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

• The ramps. G spells GUNS N, R spells ROSES. 5M a shot, 10M if the opposite inlane lit it, climbing 5M a hit if you alternate without missing. All ten letters starts a 50M hurry-up that bottoms out at 30M.
• R-O-C-K. Left drops spot R then O, right drops spot C then K, 10M a letter. All four lights a 100M hurry-up at the left orbit, paused while the ball is in the bumpers. A live ROCK countdown blocks new modes.
• Mystery. The Mini-Loop lights the Center Scoop — two loops the first time, three the next. The pool: 25M, 50M, Super Kickback, 20x bonus, extra ball, Multiball.
• S-N-A-K-E. A full right orbit adds a letter and spots a J-A-M lane. Completing it feeds the Rose Plunger for a four-award pick.
• Axl Combo. Full right orbit into the Center Scoop: 5M plus a million per unlit-scoop shot that ball, capped at 30M.
• J-A-M. The rollovers step your bonus multiplier 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, 10x. Past 10x, each completion pays a flat 20M.

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.

Goals in Guns N' Roses

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

• Choose Your Plunger Award skillshot · Easy

  There is no aimed skill shot. Instead every ball starts with a choice of four: Add Member, Start Guitar Feature, Super Pops for 2M a bumper hit, or a Mystery Value. Pick with the flippers, then launch to collect.

  Reward: A band member, a mode, 2M bumpers or a Mystery

• The Ramps combo · Medium

  The G Ramp spells GUNS N and the R Ramp spells ROSES. Each shot is 5M, or 10M if the opposite inlane lit it. Alternate them without missing and the value climbs 5M a hit — 10M, 15M, 20M, 25M and onward until you break the chain.

  Reward: 5M per ramp, climbing 5M per alternation

• R-O-C-K mode · Medium

  Completing the left drops spots R then O; completing the right drops spots C then K. Each letter is 10M. All four lights a 100M hurry-up at the left orbit, which pauses while the ball is in the bumpers and bottoms out at 20M.

  Reward: 10M per letter, 100M hurry-up

• Mystery At The Center Scoop mode · Medium

  The Mini-Loop lights the Center Scoop for a Mystery award — two loops the first time, three the second, and so on. The pool is generous: 25M, 50M, Super Kickback, 20x bonus, Super or Mega Pops, extra ball, Special, or Multiball outright.

  Reward: 25M to a free Multiball

• Lock The Mode You Want strategy · Medium

  Every bumper hit steps the lit Guitar mode along by one, skipping anything you have already played. Pull the autoplunger trigger and the lit mode freezes there — the red globe above the gun confirms it. This is the most important habit on the machine.

  Reward: Control over which mode you play

• The Double Shot multiplier · Hard

  Start certain modes at the Guitar saucer and the Mini-Loop lights for a few seconds. Hitting it inflates that mode's values — Duff Rocks goes from 100M to 200M, Super Snake from a 50M hurry-up to 100M, Slash Solo's count-up jumps to a 100M ceiling.

  Reward: Roughly doubled mode values

• Matt Scoring mode · Medium

  The first mode of every game. A 10M jackpot sits at the left orbit and every switch you hit is worth 250K and adds 250K to it. The switch value itself steps up every few hits, and collecting the jackpot at the orbit doubles it outright.

  Reward: 10M jackpot plus escalating switch value

• Slash Solo mode · Medium

  A count-up starting at 20M. Either orbit or the Mini-Loop collects whatever the counter currently shows, and the mode ends when it reaches 50M. Take this one if the orbits have been going in for you all game.

  Reward: 20M climbing to 50M, or 100M doubled

• Super Snake mode · Medium

  A 50M hurry-up at the G Ramp. Hitting the ramp banks the value and feeds the ball to the Rose Plunger — then every spin around the Snake Pit steps a multiplier through 1x, 2x and 3x. You are paid the banked value times whatever is lit when the ball drops out.

  Reward: Up to 3x a 50M hurry-up

• Duff Rocks mode · Medium

  Thirty seconds to land ten hits on the D-U-F-F targets in the captive ball pocket, for a flat hundred million. The pocket is a bouncy place — if the captive ball has been rattling around in there all game, this is the mode to pick.

