Not to be confused with other pinball games based on the James Bond franchise, including James Bond 007 (Gottlieb, 1980) or the various versions of James Bond 007 (Stern Pinball, 2022) that have earned the nickname of "Bond 60th Anniversary".
Shooting and comboing ramps gives GoldenEye letters on the backglass, and spelling the word starts a rather valuable ramp hurry-up mode, but it's difficult to play this more than once during a game. All locked balls are virtual; center target lights locks, center ramp scores them. When multiball is ready, you can shoot the right ramp for Tank Multiball, or you can combo left ramp -> pop-up ramp -> satellite for the more lucrative Satellite Multiball. The guard targets around the center of the game give surprisingly decent points in single ball play so aim for those if the award insert on the table is at 75 or 100 million. Only if you are skilled enough and/or the table is easy enough for wizard mode to be feasible is it worth doing the regular modes.
There is no skill shot. Pressing the launch button always puts the ball in the top lanes. Roll through an unlit top lane to light it. Lane change in both directions is available with the flipper buttons. Lighting all three lanes advances bonus multiplier (2x-4x-?) and lights the 007 Top Lanes requirement for wizard mode. There is no shot that takes you back up to the top of the table, so the only way to get more than one top lane per ball is to get a replunge from the Bonus Collect lane just above the right out lane, or get very lucky off of the pop bumpers. Bumpers always score 250,000 points each without exception.
To collect GoldenEye letters on the backglass, shoot multiple ramps consecutively as a combo. For the first spelling, making a single shot to a ramp will give a letter, but for subsequent spellings, only the second consecutive ramp and onward give letters. When you spell GoldenEye, the GoldenEye Ramps mode immediately begins, and you get 10,000,000 points.
There are two phases to GoldenEye Ramps. The first is almost identical to Guard Millions from Baywatch: the game's three ramps are lit for a 50,000,000 point jackpot, which decreases by 1,000,000 per second, timing out after reaching 20,000,000. When you make a ramp, the countdown pauses for a second while the ball is traversing the ramp itself. If you make all three ramps within the time limit, you get a phase two that Byawatch didn't have. For 15 seconds, the left in lane will causes the pop-up ramp in front of the Guard targets to raise. If you shoot up this ramp and stick the ball to the Satellite, you recollect the entire mode scoring, including the 10,000,000 startup bonus and the value you scored from all three ramps! With good ramp shooting, you can take 250,000,000 to 300,000,000 points out of this mode, and it's very easy to play once. Start here for quick points, such as in a tournament setting.
Shoot the standup target in the back center of the table to light a lock. For the first and second multiball of the game, just one hit to this target is needed per lock, but this increases by one hit per lock after every two plays of multiball. Locks are collected at the center ramp and are entirely virtual. Locks cannot be stacked, so be sure to pick up lock 1 before you try to light lock 2. After locking 2 balls, both of the game's main multiballs are available: Tank Multiball and Satellite Multiball. Tank Multiball is easier to start, but Satellite Multiball is more lucrative.
To start Tank Multiball, shoot the right ramp or the center scoop after making 2 locks. If you start Tank Multiball on accident but would still like to play Satellite Multiball instead, you can pull the gun trigger on the game to abort the Tank Multiball start. Tank Multiball is a 3-ball multiball. Jackpots are flashing at all three ramps as well as the mode start scoop between the center ramp and the center standup target. At the beginning of multiball, all jackpots score a measly 10,000,000 points. Hitting any Guard target (one on either side of the center ramp, or four in a bank just left of the right ramp) will rotate the jackpot value from 25,000,000, to 50,000,000, to 75,000,000, to 100,000,000, then back to 25,000,000 in a cycle. Build the jackpot value up, then make the jackpot shots. When you collect a jackpot at a flashing shot, that shot will stop flashing, meaning it is not worth jackpot anymore; you must collect a jackpot at each of the 4 shots to start them flashing again. This process continues until one ball is left in play. If single ball play resumes before colelcting even a single jackpot, a multiball restart is available at the right ramp for 15 seconds.
To start Satellite Multiball, you need to stick a ball to the Satellite after making two locks. The left in lane raises the pop-up ramp in front of the Guard targets, which is how you actually shoot the Satellite itself. The left ramp puts the ball in the in lane, and this is what the game wants you to do, but getting the ball to roll up the left in lane enough to trigger the switch via microflipping or shatzing/alley passing works just as well.
Satellite Multiball is technically a 5-ball multiball, but this starts out as 4 balls on the playfield and one stuck to the satellite. Just like Tank Multiball, jackpots will be lit at the four major shots, and the Guard targets rotate their value. This time, though, after collecting all 4 jackpots, you must shoot the ball up the pop-up ramp to knock the stuck ball out of the satellite for a 200,000,000 point jackpot! After the satellite jackpot, a moving super jackpot will scan between the 4 regular jackpot shots; this super jackpot scores 150,000,000 and lights the four regular jackpots again. If you drain back into single ball play before collecting the satellite jackpot, the ball that is stuck to the satellite will be freed and multiball will continue with 2 balls. If you make the 4 regular jackpots and there is no ball stuck to the satellite- either because it was freed as a multiball continue, or because the satellite jackpot was already collected- you will skip straight to the roving 150,000,000 super jackpot. If you start Satellite Multiball, drain to one ball left before collecting a jackpot, use up the Satellite ball, and drain back to single ball play again, a 15-second multiball restart is lit at the right ramp, but this will start Tank Multiball, not Satellite Multiball.
