Jokerz!

Williams, 1988 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Jokerz is a late-eighties Williams with a short rule set and one shot that does almost everything. A raised upper level at the back holds five card lanes; below it sit three banks of drop targets, two side ramps, a raisable centre ramp and a draw poker saucer that spins a wheel in the backglass. It is not a deep game, but it rewards a player who picks one plan and repeats it.

The layout

Upper level card lanes — five rollovers, Ace on the left through to the ten. Rolling one lights that card, and the flipper buttons shift lit lanes across.
The gate — above the upper left drop targets. Lights the lowest unlit card and ejects the ball into the B-E-T rollovers.
B-E-T rollovers — advance the bonus multiplier, with three pop bumpers underneath keeping the ball rattling back over them.
Left and right ramps — the left builds the ramp award, the right collects it. Both climb to the upper level.
Centre ramp and target — the ramp only exists once the target has raised it. This is the lock and jackpot shot.
Draw poker saucer — under the upper level beside the right ramp, lit by the left inlane. Spins the backglass wheel.
Three drop banks — lower left, lower right and upper left, three targets each.

The gate is the game

One shot advances four things at once. Shooting the gate lights the lowest card you do not yet have, then ejects the ball into the B-E-T rollover area, where the pop bumpers knock it back through the rollovers repeatedly and build your bonus multiplier for free. A fair proportion of the time the ball comes back out through the gate on its own, and the cycle starts again. The upper left drop bank also tends to clear itself while you work the shot — one third of the Millions qualifier for free. It is comfortable from the right flipper and an easy backhand from the left, and low risk in a game where several other shots are not.

Filling hands

Light all five upper level cards and the game pays a hundred thousand plus your current bonus. Because the payout includes the bonus, when you complete a hand matters as much as whether you do. Finishing two hands on one ball with a maxed multiplier is the single biggest score the machine offers, since you then collect the bonus again at the end of the ball. Completed hands are counted by the lit bells in the joker's hat, and finishing the set — three by default, though operators can raise it — lights a Special in the draw poker saucer. That saucer is a left-flipper shot and effectively cannot be backhanded.

Ramps, locks and the centre target

The side ramps are a build-and-cash pair. Each left ramp shot raises the award through roughly ten, twenty five, fifty, a hundred, two hundred and fifty and five hundred thousand at the ceiling. The right ramp collects the lot and drops the value back to the bottom, so only cash when it is worth the risk. Both share a hazard: a ball that trips the top switch then rolls back down comes out between the flippers, so keep a slap save ready. The centre target is worse. Hit dead centre from a trapped ball it returns straight down the middle, and off-line it kicks off a post rubber into an outlane. The safe version is to flip at a live ball already rolling down the inlane at an angle, which bounces the target and sends the ball back into play.

Multiball and the jackpot

Raise the centre ramp with the centre target, lock a ball, raise it again, lock the second. Multiball is two balls only.
The jackpot needs four centre ramp shots during multiball and builds toward a four million ceiling. Progress may carry to a later multiball depending on the settings.
Flip one ball up through the gate and let it live in the bumpers, then work the ramp with the other. Trying to control both at once usually costs you one of them straight away.
The target behind the gate doubles playfield values for twenty seconds during multiball — take it early so the window covers your ramp shots.
Clearing all three drop banks starts a timed Millions round where each bank you complete pays a million.

A plan that works

There are two ways to an extra ball. The reliable one is the bonus multiplier: push it to the flashing value and the light comes on over the in and outlanes. It only works once per ball, but the multiplier carries over, so each ball starts closer than the last. The other is the draw poker wheel, which is luck. So the plan is simple — grind the gate every ball until the extra ball lights, take it, and only risk the centre target once you have that cushion. Save the score double for your genuine last ball. It gives you one window to double everything by hitting both side ramps, the window shrinks by five seconds for every million you already have down to a floor of ten, and progress does not carry onto an extra ball. If you have one lit on ball three, score first, collect it, and make the attempt on the extra ball instead.

How Jokerz! plays

This Williams card table is built on poker hands and a bonus that climbs as you bet against the house. Light five upper-level cards for a hand, grind the gate to keep cards and multiplier flowing, and lock two balls up the centre ramp for the jackpot multiball.

The loop

Grind the gate. Each shot lights the lowest card you still need and kicks the ball up into the B-E-T rollovers. The pops there paddle it back for free multiplier, and often right back out the gate to restart the cycle.
Line up the lit upper-level card lanes with the flipper buttons, roll through them, and five cards make a hand worth a hundred thousand plus your current bonus.
Every finished hand lights a bell in the joker's hat; fill the set of bells and a Special turns on in the draw poker saucer.
Raise the centre ramp by hitting the centre target, then lock two balls up it for a two-ball multiball, and make four centre ramp shots to bank the jackpot.
Hold your one score-doubling attempt for whichever ball is genuinely your last, and take both side ramps inside its window to double the whole game.

