Cactus Canyon

Bally, 1998 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Cactus Canyon in the Pinball Genie app →

A wild-west game whose whole design points at one wizard mode: High Noon at the OK Corral. All CGC editions (SE / SE+ / LE) share one playfield and ruleset — differences are cosmetic, so every shot is trim all. The remake adds a right-orbit spinner and a rotating saloon-doors toy, present on all editions.

The five major "fan" shots carry the combo/jackpot logic: Bronco Loop (left orbit), River Adventure Ramp (left), Train Ramp (center), Bank Robbery Ramp (right) and the Trick Shooting Loop (right orbit). The two scoops are the Gold Mine (center-left) and the Bart Brothers / Saloon (upper right).

Ranking (Stranger → Partner → Deputy → Sheriff → Marshal) is the master multiplier: higher rank means higher Quick Draw values and far bigger High Noon totals, so the overriding strategy is reach Marshal before spending your High Noons. Rank up via Bounty Awards (collected at Bart), the Lasso Skill Shot ("Increase Rank"), or winning a Gun Fight.

Core repeatable modes: Quick Draw (reflex duel started by rolling a lit inlane; value counts down from a rank-based start to 50K; shooting all 4 Bad Guys in Quick Draw starts Showdown MB) and Gun Fight (rank-up duel; in the remake reworked into a cached AC/DC-style value that builds with every finished Shot Mode / defeated Bart and is collected at a lit inlane, but resets on drain).

Multiballs: Gold Mine MB (light lock at the Mine / Bounty / Skill Shot → lock 3 → 5-shot jackpots; the Motherlode is collected at the Mine and its multiplier grows +1× per full 5-jackpot sweep, cap 10×), Showdown MB (win Quick Draw on all 4 Bad Guys; Lyman adds Boss Bart → Super Jackpot at Bart → Victory Laps), Stampede MB (complete all 5 major shots), and Lyman's Drunken MB (Beer Mug, reversed flippers, Super Jackpot at the Beer Mug).

Combos: a Combo light sits on all 3 ramps + both loops; the window shrinks as the chain grows. 10 Combos lights the Combo segment of the Sheriff's Badge. The Continued ramp-chain farms 50K per shot ping-ponging the left/right ramps, capped by a Center-Ramp bonus of 25K × chain length.

Multipliers: there is no traditional playfield X. The three multiplier systems are the end-of-ball Bonus X (back-left lanes / Skill Shot +3 / Bounty +5), the Motherlode award multiplier (all-5-jackpot sweeps in Gold Mine MB, cap 10×), and the rank effect on Quick Draw & High Noon.

Wizard — High Noon: complete the 5-segment Sheriff's Badge — Mother Lode, Showdown, 10 Combos, Stampede, and defeating the Barts — then shoot the lit Gold Mine to start. It runs 30s +1s per Bad Guy banked earlier in the game; shoot 20 Bad Guy targets to win 20,000,000. Lyman adds a second Boss-Bart finale stage. A great game is 3+ High Noons at Marshal plus a Gold-Mine-+-Showdown combined multiball with a maxed Motherlode, pushing past 1 billion.

Goals in Cactus Canyon

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

• Lasso Skill Shot skillshot · Easy

  Auto-plunge into the wire lasso bowl and take whatever award the spinning selector lands on — anything from Rank Up to Light Lock.

  Reward: 1 of 12 awards (Rank Up, Light Bounty, Light Quick Draw, +3 Bonus X, Light Lock/EB, Complete a shot, 1M...)

• Runaway Stage Coach Hurry-Up (Super Skill Shot) skillshot · Medium

  The Lyman-code super skill shot: collect the Runaway Stage Coach hurry-up on the Bronco Loop — it starts near 3M and grows every time you collect it.

  Reward: ~3M and up; each collect raises future hurry-ups and the fixed 1M awards

• 10 Combos (Sheriff's Badge Combo segment) combo · Medium

  Chain ramp/loop shots while the combo light is lit. The window shrinks as the chain grows; 10 total combos lights the Combo segment of the High Noon badge.

  Reward: Lights the Combo segment of the Sheriff's Badge

• Ramp Combo Chain (50K farm) combo · Medium

  Ping-pong the left and right ramps to bank 50K per shot from the 2nd on, then cap it with the Center Ramp for a 25K x chain-length bonus.

  Reward: 50K per chained shot + Center Ramp bonus of 25K x chain length

• Gun Fight Value Stack combo · Hard

  The signature remake farm: build a cached AC/DC-style Gun Fight value with every finished Shot Mode and defeated Bart, then cash it at a lit inlane before you risk a drain.

  Reward: Uncapped cached value, +1x multiplier per finished mode / defeated Bart (resets on drain)

• Gold Mine + Showdown Combined Multiball combo · Hard

  The biggest scoring play in the game: layer Showdown on top of Gold Mine Multiball for a 3-ball add-a-ball engine, then pump the Motherlode multiplier and cash at the Mine.

  Reward: ~850M–1B+; Motherlode base +250K per jackpot, +1x per 5-shot set (cap 10x)

• Bounty Farm (feeder engine) combo · Medium

  Bounties are the low-variance engine that lights everything: rank-ups, extra balls, Quick Draws and Gun Fights. Light them and collect at Bart on repeat.

