Not to be confused with Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (Stern Pinball, 2003).
If you're really good at comboing ramps back and forth, do that all do work toward and start Payback Time, where every major shot in the game is worth 5,000,000 for 20 seconds. Otherwise, go for Multiball by shooting the drop target in front of the skull, then the skull itself, then using the cannon in the middle-right of the game to shoot at the lit white targets. During multiball, you want to relock balls at the skull, left orbit, and left lane; the more you lock, the bigger your jackpot multiplier. Making a 2x or 3x jackpot lets you repeat the process for a Super Jackpot. For peak scoring efficiency, Payback Time can be started during Multiball as well.
The Cannon in the middle-right of the playfield will swivel, and one of the white standup targets opposite the cannon will be lit. Time your pull of the gun trigger launcher such that the ball hits the lit target. The first successful skill shot scores 1,000,000 points, and each subsequent successful skill shot scores 1,000,000 more than the previous, with no limit that I know of, even across extra balls.
Take care to practice and improve at this shot, because it also comes into play later when starting multiball or trying to score a jackpot.
The left orbit shot, when none of the awards are flashing, increases the base Jackpot value by 110,000 points. To flash one of the awards, complete the 3-bank of red standup targets in the dead center of the playfield. More than one award can be made to flash by completing the targets multiple times, but a single left orbit shot will only actually give the lowest flashing award. The awards are:
For the first three awards, the center standup targets do not time out, and you can take as long as you need to complete the bank and flash one of the awards. After 3 awards have been collected, there will be an invisible timer on the center target bank: after one target is hit, the other two must also be hit within about 10 seconds to get credit for the completion, or the progress resets on its own. After all 6 awards have been collected, the 7th will go back to Security Pass, but now for the second time through, the invisible timer on the target bank will be reduced to more like 5 seconds.
At the start of the game, both ramps are lit. Once one lit ramp has been made, only one ramp will be lit at a time, alternating with each successful ramp shot. Making a lit ramp lights one of the yellow circles in front of that ramp, which the game calls Security Clearance. Light all 5 circles on both ramps to instantly start Payback Time. Collecting a Security Pass from the left orbit or the Database mystery award will spot one yellow light on each ramp. Comboing the ramps back and forth in very quick succession scores a 1,000,000 point combo bonus each time, even if one of the ramp shots in the combo was not a lit ramp.
During Payback Time, all major shots in the game score 5,000,000 points for 20 seconds. "Major shots" refers to the two orbits, the two ramps, the Skull shot, or a completion of the top lanes. If you can continue to combo ramps during this time, Payback Time can be worth 30,000,000 points or more. There is no grace period on Payback Time's timer, and Payback Time instantly ends if the ball drains. Yellow lights can be collected, and Payback Time can be started, during multiball- this is a fantastic mode stack and can really help your score skyrocket.
Once Payback Time is completed, neither ramp will be lit; shoot either ramp to light the other one and the Security sequence can begin again.
The right orbit sends the ball around the back of the game and down the left orbit. Making a right orbit shot scores and advances the lit value on the playfield: first 250,000, then 500,000, then 750,000, 1,000,000, 3,000,000, and 5,000,000. This value never times out or resets during the ball, so in a pinch, all it takes is 5 right orbits to make that shot worth 5,000,000 points for the rest of the ball. On top of the awards shown on the table, looping this orbit repeatedly also scores Millions-Plus: 1,000,000 for two consecutive orbits, a further 2,000,000 for three orbits, and so on, with no known limit. If more than about 4 seconds pass between right orbit shots, the Millions-Plus ends, and the next two orbit combo will reset the chain to 1,000,000 bonus.
Rolling through a lit left in lane or collecting the Hurry-Up award from the Database mystery starts a Hurry-Up at this right orbit. The Hurry-Up starts at 15,000,000 points and quickly counts down to 1,000,000 before staying there for a few seconds, then timing out. Shoot the right orbit once to collect the hurry-up.
Hit the drop target in front of the Skull to expose the saucer behind it, then shoot the ball into the saucer. This will send the ball to the Cannon just like the skill shot did. Some number of the white targets will be lit: 1 for the first multiball, 2 for the second multiball, etc., up to a maximum of 5. Shoot lit targets with the Cannon to knock them out. Knock out all of the targets to start Multiball.
When preparing the first multiball, or immediately after making progress on the white targets toward the second-or-later multiball, there will be no time limit on getting the ball into the saucer once the drop target has been hit. However, if at least one multiball has already been played, there will be a timer on the drop target if no progress has been made yet or if the previous Cannon shot was a total miss. When the timer is active, both the green and white arrows will flash, rather than just the green one. If the Timer is on, the ball must be put into the saucer within about 10 seconds of hitting the drop target, or the drop target will re-raise.
