Sound Stage

This was Chicago Coin’s last solo game before they sold to Stern while making Stampede / Rawhide. It’s not the greatest, but the design is a bit unusual.

This game has two shots that are both important and difficult. The right orbit is narrower than most, so the ball often hits the left edge of the gap next to the special button and fails to go through. The other is the top saucer, which you have no direct shot for; UTAD plus nudging is your only hope.

The letter stand-up targets increase values: get C & D, the middle ones opposite the center triangle, to light the spinner; the lower pair, E & F, to light the hole for Double Bonus; and the upper left two, A & B light the extra ball lane, if enabled. Get C-D-E-F and ignore A-B unless extra balls are on.

Bonus goes up to 19K, advanced by the return lanes, top lanes and three rollover buttons but not by the stand-up targets. The double bonus hole can’t be shot directly; just get your C-D, go UTAD and hope-and-nudge. Bonus here is slow to build, so focus first on lighting the spinner before going after double bonus.

The spinner is not the usual ball-goes-through kind, it’s two stand-up targets that make a pinwheel below the playfield spin. The rebounds from the spin stand-ups are chancy, but it’s good value when lit for 1K.

The top two lanes alternate which is lit on hits to the three small white rollover buttons. The lit lane is worth 3K.

The preferred strategy is to hit the C, D, E and F targets to light the double bonus hole and the spinner. After that, shoot the right orbit up top to get advances until your bonus is at 19K and hopefully have the ball drop into the double bonus saucer on one of those trips. Once your bonus is filled up, shoot the spin stand-ups from then on. If you have the ball on the right flipper and can’t transfer it easily to the left, shoot C or E if you need either, otherwise shoot the spin stand-ups.

If you find the right orbit shot is too narrow for you, your best alternative is to shoot towards the A target from the right flipper and hope that bumper action kicks the ball up into the double bonus saucer.

Key feeds: rebounds from the spin stand-ups and from missed right orbit shots.