Pretty much every major scoring opportunity on Bride of Pinbot can be made by repeatedly making the left ramp to advance through the Machine's faces and eventually spin the Big Wheel for a chance at 50,000,000 points or the Billionaires Club. If the right flipper cannot consistently make the left ramp, or if the Big Wheel is set up to have its value mostly disabled, focus on the repeatable loop shots in the bottom of the playfield- the left loop can eventually light extra ball, the center ramp can be worth unlimited millions, and the right loop can light the jackpot.
The skill shot is a precise power plunge that scores whatever value is listed on the hole that the ball enters. From nearest to furthest, the skill shot holes are 50,000 - 75,000 - 100,000 - 200,000 - 25,000. All of the skill shot holes send the ball up into the pop bumper area, and there's no other way to put the ball in play, so there's no reason not to go for the 200,000 every time. Unfortunately, the setup and angles of the shot often lead to the ball gaining weird spin or taking unexpected bounces, so the 200,000 isn't quite as repeatable as you might expect.
It is possible to earn a replunge on this game. The easiest ways to do this are after making the Partial Optical Link on the left ramp to lock a ball, or by exiting the Pinbot Board in the lower right, which feeds the ball back to the shooter lane. Every additional time the ball is plunged on the current ball number, the multiplier applied to the skill shot increases by 1x. This means that, for example, the multiplier continues to grow for as long as the display says Ball 1, even if extra balls are earned such that Ball 1 lasts for multiple balls in play. If there is a maximum skill shot multiplier, it is at least 21X. The 200,000 hole of the skill shot can be worth millions of points on a long ball, especially when extra balls are on.
If the space shuttle is lit, the left ramp sends the ball into the Pinbot Board in the top right of the game. When the ball enters the Pinbot Board, the score award is 100,000 the 1st and 4th time, 200,000 the 2nd and 5th time, and 300,000 the 3rd and 6th time. The 7th entrance to the Pinbot Board scores 600,000 points and lights an extra ball on one of the in/out lanes. The shuttle is typically lit immediately before activating the Bride's Voice and immediately before the first Optical Link. Even if the shuttle is lit, a slightly weaker than full ramp shot can still fall into the Face structure and advance the Bride's face.
When the space shuttle on the Bride ramp is not lit, making the ramp advances Face progress.
In Face #1, the robot's mouth is open, and one shot activates the Voice for 250,000 points and advances to Face 2.
Face 2 requires two ramp shots: one to lock a ball in each eye. The first scores Partial Link for 250,000 points and feeds a new ball to the plunger. The second scores Optical Link for 500,000 points and starts multiball, and advances to Face 3.
To complete Face 3, relock both balls by continuing to shoot the left ramp. The first relock scores a Human Influx worth 250,000 points, and the second relock starts the Metamorphosis, which turns the robot into a human (Face 4) and scores 750,000 points.
During Face 4, continue to relock the two balls at the ramp. Every successful relock of both balls scores 2,000,000 points and spins the Big Wheel, which can award any of the following:
The Big Wheel is not a pure 1 in 6 chance: each individual option can be independently weighted to have anywhere from a 0% to 99% chance of being spun. The Billion Shot and the 50,000,000 award are extremely unbalanced in the power of their scoring, so if Bride of Pinbot is played in a competition, these two outcomes will likely be disabled: or, instead, to reduce the power of the left ramp in the game's meta, the wheel may be set up to only ever award Lite Billion Shot, but then have the Billion Shot time out after 1 second, making it impossible.
When the Billion Shot is lit, make the center ramp within 12 seconds to score 1,000,000,000 points and have your score put into the Billionaires Club. (Collecting the Billion Shot makes your score ineligible for the conventional Grand Champion award.)
Whenever there are 2 balls in play, all scoring on the playfield is doubled, with the exception of the Big Wheel's awards, the left side lane's Power Charge (explained below), and the Jackpot.
If multiball ended before starting Metamorphosis, you will only need to lock both balls for Optical Link (Face 2) to restart multiball, but if the Metamorphosis occurred before single ball play resumed, the next multiball will require starting the whole sequence over from Face 1, even if the Big Wheel was never spun.
