Not to be confused with Laser Ball (Williams, 1979) or Laser Cue (Williams, 1984).
The hardest part of Laser War is consistently surviving the feed out of the pop bumpers, so determine a nudge or flip strategy that gets the ball under control. Take advantage of up and down action in the pop bumpers to get 5x bonus relatively quickly. Complete sets of coloured targets to light locks. Lock a ball to start 2-ball multiball; relock both balls during 2-ball multiball at any base shot to start 3-ball multiball, where colour targets raise the jackpot and the ramp scores the jackpot.
The three top lanes spell War. Going through an unlit lane lights that letter. Lit lanes can be rotated with lane change on the right flipper only. Completing War advances the bonus muliplier. Maxing out the bonus multiplier at 5x lights the ramp for extra ball. Also, whether lit or not, going through the W, A, and R lanes scores 2,000 points and advances the red, yellow, and blue bonuses by 2,000 points each respectively.
The pop bumpers are small and the bumper area as a whole is relatively confined. Especially if the ball initially enters the bumpers through the W or R lanes, look out for up and down action that can be used with lane change to get multipliers more quickly. Take note of how the ball comes out of the pop bumper area and nudge accordingly to get the ball under control, since SDTM feeds and out lane feeds can both be quite common.
Unlit targets score 5,000 points. Lit targets score 10,000 points. Hitting a flashing target scores 15,000 points, increases that colour's bonus by 1,000, and lights that target. Light all three targets of one colour to qualify that colour's base for a lock.
During multiball, each colour target increases the value of the Ion Cannon jackpot by 100,000 points, up to a maximum of 1,000,000 if all 9 are hit before making a ramp shot.
The red base is to the left of the ramp; the yellow base is to the right of the ramp; the blue base is in the lower right of the game. Each base adds 3,000 to that colour's bonus, then scores that bonus. If a colour's standup targets are not all lit, shooting that base will spot one target and kick the ball out; otherwise, that base will lock the ball to start 2-ball multiball. The red and blue bases eject back the way they game, but the yellow base ejects across the top of the table toward the top lanes.
If a base lane has a flashing number in front of it, shooting that base will light the number. Lighting that number on all three bases will in turn light the ramp for an award, and collecting the ramp award will increase the number in front of each base. Lighting #1 on all three bases lights the ramp for award #1, which is 100,000 points; collecting the 100k and lighting #2 on all three bases lights the ramp for Hold Bonuses; collecting that and lighting #3 on all three bases lights the ramp for extra ball. Collecting the extra ball resets the sequence. Shots to the base lanes will light the flashing number any time during single ball play.
Shooting the ramp when it is not lit for anything else scores 25,000 points. Going through a lit in lane or making the ramp itself will light the "Ramp Multiplies Scores" insert just above the flippers for about 7 seconds. Making the ramp again during this time will increase the playfield multiplier by 1, up to a maximum of 5x. The playfield multiplier resets if the ramp is not hit again within about 7 seconds, so the only things to do with said multiplier are to combo the ramp or possibly collect one multiplied colour bonus.
Lighting the #1 at all three base lanes lights the ramp one time for 100,000 points. Lighting the #2 at all three base lanes lights the ramp for Hold Bonuses. Lighting the #3 at all three base lanes lights the ramp for an extra ball.
Reaching 5X bonus also lights an extra ball on the ramp.
During multiball, the ramp is lit for Ion Cannon, which is the jackpot. More on multiball explained below.
Step 1: complete any set of coloured targets. This lights the corresponding base lane for a lock. Completing multiple colours to light multiple locks does nothing except give you more places to start 2-ball multiball.
Step 2: shoot a lit lock lane. This will trap the ball and a new ball will be kicked to the plunger. Plunge that ball and the locked ball will be kicked out, starting 2-ball multiball.
Step 3: relock both balls by shooting them into any of the three base lanes. You do not need to reuse the lane that was used to start 2-ball multiball, any lane will work, but it must be 2 different lanes, you cannot lock two balls into the same colour. After the first ball is relocked, the second one must be relocked within about 15 seconds or the first one will kick back out. Successfully relocking both balls will kick a new ball to the shooter lane, and plunging that ball starts 3-ball multiball.
Step 4: shoot the red, yellow, and blue targets. Each one increases the jackpot value by 100,000. Hitting all 9 maxes the jackpot value at 1,000,000 points at lights the out lanes alternately for a special.
Step 5: make the ramp to shoot the Ion Cannon and collect the jackpot.
There is no playfield multiplier during multiball. As far as I have been able to find, there are no multiball-specific scoring features after the jackpot has been collected, so enjoy having multiple balls in play to hit lit standup targets and collect colour bonuses that are probably maxed out by this point.
Laser War has a conventional in/out lane setup. The in lanes score 20,000 points. When lit, the in lanes light the left kickback as well as qualify the ramp for advance playfield multiplier for about 7 seconds. The out lanes can be lit for special by hitting all 9 standup targets during a 3-ball multiball.
There is an automatic kickback on the left side. It is lit at the start of each ball and by going through a lit in lane. Notice that the kickback does not just eject the ball from the out lane, but sends the ball up a longer lane behind the red standup targets that curves toward the yellow targets.
There are 3 bonuses: red, yellow, and blue. All three start at 1,000 points and max out at 31,000 points. A given colour's bonus advances by 1,000 for hitting a corresponding flashing target, by 2,000 points for going through the corresponding top lane (W for red, A for yellow, R for blue) and by 3,000 points for shooting the corresponding base lane. Coloured bases also score that bonus for the player (without the multiplier) after the 3,000 advance, regardless of whether they are lit for a lock or not.
Bonus multiplier is advanced by spelling War at the top lanes. Max bonus multiplier is 5x; achieving this lights the ramp for an extra ball.
Max total end of ball bonus is 3x 5x 31,000 = 465,000 points.
Bonus multiplier can never be carried from ball to ball. The red, yellow, and blue base bonuses can be carried over one time by collecting the Hold Bonus award from the ramp, which lights after shooting each of the three base lanes two times.
Special does have a point value setting: I believe, but have not confirmed, that is scores 100,000 points in competition play.
The bases can be set not to spot targets of the corresponding colour when they are made.
The following scoring features have options that govern whether or not they (or their progress) can be carried from ball to ball: the War top lanes, lit specials, lit standup targets, ramp awards, base lane numbers.
The ramp can be set to award 3,000 bonus to all three colours when hit.
The extra ball available by advancing to 5X bonus multiplier can be disabled.
The left kickback can be on or off at the start of each ball.
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