Quickie Version
Make lots of Skill Shots by locking balls, playing multiball, then relocking balls after multiball ends.
Go-To Flipper
Balanced
Skill Shot
plunge so the ball stops just shy of the top left gate and falls back into the angled lanes to collect 50K, 3 bonus advances and light the bumpers. This is still a high priority like in the original Fireball, just less so given the other scoring changes. As on the original, those points, and lighting the bumpers, can ONLY be done on a plunge; there’s no way to shoot the ball up there to do it during play. The only other way to get it during a ball is to lock a ball so that you get another chance to plunge. A partial skill shot that goes through the lower of the two top angled lanes scores 20K and lights the bumpers for 1K.
Full Rules
Lock balls whenever possible to get more skill shots and set up multiball.
Unlike the original, the solid state remake has regular flippers instead of zippable small flippers. The shots are about the same, but ball control is different.
On this remake, the strategy is no longer to milk the lane below the Wotan saucer but to play multiball as often as possible. You get double playfield scoring when two balls are in play, triple scoring for three balls at once. As on the original, hitting the opposite-side mushroom bumper will release a ball from the same-named saucer. There’s an added release now, the target at the back of the captive ball lane next to the left Odin saucer lock. Hit the captive ball hard enough to knock down that target and all locked balls are released. You can now start a three-ball multiball with one shot, rather than have to hit two separate bumpers in sequence.
The kickback is lit and unlit by buttons around the edge of the center spinning rubber disk. Don’t bother shooting to light it, just enjoy a kickback if you get one.
As on the original Fireball, watch out for changes in direction when the ball rolls over that rubber spinner in the center.
Another change is an end-of-ball bonus. Bonus is earned in 5K increments up to 345K by hitting any of the three mushroom bumpers. You earn bonus multipliers up to 5X by hitting the captive ball target with a shot that does not release any locked balls. Bonus potential is 1.725M. Base bonus is held, multiplier resets.
Bob’s Super-Secret Mega-Score: if you are in multiball and drain your balls simultaneously, any playfield multiplier you have running could be applied to your bonus\! If that happened with all three balls, say one center, one down each side, with maximum bonus, you’d score 5,175,000\! I don’t know how quickly the playfield multiplier times out, so I won’t guarantee it’ll work for you, but I know it can and does happen.
Playfield Risk
Any shot other than a saucer can rebound out of control; likewise any feed from the top bumper area. Both of those can also roll over the center spinning disk, going further out of control. Expect the ball to be bouncing around wildly most of the time. That spinner can also “grab” a ball near its center, then quickly fling it out on you.
External Links
Machine Information
- Name
- Fireball Classic
- Manufacturer
- Bally
- Year
- 1985
- Type
- ss
- Display
- alphanumeric
- Players
- 4