Game of Thrones

Stern Pinball, 2015 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Game of Thrones in the Pinball Genie app →

Game of Thrones asks you a question before the ball is in the shooter lane, and most players answer it badly. Your house choice is not flavour — it is a permanent perk plus a button power you will press dozens of times. Everything after that is the same seven shots in different arrangements.

Choose your house first, and choose on purpose

Whichever house you pick is immediately qualified to battle, so you can start scoring straight away. The persistent perk matters more than the button in most cases.

• Tyrell keeps one inlane permanently lit for the combo multiplier and lets you move it with lane change. In a game built out of 40-second timed battles, free multiplier on every return is the strongest quiet perk on the machine.
• Lannister pays around 1.5x gold from the standups you hit by accident all game, and its button buys playfield multiplier levels outright at 600 gold per level — capped at eight uses, so spend them deliberately.
• Greyjoy starts already complete and inherits the perk of every house you defeat. The price is that every battle needs more shots and you can only fight one house at a time.
• Targaryen spots its entire three-level battle for free, which is a large head start toward the wizard modes, and its button freezes every running timer for 15 seconds.
• Stark, Baratheon and Martell are narrower: bigger Winter is Coming hurry-ups, a head start plus outlane saves, and an add-a-ball in any multiball respectively.

Seven shots, seven houses

Each house owns a shot, and three hits on that shot qualifies it. Left drop bank is Baratheon, left loop is Greyjoy, the Dragon lane — or Castle Black on Premium and LE — is Targaryen, the left ramp is Lannister, the right ramp is Stark, the right loop is Martell, and the right 2-bank is Tyrell. The left ramp is the busiest shot in the game: it locks balls, starts every battle, and starts both wizard modes.

Battles and stacking

With two or more houses qualified you can stack a pair into one battle, which is the main way of getting through seven houses inside three balls. You can also pass and bank the qualification, though you cannot pass when only one house remains. A battle that times out does not need requalifying — just shoot the ramp again — and Lannister, Greyjoy, Tyrell and Targaryen remember the progress you already made. Read the objective early: Martell only needs three orbits inside a rolling ten-second window, while Greyjoy lights everything and gives you fifteen seconds that refresh on each shot.

The multiballs

• Blackwater is the workhorse. Complete the right 2-bank to light a lock, then lock at the left ramp — and you must lock before you can light the next one. The first lock needs one green target, the second needs both, the third and later need both on a timer.
• Battle at the Wall is a grind: six top lane completions on the Pro, or six Castle Black shots on Premium and LE. The second one costs eleven, so it is not a repeatable strategy.
• Castle Multiball lives entirely on the Premium and LE upper playfield, collected in four steps — Archers, Charge, Breach, then the multiball. Each step raises a drop target in front of your right ramp until you clear it.

The battering ram is the scoring engine

Almost all of this machine's big numbers route through the ram. Three hits qualify the playfield multiplier and a fourth starts it, with each further 1x costing four more hits up to 5x. The catch is the blue arrow in front of it — advance while it flashes or the progress lapses and a three-hit ladder quietly costs you six. Wildfire lit at the ram drops each level from four hits to three. Swords, collected on the right ramp after every completed battle, raise the multiplier ceiling from 3x toward 5x. When the ball is heading down, press the action button to cash your multipliers rather than watching them expire.

Winter is coming, and then it comes

Every shot you use to qualify a house ices over. Freeze three of them and a hurry-up starts on the last one you froze. Four collected hurry-ups drop you into Winter Has Come, a four-ball multiball alternating between a Horde phase with a hidden ticking timer and a Lieutenant phase that freezes your left flipper if you let a shot expire. One trap worth memorising: starting a hurry-up on the mode-start ramp with your third Blackwater lock lit launches multiball with no chance to stack a house into it.

A workable plan

• Pick Tyrell or Lannister if you want points, Targaryen or Greyjoy if you want to reach the wizard modes.
• Qualify houses in pairs and stack them; four completed houses lights Hand of the King, all seven lights Iron Throne.
• Bash the ram whenever the arrow is flashing, and collect swords so the multiplier can actually climb.
• Save Lord of Light — by default the drop bank only gives it once for the whole game — for a multiball rather than spending it on ball one.
• If the machine boots into casual mode and will not let you choose a house, hold the right flipper for three seconds before starting.

