[The rules start in the next post: Episode 1]

Introduction
Back, back, WAY back in early 1993 Data East released a new pinball succinctly titled: "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends™", or R&B as it came to be known. Shortly thereafter, Keith ‘Keefer’ Johnson unleashed onto r.g.p. an excellent rules compilation titled “Keefer’s Guide to The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends” which I will refer to by various combinations of the words Keefer’s, excellent, and guide. That guide was last updated May-31-1993 and as far as I know is the only R&B guide.

After I bought my well-used R&B around Christmas 2012, I often referenced Keefer’s guide. Occasionally, I found myself wondering how something worked that I couldn’t find explained anywhere. In the past eight months, I've spent hundreds of hours researching the rule set and I've discovered a few details that surprised me, and I think some of these might surprise other owners and players as well. I’m not claiming I’m the first to discover them, but as far as I can tell they aren’t covered in either the Operator’s Manual or Keefer’s excellent guide (and I haven’t seen them posted, but the internet is mighty big). So, I've been working on updating Keefer’s guide (per its allowed use) but it's not yet ready for release. In the meantime, I thought I'd start a thread to discuss some of the more interesting things I've discovered about the game.

I hope others will join in the discussion and post your experiences. My research is based on the 1.30 USA CPU ROM [April 1, 1993]. Although I’ve done my best to ensure accuracy, I may have just got it wrong. (There are at least two reported earlier versions in 1.03 and 1.04 and a later version 3.20 so YMMV.)

I plan to do about half a dozen episodes, but that may go up or down based on reception and how I break up the ‘discoveries’. There may be a few days or even weeks between episodes depending on my schedule. Episode 1 covers a topic that most serious players may have already figured out for themselves, but there still may be a few nuggets in there. We should start picking up steam with Episode 2.

Notices
(I am not a lawyer: I’m just trying to give credit where due to the best of my knowledge.)

R&B (the pinball game) is copyright 1993 by Data East (pinball) [now owned by Stern].

R&B (the characters, names, images, phrases, etc., etc.) appear to be variously copyrighted and/or trademarked by Jay Ward Productions (or the successor in these rights, possibly Dreamworks).

Other references may be copyrighted or trademarked by their respective rights holders.

References are used under fair use principles for commentary/education or other allowed purposes and no ownership by me is asserted or implied.

I don't plan on quoting any of Keefer's original text in this thread and any mistakes are my own, but if it becomes necessary to quote I will try to give attribution.

“Stay tuned…”

EPISODE 1:
“Carry a laser down the lane that I must follow”
or
“Two thousand zero zero (zero zero), party over?”

In this Episode:
20M Kicks

Discussion:
As we know, R&B features a left outlane kickback or "Laser Kick" that is automatically lit for 1M at the beginning of each ball and is advanced by the lit rollover in either inner lane or the right outlane (death save anyone?). Progression is 1M > 3M > 5M > "Advance ‘X’" and then back to 1M. Also known is that when Advance ‘X’ is collected its award progresses from (1X)>2X>4X>6X>8X>10X>Hold Bonus*>Super Bonus. Super Bonus simply increases the base bonus from wherever it's at to 2M. However, since we must already be at 10X and Hold Bonus to collect Super Bonus then this guarantees us 20M for the current ball and 20M for the next ball! (Don’t tilt**.)

Of course, we would have gotten some (if not all) of the points anyway if we are having a long enough ball to relight and collect Advance ‘X’ at the Laser Kick that many times. However, we might have maxed out the bonus through multiple completions of the three top rollover lanes*** and/or randomly received 10X and/or Hold Bonus from Mystery Select, thereby greatly reducing the difficulty and risk involved.

What’s not addressed in the guide is what happens after we've gotten the 10x multiplier, held the bonus, and maximized the base bonus. In that case, any subsequent Advance ‘X’ collects from the Laser Kick award an immediate 20M! This can be collected as many times as we can relight the laser kick.

Also, there’s a short grace period (about 1/2 second) after the laser kick is activated during which it will re-kick the ball (and reset the grace timer). You will collect the lit laser kick value each time you trigger the left outlane rollover during the grace period (except when it is coming directly off the kicker).

After you drain your current ball with 10X and Bonus Held, you will start your next ball only one Advance 'X' Laser Kick away from regaining Bonus Hold (and the second Advance 'X' will be 20M). Finally, remember that Laser Kick is active during Tri-Ball so that may be a low-risk chance to collect your Advance 'X' progressions.

*Although you can check the current base bonus and bonus multiplier via “Instant Info”, as far as I know there’s no way to tell if the bonus is held if you missed the animation.

**When you tilt, you will not collect the bonus for the current ball. However, if the bonus is held, it (and the multiplier) will still be carried over to the next ball where you will have another chance to tilt it away

***After getting 10X, subsequent completions of the three top rollover lanes awards a paltry 1M. You cannot collect Bonus Hold from the top rollovers (at least in v1.30).

Did you know:

• You get 1.5M for a drain out the left outlane if Laser Kick is not lit.
• You get nothing for the right outlane (unless you manage a Death Save for 3M).
• You don’t get credit for a Death Save out the left outlane.
• Each playfield switch closure normally adds 7,500 pts to the end of ball base bonus.

