Not to be confused with PinBot (Williams, 1986), which uses basically the exact same playfield as this game, or The Machine: Bride of PinBot (Bally Williams, 1991), which are this game's prequels.
There are two ways to play JackBot: Multiball/Mega Visor and Casino Run.
For multiball, open the visor by completing the rainbow lights, then lock balls in the eyes. Collect 15 jackpots to start Mega Visor and finish Mega Visor for a chance at a 1,500,000,000 mega jackpot.
For Casino Run, shoot the game saucer in the back left to start modes when lit, and either collect the double or nothing afterward or shoot the left ramp to light the next mode.
The skill shot is a precise power plunge to the spiral structure in the back of the game. There are three holes the ball can end up in; the top is what you get for a full plunge, while the middle is worth the most points. By default at the beginning of the game, the top and bottom holes score 10,000,000 points, while the middle scores 3x 10,000,000 points. The middle hole also awards a bonus multiplier and adds 5,000,000 to future skill shots.
If you shoot the left ramp during gameplay, the ball will end up in a bagatelle board above the bumper area. While the ball is here, the vortex value will grow, by 1,000,000 at a time every few seconds. The ball can also exit the bagatelle board into the shooter lane for another skill shot chance. The max vortex value is 50,000,000 points. Keno and Casino Run awards can affect the skill shot value:
After locking two balls for the second (or later) multiball, the third ball is added to play via the plunger lane. The center hole skill shot in this instance will score one Jackbot if you still have Jackbots to collect, or half of the remaining chest hits if you are in Megavisor. See the Visor and Multiball section later on for more information.
A frequent strategy on JackBot is to ignore the skill short entirely and short plunge. It requires hitting 3 different switches to validate the playfield on this game, so many players will plunge as softly as possible to get control of the ball on a flipper, draining intentionally if they don't like what they see and know they'll get the ball back. If you're precise with your plunging, this is much safer than trying for a skill shot and putting the ball into the pop bumpers. A very good short plunge that hits no switches on the way down can be used to take free shots at the visor's column targets with no risk of an immediate rebound drain since you still haven't met the 3 switch quota yet.
To start multiball, you need to lock balls in each of the two eye saucers behind the visor. To open the visor, you need to complete the grid of 25 coloured lights in the upper part of the playfield. This works differently depending on what multiball you're on:
When working on opening the visor (but NOT if you're using the shortcut), one of the column targets will be lit with a white arrow. Hit this target for a Keno award. This is a random award that can be 25,000,000 points, Lite Game Saucer, Vortex at Max, Hold Vortex, Add Vortex X, Add Poker Card, Light Extra Ball, Instant Extra Ball, or probably some others that I missed or don't know about. The Lite Game Saucer award is only a possibility if you have not played through Casino Run yet in the current game.
If locks are lit and the visor is open, you can continue to hit the row targets on the side, even though the column targets are down. Hits to the row targets will add 2 lights per respective row each. If you fill the entire grid in this way before locking both balls, an extra ball is lit.
Once multiball has started, your goal is to collect 15 Jackpots. There are four main places to do this: the two eye locks, the Cashier target under the left ramp, and the Hit Me standup target in the lower right of the game. Collecting a Jackpot unlights it. Shoot the Game Saucer between the left ramp and the visor to relight all jackpots- if all jackpots were already lit, the Game Saucer will score a jackpot in and of itself. If you shoot both eye locks one after the other, within about 3 seconds of each other and with no other jackpots in between, you score a Super Jackbot, equal to the next three jackpots in order- and only the lit jackpot at the first of the two eye saucers you hit will be used up.
The first jackpot is worth 50,000,000 points. The next ten jackpots are each worth 25,000,000 more than the previous, until the 11th is worth 300,000,000 points; then, the last four are each worth 50,000,000 more than the previous, so the 15th and final jackpot is worth 500,000,000 points.
Collecting the 15 jackpots starts Megavisor. During Megavisor, the visor is closed, and you must hit any of the row or column targets a total of 25 times to reopen it. Each hit scores 50,000,000 points. It does not matter which row or column targets you hit. Collecting all 25 hits scores a Super Jackpot worth 750,000,000 points and qualifies the Mega Jackbot. To score the Mega, you must lock balls in the eye saucers until there is just one ball in play, then shoot the now-lowered left ramp with that final ball. Balls only stay in the eye saucers for about 10 seconds, so work quickly. It's easier to do this if there are 2 balls in play, since you just need to worry about relocking one of them and then shooting the left ramp. Making the left ramp scores the Mega Jackbot, worth 1,500,000,000 points, and then restarts Megavisor from the beginning.
Progress toward the 15 jackpots or the Megavisor is carried over across multiballs. If you drain out of multiball during Megavisor and then start another multiball, the center hole of the vortex skill shot will give you half of the remaining chest hits in Megavisor for free.
As a general aiming tip toward visor targets: shoot from the left flipper toward the blue row target. If you do this correctly, you will bounce off a row target, into a column target, off the wall separating the left ramp from the game saucer, and back into another row target. This maneuver can get you 3-5 visor/chest hits in a single shot.
If one of the lights in front of the Game Saucer in the back left of the game is flashing, you can shoot it to start a mode. If none of the lights are flashing, shoot the left ramp to qualify a mode. The left flipper will change which mode is flashing if you have a preference for one or the other.
Most modes can be "cheated". By pressing the Extra Ball buy-in button repeatedly on the front of the game, there is a random chance that something in the mode will be affected in your favor. The below bullet points discuss what all the cheats do.
Most modes end in a Double or Nothing. This gives you 20 seconds to shoot the Cashier under the left ramp to double the points you won from that casino game. You can also successfully collect a double or nothing by starting Casino Run at the Game Saucer or by starting a multiball at the Eyes, but shooting those holes under other circumstances does not work.
