Counterforce

Quickie Version:

Drop targets all day. Shoot the collect bonus saucer when lit.

Go-to Flipper:

Mild bias Right

Risk Index:

High; learn which flipper is safest to use for each target

Full Rules:

Drop targets and more drop targets. Speed matters, though! As soon as you hit any switch, the lights below the drop targets start flashing and move lower as time goes on. You need to complete the drop target bank before the lights get down to the green inserts that represent your bonus multiplier advances. If you don’t, both the multipliers and the targets all reset. Each lit green lane is a bonus multiplier advance and corresponds to a specific bonus light and target on the playfield. Only the lit multipliers for targets you failed to hit are wiped out. If you had lights 1,3,4,5 and 7 lit for a potential 6X but failed to get the three leftmost drop targets by the time the flashing lights got down to the green inserts, you’d lose #1 and #3 and get only 4X bonus. You can continue to both gain and lose bonus lights as your ball continues each time the targets reset and the flashing sequence resumes. The two outlane bonus multipliers can be earned during play by scoring the collect bonus saucer when not lit. Each yellow lane – 3 top left, 3 top right, one on each side of the playfield – and each of the four yellow standup targets spots a drop target and scores 2K. If you finish all of the drop targets before the flashing lights drop below row three, it lights the collect bonus saucer left of the drop targets. Base bonus goes up to 29K and the multiplier to 8X for potential of 232K. Base bonus resets when collected, but the multiplier stays. Partial drop target banks and bonus multipliers are remembered from ball to ball, though your multiplier could still go down again depending on how you do with the targets on that ball. Strategy on the game is to shoot the drop targets (or hit the yellow lights) as fast as you can, hope you get some lucky bounces into the return lanes for bonus multipliers, and shoot the collect bonus saucer whenever it is lit. The game helps you know when time is short to finish the drop targets since the pitch and speed of the pulsing both increase.