Not to be confused with Soccer (Williams, 1964), World Cup (Williams, 1978), or World Challenge Soccer (Premier Gottlieb, 1994).
Also known as World Champion Soccer in certain re-releases, such as on The Pinball Arcade.
Colloquially known as "dog soccer" or "doggy soccer" due to the prevalence of Striker the World Cup Pup, the mascot of both this pinball game and the real 1994 World Cup.
Shoot the four star rollovers in front of the Goal to light it. Make goals to light Ultra features and work toward TV awards at the scoop. Shoot ramps or lanes that are lit for Build Lock to collect qualities on the soccer ball to light the lock, and start multiball at the TV saucer. Shooting both ramps or completing the top lanes (only reachable through left orbit shots) lights the left orbit for Travel: collect all 9 cities to qualify the Final Match wizard mode.
The Coin Toss is a flip ramp that the ball goes up, doubles back on, and falls through one of 3 holes. When flashing, the first lane scores 5,000,000, the second lane scores 10,000,000, and the third lane scores 30,000,000 points and instantly advances one City. Going through an already lit hole scores 1,000,000.
The Goal is lit at the start of each ball. Once collected, the Goal must be relit by rolling over all 4 buttons on the way to the goal. Buttons can also be spotted by the small Striker target behind the spinning soccer ball. Making a goal scores 10,000,000 points and increases the goal count. Every goal adds 5,000,000 to the end of ball bonus and starts one of the Ultra modes. Every 4th goal lights the TV saucer for an award. Goals are also very important in multiball as explained below.
A small saucer just in front and to the left of the goal is the Assist saucer. It can't be shot directly and must be ricocheted into, usually off of the giant spinning soccer ball. Press the flipper while the ball is in the saucer to shoot it at the goalie. It's rather easy to time this right to score a Goal. The Assist saucer always scores a Goal if you make the shot, even if the rollover buttons aren't all lit. During multiball, this saucer will autofire balls into the goal when the game knows that the goalie is out of the way.
Each goal lights an Ultra mode unless all 4 are currently running. Ultra modes add to the scoring of certain shots, up to the maximum of 30,000,000 points. Scoring from Ultra modes is only added to your score in bonus, so don't tilt after a ball with lots of Ultra collects! The four Ultra modes are:
Scoring 30,000,000 from an ultra mode instantly ends the mode and scores 10,000,000 points.
Cities are lit by making both ramps once, or by shooting the left orbit until the top lanes at the back right of the machine are completed. Shoot the left orbit when lit for Travel to advance the city. The Striker award can also spot the next 3 cities. The first three cities are Chicago, Dallas, and Boston, and score 10,000,000 each: making Boston starts Tea Party, a 40,000,000 hurry-up collected by any hit to the left spinner. The second group of three cities is New York, Orlando, and Washington DC, which score 15,000,000 each: advancing to DC lights an extra ball at Striker's hideout in the backof the game. The third group of three cities is San Francisco, Detroit, and Los Angeles, which score 20,000,000 each: making it to LA lights the TV saucer for Final Match, the game's wizard mode.
Any shot that is lit white for Build Lock awards one of the qualities on the soccer ball in the playfield: Stamina, Strength, Speed, Spirit, and Skill. The left orbit, both ramps, and Striker's hideout can be lit for Build Lock. After finishing the soccer ball, both ramps light for a Lock. After locking one ball, the TV saucer is lit for Final Draw, which starts multiball.
Your Rank at the beginning of multiball is #15 by default, increasing by 1 rank for every 2 goals collected over the course of the game. #14 Russia is worth a 20,000,000 jackpot; each rank higher is worth 5,000,000 more than the previous, up until #3 Australia being worth 75,000,000, followed by #2 France at 100,000,000 and #1 Germany at 250,000,000. Shoot a Goal to score a jackpot and beat that opponent, then shoot either ramp to start the game with the next opponent.
Defeating Germany starts Victory Lap. Both ramps and the goal will be lit for 50,000,000 per shot. After five of these are collected, only one of the three shots will be lit at a time, but the Laps keep the same value for the rest of the multiball.
If you drain during multiball, the next multiball will start 2 ranks higher than where the previous one drained (or it will start from the Germany match if you beat Germany previously- they will be rank #2 now, since you beat them, but they still come with a 250,000,000 jackpot).
The TV is lit at the start of each ball, and relit by collecting 4 goals. Shooting the TV when it is lit for TV award (but not if it is lit for Final Draw or Final Match) starts the next mode. TV modes are always 20 seconds long, and always cycle in this order:
Starting a 5th TV mode will just activate Big Goal Round again. No increase in scoring for these modes the second time through.
Striker's Hideout is a narrow shot to a saucer just to the right of the goal. At the start of each ball, and after hitting any of the three Striker targets a total of 7 times to spell the word Striker, this saucer will be lit for a random award. Awards available from this mystery include:
After advancing the cities all the way to Los Angeles for the World Cup Final, shoot the TV saucer to start Final Match. The Final Match is a 5-ball multiball timed to last for 45 seconds. There is unlimited ballsave during this time. The object is to score as many goals as possible within the time limit. Germany, your opponent, will score on their own every few seconds. Score more goals than Germany within the 45 seconds to win the World Cup. If the score is tied, sudden death overtime begins, which in practice means that you have about 8-10 seconds to score one more goal before Germany does. It typically takes about 5 goals to beat Germany. Whether you win or lose, this mode is worth 75,000,000 per goal scored once it ends: if you win, a 500,000,000 bonus is added to that. It's not too hard to beat Germany, and trips to this mode should always score at least 875,000,000 points unless the goalie plays out of his mind.
Scores 10,000,000 points when lit, and is lit by entering either of the two Lights Free Kick saucers in the lower playfield. Positioned just to the left of the TV saucer.
World Cup Soccer has a conventional in/out lane setup. In the left out lane is a kickback called the Corner Kick that is lit when a ball goes through the right in lane and is immediately shot to hit the left standup target. The right out lane is lit for a special after advancing to Germany during Final Draw multiball. There is a magna save positioned just above the tip of a raised left flipper, activated by pressing the second button on the left side of the cabinet. The magna save can be relit by shooting a ball at the far right standup target with the magnet next to it immediately after that ball passes through the left in lane.
Bonus is equal to:
It's not uncommon for the bonus to reach several hundred million points. Take care not to tilt, especially on ball 3 or at the end of a long ball 1/2. There is no bonus multiplier at all, and there is no way to carry Ultra bonuses forward from one ball to the next.
Special scores 100,000,000 points in novelty/competition play. Extra ball cannot be set to a particular point value.
The game can be set to give Striker awards from the unlit Goal always, only for the first Striker award, or never.
The Striker extra ball can either be an instant award, or a lit extra ball requiring another shot to Striker's hideout.
The Goal can be lit at the start of each ball or not.
Shooting a ramp can spot 0, 1, or 2 rollover buttons toward lighting the Goal.
The kickback can be disabled entirely, or set up such that 1, 2, or 3 kickbacks can be stored at a time.
Extra balls and special can be set to have their own ball to ball memory, or not.
The magna save can be set not to light for free at the start of a game.
Back to top