EPISIODE 2:

“(I Can’t Get No) Kicker Action” or “Get Your Kicks on Rhino Orbits (Nixed)”

In this Episode:
Can’t relight Laser Kicks? You may be TOO good.

Discussion:
20M per kick is great (see the previous episode), but even better is that it saves a ball we would have otherwise lost down the left outlane. Therefore, we’d prefer to keep the Laser Kick lit as much as possible. In theory, this is simple: just keep shooting the right orbit until “Lite Laser Kick” is lit near the right orbit entry and then shoot the right orbit once more to actually light the Laser Kick. We’ll get a nice animation of Snidely lighting the cannon (they’re mixing their metaphors a bit) and the left outlane is safe again (and ready for those 20M points to be set up again via the inlanes).

If, after a few shots, Lite Laser Kick still hasn’t lit, we will naturally become curious. “But Rocky, it always worked before!” We’ll catch the ball on one of the flippers and wait for the machine to tell us how many orbits we need (it should be 1, 2 or 3). Hmmm, I must have missed the “x Orbits Relights Laser Kick Enable” message, let me flip through the info again. Nope, it’s not there. “What WILL we do?”

Friends, we may have fallen victim to being too good for our own good! (Or, more likely in my case, we may be guilty of spending too much time with the playfield glass off mucking about with a ball in play.) “What do you mean ‘toooo good’?” After a lot of research, I can tell you that R&B disables Laser Kick relight via the Rhino (right) orbit** if the average ball time is greater than about 1 minute and 30 seconds*. Shocking. This average ball time is not just for the current game, but correlates to the Audit 03 average ball time calculated since statistics were last reset.

One option to get around this, of course, is to invite over all our friends that aren’t great at pinball and force them to play hundreds of (naturally) short games to get the average ball time down so far that we’ll never have to worry about this again. That may not be practical. (Especially if we don’t have any friends left because of our habit of playing pinball for hours on end with the glass off or because the only friends we do have left are actually good at pinball.) In that case, short of the drastic step of resetting the game statistics (which is a short term solution at best), we do have another option: Play a tournament!

OK, we don’t actually have to play a tournament, but if we set Adjustment 45 to any tournament style setting other than NONE, then Laser Kick relight via the Rhino (right) orbit will never be disabled. In fact, it will always default to “1 Orbits Relights Laser Kick Enable”. Therefore, just two right orbits will relight Laser Kick every time. Whether or not you like the other tournament settings is a question for another time. If you are playing on location or in a tournament then you are out of luck, but at least you can concentrate on something else.

*The average ball time doesn’t really matter at first. You have to play a certain number of balls after resetting statistics before the game relies on the average ball time. It’s not a lot, but several games worth. Until then, the game will set 1 orbit to relight Lite Laser Kick regardless of average ball time.

**Even when disabled via the right orbit, the laser kick can usually still be relit as a pseudo-random award from Mystery Select, Super Mystery Select, or '???' Mystery Award. In fact, it appears statistically more likely to get this as an award when relighting via the right orbit has been disabled. However, if game difficulty is set to Hard or Extra Hard then Enable Laser Kick will not be given as an award if the right orbit relight has been disabled.

Did you know:

• See the strategy section in Keefer’s guide for a challenging method of keeping the Laser Kick lit after collecting the value.
• Years after writing his 1993 R&B guide, Keefer became a professional pinball programmer. As a programmer, he has worked on what are considered two of the deepest rule sets ever: LOTR and TSPP. He now works for JJP as lead WOZ programmer. Look for ‘KEF’ at the top of the default high score tables on these and other games.

_{Post edited by classicgamefan : Added Episode 2 text. Corrected that laser kick can still be relit via award from Mystery Select, Super Mystery Select, or '???' Mystery Award even if relighting via Rhino oribt is disabled.}

Episode 3:

“You Can’t Get There From Here” or “The Logical Mystery Tour”

In this Episode:
Unmasking the Mystery awards.

Discussion:
One of the more confusing naming conventions in any pinball game is R&B’s multiple uses of the term Mystery. This is applied to four separate functions: Mystery Score, Mystery Award (a.k.a., “???”), Mystery Select and Super Mystery Select. What’s more, you can collect a Mystery Score from any of the other three and you can light Super Mystery Select from Mystery Select.

MYSTERY SCORE
Mystery Score is the most straightforward of the four. As mentioned, Mystery Score is not a standalone award, but is a pseudo-random award from any of the other three. When this is collected from Mystery Select it will award a random value of 5M, 10M, 15M or 20M (average 12.5M). When this is collected from Super Mystery Select it will award a random value of 15M, 20M, 25M or 30M (average 22.5M). When this is collected from the “???” Mystery Award then it can be any of the six values (more on that later).

MYSTERY AWARD (???)
The “???” Mystery Award is one of the 8 features collected from the WABAC machine (left ramp) when lit. It can randomly award any of the following (NOT in order of likelihood):

• Award Extra Ball
• Light Special
• Double Score
• Light Laser Kick [Added]
• Mystery Score (5M, 10M, 15M or 20M)

Removed: Although it appears in Keefer’s Guide, I have removed Light Mystery Select from this list as it does not appear to be a valid award in 1.30.

