If the word Blastoff is close to being finished on the backglass, try to complete it to qualify 13-ball multiball. Blastoff letters are earned when a new game starts, the first time you make a Rocket ramp shot in a game, occasionally be the mystery award, or by making a moon ramp combo: ramp -> ramp if the ball is diverted to the left flipper, or ramp -> left orbit -> ramp if the first ramp shot diverts the ball to the right flipper. Blastoff letters carry between players and between games. If Blastoff is not close to being completed, work through modes in the meantime: if there is not currently a mode or multiball running, a mode can always be started at the far right saucer. Standard multiball is generally ignorable unless you can backhand the Rocket ramp. If you can reliably shatz/alley pass the in lanes, you can get decent points by shatzing an in lane then shooting the opposite orbit shot, which advances the spacecraft orbiting Earth on the middle of the table towards some decently lucrative modes.
Like Guns 'N Roses and other Sega/Data East games from around this time, the skill shot is just your choice between 3 awards. The left award is always Start Mission, which begins the currently flashing mode. The center award is always Mystery, see below. The right award is either Multiball Countdown, which spots one Rocket ramp shot towards regular multiball, or 13,000,000 points if the Countdown is at 1 or if Blastoff is currently complete.
The bumpers and spinner start each ball with a value of 250,000 points. Completing the top lanes to spell 1-3 increases the bumper and spinner value by 250,000 points, up to a maximum of 2,000,000 points. Each spin or bumper hit will both score the current bumper value, and add the current bumper value to the next Shoot the Moon hurry-up.
The Shoot the Moon hurry-up shot starts at 20,000,000 points for each player in a game, and increases by the bumper value with each bumper hit or spinner spin. There is no limit to the Shoot the Moon value that I am aware of. To start Shoot the Moon, hit the four M-O-O-N standup targets in the center-right of the table in order. This starts the hurry-up at the Moon ramp. Shoot the ramp to collect the hurry-up. If you successfully collect the hurry-up, it will stay at whatever value was collected and can be built up further. If the hurry-up times out, or if you drain while the hurry-up was active, it will reset to its base value of 20,000,000 points and must be rebuilt from scratch.
9 different mission modes are available, plus a wizard mode if all 9 are played in a game. During single ball play when no other mode is running, a mode can be started at the far right saucer. A mode can also be started by the left skill shot choice. Pop bumper hits rotate which mode is currently lit. Like many other Data East/Sega games, if the currently flashing mode is one you like, you can lock that one in by rotating the plunger handle. The currently lit mode will unlock if you start the locked mode, drain the ball, or rotate the plunger handle again.
Starting in the top left of the Mission inserts and going clockwise, the 9 modes are:
After playing all 9 missions, the mode start saucer will be lit for Master Alarm, the game's wizard mode. This is a 45-second multiball with unlimited ball save until time runs out. Every switch in the game scores 1,000,000 points and adds 1,000,000 to the Master Jackpot, which is collectible at the Moon ramp. Collecting a Master Jackpot does not reset it; you can build the value for the entire mode, so shoot the ramp as much as you can. The flippers freeze and all balls drain when time runs out.
Shoot lit orbits to advance the spaceship on the playfield around the earth and the moon. At certain totals, special modes light or start.
Shoot the Rocket ramp repeatedly to work toward multiball. The LED digit in the table tells you how many shots you need before multiball starts. The first multiball needs 3 shots, the second needs 5, and the third needs 7. Presumably, all multiballs starting with the 4th require 9 ramp shots. If you make the Rocket ramp when it is not showing 1, you score 10,000,000 points; the center post between the flippers will pop up and the ball will be thrown back down the ramp toward that post. If you can backhand the Rocket ramp with the left flipper, you can usually get into a rhythm of doing that repeatedly. If you make the Rocket ramp when the countdown was at 1, and Blastoff is not completely spelled, 3-ball multiball will begin with a 10-second ignition countdown.
