Flintstones

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(4 ball game)
Compiled by: Cameron Silver
Version: 3 [12/September/1994] - Happy Birthday Adam!
First version released 21/July/1994.

Most of the stuff in this rule sheet is copyright by somebody, so just imagine a TM after every word and you should be all right.

You may do what you wish with these rules; I won't ask for money and I won't ask for power, although I may hint that I want a White Water machine.

Extra Special Thanks to:

  • Adrian Donati
  • Louis Koziarz
  • David Graham Arnold
  • Larry Hastings

New to this version:

  • Some formatting corrected. All lines are now less than 80 characters.
  • Yabba-Dabba-Doo added to Bowl-A-Rama in the Playfield Layout.
  • Bowling Power-Up added to Bowling.
  • Fourth method of getting CONCRETE added to Multiball.
  • 'Spell CONCRETE' award added to Bronto Crane.
  • The fact that this is only a _4_ ball game added to the heading.
  • New Section: Bugs. For software and hardware bugs.
  • Skill Shot values added.
  • New Section: Attract Mode Stuff.
  • New Section: Contents.
  • New Section: Concurrency, added to Comments.
  • New Section: Easter Eggs.
  • New way to start multiball. (It may be a bug tho..)

Abbreviations:

  • STTNG - Star Trek the Next Generation
  • TZ - Twilight Zone
  • TAF - The Addams Family
  • RMIT - Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Note: Anything appearing "in double quotes" is a sound sample.

Contents

General Comments

I like the game quite a lot. The layout is terrific with only one small problem; the bloody center lane tends to cause balls to go straight down the middle, often brushing the BED drop targets on the way. Perhaps an Indiana Jones type ball saver is needed (as least make it an option...)

The out lanes are ok. Compared to some other recent games they are good. I found that the game would (at times) drain balls like there was no tomorrow, but mostly it played really well.

The sound, animation, lights, etc. (What I like to call 'the pyrotechnics') is excellent too. Especially the (Super) Jackpots.

Everything on our game was working correctly, so this rule sheet should be correct in that aspect.

Concurrency

Most features in this game can run concurrently. I have started multiball during Dino Frenzy, and Bowl-A-Rama. Modes can run concurrently and continue during multiball. I believe that this change is for the better, and congratulate the design team.

Playfield Layout

I'll start from between the flippers, and go in a clockwise direction.

Rock Again
The ball saver and shoot again light. It is a normal globe (not a flasher) so it will probably last quite long...

Left Flipper
The usual 'long' type.

Left Sling Shot
A normal sling shot, but tiny.

Left Inlane
Nothing new here either. It doesn't seem to light anything.

Left Outlane
Has a 'Drain Shield' light that is lit with the Shell targets. There is no kickback though, the ball is auto-plunged.

Left Shell Targets
Three stand-up targets against the side of the machine. Lighting all three will light Drain Shield on the outlanes for a while.

Time Machine Target
A single stand-up target facing the flippers. It has three functions that occur in the following order:
  • Start the Time Machine mode ......... 'Time Machine'
  • Light Change Job on the right orbit . 'Job Change'
  • Start the Search mode ............... 'Help'

Left Ramp
Like Judge Dredd's right ramp but on the other side of the playfield. It feeds to the bottom loop which will be explained later.

Dino/Frenzy target
Can be lit for 'Dino' and/or 'Frenzy' and is used for the Dino Frenzy mode. This target is situated on the right of the entrance to the left ramp. There are 3 targets in total. One of these targets is always lit to increase the value of Dino Frenzy.

BED targets
Three drop targets parallel to the side of the cabinet which makes them hard to hit with the lower flippers. Knocking them all down adds letters to CONCRETE.

Left Orbit
A fairly standard orbit that goes around the back of the machine. If it is lit to Start Multiball, or the Bronto Crane, the ball will be diverted to a popper. Otherwise it will continue to the bumpers, and often to the upper flipper.

Dino/Frenzy target
Can be lit for 'Dino' and/or 'Frenzy' and is used for the Dino Frenzy mode. This target is situated just to the right of the orbit. There are three targets in total. One of these targets is always lit to increase the value of Dino Frenzy.

U-Turn
The best name I can think of. A short lane with a small loop at the end. The roll-over for this shot is at the entrance to the loop, so it will be credited even if the shot didn't work. Keep in mind that a hard shot put in here, will come out just as hard... This is the Super Jackpot, and the 2x Playfield shot. When this is unlit, it awards an increasing million starting at 2 Million.