MYSTERY SELECT
Mystery Select is enabled by lighting all six letters in SELECT in the center of the playfield above the slingshots. Lighting the letters in select can be accomplished by:

• Completing the “Lite Select” skill shot at the beginning of the ball will light all six letters.
• A single letter is lit for each orbit completed.
• Completing sequential orbits spots two letters for each orbit instead of just one.
• Lighting the complete set of the three top rollover lanes lights the next letter.*

Once all six letters are lit solid, the “Mystery Select” rocket insert between the two ramps will also be lit solid to indicate Mystery Select is ready to collect. The “Lite Mystery” feature will be completed at the WABAC regardless of which method lights Mystery Select.

Mystery Select is collected by shooting the center shot between the two ramps and getting the ball into the scoop. At least on my machine, it will sometimes end up in the pop bumpers instead. Also, from the pop bumpers (however it gets there) it will sometimes end up in the scoop and start Mystery Select (if lit).

The possible Mystery Select awards** are:

• Already covered (at least partially) in the guide:
  • Mystery Score (5M, 10M, 15M or 20M)
    • Does NOT complete ‘???’ (Mystery Award)
  • Light Hat Trick
  • Save Nell
  • Double Score
  • Light Special
  • Light Extra Ball
  • The following WABAC*** features are available and will complete that feature:
    • 10M
    • “Super Pops” (light or advance)
    • Light Looping
    • Loose Moose
    • Tri-Ball
    • “Super Select” (aka, “Lite Mystery”; will light Super Mystery Select)

• Not listed in the 1993 guide:

  • 10X Bonus
  • Hold Bonus
  • Light Laser Kick

SUPER MYSTERY SELECT
Super Mystery Select is enabled once all six letters in SELECT are flashing. Flashing the letters in SELECT can only be accomplished after all six letters are ALREADY lit solid:

• Completing the “Lite Select” skill shot at the beginning of the ball while Mystery Select is already lit will flash all six letters.
• A single flashing letter will be added for each orbit completed.
• Completing sequential orbits flashes two letters for each orbit instead of just one.
• Lighting the complete set of the three top rollover lanes flashes the next letter.*
• Colleting “Super Select” from Mystery Select will flash all six letters.

Once all six letters are flashing, the “Mystery Select” rocket insert between the two ramps will also flash to indicate Super Mystery Select is ready to collect. Again, Super Mystery Select is collected by shooting the center.

The possible Super Mystery Select awards are:

• Already covered (at least partially) in Keefer’s guide:
  • Mystery Score (15M, 20M, 25M or 30M)
  • 20M (this does NOT complete the 10M feature)
  • Double Score
  • Light Special
  • Light Extra Ball
  • Only one WABAC feature is possible:
    • Tri-Ball
  • The following**** Puzzle features are possible:
    • 2M Drops
    • Spin N Win
    • Rocket Shots
    • Back In Time

• Not listed in the 1993 guide:

  • Light Laser Kick

STRATEGY
So, what have we learned and does any of this change Keefer’s strategy that Mystery Select is normally preferable to Super Mystery Select?

Assuming you can choose between two (2) MS awards or one (1) SMS award, how do the numbers work on a risk/reward basis? (In reality, over time you would probably get slightly more than 2 going for MS exclusively because of the risk of ‘stranding’ a MS on your last ball while going for a SMS.)

Advantages for going with Mystery Select

• Mystery Score: MS averages 12.5M versus 11.25M (22.5M/2) for SMS
• Bonus
  10X and Bonus Hold available via MS, but not SMS
• Same award, but double the chances by collecting MS twice instead of SMS once:
  • Light Extra Ball
  • Light Special
  • Light Laser Kick
  • Tri-Ball
• Save Nell
  • Possibility of 50M+ per round
  • Not available via SMS

Advantages for going with Super Mystery Select

• Spin N Win
  • NOT available via MS
  • Possibility for big points if you are good at shooting the right ramp.

Based on this information, I would probably continue to stick with Keefer’s strategy of going for MS instead of SMS. However, in the next two episodes we will discuss some reasons why you may want to go for SMS under some conditions.

*The fact that lighting the three top rollover lanes also advances SELECT is easily overlooked and isn’t addressed in the manual or in the guide.

**Many of these awards are already listed in the guide; however, in most cases it isn’t indicated whether the awards can be won from Mystery Select, Super Mystery Select, or both.

*** All WABAC features EXCEPT “Bomb Millions” and “???” (Mystery Award) can theoretically be completed via Mystery Select.

**** The two Puzzle features not listed in the 1993 guide are award Extra Ball and Special. Although the first four puzzle features are in pseudo-random order, Extra Ball (if available) will be the fifth puzzle and Special (if available) will be sixth. The current (unfinished) puzzle is never awarded via SMS.

Did you know:

• Initially, Spin N Win rotates between 5M, 10M, 15M and 20M (12.5M average per right ramp shot). However, beginning with the third time it is started the values are 10M, 20M, 30M, and 40M (25M average per right ramp shot).
• You get 5M for starting a Puzzle feature via the left scoop, but not for starting one via Super Mystery Select.

Episode 4: “Double is Trouble” or “At least it isn’t ketchup”

In this Episode: Double Score!