  Reward: 100M, or 200M doubled

• Gilby Rolls mode · Easy

  The video mode. You are riding a motorcycle down a three-lane road seen from above, steering with the flipper buttons. Pedestrians are 5M, passing a car is 1M, hitting one ends it. The sequence never changes, so it can be learned — including the three pedestrians bunched at the very end.

  Reward: Around 65M played well, double that with the Double shot

• Coma multiball · Medium

  Lite Coma does not start anything — it lights the Right Hole. Go back to the Right Hole and you get a two-ball multiball with a 10M jackpot that grows 250K per bumper hit. The Right Hole collects it, and hitting it again before the twenty-second timer expires adds another ball.

  Reward: 10M jackpot plus 250K per bumper hit

• Dizzy Ball multiball · Medium

  A two-ball multiball built on the ramps. Each ramp hit pays 10M plus a million for every drop target you have knocked down, and each hit raises the next ramp by another million, up to 50M. It ends the moment one ball drains.

  Reward: 10M per ramp climbing to 50M

• Axl 3 Ball multiball · Medium

  Three balls, with the Center Scoop paying mini-jackpots of 10M plus a million per downed drop target, to a 30M cap. Two drains ends it, which gives you a lot more room than Dizzy Ball does.

  Reward: 10M-30M per scoop

• Multiball multiball · Hard

  Band members are collected at the Right Hole, 10M each. At five members you get a choice: 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 spins pick your base value.

  Reward: 35M-50M jackpots up to a 250M Super

• Multiball Restart secret · Medium

  Lose all but one ball without ever hitting a ramp and Multiball is not over — the G Ramp and the Right Hole will both restart it. The jackpots go back to their base value, but a restarted six-ball is still a six-ball.

  Reward: Multiball again at base jackpot values

• Riot wizard · Hard

  The wizard bonus, and a six-ball. There is nothing to aim at: hit switches. Forty switches gives you R for 40M, sixty gives I for 60M, eighty gives O for 80M and a hundred and twenty gives T for 100M. Then the Mini-Loop lights for a jackpot worth a billion.

  Reward: 40M-100M per letter, 1B Riot Jackpot

• S-N-A-K-E secret · Medium

  Shooting the full right orbit during normal play adds a letter to S-N-A-K-E and spots one of the J-A-M lanes as a bonus. Completing the word lights the G Ramp to feed the Rose Plunger, and launching from there picks one of four awards.

  Reward: 25M, 50M, 20x bonus, a band member or Super Kickback

• Axl Combo combo · Hard

  During normal play, the full right orbit followed by the Center Scoop pays 5M plus a million for every unlit-scoop shot you have made that ball, to a 30M cap. On some machines you can hold the upper flipper up and let a fast orbit shot do the work for you.

  Reward: 5M to 30M

• J-A-M Bonus Multiplier multiplier · Easy

  Completing the J-A-M rollovers steps your bonus multiplier through 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x and 10x. Past 10x, every completion pays a flat 20M instead — and a 20x bonus award from Mystery makes J-A-M worth 20M per completion from then on.

  Reward: Up to 10x bonus, then 20M per completion

• Keep The Kickback Lit strategy · Easy

  The kickback is lit at the start of every ball and relit by the Mini-Loop or by completing both drop banks. It is one of the more forgiving kickback lanes ever built — the outlane is gently curved with rubber on the divider, so nudging out of it is genuinely possible too.

  Reward: A saved ball

• The Duff Jackpot secret · Hard

  Completing the D-U-F-F targets during normal play — not during the mode — pays a jackpot between 20M and 100M that carries between players and between games. When the captive ball strikes a target the display comes up, and every bumper hit while it is showing adds another million.

  Reward: 20M to 100M, carried between games

• The Guaranteed Extra Ball strategy · Medium

  Extra Ball is one of the nine Guitar modes, and the mode lock makes it something you can plan rather than hope for. Count the bumper hits it takes to walk the lit mode round to EB, then freeze it with the trigger.

  Reward: An extra ball, most games

• Three Backhands strategy · Medium

  Guns N' Roses rewards the backhand more than most machines of its era, and three shots take it well: 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.

  Reward: Repeatable ramps and reliable mode starts