Multiball can be started during main Encounter modes, or side modes such as GoldenEye Ramps. If this happens, those other modes will be paused until the multiball ends.
If the final ball of a game begins and the current player has not played any multiball yet, Satellite Multiball and Tank Multiball will be ready for free.
In single ball play when no other mode is running, the center scoop starts the currently flashing Encounter mode. Bumpers rotate which Encounter is flashing. Once an Encounter is played, it cannot be replayed that game unless you progress all the way to GoldenEye Multiball wizard mode. The five modes are:
Playing all 5 Encounter modes is one of the requirements for reaching the game's wizard mode; you do not need to complete the modes or earn any meaningful points from them.
When no mode or multiball is running, complete the 6 green Guard targets to score the Guard Value lit in the playfield. There is a white standup target amidst the green Guard targets in the center-right bank: hitting this target (and only this target, unlike the main multiballs) will rotate the Guard completion value between 25,000,000, 50,000,000, 75,000,000, and 100,000,000. Lighting the sixth and final Guard target scores this value. If you see that Guard is lit for 75,000,000 or 100,000,000 points, try to grab it! None of the Guard targets are that dangerous (even the ones that flank the center ramp) and there aren't many ways to earn that many points with so little effort.
In the lower left of the game is a bank of 4 standup targets: three white, one yellow. Hit the three white targets to light the yellow target for Shootout. You have a few seconds to reach for the physical gun trigger on the game and pull the trigger 6 times to defeat 3 bad guys. If you succeed, you score 30,000,000 points and Eject or Die is lit on the out lanes. Winning one Shootout is one of the requirements toward qualifying wizard mode.
Eject or Die is a last chance feature lit at the out lanes. There is a magnet between and below the flippers that serves as the game's ball saver. If you drain down a lit out lane, the magnet will turn on and throw the ball back into play from between the flippers. You now have 6 seconds to shoot the center standup target once. If you succeed, you save your ball and continue playing as normal. If you fail, the flippers lock and the ball is allowed to drain. Eject or Die can only be played once each time it is lit, but you can stack multiple qualified Eject or Dies by winning multiple shootouts.
The two standup targets in the lower right of the game belong to Q. Hitting either of these targets a total of 3 times scores 10,000,000 points and starts the Q's Grenade Pen minor mode. You have 15 seconds to hit either of these target 3 more times, scoring 20,000,000 each. If you hit a Q target with less than 5 seconds on the clock, 5 seconds will be added to the remaining mode timer. Completing- not just starting- a Q's Grenade Pen mode is one of the requirements for qualifying wizard mode, and it is by far the hardest.
GoldenEye Multiball is started at the scoop, but only after lighting all of the inserts on the playfield between the slingshots. This means playing all 5 Encounter modes, completing a set of the top lanes, winning a Shootout, completing a Q's Pen mode, and spelling GoldenEye on the backglass from ramp shots once.
GoldenEye Multiball is a 5-ball multiball. Every switch in the game scores 3,000,000 points. The three ramps are also constantly lit for 20,000,000 points. Every 50 switch hits, a ball is added to the playfield, unless all 5 balls are already in play. GoldenEye has no spinners and no easy way to get a ball stuck in the pop bumpers, which takes away any strategy in this mode deeper than "try to keep the balls alive". Nevertheless, it is quite valuable, and should be worth at least 250,000,000 pretty much any time it is played. When single ball play resumes, all game progress is reset for you to do it all again.
The right in lane lights the center mode start scoop for a Mystery award. This will most commonly be points (I've seen 10,000,000, 20,000,000, and 25,000,000) or a bonus multiplier increase, but the game manual also mentions that Light Special, Extra Ball, and Start Multiball are available. I don't know where a special would be lit on this table, since it's not at the out lanes, and having the Mystery start multiball would be redundant if 2 balls are locked since the scoop is already a multiball start shot...who knows. (Let me know if you do!)
Side note: getting a bonus multiplier advance from the mystery does NOT spot the 007 Top Lanes wizard mode requirement light for you.
GoldenEye has a conventional in/out lane setup. The out lanes can be lit for Eject or Die, as described in the Shootout section above. The left in lane raises the pop-up ramp toward the satellite during Satellite Hurry-up and Satellite Multiball. The right in lane lights the center scoop for mystery for a few seconds.
Between and slightly below the flippers is this game's ball save. When ready, it will glow; this occurs at the start of a ball, immediately after hitting the center standup target, or after going down an out lane lit for Eject or Die. A magnet will grab the ball and throw it back into play upwards between the flippers.
Bonus is simply calculated as 1,000,000 points plus 1,000,000 for each ramp shot made during that ball, all times the bonus multiplier. Bonus multiplier is advanced by the mystery award or by completing the top lanes. Because one of these is random and the other is nearly impossible, I have never seen a bonus multiplier higher than 4x- I assume that similar to other Sega games from around this time, the bonus multiplier counts 2x-4x-6x-8x-possibly 10x. Luckily, bonus is garbage in this game and should be ignored. There is no way to carry base bonus or multiplier from ball to ball (although progress on the current set of top lanes is kept). There is a mid-ball bonus collect in the form of a tiny lane directly above the right out lane that puts the ball back into the shooter lane. Supposedly, if the ball goes through here, the entire end of ball bonus including multiplier is collected. I have never once seen this happen.
At the start of the game, you will be presented the choice of Novice or Regular game. The Novice game gives one turn per player, with that turn consisting of 3 minutes of play with unlimited ball save. The Regular game is the standard 3- or 5-ball affair we all know and love.
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