Spider-Man

Stern, 2007 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Spider-Man in the Pinball Genie app →

Spider-Man is one of Steve Ritchie's fastest layouts and one of the most welcoming rulesets Stern has shipped. A beginner can flail at it and still start battles; an expert can stack four things at once. The structure is unusually clean — four villains, three levels each, a reward at the end of every wave. Learn which shot feeds which villain and you get to choose what your game looks like.

Two skill shots, and one of them matters more

The standard skill shot is a full plunge into the flashing WEB lane. It pays 250k rising by 25k, doubles the pop bumpers for the ball, and — the part people miss — adds five to your bonus multiplier. The super skill shot is a soft plunge that dies on the upper right flipper, followed by the side ramp: 500k rising by 50k, plus 100k on the Venom Value and progress toward a Venom battle. On ball three the standard skill shot doubles your end-of-ball bonus and the super triples it, once each per game. The save after a super skill shot is very short.

The three waves

Four villains, each with three battles. Beating all four once lights the extra ball at the left orbit; twice lights both orbits for Battle Royale; three times lights the Light Lock target for a Special. That ladder is the spine of the game.

• Sandman — clear the moving three-bank, then hit the inner standups and the figure. Sandman himself scores double, in points and in damage. Finish in the centre hole.
• Doc Ock — shots to the right saucer lower the figure. All three of his battles are multiballs, and they stack with Black Suit Multiball in either order.
• Green Goblin — hit all five left-wall standups, then one more to start. Then keep hitting the flashing ones: six, eight, twelve hits for the three levels.
• Venom — everything runs through the side ramp, which means everything runs through the upper right flipper. The left ramp helps in early battles but never qualifies one.
• Battles stack freely. The only limit is that progress toward the next Doc Ock battle pauses while one is running.

White arrows and shot multipliers

Six major shots carry white spider arrows: both orbits, all three ramps and Doc Ock. Sweep the set and every arrow starts strobing — the very next shot you make gets a 2x multiplier for the rest of the ball. This is a decision, not an accident, so pick deliberately. Putting it on the side ramp is enormous, because the third Venom battle is eight side ramp shots and the biggest Black Suit Supers are there too. Completing the arrows also lights both orbits to start one of five forty-second timed modes, and finishing that mode upgrades your multiplied shot from 2x to 3x.

Black Suit Multiball

Hit the Light Lock target until the locks light at the orbits, then shoot a green-lit orbit three times. Two jackpots sit at each major shot, twelve in total. The jackpot value starts at 250k on ball one and grows 500 points per pop bumper hit across the whole game, not per ball, which is why feeding the pops is never wasted time here. Clear all twelve and Super Jackpot pairs light: two at the left ramp at four times value, two at the side ramp at eight. Anything you start before or alongside your third lock comes into the multiball with you.

Spider Sense is your add-a-ball

Completing the three Spider Sense standups arms the lane behind them with an award tied to whatever you have running — mode time, added value, or an add-a-ball during multiball. Awards stack and stay lit until collected or until the ball ends, and one trip through the lane takes everything. The detail that matters is ordering: awards are assigned to your active modes oldest first, so if you started Green Goblin and then a Doc Ock multiball, the first completion arms a Green Goblin award and you need a second completion before the add-a-ball appears. The lane sits behind the upper right flipper and only opens with that flipper raised.

Venom Value, and why the spinner matters

Two of the three Venom battles pay a running number called the Venom Value on every shot. It starts at 250k, caps at 750k, and holds from ball to ball. Every spinner rotation adds 1,250, every super skill shot 100k, every completed Venom battle 25k. A plain side ramp shot collects it any time. Building it early turns the eight-shot third battle from a chore into a scoring round — especially with a 3x multiplier on that ramp.

Battle Royale

The reward for the second wave, and the best scoring in the game. Every shot is lit at 250k, the four villain shots pay 750k the first time each, and everything you collect is added into a Royale Jackpot waiting at the right ramp. Completing every red spider shot adds another 1,500,000. Round one pays at least 3,250,000, and cashing it advances the round and adds a ball for the first two. Grind the left orbit to pad the jackpot first. From round three Venom must be shot via the side ramp. One last kindness: when Battle Royale is ready both outlanes flash, and a drain is replunged as a Last Chance.

Goals in Spider-Man

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

• W-E-B Skill Shot skillshot · Easy

  Plunge into the flashing WEB lane. It pays 250k the first time and 25k more each time after, adds five to your bonus multiplier, and doubles the pop bumper values for the rest of the ball. Make it on ball three and your end-of-ball bonus doubles, once per game.

  Reward: 250k rising, +5x bonus, doubled jets

• Super Skill Shot skillshot · Hard

  Plunge weakly so the ball settles on the upper right flipper, then shoot the side ramp. It pays 500k rising by 50k, adds 100k to the Venom Value and puts you a step closer to a Venom battle. On ball three it triples your end-of-ball bonus.

