Not to be confused with either of its sequels: Black Knight 2000 (Bally Williams, 1989) or Black Knight: Sword of Rage (Stern Pinball, 2019).
Hold up the right flipper on the plunge to get quick control in the upper playfield. Stay in the upper playfield as long as possible. The only exception would be if you notice locks are not lit to start the game; if this is the case, you must shoot the Turnaround between the left ramp and the lower center drop targets to light the locks. The Turnaround also increases bonus multiplier. Bonus usually isn't as meaningful as a good multiball, though, so prioritize returning to the upper playfield if ever you're on the lower one and locks are already lit. For multiball, lock three balls at the upper playfield loop, or lock one or two balls there followed by making the center hole on the lower playfield. Multiball scoring is standard 3x playfield for 3 balls in play and 2x for 2 balls in play.
There are 4 banks of 3 drop targets around the game: two in the upper playfield and two in the lower. Each target down in any bank scores 1,000 points. When one target is knocked down in any bank, you must hit the other two targets in that bank to complete it within 9 seconds or the entire bank resets. A blue light and an accelerating sound effect will alert you to this 9 second timer.
Completing any drop target bank scores 10,000 points and 3 bonus advances, lights one Magna-save if one of them is current unlit (prioritizing the right one if both are unlit), and lights one of the arrows in front of that drop target bank.
Extra balls are lit by lighting enough arrows in front of drop target banks. The first extra ball requires lighting all 3 arrows on the two upper playfield drop target banks; that extra ball is lit at the rollover switch within the left ramp, and can be collected by going up or down the left ramp. The second extra ball requires lighting all 3 arrows on all 4 drop target banks, and is collected at the Turnaround between the left ramp and center targets. Extra balls past that each require 3 more completions each of all 4 target banks, and alternate whether they are collected at the left ramp or the Turnaround.
Locks are at the structure on the top left of the upper playfield. If locks are not lit, as depicted by the green arrows around the upper loop being lit or flashing, you must shoot the Turnaround on the lower playfield to light them. There are two ways to get a ball in the lock: around the loop following the arrows using the upper left flipper, or a thread-the-needle shot between the bumper and the top left drops from the upper right flipper. Locking a ball scores 5,000 points. If there are already 2 balls in the lock mechanism, one of the balls will kick out and score another 5,000 points. Otherwise, a new ball will kick out for your plunge.
Multiball can be started directly by locking 3 balls in the top left, or by locking just 1 or 2 balls and shooting the center lane in the lower playfield between the center drop targets and the near right ramp. If you take the lower playfield release and only 1 ball is locked, you only get a 2-ball multiball, but it is 3 balls otherwise. Locks cannot be stolen in this game: your multiball progress starts over from scratch each ball, no matter how many balls are physically in the upper left structure.
During multiball, everything is in play, with a playfield multiplier equal to the number of balls in play. It's preferable to start multiball by locking a third ball at the upper playfield so that all three balls are fed to the upper flippers in control. Every time a ball is kicked out into play, you receive 5,000 points times the playfield multiplier. You can get sustainable safe points and progress toward extra balls by keeping as many pinballs in the upper playfield as possible, getting points for kickouts from the lock and drop target completions. If you're brave and accurate, though, there are mega points available if you're able to score a 3x lit spinner going from right in lane to left ramp, or a 3x mystery by going from left in lane to near right ramp. All in all, though, do what it takes to keep balls in play.
The longest of the three ramps and the hardest to make from either direction. At the bottom is a spinner worth 100 points per spin. Making the right in lane lights the spinner for 2,500 points per spin for a short time (5 seconds?). At the top is a rollover switch that scores 1 bonus advance, and can be lit for an extra ball by completing various banks of drop targets three times each as described above. The 2,500 per spin of the lit spinner is able to be multiplied during multiball and can be worth a whole lot of points.
The left in lane lights the near right ramp for Mystery Score for a few seconds. Triggering the rollunder switch at the bottom of this ramp when lit scores a random multiple of 1,000 points between 20,000 and 99,000. I do not know of any way to predict or manipulate the mystery score value. The mystery score can be doubled or tripled during multiball. The switch at the bottom of the ramp can be triggered in either direction by a shot up the ramp or a ball falling down it.
