Roller Games

Williams, 1990 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Roller Games in the Pinball Genie app →

Roller Games has several things to chase and none pays a fortune, so a big score comes from repeating a handful of shots rather than reaching one big round. Almost everything funnels through two features: the Pit, where awards are collected, and the Wall, where they are cashed. Learn how those relate and the rest falls into place.

The Pit feeds the Wall

The Wall is a very steep ramp reachable only from the upper right flipper, and clean chances at that flipper are rare. The Pit is the fix: an enclosed saucer behind a one-way gate — hit it as hard as you like and the ball stays in — that kicks onto a habitrail delivering the ball straight to that flipper.

Better still, shoot the Pit with its Magnet lamp lit and the machine holds the ball still at the flipper tip. The mistake is universal: do not flip early. The countdown runs while the ball travels the rail, and flipping before it settles switches the magnet off. Wait for the call, then shoot. It is one shot only, and the Magnet is relit each ball, at the start of multiball, by Instant Lock, and by completing S-K-A-T-E.

Three arrows at the Wall

Red for Jackpot, green for Lock, orange for Million — check them before you shoot, because the same shot pays very differently depending on what is lit. There is also a useful quirk: the switch registering a Wall shot sits on the upslope, below the flat top. A ball hit just hard enough to trip it, stall and roll back over it earns two awards from one shot.

• A ball that falls out the left exit or back down the entrance awards no lock, but Lock stays lit.
• A lock is never awarded on a plunger shot, so a full-strength plunge up the Wall is points only.
• Hitting the Wall with nothing lit banks a Power Play. Three lights an extra ball, eight lights the outlane Specials, and they carry all game.
• Left Jetway straight into the Wall is a combo worth 100K, climbing to a 500K ceiling — and it pays on top of whatever the Wall was already giving you.

Jetways and teams

The two Jetways are the halves of the orbit, each with a spinner and a lamp. They work independently and both can be lit at once. Each inlane lights the Jetway opposite, and a full orbit lights an unlit one. You only need to trip the spinner to collect — so with both lit, one orbit takes both.

Every collection spots one of the six team lamps in the playfield centre, and all six lights an extra ball at the Center Lane. Two are lit free at game start, but only the first time through, and teams do not carry between balls — so this is a six-in-one-ball job. Once all six are lit, the Jetways settle at 250K each.

That Center Lane is dead straight up, threading between the drop targets and the ramp entrance and then between the standups and the bumpers. No angle works. The consolation is that extra balls stack there and stay lit.

Roller Motion and the Scoring Cycle

With Roller Motion lit, the Pit hands out a near-random award: nothing at all, Jetter Bonus, Bonus Held, a WILLIAMS letter, Spot Team, Bonus X, Extra Ball or Lite Special. Instant Lock is the one to hope for — a lock and a relit Magnet at once. It is lit at game start but not each ball; the 1-2-3 standups bring it back, and since those are nearly unshootable, the bumpers do that job.

The WILLIAMS letters carry over between balls, players and games. Complete the word and a hurry-up starts at four million and falls to one, collected at the Pit. A short pause before the countdown makes the full four million possible — the trick is finishing your last letter off the S-K-A-T-E bank at the spot where the rebound drops in. Collect it and WILLIAMS resets; miss it and you lose four letters.

Multiball and Sudden Death

The W-A-R drop targets award locks in single-ball play, and three locked balls starts multiball. Expect all of them down the right inlane at once. The Magnet is armed automatically, giving one free crack at the jackpot — take it, because it is worth one and a half to four million and every collection resets it to 1.5M. After that the target completions are better money: S-K-A-T-E pays 100K, 150K, 200K up to a 500K cap, and W-A-R runs the same ladder.

Sudden Death starts on its own once or twice a game: fifteen seconds, every Wall shot worth a million and resetting the clock. Completing both S-K-A-T-E and W-A-R ends it with two million — but if the Wall is falling, repeats beat closing it out.

Housekeeping

• The A-B-C standups relight the left kickback, which is unusual — it fires the ball around the orbit to the upper right flipper, so a save hands you a Wall shot.
• Roller Motion is switched off during multiball; the Magnet, Jetways and Scoring Cycle keep working.
• The J-E-T lanes advance the bonus multiplier to 7x. Rotate them with the flipper buttons; the orbit passes above with no gate, so aimed shots rarely land there.
• S-K-A-T-E gives a WILLIAMS letter and relights the Magnet — the machine's most useful repeat task.

Goals in Roller Games

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

• The Jetways progression · Easy

  The two Jetways run independently and both can be lit at once. Each inlane lights the Jetway on the opposite side, and a full orbit lights an unlit one. You only need to trip the spinner to collect — so with both lit, one orbit shot takes both.

