Not to be confused with Dragon (Gottlieb, 1978), Dragonfist (Stern Electronics, 1981), or Dungeons and Dragons (Bally, 1987).
Collect the 3 top lane on the plunge, or the 1 or 5 failing that, to light a pop bumper. If you ever get control of the ball, shoot the orbits to try to hit lit pop bumpers at the top of the table for 10,000 points each. Ignore all other scoring opportunities. The flipper gap is just about wide enough to drive a car through, so house balls are common, ball times are short, and the center of the table should be avoided at any cost.
The numbers in 1 through 5 are available at the top lanes or the in/out lane structure. Going through any of these lanes scores 5,000 points and collects the number. The game is a little confusing about telling the player what numbers have been collected: the top lanes are knockout lanes, meaning the lit lanes have NOT been collected yet, but the in/out lanes are light-up lanes, meaning the lit lanes HAVE been collected. Finishing 1 through 5 lights a special that alternates between the two standup targets in the middle of the table; collecting this special resets 1 through 5 to be collected again for another special.
The 1, 3, and 5 numbers light up the left, center, and right pop bumpers respectively. Bumpers score 1,000 when not lit and 10,000 (!) when lit. The bumpers do stay lit if 1-5 is reset by collecting the standup target special. Keeping the ball in the top of the table and collecting as many lit pop bumper hits as possible is unquestionably the best way to score points in this game.
The Dragon heads are targets sticking out of the middle of the table that fall backwards and stay down when hit. Effectively, these act like flyaway targets, being knocked backwards to be level with the table without stopping the ball's momentum. Hitting a dragon head itself does not score any points, but it does make a fantastic revving sound. Dragon heads do, however, advance the bonus, and light one of the rollover buttons in each orbit. Knocking down all 5 dragon heads lights a special at the center saucer; collecting that special causes the dragon heads to reset.
There are 5 rollover buttons in each orbit. Each one corresponds to one of the Dragon heads, and will light up when that dragon head is knocked down. Lit buttons score 1,000 points, while unlit buttons score 100. Know these shots, as they'll be used a lot to send the ball to the top of the table to collect more pop bumper hits. Unlike the pop bumper lights, the rollover buttons lights do reset and all shut off if the dragons heads are re-raised by collecting the saucer special.
Score 5,000 points and advance the bonus. If 1-5 has been completed, they will be lit alternately for a special. These targets do not advance the bonus if they are lit for special.
Scores a (rather measly, considering the danger of the shot) 5,000 points. If all 5 dragon heads have been knocked down, this saucer also scores a special and resets the dragon heads.
Score 5,000 points each and are rather lonely.
Dragon has an open in/out lane, meaning a ball can roll up the flipper and into the out lane, or be saved from the out lane back toward the flipper with a well timed nudge off the small post that is situated in the out lane. There are no slingshots, with a second in lane taking the place of a slingshot instead. The out lanes on both sides award the 3 in 1-5. The left in lanes award 1 and 2, and the right in lanes award 4 and 5. All lanes always score 5,000 points.
Bonus is advanced by hitting dragon heads, or by hitting the upper standup targets when they are not lit for a special. Notice in the bonus ladder on the table that each bonus advance is worth 10,000 points rather than the traditional 1,000 or 2,000. Maxing out the bonus at 100,000 points instantly awards the player an extra ball. There is no bonus multiplier; there is no way to collect the bonus mid-ball; there is no way to carry over the bonus between balls.
A note to VPX users: in the 1.0 version of this table by Loserman that is current as I write this guide on 17 January 2024, an off by one error in the game script causes the bonus to max out at 90,000 points, meaning the last light of the bonus ladder and the extra ball feature go unused. To restore this, change the number 9 to a 10 on line #1,407 of the VPX script.
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