Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure

Williams, 1993 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure in the Pinball Genie app →

Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure is a widebody built on the same footprint as Twilight Zone, and it plays like a game that wants you to have a plan. Twelve movie modes, a raised mini-playfield you steer by tilting, a three-ball lock in a golden idol, and a captive ball you are supposed to punish. Almost nothing here is redundant, and the trap is treating it as a shoot-what-flashes game.

The layout

Going around from the left flipper: the A-D-V standup bank, the left orbit, then the Start Mode saucer — a short tunnel into a hole that is the most important shot on the machine. Above it sits the Path of Adventure, a raised playfield you tilt with the flippers. Centre-left is the left ramp; centre are the E-N-T drop targets hiding both the lock sinkhole and a small Raise Jackpot target, with three pop bumpers and the I-N-D-Y rollover lanes behind them. Right of centre: a captive ball behind its own drop target, the right ramp, the right orbit, the U-R-E standups, and the Idol, which stores locked balls and returns them to the right flipper.

There is no skill shot. The plunger is a six-shooter and it auto-launches, though the trigger is a live button used inside two of the video modes.

Modes, and how to choose one

Twelve modes, four from each film, started at the Start Mode saucer whenever nothing else is running. Each pays 5M just for starting, and mode scoring goes into your end-of-ball bonus rather than straight onto the score. Most cap near 60M, so no single mode wins a game.

Here is the edge most players miss: the queued mode advances on ramp shots, not on the pop bumpers. Count ramps and you can line up whichever mode you want before you take the saucer. Two are worth targeting deliberately, because both light an extra ball — Survive the Rope Bridge (four ramps carry Indy across, a fifth cuts the rope) and the Raven Bar video mode, where an extra ball appears among the targets after enough hits. Two more are pure value: Well of Souls is a six-ball multiball paying 2M per ball in play for every sinkhole shot, and Escape in the Cart is a video mode worth up to 55M for steering cleanly through 25 junctions.

The Path of Adventure and The Pit

Spell ADVENTURE across the three target banks and the right ramp lights for the raised playfield. You get fifteen seconds a visit to steer across the lit rollovers, worth 5M each and more if you spelled ADVENTURE repeatedly without cashing it. Clearing your first set lights the extra ball hole up there.

The Pit is a patience play. Every Path you complete without dropping into The Pit raises its value by 25M, to a ceiling of 150M — the largest single award on the machine. Bank the completions, then take it. Afterwards the lit rollovers start travelling and the Path becomes considerably harder. One related warning: do not start a multiball while the Path is lit. It stays active, you cannot steer it and juggle three balls at once, and if it times out you have thrown away the whole ADVENTURE build.

Multiball, and building it before you start it

Drop the E-N-T targets, shoot the sinkhole, repeat three times. You can lock with the targets standing — the game calls you a cheat and pays 5M anyway. In multiball the jackpots run in sequence as the Ark, the Stones and the Grail at base values of 20M, 30M and 40M. The left ramp or the sinkhole lights the jackpot and the right ramp collects it.

The real scoring lever is the raise jackpot total, a running figure added to every jackpot and super jackpot you ever collect. Build it before you lock the third ball, not after:

• Captive ball — 5M a hit, or 10M if you strike it hard enough to close the rear switch.
• Captive ball drop target — 3M each.
• Start Mode saucer — 2M each.
• Raise Jackpot target behind the drops — adds to the total as well.
• During multiball, balls parked in the sinkhole multiply jackpots: one ball is 2x, two is 3x, on a twenty-second timer.

Collect all three jackpots and the captive ball lights for a Super Jackpot at 80M, 90M and 100M, each lit in turn from the left ramp. Supers cannot be multiplied and have no grace period whatsoever, so take the shot the moment it lights.

Quiet points and the wizard round

Two things score far more than they look like they should. Super Pops arrives after 75 pop bumper hits and makes every subsequent hit a million for the rest of the ball — it does not time out, so stacking a multiball on top is enormous. Narrow Escape pays for saving a ball out of the right outlane through the gate: 1M, then 2M, then 3M, held all game and effectively uncapped. Nudge right as the ball enters the outlane to catch the post.

Start all twelve modes — starting, not completing — and the saucer lights for Eternal Life Multiball: six balls, roughly thirty seconds, every switch except the outlanes worth 10M, and a billion for sweeping the lot. That is the reason mode selection with the ramps is the skill that actually separates good games from great ones here.

Goals in Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure

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

• Spell I-N-D-Y multiplier · Easy

  The four lanes behind the bumpers are the backbone of the game. Each completion steps the bonus multiplier to 2x, 4x, 6x and 8x, lights one of Indy's Friends, and relights both inlanes for Hand of Fate.

  Reward: Bonus 2x to 8x, a lit Friend, inlanes relit

• The Hand of Fate mode · Medium

  Both inlanes begin each ball lit for Hand of Fate. Roll either one and the Start Mode saucer holds a random award for a short time — the display shows four candidates and then picks one.

  Reward: One random award from a large pool

• How The Twelve Modes Work progression · Easy

  Twelve movie scenes, four from each film, started at the Start Mode saucer whenever no other mode or multiball is running. Understanding how they are queued and scored is worth more than any single one of them.

  Reward: 5M for starting any mode, plus mode score into end-of-ball bonus

• Pick Your Mode With The Ramps strategy · Medium

  This game lets you choose. The queued mode advances on ramp shots, so count ramps until the mode you actually want is showing, then take the saucer. It is the single biggest skill edge available here.

  Reward: Control over which mode you play

• Spell A-D-V-E-N-T-U-R-E progression · Medium

  Nine letters across three banks: A-D-V on the left, E-N-T on the drop targets, U-R-E on the right. Completing all nine lights the right ramp for the Path of Adventure.