During multiball, the ramps and the right orbit are still in play with all the usual rules, but the Skull, the left orbit, and the left Database lane now become places to relock balls. The Skull lock is always the priority, as it cannot be kicked out once you make it. Balls locked into the left orbit or left Database lane will be automatically kicked out after about 12 seconds. If all balls that are still in play are successfully re-locked, the ball in the Skull will be sent to the Cannon, where you get one chance to shoot the lit white target for a Jackpot. The Jackpot starts at 5,000,000 points, resets to 5,000,000 once collected, and is increased by various things in the game, most notably left orbits; the jackpot you collect will be Single, Double, or Triple depending on how many balls are still in play.
After collecting any 2x or 3x Jackpot, the multiball continues with Super Jackpots available. The goal now is to shoot the Skull to load the Cannon again. This time, the one lit target will be moving, just like the Cannon does! Hit the lit target for a 50,000,000 point Super Jackpot. Multiple Super Jackpots can be scored during a single multiball. The locks at the left orbit and the Database are no longer available when Super Jackpots are on: those balls must be kept in play. For this reason, you really want to trap all but 1 ball on the left flipper, and use the right flipper to shoot the Skull so that your right hand can then operate the trigger on the Super Jackpot shot. There is a very brief grace period on getting a Super Jackpot chance out of the Skull after single ball play resumes.
The 4th Escape Route award at the left orbit, and one of the random awards from the Database mystery, can award Instant Multiball. This is once again a 3-ball multiball with all the normal multiball rules still present, but it's a bit harder to get going because there will be no ball saver at all at the start, and the drop target in front of the Skull will start up, adding one more dangerous shot to the multiball sequence.
During multiball, this lane on the far left is one of the two re-locks. During single-ball play, though, it scores the Database mystery. 8 awards are shown on the screen, and one is given to you pseudo-randomly (the better you're doing, the worse the award is likely to be, and you won't get something like Light Kickback if the kickback is already lit, for example). The 8 shown awards are pulled from a larger pool of 16 possibilities:
The right in lane, when lit, will in turn light Video Mode at the left orbit. During video mode, use the flippers to move the crosshairs of an automatic gun back and forth to shoot the Terminators. Each Terminator scores 100,000 points, with bonus points available for shooting any planes that fly by or the Skull. Also, an extra ball is available from a falling crate sometimes but it's very hard to get. If a Terminator stays on screen too long, they will shoot you and end the mode. Destroy 20 Terminators to win a 5,000,000 point bonus. A completed video mode is usually worth 8,000,000-10,000,000 points.
Hit all 3 to relight the kickback in the left out lane.
Terminator 2 has a conventional in/out lane setup. There is a kickback in the left out lane; it is on at the start of the game, turns off once used, and is relit by the corresponding Database award or by completing the orange targets on the right. The left in lane can be lit for Start Hurry-up, and the right in lane can be lit for Light Video Mode, collectible at the left orbit. Picking up the Light Special mystery award lights a special that alternates between the out lanes.
Bonus seems to just be a count of switch hits, making it an analogue to the ball time. Really good balls typically end with between 1,000,000 and 1,500,000 in base bonus. Bonus multipliers can be advanced in the order of 2x-4x-6x-8x by completing the top lanes after a left orbit shot or by receiving Bonus X awards from the Database. An extra ball is available the first time that you reach 4x, 6x, or 8x (depending on settings) in a single game; the extra ball is lit and collected at the Skull. There is no mid-ball bonus collect. Bonus and bonus multiplier are reset from ball to ball unless the Hold Bonus award was collected from the Database or from the 2nd Escape award at the left orbit. Hold Bonus carries over both the base bonus and the multiplier. If Hold Bonus is collected on the last ball of the game and no extra balls are earned, your entire bonus will be awarded twice before your game ends.
The game manual claims that specials give 1,000,000 points when set to the score option. That seems oddly low, and I have not tested to see if the manual is correct (other 90s Williams games that also give the number 1,000,000 are explicitly wrong about it). Extra balls cannot be set to give score instead for competition/novelty play.
The number of successful Cannon shots before the drop target in front of the Skull begins to operate on a timer can be set to anywhere from 0 to 3.
The number of left orbit Escape awards that can be lit before the center standup targets begin to time out can be set to anywhere from 0 to 4.
The first skill shot can have the lit target move every 1.25, 1.00, 0.75, 0.50, or 0.25 seconds. Each successful skill shot always gets one level faster during the game for each player.
The following timers can be adjusted:
The Millions-Plus feature that gives an increasing award the more consecutive times that the right orbit is comboed can be demoted into a regular Million feature, making each combo score a 1,000,000 bonus on top of what is on the playfield rather than the bonus increasing by a further 1,000,000 each time.
Back to top