Royal Guard is the replay version. Palace Guard is the add-a-ball version. Differences between the two are explained throughout the guide as they are relevant.
In general, you'll want to light as many bumpers and upper standup targets as possible from the moving targets in the center, then shoot back to the top of the table to take advantage of those bumpers and targets. On Royal Guard, you can complete sets of targets with abandon, as everything will always stay lit all game; try to drain down out lanes lit for 500 points, and make the C lane on plunge so the center drain is lit for 500. On Palace Guard, lighting all bumpers, all standup targets, or all out lanes will award an extra ball, but then completely reset that feature.
Top lanes always score 50 points and move the position of the center targets. Roll through a lit top lane to unlight it.
On Royal Guard, the out lanes at the bottom of the table start unlit. Collecting a top lane lights the corresponding out lane (A and B on left, C in center, D and E on right) for 500 points instead of 50. Collecting all of A-B-C-D-E from the top lanes lights the C lane for a special.
On Palace Guard, the top lanes and out lanes both start lit, and have their status tied so that unlighting the A out lane will also unlight the A top lane, or vice versa. Out lanes always score 50 points whether lit or not. Collecting all 5 of A-B-C-D-E instantly scores 1 extra ball and relights the top and out lanes so you can do it again.
Four standup targets directly face the flippers. From left to right, they are purple, red, yellow, and green. These targets always score 50 points. They are not as dangerous to shoot for as they may seem in many cases thanks to the posts below the flippers on either side of the center drain lane, but a cross-playfield shot to a target on the end may deflect straight into an out lane.
Hitting any rollover lane, the fan-shaped targets on the sides, or any of the center targets themselves will cause the center targets to move to the opposite position. Hitting a lit target when the center bank is in the left position will light the corresponding colour target at the top of the table for 100 points instead of 10. Hitting a lit target when the center bank is in the right position will light the corresponding colour bumper for 10 points instead of 1. There are two sets of purple, red, yellow, and green lights in the playfield, which roughly align with the horizontal positions of the center targets in each state: the upper row shows progress on the targets, the lower row shows progress on the bumpers.
On Royal Guard only, lighting all of the upper targets and all of the bumpers will light a special, which alternates between the two fan-shaped targets on the sides every time a 1-point switch is registered.
On Palace Guard only, lighting all 4 bumpers OR all 4 targets will instantly score an extra ball, but whichever feature was completed will also reset instantly. Use discretion of your own skill and exactly how your specific table plays to determine whether it's better to collect an extra ball at the cost of some lit features (which can always be relit), or to just go back to the top of the table and collect lit targets and bumpers with the balls-in-play you do have.
There are no in lanes. Flippers back up directly to the slingshots, which are thin rail-like slings instead of the familiar triangular ones. Slingshots always score 1 point. There are two out lanes under each slingshot. On Royal Guard, each top lane collected lights one out lane (or the center drain) for 500 points instead of 50. On Palace Guard, the top lanes and out lanes are tied together, and collecting all five in total awards an extra ball.
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