If you like, you can turn the plunger handle during this countdown to abort the multiball start; do this if you're close to spelling Blastoff and want to upgrade the next multiball to 13-ball play first. The first time you abort, the countdown on the Rocket ramp will be set to 1; the second time, it will be set to 2, etc.
During multiball, jackpots are at the left orbit, spinner lane, right orbit, and mode start saucer. All jackpots begin at 20,000,000 points and increase by about 200,000 per switch hit during the multiball. If you collect all 4 jackpots, the right ramp will be lit for Super Jackpot for 15 seconds; the Super Jackpot value is equal to the sum of all 4 of the regular jackpots you collected. The regular jackpot value does not reset back to 20,000,000 until after a Super Jackpot is collected; picking up the Super restarts the whole process.
There are 4 ways to light a Blastoff letter:
When collecting Blastoff letters, the game will autoplunge balls into a holding container above the upper left of the playfield. Once Blastoff is completely spelled, the next time multiball is started will be a 13-ball multiball. Blastoff letters and progress carry over between players and between games.
For 13-ball multiball, the game will autoplunge 5 balls to the playfield via conventional means, and then spit out 8 more balls from the upper left holding chamber all at once. Good luck! The center post between the flippers is raised, but only for about 10 seconds. Jackpots are at the Rocket ramp, starting at 100,000,000 points and increasing by 1,000,000 every couple of switch hits. The Rocket ramp jackpot seems to max out around 200,000,000 points. If you make a total of 5 Rocket ramp jackpots, the Moon ramp will be lit for 15 seconds for a Super 13 Jackpot, with a value equal to the sum of the 5 Rocket ramp jackpots you collected. This could be 1,000,000,000 points, or maybe even more! If you collect the Super 13 Jackpot or let it time out, the regular 3-ball multiball rules start, no matter how many balls are in play.
Mystery awards can be collected as a skill shot option, or by completing the D-O-C-K targets to light the spinner lane for Mystery. When the spinner lane is lit, shoot it so that the ball lands in the semi-obscured center saucer near the bumpers to collect the Mystery. Possible Mystery awards include:
Apollo 13 has a conventional in/out lane setup. In lanes temporarily light the orbits on the opposite side of the table for an orbit advance. Out lanes can be lit for a special by receiving the very rare Lite Special mystery award.
There is a full center post between the flippers, like on some games from the 1970s. The post is not used as a replacement for standard ball save; it only raises up when a shot is made to the Rocket ramp toward the countdown, or for about 10 seconds immediately after 13-ball play starts. The center post does not raise when the ball is kicked out of the Rocket ramp after making a jackpot during 13-ball play.
Bonus is scored as 1,000,000 points for each ramp shot made on the current ball (Rocket or Moon ramps), plus 3,000,000 points for each lit orbit collected on the current ball, plus 3,000,000 points for each Mission mode played during the game. If none of those things were collected/played, the end of ball bonus is 1,000,000 points. Bonus tends not to be very valuable on Apollo 13. Base bonus is only carried over from ball to ball if the Hold Bonus mystery award was collected. The only bonus multiplier is 2x, which can also only be earned from a Mystery award. There is no mid-ball bonus collect.
At the start of the game, you will be asked to choose Novice game or Regular game. On Novice game, you get one ball with unlimited ball save for 2 minutes, and the game ends when that ball drains. Regular game is three ball play as you know and love.
If extra balls are off, or if a player has already collected the maximum number of extra balls available to them in a game (default 2), collecting any extra ball scores 50,000,000 points. I have not been able to determine whether specials can be set to a score value in competition/novelty play, but they're rare enough that it probably doesn't matter.
The 8-ball lock device can be disabled, which in turn disallows 13-ball play. I am unsure whether this disables Blastoff outright, or if it just turns 13-ball play into 5-ball play instead.
Orbits can be set to be lit permanently, permanently until hit once, or only after going through an in lane.
The first multiball can be started with 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 Rocket ramp shots. Each multiball always requires 2 more than the previous one, maximum of 9.
The free Blastoff letter on game start and the free Blastoff letter for the first Moon ramp shot during a ball or game can both be disabled.
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