As you add gears you add 1X playfield. So gear 5 is 5x. I liked saving it for a multiball.

Not sure, I haven't gotten mine yet and am just remembering from expo in Oct. All I remember is that each gear added 1 to the multiplier and it was a timed multiplier. I think 10 sec but that might be wrong. I remember 5x during a multiball could get you 300m points real quick.

Playfield multiplier is timed.

Here is a link to a nice thread with lots of info

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/full-throttle-club-enjoy-the-adrenaline

FTH could use more bouncing ghost boobs.

Otherwise, pretty fun!

Ironically, I found myself looking at the big screen and NEVER the one in the PF.

Gears are earned by two different ways:
1) The Super Skill Shot
2) By pop bumper hits. If you watch your tachometer as the ball is in the pops, it goes up with each hit. Once it red lines, it shifts into the next gear. That drops the RPMs down & then you repeat this process to shift to the next gear(multiplier).
You cash in your multiplier by hitting the launch button. If you drain before you use your multiplier, you loose it. It's a fun & unique feature that you can trigger & use when you want. It last for 10 seconds.

There are 2 Mini wizard modes that I'm aware of, "Final Challenge" & "Red Mist". Both are fun & are multi-ball in nature. There is also a Wizard mode for completing all of the races, which I haven't even come close to doing.
Final Challenge jackpot values are determined by what cup(gold,silver,bronze,zero) you achieved in each race mode.
Red Mist is awarded by achieving a set # of laps I believe.
The code is very good, & is risk/reward in nature. As Whysnow has said, " it needs some polish" is all. More call outs, & more animation are really the 2 biggies. I guess at the recent PAPA event competitors were timing out the race modes, thats an easy fix that needs to be addressed.
Overall I couldn't be much happier with Full Throttle! The Heighway Pinball system is legit, I can't wait to see future titles from them!

Here is a Great Tutorial video from Bowen:

That's a great idea!

This looks like a great machine. I hope to get a chance to play at MGC. But as a MGC-noob, what or where is Rob's room?

plus he makes those handy remote battery holders

Got to play this yesterday, fast isn't the word. It has more speed and flow than I've seen in a long time. Looks like there are hours of entertainment in store in discovering the rules and all of the shots. The cab will take getting used to, but overall it's impressive.

Have a full throttle already at The Sanctum. We are adding s ghostbusters too

As far as timing out race modes. Not only are you missing out on good hurry up points but you are missing out on increasing your main multiball jackpots. The better you have done in races the higher your jackpot values will be. It's tempting to time out to be able to wait and shoot for your challenge shots but will give your poor jackpots later.

I didn't realize it affected your jackpot values, good to know.

I'm not involved in Full Throttle in any way, but obviously I know the team, and they're pretty much all disgusted with the idea of timing out modes. So yeah, you're gonna get penalized for it.

Dave Sanders. He's here on Pinside, but he doesn't post a ton. He's also who took over Alien after Dennis Nordman left, and the game is really a collaboration between the two. Dennis laid out the basic idea and concept, and Dave has tweaked and changed it a lot since then to increase flow and add shots. He's a smart designer that I think people will be talking about for a while.

That shot is amazing, it feels so satisfying to hit.

Dave Sanders does deserve a lot of credit. If it was easy to make such fast flowing games we would see more of them. Not only that but he came up with some innovative shots, like that inner loop.

I've been critical of how much reliance the pinball industry has on old (literally) WMS guys. Steve Ritchie is great, but is he even mentoring anyone inside Stern to take over some day? It just seems nuts to have all our eggs in the basket of a bunch of 60+ year olds. It was not like that at WMS either. Guys like Kordek were around to help out the "new" guys there (who are now our old guys).

So I'm glad we have a new star with Dave.

I stopped out last night and put about 6-7 games in and came away impressed! This was my first time seeing/playing one greatly exceeded my expectations. The game is a flow monster and is incredibly fast for a widebody. The game's rules are also a lot of fun and approachable. It definitely leaves you with a "one more game" type feel. The game doesn't feel like work at all and it doesn't take long to get things really moving on the game. The theme doesn't do much for me but the game is still a lot of fun to play. If Alien is this fun to shoot i would seriously consider buying one. I think there's a ton of value at the pricepoint. Hilton stopped out and gave me a quick peak under the hood of the game and it is technically impressive and just feels solid and well thought out. The only negative is that the pops could use more pop.-they felt underpowered. Hopefully this can be corrected by code? Honestly I was never all that impressed with how the game looked in pictures and wasn't really a fan of how the cabinet design but after seeing and playing one in person I'm a big fan!

