The Faces pinball machine, produced by Sonic (under the Segasa brand) in 1976, is a classic electro-mechanical game designed for up to four players. It features a distinctive backglass and colorful playfield, inspired by Williams' Grand Prix, with separate red and green bonus systems.
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Quickie Version:
Up Top until your both your red and green bonuses are maxed at 100K, then shoot the A and B targets for double bonus, then UTAD.
Go-to Flipper:
Balanced
Risk Index:
High
Full Rules:
This is a lot like Williams’ Grand Prix [wonder where they got the idea?], with separate bonuses on each side of the game and a pair of lightable spinners. Unlike Grand Prix, though, the bonus is not built up by the spinners but by the top saucer and the colored standup targets. Green bonus is advanced by the two green standup targets, the left outlane, and by the top saucer when it’s lit for the green bonus feature. Red bonus is built by the red targets, right outlane, and top saucer when on red. If the top saucer light is on the yellow circle, you advance both red and green bonuses; that’s your Skill Shot, also opening the gate and scoring 5000. Don’t super-hard plunge, though, since the ball may hit the upper left gate, rebound fast to the right gate, then go down through left gate while it’s still up. Which bonus is lit up top is changed by hitting the “changes bonus selection” target in the middle of the right side of the game. It also changes if “select green bonus” or the same for red is lit when the ball drops into the upper saucer. The top light cycles through the five options on switch hits much like on Williams’ Strato-Flite, so when plunging, try to get the “correct” number of slingshot bounces next to the saucer before the ball drops into it. Both the top saucer and the center standups open the gate, but this is not a ball-saving gate at an outlane. Instead, it means that shots to the right orbit will go all the way around and down the left side, rather than hitting the metal plate and falling towards the top saucer. In some ways, you’re better off with the gate not open. Shots through the left orbit will always be stopped by the upper right metal plate and either fall towards the top saucer or rebound back down the left orbit. Hitting both center targets, A and B, lights double bonus; do this, but build your bonus first. Major point: you only collect the bonus that is LIT at the end of the ball! If you have 100,000 on the green bonus but only 10K on red and the ball exits with red lit … yes, you get only 10K. Ideally, you want to build both bonuses up to 100,000, and better yet, do so roughly in parallel so that you’re not “unbalanced” with a big bonus on one color and not the other. Being unbalanced is risky - - to build up the weaker one before you drain, you need to have that color “on,” but if you do drain before building it, you’re out a good chunk of points. Makes for interesting strategy. One other way to approach being bonus-unbalanced is to let rip at the spinner - - once a color bonus is maxed, the spinner on that side of the machine will be lit for 1000 per spin, making it a good shot to take. The right [red] spinner is best hit from the third, upper-left flipper. The F-A-C-E-S rollover disks don’t do much in competition - - they’re mainly for extra balls and specials. The first time you finish them does light the bumpers and the 5000 point right-side exit lane, but you’ll get them randomly during play on a long enough ball, so don’t bother aiming for them. Since bonus is key on this game, do lots of nudging when the ball is in the bumper / top standup targets area to get as many bonus advances as you can while the ball is rattling around there.
via Bob's Guide