Diner

Williams, 1990 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Diner in the Pinball Genie app →

Diner is a short rulebook played in a specific order. Five cranky customers give you their orders, you serve them by clearing drop targets, and when the last one is fed the machine offers a single jackpot worth twelve million or two million depending entirely on preparation you did twenty shots earlier.

The clock is the score

On the backglass is an analog clock numbered one to twelve. Whatever it reads is the Dine-Time jackpot in millions. Three ways move it: completing the E-A-T lanes lights an advance in one of the inlanes, the Today's Special hole sometimes awards one outright, and — the big one — once the Cash Register ramp's value has climbed past 100K, every further left ramp shot adds a full hour. Serving your fifth customer with the clock sitting on three is the single most expensive mistake available here.

The opening shot

Shoot the Cup ramp — the right ramp — first. One shot does two things: it swings the Cup diverter open for about ten seconds, and it raises the Cash Register ramp's diverter so a ball can be locked underneath. A ball dropped into the Cup whips around the rim, tripping a sensor each lap, and every two laps lights the next letter of D-I-N-E-R. The lap value is ten times the lit letter: 25K for D, 50K for I, 75K for N, 100K for E and 250K for R. Once R is lit each further lap is another ten times 100K, up to a 3.5M ceiling from one shot. After that, five more right ramp shots reopen the diverter.

Lock, then ring the register

With that diverter raised, a shot up the Cash Register ramp rolls underneath and locks. The lock stays open between balls until you use it, so a drain costs you nothing. Then hammer the same ramp for value: consecutive shots pay 20K, 40K, 60K, 80K, 100K and keep climbing 20K a time. Past 80K the Grill lights for an extra ball, one per ball. Past 100K you are printing clock hours. The ramp backhands from the left flipper and returns to the right inlane, so the loop is comfortable.

Multiball and the Rush

Release the locked ball and the spinner — the mirrored half orbit left of the jets — lights for the start. This is the shot people get wrong: it only counts if the ball carries all the way into the upper left saucer. A soft spinner shot dribbles into the E-A-T lanes and nothing happens. With a ball already locked, Today's Special usually hands you Start Multiball outright.

Once two balls are out, do not just bash drop targets. For ten to fifteen seconds the upper left saucer and the Today's Special hole both light for Beat The Rush — saucer first as Rush 1, sinkhole second as Rush 2, in that order. Make both and each ramp is worth 500K for the rest of the multiball, which dwarfs anything the targets are paying. The lights die if a ball drains as well as when the timer expires.

Serving the customers

A customer is served by knocking down all six drop targets across both banks — Root Beer, Fries and Iced Tea on the left; Hot Dog, Burger and Chili on the right. Both banks reset when you complete them, and leaving one or two down and then draining puts all three back up.

There is a shortcut, and it is worth the detour. Completing the E-A-T lanes lights a white arrow at the base of each ramp, and while those arrows are lit a ramp shot spots an entire bank. That turns five orders into a handful of ramp shots. The E-A-T lanes are steerable with the flippers and the jet bumpers sit right under them feeding balls back up, so completions come easily. They also raise your bonus multiplier to 2x, 3x, 4x and 5x, and pay a flat 100K per completion after that.

Collecting

Serve the fifth customer and the spinner lights for the jackpot: one million per hour on the clock, up to twelve million. Same rule as the multiball start — the ball must finish in the upper left saucer. Today's Special ejects into that saucer too, which is a legitimate back door if the spinner is not cooperating. You get ten to fifteen seconds. Miss the window and the machine un-serves your last customer and makes you fill that order again.

Odds and ends

• Jukebox skill shot. With a ball in the shooter lane, the jukebox cycles 150K, 100K, 75K, 50K and 25K. Plunge and the ball runs to the upper left saucer for whatever it stopped on — at 1x, then 2x, then 3x on later attempts.
• The Grill. Cold it is worth almost nothing. Clear a drop bank and it lights for roughly ten seconds, paying 100K, then 250K, then 500K, then 1.5M on successive collections before resetting. On factory settings that progress carries between balls.
• Today's Special. Lit at the start of the game and relit by the left inlane. Eight awards: four point values from 25K to 250K, extra ball, Advance Dine-Time and a free Serve Customer.
• Outlane save. Play your first two balls badly enough and one outlane lights for a limited time. Drain into the lit lane and you get an extra ball — and the lit lane is steerable with the flippers.

