Not to be confused with Fireball (Bally, 1975), Fireball II (Bally, 1981), Fireball Classic (Bally Midway, 1985), Firepower (Williams, 1980), Firepower II (Williams, 1983), Ready...Aim...Fire! (Gottlieb, 1983), or any number of other games with the word Fire somewhere in their titles.
Put out fires with shots to lit standup targets, orbits, or lit in lanes. Doing so quickly at the start of a turn or multiball is worth more points. Putting out fires at the two lower banks lights locks. Lock two balls, then shoot an orbit or the top center horseshoe to raise the center ramp, then shoot that center ramp to start multiball. During multiball, put out fires at both orbits and all 4 banks of targets to score 1,000,000 points. Shoot the top center horseshoe by entering on a lit side to advance bonus multiplier.
The skill shot is a precise power plunge to the rollover switches in the shooter lane. The numbers shown on the plastic are in the correct order, but their placement does not really align with where the switches actually are. From shortest to longest plunge, skill shot values are 20,000 - 10,000 - 30,000 - 100,000 - 5,000, and the standup target at the end of the lane scores just 1,000 points. Unlike other games from around this time, the skill shot value is not multiplied by the number of plunges made during the game, or the current ball number, or anything else.
At the start of a ball, one of the four banks of standup targets will be lit. Hit all three targets in that bank to put out the fire. The first two lit targets in a bank score 5,000 points and a bonus advance. The third lit target, which completes the bank, scores 10,000 points times the current Fire Multiplier plus two bonus advances. Hitting any lit target will unlight it. Unlit targets score just 1,000 points. The Fire Multiplier starts at 10x at the beginning of a player's turn or when a multiball starts. Every few seconds, the multiplier will flash and then decrease to 7x, then 5x, 3x, and 2x, before unlighting entirely. When the Fire Multiplier decreases, a new bank will be lit for Fire. Putting out a fire in the lower left bank lights the West Side lock, and putting out a fire in the lower right bank lights the East Side lock.
Occasionally, the Fire insert in front of one of the orbits will be lit, indicating that that shot is on fire as well. One shot to this orbit scores 7,000 points times the current Fire Multiplier. If that orbit shot was lit for a lock as well, the 10,000 points you get for locking a ball will also be multiplied by the Fire Multiplier. If the orbits are not lie for Fire, making an orbit shot will spot one target in one of the banks currently lit for a Fire.
Lit in lanes, which alternate on slingshot hits, will immediately put out one entire fire.
The left and right rescue ramps do nothing unless you hit the target at the top. The target scores 10,000 points and 2 bonus advances. Hit both ramps once and one of the two ramps will light for an extra ball, alternating with slingshot hits. After collecting this first extra ball, you must hit each ramp twice to light another extra ball.
There are two ways to lock a ball for multiball.
Option 1: Extinguish a fire at the lower left standup targets to light the left lock, and extinguish a fire at the lower right standup targets to light the right lock. When a lock is ready, shoot the opposite orbit to put a ball in that lock- right orbit for left lock, left orbit for right lock. Ramp diverters will put the ball on the "second floor" and direct the ball into a lock. The ramp diverters stay down after a ball is locked in that direction; if you shoot it again, the ball you just shot will switch places with the locked ball.
Option 2: Shoot the back center horseshoe shot, entering on whichever side is lit (either or both can be lit). This will raise the center ladder ramp for about 20 seconds. If you shoot up the ladder ramp and through the gate at the top, the ball will fall to one of the two sides, and be locked on whichever side it falls into.
After locking 2 balls, you must "break the window" to start multiball. Shoot either orbit or the back center horseshoe in either direction to raise the center ramp, then shoot through the gate to score 50,000 points and start multiball. Locks can be stolen in a multiplayer game.
During multiball, fires will be lit at both orbits and all four target banks, and the Fire Multiplier will be reset to 10x. If you put out all 6 fires before returning to single ball play, you score 1,000,000 points. The 1,000,000 can only be scored once per multiball, and after it is scored, all single ball rules resume. Locks cannot be made for another multiball until after the current one ends.
In addition to raising the center ladder ramp as described in previous sections, shooting the center horseshoe (entering on a lit side) will increase the bonus multiplier in the sequence 2x-3x-4x-5x-10x. Making one more shot after reaching 10x bonus lights the out lanes alternately for special.
Fire! has a conventional in/out lane setup. Out lanes score 20,000 points and 3 bonus advances, and are lit alternately for a special by making one center horseshoe shot beyond 10x bonus. In lanes score 5,000 points and a bonus advance, and are lit alternately for Put Out Fire, which picks a random fire (target bank or orbit) and completely puts it out.
Between the flippers is a Fireplug center post. This post completely blocks off a center drain while it is raised. The Fireplug is raised for 10 seconds at the start of a ball or after a horseshoe shot, or about 5 seconds after a ramp or orbit shot. On the final ball of the game, if your score is low or playtime is short, the Fireplug may stay up for as long as 30 seconds as compensation. The red insert between the plug itself and the Fight Fire Again extra ball insert will be lit whenever the post is raised, and start flashing when the post iwll go down soon.
Bonus is advanced by a lit standup target, putting out a fire at a standup target bank, hitting a target at the end of a ramp (2 advances), a horseshoe shot, any ball lock, in lanes, and out lanes (3 advances). All bonus advances are worth 1,000 points, and your bonus starts at 1,000. Bonus multipliers are awarded by making horseshoe shots that enter the structure on a lit side, in the sequence 2x-3x-4x-5x-10x. Max bonus is 10x 99,000 = 990,000 points. Base bonus can never be held from ball to ball. Bonus multiplier is only held from ball to ball if it is 4x or less; exceed that, and the next ball will drop you back to 2x bonus. There is no mid-ball bonus collect. Bonus matters a lot if you get the multiplier up to 10x, but considerably less so otherwise.
In competition/novelty play, specials score 100,000 points. Extra balls cannot be set to have a point value.
The out lane special can be lit at the same time 10x bonus is achieved, or require 1 or 2 additional horseshoe shots beyond 10x. Default is 1 additional shot.
Both in lanes can be lit at all times, instead of just one in lane being lit and alternating with slingshot hits.
The center ramp timer can be set to any value from 1-99 seconds or off. Default is 25 seconds. If set to Off, there is no timer and the ramp will remain raised until hit or until the ball ends.
The Fireplug timer can be set to anywhere from 1-99 seconds, or be disabled outright so it never raises. Default is 10 seconds.
All copyrighted names and terms in this document belong to their respective owners. The information provided in this document is for educational purposes only and no infringement is intended.
Back to top To game list To main page