  Reward: Random: Rank Up, +5 Bonus X, +1M Bonus, Light EB / Quick Draw / Gun Fight / Lock, or points

• Gold Mine Multiball multiball · Medium

  Light the lock at the Mine, lock 3 balls, and start the multiball where each ramp and loop scores a jackpot and the Mine collects the Motherlode.

  Reward: 3-ball multiball; Motherlode collected at the Mine, multiplier grows per full sweep

• Showdown Multiball multiball · Medium

  Win Quick Draw on all four Bad Guys to start Showdown, then knock the four drops down in sets for escalating jackpots — Lyman adds a Boss Bart Super Jackpot.

  Reward: Multiball; also lights Extra Ball and the Showdown badge segment

• Stampede Multiball multiball · Hard

  Complete all five major shots — Bronco, River, Train, Trick Shooting and Bank — to trigger the Stampede, with all 3 ramps and both loops lit for jackpots.

  Reward: Multiball; lights the Stampede badge segment (~250K/shot + a roving ~500K super)

• Drunken Multiball (Beer Mug) multiball · Medium

  Lyman's Drunken Multiball: hit the Beer Mug to light it, start it at the Saloon, and play with reversed flippers and the GI off — Super Jackpot back at the Beer Mug.

  Reward: Multiball with reversed flippers; Super Jackpot at the Beer Mug

• Quick Draw mode · Easy

  A fast reflex duel: light it, roll a lit inlane to trigger, and shoot the popped Bad Guy fast before the value decays — value scales with rank.

  Reward: Rank-scaled points (Stranger 500K → Marshal 2M, decaying to 50K); winning lights a Bounty and advances Showdown

• Gun Fight mode · Medium

  A rank-up duel: arm it (lit left outlane, Bounty, or beating a Bart), get trapped in the inlane, and shoot the released Bad Guy for a rank increase.

  Reward: Winning increases your rank

• Save Polly Peril mode · Medium

  Complete a ramp to start, then stop the train by hitting the Bank/River ramps the number of times shown — shooting the Train Ramp slows it to buy time.

  Reward: Saving Polly lights the Extra Ball

• Bart Brothers mode · Medium

  Fight the Bart Brothers by firing the jump ramp into their faces (or sneak a weak hit from behind via the loops). Defeating them lights the Bart badge segment.

  Reward: Defeat 3 Barts (4–5 in Lyman) → lights the Bart segment of the Sheriff's Badge

• Build the Bonus Multiplier multiplier · Easy

  CC's end-of-ball Bonus X — advance it through the back-corner lanes, the Skill Shot +3, and the Bounty +5 for a payout that can reach 200M+ (caps 99x).

  Reward: Higher end-of-ball bonus (up to 99x, 200M+)

• Grow the Motherlode Multiplier multiplier · Hard

  CC's shot-value multiplier: during Gold Mine Multiball, sweep all 5 jackpots repeatedly to raise the Motherlode award multiplier (cap 10x) before collecting at the Mine.

  Reward: Motherlode multiplier +1x per full 5-jackpot sweep, cap 10x (example 30M x 10 after 24 sets)

• High Noon — Complete the Sheriff's Badge wizard · Hard

  Light all five segments of the Sheriff's Badge — Mother Lode, Showdown, 10 Combos, Stampede and the Barts — to light the Gold Mine for High Noon.

  Reward: Lights the Gold Mine for High Noon at the OK Corral

• High Noon at the OK Corral — Win wizard · Hard

  Shoot the lit Gold Mine to start the timed wizard mode where all balls auto-return; shoot 20 Bad Guy targets to win 20 million.

  Reward: 20,000,000 for 20 Bad Guys + jackpots; Lyman adds a 2nd Boss-Bart finale stage

• Strategy — Rank Up to Marshal ASAP strategy · Medium

  Rank multiplies everything: three High Noons are worth ~4x more at Marshal than at Stranger. Farm bounties, win duels, and reach Marshal before spending your High Noons.

  Reward: Marshal rank (~2M Quick Draws, unlocks Marshall Multiball; three-High-Noon total ~285M vs ~69M at Stranger)

• Strategy — Beginner First 30 Seconds strategy · Easy

  Control-first opener: take a safe skill award, then hammer the two automatic money shots — Bart on the left flipper, Gold Mine on the right — while vacuuming bounties.

  Reward: Safe, game-lengthening start that builds Bart fights, the Mine lock, and Bonus X

• Strategy — Combo Setup for a 1B+ Ball strategy · Hard

  The >1B engine: get a Gold Mine / Stampede lock ready with a Quick Draw running, start the multiball while the Quick Draw is active, then layer Showdown on top.

  Reward: 3-ball add-a-ball stack, climbing Motherlode multiplier, normal shots scoring — the ball that passes 1 billion

• Light and Collect the Extra Ball strategy · Medium

  Cactus Canyon hands out extra balls three ways — a skill shot award, a bounty award, and saving Polly — but every one of them still has to be collected at the Gold Mine.

  Reward: One extra ball per collect

• Marshal Rank Multiball multiball · Hard

  The updated code gates a bonus multiball behind the top rank: climb from Stranger to Marshal, then start it at the saloon scoop with the lit ramps and loops carrying the scoring.

  Reward: Rank-gated bonus multiball on top of rank-scaled duel and High Noon values