Goals in Diner

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

• Jukebox Skill Shot skillshot · Medium

  With a ball waiting in the shooter lane the jukebox cycles five values from 150K down to 25K. Plunge and the ball runs to the upper left saucer, paying whatever the lights stopped on. The first collection is worth face value, the second double and the third triple.

  Reward: 25K-150K, at 1x then 2x then 3x

• Serve The Customers progression · Medium

  Five customers, one order at a time. A customer is served by knocking down all six drop targets across both banks, and the banks reset the moment you do. Serve all five and Dine-Time starts — that is the whole game.

  Reward: Progress toward Dine-Time

• Spot A Bank With The Ramps strategy · Medium

  Completing the E-A-T lanes lights a white arrow at the base of each ramp. While those are lit, every ramp shot spots an entire bank of drop targets — which turns serving five customers from a grind into a couple of ramp shots per order.

  Reward: A whole drop bank per ramp shot

• Dine-Time wizard · Hard

  Serve the fifth customer and the spinner lights for the jackpot: one million times whatever the backglass clock reads, up to twelve million. The ball has to finish in the upper left saucer to collect, and you have only ten to fifteen seconds.

  Reward: 1M per clock hour, to a 12M maximum

• Advance The Clock multiplier · Medium

  The backglass clock runs 1 to 12 and each hour is a million on the jackpot. Completing the E-A-T lanes lights an advance in one of the inlanes, and once the Cash Register ramp value has climbed past 100K every further ramp shot adds an hour on its own.

  Reward: +1M on the Dine-Time jackpot per advance

• The E-A-T Lanes multiplier · Easy

  Three steerable lanes across the top. Completing them takes the bonus multiplier to 2x, then 3x, 4x and 5x; after 5x each further completion is a flat 100K. Every completion also lights both ramp arrows and an advance Dine-Time inlane.

  Reward: Up to 5x bonus, then 100K a time

• Ring The Register combo · Medium

  Consecutive shots up the left ramp pay 20K, 40K, 60K, 80K, 100K and keep climbing 20K a shot. Past 80K the Grill lights for an extra ball, one per ball. Past 100K each shot adds an hour to the Dine-Time clock. It backhands cleanly from the left flipper.

  Reward: 20K climbing 20K per shot, extra ball, clock hours

• Stir The Cup mode · Hard

  The first Cup ramp shot of the game swings its diverter open for about ten seconds, opening the route into the big plastic cup. A ball in there laps the rim fast, and every two laps lights the next letter of D-I-N-E-R and raises what a lap pays.

  Reward: Up to 3.5M from a single Cup shot

• Multiball multiball · Medium

  A two-ball multiball, and by the standards of the era an easy one. The first Cup ramp shot raises the Cash Register ramp's diverter, the ball rolls under and locks, and the spinner then lights for the release — but the released ball still has to reach the upper left saucer to start it.

  Reward: Two-ball multiball

• Beat The Rush multiball · Hard

  The hidden half of multiball. Once it starts, the upper left saucer and Today's Special both light for about ten to fifteen seconds — saucer first as Rush 1, sinkhole second as Rush 2. Make both in order and each ramp is worth 500K for the rest of the multiball.

  Reward: 500K per ramp for the rest of multiball

• Today's Special mode · Medium

  A sinkhole on the right that hands out one of eight awards when lit: 25K, 50K, 75K, 100K, 250K, an extra ball, Advance Dine-Time or Serve Customer. It is lit at the start of the game and relit by the left inlane.

  Reward: Points, extra ball, a clock hour or a free customer

• The Grill Bonus combo · Medium

  The Grill is worth almost nothing cold. Clear a full bank of drop targets and it lights for about ten seconds, and in that window it pays a value that escalates every time you do it: 100K, then 250K, then 500K, then 1.5M, and then back to the start.

  Reward: 100K climbing to 1.5M

• The Spinner Shot strategy · Medium

  A mirrored spinner in a half orbit left of the jets, worth 3,000 a spin when lit. More importantly it is the delivery route to the upper left saucer — and both multiball and the Dine-Time jackpot depend on that ball actually getting there.

  Reward: 3K per spin and a route to the saucer

• The Outlane Ball Save secret · Easy

  Diner watches your first two balls, and if they were bad enough it lights one outlane for a limited time. Draining into the lit lane awards an extra ball instead of taking one — and the lit lane is steerable with the flippers.

  Reward: An extra ball off a drain

• The Standard Route strategy · Medium

  Diner's rules are shallow enough that there is one efficient order of operations, and playing it makes the difference between a two-million game and a twenty-million one. It is built around loading the clock before you serve the fifth customer.

  Reward: A repeatable high-scoring loop