In single ball play, the far left side lane spins the Small Wheel, which has the following awards:
Lite Extra Ball adds one extra ball lit to the in/out lanes. Instant Extra Ball awards one directly for free.
If Jackpot is lit, either by the Small Wheel or the right loop, it is put on a 20 second time limit and collected here.
Whenever two balls are in play, this lane scores Power Charge, worth 100,000 points the first time it is made, and an additional 100,000 points each subsequent time within the same multiball, for a maximum of 1,000,000 points.
Making any loop adds 1 to the Loop Count, and scores and advances that loop's value. A given loop's value will decrease by one level after about 8 seconds pass without that loop being hit.
The left loop is shot just to the right of the left ramp, and comes out of the left lane entrance, typically towards the right flipper. Left loops score 25,000 - 50,000 - 100,000 - 500,000 plus light extra ball. The last award in that sequence can only be collected once per ball in play.
The center "loop" is the Heartbeat ramp, which eventually puts the ball in the right in lane. The center ramp is slightly less risky from the left flipper, but the repeated looping is usually only possible with the right. Heartbeat ramps score 50,000 - 100,000 - 1,000,000 points. If you're really good at the center loop shot, this unlimited Million is the best source of scoring in the game that isn't the Big Wheel.
The right loop is the far right lane with the satellite, which spits the ball out toward the left flipper just above the right slingshot. Right loops score 25,000 - 50,000 - 100,000 - 500,000 plus light jackpot. Like the left loop, the 500,000 + light jackpot award can only be collected once per ball in play.
Loop Combos are available for making loops consecutively. The first loop combo is from 4 consecutive loops, and scores 500,000 points. Each successive combo requires one more loop in the combo than the last. Collecting a combo resets the counter, so after picking up the 4-loop combo, 5 more loops are needed for the second combo. Any combo for 5-9 consecutive loops scores 1,000,000 points. The 10-loop combo scores the Backdoor Billion for 1,000,000,000 points. and any combos after that score 2,000,000 points.
Pop bumpers score 10,000 points each and also add to the bonus and contribute 10,000 points to the jackpot. Hitting certain quantities of bumpers (10, then 20, then 30, then 40?) completes a Jets Level, which scores 25,000 points for level 1, then 50,000 for level 2, 100,000 for level 3, and 500,000 for level 4.
The jackpot starts at 1,000,000 points and is built across balls and across games until it is collected. Pop bumpers seem to increase the jackpot by 10,000 each, but other things advance it as well in ways I have not precisely determined yet (left ramp shots, left loops, and Small Wheel spins do not seem to increase it on their own, at least). The jackpot maxes out at 8,000,000 points. It is lit via the Small Wheel award or by making the right loop up to its maximum value. Once lit, it is available for 20 seconds only at the far left lane. Collecting the jackpot resets its value. In tournaments, the jackpots are typically adjusted so that each player builds their own, rather than it being cumulative across all players.
Bride of Pinbot has a conventional in/out lane setup. Any in/out lane can be lit for extra ball, with lane change on both flippers being able to move the ball in either direction.
Base bonus is advanced by pop bumpers, slingshots, and in/out lanes. Loop bonus is equal to 10,000 points per loop made on the current ball as well. Bonus multiplier is advanced by hitting all three of the green standup targets in the lower playfield. The full bonus calculation is (base bonus + loop bonus) times bonus multiplier. I am not aware of any cap on either bonus count or the bonus multiplier; if there is a cap for the latter, it is at least 6x. Bonus and bonus multiplier cannot be carried from ball to ball.
In competition/novelty play, specials score 1,000,000 points. Extra balls cannot be set to have a point value.
The operator can individually set the probability that the Small Wheel lands on Extra Ball, Lite Extra Ball, or Jackpot Lit. Similar settings exist for every Big Wheel wedge.
The time at which each of the three loops decreases its value, as well as the timer on the Billion Shot and the timer on the Jackpot, can all be individually set to between 0 and 99 seconds.
The first loop combo award can be set to any value from 1 to 10 loops.
The ramp can send the ball to the Pinbot Board once during Face 2 (before the first lock), or twice during Face 2 (before each lock).
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