Last Action Hero

Data East, 1993 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

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Last Action Hero looks like a shot-collecting game and is really a completion game. The lights above the flippers are a checklist of Dynamite Features, the movie scoop hands you whichever is flashing, and the pop bumpers change which one that is. Finishing a round adds five million to the World Premier award, so completions compound into the ending.

How the features cycle

• The scoop starts each ball lit. Spend it and the ramp relights it; an inlane relights it for a very short window.
• Steady lights are finished rounds. The flashing light is what the scoop will give you next.
• The left captive ball resets the current round's timer to full, once per round. Save it for a good Blow Out.
• An inlane lights the Wildcard scoop during most rounds. Taking it there doubles that round's scoring.
• Most rounds stack. Go to the Movies, Super Crane and multiball are the ones that lock everything else out.

Which rounds are worth your time

The Roof is the most repeatable: three ramps in twenty seconds for thirty million, and each made ramp diverts to the right inlane so the next shot is set up for you. Red Eye is three eyeball targets for the same total. Big Mistake crosses the playfield twice in a fixed order — CRANE target, eyeball, movie scoop.

Blow Out is the frenzy round: twenty seconds on a six million base, switches worth 250K climbing 50K every ten hits toward a one million ceiling. The Lt. Dekker spinner drops the ball straight into the bumpers, the fastest way to feed it. A typical round is twenty million; a ball that lives in the pops can push thirty.

Two rounds are not worth chasing. Go to the Movies pays poorly, blocks everything else, and its captive hits do not advance multiball. Find Benedict hides him in one of three scoops at random and pays nothing for a wrong guess.

Locking, M-Ball and 6 Ball

Clearing all five CRANE drop targets starts Runaway Crane, a hurry-up from ten million down to three, and lights the crane lock whether or not you collect it. Watch the Danger Bar behind the bank — hitting it stands every target back up. Two balls is the maximum, and clearing the bank with two already locked pays seven million.

Captive ball hits light M-Ball at the movie scoop, and an inlane first doubles the credit each hit gives you. Lock before you start: the jackpot is fifteen million plus five per locked ball, capped at twenty-five. The ramp collects it, and the crane pays double inside ten seconds. That double jackpot is what starts 6 Ball.

6 Ball runs a loop. Collect the four 5M badges — left captive ball, crane, Ripper, Wildcard scoop — then the crane for thirty million, the badges again, the ramp for a super jackpot of fifty million per ball in play, then the crane for double that. Keeping balls alive matters more than any single shot, because every drain cuts the super jackpot.

The title round is the big one

Three Dynamite Features are the words of the title, worth ten million each at the movie scoop. You need not wait for them: the Wildcard scoop forces the next feature to the next unlit word, so you can drive straight at it — scoop, ramp to relight, scoop, ramp, scoop.

Completing it puts six balls out with twenty-five seconds and asks for fifty target hits. Make them and you take the running award, gain time, and are asked for fifty more. Feed the spinner into the bumpers and this can last minutes. If you will not make the count, burn the Smart Missile. One warning: if the timer climbs past ninety-nine seconds it wraps to zero and the round ends.

World Premier, and the award that hides

Clear every feature, title round included, and the movie scoop starts World Premier. You take a flat award, then the scoop pays a million per seated patron until the theatre fills — and the number of seats depends on how many rounds you completed earlier.

Second Cousin Frank's is the hidden treasure. It grows between games until somebody collects it, fed by ramp shots and by balls returning to the chicken scoop through the bumper lane. To take it: two consecutive ramps, then the chicken scoop, with the ball touching nothing in between.

Combos, rescues and the missile

• Crane, ramp, ramp, right captive ball — ten million and four advances toward M-Ball in one string.
• Crane, ramp, ramp, Ripper — ten million and three RIPPER letters.
• Five ramp-ramp pairs turn the Dekker spinner from 50K a spin into a million a spin on your next shot.
• The RIPPER bounty is held across balls, players and whole games — check what it is worth before chasing it.
• Balls come back generously: after CRANE target hits, shortly after a Ripper shot, and on the plunge. A ball nudged back in from an outlane pays three million.

You get one Smart Missile per ball, it is awkwardly placed, and an outlane drain kills it. It pays whatever is lit. The best use is 6 Ball: take the first badge set yourself, the crane for thirty million, then press it to light the ramp for a super jackpot. It will not hand you a flashing feature — it lights multiball at the scoop instead.

