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RoboCop

Data East, 1989 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open RoboCop in the Pinball Genie app →

An alphanumeric-era Data East game (Nov 1989, ~1,500 built; design Joe Kaminkow / Ed Cebula, code Rob Quinn) and the machine that shipped the world's first solid-state flipper. Single production model — no editions; the only variation is operator settings and ROM revision. Competitively it is famously a two-shot game: the left spinner lane and the right jump ramp. Everything else supports those two shots.

Skill Shot — 100K Top Lane

At each ball start, two of the four ball-guide lamps around the 2-0-9 top lanes flash. Plunge through that lane for 100,000 × ball number. The lane guides can't be lane-changed, but the lane inserts can — flip an unlit insert under the lit guides first and the same plunge also spots a colored target.

Prime Directives → Arrests → Multiball

The three colored objectives map to three locks ("arrests") at the ramp:

Crucially, each unlit 2-0-9 top lane spots a target of its matching color — the universal advice is to complete the colors this way and never shoot the standups directly (rebounds feed the right outlane). Each completed color lights an arrest; a made jump-ramp shot then locks the ball in the staged upper-left lock. Three locks start the 3-ball Multiball and light the Jackpot.

The Jump Ramp

The signature shot: the ball must fly a gap in a girder bridge across the top of the playfield. A made jump scores 100K and returns via catch ramp → VUK → left inlane (30K) to the left flipper. A missed jump drops into the pop nest — a notorious drain source. Two consecutive jumps start Double Scoring (2x everything, factory ~20s), and every two more consecutive jumps refresh it — the "Sweet Jump loop" (ramp → inlane → ramp) sustains ~230K per lap and is the game's peak farm.

Multiball Scoring

The Jackpot starts around 500K and everything scored during multiball builds it to a 1,000,000 cap — rip the spinner before collecting, because a made ramp jump collects it and there is only one Jackpot per multiball. After the Jackpot, hitting five targets (default) lights the Ramp Special (1M when set to points) — the only time standup-hunting is correct.

Spinner

Spinner value scales with color/lock progress (green/yellow/red spinner lamps) from base spins to 3,000/spin — about 140K per full rip. Every rip recirculates through the top lanes, spotting more targets, so the spinner farm advances locks, bonus X, and multiball qualification passively. "Rip the spinner all day."

Modes & Awards

Everything Is Lit (the wizard-equivalent)

There is no conventional wizard mode. The endgame feat is tying the machine's stored Jumpmaster jump record (default 14 successful jumps in one game, adjustable to 5): everything lights, including Special, and beating the record pays a one-time 500K.

Strategy in One Line

Skill shot every ball → max the spinner while the top lanes light your locks → take multiball, pump the Jackpot to 1M, collect on the ramp, then five targets for the Special → between multiballs, loop sweet jumps if the machine jumps clean, otherwise keep ripping the spinner — and never touch the standups outside multiball.

How RoboCop plays

RoboCop hangs on ball control and one signature shot -- the jump ramp that flies the ball across a girder bridge with a gap in the middle. Complete the three colored directive banks to light arrests, lock three balls for multiball, and grind the spinner and the sweet-jump loop for score.

The loop

  1. Rip the spinner and roll the 2-0-9 top lanes; every unlit lane you cross spots a standup in its color and nudges the spinner's per-spin value higher.
  2. Clear a whole color -- the four green targets, the three yellow, or a single hit on the red captive ball -- and an arrest lights at the ramp.
  3. Fly the ramp with an arrest lit to stage a locked ball; the third lock kicks off the three-ball multiball with the Jackpot lit.
  4. Between multiballs, jump the ramp twice running to switch on doubled scoring, then keep the rhythm alive off the left-inlane return.