Discussion: The opportunity to randomly double your score may seem like a good idea if you are playing a solo game, but it definitely won’t seem like it if your opponent does it in a multiplayer game. (About the only thing I can think of that might be more frustrating is if someone made a game with some sort of “catch up” award that lets a player having a poor game match the leader’s score. On the last ball. And keep playing.*)

If, at any time, another player could randomly double their score, it would seem to take a lot of the skill out of getting a high score and would eliminate the game from most player’s list of tournament–friendly machines. However, what if this score doubling thing really isn’t a free-for-all? What if there are limits? Let’s say Mystery Select will only offer Double Score if your score is less than 100M. Further, as a reward for lighting Super Mystery Select, let’s say that SMS will only offer Double Score if your score is less than 300M. OK, I’ll say both of these things*.

Now, this may still be painful if it happens for your competitor, but these limits mean it’s something we might be able to come back against and the worst case of nearly 300M is not completely out of line with other scoring (the Super Jackpot and at least one other score being 100M). Also, to go for the random chance at 300M the player has to make the conscious decision to forego other potentially lucrative scoring opportunities.

* Yes, I’m looking at you Super Mario Bros (Premier 1992).

**Yes, I mean it: The score doubling really is limited by these rules.

_{Post edited by classicgamefan : Updated with Episode 4 text. (I switched Episodes 4 and 5.) Moved question to a new post.}

Episode 5:

“Score and Remembrance” or “There and Back Again”

In this episode: SMS Memory Effect

Discussion:
Our analysis in Episode 3 indicated that Mystery Select appears to have the upper hand when it comes to long term points scoring. Episode 4 gave even stronger evidence that Mystery Select is the strong winner when our score is less than 100M. However, as our score nears 300M the value proposition of Super Mystery Select gets stronger and stronger. Are there any other factors weighing in favor of SMS?

One subtle factor that some astute players may have picked up on is that SMS has a slight memory effect. In short, after you collect a SMS, a few features will take that into account for the rest of the ball (or until you collect a standard MS). The only awards influenced by SMS memory are some of the ‘???’ Mystery Awards from the WABAC machine. If you previously collected SMS this ball, the '???' awards will change as follows:

• Mystery Score will be 15M, 20M, 25M or 30M (instead of 5M, 10M, 15M, or 20M)
• Light Special is statistically more likely
• Double Score follows the SMS rules (possible when score is <300M) instead of the MS rules (score must be <100M)

Therefore, if our score is from 100M to <300M and we are within striking range of collecting ‘???’ then we may want to collect Super Mystery Select first if possible. We will more than double our chance of getting a Double Score compared to SMS alone (??? has fewer competing awards than SMS).
Even if we don’t double our score, every award we can get from ??? is pretty decent and we have raised the average of the most common award from 12.5M to 22.5M.

Did you know:
Collecting MS or SMS silently awards 1M in addition to whatever award is chosen.

_{Post edited by classicgamefan : Switched Episodes 4 and 5. Added Episode 5 text on 8/20/2013. Updated ambiguous wording that could be interpreted as saying all ??? awards were effected.}

Episode 6:
“MMMPop” or “The Unknown Clock Tick”

In this Episode: Pops

Background:
As we know, Super Pops can be lit via either the center lane Skillshot or via Mystery Select (not SMS). Once lit, hitting any one of the three Pop Bumpers (aka Turbo Bumpers) will start the lit Super Pops mode. Once started, each subsequent hit to a pop bumper or slingshot will award 500K up to 10 hits. The 11th hit starts Duper Pops where each pop bumper or slingshot scores 1M points. After 10 Duper hits, we will advance to Super Duper Pops where each hit scores 2M. This is all well covered in Keith’s guide (and the ten hits to advance is covered in the official manual). The only thing that bothered me was what triggers the modes to expire once started.

Discussion:
Once Super Pops is started, there is a hidden timer with an initial value of ~10 seconds. Once the timer falls below 4 seconds, any subsequent bumper or slingshot hit will extend the timer to a total of 3 to 4 seconds. Once we advance to Duper Pops, the timer is reset to 10 or 11 seconds. Again, each pop bumper or slingshot hit will extend the timer to 3 to 4 seconds total after we fall below that threshold. Finally, advancing to Super Duper Pops after 10 more hits will again reset the timer to 10 or 11 seconds and the 3 to 4 second timer extender functions the same as in the other pops modes.

What happens once we get past 10 hits in Super Duper Pops? Nothing changes, at least initially. The timer continues to extend as long as we get a hit within each 3 to 4 second rolling window. That is, until we score two dozen Super Dupers. At this point, the timer is no longer extended, but we can squeeze a few more hits in during the final 3 to 4 seconds.