How Last Action Hero plays

Last Action Hero runs off the central movie scoop, which hands you whichever Dynamite Feature is flashing while the pop bumpers pick which one that is. Finish those rounds to fatten the two payoffs at the top: the LAST ACTION HERO title round and the World Premier finale.

The loop

1. Start each ball with the scoop already lit; take the flashing Dynamite Feature there, then shoot the ramp to relight it for the next one.
2. Bump the pops to move which feature is flashing, and finish rounds rather than just starting them -- every completion feeds the World Premier award and its clock.
3. Clear the CRANE drops to start a hurry-up and light the tar-pit lock; bank two balls, then hammer the captives to arm M-Ball at the scoop.
4. Double an M-Ball jackpot at the crane within a few seconds to drop into the six-ball round.
5. Collect the three title-word features for the six-ball, fifty-hit title round; clear every feature to open World Premier.

Reading the lights

• Movie Scoop & Ramp (mode) — lit: The movie scoop is the hub, lit at the start of every ball to hand you whichever Dynamite Feature is flashing; spend it and a ramp shot relights it, while an inlane cracks open only a very short relight window. · flashing: When the scoop's own yellow lamp is flashing, multiball is what waits there instead of a feature. · then: Take the flashing feature, then ramp to reload the scoop for the next one. Completing rounds rather than merely starting them is the whole point -- every finish pumps the World Premier award and adds to its timer, and three of the features are the words of the title.
• CRANE Drop Bank (letters) — lit: A red lamp walks the CRANE bank at the plunge for a timed skill shot, and in play each standing drop is one to knock down; the Danger Bar hides right behind the targets, and catching it resets the entire bank upright. · then: Drop all five while sparing that bar to kick off the Runaway Crane hurry-up and light the tar-pit lock, which holds up to two balls. Bank both before you start multiball, because every locked ball is five million more on the coming jackpot.
• Crane Shot & Tar Pit (shot arrows) — lit: The crane scoop is where the big crane awards land -- the Save Danny hurry-up as it falls, the relit Super Crane value, the doubled M-Ball jackpot -- and the tar pit beside it is where your locked balls sit. · then: Shoot it fast on any hurry-up, since the value only bleeds down while you hesitate; a backhand from a trapped ball on the left is the shot to groove. Doubling an M-Ball jackpot here within a few seconds is the one thing that drops you into the six-ball round, and the relit crane in Super Crane then holds its value with no clock on it.
• Captive Balls (status) — lit: Both captive balls advance you toward multiball, an inlane rolled just before a captive doubles the credit that hit is worth, and the left captive also resets the timer of any round you have running. · then: Rap the captives to light M-Ball at the scoop, locking balls first so each adds to the starting jackpot. The left captive's timer reset is a once-per-round lifeline, so hold it back for the dying seconds of a strong Blow Out instead of spending it early.
• Eyeballs & Bonus Rollovers (status) — lit: The three eyeball targets light a five-million badge and raise what every switch adds to your bonus, and the three rollovers across the top are the only route to doubling that bonus. · then: Sweep the eyeballs early so the higher switch value rides the rest of the ball, and complete all three rollovers to double the end-of-ball count. The bonus here cannot be carried over and has no multiplier ladder, so those three rollovers are the single lever you get.
• Wildcard Scoop (status) — lit: The Wildcard scoop over the right outlane hands you the extra ball when lit, doubles your current round once an inlane has armed it, and can shove the feature order forward to the title's next unclaimed word. · then: Use it to steer the game -- drive straight at the three title words instead of waiting on the bumpers to land on them. Doubling a live round here is the cheapest way to turn a thirty-million round into sixty.
• Chicken Scoop & Spinner (shot arrows) — lit: The chicken scoop pays on a rising schedule -- more shots for each larger award, then the count resets one higher -- and the Dekker spinner is ordinarily small change but the target of a super-spinner combo. · then: Bank the cheap chicken awards early, using the free feed out of the bumpers into it. Five ramp-to-ramp pairs turn the next spinner shot into a million per turn, and two straight ramp shots finished in the chicken scoop, clean of any switch between, collect the carried-over Second Cousin Frank's award.
• The Ripper (shot arrows) — lit: The Ripper kicker hurls the returning ball at the flippers hard enough to rattle you, and each shot there spots one letter in RIPPER. · then: Spell all six letters to collect the Ripper Bounty, which carries over between balls, players and even separate games, so it can be huge by the time anyone finally claims it. Be set for the return, because draining right after a Ripper hit earns you a free replunge.