Reading the lights

Upper Card Lanes (lanes) — lit: A lit card lane is one of the five cards -- Ace up through the ten -- waiting to be rolled in; roll a lit lane to bank that card toward the current hand, while an unlit lane is one you already hold. · then: Slide the lit lane onto the card you are missing, then roll it through. Five cards complete a hand for a hundred thousand plus your bonus, so filling one with the multiplier maxed is worth far more than rushing it early -- and the gate can light your lowest card for free when your aim up top is off. · control: Either flipper button: a tap of either flipper button walks the lit card lanes sideways across the raised back section, so you can park the lit one over the card you actually need rather than taking whichever lane the ball happens to find (while the ball is still travelling across the upper level)
The Gate (shot arrows) — lit: No shot pays off wider than the gate: it lights the lowest card you have not got yet, then feeds the ball straight into the B-E-T rollovers for the pops to swat back and forth. · then: Take it as a right-flipper shot, or backhand it off the left; groove both until neither side scares you. A single gate shot banks a card, runs your multiplier up through the rollovers, and usually topples the upper-left drop bank while you are at it -- three jobs at once.
B-E-T Bonus Multiplier (multiplier) — lit: Rolling the B-E-T rollovers steps the bonus multiplier up, and reaching its flashing value lights an extra ball over the in and outlanes. · flashing: At the top the value flashes and the extra ball lights on the lanes, but it only pays once per ball, so there is nothing to gain grinding it further on the same ball. · then: Let the gate ejection and the pop bumpers run the ball over these rollovers again and again. Take the extra ball when it lights, then rebuild the multiplier on your next ball for another one -- and remember your hand payout is collected at whatever multiplier you have reached.
Joker's Hat Bells (status) — lit: Each lit bell in the joker's hat above the flippers is one poker hand you have finished, and they are the only running tally of your progress toward the Special. · then: Complete the required number of hands -- three by default, though an operator can raise the target, so read the bells on the machine you are actually at -- and a Special comes on in the draw poker saucer, a left-flipper shot worth setting up before you commit.
Ramp Award Ladder (ladder) — lit: Left ramp and right ramp work as a build-then-collect pair: each left ramp nudges the award up its ladder toward five hundred thousand, and the right ramp cashes whatever total you have reached and resets it to the floor. · then: Tally your left ramps and cash on the right only once the built value is worth the gamble. Either ramp can catch the top switch and dribble back down the middle, so keep a slap save ready and never backhand them.
Drop Target Banks (status) — lit: Three three-target banks -- lower left, lower right, upper left -- and downing all three kicks off a timed Millions round where each completed bank is worth a million. · then: The upper-left bank tends to fall on its own while you grind the gate, so start there; the two lowest targets in the side banks are what hold you up. Inside the mode, resetting and re-clearing whichever bank is easiest scores faster than chasing all three around the playfield.
Centre Ramp Lock & Jackpot (mode) — lit: There is no centre ramp until the centre target lifts it into place, and that target is where balls die -- deflect it off-centre and a side post spits the ball into an outlane. Raise the ramp and lock a ball up it; a second lock starts a two-ball multiball. · then: In multiball, four centre ramp shots collect a jackpot that builds toward four million, and hitting the standup tucked behind the gate turns playfield scoring to double for a twenty-second stretch -- take it early so that window covers your ramp shots. Park one ball up through the gate in the bumpers so you can aim the ramp with the other.
Draw Poker Saucer (mode) — lit: Rolling the left inlane is the only thing that arms the draw poker saucer, so a ball that misses that inlane never earns itself a wheel spin. · then: It is a left-flipper shot, hidden below the upper level just past the right ramp, and it barely backhands. Making it spins the backglass wheel for an award running from a small ten thousand all the way to a Special, with an extra ball sitting somewhere between. The wheel then ejects into the B-E-T rollovers, so a poker collect feeds your multiplier as well.

Lane change: the flipper buttons move the lit lane. A tap of either flipper button walks the lit card rollovers sideways across the raised back lanes, even with the ball still climbing toward them. Park the lit one over the card you are missing, then roll through to bank it -- five cards fill a hand for a hundred thousand plus your bonus, and completing enough hands lights the Special in the draw poker saucer.

