Stargate

Gottlieb, 1995 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Stargate in the Pinball Genie app →

Stargate is a late Gottlieb with more going on than its reputation suggests. There are six modes, four multiballs, a currency you collect and trade, a drop target ladder worth a hundred and fifty five million, and two separate wizard modes. It also has Gottlieb's catch-all flippers, which hold almost anything that comes back at them — and that fact is what makes several of its modes farmable.

The layout

• Sarcophagus — a gate in the left outlane that swallows the ball into a space under the apron and returns it on its own schedule. Not a normal kickback.
• Pyramid — the gold centrepiece. A very narrow entrance, and where every mode starts.
• Guardians — two raising figures protecting the left lane and the Trade Quartz kicker. Each has a standup at its base.
• Transporter — a hidden kicker at the end of the left lane, holding a rotating pool of awards.
• Trade Quartz — behind the right Guardian. Adds a Quartz and offers you a trade you accept with the right flipper or refuse with the left.
• Both ramps — steep, with narrow sweet spots. The left starts the combo sequence; the right spots STARGATE letters.
• Right lane — blocked by an oversized drop target the game raises and lowers. The Hurry-Up shot.
• Drop targets — a three-bank on the lower left and a two-bank halfway up, marked five, ten, twenty, forty and eighty million.
• Segment circle — seven inserts nearest the flippers, one per feature. All seven is the wizard multiball.

Start every ball at the Sarcophagus

The skill shot is a plunge that carries past the right ramp return intersection and on to the Sarcophagus, worth ten million plus a Sarcophagus award. Too soft and the ball dribbles down the right ramp return; too hard and it leaves through the top hole to the upper flipper for nothing at all. It is worth the practice, because odd-numbered Sarcophagus visits start multiball outright. If you miss and it comes down the right ramp return, catch it and shoot the left lane instead for ten million and a Horus advance. The only other route in is to knock the right lane drop target down and shoot the lane behind it before the window closes — miss that window and the target stays flat, leaving the lane dead.

Quartz and the Super Jackpot

Quartz arrive from Sarcophagus awards, Transporter awards, White Pyramid and STARGATE completions and the middle target of the three-bank. Trade Quartz offers a prize scaled to how many you are holding: small point awards low down, an extra ball around seven to nine, a double Super Jackpot advance in the low teens, and at twenty and above either all seven Segments at once or the Super Jackpot itself. Trading spends everything you hold, so refusing early offers is usually correct. The Super Jackpot starts at a hundred million and holds all game, and it is fed by Transporter awards, that Quartz double advance, STARGATE completions and the fifth combo shot. Build it to something serious before you trigger the wizard modes, because both of them pay in Super Jackpots and neither is worth much on a small one.

The six modes

• Battle — both Guardians up and their shots pay the Horus bonus. Twenty seconds to start, three more per shot, and the shots feed each other. Easily the best mode here.
• Ra's Temple — two Ra target hits add two balls, then the Pyramid pays fifty million per shot with no cap.
• Quartz — both ramps strobe and each adds a Quartz. Simple and farmable with two balls under control.
• Rebellion — pop bumpers worth five million each. Park a ball and keep feeding the nest.
• Glidercraft — the toy rises and the two kicker targets beside the Pyramid pay five to twenty million a hit.
• Save Sari — a falling countdown at the right lane. It is the one mode genuinely not worth playing; hold the ball and spend the time on a STARGATE letter.

The two wizard modes

Complete all seven Segments — Sarcophagus, Trade Quartz, Transporter, spelling STARGATE, a Hurry-Up, a combo and all seven White Pyramids — and you start Stargate Multiball, a three-ball round with every major shot lit for a twenty million jackpot at once. Sweep all seven for the Super Jackpot and they relight. You only get this once per game. Separately, playing all six modes lights the eye at the centre of the mode circle for Eye of Ra, a four-ball multiball in three stages: five Glidercraft hits, then the left lane and Trade Quartz while the Guardians raise and lower on their own, then three Pyramid shots. Each stage pays a Super Jackpot, and clearing all three with balls still alive drops you into multiball at level two.

The trick worth knowing

Three times scoring is a thirty second Transporter award that multiplies everything, super jackpots included — but its timer stops dead during any multiball. Carry it into one and you have triple scoring for the entire thing. So the correct play is to avoid collecting it until you are ready to start something big, using the left Glidercraft target to push the award order around. If it lands at the wrong moment, salvage it by starting Battle, Glidercraft or Rebellion, all of which score heavily under a multiplier.

Goals in Stargate

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

• Sarcophagus Skill Shot skillshot · Medium

  Plunge hard enough to carry past the right ramp return intersection but not so hard that it exits the top hole. Reaching the Sarcophagus pays 10M and a Sarcophagus award, which is either multiball or three Quartz.

  Reward: 10M plus a Sarcophagus award

• Working The Sarcophagus strategy · Medium

  Outside the skill shot there is one way in: knock down the right lane drop target and then shoot the right lane within the next fifteen seconds or so. Miss the window and the target stays down and the lane pays nothing until you shoot it again.

  Reward: Multiball or three Quartz, alternating

• Drop Target Millions combo · Hard

  With all five drops standing, the leftmost 3-bank target flashes for 5M. Take them strictly in order — 5M, 10M, 20M, 40M, 80M — and the run is worth 155M. Hit any of the five out of order and the whole sequence dies until they all reset.

  Reward: 155M for the full run

• Ra's Power combo · Medium

  Sweep a whole bank in one shot and you collect Ra's Power. It starts at 5M each ball and climbs with each collection. Knocking down the right lane drop lights the 2-bank for Double, which doubles what you take.