Lane change: not verified for this machine yet.

Start scoring

• Ball one — Take the walking-light skill shot on the CRANE bank, then start banking Dynamite Features at the lit scoop and relighting it off the ramp. Sweep the eyeballs and complete the three rollovers early to first raise and then double your bonus. — Drop Target Skill Shot, How Dynamite Features Work, Build The Bonus
• Building — Clear the CRANE bank for the hurry-up and the lock, bank two balls, and arm M-Ball at the captives and scoop. Lean on repeatable rounds like The Roof, whose ramp keeps feeding the ball back, and Blow Out in the bumpers, to keep pumping World Premier. — Locking Balls, M-Ball, The Roof, Blow Out
• The big one — Two peaks tower over the rest. Spell LAST ACTION HERO for the six-ball, fifty-hit title round that can climb into the billions, and clear every Dynamite Feature to open World Premier, which pays a million per seated patron until the theatre is full. A doubled M-Ball jackpot, banked at the crane inside the ten-second window, drops you into the six-ball round on the way up. — Spell LAST ACTION HERO, World Premier, 6 Ball

The Smart Missile on Last Action Hero

A button on the cabinet just above the pistol plunger.

One Smart Missile per ball, and it collects whatever happens to be lit when you hit it. The awkward part is where it sits — up above the pistol, well away from your flipper hand — so reaching for it costs you control of the ball. Decide in advance where it is going. A light on the lower right of the cabinet flashes while you still have it, and an outlane drain kills it for the rest of the ball.

• During Blow Out: Resets the 20-second clock, credits you roughly 30 target hits, and lights M-Ball on top of it.
• The LAST ACTION HERO sequence is running out: Credits about 50 hits and adds time. The biggest single use of it in the game.
• Super Crane 6-ball multiball: Awards the current crane value, or relights the Crane if the timer already took it away.
• Save Danny hurry-up dropping fast: Takes the current award without needing the crane shot. It starts at 20M and bottoms at 3M.
• Roof, Eyeball or Big Mistake running down: Only awards the next value in the sequence, never the full 30M. Use it to rescue a round, not to score one.
• Any press at all: It lights M-Ball at the movie scoop as a side effect, and starts M-Ball outright if that was already lit.

Goals in Last Action Hero

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

• Drop Target Skill Shot skillshot · Medium

  A red light under the CRANE targets walks along the bank. Plunge so that the ball knocks down whichever target is lit at that moment. It pays two million on ball one, three on ball two and four on ball three.

  Reward: 2M, 3M or 4M by ball

• How Dynamite Features Work progression · Easy

  The lights above the flippers are the game's to-do list. The movie scoop hands you whichever one is flashing, and the pop bumpers change which one that is. Every round you finish properly makes the two wizard rounds richer, so completing beats starting every time.

  Reward: +5M to the World Premier award per completion

• Blow Out mode · Medium

  Twenty seconds of frenzy on a six million base, with every target worth 250K and the value climbing 50K for every ten hits you land. A ball that finds the pop bumpers can turn this into thirty million on its own. It counts as complete over twenty million.

  Reward: 17M-30M typical, 99M ceiling

• Go To The Movies mode · Medium

  An add-a-ball round: both captive balls are lit for twenty seconds and each hit launches another ball. After the timer expires the captives pay five million a hit instead. Be aware it is not worth much and it blocks every other round while it runs.

  Reward: Extra balls in play, then 5M per captive hit

• Red Eye mode · Easy

  Three hits on the eyeball targets for five, ten and fifteen million. Straightforward, quick, and worth taking every time it comes up. The Smart Missile only pays the next hit, not the whole set.

  Reward: 30M for all three

• The Roof mode · Medium

  Three ramp shots in twenty seconds for five, ten and fifteen million. The ramp diverts to the right inlane after each made shot, which hands the ball back in perfect position for the next one — this is the most repeatable round on the machine.

  Reward: 30M for all three

• Big Mistake mode · Medium

  Three targets in a fixed order inside twenty seconds: any CRANE target for five million, any eyeball for ten, then the movie scoop for fifteen. It crosses the playfield twice, so it rewards knowing your flipper feeds rather than raw aim.

  Reward: 30M for the full sequence

• Cat Millions mode · Medium

  The display runs a value up and down between five and ten million, and hitting the CAT target on the ramp post takes whatever it is sitting on. Each hit adds another travelling value, up to three at once — so the third hit collects three of them together.

