Johnny Mnemonic

Williams, 1995 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Johnny Mnemonic in the Pinball Genie app →

Johnny Mnemonic is a narrow-body four-ball game built around one idea nobody else tried: you choose where your locked balls go. The Data Glove is a magnetic crane you drive yourself, and the Matrix is a three-by-three grid of sensors it drops balls onto. Where you drop decides your award and your jackpot shots — the one decision that separates a good score from a great one.

The Matrix is a choice, not a lock

Shoot Crazy Bob's in normal play and it tells you where one Matrix award is hiding, then lights your first Cyberlock. Locks sit at the centre lane, the spinner lane and the right loop, and all three feed an upkicker that fires the ball to the glove. You then have about seven seconds, flipper buttons moving the crane sideways and the extra buttons moving it forward and back.

After the first lock the display cycles through most of the available awards while the lamps on the physical Matrix flash in time with it. The game is telling you which square holds which prize — but only on the playfield. If you want the extra ball you have to keep one eye on the screen and one on the grid, which is why a machine with dead Matrix lamps is a genuinely worse machine to play.

• Light Extra Ball and Light Crazy Bob's (a power item and 200 million) are the two awards worth breaking your plan for.
• Super Loops makes both loops worth 25 million for the rest of the ball, and 50 million if you collect it again later in the game.
• Bonus X, Hold Bonus, Award Bonus and 50 GB are rarely worth redirecting for.
• Mystery is a wildcard: it can start Yakuza Strike, light the outlane Special or drop you into Touch-Tone Multiball.
• Drop the ball off the Matrix and the locks simply relight — you lose nothing but time.

Lock in a straight line

Three balls locked in a row triple every jackpot for the whole multiball. Since you are steering the glove anyway, this costs nothing but planning — decide on your line before the first drop, because correcting later wastes a lock. Your column also picks your jackpot shots: left gives the left jet lane, spinner lane and left loop; the middle gives the middle jet lane and both ramps; the right gives the right jet lane, right loop and Crazy Bob's. A tripled jackpot on a shot you keep bricking is worth less than a single on one you own.

Yakuza Strike is the big number

Each ramp carries three red triangles, and hitting each ramp three times lights all six and starts Yakuza Strike. A timer opens at 60 million and drops about a million per second, and every lit shot pays whatever is left. Crucially it bottoms out at 25 million rather than zero, so there is no such thing as a wasted late shot. It also runs during multiball. If you can light the sixth ramp and immediately lock your third ball, the two stack and the numbers get silly.

The inlane awards you should be using

The left inlane lights Throwing Spears, collected at the right ramp or right loop. The awards come in a fixed order and reset when you drain: gigabytes, points, Lite Spinner, Quick Multiball, Hold Bonus, extra ball. Quick Multiball alone is worth working toward: a second ball launches and both ramps pay 50 million jackpots while you keep them alive. The right inlane lights Hit Me for one quick shot at the left loop, worth 25 million then 45 million. Given a choice, Spears usually wins.

Modes, and the road to Power Down

The centre lane is lit for Start Mode from the moment the game begins. The selected mode rotates every couple of seconds, so you pick by timing the shot. Every mode opens with 30 million banked, and every made shot resets the timer to fifteen seconds if it had fallen below — which makes completion far more achievable than it first looks.

• Upload — both ramps and both loops, any order, 50/70/90/110 million.
• Cartoon Hero — the same shots and the same ladder, but in a fixed order that makes you cross the playfield each time.
• Riot — a bumper mode. Bumpers pay eight million, and completing the top lanes multiplies the bumper value as well as the bonus.
• Download — three left loops for 60, 90 and 120 million.
• N.A.S. Cure — four centre lane shots for 60 up to 150 million. The best payout and the hardest shot.

Finish any mode and Crazy Bob's lights up: a power item plus 200 million. Collect them. Play all five modes and Power Down opens: all four balls in play, every white triangle shot worth 400 million, and the playfield going dark section by section as the game powers down around you. With no power items banked the whole thing is over in about half a minute. With them, you get room to work.

One last piece of housekeeping. Mnemonic Recovery is a left-outlane ball save that starts the game lit, and relighting it takes two hits on the right standup — the first does nothing while Recovery is still on. The returned ball is not diverted, so it arrives out of the left loop at speed. Be ready instead of watching the display.

Goals in Johnny Mnemonic

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

• Rollover Skill Shot skillshot · Medium

  Every numbered ball and every earned extra ball gets one. The launch sends the ball to the rollover lanes with the middle lane flashing; move the light with the flippers and put the ball through it. It pays 25 million times the number of skill shots you have already made.

  Reward: 25M per skill shot made, plus 5 GB

• Bonus Multiplier multiplier · Easy

  Three rollover lanes, and completing all three steps the multiplier. Once you are already at 5X, a completion pays 50 million flat instead — which turns the top lanes from housekeeping into a real scoring shot.

  Reward: One multiplier step, or 50M at 5X

• Collect Video Frames progression · Medium

  Whenever nothing else is happening, a video frame sits on the display. Shoot either ramp while it is showing and you collect it. Frames are worth four million each at the end of the ball, and somewhere around seven or eight of them lights an extra ball.

