You can also no longer use the left ramp to collect warp factors, except in fac- tor 9 mode. 5. Neutral Zone Hit the Neutral Zone (NZ) three times to light it [Note: The ball doesn't have to fall into the hole to register a hit. Just as long as one of the three targets are hit]. Once this is done, all three lights will flash. Shoot the NZ (the hole) again, and one of three modes will start: Ferengi: The right cannon will be loaded, shoot the NZ (targets) to start 3 ball multiball. Any shot to the Neutral Zone (targets) will add another ball (max of Four balls) for 10 seconds. (So if you drain, you can get more balls by shooting the NZ.) The jackpot (Start Mission hole) is 10 million * balls in play, and any of the yellow stand-up targets (on the left) add 2 million to the next jack- pot only. Ends when less than 2 balls remain in play. Romulan: Three shots will be lit, and they correspond to the three Romulan ships on the display. When a shot is hit, the ship on the display cloaks (disappears), and is replaced by a timer. If the timer expires then the shot relights. The mode ends if you can cloak all ships simultaneously. You get 30 million for doing this. Cardassian: This is a complex 2 ball multiball. The jackpot (at the Neutral Zone ) starts at 50 million, however the Enter- prise is being shot at. The lower the shields, the lower the jackpot, right down to 5 Million when the shields are 0%. Shoot the spin- ner to increase shield strength (and thus, the jackpot value). 6. Holodeck The holodeck is a video mode, which is lit by shuttles (i.e. right ramp): first at 3 then every 6 after that, or it can be lit by a plunger choice. The holodeck is not stackable; so if it is already lit, and you light it again, you lose one. Once lit, a shot into the sink-hole via the right orbit will let you choose 25M or Shuttle Simulation. (Hidden feature: As a third choice, hold the plunger trigger in, and hit the right flipper button to play poker with Riker!) The Shuttle Simulation is a video mode that always uses the same pat- tern. So once you learn the pattern, you can always get an easy 200M plus an artifact, and sometimes even an extra ball. Because of this, it is wise to always choose the shuttle simulation over the 25M. The object is to get to the 9th cavern to collect an artifact, while col- lecting bonus points along the way. You start in the first cavern, at the end of each cavern it splits into two, and you must go right or left; if you go straight you crash and the mode is over. When going through caverns, mines appear; if you hit one, the video mode is over. In the center lane of many caverns are 10M awards, an artifact in the 9th cavern, and possibly an Extra Ball in the 6th cavern. You want to col- lect these artifacts while avoiding the mines and not crashing at the end of the cavern. Note that the extra ball will never be awarded if you have already col- lected an extra ball in that game. Otherwise, it may be awarded depending on the how often it has been given in previous games. Successfully traversing a cavern is only worth 1M points, so it is defi- nitely the awards you get that are worth the points, and not how far you get. Only some caverns have the 10M points, so you want to go through these caverns. One popular pattern is L-L-R-R-L-L-R-R-L-L- (L= Left, R= Right). Other patterns do exist too. 7. Multiball Modes stop during Multiball (except for Q-s challenge), but continue again after. The Lock is lit by shooting the right orbit. Balls are locked by shoot- ing the right orbit again after the lock is lit. Also, lighting the lock will also light the side ramp to lock the ball. However, the side ramp can only be used to lock the first or second ball, and cannot lock more than one ball. Multiball starts when you lock the third ball via the right orbit/sink-hole. The jackpot is collected from Start Mission, it starts at 20 million (at the beginning of the game) and the pop bumpers increase it. The jack- pot value continues to increase for the entire game and is never reset, so by the end of the game it is possible to have jackpot values in the 100M-300M range. When multiball starts, the left cannon will be loaded, and Start Mis- sion will be lit for jackpot. If you shoot the jackpot from the gun, the value of the jackpot will be increased by 10M, then it will be awarded to you, and the gun will be reloaded for double jackpot. The same goes for triple. After triple, or if you miss, you start three ball play. During multiball play, first start mission shot awards regular jackpot, the second shot awards double, and the third shot awards triple. After getting the triple jackpot, the next jackpot is again the single jackpot. The jackpot remains lit for as long as your shields are up. The shields are the bright greenish-blue lights in the middle of the playfield. As multiball progresses, the borg ship gets hit and your shields go down. Shoot the left spinner to increase your shield strength. The shields do not affect the value of the jackpot, only whether or not it is lit. The side ramp always scores a triple jackpot, regardless of whether or not the shields are lit. 8. Ranks Completing the bonus Multiplier lanes lights Advance Rank at Com- mand Decision. The ranks and corresponding values are the follow- ing: Ensign: 5M Lieutenant 10M Lieutenant Commander 15M Commander 20M Captain. 25M If you are captain, and shoot Command Decision (when lit for Advance Rank) you will get 100 million. The values listed above are awarded during the bonus count (note: 100 Millions are awarded instantly), and the value is multiplied by the bonus multiplier. 9. Miscellaneous Flipper bonus: At anytime during play if you hear Data say, "Had you propelled the ball along the proper trajectory, you would have been rewarded"; press both flippers and Picard will interrupt with "Thank you Mr. Data", and you will be awarded 10 million. This happens during regular game-play and Fun With Bonus. End-of Ball Bonus: (1 Million per mission plus 1 million per warp factor plus Rank Value) times bonus multiplier. Multipliers: Completing the three lanes above the bumpers increases the multiplier, and lights Advance Rank. Multiplier goes 2x, 4x, 8x, 10x with extra ball lit. After 10x, you get an increasing 10 million each time you complete the three lanes. The bonus multiplier can also be increased by hitting the lit light kickback target, which spots a rollover lane. EB Buy-In: A bought extra ball will give you Command Decision before launching; that is you get to choose which Mission to start. The normal skill shot doesn't happen. Buy-Ins can be set from Off, to 1, 2 or 3 - the default is for 1 buy-in only. Obviously no buy-ins in tournament play. 10. Scoring Level Grand Champion scores on STTNG typically range between 10B and 25B. In tournament mode, it is expected that the top A division player may score about 3B to 4B, and the average game be on the order of 700M-1B. In the B and lower divisions, top scores will probably be about 1B. Expect to see the hardest settings for this game at PAPA-5, in order to balance the scoring with other games. 11. Strategy Summary There are several possible strategies for STTNG, all of which can be worth lots of points: 7 Multiball: It is not too hard to start it, and so you can have many multiballs in one game. Since jackpots continue to rise throughout the game, it is possible to raise the jackpot value to 100M-300M, which gives you 300M-900M for each triple jackpot! 7 Modes: The modes themselves give you some points, but not neces- sarily big points. However, achieving final frontier can be very lucrative, especially if you have lots of artifacts. Therefore one strategy is to go for modes, and try to collect as many artifacts as you can along the way. If you've collected an artifact in a mode, then don't worry too much about the rest of the mode. 7 Holodeck: Learn the pattern! It's worth an easy 200M plus an arti- fact. Shoot the right ramp whenever you see the Shuttle 2x lights on and holodeck is not lit to relight it. 7 Q's Challenge and Multiball: Try to start Q's challenge when 2 balls are locked, then lock the 3rd ball. Just play multiball normally and you'll get lots of freebie points because Q's is running.