Game Show

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

Open Game Show in the Pinball Genie app →

Game Show is a simple machine and an honest one. One lock, one diverter, a lamp wheel in the lower centre and four prizes to win. Nothing is hidden or clever, which makes it a good machine to learn structured play on — every award has a visible lamp and every lamp has a shot attached. What separates a good game from a bad one is knowing which inlane you just rolled through, and whether the diverter will let your ramp shot reach the saucer.

The skill shot and your multiplier

The plunger delivers the ball onto a raised plastic above the C-A-S-H rollovers, with four holes to drop through. One of the four lanes below is flashing, and you cannot move it — plunge strength is your only control. Land the flashing lane and the bonus multiplier advances one step. It starts at 2X and climbs by one to a ceiling of 10X. Because the Collect Ramp joins the plunger lane, a weak plunge rolls back down the ramp into play rather than being wasted, and a very weak one simply returns to the plunger.

Winning the four prizes

There are four: a TV, a trip, a truck and a car. The TV is two targets, TRIP is four down the right wall, TRUCK is five down the left wall, and the car is a single drop target left of the CASH lanes. Completing a set makes that prize flash at the base of the Collect Ramp, and you cash it at the Collect Saucer on the far left, which is only reachable through that ramp. Once a prize is collected it cannot be won again until all the others have been collected too, so the game naturally pushes you around all four.

• You do not have to hit every target. A full traversal of the rear loop spots a letter for you, in the direction the SPOT arrow indicates.
• Only complete loops count — half a loop that dies in the CASH lanes does not.
• The arrow does not move when you complete a loop, so a ball returning to the opposite flipper can be sent straight back for another. Chain them.
• Letters are spotted cheapest first: TV, then TRIP, then TRUCK, then the car.
• Bumper and slingshot hits swap which loop entrance carries the arrow, so check before you shoot.

Reading the Collect Ramp

One ramp, two destinations. With nothing lit, the Collect Ramp carries on up to the skill shot plastic and drops you into the CASH lanes, which is useful in itself because those rollovers build your bonus. Only when Collect is lit does the diverter open the path to the Collect Saucer — and even then, an under-hit shot never clears the skill shot area and you end up back on the plastic. Shoot it freely when nothing is lit, and shoot it hard when a prize is waiting.

Showcase Bonanza

The moment the Collect Ramp could finish off all four prizes, Lock lights there too — it does not matter whether some are already banked, only that this shot could complete the set. Take it and you get the prize awards, then a two-ball multiball with the ramp lit for a jackpot. It opens at $3,000,000, holds for a few seconds, then falls about $100,000 every couple of seconds until it floors at $1,000,000. After the second ball is plunged the diverter stays shut until you hit any switch, and that hit also ejects the locked ball.

The Wheel

The circle of lamps in the lower centre holds point values and four feature awards on its rim. The right inlane lights SPIN at the Wheel Ramp; a complete 270-degree loop spins the wheel and pays whatever it lands on. Straight after a spin, NUDGE lights — and every further loop while it is lit steps the wheel along exactly one space. Because the ramp returns the ball to the left inlane and the left inlane relights NUDGE, you can walk the wheel a full circle under complete control. That is the key insight of the machine: the wheel is not luck, it is a dial you turn.

Choosing a feature

Four spaces on the rim carry features, marked with clear round lamps, and one flashes at a time. Landing on the flashing one pays the feature plus that space's points. One is a flat million. One lights the left loop for two million, and making it in time lights the right loop for another two. One lights the extra ball at the left loop, and unlike almost everything else here it stays lit for the rest of the ball — so nudge toward it deliberately. The last is Hold Bonus, which carries your multiplier into the next ball. Once a feature is taken it stays steadily lit, and none return until all four have gone.

Two last things

Drop the car target and a sinkhole opens behind it. Big Bucks pays $100,100 and adds the same again on every repeat within the ball, and since it returns to the right inlane it feeds its own repeat with SPIN freshly lit. It is a long shot for a modest reward, so treat it as a bonus rather than a plan. And take comfort in the Wheel Ramp: a ball rejected off its initial rise will not drain down the middle. Shoot it without fear.

