Big Valley, released by Bally Manufacturing Co. in May 1970, is an electro-mechanical pinball machine designed by Ted Zale with artwork by Christian Marche. The game is notable for being one of the first four-player machines to feature multiball, adding a unique layer of challenge and excitement.
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Quickie Version:
UTAD for the 5000 center lane or opening the Gopher Gate; shoot the Gopher Gate when open.
Go-to Flipper:
Bias Left
Risk Index:
Very High; the Gopher Gate when open is the one sure safe shot
Skillshot(s):
Get the ball to roll over the Up Post disc, then have it land in the right saucer, if empty, to open the Gopher Gate. If there is already a ball in the right saucer, get the ball in the left saucer. If there are balls in both saucers, get the center lane. You probably can’t get the ball to hit both the Up Post disc and one of the two Lights Bumpers discs on the plunge; try to make sure it gets at least one of them.
Full Rules:
As a followup to the Skill Shot, whenever you get the ball up top, try to get whatever disc you need most, i.e. if you already have the center post up, get one of the light bumpers discs. If you have the top center lane lit for 5,000, I’d prioritize getting the ball in that over anything other than hitting Up Post when deciding how to nudge with the ball up top. This game’s playfield is very similar to Capersville. It’s 1970 now, so Bally switched from 2” flippers to full size 3” flippers. And since you don’t zip 3” flippers, they also switched to using a post for defending against center drains. In both cases, there’s no help on side drains, so defending the center is important. Raise that post, but note that hitting either of the two small discs above the lower slingshots will lower the post. Since this is a post-plus-flippers configuration, when you raise the post and get the ball to settle onto a flipper, use microflips to get the ball to a cradle on one of them. Once done, you want to shoot the Gate when open. If that’s not open, try to get the ball to the top by going around the left side of the pop bumpers. Once it’s up there, nudge to try to get the ball to hit the two Lights Bumpers stand up targets and then lock a ball in a saucer. Top lane is worth 1000, but when you have balls locked in both saucers, the value changes to 5000. When a ball goes through the top lane, it releases any locked balls for multiball play, and the lane value resets to 1000. Balls can be relocked in either or both saucers during multiball. Balls going into the “Big Pine Pass” chute on the left will score 300 if there’s no ball in the left saucer; if there is, it will release that ball. Balls going through either gate on the right will release a ball locked in the right saucer. Thus you have two ways to release balls from either saucer. Releasing any ball scores 2000. Because of the angle of entry for the left chute and the lower Fox Gate on the right, it’s rare that a flipper shot will enter either. Most of the time balls go in there, it’s via sideways bounces off of the slingshots or bumpers. The gate shot is worth 2200 for the Gopher gate, 1100 for the Fox gate. Just as locking a ball in the right saucer opens the Gopher Gate, locking a ball in the left saucer opens the (lower) Fox Gate. There’s not a lot of strategy here; shoot the Gopher gate when open, go up top around the bumpers otherwise. It’s nudge, nudge, nudge to lock balls, light the bumpers, raise the post and score the center lane since you can’t shoot directly at any of those. Locked balls carry over from ball to ball, player to player AND from game to game. You may start a game with one or two balls locked, and you can steal locked balls from other players.
via Bob's Guide