  Reward: 500k rising, +100k Venom Value, Venom progress

• The White Arrows combo · Medium

  Six major shots carry white spider arrows: both orbits, all three ramps and Doc Ock. Each one is worth 150k plus 12.5k per shot, and the sixth pays 350k. Clearing the set is the engine that drives both shot multipliers and the timed modes.

  Reward: 150k per arrow, 350k for the last

• Multiply A Shot multiplier · Medium

  Once the arrows are strobing, the very next shot you make is multiplied by two for the rest of the ball. Choose deliberately — putting the multiplier on the side ramp or the right ramp is worth far more than putting it wherever the ball happened to go.

  Reward: 2x on one shot for the ball, upgradeable to 3x

• The Three Waves progression · Hard

  Four villains, three levels each. The game is structured around clearing them a wave at a time, and each completed wave hands you something substantial. Everything else on the machine is in service of this ladder.

  Reward: Extra ball, then Battle Royale, then a Special

• Sandman Battles mode · Medium

  Clear the three-bank, either target by target or with a one-time shot at the strobing target, and the bank drops to expose the two inner standups and Sandman himself. Hitting Sandman is worth double both in points and in damage.

  Reward: 2M, then 4M, then 6M for the three levels

• Doc Ock Multiballs multiball · Medium

  The only villain whose battles are multiballs. Shots to the saucer lower the figure, and a magnet in front of it does some of the work for you. Each of the three rounds is built differently, and the third is the most lucrative round in the game.

  Reward: 250k jackpots up to a cumulative Super

• Green Goblin Battles mode · Medium

  The simplest villain to understand and the most dangerous to shoot at. Complete the five-target bank with a hit on each, then hit any of them again to start. From there you just keep hitting the flashing green targets until he is done.

  Reward: 3M, then 4M, then 6M for the three levels

• Venom Battles mode · Hard

  Everything Venom runs through the side ramp, which means everything Venom runs through the upper right flipper. One ramp shot starts the first battle; the two after that each need four side ramp shots just to qualify.

  Reward: A hurry-up, then repeated Venom Value payouts

• Build The Venom Value multiplier · Medium

  A running value that starts at 250k and caps at 750k, and it holds from ball to ball. Two Venom battles pay it on every shot, and a plain side ramp collects it any time. Feeding it early makes the later battles worth several times more.

  Reward: Up to 750k per Venom shot

• Black Suit Multiball multiball · Medium

  The traditional multiball. Hit the Light Lock target until the locks light at the orbits, then shoot a green-lit orbit three times to start. Two jackpots sit at each major shot, and the jackpot value grows across the whole game from pop bumper hits.

  Reward: Twelve jackpots, then four Super Jackpots

• Spider Sense strategy · Medium

  Complete the three Spider Sense targets and the lane behind them arms with an award based on whatever mode, villain or multiball is running. The awards stack and they stay lit until you collect them or the ball ends.

  Reward: Mode time, added value, and add-a-balls

• The Five Timed Modes mode · Medium

  Completing a set of white arrows also lights both orbits to start one of five forty-second modes, listed above the flippers. Finishing any of them upgrades your multiplied shot to 3x, and starting all five is a requirement for the game's final challenge.

  Reward: Mode points, plus a 3x shot multiplier

• Battle Royale wizard · Hard

  Beat all four villains twice and both orbits light for it. Every shot on the playfield is lit at 250k, the four villain shots pay 750k the first time each, and everything you collect is added into a Royale Jackpot waiting at the right ramp.

  Reward: A Royale Jackpot of at least 3,250,000 in round one

• Last Chance secret · Easy

  When Battle Royale is ready to start, both outlane inserts flash. Drain in that state and the game immediately replunges the ball rather than taking it — a deliberate mercy so that nobody loses a ball on the doorstep of the best mode in the game.

  Reward: A free replunge

• Extra Ball And Special progression · Hard

  Both of the game's big awards sit behind the villain waves. Finish the first wave and the extra ball lights at the left orbit. Finish the third — all four villains beaten three times each — and the Light Lock target holds a Special.

  Reward: Extra ball, then a Special

• H-E-R-O And W-E-B multiplier · Easy

  Two separate letter sets both feed the bonus multiplier. HERO is spelled across the inlanes and outlanes, so you collect it just by playing; WEB is the top lanes. The skill shot is worth five multipliers on its own, which dwarfs both.

  Reward: A larger end-of-ball bonus

• Stack Everything strategy · Medium

  This game rewards running several things at once more than almost any other Stern of its era. Battles stack with each other and with multiballs, and every stack multiplies the value of the shots you were going to take anyway.

  Reward: Several progress bars moving on one shot