It was a fun night for me last night as I got to play FT for the first time as well as a brand new production Hobbit machine. Both games were impressive in almost all regards but in terms of gameplay/rules go I don't think you could find two games that are more different. Hobbit has more going on as far as strategy/rules/mechs, but I think FT is more fun to shoot and has the more addictive gameplay. Both games are great in their own respective ways. I think 2016 is going to be a banner year for pinball!

Can't you adjust the switches a bit to make them more responsive like on most games?

I adjusted my pops to hair trigger and am satisfied with their action now. I find the ball can easily exit the pops area, so it doesn't get caught in there for too long.

I'd also like a "pops animation", something to reinforce what is happening there. Think of EVERY Stern game, they all have pops animations.

Read my post above yours, it's basically Dave and Dennis Nordman, with Dennis layout out the initial idea, and Dave taking it from there and changing quite a bit. I think it's a best of both worlds scenario.

I got to try out this machine on Wednesday and was surprised with how much fun it was. Not really into the theme, but as I have learned the theme doesn't really matter when playing on location.

The LCD screens are a nice addition. The animations are pretty good, but also simplistic. I think that is a good thing because it doesn't really distract you from focusing on the ball. The playfield LCD is a nice touch, though it takes some getting used to. It is in the middle of the playfield and on my first game I did not notice that it was there.

This machine is also very fast. I think that part of it is due to there not being any physical rollover switches; they are all induction switches under the playfield. This means that the ball will fly through the inlanes down to the flipper. Speaking of inlanes, the other neat thing I like about this machine is how there are three lanes to the left of the slingshot. The middle one drains and the left one generally rolls over the gap to the flipper. I have seen that layout on virtual tables, but never on an actual machine.

Overall I think Heighway did a great job with their first machine and I look forward to seeing what they do with Alien and future machines. Thanks again to Madison Pinball for putting this game out on location for all of us to enjoy.

Agreed on the success of their first machine. The entire package is very impressive, only negative that I can see is the theme which does nothing for me, but must for others. I wish this company all the best.

On the latest code we turned down the power on the pops slightly, for software reasons. This should hopefully be redressed in the next code update

Overall it needs a few more sound FX & animations. But there is an animation for the pops already, it's the RPM gauge showing your progress.

It sounds like he heresy to challenge S.Ritchie, but you speak the truth. Full Throttle is a fast & flowing masterpiece!

Got to play a dozen games on this when I was in town last week and was pretty blown away. I can't help but compare this to WoZ (both first games for a new company and wide body games) and I think FT is the clear winner. The shots are great like everyone has already mentioned and the game has that "one more game" feel too. It can only be better with the fiber optic ramps.
Really hope someone in SE Michigan will put one on location. Considering saving up for Alien and then buying the FT playfield to swap in.

Do the opposite and start playing sooner

Yeah. I hate to be negative towards Heighway, but lets get realistic about when Alien customers will get their machines. Even once a prototype starts getting brought to shows, there will still be a significant wait for delivery (and likely further revisions based on real world feedback). And we don't have a final prototype yet.

Full Throttle had 2 toys that ended up getting dropped. The overcharger and pop up pop bumpers, both for reliability issues. That kind of stuff only comes out in the wash with heavy testing, and we aren't there yet.

Buy Full Throttle today, and get Alien when it's done, whenever its done.

Right. My wife was asking when we would be getting our Alien pin. My guess is this fall, realistically. So if you like fast, fun, & flowing pinball, Full Throttle is your game! Get a standard Full Throttle (Black & Silver cab)& an Alien playfield would look perfect in it!

Question for those having played FT:

I notice the "picture frame" on the FT machine at my local arcade seems loose when I attempt to nudge the machine forward; the frame slides forward and back by 1/4 to 1/2 inch (but, no looseness side to side). Is this the intended fit of the frame, or does the operator need to tighten the frame down? My visits over the past few weeks were the same.

I have not asked as she's got >100 machines at this location, obviously a lot on her plate. I'd only ask if a valid concern.

Thx!

The glass frame? It should Not move at all, it needs to be tightened. Mine does not wiggle at all.

Sorry. Yes, the glass frame on the cabinet.

If still loose this weekend, I'll bring it up with the attendant/owner.

Thx

I think he means the "magazine". Mine is actually a bit loose too, how it sits on the cabinet, but I've never tried to tighten it up. I always assumed it could be, I just never got around to it.

I had this thought and tried to see if the the entire pf glass would lift. It did not; it was locked down, just loosely in the vertical (front to back) direction