Bronco

Gottlieb, 1977 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Bronco in the Pinball Genie app →

Bronco is a 1977 Gottlieb wedgehead, and it plays nothing like a modern machine. There are no modes, no multiball and no wizard round. What there is instead is a small number of scoring systems that all feed one another, and a game that rewards knowing which of them is worth your attention on any given ball.

The plunge is a real decision

The plunger lane empties into the top arch directly above the A, B and C lanes, so how hard you pull decides which lane the ball drops into. A lit letter is one you have not collected yet. That makes the opening shot the cheapest progress on the machine — on an electro-mechanical game where nothing is guaranteed once the ball is live, a deliberate plunge is worth more than it looks.

What actually scores

• A-B-C lanes — complete the set for the advance. The plunge is the most reliable way to pick up the one you are missing.
• Drop targets — clearing the bank is the main body of work in a ball and feeds the rest of the scoring.
• Spot targets and saucers — these hand you progress you did not have to earn cleanly, which matters on a game with no ball save of any kind.
• Kickouts — learn where each one returns the ball. On a machine this old the kickout angle is the difference between a controlled next shot and a straight drain.

The alternating relay

This is the part players raised on modern machines miss entirely. Several awards on Bronco alternate between positions rather than staying where you last saw them — the game flips a relay, and the value moves to the other side. If you shoot where the award was last ball rather than where it is now, you are shooting at nothing. Check the lamps before you commit.

Bonus, extra ball and special

The bonus ladder is where a good ball turns into a good game. Run it up through the ball rather than treating it as an afterthought, because on an electro-mechanical layout the end-of-ball collect is a meaningful share of your score.

The extra ball and the special are both lit rather than awarded outright, and both are worth reorganising a ball around. On a five-cent-a-play era machine the special is the whole point — everything else on the playfield is a route toward lighting it.

Order of play

The practical route is: take the plunge letter, clear what you can of the drop targets while the ball is fresh and fast, use the spot targets and saucers to fill in whatever the flippers could not reach, and keep an eye on the relay so you always know which side is currently live. Build the bonus continuously rather than chasing it at the end.

And accept the era. There is no ball save, the outlanes are unkind, and a good Bronco game is often a short one played well rather than a long one. That is not a flaw in the machine — it is what the machine is.

How Bronco plays

Bronco is a 1977 Gottlieb western built on its bonus ladder: knock down the drop targets, complete the A-B-C lanes, and feed the ball saucers to run the bonus toward a 60,000 ceiling. There is no multiball here -- a big Bronco game is a big bonus cashed at the right moment.

The loop

1. Meter the plunge through the top arch to drop the ball into a lit A, B or C lane, each letter paying 300 and a bonus step.
2. Knock all three drop targets down to light the side spots and open both the extra ball and the Special.
3. Shoot the saucer on whichever side the relay has lit for 3000 plus a bonus step per lit spot, the biggest single shot on the table.
4. Complete A-B-C to double the bonus, grab the extra ball while its lamp still sits on a live rung, then feed the lit saucer to climb the ladder.

Reading the lights

• A-B-C Lanes (letters) — lit: A lit A, B or C is a letter you still need; roll its lane to collect it and the lamp goes dark, and each one banks 300 with a step of the bonus ladder that holds until the ball drains. · then: Favour a lit A on the plunge, because the inlanes give you B and C for nothing later -- the left inlane spots B, the right inlane spots C -- while both outlanes spot A as the ball drains out. Completing all three letters doubles the end-of-ball bonus and is one half of what lights the Special. · control: Plunger: the strength of your plunge picks which lettered lane the ball drops into off the top arch, so a metered pull is the one aim you get to steer a letter directly (on the plunge)
• Drop Targets & Spots (status) — lit: Each drop target you knock down lights one spot lamp on whichever side the relay currently favours, and a lit spot raises that side's saucer by a bonus step; a downed target and its spot stay lit until the bank resets. · then: Take all three down early, since nothing else on the machine opens until the bank is clear, then cash them at the saucer on the lit side for 3000 plus a step per spot. A full bank is also what makes the extra ball available and turns on the Special.
• Ball Saucers & Relay (status) — lit: Only one side's spots stay live at any moment, picked by the alternating relay, and the saucer on that live side pays a flat 3000 plus a bonus step for every lit spot it is carrying. · then: Read which side the spots are lit before you shoot, because the middle pop bumper -- only ten points -- fires the relay that swaps the live side and drags the extra-ball lamp across with it. A ball that settles in a kickout cup pays 500, is thrown over its rollover for another hundred and the extra-ball lamp, and drops into that side's saucer, three scores from one trapped ball.
• Bonus Ladder (ladder) — lit: Ten rungs climb from 1000 to 10,000 alongside 2X and 4X lamps, and nearly everything that scores 300 advances the ladder a step; it holds where it is until the ball drains, and the top of the ladder reads 15,000, reached with both the 10,000 and the 5,000 rungs alight. · then: Complete A, B and C to double it, then reach your last ball to double it again, a 4X ceiling of 60,000 on a table that rolls over at 100,000. Collect any extra ball before you top out, though, because that lamp goes dark at the 15,000 cap, and never tilt, since a tilt wipes the bonus and costs you the ball.
• Extra Ball & Special (status) — lit: With the drop bank cleared, the extra-ball lamp lights on one of the two kickout rollovers -- never both -- but only while the bonus is parked on one of its live rungs, and it goes out again once you reach the top of the ladder. · then: Take the lit side while its window is still open; the kicker on that side flings the ball up over its own rollover for you, far easier than shooting the rollover head-on, and the Shoot Again lamp between the flippers turns on to give you the ball back. Finish A, B and C on top of the cleared bank instead and a Special lights up at the A lane, repeatable but reachable only from the top arch.