Time Machine
Located in the upper left corner of the playfield is a spinning wheel. A ball put here will remain for quite a while. I did find that balls tended to get stuck up there, but ball searches would spin the wheel to free them. The Time Machine is fed from the popper, and balls are returned to the left flipper.

Bowl-A-Rama
Three stand-ups behind five flimsy little bowing pins. Three lights are in the playfield that represent a strike (center target) or a spare (a side target). This is in the same position as the Neutral Zone in STTNG. It is lit after 'Go Bowling' (one of the ramps) is hit. Completing the back during normal play (not after a go bowling shot) adds to YABBA-DABBA-DO. Completing Y-D-D gives you the bowling power-up as well (see Bronto Crane). There may be other awards for subsequent completions. See the section Bowling, in Rules, for more info regarding the Bowling Power-Up. [Note that this has to be hit really hard when the machine is new, as Williams stand-up targets need to be 'broken in'!]

Popper
Behind the Bowl-A-Rama is a popper that feeds balls to either the Time Machine, or Bronto.

Bronto
A tacky green dinosaur that the ball travels in. Basically it's a wireform ramp covers in a green skin. I found that the ball would often get stuck inside there, hopefully this will be fixed. Balls are fed to Bronto from the popper, and end up in the bumpers.

Center Lane
A small lane to the right of Bowl-A-Rama. It feeds the DIG roll-over lanes (but the ball can continue to the upper flipper if the circumstances are right, and the shot is powerful enough). This is the Jackpot and standard counter shot. The first award is Extra Ball at 7. The second is DIG Millions, which is Super Pops. [Note: This lane is narrow. A fast ball hit here would often rattle around and dribble down the centre. Also a slow ball that dribbles out can hit the switch twice, the machine will credit this as two hits.]

ROCK targets
Four drop targets that lie to the right of the centre lane, just below the bumpers. When complete they add letters to CONCRETE.

DIG Roll-overs
Three roll-overs above the bumpers. When completed they increase the bonus multipliers to a max of 10x. The ball is launched here from the plunger. [Note that the lights can be rotated left and right by the respective flipper button.] After the bonus x is maxed, completing DIG awards 10 million.

Bumpers
The usual triangle of bumpers in the top left corner of the game (exactly like STTNG). They can feed to the orbit, or out the side to the playfield (exactly like STTNG).

Right Ramp
(Also the 'Rescue' ramp). Used to award 1-2-3 or go bowling. This ramp also feeds the bottom loop.

Dino/Frenzy target
Can be lit for 'Dino' and/or 'Frenzy' and is used for the Dino Frenzy mode. This target is situated to the right of the right ramp. There are 3 targets in total. One of these targets is always lit to increase the value of Dino Frenzy.

Right Orbit
Situated to the right of the right ramp, and feeds the roll-overs or Time Machine (when lit). This is also another Start Multiball shot.

Upper Flipper
Sits at the entrance to the right orbit (like STTNG and TAF). Use it for shooting the BED targets, Bronto Crane and the U-Turn lane.

Right Shell Targets
Directly opposite the Left targets, when complete they light Drain Shield on the outlanes.

Right Outlane
Has a 'Drain Shield' light that is lit with the Shell targets. There is no kickback though, the ball is auto-plunged.

Right Inlane
Nothing new here either. It doesn't seem to light anything.

Right Sling Shot
A normal sling shot, but tiny.

Right Flipper
The usual 'long' type.

Bottom Loop
The two ramps are connected to this loop which runs above the centre drain, very much like Hurricane. It gives the game a nice feature in that a ramp can feed either flipper. When a ramp is lit to Go Bowling, the ball is always fed to the right flipper. When a ramp is lit for a 1-2-3 shot, the ball is fed to the appropriate flipper to make the next shot. The first time the balls travels along the loop can be a little unnerving, but you'll soon get used to it. The machine doesn't directly tell you when it will happen, which I believe is good. If the ball falls off the loop, it will be re-launched.

Rules

Skill Shot

The plunged ball will end up at the DIG roll-overs. One will be flashing and is movable with the flippers. Light the lane the ball will go through. Skill shot awards start at 5 million, and increase by 2 million.

