These rules also apply to Cactus Canyon Remake (Chicago Gaming Company, 2021). However, they do not apply to Cactus Canyon Continued, the fanmade expansion for Cactus Canyon that can be installed into a standard Cactus Canyon machine.
If your goal is to set a high score or master the table: focus on advancing to High Noon wizard mode for huge scores. Do this by collecting a Mother Lode jackpot during Gold Mine multiball, starting Stampede and Showdown multiballs, making 10 Combos, and defeating the 3 Bart brothers at the bandit toy.
If you're playing a more difficult machine or trying to win a typical tournament game, focus on starting Gold Mine Multiball at the gold mine shot and stay there, building up and collecting Mother Lodes.
In both cases, end of ball bonus (which is just based on switch hits) is a significant part of scoring, so pay attention to the top lanes whenever a ball is there to get bonus X advances, and definitely don't end a long ball with a tilt.
The plunge feeds the ball into a saucer that the ball can roll around in before falling down to the playfield, similar to the Spinout plunge on Taxi, the Stir the Cup on Diner, or the Creature bowl on Creature from the Black Lagoon. Each revolution that the ball makes in the cup advances the skill shot wheel one position, and when the ball falls out, the lit award is what you get. There are 13 possible skill shot awards, of which about 5 will be available on a given skill shot.
If one of the awards that the game picks for your skill shot wheel is something you already have, it will become a copy of 1,000,000 points.
There are 5 major shots in the game: the Bronco Loop left orbit, the River Rescue left ramp, the Train center ramp, the Trickshot right orbit immediately right of the bandit toy, and the Bank Robbery right ramp. The first shot to any of these scores 100,000 points; the second scores 125,000; and the third scores 150,000 and completes that shot. After making any major shot, all major shots will light white for a Combo for about 5 seconds. Shoot a shot lit for Combo to earn 75,000 points and one Combo credit. Additional Combos made in succession score 25,000 more points than the previous one each time. Making 10 combos over the course of the game (does not need to be a single 10-way combo) is one of the 5 requirements for lighting High Noon wizard mode.
Completing one of the three ramps in the game for the first time starts Save Polly. This is a 30-second mode where the goal is to shoot the left and right ramps a total of 5 times. During this mode, the Train toy that rides one of the habitrails will slowly move down the table, depicting your timer. Shooting the center ramp pauses the train for about 5 seconds, allowing you more time to save Polly. Making 5 ramps before time runs out means you do indeed save Polly, which lights an extra ball at the Gold Mine. After saving Polly once, subsequent completions of Polly Peril score +5 bonus multiplier.
Completing all 5 shots by making them three times each immediately starts Stampede Multiball, a 3-ball multiball. All shots have their red arrows lit: shoot them for a 250,000 Stampede Bonus. However, one shot will have its three progress lights blinking; which shot this is rotates every few seconds. Make a shot with the blinking lights for a 500,000 point Stampede Jackpot. These features are available for as long as the multiball is in play. Starting Stampede Multiball is one of the requirements for lighting High Noon wizard mode.
Shoot the Bandit toy to register hits on the current Bart Brother. The first Bart takes 2 hits to defeat, the second takes 4, and the third takes 6 (not counting the hit that it takes to start a challenge with one of them, which is required for all but the first Bart of the game). Hitting a Bart scores 120,000 points for the first brother, with subsequent brothers scoring 5,000 more per hit; defeating a Bart scores 200,000 for the first brother and increases by 50,000 each time. Defeating any Bart brother lights Gunfight on both in lanes, which is explained in the next section. Defeating all 3 Bart brothers is one of the requirements for lighting High Noon wizard mode.
Both in lanes are lit for Gunfight after defeating one of the Bart brothers. Gunfight can also be lit from a skill shot or as a Bounty award. When the ball goes through an in lane with Gunfight lit, a peg will stop the ball in its tracks as a light and sound show begins. Then, one of the 4 drop targets in the game will pop up and stay up, and the peg will be lowered so that the ball can come to a flipper. You have 6 seconds to hit the lone raised drop target to win the Gunfight. Doing so awards 750,000 points and raises your Lawman Rank from Stranger, to Partner, to Deputy, to Sheriff, to Marshall.
Hitting a Light Quick Draw standup target in the lower left or right of the game lights the in lanes for Quick Draw. The rules of Quick Draw are very similar to Gunfight, but the ball does not get stopped, and the raised drop target is a 20-second hurry-up instead of a one-time shot. The hurry-up's value always counts down to 50,000 over the same amount of time, but the starting value depends on your Lawman Rank: 500,000 for a Stranger, 750,000 for a Partner, 1,000,000 for a Deputy, 1,500,000 for a Sheriff, and 2,000,000 for a Marshall. Successfully scoring a Quick Draw hurry-up lights the bandit toy for a Bounty and lights the corresponding Bad Guy insert on the table. Light multiple Quick Draws at once without starting one to light an extra ball.
The Bounty is a mystery award collected at the bandit toy, and it is lit from a skill shot or by collecting a Quick Draw award. Possible Bounty awards are nearly the same list as possible Skill Shots: I have seen the following awards.