Notes:

• If we “complete” all three pops modes, we will have scored at least 63M points (500K*10 + 1M*10 + 2M*24).
• As you’ve probably noticed, the ball gate near the top of the orbit will NOT open** on a right orbit shot (similar to during the skill shot and while balls are launching during Tri-Ball). This tends to bounce the ball into the top rollover lanes and then into the pop bumpers. However, you may still need to nudge to get the ball to fall into the lanes instead of rolling back down the right orbit. The ball gate is still opened for left orbit shots.
• Even with the ball gate closed, once the ball falls out of the pop bumpers the 3 to 4 second doesn’t leave you much time for the ball to get back to the flippers, set up a controlled shot to the right orbit, and then get the ball back through the top lanes and into a bumper. If you think you are just one shot away from the next mode, you MIGHT consider trying to get a glancing slingshot hit to reset the timer (especially if you are about to go from Duper to Super Duper).
• The lit (not started) pops mode carries over from ball to ball. Also, it appears that if a ball is ended via a quick drain after Super Pops is started, it will be lit again at the start of the next ball. This does not appear to apply to Duper or Super Duper Pops but I have not tested that extensively. This is kind of academic anyway as it doesn’t affect strategy as you wouldn’t drain on purpose.
• You can advance the lit mode to Duper Pops or even Super Duper Pops before starting pops. There are even special animations for lighting each of these modes (although the periodic score overlay will always say “Super Pops Ready!” regardless of which mode you have actually lit). However, this seems pretty unlikely because:
  • Lighting Pops via the Skillshot would almost always start Pops immediately via a pop bumper hit.
  • Lighting Super Pops via the Mystery Select means you have to relight MS for another (random) chance to advance the lit Pops mode. Right orbit shots will tend to end up in the bumpers because of the closed ball gate. However, if you focused on left orbit shots you could have a chance to relight MS without starting Super Pops. I’m not sure if this meets anyone’s risk/reward threshold.
  • Pops modes cannot be lit during Tri-Ball, but IF already LIT can be started and subsequently advanced (and most likely will be started via the Tri-Ball ball launches). I haven’t decided if I do better by stacking Pops along with Tri-Ball or running it on its own during single ball play.

Did you know:

• The animated mice that display during Pops scoring are called “Metal Munching Mice” (MMM) or “Metal Munching Moon Mice”. They first appeared in Season 2 and are 6-feet tall and eat television antennas. Presumably, in the R&B pin they eat pinballs.
• R&B was programmed by Kristina Donofrio. According to IPDB, her first pin as game logic programmer was Star Trek (DE, 1991) and her last game was Tales From the Crypt (DE, 1993) which came out about 9 months after R&B.

*This wasn’t actually a footnote, just a multiplication symbol 
**General aside and semi-informed speculation [not specific to R&B, you can ignore the rest of this post if you aren’t interested]: Yes, the top orbit ball gate is physically a “normally closed” device even though it appears to the player to normally be open for most shots and modes. In reality, it is only opened for very short periods of time (or not at all depending on game state) after the ball rolls over the appropriate left orbit or right orbit switch. Although the gate design is certainly not unique to R&B or even DE, I never realized that these were normally closed gates until I started messing around with the glass off.

It makes sense if you think about it: We wouldn’t want the gate to be forcefully powered into the ball if a gate closing was mistimed. This design also allows gravity to close the gate once the solenoid (?) is de-energized. I’m not sure if there is also a helper spring.
I assume the downside to these types of gates is manufacturing complexity and expense as well as the creation of blind spots in the orbit.

To my knowledge, modern Sterns primarily go with retractable posts coming up from the playfield instead of flapper gates suspended above the PF for orbit ball control. The downside to the posts is that a mistimed deployment can launch the ball with significant force into the glass or just about anywhere on the upper playfield. There are also some complaints (on Metallica for example) of the posts returning the ball too hard and not directing it to where it is supposed to go (e.g., the pop bumpers). It seems to me that the flapper as used in R&B would also allow for a little adjustability if the ball isn’t going where you want it (although I haven’t tried). Whereas the posts can only be “adjusted” by changing the post material.

_{Post edited by classicgamefan : Episode 6 is now live.}

Episode 7: “But you better promise me, I’ll be back in time*”

In this episode: Back In Time

Discussion:
Back In Time is lit by completing all of the WABAC features and started by shooting the left ramp. It can also be started as a Puzzle award or a Super Mystery Select award. Your back in time progress is saved throughout the game between mode restarts and ball to ball. There are milestone awards every 10 left ramp loops:
50M at 10 [993 A.D.] and 20 [07 B.C.];
75M at 30 [1007 B.C.], 40 [2007 B.C.] and 50 [3007 B.C.]; and
100M at 60 [4007 B.C.], 70 [5007 B.C.], 80 [6007 B.C.], and 90 [7007 B.C.].

If you miraculously make it back to 8007 BC (the 100th WABAC shot!) the game awards an Extra Ball (or a paltry 20M if no extra ball awards remain according to the operator settings). Along the way, you will have scored more than 1B! [(3M per loop)*100 + 50M*2 + 75M*3 + 100M*4 = 1.025B]

You also get 10M when you break the previous Back In Time record. You can only break the record once per game (even if another player in a multiplayer game breaks it subsequently). Any additional players also get credit and 10M for breaking the previous record during the same game. However, only the player that has gone farthest back in time at the end of the game gets to input their initials as champion.

If you were to restart Back In Time again after getting all the way to 8007 BC, it will start at 7907 BC and on the first shot will complete to award another extra ball or 20M if no extra ball awards remain. (As far as I know, 8007 BC will never be shown as the award value is shown instead.)