Modes

There are 4 modes in this game, with a Mystery Mode for completing them. Start a mode my completing 1-2-3 on the ramps. All three shots may not be on the same ramp so look for the lights, and watch to see which flipper the ball goes to. This could be a problem if there are burnt out globes. The modes are displayed in a line on the playfield. Lit ones have been played, the flashing one will be started next, and off ones are yet to be played. Modes can run concurrently, and during multiball. The bumpers change the currently flashing mode.

Shooting 1-2-3 awards 2 million, 4 million and 6 million.

Modes continue during multiball, but you cannot start new ones.

Scores for completed modes are added when the mode ends.

The modes are:

Fred's Choice
Timer starts at 20 seconds. The orbits and centre lane are lit. The left orbit is Shot A (20 Million), the centre lane is Shot B (10 Million), and the right orbit is Shot C (15 Million). When a shot is hit, it's value goes up by 3 Million. The display is very nice during this round, and the sound is cool too. Three different voices try and convince you which shot to hit: "A!", "No C!", "Shoot it up the centre!", "All of the above?!". The quotes are continuous, and are played at random, (i.e. not in the above order.)

Joe's Diner
This is a Move Your Car mode, and it by far the coolest one Dr. Flash has come up with! 15 Million counts down, and once the first shot is hit, you have 20 seconds to make 2 more for the same value. Shoot the centre lane to collect it all.

At the start of the mode: "Gimmie a burger, cola and fries."

At the first shot: "That will be $47 sir."
"That's a rip off!"
The guy in the car smashes the drive-through guy in the face.

At the second shot: "Are you happy now sir?"
"Do I look happy?"
The guy in the car throws a grenade through the drive through window.

At the third (and final) shot: "Where's my fries?!"
A large bird flies overhead and drops a large load on the diner.
This is followed by the guy in the car shouting "Yea!".

After the third shot, the mode ends.

There are many in-the-back-ground quotes too, like "I don't believe this place!".

Bedrock Water Buffalo's
A 25 second mode that is the same as Bad Impersonator in Judge Dredd. The display shows a band playing on stage. Shoot the BED drop targets to throw something at them. After a while, the ROCK drop targets are lit instead of BED. I have no idea how scoring works during this mode, as no information was displayed!

Dino Frenzy
Two ball multiball. The 'Frenzy' light at all the Dino/ Frenzy targets will be lit. Hitting any of the three targets will award the current value, and a cute animation. One of the targets will have the 'Dino' light on too, hitting this target will increase the value by 1 million (this is true during the whole game). The value starts at 10 million.

Mystery Mode
This can only be started after the other four. You have 20 seconds to knock down the BED and ROCK drop targets for 100 million. Each targets down scores 5 million. The mode ends after 20 seconds, or when the big points are awarded, and Fred's Choice will become the currently flashing mode.

Multiball

Invent concrete to start multiball. There are three (well, four) ways to spot letters in CONCRETE; completing BED, completing ROCK, (for the first multiball only) completing DIG, and getting the 'Spell CONCRETE' award from the Bronto Crane. I found that 2 letters would often be spotted together, but I couldn't figure out what made the difference.

Once CONCRETE is complete (there are lights in the center of the playfield), 'Start Multiball' will be lit on the orbits. Shoot this and and ball will be fed to the popper. [Note, often when the ball was shot up the right orbit, the gate near the DIG lanes didn't open in time. This resulted in the ball going to the bumpers, but multiball started anyway.] Multiball would also start if you complete DIG while multiball is lit. That is, if you shoot the center lane and complete DIG, it'll start multiball. This could be a bug.

The opening animation is great. I have no idea what it is, but assume it has something to do with the movie.

The ball will be popped into the time machine, and two other balls will be launched into there. The jackpot starts at 40 Million and increases as long as there is at least one ball in the time machine, [note that the jackpot does not max at 255 million]. Collect the regular jackpot at the centre lane, then the super jackpot at the U-Turn. Note that the ball that scores the jackpot is fed to the upper flipper for a shot at the super (provided it as enough speed).

The Super Jackpot lights after the regular jackpot, and the regular jackpot relights after the super. This continues until less than two balls remain in play. In my opinion this sucks. There should be some skill involved in relighting the regular jackpot (maybe completing 1-2-3 or something.) Subsequent multiballs restart the jackpot at 40 million.

If multiball ends and no jackpots were scored, there is 20 seconds to restart it.

