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Guns N' Roses

Data East, 1994 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Guns N' Roses in the Pinball Genie app →

Guns N' Roses is a widebody with two plungers. The gun autoplunger sits in the usual place; the Rose Plunger is manual, on the left side of the cabinet, fed by the G Ramp when the yellow globe flashes. Everything it launches spins in the Snake Pit, and how long it spins decides some of the biggest numbers in the game.

The trigger is a control, not a launcher

There are nine Guitar modes, and the lit one steps forward every time the ball hits a pop bumper, skipping anything already played. Pull the autoplunger trigger and the lit mode locks — the red globe above the gun confirms it. Start it at the Guitar saucer behind the G Ramp.

That turns Extra Ball, one of the nine modes, from luck into arithmetic. Count the bumper hits needed to walk the lit mode round to EB, listen for them, and lock it. The mode directly above Gilby Rolls is Extra Ball, so the video mode is a useful staging post. Lock EB and drain before collecting it, and Start Guitar Feature at the plunger next ball takes it. The lit mode unlocks itself at every ball start and mode end.

The Double shot

Start certain modes at the Guitar saucer and the Mini-Loop lights for a few seconds. Take it and the mode inflates: Duff Rocks goes from 100M to 200M, Super Snake's hurry-up starts at 100M, Slash Solo runs to a 100M finish. Modes started from the plunger award cannot be doubled at all — the real cost of picking Start Guitar Feature at launch.

Normal play

Modes worth choosing

Matt Scoring always runs first: a 10M jackpot at the left orbit, every switch worth 250K and adding 250K to it, and the orbit both collects and doubles the switch value. Highest ceiling in the game, especially under Coma. Slash Solo is a 20M-to-50M count-up collected at either orbit or the Mini-Loop. Duff Rocks wants ten captive-ball target hits in thirty seconds for a hundred million. Super Snake banks a 50M hurry-up at the G Ramp, then feeds the Rose Plunger, where Snake Pit revolutions step a multiplier through 1x, 2x and 3x — plunge hard, a fast ball circles longer.

Coma is the exception to every rule: the one mode that runs on top of another, which effectively converts your existing mode into a multiball. Two balls, a 10M jackpot growing 250K per bumper hit, collected at the Right Hole. Dizzy Ball and Axl 3 Ball pay more the more drops you knocked down first — 10M plus a million per downed target, climbing toward 50M on the ramps and 30M at the scoop.

Multiball

Band members are collected at the Right Hole, 10M each. At five you choose: shoot the Right Hole again for a six-ball with 50M jackpots, or shoot the G Ramp to the Rose Plunger and let the Snake Pit decide — the spins alternate the base value between 35M and 65M, whatever is lit when the ball drops out is what you play with, and four balls follow. The first two Multiballs let you keep members between balls; from the third onward all six must come on one ball.

Inside it, each ramp pays a jackpot once and unlights. Both ramps lights the Right Hole for 100M, which adds a ball and relights the ramps. Do that twice and the Mini-Loop lights for a Super Jackpot starting at 250M, growing a million per bumper hit. Lose all but one ball without ever hitting a ramp and the G Ramp or Right Hole restarts it at base values. There is no grace period anywhere — Multiball ends the instant the second-to-last ball reaches the outhole.

Riot

The wizard bonus is a six-ball with nothing to aim at. Forty switches gives R for 40M, sixty gives I for 60M, eighty gives O for 80M, a hundred and twenty gives T for 100M, and each letter auto-plunges another ball. Then the Mini-Loop lights for the Riot Jackpot — one billion. Collect it and the ladder restarts, switch counts higher and letter values 20M larger, with no ceiling.

One habit to build: three shots backhand beautifully — the R Ramp, the Right Hole and the Guitar saucer. The R Ramp returns to the right inlane, so one backhand sets up the next indefinitely.

How Guns N' Roses plays

Put on a Guns N' Roses show: build the two ramp names, spell R-O-C-K on the drops, and choose which of the nine Guitar modes you play by walking the selection round with the bumpers and freezing it with the gun trigger. Gather the band for Multiball and push on to the Riot wizard round.

The loop

  1. Alternate the G Ramp and R Ramp -- each one lights the other through an inlane for double -- to spell out GUNS N ROSES for a fifty-million hurry-up.
  2. Complete the left and right drop banks to spot R-O-C-K, then collect its hundred-million hurry-up at the left orbit.
  3. Let the bumpers walk the lit Guitar mode round to the one you want, pull the gun trigger to freeze it, and start it at the Guitar saucer.
  4. Begin a mode at the Guitar and take the Mini-Loop within a couple of seconds to roughly double its value.
  5. Collect band members at the Right Hole to build Multiball, and chase Riot beyond it.

