GoldenEye
Sega, 1996 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.
Open GoldenEye in the Pinball Genie app →GoldenEye is Sega at its most inventive. The centrepiece is a rotating satellite dish with a magnet at its hub, loaded by a ramp that rises up out of the playfield when you roll the left inlane. Down at the outhole there is a second magnet that catches draining balls and flings them back into play. Three genuinely shootable ramps give the game a flow that earlier Segas never had. Underneath all of it is a wizard mode gated behind a five-item checklist, and that checklist should be your entire plan for the game.
The five requirements
Everything else is decoration. Five boxes have to be ticked before the Mode Start Lane will light for the wizard mode: all five 007 Encounters started and ended, the 0-0-7 top lanes rolled, Shootout beaten, Q's Pen carried all the way through its third hit, and GOLDENEYE spelled out with ramp shots. Note the wording on the encounters — you only have to start and end them, not complete them, so a mode you are losing badly is still doing its job. You know the wizard mode is ready when all five mode indicators start flashing together.
- Do the 0-0-7 lanes on ball one. A plunged ball rolls them for free; after that the only route in is a lucky bumper kick, and none of them count during multiball.
- Q's Pen is the piece most players are missing. Three hits on the white target just to arm it, then three more inside fourteen seconds.
- Shootout is not solved with the ball — see below.
- GOLDENEYE is spelled with ramp shots during single-ball play with no encounter running.
- Xenia Extra Ball is one of the five encounters and it is the only extra ball in the entire game. Never pass on it.
Shootout and Eject or Die
Clear the three white targets on the Shootout bank, hit the small yellow target between them, and three guards appear with an instruction to shoot. Players stand there hammering the flippers. The machine has a gun on the front of the cabinet — six pulls of the trigger, two per guard, finishes the mode. The shots climb 2M, 4M, 6M, 8M and 10M, and then Eject or Die lights at both outlanes. This matters enormously because GoldenEye has no kickback. With Eject or Die lit, an outlane drain during single-ball play gets caught by the outhole magnet and thrown back out, and a six-second clock starts. Land the Center Eject Target inside it or that ball really is finished. Six seconds is about one attempt, so make it a good one — and note that the clock pauses while the ball is rattling around in the bumpers. Eject or Die stacks, so finishing Shootout several times banks several saves.
One target controls the whole economy
The white Satellite Value target in the satellite bank toggles a number through 10M, 25M, 50M, 75M and 100M. That number is the Guard award for clearing all six green Guard targets, and it is also the jackpot value in both multiballs. Setting it before you start anything is the single cheapest decision on the machine. The flip side is a trap: during Tank Multiball, hitting any Guard target cycles the value, so a careless stray hit can turn a 100M jackpot into a 10M one.
The two multiballs are not equal
One hit on the Center Eject Target puts the Lock Ramp on, and the ramp itself is what banks the Virtual Lock. Two locks light Satellite Multiball, and from there the left inlane is what throws the pop-up ramp into position for a swing at the dish. Both multiballs use the same four jackpot shots — three ramps and the Mode Start Lane — but Satellite Multiball has a payoff Tank Multiball does not. Sweep all four jackpots without dropping below two balls and the ramp arms again to knock the stuck ball off the dish for 200M, followed by a roving 150M Super Jackpot. Tank Multiball has none of that, which is why you can and often should cancel it outright by pulling the gun trigger during the opening animation. Satellite Multiball stays lit for later.
The GOLDENEYE hurry-ups
Spelling GOLDENEYE pays 10M and immediately lights all three ramps for hurry-ups. Each opens at 50M and bleeds a million a second down to 20M. Collect all three and the left inlane arms the pop-up ramp one more time, and landing that Satellite shot pays your hurry-up total all over again plus another 10M. A clean run is worth over 300M, which dwarfs almost anything else outside multiball. Hesitation is what costs you here, so decide your ramp order before the sequence starts.
