Not to be confused with the layout/ruleset of Alien Poker (Williams, 1980) or the name/theme/terminology of Laser Ball (Williams, 1979).
Shoot the orbits until the top lanes have been completed enough to advance the bonus multiplier up to the maximum carryable value (typically 5x, from 4 completions of the Pool lanes). From there, collect the flashing pool balls in order around the playfield. For the first rack only, solids and stripes are collected together, so effectively only 1-8 are needed, but for all other racks, the full 1-15 is required. Left in lane spots Pool letters; Pool completions spot Ball letters; spelling Ball from targets or spots awards balls for free.
Each lane lights a letter in Pool. Lit lanes can be rotated with lane change on the right flipper only. Completing Pool advances the bonus multiplier and spots one of the Ball standup targets around the playfield. The left in lane also spots letters in Pool. The bonus multiplier's progression is 2x-3x-4x-5x-7x-10x-15x-20x. Advancing the multiplier to 10x lights a special that alternates between the outlanes. The maximum multiplier that can be carried over between balls is operator adjustable and defaults to 5x.
Only three, instead of the four on Alien Poker. They are always lit and always score 100 points.
These are three standup targets in the upper right of the playfield meant to be shot at exclusively with a nearby mini flipper. Hitting all three targets to spell Cue scores 10,000 the first time, then 20,000, then 30,000, then 50,000. Collecting the 50,000 value increases the value of each of the 6, 7, and 8 ball targets, and resets the Cue award back to 10,000.
Scores 100 points per spin, or 1,000/spin when lit. It is lit for the rest of the ball in play after completing the Ball targets once. It is best shot from the upper right flipper, but really isn't worth that many points in the grand scheme of things.
The 5 drop targets in the middle of the playfield correspond to 5&13, 4&12, 3&11, 2&10, and 1&9, from left to right. The 6&14 target is on the far left; the 7&15 is on the far right; the 8 is the right orbit that loops around the back of the game to a semi-obscured standup target in the far back left corner.
Hitting a drop target that is either lit or unlit scores 100 points and resets the drop target. Hitting a flashing target will cause that target to stay down, collecting that pool ball and scoring the value indicated on the table (5,000 for the 1/9 target, 10,000 for the 2/10 target, 15,000 for the 3/11 target, 20,000 for the 4/12 target, 25,000 for the 5/13 target). Depending on the game's settings, hitting an incorrect drop target may undo some or all of the progress toward collecting the 1-5 or 9-13 pool balls.
The 6/14, 7/15, and 8-ball targets work similarly to each other. 6/14 is on the far left, 7/15 is on the far right, and 8 is the right orbit that hits a target in the back left of the game. Hitting any of these targets when the pool balls is not flashing will score 1,000 points and advance that target's when-flashing value. The 6/14 and 7/15 target value ladder is 10,000-20,000-30,000-50,000; the 8 ball target value is 20,000-30,000-50,000-100,000. Make these targets flash by collecting all of the pool balls in sequence before them. When flashing, these targets score the built up value shown on the playfield.
For the first rack, solids and stripes are awarded together. This means the first rack requires one in-order completion of the drop targets, then the left 6/14 target, then the right 7/15 target, then the 8 ball to finish the rack. On the second and subsequent racks, balls are never tied together, so the whole 1-15 sequence must be worked through to light any rack beyond the first.
Spelling Ball from the 4 standup targets around the playfield spots the next pool ball (or pair of balls on the first rack). The B and A are on either side of the 6/14 target lane on the left, the first L is just to the upper left of the pop bumper area, and the second L is on the right between the orbit shot and the 7/15 target's lane. Completing the Pool lanes at the top of the playfield spots a letter in Ball.
Completing a rack lights the 8 ball target for something labelled "Extra ball". This is not actually an extra ball: if it is collected on the last ball of the game, it is a timed bonus ball, and if it is collected on any other ball, it is a rather long ball save at the beginning of the next ball. The length of the bonus ball or ball saver is locked in by the settings and cannot be increased by anything within gameplay. The timer canbe anything from 15 to 40 seconds, and defaults to 25. Take note of whether this is enabled for tournament play, especially so you don't accidentally plunge another player's ball.
The left side of the table bottom is conventional. The out lane scores 10,000 points, and a special when lit. The in lane scores 1,000 points and spots a letter in Pool. There is only one left flipper.
On the right, there are two flippers and no in lane. It is possible to scissor drain between the two flippers, so become comfortable with dead bouncing the ball off the right flippers. The ball can be trapped on the upper right flipper rather easily: extremely skilled players can also trap the ball on the lower right flipper by stage flipping, which only activates the lower flipper. Obviously, though, this is very risky and requires both a steady hand and a lot of familiarity with the exact machine being played.
The right out lane scores 10,000 points and special when lit, just like the left.
There is no one way gate blocking the shooter lane. If a ball bounces in just the right way, it can go back into this lane, and congrats! You get another free plunge. Use this to grab a King lane and also to get some good risk-free spinner hits if the spinner is lit.
End of ball bonus is 1,000 points for each ball collected in proper sequence over the course of the game. Max base bonus is 59,000 points from three complete racks plus 14 out of 15 balls in the fourth rack. Bonus multiplier is earned by completing Pool at the top lanes (and, the left in lane spots Pool letters). The sequence for bonus multiplier is 2x-3x-4x-5x-7x-10x-15x-20x. Advancing the multiplier up to 10x lights the out lanes alternately for special.
All base bonus (completed racks and progress on the current rack) is carried from ball to ball. Bonus multiplier is also carried over form ball to ball, unless it is advanced to higher than 5x, in which case it will reset to 5x between balls. Those two things together make ball 1 very important, especially picking up multipliers up to the 5x threshold.
Special scores 50,000 points in competition/novelty play.
The first rack can be set not to give two balls at once, requiring all of 1-15 just like the 2nd rack and onwards.
The out lane special can be set to light up at 10x, 15x, or 20x bonus (default: 10x).
The value that the bonus multiplier resets to can be set to any of the 8 bonus multiplier levels, or it can be disabled entirely so that bonus X is never carried between balls.
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