  Reward: Spots a team; 250K each once all six are lit

• Light All Six Teams progression · Medium

  Every Jetway you collect spots one of the six team lamps in the middle of the playfield. All six lights an extra ball at the Center Lane. The teams do not carry between balls, and you get two for free at game start — once only.

  Reward: Extra ball at the Center Lane

• Arm The Magnet strategy · Medium

  The Magnet is the difference between the Wall being hard and being free. Shoot the Pit while its Magnet lamp is lit and the ball is held at the tip of the upper right flipper. Wait for the count-down and the call to flip — go early and it releases immediately, wait too long and you lose it too.

  Reward: A free shot at the Wall

• Complete S-K-A-T-E progression · Medium

  The five standups on the left wall. Clearing them lights a WILLIAMS letter and relights the Magnet, which makes this the most useful repeat task on the machine. Learn where on the bank a right-flipper shot rebounds into the Pit and you can do two jobs with one swing.

  Reward: A WILLIAMS letter and a relit Magnet

• Roller Motion mode · Medium

  A near-random award collected at the Pit. The pool runs from nothing at all through Jetter Bonus, Bonus Held, a WILLIAMS letter, Spot Team, Bonus X, Extra Ball and Lite Special. Instant Lock is the one to hope for — it gives you a lock and relights the Magnet at once.

  Reward: Anything from zero to an extra ball

• The Scoring Cycle mode · Hard

  Spell WILLIAMS and a hurry-up starts at four million and falls to one. You collect it at the Pit. There is a short pause before the countdown begins, so a full four million is possible but very tight. Miss it entirely and you drop back four letters rather than losing the lot.

  Reward: 1M to 4M

• Shooting The Wall strategy · Medium

  Every big award on this machine collects at the Wall, and three arrow lamps tell you which one is live: red for Jackpot, green for Lock, orange for Million. It is only reachable from the upper right flipper, which is why the Magnet matters so much.

  Reward: Jackpot, Lock or Million depending on the lamp

• The Double-Dip Shot secret · Hard

  The switch that registers a Wall shot sits on the upslope, below the flat section at the top. A ball that is hit just hard enough to trip the switch, stall, and roll back down over it earns two awards from one shot. Deliberately underhitting the Wall is a real technique here.

  Reward: Two Wall awards from one shot

• Lock Three And Go multiball · Medium

  The W-A-R drop targets award locks in single-ball play, and three locked balls starts multiball. When it fires, all three come down the right inlane together, which is unpleasant. The Magnet is armed automatically at the start, so you get one free crack at the first jackpot.

  Reward: Jackpot at the Wall, 1.5M to 4M

• Bank Targets In Multiball strategy · Medium

  Because the jackpot resets to a million and a half every time you collect it, the target completions are often the better money. Completing S-K-A-T-E during multiball pays 100K, then 150K, then 200K and upward to a half million ceiling. W-A-R pays on the same ladder.

  Reward: 100K climbing to 500K per completion

• Sudden Death mode · Medium

  This starts on its own during single-ball play, once or twice a game. Fifteen seconds on the clock, and every Wall shot pays a million and resets the timer. Complete both S-K-A-T-E and W-A-R and the round ends with a two million bonus.

  Reward: 1M per Wall shot, 2M for finishing

• The Combo Shot combo · Medium

  Left Jetway into the Wall pays 100K the first time and another 100K each time after, up to a half million ceiling. The Jetway does not need to be lit, and the combo pays on top of whatever the Wall was already going to give you.

  Reward: 100K climbing to 500K

• Power Plays progression · Medium

  Hit the Wall when nothing is lit and you bank a Power Play. Three of them lights an extra ball and eight lights the outlane Specials. They carry for the whole game, which makes an unlit Wall shot far from wasted.

  Reward: Extra ball at three, Specials at eight

• Keep The Kickback Alive strategy · Easy

  The left outlane kickback is unusual — instead of dropping the ball back on the flipper, it fires it up a ramp onto a second kicker and around the orbit to the upper right flipper. So a save here hands you a Wall shot. The A-B-C standups relight it.

  Reward: A saved ball delivered to the upper flipper

• J-E-T Bonus Multiplier multiplier · Medium

  The three lanes above the bumpers advance the bonus multiplier up to seven times. They are hard to hit deliberately because the orbit passes above them with no gate, so lane-change with the flipper buttons whenever a ball is heading up there.

  Reward: Up to 7x bonus, then 100K per completion

• The Center Lane secret · Hard

  A lane so narrow it looks impossible: dead straight up, between the drop targets and the ramp entrance, then between the center standups and the bumpers. It is the only place extra balls are collected. They stack there and stay lit, so an unclaimed one is never lost.

  Reward: Every extra ball in the game

• Outlane Specials secret · Hard

  A Lite Special award from Roller Motion, or eight Power Plays, lights both outlanes at once. They stay lit until one is hit — and then both go out together, so you only get one Special per lighting.

  Reward: Special