Small things that add up
A trip through the right inlane arms Mystery at the Mode Start Lane for a couple of seconds — take it on reflex, but know that its 2X award does not spot the top lanes toward the checklist. Ramp combos start at 10M and grow 2M for each unbroken link, resetting the moment you miss. Your bonus is a flat million per ramp and Mode Start Lane shot times your multiplier, and the Collect Bonus lane above the right inlane cashes it mid-ball. And before your very first plunge, pull the trigger during the opening animation — there are a dozen different hidden endings hiding in there.
How GoldenEye plays
Run Bond through five 007 Encounters, arm the dish and its hundred-million jackpots, and tick the five boxes that open the wizard mode. A gun bolted to the cabinet, not the ball, is what beats Shootout and lights your only outlane save.
The loop
- Plunge to roll the 0-0-7 lanes for free, then step the white dish target up to its top value before you start anything that pays it.
- Light the lock ramp at the mirrored center target and bank two virtual locks to arm Satellite Multiball.
- Spell GOLDENEYE on single-ball ramp shots to trigger three hurry-ups, then cash them a second time on the dish.
- Start and finish all five encounters, clear the top lanes, beat Shootout with the trigger, and win Q's Pen to light the wizard at the mode-start hole.
Reading the lights
- 0-0-7 Top Lanes (lanes) — lit: The three back rollovers spell 0-0-7 and step your bonus multiplier each time you finish them; a plunged ball rolls them for nothing, which is by a mile the easy way in. · then: Complete the trio to lift the bonus and check off one of the five doors to the wizard -- but do it on ball one, because a long gap between lanes and a total blackout in multiball leave a bumper kick as your only other route. Cash the bonus itself at the short lane above the right return once the multiplier is fat.
- Satellite Value Target (multiplier) — lit: One white target in the dish bank sets the number a huge slice of the game pays -- it steps from a floor figure up to a full hundred million, and that same figure is both the Guard award and every multiball jackpot. · then: Knock it to the top before you launch a multiball or clear the guards, since this one target controls all of it. Mind the flip side: any Guard hit during Tank Multiball nudges the value, so a careless shot can knock a jackpot down by ninety million.
- Six Guard Targets (status) — lit: Four green targets crowd the dish and two more flank the lock ramp; together they make the six guards, and a target you have hit stays down until the whole set is done. · then: Sweep all six in single-ball play to collect whatever number you set the dish value to. The same six are the meat of Nerve Gas Plant, where you clear them and close on the lock ramp inside the clock for a large single-ball haul.
- Virtual Locks (status) — lit: That big mirror-faced standup in the center of the field is the switch that lights the lock ramp; a made lock ramp while lit banks a virtual lock, and the price climbs -- a center hit apiece for the first two, then two for the third. · then: Bank two locks to arm Satellite Multiball, then raise the pop-up ramp with the upper left-return switch to fling a ball onto the dish magnet and start it. That center target pulls double duty as your extra-ball collect and your lifeline during Eject or Die.
- Multiball Jackpot Shots (shot arrows) — lit: In either multiball, jackpots light at four shots for your dish value -- the far-left ramp, the lock ramp, the long right ramp and the mode-start hole -- while the dish payoff itself belongs only to the satellite version. · then: Sweep all four before you are down to your last ball and the pop-up ramp rises for a two-hundred-million knock at the stuck dish ball, after which a roving super circles the four shots on its own. Tank Multiball runs the same four with no dish reward, so keep it lit and save the satellite start for the real money.
- GOLDENEYE Ramp Letters (letters) — lit: Ramp shots taken in single-ball play with no encounter running spot the letters of GOLDENEYE under the screen, and the last few blink as you close on the word. · flashing: Those final letters flash when the word is nearly spelled; it does not matter which ramp lands them, though alternating ramps banks combo value along the way. · then: Finish the word for a flat award and three ramp hurry-ups that open high and bleed away a million each second. Take all three, then roll the left return so the pop-up ramp lifts and stick the dish for a payout of your whole hurry-up total over again -- the biggest scoring string outside of multiball.