Completing 4 Quick Draw hurry-ups to light the 4 Bad Guy inserts on the table near each drop target instantly starts Showdown Multiball. At first, this is a 2-ball multiball. The four drop targets will raise; hit all 4 to add a third ball to play (or receive 10 seconds of ball save, if there are already 3 balls in play). Each individual Bad Guy drop target knocked down during this multiball scores 300,000 if 2 balls are in play, or 450,000 if 3 balls are in play. Playing Showdown Multiball is one of the 5 requirements to light High Noon wizard mode.
Shoot the unlit Gold Mine to light it for a lock. Shoot the lit Gold Mine to lock a ball for multiball. Lock 3 balls to start Gold Mine Multiball. The Skill Shot and the Bounty can spot shots to the mine toward lighting and earning locks; the Bounty can also start multiball immediately as an award.
During multiball, the 5 major shots are lit for 500,000 point Jackpots. Making jackpots also advances the value of the Mother Lode super jackpot, collectible at the Gold Mine. Collect any regular jackpot to light the Mother Lode for 1x 250,000 points. Collect additional regular jackpots to add 250,000 to the Mother Lode. Complete sets of 5 standard jackpots to increase the Mother Lode's multiplier. Actually collecting the Mother Lode at any time will reset both the value and the multiplier. Collecting a Mother Lode at any value during Gold Mine Multiball is one of the 5 requirements for lighting High Noon wizard mode.
Light the 5 points of the star shaped Lawman Badge on the playfield will light High Noon at the Gold Mine. To light the badge, you need to play Stampede Multiball, play Showdown Multiball, earn a Mother Lode in Gold Mine Multiball, defeat the 3 Bart brothers, and make 10 combos throughout the game.
High Noon at the O.K. Corral is a timed 4-ball multiball with unlimited ball save. The time limit for High Noon is equal to 30 seconds, plus 1 additional second for each Bad Guy hit during Quick Draws, Gunfights, and Showdown Multiballs in the game so far. While the timer is running, all major shots score jackpots worth 100,000, and all Bad Guy drop targets are constantly raised (and reset after being hit). The goal is to hit 20 Bad Guy drop targets before the time runs out to earn a 20,000,000 point bonus. When you succeed, or when the time expires, all balls drain and your score is counted, including 100,000 per jackpot and a varying number of points per Bad Guy hit depending on your Lawman Rank:
If High Noon is played multiple times in a game, each subsequent playthrough requires 10 more Bad Guy drop targets within the time limit to win. The ending bonus is always 20,000,000 points, however.
Once the score has been counted, you plunge a new ball, and start everything over, to hopefully do it again.
The Shoot to Collect inserts are just meant to be a way to show the player what their most immediate goal should be. If Bounty is lit here, that means Bounty is also lit at the bandit toy. If Extra Ball is lit here, that means Extra Ball is also lit at the Gold Mine. If Jackpot is lit here, watch the 5 major shots or the drop targets to see what's available for a jackpot. These lights don't have their own meaning; they just duplicate other information seen around the table.
Cactus Canyon has a conventional in/out lane setup. The left out lane can be lit for Gunfight by the Bounty award. If it is, this acts as a one-time ball saver! The ball will be returned to play, where a Gunfight will immediately start since the plunge will drop the ball into the in lane where Gunfight is now lit. The right out lane can be lit for a Special by advancing your Lawman Rank to Marshall, the maximum.
The in lanes are lit for Quick Draw after hitting a Quick Draw target, and they are lit for Gunfight by certain skill shots and Bounty awards, or by defeating a Bart brother. If Gunfight and Quick Draw are both lit, the Gunfight takes priority. See the "Quick Draws, Gunfights, and Showdown" section above for more information.
Base bonus starts at 100,000 points and is added to with every switch hit registered during the game. Individual switches seem to add between 1,000 and 2,000 to the bonus, with not all switches awarding the exact same amount. Bonus multiplier is advanced by lighting both top lanes after an orbit shot, or from a Bounty or skill shot award. If there is a maximum bonus multiplier, it is at least 62x. It's possible that the maximum is 250x, since this is the known limit in other Bally Williams tables of the era. Bonus is absolutely massive! On a good, long ball, especially if you're observant of the top lanes and get some pop bumper luck, and especially if you get the Add 1,000,000 to Bonus bounty, bonus can be worth double or triple what you scored during the actual ball (except if you completed High Noon, probably). Take extra care not to tilt away what could be millions, tens of millions, or hundreds of millions in bonus!
According to the game manual, specials and extra balls cannot be set to a particular point value (though this may be a hidden setting tied to what is only referred to as "Tournament Mode").
The number of ball saves allowed per play per game can be set from 0-5 (default 1) and the length of a ball save can be set to 2-8 seconds (default 4).
It can take 1, 2, or 3 Quick Draw targets to light the in lanes for Quick Draw. It can take 3, 4, 5, or 6 lit Quick Draws to light the Quick Draw Extra Ball. Quick Draw can be lit once for free at the start of the first ball. There are 5 different difficulty settings for the speed of the Quick Draw hurry-up: the default is Extra Easy, which can take 30-40 seconds to time out a Quick Draw.
The starting Lawman Rank can be Partner or Deputy instead of Stranger.
The number of Combos required to light that point of the badge can be set from 5 to 10 (default 10).
The number of Bart brothers required to light that point of the badge can be set from 1 to 7 (default 3).
The Polly extra ball can be disabled, meaning that the first Polly Peril award will be +5 Bonus X. The number of left and right ramp shots required during Polly Peril to win the mode can be set to anywhere from 3 to 9 (default 5).