How Game of Thrones plays

Swear to one of seven houses, then win its battles across the realm while stacking Blackwater and Wall multiballs. Conquer four houses for Hand of the King and all seven to seize the Iron Throne.

The loop

1. Open by pledging to a house; that pick hands you a lasting perk and a lockdown-bar power in your own colors.
2. Pound a house's own shot three times to ready it, then take the left ramp when start is lit to open the battle.
3. Feed the battering ram to grow your playfield multiplier, and lock at the left ramp off the right target pair for Blackwater.
4. Each house you finish arms a Sword and inches you up the wizard ladder; four opens Hand of the King, seven crowns the Iron Throne.

Reading the lights

• House Battle Shots (mode) — lit: Every house claims one shot -- the left drops, the left loop, the Dragon, both ramps, the right loop and the right target pair -- and three hits on that shot readies its battle. · flashing: A readied house flashes the left ramp for mode start; bank a pair of them and you can open both battles stacked together. · then: Start at the left ramp, clear that house's particular job inside its timer, and a Sword lights at the right ramp. Time out and you simply re-shoot the ramp to try again -- several houses even keep the progress you already made.
• Blackwater Locks (status) — lit: Finishing the green pair on the right lights a lock at the left ramp, and until you cash that lit lock the next one stays dark; each lock also drops a fistful of Wildfire in your pocket. · then: Sink three locks to erupt Blackwater, then sweep the five major shots and pound the ram for an uncapped Super while the window holds. Every one of those ram hits feeds your playfield multiplier at the same time.
• Battering Ram Multiplier (multiplier) — lit: A blue arrow flares in front of the ram after your first hit, and only a ram strike taken while it flares steps the playfield multiplier up; let the arrow go dark and the rung lapses, so a three-hit climb can quietly cost you six. · flashing: While the arrow flares, your next strike on the ram bumps the multiplier a rung; with Wildfire burning there, each rung costs a hit less. · then: Drive the multiplier from doubled scoring up toward its ceiling, and collect Swords off finished battles to lift that ceiling higher. Bank the whole stack into points with your house power before a drain or the timer swallows it.
• Combo Multiplier Inlanes (lanes) — lit: One return lane glows for the combo multiplier at a time; rolling the lit one lifts the multiplier waiting on your other shots, and pledging to Tyrell simply keeps one lit the whole game. · flashing: Both returns strobe during Hand of the King, when one roll hauls all of your shots to the top level you have reached so far. · then: Steer the lit return under the ball, roll it, and watch the shot multipliers climb toward their cap; a clean lap of the playfield compounds because each made shot seeds the next. During Hand of the King that same roll snaps everything up to your top level at once. · control: Either flipper button: a tap of a flipper button jumps the lit return over to the opposite side, so you can drop it onto whichever rail the ball is truly coming down and never waste the roll (as the ball heads back toward the return lanes)
• Winter Is Coming Frozen Shots (status) — lit: Any shot you used to ready a house freezes over behind you; ice three of them and a white hurry-up ignites on the last one you froze. · flashing: The flashing white shot is always that last frozen one -- almost nothing else banks progress while its hurry-up ticks. · then: Cash the white shot for its hurry-up, and stow four of these across the game to drop straight into Winter Has Come, a four-ball storm whose Super repays every hurry-up you banked. Bank any hurry-up parked on the start ramp before a third lock lights there, or the multiball fires off with no house to stack in.
• Bonus Multiplier Top Lanes (multiplier) — lit: The back lanes drive your end-of-ball bonus multiplier; finish the pair and it climbs, all the way to a ceiling that adds up to real money once a ball runs long. · then: Complete the lanes to step the bonus up, and pocket the free ones the reel bumpers and the Mystery menu toss out, sometimes several at once. On a Pro every completion also counts as one of your advances toward the Wall multiball, so a trip up top is never wasted.
• Gold and Mystery (status) — lit: The gold standups are both your treasury and the way to arm Mystery; you clip them all game by accident, which is what makes Lannister's boosted gold quietly strong. · then: Finish the gold to light Mystery at the Dragon -- the right loop instead on Premium and LE -- then spend at a fixed-price shop that runs from a cheap million up to a lit extra ball. Treat gold as a currency to hoard for the dear end of the menu, not a stat to watch tick by.