  Reward: 4M each in bonus, extra ball at seven or eight

• Yakuza Strike mode · Medium

  Three hits on each ramp lights all six red triangles and starts a countdown from 60 million falling at about a million a second. Every lit shot pays whatever is left on the clock. It bottoms out at 25 million rather than zero, so late shots are still large.

  Reward: 60M down to a 25M floor, per shot

• Throwing Spears combo · Medium

  The left inlane lights Spears almost all game. Collect by shooting the right ramp or right loop inside a short window — there is usually time for a second attempt. The awards come in a fixed order and the whole ladder resets every time you drain.

  Reward: Gigabytes, points, Lite Spinner, Quick Multiball, Hold Bonus, extra ball

• Quick Multiball multiball · Medium

  The fourth Throwing Spears award. A second ball is launched and both ramps pay 50 million jackpots for as often as you can land them. There is no shot to qualify and no goal to finish — it just runs until you are back to one ball.

  Reward: 50M per ramp, unlimited

• Hit Me combo · Medium

  The right inlane lights the left loop for a single quick shot. It pays 25 million the first time and 45 million the second. The trade-off is real: the left ramp from the same feed sets up a Throwing Spear instead.

  Reward: 25M, then 45M

• Spell Johnny Mnemonic mode · Hard

  The left loop spells JOHNNY, the right loop spells MNEMONIC. Complete both names and every switch on the machine is worth 15 million for 20 seconds — the highest-density scoring in the game if you can find the bumpers.

  Reward: 15M per switch for 20 seconds

• Start Mode progression · Medium

  The centre lane is lit for Start Mode from the moment the game begins. The lit mode rotates every couple of seconds, so you pick which one you get by timing the shot. All five have to be played before Power Down opens.

  Reward: Access to the five modes

• Upload mode · Easy

  The most forgiving mode on the machine. Both loops and both ramps are lit and you can take them in any order for 50, 70, 90 and 110 million. Every shot also banks six gigabytes.

  Reward: 50M, 70M, 90M, 110M plus 6 GB each

• Cartoon Hero mode · Medium

  The same four shots as Upload and the same 50, 70, 90 and 110 million ladder, but here the order is fixed: left ramp, right loop, right ramp, then left loop. You have to cross the playfield each time.

  Reward: 50M to 110M, 6 GB per shot

• N.A.S. Riot mode · Medium

  The odd one out — a bumper mode rather than a shot mode. Bumpers pay eight million a hit, and the spinner lane and right loop are diverted so they feed the lanes. Complete the rollover lanes during it and you multiply the bumper value as well as the bonus.

  Reward: 8M per bumper, multiplied by lane completions

• Download mode · Medium

  Three left loops for 60, 90 and 120 million plus six gigabytes each. Short, high value, and entirely dependent on whether your left loop is reliable off the right flipper.

  Reward: 60M, 90M, 120M plus 6 GB each

• N.A.S. Cure mode · Hard

  Four centre lane shots for 60, 90, 120 and 150 million. The biggest payout of the five modes and the hardest to complete, because the centre lane is a precise shot and it is very tight from the left flipper.

  Reward: 60M, 90M, 120M, 150M plus 6 GB each

• Power Items strategy · Medium

  Finish any of the five modes and Crazy Bob's lights for a power item worth 200 million. That number alone justifies the shot, but the real reason to collect them is that they buy you time in Power Down.

  Reward: 200M each, plus a longer Power Down

• Cyberlocks and the Data Glove multiball · Medium

  Locks sit at the centre lane, spinner lane and right loop. Each shot rides the upkicker to the Data Glove, which you then steer for about seven seconds before dropping the ball onto the Matrix. Drop it anywhere else and the locks simply relight.

  Reward: A Matrix award per lock, and multiball at three

• Read the Matrix Before You Drop secret · Hard

  After the first lock the display flips through most of the available awards while the lamps on the physical Matrix flash along with them. The game is showing you exactly which square holds which prize — but only on the playfield, not on the display.

  Reward: Extra ball, Super Loops, Video Mode, Mystery and more

• Multiball Jackpots multiball · Medium

  Three locked balls release and multiball begins with a proper ball saver. Which three shots are lit for jackpots is decided by where you dropped the balls — the column you locked in picks the row of shots you get.

  Reward: 30M for the first three, then 40M, 50M and up

• Three in a Row strategy · Hard

  The single most valuable decision in the game. Lock all three balls in a straight line on the Matrix and every jackpot in the multiball is tripled. You are choosing the drop square anyway, so there is no cost beyond planning.

  Reward: Tripled jackpots for the whole multiball

• Touch-Tone Multiball multiball · Hard

  A rare Mystery award from the Matrix. Two balls launch, and the job is to land three shots in Crazy Bob's: the first hit fixes the ten-million digit of the jackpot, the second fixes the million digit, the third pays it.

  Reward: Up to 99M per three-shot cycle

• Power Down wizard · Hard

  Play all five modes and Power Down becomes available. All four balls go into play and every white triangle shot pays 400 million — but the game starts switching sections of the playfield off, lights and all, a few seconds at a time.

  Reward: 400M per white triangle shot

• Mnemonic Recovery strategy · Easy

  The left outlane ball save. It starts the game lit, and once spent it takes two hits on the right standup to relight. Cheap insurance on a machine whose outlanes are wide open, and the one thing worth spending a shot on early.

  Reward: A returned ball on a left drain