Start scoring

Ball one — Live on the gate. A single shot lights your lowest card, sends the ball across the B-E-T rollovers to climb your multiplier, and knocks the upper-left drops down for you, so grind it until the extra ball lights and finish a five-card hand while you are there. Take the poker wheel whenever the left inlane offers it. — The Gate Cycle, Fill The Hand, Bonus Multiplier, Draw Poker
Building — Build the side-ramp award and cash it at the top, clear the three drop banks for the Millions round, and start racking up finished hands toward the Special. When you are ready, raise the centre ramp twice and lock up for multiball -- just respect that centre target, which is where balls drain. — Build And Collect The Ramp Award, Drop Target Millions, Three Hands For The Special, Lock Two And Start Multiball
The big one — The machine's biggest single award is the multiball jackpot: four centre ramp shots for up to four million, doubled again if you take the target behind the gate for a twenty-second playfield double. Above even that, one score-doubling attempt is offered on your true last ball -- hit both side ramps inside the window and your entire game is worth twice as much. — The Jackpot, Playfield Double, Double Score

Does Jokerz! have an action button?

Jokerz! is a 1988 Williams and the cabinet carries nothing beyond flipper buttons, a spring plunger and start. The closest thing to an extra control is your flipper buttons shifting the lit card lanes on the upper level — line up the card you actually need before the ball rolls through, the same way you would work top lanes on any machine of the era.

Goals in Jokerz!

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

The Gate Cycle strategy · Easy

Learn this one shot and you can play the whole machine. Shooting the gate lights your lowest unlit card and kicks the ball out to the B-E-T rollovers, where the pop bumpers keep batting it back across them and your multiplier keeps climbing — often enough, the ball pops back through the gate and the whole cycle starts over.

Reward: Cards, bonus multiplier and drop targets, all at once
Fill The Hand progression · Easy

Five cards sit on the upper level, Ace through ten. Light all five and the game pays a hundred thousand plus your current bonus. Because the payout includes the bonus, filling a hand with a maxed multiplier is worth far more than filling one early.

Reward: 100,000 plus your current bonus
Three Hands For The Special progression · Medium

Above the flippers sits the joker's hat, and every bell lit in it is one hand you have finished. Complete the set — three by default, though the operator can change it — and a Special lights in the draw poker saucer.

Reward: Special in the draw poker saucer
Bonus Multiplier multiplier · Easy

The B-E-T rollovers drive the multiplier, and the gate feeds you through them over and over. Reaching the flashing value lights an extra ball, but it only pays once per ball — collect it, then work the rollovers again on the next ball for another one.

Reward: Multiplied bonus, plus an extra ball light
Draw Poker mode · Medium

Roll the left inlane to light the saucer, then take it. The backglass wheel spins for an award anywhere from ten thousand up to a Special, with an extra ball somewhere in the middle. The ball is then kicked out to the B-E-T rollovers, so it feeds the multiplier too.

Reward: 10,000 up to Special, plus an extra ball award
Build And Collect The Ramp Award combo · Medium

The two side ramps are a build-and-cash pair. Each left ramp raises the award through roughly ten thousand, twenty five, fifty, a hundred, two fifty and five hundred thousand at the ceiling. The right ramp collects it and knocks the value back to ten thousand.

Reward: Up to 500,000 on a collect
Double Score mode · Hard

On your last ball you get one window to double your entire score by hitting both the left and right ramps. The window shrinks by five seconds for every million points you already have, down to a floor of ten seconds, and it is only offered once per game.

Reward: Your whole score, doubled
Raising The Centre Ramp strategy · Medium

The centre ramp only exists once the centre target has raised it, and that target is the most dangerous shot on the machine. From a trapped ball a perfect hit comes straight back down the middle, and anything off-line kicks off a post rubber into an outlane.

Reward: Access to the lock and jackpot ramp
Drop Target Millions mode · Medium

Three banks of three drop targets: lower left, lower right and upper left. Clear all three to start a timed Millions round, and during it every bank you complete pays a million points.

Reward: 1,000,000 per bank completed
Lock Two And Start Multiball multiball · Hard

A four-step sequence with the same awkward target in the middle of it twice. Raise the centre ramp with the centre target, lock a ball up it, raise the ramp again, lock the second, and multiball starts as a two-ball affair.

Reward: Two-ball multiball
The Jackpot multiball · Hard

The hard one. During multiball you need four centre ramp shots to collect, and the award builds over time toward a four million ceiling. Depending on how the machine is set, partial progress may carry into your next multiball.

Reward: Up to 4,000,000
Playfield Double multiplier · Medium

A short window most players never trigger. Hitting the target behind the gate during multiball doubles playfield values for twenty seconds — stack that with the centre ramp jackpot shots and the multiball is worth twice as much.

Reward: 2X playfield for twenty seconds
Two Routes To An Extra Ball progression · Medium

There are exactly two ways to get an extra ball on this machine, and only one of them is something you can plan for.

Reward: Extra ball
A Working Game Plan strategy · Easy

Jokerz rewards a simple, repetitive plan more than variety. Work the gate until the extra ball light is on, take it, and only then risk the centre target. Save the score double for whichever ball is genuinely your last.

Reward: Extra balls and a consistent scoring floor

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