  Reward: 5M and climbing, doubled when lit

• Hurry-Up mode · Medium

  Light it with ten pop bumper hits or ten combos, then shoot the right lane inside ten to fifteen seconds. The awards ladder up across the whole game rather than resetting each ball: 10M, then 30M, then an extra ball, then 50M.

  Reward: 10M, 30M, extra ball, 50M

• The Combo Sequence combo · Hard

  Five shots, always the same and always in this order: left ramp, right ramp, left lane, Trade Quartz, Pyramid. The shots barely time out, but the first wrong switch you touch kills the run — including a pop bumper on the way up the left lane.

  Reward: 5M to 30M climbing, plus a Super Jackpot advance

• White Pyramids progression · Medium

  Seven shots around the playfield carry a white pyramid insert. Only one is lit at a time and there is no fixed order — make the lit one and it turns solid and lights another. Completing all seven pays five Quartz or 30M and banks a Segment.

  Reward: Five Quartz or 30M, plus the Pyramid Segment

• Spell STARGATE progression · Easy

  The right ramp spots a letter nearly every time. The game hands you several letters at the start, so the first completion takes about four shots. Awards come in fixed order: three Quartz, then a Super Jackpot advance, then five Quartz.

  Reward: Quartz and Super Jackpot advances

• Transporter Awards mode · Medium

  Hit the left Guardian while it is down to light the Transporter, then take the left lane. The first pool holds five Quartz, extra ball, a Super Jackpot advance and 3X scoring, with Sandstorm fifth. The left Glidercraft target reorders them.

  Reward: Quartz, extra ball, SJ advance, 3X scoring

• The 3X Scoring Trick secret · Hard

  3X scoring is a thirty second Transporter award that multiplies absolutely everything, super jackpots included. The quirk is that its timer stops dead during any multiball — take it into one and you have triple scoring for the entire multiball.

  Reward: Triple scoring for a whole multiball

• Trading Quartz strategy · Medium

  Quartz accumulate from Sarcophagus awards, Transporter awards, White Pyramid and STARGATE completions and the 3-bank middle target. Trade Quartz offers a prize based on how many you hold — accept with the right flipper, decline with the left.

  Reward: Scales from 10M up to a Super Jackpot

• Build The Super Jackpot multiplier · Medium

  The Super Jackpot starts at 100M and holds for the whole game, growing every time you advance it. Four things feed it: a Transporter award, the Quartz double-advance, a STARGATE completion and a full combo sequence. Aim for 500M before you start anything big.

  Reward: 100M base, +100M per advance, +200M doubled

• Multiball multiball · Medium

  Every odd-numbered Sarcophagus visit starts a two-ball multiball, and the first jackpot adds a third ball. Six 10M jackpots light one after another in a fixed order, and completing all six lights the Pyramid for the Super Jackpot.

  Reward: 10M jackpots, then the Super Jackpot

• Sandstorm multiball · Medium

  A three-ball multiball where the major shots — Guardians, both ramps, the Pyramid, the right lane and the Ra target — are each worth 10M. Only real shots count, not every switch, so it scores less than its name suggests, and the total pays at end of ball.

  Reward: 10M per major shot, paid at end of ball

• The Seven Segments progression · Medium

  The ring of inserts nearest the flippers holds seven features. Complete each one once and you start Stargate Multiball. They are also worth 10M each in the end-of-game bonus, which you forfeit entirely if you tilt on your last ball.

  Reward: Stargate Multiball, plus 10M per Segment at game end

• Stargate Multiball wizard · Hard

  All seven Segments starts a three-ball multiball with every major shot lit for a 20M jackpot at once. Make all seven and you collect the Super Jackpot, then all seven relight. You only get this once per game — there is no second attempt.

  Reward: 20M jackpots and a repeating Super Jackpot

• Eye Of Ra wizard · Hard

  Play all six modes and the eye at the centre of the mode circle flashes. Shoot the Pyramid for a four-ball multiball in three stages, each paying a Super Jackpot. Balls lost in the first two stages are replaced, but there is no ball save.

  Reward: A Super Jackpot for each of the three stages

• Battle mode · Medium

  The best mode in the game. Both Guardians raise and the shots behind them pay the Horus bonus, which starts at 10M and goes up 10M with every hit. Twenty seconds to start but each shot adds three, capped at twenty five, and the shots feed each other.

  Reward: Horus bonus, 10M and climbing per shot

• Quartz mode · Medium

  A multiball mode with one rule: both ramps strobe and each one adds a Quartz. Simple, and with two balls under control it can be farmed almost indefinitely.

  Reward: One Quartz per ramp shot

• Rebellion mode · Easy

  A multiball mode where the pop bumpers are worth 5M each. Nothing to aim at beyond the bumper nest, which makes it one of the easiest big-scoring modes on the machine.

  Reward: 5M per bumper hit

• Ra's Temple mode · Medium

  The Ra kicker target flashes and each of two hits adds a ball, so you can end up with four in play. After that the Pyramid is lit for unlimited 50M shots, which makes this the most lucrative mode if you can hit the Pyramid consistently.

  Reward: Unlimited 50M Pyramid shots

• Glidercraft mode · Easy

  The Glidercraft rises out of the Pyramid and the two kicker targets either side of it are lit for 5M, rising to 10M and eventually 20M. A flail-friendly multiball mode with almost no aiming required.

  Reward: 5M per target, climbing to 20M

• Save Sari mode · Easy

  A countdown at the right lane starting at 30M and falling fast to 10M, at which point the mode ends. Collecting resets it to 50M but the next one needs the drop target and the lane again — and the ball is coming out of the Sarcophagus, so you have no control.

  Reward: 30M falling to 10M