This is another one of my patented Fact-Free(TM) Rule Sheets, constructed from memory, using Brent Earl's sheet as a memory-jogger. Please send corrections to phaedrus@halcyon.com, or just embarrass me in r.g.p. :)

OBJECT:

Score points. What did you expect?

PLAYFIELD LAYOUT

Ramps

Two of 'em, the entrances of both of which are right next to each other, at the back-left-center of the machine. (Sort of like the ramps on Twilight Zones, but without any target in between them.) The left ramp leads back to the right flipper; the right back to the left. Either ramp can be shot from either flipper, but shooting the left ramp from the left flipper is a difficult backhand on most machines.

Turtle Targets

Four banks of three touch targets each, with each one representing one of the four turtles. Two on the left side of the playfield, one in the middle, and one on the right.

Splinter

A captive ball at the far top left of the machine.

Bumpers

Three of them, at the top center of the machine, just above one of the banks of touch targets.

April Lane

A spinner lane running up the right hand side of the machine, to a touch target (April) just above the bumpers.

Sewer

A sinkhole shot, with an entrance just to the right of the bumper area and to the left of the April lane. Balls shot in here kick out through a pop-up "manhole" near the center of the playfield.

Pizza

A Whirlwind-like spinning disk in the lower center of the playfield.

PLUNGER/SKILL SHOT

This game has a curious combination of manual and automatic plunger. The ball is kicked into the plunger lane, and a manual plunger lets you plunge it into play. But during multiball, or if your manual plunge falls back into the plunger lane, then an automatic kicker kicks the ball back up into play. The plunger lane feeds down one of the ramp returns to the right flipper.

When you plunge a ball into play, the left ramp is lit for 250K*ball in play. If you successfully shoot it before hitting another playfield target, the right ramp is lit for the same amount.

SPOTTING TURTLES

At the start of the game, one target in each of the four turtle banks is flashing; the flashing target in each bank changes regularly. Shooting the flashing target gives you credit for that turtle (lighting the whole bank). Shooting one of the other two targets instead solidly lights that target and turns off the flashing target; you must now hit the two targets you didn't hit, lighting them as well, to get credit for the turtle. On most machines, collecting three turtles lights the Sewer for multiball; after the first multiball, all four turtles must be collected to light the Sewer again for subsequent multiballs.

SPLINTER

The Splinter captive ball lane has five rollover sensors in it; the higher up the lane you knock the ball, the more points you score. Knocking the ball all the way to the top of the lane scores a Splinter value. The Splinter value to be scored is randomly determined, but one of six lights on the backglass always indicates the next value to be scored; so at least you know what you're shooting at.

Splinter values include:

Mystery Score

Pretty self-explanatory.

Instant 3-Ball

Starts multiball.

Looping

Lights the left ramp. Shooting the lit ramp awards 250K(?), and the ramp stays lit for 7 second; each subsequent hit increases the loop value by 25K(?). A single "Loop Record" is kept of the greatest number of ramp hits in this mode.

Ramp Millions

Spots all remaining letters in TURTLES, and starts the TURTLES Millions mode (see below).

Bonus X

Raises the bonus multiplier to some random value between 2x and 8x.

Extra Ball Lit

At the Sewer.

Collecting a Splinter value does not "mark it off the list"; you can collect the same Splinter value multiple times.

In addition, going through the right inlane momentarily lights Splinter.

Shooting Splinter while lit awards an increasing value displayed just above the flippers, sort of like Freeway loops in High Speed. My memory of these values is very foggy, but I believe they're something along the lines of 25K, 50K, 75K, 100K, 150K+GInsu Scoring (all switches worth 50K for 20 seconds), 200K+Super Ginsu Scoring (all switches worth 100K for 20 seconds).

SAVING APRIL

If a ball goes through the left inlane, the April lane is lit for a few seconds. Shooting the ball up this lane, and hitting the April target at the end, scores some fairly large value (150K?).

THE SEWER

Shooting a ball into the Sewer sinkhole when it is not lit for something else awards a random value:

Mystery Score, Bonus X

Same as on Splinter.

Spot Turtle

One of the turtle target banks is completed. (This will not start multiball, even if you now have enough banks to light multiball; multiball will now be lit, but you must shoot the Sewer again to start it.)

Special Lit

The spinner in the April lane is lit for a special.

Bonus Held

Self-explanatory.

TURTLES MILLIONS

Every time you hit one of the two ramps during regular play (when the ramp isn't lit for anything else), a letter in TURTLES on the backglass is lit up. These letters carry over from player to player and from game to game. Hitting a ramp when all seven letters are already lit starts the Millions round. Both ramps are lit for 1M; you must hit one within 10 seconds to collect. If you collect one, the other remains lit for 1M, and the timer resets to 10 seconds. If you collect that one as well, the Sewer becomes lit for 10M (a big chunk of points on this machine) for 10 seconds.

So the ideal is to hit the left ramp first, since this sets up an easy right ramp shot, which in turn feeds to the right flipper for the Sewer shot.

MULTIBALL

Collecting enough turtles lights the Sewer shot for multiball. Hitting this shot, or getting Instant 3-Ball from Splinter, launches all 3 balls into play. Your object at this point is to shoot the Sewer hole, before you lose two of the three balls. If you do, an animation of the original turtles mutating into the TMNT is displayed, one ball is launched back into play if you've lost one (putting you back to 3 balls), and both ramps are lit for jackpot. The jackpots each start at 1M, and the value slowly increases over time. Hitting a ramp collects that ramp's jackpot; the other jackpot remains available, and its value continues to increase. I don't remember what happens after you collect both jackpots on the same multiball.

If you blow multiball badly, the Sewer is lit for a brief period to restart it.

LAST CHANCE

On Ball 3, the outlanes are lit for Last Chance, ala Black Knight. Losing a ball out a lit outlane autoplunges one back into play. You only get one Last Chance, and this doesn't work during multiball.

VICTORY LAP

When you reach the replay score, the right ramp is lit for Victory Lap for 20 seconds. Shooting it in that time gives 3M points. ("Gimme three!")

You can only score this once.

TURBO GINSU

In a multi-player game, the highest-scoring player gets a timed bonus period at the end of the game, again ala Black Knight. For 30 seconds, balls are plunged into play as fast as they drain.

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.