Lane change: the flipper buttons move the lit lane. Tap either flipper button to jump the lit combo-multiplier insert to the opposite return lane, so you can steer it onto the rail the ball is coming down. Roll the lit return to raise the multiplier waiting on your other shots (Tyrell keeps one lit permanently), and during Hand of the King a single roll lifts all of your shots to the top level you have earned at once.

Start scoring

• Ball one — Pick the house whose style fits how you shoot, since that choice colors the entire game, and clear the left drop bank early to bank Lord of Light as one-shot outlane insurance. Learn the left ramp cold -- it starts every battle and both wizard modes. — Choose Your House, Lit Lane Skill Shot, Lord Of Light
• Building — Grow the score with multiball and multipliers. Lock three for Blackwater, grind the Wall multiball, ladder the ram up to a fat playfield multiplier, and stow Winter is Coming hurry-ups for later. — Blackwater Multiball, Battle At The Wall, Playfield Multiplier, Winter Is Coming
• The big one — Finish four houses out of battle to open Hand of the King, and bank four hurry-ups for the Winter Has Come storm. Conquer all seven houses for the Iron Throne, the crown of the game -- a siege that refuses to end, carrying on ball after ball until the last castle falls. — Iron Throne, Hand Of The King, Winter Has Come

The Action Button on Game of Thrones

Center of the lockdown bar.

This button is the whole reason your opening house choice matters. Each house hands you a permanent perk plus one power that fires from the lockdown bar, and the button glows solid in your house colour when that power is charged. For most houses it recharges once per ball, so treat every press as a decision rather than a reflex.

• Ball heading down with multipliers running: Converts your playfield and combo multipliers into points. Press as it drains instead of watching the timer eat them.
• Playing Stark, battle in progress: Sends the direwolf to finish the running house battle instantly for a flat 5 million. Progress toward the wizard modes, not points.
• Playing Lannister with gold banked: Buys the next playfield multiplier level outright at 600 gold per level, capped at eight presses per game.
• Playing Martell in any multiball: Straight add-a-ball, no shot required.
• Playing Targaryen under time pressure: Freezes every running timer for 15 seconds. Ball-save timers keep counting down regardless.
• Playing Baratheon near the outlanes: Buys a short ball save on both outlanes, timed from roughly your next switch hit.

Goals in Game of Thrones

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

• Lit Lane Skill Shot skillshot · Easy

  On the Pro, hard plunge into the lit top lane. It pays 500,000 multiplied by the ball number, so it is worth more on ball three than ball one, and it hands you a bonus multiplier on top.

  Reward: 500K x ball number, plus 1 bonus X

• Choose Your House progression · Easy

  The first decision of the game and the one that shapes everything after it. Your house gives you a permanent perk plus an action button power, and the house you pick is immediately qualified to battle.

  Reward: A persistent perk and an action button power

• Qualify And Start House Battles mode · Medium

  Every house owns a shot. Hit that shot three times to qualify the house, then take the left ramp when mode start is lit to begin the battle. Battles run 40 seconds — 30 for Martell, just 15 for Greyjoy — and most are worth restarting rather than abandoning.

  Reward: Mode scoring, plus progress toward both wizard modes

• What Each Battle Wants progression · Medium

  Seven battles, seven different jobs. Knowing the objective before the timer starts is the difference between a completed house and a wasted 40 seconds.

  Reward: Four houses lights Hand of the King, all seven lights Iron Throne

• Winter Is Coming mode · Medium

  Every time you qualify a house, the shot you used to qualify it ices over. Freeze three shots and the hurry-up starts. Collect four hurry-ups across the game and you go straight into the mini wizard mode.

  Reward: A hurry-up value, and progress to Winter Has Come

• Winter Has Come wizard · Hard

  Bank four Winter is Coming hurry-ups and this fires off at once: four balls in play, two phases that alternate. Jackpot scoring comes from the hurry-up values you banked earlier, which is why Stark's perk can make the mode enormous.