No scoring opportunities, but acts as a third transit between the two playfields, with its top entrance being just above the upper right flipper.
A hook shaped lane on the lower playfield between the left ramp and the center drop targets. Any shot to this lane advances the bonus multiplier (just scoring 5,000 points if the bonus multiplier is maxed out at 5x). If the game is set to hard multiball settings, shooting this turnaround lane once is required to light the locks (just one shot always lights all locks). The turnaround lane can be lit for an extra ball as described above by completing all 4 drop target banks 3 times each. The turnaround lane can be lit for a special by completing all 4 drop target banks once each during the bonus ball, discussed below.
Between the center lower drop targets and the near right ramp is the multiball start lane. If no balls are currently locked, this shot just scores 5,000 points and kicks the ball back out. If at least 1 ball is currently locked, this shot immediately starts multiball- 2 balls if 1 lock has been made, or 3 balls if 2 locks are made. This is an incredibly dangerous shot to shoot for and it's more beneficial to start multiball by making the third lock on the upper playfield, so focus on getting back up there rather than starting multiball here.
Black Knight has a conventional in/out lane setup.
The out lanes score 5,000 points and 2 bonus advances. On the final ball of the game, if any balls are locked in the upper playfield structure, the out lanes are lit for Last Chance. Activating one of these switches immediately kicks out all locked balls. If 2 balls were locked, both are kicked out, but you do not get 2x playfield scoring.
In lanes score 2,000 points and 2 bonus advances. The left in lane lights the near right ramp for a mystery score. The right in lane lights the spinner at the best of the left ramp for 2,500 points per spin.
Above each in lane is a magna-save feature. At the start of the game, neither magna-save feature is activate. Complete a drop target bank to light one. When the ball is near the mouth of the in lane, you can press the second button on the side of the cabinet to activate the magna-save, which is about 5 seconds of pure magnet power intended to stop the ball above, and then drop it into, that in lane. Making an in lane immediately after a successful magna-save scores 10,000 points and 5 bonus advances. You can tell when magna-save is ready by the arrow light pointing directly at the green magna-save circle on each side.
Bonus starts at 1,000 points and maxes out at 49,000. The rollover switch gives 1 advance; out lanes and standard in lanes give 2 advances; completing any drop target bank gives 3 advances; making an in lane after using a magna save gives 5 advances. Bonus multiplier is incremented by making the turnaround shot at any time. Max bonus is 5x 49,000 = 245,000 points. Any feature that would give a bonus advance or a bonus multiplier will score a 5,000 point bonus if the end of ball bonus is already maxed out. There is no mid-ball bonus collect, nor is there any way to carry any base bonus or bonus multipliers from ball to ball.
In a multiplayer game, the player with the highest score after everyone has played their allotted balls gets to improve their score and challenge the Black Knight again with a bonus ball. This is a 30-second timed ball with unlimited ball save, where any drained ball can be plunged again. There is no playfield multiplier for having more than one ball in play. Balls cannot be locked for multiball. All extra balls are disabled. If you score a special or meet a replay score when those awards are set to give an extra ball, the award will instead be another bonus ball. The goal is to complete as many drop targets as possible for the points and bonus advances; in addition, completing all 4 drop target banks once will light the turnaround shot for a special. After 30 seconds, all game lights turn off and the flippers lock, with no further scoring being available as the balls drain while your end of ball bonus is counted.
The game manual only mentions that specials can be set to "a point value": I would expect this value to be 50,000 points. Extra balls cannot be set to a point value.
Timer settings: magna-save 3-9 seconds (default 5), drop targets 6-15 seconds (default 9), bonus ball length 1-99 seconds (default 30).
The first extra ball can require 3 completions each of all 4 drop target banks instead of just the two banks on the upper playfield. If extra balls are enabled, you can always hold up to 4 at once.
Locked balls can be remembered from ball to ball. By default, they are not. I don't see how turning this setting on wouldn't enable lock stealing...
On default settings, locks are always lit during single ball play. On hard settings, you may be required to shoot the Turnaround once to light locks.
Back to top