Rocky

Quickie Version:

Complete the numbered targets 1-10 in order, then shoot the left orbit to the saucer all day.

Go-to Flipper:

Balanced

Risk Index:

High; get used to the flipper controls and rebounds from the drop targets; you’ll need quick reaction time for the 3-6-9 in particular and for balls zipping back and forth between the slingshots!

Full Rules:

Perhaps the most interesting flipper layout in pinball, Rocky makes you retrain your reflexes. Before getting to the rules, let’s discuss the flippers. You have 1 upper flipper, in the center of the game but facing right, which operates as a normal left flipper. At the bottom, you have 4 flippers in two pairs. Each left-facing flipper is triggered by the right flipper button and vice versa. The easiest way to get used to them is just mentally eliminate the other half of the playfield from your mind and play each side as its own separate playfield. The vertical and near-vertical slingshot pairs above each flipper set are very active. The ball will rapidly punch back and forth between them, so be alert, you may need to flip in a hurry. You need to complete the 10 “rounds” in order; each is a single drop target, scattered around the playfield. The 1, 4, 7 and 10 targets are at the upper right. Targets 3, 6 and 9 are on the middle left. Targets 2, 5 and 8 are at the middle right. You therefore need to alternate sections of the playfield to make progress. The “current round,” i.e. the next target you need to hit, is displayed in the window below the lower left flipper. Don’t confuse this with your current bonus value, indicated by the numbered circles in the center of the playfield. Rounds are on timers; take too long and you lose the round (the timer runs on switch hits, not a clock). Why win rounds? Besides scoring 10000, they’re your bonus multiplier. Win 2-4 rounds for 2X, 5-7 rounds for 5X and 8-10 rounds for 10X bonus. Base bonus goes up to 19K, earned by drop target hits. Bonus and targets reset each ball, but rounds and multipliers do not. After you win or lose Round 10, though, you collect bonus as it stands at that moment and then both the base and the multipliers reset. General strategy for getting the numbers in order is to hit them when the next one you need is in front of the flipper you have the ball on and when that’s not the case, go up top and wait for or try to nudge the ball to come near the flipper you need. If you hit a target out of sequence, it stays down until you complete the bank it’s in. If you hit the 3 target on the lower left, for instance, before you’re in round three, you must also drop the 6 and 9 targets to reset the bank in order to have the 3 target available to shoot at again. Since you’ll often get lower targets by accident just making saves off the active lower slingshots or missing your shot, expect to have to do this more than once a game. Ball control is tricky. Most of the time, you can transfer balls between flippers on either half of the lower playfield by holding the flipper up when the ball goes down the lanes above the “outer” pair (left jab and right hook) and dead bouncing off either the outer or “inner” pair (“right hook” and “left jab”) when the ball is falling towards them. Getting the ball from one lower half to the other usually requires going up to the top of the machine and trying to guide it down. You get two “instant round wins” per game by hitting the green button on the left if the instant win light is on in the lower center of the playfield. You need to hit it if that light is on and the ball enters the bottom “on the ropes” upkicker; do so before it hits the switch just above the kicker, otherwise you lose that round. Balls tripping that upkicker collect your bonus; the base resets but you keep your multiplier. The ball can also bounce off to either side; draining out one of the center sides scores 15K and wins a round if that side is lit; which is lit alternates. When the ball is about to go through a 5000-when-lit lane, always use the lane change to light it. Completing all four either wins the current round or lights an instant win, depending on game settings. It also lights the 50K target on the lower left and may light the outer flipper return lanes for 20K, the latter also setting-dependent. The last shot to note is the left orbit “knock out punch” shot: if the ball goes all the way into the top saucer, that scores from 5K to 40K, advanced by rounds won on the top and left banks; its value resets each ball.