  Reward: Super Jackpot pays out all four banked hurry-up values again

• Blackwater Multiball multiball · Medium

  The bread-and-butter multiball. Complete the right 2-bank to light a lock, then lock at the left ramp — and you must lock before you can light the next one. Three locks starts it.

  Reward: Jackpots on the five major shots, Super Jackpot at the ram

• Battle At The Wall multiball · Medium

  A three-ball multiball earned by grinding one repetitive shot. On the Pro that is six top lane completions; on Premium and LE it is six shots to Castle Black. The second one costs eleven.

  Reward: Ramp and loop jackpots, Super Jackpot on the Dragon

• Castle Multiball multiball · Hard

  The upper playfield's own multiball on Premium and LE, and the one most players never deliberately go for. Progress comes in four named steps and each one raises a drop target that blocks your right ramp until you clear it.

  Reward: A separate multiball earned entirely upstairs

• Hand Of The King wizard · Hard

  Complete four houses while you are not in a battle and the mode start lights for it. It plays in sets: light shots, complete them, then cash a Super at the ram. Which four houses you bring changes the mode more than anything else you do.

  Reward: Super Jackpots built from your best four shots per set

• Iron Throne wizard · Hard

  The full wizard mode, and it takes all seven houses. What makes it unusual is that it does not end — not when you drain to one ball, and not when your ball ends. You pick it back up on the next ball.

  Reward: Super Jackpot plus an add-a-ball per castle taken

• Playfield Multiplier multiplier · Medium

  Three hits to the battering ram qualify the multiplier and a fourth starts it. Every four hits after that adds another 1x, up to 5x — but the higher it goes, the shorter it lasts.

  Reward: 2x through 5x on all playfield scoring

• Combo Multiplier multiplier · Medium

  A second multiplier that lives on individual shots rather than the whole playfield. Making shots raises other shots' multipliers, and rolling a lit inlane pushes them along faster. It caps at 5x under normal play.

  Reward: Up to 5x on individual shot values

• Collect Swords progression · Medium

  Finish a house battle and the right ramp lights for a Sword. Swords are worth points on their own, but the real reason to collect them is that each one raises the ceiling on your playfield multiplier.

  Reward: Raises the playfield multiplier cap from 3x toward 5x

• Wildfire mode · Medium

  Complete the lock targets to light Wildfire at the ram, then keep hitting it. The first hit gives 10, and each hit after gives one more than the last. Wildfire raises your Blackwater jackpots, though with diminishing returns as the pile grows.

  Reward: Bigger Blackwater jackpots, and cheaper playfield multipliers

• Gold And The Mystery Shop strategy · Medium

  Complete the gold standups to light Mystery, then choose between keeping your gold and two priced awards. The menu is a genuine shop with fixed prices, so gold is a currency worth managing rather than a scoring stat.

  Reward: Anything from 1 million to a lit extra ball

• Lord Of Light strategy · Easy

  Clearing the left drop bank arms a ball save on both outlanes — but by default only once for the entire game. Treat it as a single insurance policy and think about when you want it active.

  Reward: A save on both outlanes

• The Spinner Ladder strategy · Medium

  Nine levels of spinner value, with one hard rule attached: you can never climb higher than the number of house modes you have completed plus one. It also resets to level one at the start of every ball.

  Reward: A spinner that actually scores

• Build The Bonus Multiplier multiplier · Easy

  The top lanes drive a bonus multiplier that climbs all the way to 20x — high enough to be worth real points on a long ball, and on the Pro every completion doubles as progress toward Battle at the Wall.

  Reward: Bonus multiplier up to 20x

• Working The Upper Playfield mode · Hard

  On Premium and LE the upper playfield is not decoration during a battle — it is a time machine. Each target in the right sequence buys 5 seconds, and the castle at the end pays 15 million plus 7.5 million in bonus.

  Reward: Mode time, 15M and 7.5M bonus per castle

• Turn Off Casual Mode secret · Easy

  Some machines are set up in a stripped-down mode that takes your house choice away and starts you as Stark. You can refuse it from the cabinet before the game even begins.

  Reward: Full rules, including choosing your own house