Did you know:

• You can advance and collect Puzzle Awards while Back In Time is running. If you complete the Back In Time puzzle, then the Back in Time clock will reset to 20 seconds instead of the normal starting mode timer of 15 seconds. Personally, I think I’d rather keep going for the timer extender with the left ramp (which gets you ~4 seconds) and then restart Back In Time once I miss and the mode expires.

*Apologies to Huey Lewis and the News.

Did you know: As pointed out by Russ Meyer’s in a previous thread, there is a small image of a car near the WABAC machine that looks suspiciously like a Delorean from BTTF (Data East made a BTTF pinball in 1990).

_{Post edited by classicgamefan : Correction: Added that BIT can be started as a Puzzle mode.}

Episode 8: “Five in One Swat” or “Waiting On a Woman (or Vice-Versa)”

In this Episode: Save Nell “Secret Bonus"

Discussion:

“Save me!””

I mentioned in a previous post that there is a special Save Nell score that is worth up to 75M. As we know, the first Save Nell is normally worth 25M and the second successful Save Nell in a ball is normally worth 50M. Does that mean the third Save Nell in a single ball is worth 75M? Nope, that would be too easy (and I said in a previous post that this “shot” is incredibly difficult). Saving Nell a third (or subsequent) time still normally scores ’just’ 50M.

“…time ticking away””

Have you ever noticed that there is a delay after Save Nell starts before the timer appears? Is this just a bug or is there something intentional going on? Similarly, if we drop a target immediately after the Save Nell targets reset there is a delay (less than a second) before our score is awarded.

“Just in the nick of time!”

Unfortunately, it seems that Nell is a very impatient woman and she doesn’t just want to be saved. Oh no, she wants to be saved FAST and she wants it done the hard way! If you meet Nell’s tight standards she will reward you with an extra 25M (making the shot worth 50M or 75M) if there isn’t an extra ball available.

Did you say extra ball and what’s the hard way? Yep, if there is an extra ball available then Nell will light Extra Ball for you instead of the extra 25M. The hard way is that you have to drop all five targets* before the timer starts.

Whoa! You said difficult, not impossible

Dropping all five targets in less than a second does seem nearly impossible with a single ball. Remember, however, that we can also start Save Nell during Tri-Ball. This makes it merely ridiculous and not impossible. In fact, I believe I’ve gotten the “fast” Save Nell bonus accidentally on at least one occasion while flailing during Tri-Ball.

If you want to be possibly the first person to intentionally get this bonus in the 20 years since R&B was released, I believe below is one way to set yourself up for a decent chance to intentionally get the fast Save Nell bonus during Tri-Ball:

• Set yourself up to be just one drop target away from starting Save Nell
• Catch/trap all three balls.
• Craddle two balls on the left flipper and one on the right
• Ricochet the ball from the right flipper off the left slingshot to start Nell
• Launch the two balls from the left flipper into the drop targets. If you’re lucky you’ll get all five targets immediately or off a favorable slingshot return within the <1 second time window

Wrap-up: Is this just a bug? To me, it’s obvious that the light extra ball/+25M is intentional, but I have a hard time believing the designers wanted it to be this difficult. If they had meant to make it so incredibly hard, it probably should be worth an extra 100M or even 200M. Was the secret timer originally longer? Was this originally a bonus for saving Nell immediately (via a single drop target) and the five target requirement was inadvertent? We may never know, but if anybody can make this shot in a game I’d love to see the video.

*This is independent of Adjustment 51: “Any Drop Saves Nell”. If that adjustment is set to Yes, then dropping any target will save Nell. If set to NO, then you must drop all five targets. Even when set to NO, you still must drop all 5 targets before the timer starts to get the Fast Save Nell bonus (Light Extra Ball or +25M).

Did you know:

• Game Difficulty has no effect on "Fast Save Nell"; however, it does effect the timer for the standard Save Nell.
• Moderate Difficulty gives you 15 seconds to Save Nell. Subtract 5 seconds for each harder level and add 5 seconds for each easier difficulty level.
• When “Any Drop Saves Nell” is set to NO, you get an extra 10 seconds on the timer.
  • e.g., 25 seconds with Moderate Game Difficulty set.

_{Post edited by classicgamefan : 9/11/2013: Episode 8 is now live.}

I have posted Episode 4. Class participation (Is there anybody out there?): Aside from the Super Jackpot, can you list another shot and the setup to get there that scores an incremental (not cumulative for the mode) 100M in R&B?

Bingo! That was exactly* what I was looking for. Since you already got it, this is a good time to throw in a "bonus" Episode 7 about Back In Time, which will use the powers of the WABAC machine to create a time paradox and appear after Episodes 5 and 6 before they have even been posted

Thanks to everyone for the encouraging words. It's good to know this info is being read and utilized.

-Jon

*Inexactly, I would have also accepted that you get 100M for either your 7th jackpot in a Tri-Ball round if it is a Double Jackpot or your 17th jackpot if it is a Single Jackpot. (Assuming no 1M jackpot advances via the left ramp.)

Episode 2 Correction: I should have stated: “R&B disables Laser Kick relight via the Rhino (right) orbit if the average ball time is greater than about 1 minute and 30 seconds.” Unless difficulty is set to Hard or Extra Hard, lighting the laser kick is still a pseudo-random award via the ‘???’ Mystery Award, Mystery Select, and Super Mystery Select regardless of average ball time. In fact, it seems to be more statistically likely to get this as an award when the orbit relight has been disabled. The original (unedited) statement was true for Hard and Extra Hard difficulty only. Episode 2 has been corrected.