  Reward: 5M-10M per lit value, up to three at once

• Super Crane multiball · Hard

  A six-ball round with one job: hit the crane. It starts at five million with a twenty-second timer and climbs five million per hit. When the timer dies you have to clear the CRANE targets to relight it — and once relit that way it stays lit with no timer at all.

  Reward: 5M climbing by 5M per crane hit

• Save Danny mode · Medium

  A pure hurry-up. The value starts at twenty million and falls to three, and only the crane shot collects it. With the ball already trapped on the left flipper, this is the moment to try the backhand.

  Reward: 20M falling to 3M

• Find Benedict mode · Medium

  The game hides Benedict in one of the three scoops at random and pays thirty million for finding him. There is no pattern and a wrong scoop pays nothing at all, so treat it as a coin flip you take on the way to something else.

  Reward: 30M

• Spell LAST ACTION HERO wizard · Hard

  Three of the Dynamite Features are the words of the title, worth ten million each at the movie scoop. Collect all three and the machine puts six balls into play with a twenty-five second clock and asks for fifty target hits — and every fifty you land buys more time and keeps the award climbing.

  Reward: The LAH bonus, then a running award that can reach billions

• M-Ball multiball · Hard

  Captive ball hits light multiball at the movie scoop. The jackpot starts at fifteen million plus five for each ball you locked beforehand, capped at twenty-five; every target on the playfield adds to it. The ramp collects it, and the crane then pays double if you get there in ten seconds.

  Reward: Up to 25M jackpot, then double at the crane

• Locking Balls progression · Medium

  Clearing the CRANE bank starts Runaway Crane, a hurry-up counting from ten million down to three, and lights the crane lock whether or not you collect it. Two balls is the maximum, and clearing the bank again with two already locked pays a seven million bonus.

  Reward: 10M-3M hurry-up, plus 7M for the third bank clear

• 6 Ball wizard · Hard

  Earned by doubling an M-Ball jackpot at the crane. Six balls, and a loop of increasing rewards: collect the four 5M badge shots, then the crane for thirty million, then the badges again, then the ramp for a super jackpot of fifty million per ball still in play, then the crane for double that.

  Reward: 50M and then 100M per ball still in play

• World Premier wizard · Hard

  The end of the road. Clear every Dynamite Feature including the title round and the movie scoop starts it. You take a flat award first, then the scoop pays a million per seated cinema-goer, over and over, until the theatre fills — and how many seats there are depends on how many rounds you actually completed.

  Reward: A flat award, then 1M per seated patron per scoop shot

• Play Chicken strategy · Medium

  The chicken scoop counts your shots to it and pays out on a rising schedule: two shots for five million, three for ten million or an extra ball, four for fifteen million or a lit special. After each award the count resets and the next one costs one more shot.

  Reward: 5M, then 10M or an extra ball, then 15M or a special

• Second Cousin Frank's secret · Hard

  A carried-over award that sits there growing between games until somebody collects it. Ramp shots and balls returning to the chicken scoop through the bumper lane both feed it. Collecting it takes two consecutive ramps and then the chicken scoop, and the ball must touch nothing else in between.

  Reward: The accumulated Second Cousin Frank's value

• The Combo Sheet combo · Hard

  Three combos are worth learning by feel because they pay far more than the shots do individually. Two of them start at the crane and run through the ramp twice, and the third turns the spinner into a million a spin.

  Reward: 10M plus multiball advances, RIPPER letters, or 1M per spin

• The RIPPER Bounty strategy · Medium

  Every Ripper shot spots a letter, and spelling RIPPER collects a bounty that is held across balls, players and whole games. On a busy machine that number can be very large by the time somebody finally spells it.

  Reward: The accumulated Ripper Bounty

• Build The Bonus progression · Easy

  The bonus is worth up to fifty million, which is a real chunk of a good game, and it is built entirely out of things you are already doing. There is no bonus hold and no multiplier ladder — only the three rollovers, which double it.

  Reward: Up to 50M at the end of every ball

• The Rescues secret · Easy

  This machine gives balls back in several situations it never advertises. Learn them and you will stop panicking after a bad bounce off the CRANE bank or a Ripper kickout.

  Reward: A returned ball, and 3M for a death save

• Spend The Smart Missile Well strategy · Medium

  One missile per ball, awkward to reach, and gone the moment you drain down an outlane. It pays whatever is lit — which makes when you press it a genuine scoring decision rather than a panic button.

  Reward: The best award currently lit