Once you've played all 4 modes, Casino Run is lit immediately at the Game Saucer (you do not need to hit the ramp again). Shoot the saucer to start the Casino Run wizard mode.
Casino Run is a single ball mode with unlimited ball save for 45 seconds (kind of). Shoot either Eye saucer or the Game Saucer for a spin at the reels. Whatever comes up is what you win. Some prizes are awarded immediately, but others go into a bank as specified; to collect the bank, you must safely spin the reels and then choose to cash out. If time runs out, or if you spin a Bomb, you lose everything that was in your bank. To cheat, press the Extra Ball button repeatedly as the reels spin; once during the entire mode, you can punch away a Bomb. Otherwise, you are only safe from the Bomb if you have previously collected a bucket of water, which acts as a defuse. You are still able to use your cheat to punch away a Bomb even if you have a Bucket of water.
Casino Run prizes include:
Your bank starts at 100,000,000 points and increases by 4,000,000 for every switch hit during the mode as you try to shoot a hole for another spin.
If you spin a Bomb and a Bucket of water at the same time, the two cancel each other out and you can keep playing.
If the ball drains, you lose 5 seconds off the clock and get a new ball in the plunger lane. If you have at least 10 seconds on the clock, the center hole of the vortex skill shot will be 10 More Seconds; otherwise, the skill shot will be Collect Bank, which ends the mode.
If you enter Casino Run with one ball locked, that ball will stay in its eye saucer, giving you one less place to shoot for another spin. If you drain during Casino Run with one ball locked, you will not receive the 5 second penalty; instead, you will get one free spin and the locked ball will kick out for you to continue playing. If you "use up" a lock in this way, the visor will remain open immediately after the Casino Run for you to relock that ball.
A good Casino Run earns between 500,000,000 and 750,000,000 points along with some other prizes before cashing out; if you have over 1,000,000,000 points in the bank, it's very greedy to keep going unless you have a spare Bucket of water. Ultimately, though, how long you can play does depend on luck. I do not know of any adjustments that make it more likely to get a bomb as the game goes on; I've seen bombs appear on spin 1, and I've seen bombs not appear until spin 10.
Keno arrow awards and successful Double or Nothing collects will instantly light the next mode at the Game Saucer, but only until Casino Run is played once. On default settings, the Game Saucer is lit for free at the start of each ball, but also only until Casino Run is played once.
The left ramp lights the Game Saucer for a mode start and sends the ball to the bagatelle upper playfield on the right side. While the ball is up here, the Vortex value increases by 1,000,000 points every 2 seconds or so, with up to 8 advances possible from a single ramp shot. The pinball can exit the bagatelle in one of four ways:
When all three drop targets are raised, one of them will be flashing, with the flashing target moving every few seconds. Hit the flashing drop target without hitting either of the others to advance your bonus multiplier toward the maximum of 5x.
Once one target is hit down, whether it was the bonus multiplier target or not, you have about 7 seconds to knock down the other targets in the bank, or they will reset. If you successfully clear the bank, the currently flashing poker card is given to you, which affects the Pinbot Poker mode. The first time you complete a hand of 5 cards, an extra ball is lit.
Collecting what would be a bonus multiplier when you are already at 5x scores a bonus of 25,000,000. A shot that hits one of these drop targets and then rebounds into one of the coloured row targets scores a Bank Shot worth 15,000,000 points.
Hit this target to add a random blackjack card to your hand. If the sum of your hand is 19 or less, you receive 1,000,000 points times your current hand score. If your hand is 20, you receive 35,000,000 points. If your hand is 21 exactly, you receive 50,000,000 points. If you reach 21 exactly or you bust, the next time you hit this target will start a new blackjack hand. All of this scoring is forgettable and ignorable.
The Slot Machine can award Hit Me Hurry-up, a hurry-up that starts at 75,000,000 and counts down to 25,000,000 which is collectible at this target. This target is also home to jackpots in multiball.
JackBot has a conventional in/out lane setup. Extra balls can be lit on any of the in/out lanes and rotated in either direction with flipper lane change. More than one lane can be lit at once if multiple instances of Light Extra Ball have been awarded.
There is a center peg between the flippers. It's rather common for a ball getting kicked out of the Game Saucer to go straight down the middle or very close to it, so know when to use this peg, as it's a nice anti-frustration measure.
Bonus is calculated as 3,000,000 points for each Poker and Hit Me card you've collected over the game, plus your current Vortex value, plus your current Dice Game wager, all multiplied by the bonus multiplier. Bonus multiplier is advanced toward the maximum of 5x by hitting the lone flashing drop target in the mid-left of the game. Bonus multiplier can never be carried from ball to ball. There is a full mid-ball bonus collect at the Collect Bonus award from the Slot Machine mode, and getting the Cashier award from the left ramp -> bagatelle -> right in lane lets you collect your bonus with a flat multiplier of 2 at the cashier under the left ramp, regardless of what your actual bonus multiplier is at the time.
The bonus multiplier count can be cheated at the end of the ball or from the Slot Machine award. If your multiplier is at least 2x, hit the Extra Ball button repeatedly during the count-up. If you're lucky, you'll be given one extra bonus X for free. This cheat can even let you collect a 6x bonus if you were already at the normal limit of 5x.
In competition/novelty settings, specials score 500,000,000 points. Supposedly, extra balls score 200,000,000 points, but I havenot been able to confirm this.
The different multiball rules described in the Visor and Multiball section can be changed so that different multiballs are easier or harder.
The Game Saucer can either be lit for free at the start of each ball until Casino Run is played, only ever lit for free at the start of the game with ball to ball memory, or turned off at the beginning of each ball.
The number of jackpots required to start Megavisor can be adjusted. I do not know the exact available range.
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