- Eject or Die Outlanes (lanes) — lit: With no kickback anywhere on this machine, your outlane net is Eject or Die, and only finishing Shootout arms it -- a mode you win with six pulls of the cabinet gun rather than the flippers. · then: Once it is lit, an outlane drain in single-ball play gets snatched by the outhole magnet and flung back out with a six-second clock ticking. Put the ball into the center target before it expires to stay alive; each Shootout you bank stacks another save, and they carry across balls until spent.
Lane change: not verified for this machine yet.
Start scoring
- Ball one — Roll the 0-0-7 lanes off the plunge while they still come easy, and push the white dish target to its top value before anything pays it. Bank a Shootout with the trigger so Eject or Die is armed on a machine that gives you no other outlane help. — Complete 0-0-7, Set The Satellite Value, Shootout
- Building — Light the lock ramp at the center target and bank two locks for Satellite Multiball, the good one. Spell GOLDENEYE for its hurry-up string, and grind out Q's Pen -- the box most players are missing on the road to the wizard. — Virtual Locks, Satellite Multiball, The GOLDENEYE Hurry-Ups, Q's Pen
- The big one — Tick all five wizard boxes -- every encounter started and ended, the top lanes cleared, Shootout beaten, Q's Pen won and GOLDENEYE spelled -- to light the wizard at the mode-start hole. There each ball floods the field and every fifty switch hits pumps another ball in, so surviving beats aiming. — The Wizard Mode, The Wizard Checklist
The Gun Trigger on GoldenEye
A gun mounted on the front of the cabinet.
GoldenEye bolts a gun to the front of the cabinet and its trigger is a genuine control, not a prop. It is dead through ordinary play, but there are three moments where pulling it is the right move — and in one of them it is the only move that works.
- Shootout, three guards on the display: Six pulls, two per guard, ends the mode. Flipping does nothing. The kills climb 2M, 4M, 6M, 8M, 10M.
- Finishing Shootout: That completion is what lights Eject or Die at both outlanes — the only outlane insurance on a machine with no kickback.
- Tank Multiball opening animation: Pull to cancel it outright. Satellite Multiball stays lit, and that is the one with the 200M payoff.
- Opening animation, before your first plunge: Pull as Bond turns and you trigger one of about a dozen hidden endings — a cow, a T-rex, a falling pinball machine.
- Any other time in play: Nothing at all. Keep both hands on the flippers outside those windows.
Goals in GoldenEye
Every goal below is tracked step-by-step, with shot paths drawn on the playfield map, inside the app.
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Three rollovers across the back. Completing them advances your bonus multiplier, and doing it once is one of the five things standing between you and the wizard mode. There is a noticeable delay between lanes and none of them register during multiball.
Reward: Bonus multiplier, and a wizard requirement
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Ramp shots in single-ball, non-mode play spot letters in GOLDENEYE below the display. The last few letters start flashing as you close in. It is worth spelling for its own sake, and it is a wizard mode requirement.
Reward: Starts the three ramp hurry-ups
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Spelling GOLDENEYE pays 10M and lights all three ramps for hurry-ups. Each starts at 50M and bleeds a million a second down to 20M before it expires. Collect all three and the left inlane arms the Satellite for one more shot that pays your hurry-up total over again.
Reward: Up to roughly 320M for the full sequence
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In single-ball, non-mode play each ramp arms another one for a combo. Take the Far Left or the Right Ramp and your follow-up is the Right Ramp; take the Lock Ramp and both the Far Left and the Lock Ramp come alive. Combo one pays 10M, and every unbroken link after that adds a further 2M.
Reward: 10M, +2M per unbroken combo
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Four green targets on the Satellite bank and two more flanking the Lock Ramp. Clearing all six in single-ball play pays the current Satellite Value, which is anywhere from 10M to 100M depending on how you set it.
Reward: The current Satellite Value
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One white target controls how much a large part of the game pays. It cycles the value through 10M, 25M, 50M, 75M and 100M, and that number is both the Guard award and the jackpot value in both multiballs. Set it to 100M before you start anything.
Reward: Jackpots and Guard awards worth up to 100M
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The Lock Ramp is what banks a Virtual Lock, but it only counts while lit — and the Center Eject Target is what lights it. Two Virtual Locks open Satellite Multiball. The cost escalates: one Center Eject hit each for your first two multiballs, two for the third.