Lane change: not verified for this machine yet.

Start scoring

• Ball one — Clear the drop-target bank while the ball is still fresh, since nothing opens up until it is down, then start collecting A, B and C, metering the plunge at a lit letter and letting the inlanes spot the rest. Read which side the relay has lit and feed that saucer for 3000 and its spot bonus. — Clear The Drop Targets, Complete A-B-C, Spots And Saucers
• Building — Catch the extra ball while its lamp sits on a live bonus rung -- take the lit kickout side so the kicker sends the ball over its own rollover for you -- and complete A, B and C to double the bonus. Do it in that order, since that extra-ball lamp goes dark as the ladder nears the top. — Catch The Extra Ball, The Order Of Play, Complete A-B-C
• The big one — Run the bonus ladder to its 15,000 ceiling with A-B-C complete on your last ball for a 4X payout of 60,000, a serious slice of a game on a machine that rolls at 100,000. Light the Special at the A lane on top of that as the other marquee award, though a second collection is rare with no direct shot at that lane. — Run Up The Bonus, Light The Special

Does Bronco have an action button?

Two flipper buttons and a manual plunger are the entire interface on this 1977 electro-mechanical machine. How hard you pull the plunger decides which of the A, B and C lanes the ball drops into, so that first pull is the only aim you get all ball.

Goals in Bronco

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

• Plunge For A Letter skillshot · Medium

  The plunger lane empties into the top arch directly above the A, B and C lanes, so plunge strength decides which lane the ball falls into. A lit letter means uncollected — aim your plunge at one of those rather than firing full strength and taking whatever you get.

  Reward: 300 points, a letter and a bonus step

• Complete A-B-C progression · Easy

  Three letters, each worth 300 and one bonus step, and each with a second way to collect. The left inlane also spots B, the right inlane spots C, and both outlanes spot A. Completing the set doubles your end-of-ball bonus.

  Reward: Doubles the end-of-ball bonus

• Clear The Drop Targets progression · Medium

  Three targets, each worth 300 and a bonus step, and each one lights a spot. Getting all three down is what makes the extra ball possible and is the other half of the Special requirement — this is the first thing to do on every ball.

  Reward: Lights the extra ball and arms the Special

• Spots And Saucers strategy · Medium

  Each saucer scores 3000 flat, plus one bonus step for every lit spot on its own side. The alternating relay swaps which side is lit, so the saucer worth shooting changes during play — check the spot lamps before you commit.

  Reward: 3000 plus up to three bonus steps

• Use The Kickouts strategy · Easy

  The kickout cups are a free chain. A ball that settles in one scores 500, then gets fired over the kickout rollover — worth another 100 and where the extra ball lamp lives — and lands in the saucer on that side. Three separate scores from one ball trapped in a cup.

  Reward: 500, then 100, then the saucer award

• The Alternating Relay secret · Medium

  The middle pop bumper is only worth ten points, but every hit fires a relay that moves the lit extra ball lamp from one side of the playfield to the other and swaps which spot bank is live. It is the least valuable bumper on the machine and the one that changes the most.

  Reward: Control of which side is lit

• Catch The Extra Ball strategy · Hard

  This is the awkward one. Two things have to be true at once for the extra ball to light: the target bank is cleared, all three down, and the bonus happens to be sitting on a live rung of its ladder — 3000 and 7000 light the left lamp, 5000 and 9000 light the right, with extra windows at 4000, 6000, 12,000 and 14,000 on three-ball settings. It goes dark again at 15,000.

  Reward: Shoot again

• Light The Special secret · Hard

  Complete A-B-C and drop all three targets and the Special lights at the A lane. It stays lit for the rest of the ball and can be collected more than once, but there is no direct shot at that lane and it has to be fed from the top arch, which is why a second collection is rare.

  Reward: Special, repeatable until the ball drains

• Run Up The Bonus progression · Medium

  The bonus is where a Bronco score is actually made. Everything that scores 300 also advances it a step, and on a machine that rolls over at 100,000 a maximum bonus is a serious chunk of a game.

  Reward: Up to 60,000 points

• The Order Of Play strategy · Medium

  Bronco rewards doing things in one particular sequence, because the extra ball window closes as the bonus climbs. Targets first, extra ball second, multiplier third, then spend the rest of the ball feeding the saucers.

  Reward: The most points a ball can produce