Goals in Game Show

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

• Skill Shot skillshot · Medium

  The plunge drops you onto a raised plastic above the CASH lanes with four holes to choose from. Put the ball down the flashing lane and you advance the bonus multiplier. It starts at 2X and steps up by one each time, to a ceiling of 10X.

  Reward: One bonus multiplier step, 2X up to 10X

• Win The Four Prizes progression · Medium

  The whole point of the game is prizes: a TV, a trip, a truck and a car. Each has its own target or bank of targets. Complete a set and that prize starts flashing at the base of the Collect Ramp, waiting to be cashed at the Collect Saucer.

  Reward: Prize collects, and the path to multiball

• Spot Letters On The Loops combo · Medium

  You do not have to hit every prize target. One of the two rear loop entrances always carries a SPOT arrow, and a full traversal spots a prize letter for you. Half a loop into the CASH lanes does not count.

  Reward: One prize letter per full loop

• Reading The Collect Ramp strategy · Easy

  One ramp with two destinations. With nothing lit, the Collect Ramp carries on to the skill shot plastic and the CASH lanes. Only when Collect is lit does the diverter let the ball through to the Collect Saucer — and even then a weak shot ends up on the plastic instead.

  Reward: CASH lanes when unlit, prizes when lit

• Showcase Bonanza multiball · Hard

  The moment the Collect Ramp could finish off all four prizes, Lock lights there as well. Shoot it and you get the prize sequence and then a two-ball multiball with the ramp lit for a jackpot that opens at $3,000,000.

  Reward: A jackpot from $3,000,000 down to $1,000,000

• Spin The Wheel mode · Easy

  The right inlane lights SPIN at the Wheel Ramp. Make a complete 270-degree loop around the ramp and the wheel spins, awarding whatever value it lands on. Going up the ramp and straight back down the return does not count.

  Reward: The wheel value you land on

• Nudge Around The Wheel combo · Medium

  NUDGE lights straight after a successful spin. Every further loop while it is lit steps the wheel along one space and pays that value. Because the ramp returns to the left inlane and the left inlane relights NUDGE, you can walk the wheel a full circle.

  Reward: A wheel value per loop, all the way round

• The Wheel Features mode · Medium

  Four spaces on the wheel rim carry feature awards rather than points, marked with clear round lamps. One of the four flashes at a time, and landing on the flashing one pays the feature as well as the points on that space.

  Reward: $1 Million, the $2 Million loops, Light Extra Ball or Hold Bonus

• The Two Million Loops combo · Hard

  The wheel feature billed as four million is really two shots of two million. Collect it and the left loop entrance lights for $2,000,000; make that before it times out and the right loop lights for another. Both windows are short.

  Reward: $2,000,000 twice

• Light The Extra Ball strategy · Medium

  One of the four wheel features lights the extra ball at the left loop entrance, and unlike most awards on this machine it stays lit for the rest of the ball. That makes it the one feature worth deliberately nudging the wheel toward.

  Reward: Extra ball

• Hold Bonus multiplier · Medium

  Another wheel feature, and a better one than it sounds. It carries your bonus multiplier into the next ball rather than resetting it — and if you take it on your last ball, you get a second bonus count at the end instead.

  Reward: The multiplier carried over, or a second bonus count

• Big Bucks strategy · Hard

  Drop the CAR target and a sinkhole opens behind it. It pays $100,100 the first time each ball and adds another $100,100 every time you hit it again on the same ball. It returns the ball to the right inlane, so it feeds its own repeat.

  Reward: $100,100 climbing by the same each hit

• Work The CASH Lanes multiplier · Easy

  The four rollovers across the top feed your end-of-ball bonus and, with a big multiplier behind them, are where a quiet ball turns into a good one. The lane lamps are duplicated on the backboard because the skill shot plastic hides them.

  Reward: Bonus, multiplied by up to 10X

• The Ramp Is Safe strategy · Easy

  Worth knowing because it changes how aggressively you can shoot. The Wheel Ramp is built so a ball that rolls back down the initial rise will not drain down the middle — a deformation right at the entrance kicks it out toward the base of a flipper instead.

  Reward: A shot you can take without fear