Thanks for joining the discussion Keefer! I agree, you did a fantastic job with the original guide and I can't imagine how you did it without having full-time unfettered access to a machine. I don't think I would have even started on this project without your original effort.

The 10th shot bonus display is different than the normal "Million" display. It says WABAC on the top 20% or so and then alternates "50" (or "75" or "100") and "MILLION" a couple of times on the lower 4/5.

I'm not sure that anything I've added to the rule set knowledge base will change a top player's strategy on this game as Tri-Ball seems to be where you get the biggest rewards for the least risk. However, I'm hoping that greater accessibility to these rules will expand enjoyment of the game.

I don't know why, but Save Nell is my favorite mode in R&B. Did you know there is a 'secret' Save Nell shot that scores up to 75M?_{Update: Now already covered in an edit to Episode 8.} (In my opinion, it's so difficult it should probably be 200M.) I only discovered it in the past couple of weeks and I haven't been able to duplicate it on purpose in a legitimate game. I'll probably makeI made this (and what I think a usable strategy is to setup and complete the shot) the topic of Episode 8, but if anyone knows feel free to chime in.

Thanks again for your original guide and for all the great pinball games you've made since (and continue to make)!

Regards,
Jon

_{Post edited by classicgamefan : Added note about Episode 8 update affecting this post.}

Episode 5 post has been updated and is now live.

Episode 6 is now live.

Bugs

I suspected it was a bug and I'm glad to get your input. Even if it was unintentional, I do think it adds a nice strategic element to the game. I thought you did the hard part and provided the crucial clue with this line your FAQ: "Mystery Score (5M - 20M, or around double that for Super Mystery Select)". My day job for most of the past 20 years has involved software and system testing so noticing anomalies is what I do.

I've also noticed all three of the following "bugs" both on my machine and on youtube videos of owner's gameplay:

• One bug is what I call a "False Death Save", but it really isn't exploitable in a strategic way. If you drain out the right outlane while Bomb Extinguisher (Fuse Lit) is running and you subsequently hit the launch button then you will hear the death save music (and score the 3M death save). You wont see the animation because Bomb Extinguisher has precedence. Of course, you won't get the ball back in play unless you also manage a true death save.
• Has anyone noticed the occasional blank display (when the score should be shown) and display resets at various times during gameplay? Originally, I thought I had a flakey display board, but I noticed that when it happens it will fix itself at the end of the ball (indicating it is probably software). It seems most likely to be triggered during Tri-Ball.
• Another issue I've seen is a single BOMB target hit lighting more than one pie wedge. I believe this is from leaf switch bounce. I assume the original stand-up targets had foam backing pads to prevent this so it is more of a hardware issue than software. My machine doesn't have the original targets, does anyone know if they originally had the foam pads? The programmer could have increased the debounce delay to prevent this, but this would have meant that some legitimate closely spaced hits would be ignored. I believe this is also a factor in the "Wr-wr-wr-ong hat" audio. Again, I believe foam pads would help that with the hat targets.

Happy to help.

My high score is just under 900M with similar settings, but I'm normally lucky to break 200M.

I think I've only broken 1000AD once in a real game.

Correct. All 4 modes for lighting the pie are explained in Keefer's guide:

"Later, Tri-Balls are harder to light. The first one, all BOMB targets are lit until you complete that color. The second one, you have to get BOMB once (all 4 shots) before you can shoot BOMB again. Basically, you have to get all 4, then all 4 again, then all 4 again. The 3rd time, you have to get the blue B 3 times, then the O 3 times, etc. The 4th time, you have to hit 1 B, then 1 O, then 1 M, etc..."

The 4th method appears to repeat for all subsequent Tri-Ball relights.

This also agrees with Keefer's guide, but I believe it only happens prior to your first Tri-Ball and it should be "...will then add up to one of each color..." It only spots the first wedge of each color. (None are spotted if you have already lit at least one of each color or if you've already gotten Tri-Ball).

Almost, but this would only spot 8 of the 12 Pie wedges (4 on the second ball and 4 on the third). Instead, you get Tri-Ball lit on your third ball regardless as long as you haven't had it yet. From Keefer's original guide: "...it'll be lit on the third ball if you haven't gotten one yet..."

Great tip! It hadn't occurred to me that I needed to re-gap the leaf switches. I just saw a foam pad on one of the replacement switches someone put it and noticed that it only registered single hits. It sounds like my Hat Target switches should also be re-gapped since they also register multiple hits.

Thanks,
Jon

Thanks for the vote of confidence! I'm sure my girlfriend would not approve, but maybe one day after I've rebuilt some brownie points.

The right outlane takes most of my drains (since I've gotten better at not shooting weak ramp shots). Nudging practice is great, but I also try to avoid shots that get it over there in the first place.

The right orbit shot is definitely more difficult than the left. Sometimes I can shoot 3 or 4 in a row. Other times I brick 2 or 3 in a row. On my machine, a near miss will sometimes ricochet the ball into the pop bumpers. It looks like you might be able to do this intentionally if you are a good enough shot.