Reading the lights

  • 2-0-9 Top Lanes (lanes) — lit: A lit 2-0-9 insert is a lane you have already banked this pass; an unlit lane is live, and rolling one spots a directive target -- roll the 2 for a green target, the 0 for yellow, the 9 for red. · then: Line an unlit lane up and roll it to spot a color target safely -- the standup banks rebound toward the outlane, so this is the clean way to finish green, yellow and red. Completing all three lanes also steps the end-of-ball bonus multiplier one rung toward its 5X ceiling. · control: Either flipper button: a tap hops which of the three inserts is lit, sliding an unlit lane under the ball so its rollover spots the color you still need instead of one already collected (as the ball drops from the plunge or the spinner toward the lanes)
  • Directive Banks & Arrests (status) — lit: Each color carries its own lit targets still standing -- four on the green bank, three on the yellow, one hit on the red captive ball -- and a color goes dark as you finish it. · then: Finish a whole color to light an arrest at the ramp; finishing one also opens a short Target Practice on that bank whose crosshair sights lead to a timed million. Spot the targets through the lanes rather than shooting the banks head-on, since green-bank rebounds run to the right outlane. The red captive-ball hit does double duty, also relighting the left-outlane kickback.
  • Jump Ramp (shot arrows) — lit: With an arrest lit the ramp is your lock shot: clear the girder-bridge jump and the ball is diverted into the staged lock rather than fed back to your flipper. In multiball the same ramp lights to collect the Jackpot, and afterward the Special. · then: Lock three balls to start the three-ball multiball with the Jackpot lit. Pump that Jackpot toward its million-point ceiling on the spinner FIRST, then fly the ramp once to bank it -- there is only one per multiball. Hit five standups afterward to relight the ramp for a million-point Special.
  • Spinner Value Lamps (status) — lit: Green, yellow and red lamps beside the spinner lane light as you finish each matching color and stage locks, and each one lifts the worth of every spin toward a 3,000-per-spin cap. · then: Rip it from the right flipper -- a maxed spinner runs close to a hundred forty thousand a rip, and the lane feeds the ball straight back through the top lanes to spot more targets and climb the bonus multiplier while you score. It even qualifies multiball on its own as a side effect.
  • Double Scoring (multiplier) — lit: Two ramp jumps in a row switch on 2x scoring across the whole playfield -- the game's only ball-in-play multiplier -- running on a short timer. · then: Cash the doubled window on your best shot, ideally a maxed spinner rip, or simply keep jumping, because every second pair of jumps refreshes the timer. Ride the left-inlane return between jumps and this becomes the sweet-jump loop players have rolled entire games on.
  • R-O-B-O-C-O-P Scanner (letters) — lit: Seven letter inserts run down the right eject lane; each unlit one is a letter still needed, and every trip into the Scanner hole lights the next in line along with a mystery value. · then: Spell the whole name for an extra ball. The hole lips the ball out often and the mystery awards are thin, so take it only when the ball is already settled, and never go chasing it.
  • Laser Kick Kickback (status) — lit: When the Laser Kick lamp is on, the left outlane is armed to kick a draining ball back into play; it fires by itself on the outlane switch, then goes dark until relit. · then: Reload it with one strike on the trap ball, or by completing the red directive that lights the third arrest. Treat the reload as a resource: if the save already glows, leave red for later and hold that reload until after the kick has fired, because a 9-lane spot does nothing for it once red is finished.

Lane change: the flipper buttons move the lit lane. Tap either flipper button to shift the lit 2-0-9 inserts across the three top lanes. Slide an unlit lane under the incoming ball so its rollover spots a directive standup in that lane's color -- the safe route to finishing green, yellow and red without shooting the rebound-prone banks -- and a completed set steps the end-of-ball bonus multiplier toward 5X. Set it before you plunge and the skill-shot lane spots a target too.

Start scoring

Does RoboCop have an action button?

Nothing extra here. RoboCop is a 1989 machine with a manual plunger, two flippers and your hips, and that is the entire interface. The only help that arrives without you asking is the Laser Kick in the left outlane, which fires itself when it is lit.

Goals in RoboCop

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

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