  Reward: Lights Path of Adventure at the right ramp

• Path of Adventure mode · Medium

  Complete ADVENTURE, shoot the right ramp, and you are steering the ball across a raised playfield by tilting it with the flippers. You get fifteen seconds a visit and the lit rollovers grow by one each time you clear a set.

  Reward: 5M+ per rollover, extra ball on the first completed set

• Build The Pit strategy · Hard

  The Pit is the biggest single award on the machine at 150M, and it is a patience play. Every Path of Adventure you complete without dropping into The Pit raises its value by 25M. Bank the completions first, cash it later.

  Reward: Up to 150M

• Dogfight Hurry-Up mode · Medium

  Six lit ramp shots light six small winged inserts. When the last one lights, a hurry-up starts at 40M and falls fast — collect it in the sinkhole behind the drop targets or on the Raise Jackpot target.

  Reward: Up to 40M

• Alternating Ramps combo · Easy

  A lit ramp pays 1M and lights the other one via the inlane. Keep alternating and the ladder climbs 1M, 2M, 3M, 4M with no ceiling in sight, while feeding Dogfight and stepping your mode selection at the same time.

  Reward: 1M climbing per alternated ramp

• Lit Orbit Loops combo · Medium

  A lit orbit pays 1M plus 2M for every lit Friend, so it is never worth less than 3M and can reach 11M. Consecutive lit loops then multiply that base by 2, 3, 4 and beyond — this is where a good looper makes a fortune.

  Reward: 3M to 11M per loop, multiplied on consecutive loops

• Loop Jackpot strategy · Hard

  Light every Friend from the I-N-D-Y lanes, then shoot lit loops to turn each flashing Friend solid, then cash the whole lot at the right ramp. It starts at 5M and tops out at 200M — but if you do not collect before the ball ends, the value goes to zero.

  Reward: 5M base up to 200M

• Lock Three Balls multiball · Medium

  Drop the E-N-T targets to open the path to the sinkhole and light the lock. Three locked balls starts multiball. You can also lock with the targets standing — the game calls you out for cheating and pays 5M anyway.

  Reward: Starts 3-ball multiball, 5M for a cheat lock

• The Ark, The Stones, The Grail multiball · Medium

  Three jackpots in sequence worth 20M, 30M and 40M at base. The left ramp or the sinkhole lights the jackpot; the right ramp collects it. Balls parked in the sinkhole multiply the whole value by two or three.

  Reward: (base + raise total) x (balls in the Idol + 1)

• Raise The Jackpot Total multiplier · Medium

  Multiball jackpots are not fixed. A running raise total is added to every jackpot and super jackpot, and you build it with shots you are making anyway. Do this before you lock the third ball, not after.

  Reward: A permanent addition to every jackpot

• Super Jackpot multiball · Hard

  Collect all three jackpots and the captive ball lights for a Super Jackpot worth 80M, 90M and 100M for the Ark, Stones and Grail respectively. The left ramp lights each one, and the raise total is added on top.

  Reward: 80M to 100M plus the raise total

• Quick Multiball And The Treasures multiball · Medium

  Three hits on the drop target in front of the captive ball leave it down and light a twenty-second two-ball multiball. Every captive ball hit during it claims one of five treasures, worth 10M, 15M, 20M, 25M and 30M in order.

  Reward: 10M to 30M per treasure, then 40M each

• Well of Souls multiball · Hard

  The wildest of the twelve modes: a six-ball multiball where each shot into the lock sinkhole pays 2M multiplied by the number of balls in play. Start it with the drop targets already down if you possibly can.

  Reward: 2M x balls in play per sinkhole shot

• Survive the Rope Bridge mode · Medium

  A timed round where every ramp shot moves Indy further across the bridge for 10M. Four ramps get him across and a fifth cuts the rope — finish it and an extra ball lights at the Start Mode saucer.

  Reward: 10M per ramp plus a lit extra ball

• The Video Modes mode · Medium

  Three of the twelve modes are played on the display with the flippers and the gun trigger. Two of them are among the easiest extra balls and point hauls on the machine if you know what you are doing.

  Reward: Up to 55M, plus an extra ball in the Raven Bar

• Super Pops strategy · Medium

  Seventy-five pop bumper hits turns every subsequent hit into a million, and it runs for the rest of the ball. Because it does not time out, a long ball in the bumpers with Super Pops running is one of the quietest ways to score enormously here.

  Reward: 1M per bumper hit for the rest of the ball

• Narrow Escape secret · Medium

  A ball that starts down the right outlane and gets saved through the gate into the inlane pays a Narrow Escape. The first is 1M, the second 2M, the third 3M and so on, with no known limit — and the value is held for the whole game.

  Reward: 1M, climbing by 1M per escape, all game

• Eternal Life Multiball wizard · Hard

  Start all twelve modes and the Start Mode saucer lights for the wizard round: a six-ball multiball lasting around thirty seconds where every switch except the outlanes is worth 10M. Hit every one of them and it pays a billion.

  Reward: 10M per switch, 1B for a complete sweep

• Where The Extra Balls Are progression · Medium

  This machine gives away extra balls more freely than almost anything of its era, and every lit one is remembered between balls. Five separate routes are available, and on many settings they are unlimited.

  Reward: Multiple extra balls per game

• Do Not Stack Multiball Onto The Path strategy · Medium

  One rule that costs players real points: starting a multiball while Path of Adventure is lit is a trap. The raised playfield stays active, you cannot control it and several balls at once, and if it times out unused you have wasted the whole ADVENTURE build.

  Reward: Avoids losing a lit Path of Adventure