Edit: Struck difficulty comment above. After playing about an hour just trying to shoot orbits, I think the left to right orbit is more difficult, but they can both be frustrating.
Edit2: I just checked the audits for my R&B. Just over 1200 right (Rhino) orbits and just over 600 left orbits.

It doesn't sound like the problem you are having, but there is a service bulletin that covers an adjustment if a successful right orbit shot from the left flipper is draining down the middle. Go to Stern's website and select Service and Support then Service Bulletins, then select 1993 and click on the second from the bottom:

http://www.sternpinball.com/downloads/sb38c.pdf

_{Post edited by classicgamefan : Struck the orbit difficulty comment.}

I don't have much luck hitting the SELECT shot on my machine from the right to left (Rhino) orbit return. I normally end up hitting the left ramp off this return.

However, I assume the designers intention was that you should also be able to return the ball directly to the left to right orbit shot (lighting a total of three daisies in the process). You should then be able to shoot Aesop's scoop (but I've only been able to do it after a catch and pass). This is the only combo shot called out as such in the game.

From Keefer's excellent guide:

There is a 3-way combo in R&B. I'm 95% sure that it is the Rhino loop -> left orbit -> Aesop & Son. It is worth 5M.

As stated, the combo shot scores 5M the first time (with a Rocky display). Not covered is that it scores 10M the second time (with a Bullwinkle display) and the third time is a "Super Combo" worth 15M (with both Bullwinkle ["Tadaaa!"] and Rocky ["Millions!"] on the display). The combos don't have to be chained to get the progressive points. In fact, the combo number is kept track of ball to ball so even if you 'just' score one combo per ball, your third combo is still a "Super Combo" worth 15M (as are subsequent combos).

In my opinion this is all kind of moot because the combo shot is too difficult and not worth the risk/reward. I just tried for nearly an hour and wasn't successful once (but maybe that says as much about my skills as the difficulty). There is no timeout between shots to complete the combo, but almost any other switch closure (drop target, hat targets, BOMB targets, ramp entrances, slingshots, pop bumpers, outlanes, out of order or partial orbits, etc.) will void the combo. Even the inlanes will void the combo. Also, if Pops is ready or active or Hat Trick is lit then that will disrupt the orbit shots and make the combo impossible.

-Jon

*If difficulty is Moderate or easier, then the second "chained" orbit will light two daisies instead of just one. If difficulty is Hard or Extra Hard then lighting two daisies per orbit starts with the third "chained" orbit.

_{Post edited by classicgamefan : Sept 7: Struck note about different behavior for spotting daisies based on orbits.}

Both statements are correct: Alternating Ramps does continue (and can be started) during Tri-Ball; however, it will reset once the first launched ball hits a pop bumper (or slingshot, etc. -- pretty much any of the switches that reset the other combo). Also, because the ball is returned to alternating flippers and you would have to cradle the extra ball(s) to keep them from triggering other switches, it would be very difficult to maintain once you have more than one ball in play. (I suppose if your timing is good enough, you could probably do it with two balls in play.) It's also definitely doable if you have all but one ball stuck somewhere, but that's not really fair.

During Tri-Ball, alternating ramps continue to spot pie lamps just like during normal play.

Correction: I've corrected yesterday's post regarding orbits spotting daisies. There is no difference based on game difficulty. That's what I get for posting off the cuff without referring to my notes. I'm still trying to figure out what I was really thinking of.

As stated in the previous post, alternating ramps during Tri-Ball continue to spot pie lamps just like during normal play. Note that pie lamps during Tri-Ball are kept track of separately from normal play. I believe this is how it works if Game Difficulty is Moderate or Easier:

If Super Jackpot (aka "Bullwinkle's Treasure") is LIT when Tri-Ball ends:

• First two lamps of each color will be lit at start of next Tri-Ball.

If Super Jackpot is NOT lit when Tri-Ball ends:

• Any lit pie lamps will be saved at end of Tri-Ball and will be restored at start of next Tri-Ball.

Yes, the Tri-Ball lamp states are saved from ball to ball.

I haven't really checked, but I'm not aware of anyone who's not. Lonnie Ropp may be the only one who's still in the pinball industry (Stern). He was credited on R&B with "Software Support".

Episode 8 (the final episode) is now live. Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Another piece of fantastic feedback! I'm not sure I'm ready to tackle that project yet, but it is has moved from a "maybe" to a "definitely" thanks to your feedback. Unfortunately, I found a higher priority on my machine tonight when I noticed metal shavings/flakes near the pop bumpers. After a little investigation, I determined they are coming from the "ring" of the ring and rod assembly on the top left bumper. It looks like I'm going to have to rebuild at least one bumper. (I might go ahead and do all three.)

Bonus Fractured Rules Mini-sode
Have you ever been presented with "Bonus Hold" as a Mystery Select option on your last ball (no regular or extra balls left) and thought "why???" For a long time, I assumed this would just be a wasted selection. However, it turns out that this is a perfectly valid award.

What good is holding a bonus for the next ball if there is NO next ball? Glad you asked. If you have Bonus Held when your last ball drains then you double that ball's bonus (not counting Loose Moose). With the max base bonus (2M) and max multiplier (10x) this means your end of ball bonus can be up to 40M (20M+20M).