The ball saver is on at the start of multiball, and relaunched balls go into the time machine.

Modes continue during multiball, and you can even start the Time Machine Target modes.

Bronto Crane

The left orbit lights Bronto Crane, and another left orbit will cause the ball to be diverted to the popper. [Note that the ball that lights Bronto Crane will not be stopped at the DIG lanes, but will continue to the upper flipper.]

The Bronto Crane is basically a random award. The ones I've seen so far are:

Bedrock Derby
Usually the first one to be awarded. The display shows two people racing on Dino's. Each bumper hit increases the speed of one of them (the one you want to win). It is a 20 (?) second mode, and you get 30 million for winning. It is essentially a good idea, but all you need are a couple of bumper hits and you've won. Both Dino's go at the same speed, so once you're in front, you stay there. It should be that the Dino that is behind gradually catches up - so that you need to keep hitting the bumpers.

1, 2, 3 values doubled
The values for getting 1, 2 and 3 are doubled to 4 million, 8 million and 12 million.

Extra Ball
Awards and extra ball.

Spell CONCRETE
Spots concrete and lights multiball.

Bowling Power-Up
Displays a cool animation of Fred twirling a bowling ball on his finger. This guarantees a strike on the next Go Bowling shot.

Light 2x Playfield
Lights the 2x Playfield light at the U-Turn lane. When hit all playfield values are doubled for 20 seconds.

Multiplier Maxed
Maxes the Bonus Multiplier at 10x.

Big Points
Awarded 20 million.

Time Machine Target

This target starts three modes.

Time Machine
Starts the Time Machine for 20 seconds. Counter starts at 10 Million, and any ball put into the time machine (either orbits) will start the value escalating until the ball comes out. After 20 seconds, the value is awarded, and the time machine stops.

Job Change
Lights Change Job at the right orbit. Shooting the orbit awards 25 million. There must be something more to this.

Help
Starts a search mode similar to Creature's multiball. Three shots are lit to search for the kids: Left orbit, Centre Lane, and Right Orbit. You have 20 seconds to find the kids by shooting Search. 5 Million is awarded per search, and 15 million for finding them. Shoot the right ramp to rescue them.

Bowling

One of the two ramps is always lit to Go Bowling. Shoot the ramp (the ball will be fed to the right flipper) and the bowl-a-Rama will be lit for about 5 seconds. You'll hear the quote "Go for the strike". If you shoot a strike (centre target), you get 5 million. A spare (side target) is worth 3 million. A gutter ball (miss bowl-a-Rama altogether) is worth nothing. A total of each frame is kept. The strike is the best, as you hear everyone yelling "Wooga Wooga Wooo...". If you have received the Bowling Power-Up (obtained from the Bronto Crane, or completing Yabba-Dabba-Doo), Go Bowling will be a strike (so long as you hit the Bowl-A-Rama). The quote will change to "I can't miss with this one.".

Three strikes starts Bowl-A-Rama multiball (2 ball), where a Super Strike (center target) is worth 20 Million, and a Super Spare (side target) is worth 10 Million.

Bonus

The bonus multiplier starts at 1x and is increased by completing the DIG roll-overs. Each completion scores 5 million. The multiplier maxes at 10x and subsequent completions result in 10 million. Bonus count is made up of:

  • 500k * Frames bowled
  • 500k * Concrete letters
  • Misc. which was always 1 Million.

Easter Eggs

A few occurrences of DOHO:

  • On the slab where it spells out CONCRETE
  • On the slab where it picks the match value
  • On the side of the stage during the Water Buffalo mode.

Bugs

Following is a list of software and hardware bugs found:

  • The message Check Switch Upper Left EOS switch. There is no upper-left flipper!
  • If a plunged ball doesn't make it into the roll-over lanes, the ball saver doesn't come on.
  • Sometimes the ball was popped into the time machine when it should have gone into Bronto. This doesn't really effect game-play. Note that the ball always went into the time machine when it was supposed to.

Attract Mode Stuff

In attract mode, the Flintstone's theme is played, along with the words 'bouncy ball' style on the display. The music continues while the display shows the famous cat putting Fred out for the night scene. Very cool.

Buy-In

Buying an extra ball will start the currently flashing mode.

Editor's Notes

  • HTML added by David Gersic dgersic_@_niu.edu
  • E-mail addresses have been expunged to prevent web-bot spamming, and Web links have been updated where possible.

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