Reward: Lights Satellite Multiball
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The good one. Jackpots at your Satellite Value light up on both ramps, on the Right Ramp and at the Mode Start Lane. Sweep all four while two or more balls are still alive and the Pop-Up Ramp arms for a 200M shot that knocks the stuck ball off the dish.
Reward: Jackpots to 100M, a 200M dish shot, 150M Super
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The lesser multiball. Same four jackpot shots, same values, but no Satellite payoff. You can cancel it outright by pulling the gun trigger during the opening animation, which keeps Satellite Multiball lit for later.
Reward: Four jackpots at the Satellite Value, relit on completion
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The mode nobody solves on their first try. Three guards appear and you are told to shoot — but not with the ball. The machine has a gun on the front. Six trigger pulls, two per guard, and you are done.
Reward: 2M, 4M, 6M, 8M, 10M and Eject or Die
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There is no kickback on this machine, so Shootout is your ball save. With Eject or Die lit, an outlane drain during single-ball play gets caught by the magnet and thrown back out — and a six-second clock starts. Put the ball into the Center Eject Target before it expires, or that really is the end of the ball.
Reward: A saved ball, or a lost one
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Roll through the right inlane and Mystery arms at the Mode Start Lane for a couple of seconds. It is cheap and it is fast. Be aware that the 2X award does not spot the 0-0-7 lanes toward the wizard mode requirement.
Reward: 10M or 2X
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The only extra ball in the whole game. The Center Eject Target lights for a hurry-up and one hit ends the mode with an extra ball in the bank. If a mode comes up and this one is available, take it over anything else.
Reward: Extra ball
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A 007 Encounter built on one shot. The value opens at 90M and drops 5M at a time until it bottoms out. Rolling the left inlane is what puts the Pop-Up Ramp in position, so the real problem is getting a ball through that inlane quickly.
Reward: Up to 90M
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Clear all six Guard targets and then make the Lock Ramp inside thirty seconds. The first target is 25M, the second 20M, the rest 15M each, and the finishing ramp is 30M. It is a lot of work for a mode, but a clean run is worth well over 100M.
Reward: Roughly 150M for a full clear
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A two-ball 007 Encounter with a ball save at the start. The Far Left Ramp begins lit; making it lights the Right Ramp, which relights the Far Left, and so on. Shots pay 30M, 25M, 20M, 15M and 10M — so the first two are the ones that matter.
Reward: 30M down to 10M per alternating ramp
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Thirty seconds to link cities on the world map. Two shots count — Lock Ramp, Right Ramp — and each one loops, so settle on whichever you hit cleanest and keep feeding it instead of alternating.
Reward: Points per lit ramp for 30 seconds
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The white Q target has to be hit three separate times in single-ball, non-mode play just to start the mode. Then you get fourteen seconds to hit the Q bank three more times, for 10M, 20M and 30M. Finishing it is a wizard requirement, and it is the one most players are missing.
Reward: 10M to start, then 10M, 20M and 30M
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Five separate boxes have to be ticked, in any order, before the Mode Start Lane will light for the wizard mode. You will know it is ready when all five mode indicators start flashing at once.
Reward: Lights the wizard mode
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Every ball on the playfield with little or no ball save. Switches are worth 3M each and ramps 20M — but the number that matters is fifty: every fifty switch hits adds another ball into play. Keeping balls alive beats shooting ramps.
Reward: 3M per switch, 20M per ramp, a new ball every 50 switches
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A pre-game choice most players never see. When the game starts you have eight seconds to pick Novice Mode instead of a regular game. Novice gives you unlimited balls for two full minutes, after which your next drain ends the game.
Reward: Two minutes of unlimited balls
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Your base bonus is a flat million for every ramp shot plus every Mode Start Lane shot you made, multiplied by the 0-0-7 multiplier. The Collect Bonus lane above the right inlane cashes it mid-ball, which is worth knowing when you are sitting on a big multiplier.
Reward: 1M per ramp and lane shot, multiplied
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