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Doctor Who

Bally, 1992 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

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Designed by Bill Pfutzenreuter (mechanics) with Barry Oursler (rules/software), released by Bally/Midway in September 1992. A single production run of 7,752 units — there are no Pro/Premium/LE variants of this title; every machine shares identical playfield geometry. WPC / Fliptronics II hardware, three flippers (two standard plus a mid-left upper flipper), and an electronic auto-launch "Shooter" button instead of a spring plunger.

Doctor Selection (the "skill shot")

Before each plunge, cycle through the seven Doctors with the flipper buttons (right = next, left = previous) and launch on your pick — there is no lane-based skill shot on this machine. Each Doctor modifies rules for that ball only: Doctor 1 doubles Escape-letter spotting; Doctor 2 doubles/extends Hang-On; Doctor 3 extends the W-H-O shot timer; Doctor 4 speeds Repair-bank completion; Doctor 5 doubles Jet Bumper contribution to Transmat; Doctor 6 reaches 4X Playfield multiplier in 3 Loop Ramp shots instead of 6; Doctor 7 auto-spots Time Expander targets and eases multiball. Doctors are permanently spotted via Transmat, Video Mode completion, or the Emperor Dalek Jackpot; spotting all 7 pays a large bonus and can be repeated across a game.

W-H-O — the core combo

A three-shot chained sequence: Right Ramp ("W") → Hang-On target ("H") → Loop Ramp ("O"), each shot lighting the next on a timer. Completing it repeatedly raises the per-letter award and lights Extra Balls after 2 completions (then further intervals). Every ~10th completed Loop Ramp shot triggers Sonic Boom, converting the next W-H-O into a 10,000,000-per-letter hurry-up — shoot W and H first and save the Loop Ramp for last, or an early loop shot ends the round prematurely.

Multipliers

Playfield X climbs 1X→4X in 0.5X steps per Loop Ramp shot (1X steps with Doctor 6), applying to nearly all scoring, including Video Mode's wave bonuses (build it before shooting for Video Mode) — only the self-adjusting Last Wave/set-completion bonus is exempt. Once capped, further loop shots pay a flat 250,000. A separate Bonus multiplier, built by Jet Bumper hits (up to ~40X), applies only to the end-of-ball bonus.

Modes

Video Mode — complete the six-target E-S-C-A-P-E bank (lower-right) to light it at the Police Box entryway; play a jump-obstacle video sequence in escalating wave "sets," each clean set paying a large completion bonus. R-E-P-A-I-R — a six-target bank (left side) with an escalating hit ladder that, once fully lit, pays "Unlimited Millions" on every further hit (best farmed with Doctor 4). Hang-On/Collision — a single target past the upper flipper that pays a permanently-growing value when lit as Hang-On, or a flat Collision award when unlit. Transmat — Jet Bumper hits build hidden charge; the lit Transmat target spots a Doctor when hit.

Multiball — the Time Expander

The Time Expander is a rising three-level mini-playfield and the sole path to multiball. Level 1 (Lock Mode): lock two balls in the flanking lock holes (a center standup re-arms locks after the first multiball). Level 2 (Target Mode): hit five dome targets (3 hits each) to count down a 15-hit Target Mode; Doctor 7 auto-spots the most-needed target. Level 3 (Jackpot Mode): three gates open — shoot any gate to start multiball, then clear all three gates within a rolling timer to collect a Dalek Jackpot (Bronze 30M → Silver 35M → Gold 40M → Supreme 45M → Emperor 50M). Missing a gate or dropping to 2-ball demotes the rank a tier. Failing to score a Jackpot leaves a brief Re-Lock window to restart multiball instead of falling back to single-ball play.

Wizard Mode — Davros

Collecting the Emperor Dalek Jackpot (50,000,000) spots all 7 Doctors and triggers Davros: the five dome targets must be hit for real (no Doctor 7 auto-spot) — once each for Single Davros (100,000,000), twice each for Double Davros (200,000,000), three times each for Triple Davros (300,000,000, up to 1.2B at 4X) — the game's ceiling, which then repeats indefinitely. Missing the gate timer at any level demotes back to a plain Emperor Jackpot. A ball ending mid-Davros carries the level into the next multiball.

Strategy notes

The Time Expander lock saucers and REPAIR bank are the machine's primary center-drain risks (large drain gap, no outlane kickback rubber). Competitive time-based tournament play favors grinding the safe W-H-O/Loop Ramp combo (Doctor 2 or 3) over forcing multiball, which is largely overrated due to slow setup and high drain risk; raw-score play instead favors Sonic Boom farming or Video Mode wave-stacking under Doctor 1 at high Playfield X.

How Doctor Who plays

Doctor Who is a quick Bally machine with no plunger and no in-play button, so before every launch you cycle which of the seven Doctors to play, and that pick quietly rewrites the ball's rules. You loop W-H-O for points, build the Time Expander toward Dalek multiball, and climb all the way to Davros.

The loop

  1. Pick a Doctor with the flipper buttons before launch -- each one biases different awards for the whole ball -- then fire the ball with the launch button.
  2. Chain W-H-O in order -- right ramp, then the Hang-On target, then the loop ramp up top -- and grind that loop to raise Playfield X and to trip Sonic Boom every tenth pass.
  3. Feed the jet bumpers to charge Transmat and to build a separate bonus multiplier that carries between balls.
  4. Lock two balls in the Time Expander, clear its target mode, and shoot a Dalek gate to open multiball and climb the jackpot ladder.
  5. Spot all seven Doctors -- one per Transmat, the rest from the top Dalek jackpot -- to reveal Davros and chase his escalating jackpots.