Reading the lights

  • GUNS N ROSES Ramps (letters) — lit: The G Ramp fills GUNS N and the R Ramp fills ROSES, an inlane briefly lights the far ramp, and any lit ramp scores double. · then: Trade the ramps back and forth without missing to climb a value ladder -- hitting the same one twice does not build it, and a single miss knocks it back down. Finish all ten letters for a fifty-million hurry-up you take at either ramp.
  • R-O-C-K Drop Banks (letters) — lit: The left drops spot R then O and the right drops spot C then K, so each bank must fall twice, and every letter lands for ten million. · then: Light all four letters and a hundred-million hurry-up opens at the left orbit -- park the ball in the bumpers to freeze its countdown while you line up. A live R-O-C-K countdown blocks a new Guitar mode, so collect it.
  • Guitar Mode Select (mode) — lit: One of nine Guitar modes waits lit at a time, and each bumper hit walks the lit selection to the next mode you have not yet played. · then: Line up the mode you want -- Extra Ball is one of the nine, so it can be planned -- then start it at the Guitar saucer behind the G Ramp. An early backhand is the dependable way in, since the saucer spits some hard forehands back out. · control: Action button: pull the gun trigger to freeze the lit selection so bumper hits stop moving it, and pull again to free it -- a red globe over the gun lights to confirm the lock (between modes; the lock does nothing while a mode or multiball runs)
  • Mini-Loop Double (multiplier) — lit: Starting certain modes at the Guitar saucer lights the Mini-Loop for only a handful of seconds. · then: Take that loop right away to roughly double the mode's values -- Duff Rocks leaps from a hundred to two hundred million, Super Snake's hurry-up doubles. A mode begun from the plunger award cannot be doubled, which is the real price of that shortcut.
  • Band Members and Multiball (status) — lit: Band members are gathered at the Right Hole, and reaching five hands you a choice for the sixth. · then: For the sixth, either return to the Right Hole for a six-ball whose jackpots open at fifty million, or feed the G Ramp into the Rose Plunger and let the bowl's spins choose your opening value. Bank both ramp jackpots, take the Right Hole twice at a hundred million each, then close it out on the Mini-Loop super.
  • Center Scoop Mystery (shot arrows) — lit: Enough Mini-Loop shots light the Center Scoop to collect a Mystery, a couple of loops the first time and one more on each after. · flashing: A red globe over the scoop means Mystery is ready to collect. · then: Cash it while the globe is lit for anything from twenty-five million up to a free Multiball. The Mini-Loop also relights your kickback, so the loop is near-free value on a shot you already want.
  • S-N-A-K-E Orbit (letters) — lit: Send the whole right orbit around to add a letter to S-N-A-K-E and spot a J-A-M lane on the side; the near switch by itself will not register. · then: Finish the word and the G Ramp starts routing balls over to the Rose Plunger, where the launch alone picks from four awards: points, a bonus boost, a band member or a Super Kickback.
  • J-A-M Bonus Lanes (lanes) — lit: The three J-A-M rollovers feed the bumpers, and completing them steps the bonus multiplier upward toward a ceiling, past which each completion pays a flat twenty million. · then: The gun's habitrail spills the ball in just over these, so a multiball feeds them for free, and a full right orbit spots a lane too. Draw the 20x bonus from Mystery and every later completion is worth that flat twenty million.

Lane change: not verified for this machine yet.

Start scoring

  • Ball one — Set the plunger award before you launch, then trade the G and R ramps for the GUNS N ROSES hurry-up and clear both drop banks for R-O-C-K. Keep the kickback lit off the Mini-Loop, and start walking the bumpers toward the Guitar mode you actually want. — Choose Your Plunger Award, The Ramps, R-O-C-K, Lock The Mode You Want, Keep The Kickback Lit
  • Building — Freeze a mode with the gun trigger, start it at the Guitar, and double it at the Mini-Loop the moment the window opens. Build Multiball off band members at the Right Hole, work S-N-A-K-E for Rose Plunger awards, and climb the bonus multiplier on the J-A-M lanes. — The Double Shot, Multiball, S-N-A-K-E, J-A-M Bonus Multiplier, Duff Rocks
  • The big one — Reach Riot, the six-ball wizard bonus, where there is nothing to aim at but switches and enough of them spell R-I-O-T for climbing letter values. Then a Mini-Loop shot pays the Riot Jackpot, a full billion, before the whole ladder restarts higher with no ceiling. — Riot, Multiball

The Autoplunger Trigger on Guns N' Roses

The trigger on the silver pistol in the shooter position.

The pistol on the right launches your ball, but its trigger is also the single most useful control on the machine while you play. Bumper hits keep stepping the lit Guitar mode along; a pull of the trigger toggles that selection between locked and unlocked, and the red globe above the gun tells you which state you are in.

Goals in Guns N' Roses

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

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