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Bone Busters Inc.

Gottlieb, 1989 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Bone Busters Inc. in the Pinball Genie app →

Machine: Gottlieb/Premier model #719, designer Ray Tanzer, System 80B MPU, ~2,000 units, single production run. No Pro/Premium/LE editions exist — every shot uses trim all. Chicago-skeleton-invasion theme; 3-or-5-ball play; 4 pinballs installed.

Controls (non-standard): Two lower main flippers plus an upper-right flipper (lower extra right button) and a Train Switch diverter/mini-flipper (top extra right button). The upper flipper + Train Switch are the ONLY way to seat the lower-left Headquarters lock.

Multiball (the game's only multiball, 2-to-4 ball)

Award & collect systems (this modeless game's "modes")

Multipliers

Extra balls

Two paths, both cashed at the right loop: the 4th rung of the right-loop ladder, and drop-target "Light Extra Ball."

Wizard equivalent — the "Bonus Ball" frenzy

No named wizard mode. Draining a LIT outlane (which alternates side with switch hits) banks bonus time; after ball 3 you get a 2-ball frenzy worth 5k/switch — rip spinners here for the finale.

End-of-ball bonus

The Jogging bonus (up to 159k) collects at end of ball or on demand via Liz's Surprise; Water Tower banks via the center ramp.

How Bone Busters Inc. plays

Chase down skeletons on Gottlieb's late-'80s horror table by locking balls at Moon Street, Headquarters and Maxwell Street, starting multiball off the center-ramp Long Jump, and farming the two spinners. Driving a single multiball's switch count to 115 collects the three-Specials capstone, the biggest chunk on the game.

The loop

  1. Lock a ball: a controlled plunge banks Moon Street for free, holding the extra right-side button locks a second at Headquarters, or the left ramp lights a random lock to collect.
  2. Shoot the difficult center-ramp Long Jump to start a two-, three- or four-ball multiball.
  3. Hit the captive ball to arm both spinners for one rip each, then rip and re-arm -- every spin also counts as a switch hit.
  4. Cross sixty switches for a million, ninety for 2x playfield, and a hundred fifteen for three Specials.

Reading the lights

  • Lock Saucers (shot arrows) — lit: A lit lock holds a ball, the left ramp lights one of three random locks, and the two skill plunges seat Moon Street and Headquarters straight off the shooter before a flipper is even touched. · then: Shoot Maxwell Street to light a lock and shoot it again to collect; when the lit lock is Headquarters or Moon Street, the Train Switch gate -- worked by the extra button above the right flipper -- routes the fed ball across-left or down into the saucer. Three balls locked set up a four-ball start.
  • Long Jump Start (shot arrows) — lit: With at least one ball locked, the center-ramp Long Jump lights to start multiball, fed up from the Lower Wacker Drive highway lane. · then: Make the tricky Long Jump from a cradle to start a two-ball multiball -- three or four balls if you locked more before starting. A clean, timed jump also clears the crest and drops into the Water Tower to cash its built-up bonus.
  • Captive Ball & Spinners (status) — lit: Hitting the Messenger captive ball lights both spinners at twenty thousand a spin, though the arm lasts just one rip before they fall dark and want another captive-ball hit. · then: Alternate the captive ball into a lit spinner and back, all game, as the machine's main point engine -- every spin is also a switch hit. In multiball that switch count is what drives the milestone jackpots.
  • Switch Milestones (ladder) — lit: The lamp cluster below the skull lights at switch-count milestones reached inside a single multiball: sixty for a million, ninety for 2x playfield, a hundred fifteen for three Specials. · then: Keep both spinners ripping to push the count as fast as you can. The 2x at ninety doubles everything except the jackpots themselves for the rest of the multiball, and a hundred fifteen collects the three-Specials award worth three million in tournament play.
  • Right Loop Ladder (ladder) — lit: Each loop of the right orbit climbs a fixed award ladder that holds its place between multiballs rather than resetting. · then: Loop it from a cradle for fifty thousand, a hundred thousand, then two hundred thousand, then the Extra Ball and Special rungs. Both of the game's extra balls are cashed here, so consecutive clean loops are the only thing that matters.
  • Traffic-Light Drops (mode) — lit: The stacked red-yellow-green drop bank collects whichever award is currently lit, and the lit award is cycled by rolling a lit inlane or striking the yellow spot target. · then: Set the pending award first -- Light Extra Ball, Light Special, Light Opera Jackpot, or Liz's Surprise -- then clear the drops to collect it. Opera Jackpot then pays at the captive ball and carries from game to game, while Liz's Surprise dumps your built-up Jogging bonus on demand.
  • Water Tower Bonus (status) — lit: Each hit on the lone blue-cap jet sitting at the base of the Jogging Path adds to the Water Tower bonus stored behind the center-ramp crest. · then: Rack the pop bumper to grow the bonus, then jump the center ramp cleanly to land in the Water Tower and cash it. A weak Long Jump will not clear the crest, and collect-and-rebuild repeats all game.
  • Bonus Ball Outlanes (status) — lit: One outlane is lit at a time and the lit side alternates as you hit switches, so draining down the lit side banks bonus time toward the post-ball-three Bonus Ball. · then: Nudge the switch count to flip which outlane is lit, then feed unavoidable drains down that lit side across several different balls. Each one lengthens the clock on the closing two-ball frenzy, where every switch pays five thousand.

Lane change: not verified for this machine yet.

Start scoring

Does Bone Busters Inc. have an action button?

No action button here — this is a 1989 Gottlieb. What it does have is one extra button above the right flipper button, and it matters: that button works the upper-right mini-flipper, which doubles as the Train Switch gate and is the only route to the Headquarters lock. Hold it through a medium plunge and the ball gets caught up top instead of dropping away.

Goals in Bone Busters Inc.

Every goal below is tracked step-by-step, with shot paths drawn on the playfield map, inside the app.

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