Reading the lights

  • W-H-O Combo (letters) — lit: The three W-H-O shots light one at a time in order -- the right ramp for W arms the Hang-On target for H, which arms the loop ramp for O -- each on a short timer that Doctor 3 stretches. Miss the window and the chain drops back to the start. · then: Complete the trio to bump a rising per-letter award, and bank two full runs to light an extra ball at the right return lane. Every tenth loop-ramp shot springs Sonic Boom, which pays ten million for each letter you spell next -- take W and H first and hold the loop for last, or you cut the round short.
  • Playfield Multiplier (multiplier) — lit: Each loop-ramp shot steps the global Playfield multiplier up half a level toward a four-times cap, and Doctor 6 makes it a full level per shot. Once you are capped, further loops only pay a small flat award. · then: Bank this multiplier BEFORE you start Video Mode or a Sonic Boom, because it multiplies their entire payout -- sitting at four-times going into a clean Video Mode is where the biggest non-jackpot scores come from.
  • E-S-C-A-P-E Bank (letters) — lit: Each lit standup in the six-target ESCAPE bank is a letter still owed, and Doctor 1 spots two at a time. Clearing the whole bank lights Video Mode at the Police Box entryway. · then: Shoot the lit Police Box to run Video Mode, jumping obstacles for wave bonuses multiplied by Playfield X -- so pump the loop ramp to four-times first. A clean run is worth around three hundred million, the largest score here outside the Davros jackpots.
  • R-E-P-A-I-R Bank (letters) — lit: The six REPAIR standups down the left go dark as you hit them, paying a fixed ladder up to a million, and Doctor 4 credits extra hits per shot so you finish before the bank times out. · then: Complete all six to switch on Unlimited Millions -- from there every further hit on the lit bank pays a million-plus and keeps climbing until the timer lapses and resets it, the fastest low-skill farm on the machine.
  • Transmat & the Seven Doctors (status) — lit: Bumper hits secretly charge Transmat until its target flashes, and cashing the lit target pays well while permanently spotting whichever Doctor you launched on -- so pick an unlit Doctor each ball and the award is never wasted. A spotted Doctor stays lit for the rest of the game. · flashing: A flashing Transmat target is charged and ready; shooting it cold, before the bumpers have lit it, risks a joke award instead. · then: Collect all seven Doctor portraits for a huge end-of-ball bonus -- one per Transmat cash-in, with the top Dalek jackpot spotting every one still missing in a single stroke.
  • Bonus Multiplier (multiplier) — lit: The jet bumpers also step the end-of-ball bonus multiplier, tracked apart from Playfield X. It never resets between balls, so steady bumper time can push it into the high thirties by late game. · then: Let the bumpers run whenever the ball wanders up there -- an inflated multiplier quietly magnifies every point of end-of-ball bonus you have piled up, and it costs the ball no risk to build.
  • Time Expander Locks (mode) — lit: The Time Expander is a stacked mini-playfield: the centre target arms the two lock holes, a ball locked in each raises it to the exposed five-target bank, and clearing that bank of its fifteen hits raises the three Dalek gates. Each level stays raised once you reach it. · then: Shoot a raised gate to launch Dalek multiball, then clear all three gates against the rolling timer to collect each jackpot and climb the rank ladder from Bronze up to Emperor. Drop a jackpot before collecting and Re-Lock lights briefly to restart the multiball rather than fall to a single ball.
  • Hang-On Target (status) — lit: With its insert on, the Hang-On target pays an escalating value that opens at 250k and climbs a further 250k each time you take it, all game long -- and it doubles as the H in W-H-O. · then: Shoot it even when the light is off: an unlit hit still pays out -- the Collision award, worth a fifth of whatever Hang-On has climbed to -- and it still banks the H, so the target never wastes a shot and the value you grow stays put all game.

Lane change: not verified for this machine yet.

Start scoring

  • Ball one — Choose a forgiving Doctor and settle in. Doctor 1 doubles ESCAPE letters for a fast Video Mode; Doctor 2 fattens Hang-On for a safe W-H-O grind. Take a loop-ramp shot or two early to lift Playfield X, and steer clear of the Time Expander and Repair bank until you are set -- they are the two shots that spit the ball straight down the middle. — Choose Your Doctor, Beginner First 30 Seconds, W-H-O Combo
  • Building — Cash the multiplied features: run Video Mode with Playfield X already banked, chase Sonic Boom off the loop, spot Doctors through Transmat, and lock balls in the Time Expander toward Dalek multiball. — Video Mode, Sonic Boom Cash-In, Collect All Seven Doctors, Time Expander Lock & Launch Multiball
  • The big one — Climb the Dalek ladder to the Emperor jackpot, which spots the last Doctors and reveals Davros. Then break his force field three escalating times -- a hundred, two hundred, then three hundred million a jackpot, over a billion at four-times Playfield -- the single highest shot on the machine, and it then repeats forever. — Reach Davros, Triple Davros, Dalek Jackpot Ladder

Does Doctor Who have an action button?

Doctor Who has no in-play button — it does not even have a plunger. In its place is an electric launch button that fires the ball out of the shooter lane and then does nothing for the rest of the ball. The trick that matters happens before you press it: the flipper buttons cycle the seven Doctors, right for forward and left to back up, and whichever one you launch on rewrites the rules for that ball.

Goals in Doctor Who

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

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