AOH :: TMNT.TXT

Rules & Strategy for the pinball game "T.M.N.T."


     This is another one of my patented Fact-Free(TM) Rule Sheets, 
constructed from memory, using Brent Earl's sheet as a memory-jogger.
Please send corrections to phaedrus@halcyon.com, or just embarrass me
in r.g.p. :)

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (by Data East)

OBJECT:
     Score points.  What did you expect?

PLAYFIELD LAYOUT
     Ramps:  Two of 'em, the entrances of both of which are right next
to each other, at the back-left-center of the machine.  (Sort of like
the ramps on Twilight Zones, but without any target in between them.)
The left ramp leads back to the right flipper; the right back to the
left.  Either ramp can be shot from either flipper, but shooting the
left ramp from the left flipper is a difficult backhand on most machines.
     Turtle Targets:  Four banks of three touch targets each, with each
one representing one of the four turtles.  Two on the left side of the
playfield, one in the middle, and one on the right.
     Splinter:  A captive ball at the far top left of the machine.
     Bumpers:  Three of them, at the top center of the machine, just
above one of the banks of touch targets.
     April Lane:  A spinner lane running up the right hand side of the
machine, to a touch target (April) just above the bumpers.
     Sewer:  A sinkhole shot, with an entrance just to the right of the
bumper area and to the left of the April lane.  Balls shot in here kick
out through a pop-up "manhole" near the center of the playfield.
     Pizza:  A Whirlwind-like spinning disk in the lower center of the
playfield.

PLUNGER/SKILL SHOT
     This game has a curious combination of manual and automatic plunger.
The ball is kicked into the plunger lane, and a manual plunger lets you
plunge it into play.  But during multiball, or if your manual plunge
falls back into the plunger lane, then an automatic kicker kicks the
ball back up into play.  The plunger lane feeds down one of the ramp
returns to the right flipper.
     When you plunge a ball into play, the left ramp is lit for 250K*ball
in play.  If you successfully shoot it before hitting another playfield
target, the right ramp is lit for the same amount.

SPOTTING TURTLES
     At the start of the game, one target in each of the four turtle banks
is flashing; the flashing target in each bank changes regularly.  Shooting
the flashing target gives you credit for that turtle (lighting the whole
bank).  Shooting one of the other two targets instead solidly lights that
target and turns off the flashing target; you must now hit the two targets
you didn't hit, lighting them as well, to get credit for the turtle.  On
most machines, collecting three turtles lights the Sewer for multiball;
after the first multiball, all four turtles must be collected to light the
Sewer again for subsequent multiballs.

SPLINTER
     The Splinter captive ball lane has five rollover sensors in it; the
higher up the lane you knock the ball, the more points you score.  Knocking
the ball all the way to the top of the lane scores a Splinter value.  The
Splinter value to be scored is randomly determined, but one of six lights
on the backglass always indicates the next value to be scored; so at least
you know what you're shooting at.
     Splinter values include:
     Mystery Score:  Pretty self-explanatory.
     Instant 3-Ball:  Starts multiball.
     Looping:  Lights the left ramp.  Shooting the lit ramp awards 250K(?),
and the ramp stays lit for 7 second; each subsequent hit increases the loop
value by 25K(?).  A single "Loop Record" is kept of the greatest number of
ramp hits in this mode.
     Ramp Millions:  Spots all remaining letters in TURTLES, and starts the
TURTLES Millions mode (see below).
     Bonus X:  Raises the bonus multiplier to some random value between 2x
and 8x.
     Extra Ball Lit:  At the Sewer.
     Collecting a Splinter value does not "mark it off the list"; you can
collect the same Splinter value multiple times.
     In addition, going through the right inlane momentarily lights
Splinter.
Shooting Splinter while lit awards an increasing value displayed just above
the flippers, sort of like Freeway loops in High Speed.  My memory of these
values is very foggy, but I believe they're something along the lines of
25K, 50K, 75K, 100K, 150K+GInsu Scoring (all switches worth 50K for 20
seconds), 200K+Super Ginsu Scoring (all switches worth 100K for 20
seconds).

SAVING APRIL
     If a ball goes through the left inlane, the April lane is lit for a
few seconds.  Shooting the ball up this lane, and hitting the April target
at the end, scores some fairly large value (150K?).

THE SEWER
     Shooting a ball into the Sewer sinkhole when it is not lit for
something
else awards a random value:
     Mystery Score, Bonus X:  Same as on Splinter.
     Spot Turtle:  One of the turtle target banks is completed.  (This will
not start multiball, even if you now have enough banks to light multiball;
multiball will now be lit, but you must shoot the Sewer again to start it.)
     Special Lit:  The spinner in the April lane is lit for a special.
     Bonus Held:  Self-explanatory.

TURTLES MILLIONS
     Every time you hit one of the two ramps during regular play (when the
ramp isn't lit for anything else), a letter in TURTLES on the backglass is
lit up.  These letters carry over from player to player and from game to
game.  Hitting a ramp when all seven letters are already lit starts the
Millions round.  Both ramps are lit for 1M; you must hit one within 10
seconds to collect.  If you collect one, the other remains lit for 1M, and
the timer resets to 10 seconds.  If you collect that one as well, the Sewer
becomes lit for 10M (a _big_ chunk of points on this machine) for 10
seconds.
So the ideal is to hit the left ramp first, since this sets up an easy
right
ramp shot, which in turn feeds to the right flipper for the Sewer shot.

MULTIBALL
     Collecting enough turtles lights the Sewer shot for multiball. 
Hitting
this shot, or getting Instant 3-Ball from Splinter, launches all 3 balls
into
play.  Your object at this point is to shoot the Sewer hole, before you
lose
two of the three balls.  If you do, an animation of the original turtles
mutating into the TMNT is displayed, one ball is launched back into play if
you've lost one (putting you back to 3 balls), and both ramps are lit for
jackpot.  The jackpots each start at 1M, and the value slowly increases
over
time.  Hitting a ramp collects that ramp's jackpot; the other jackpot
remains
available, and its value continues to increase.  I don't remember what
happens
after you collect both jackpots on the same multiball.
     If you blow multiball badly, the Sewer is lit for a brief period to
restart it.

LAST CHANCE
     On Ball 3, the outlanes are lit for Last Chance, ala Black Knight.  
Losing a ball out a lit outlane autoplunges one back into play.  You only
get one Last Chance, and this doesn't work during multiball.

VICTORY LAP
     When you reach the replay score, the right ramp is lit for Victory Lap
for 20 seconds.  Shooting it in that time gives 3M points.  ("Gimme
three!")
You can only score this once.

TURBO GINSU
     In a multi-player game, the highest-scoring player gets a timed bonus
period at the end of the game, again ala Black Knight.  For 30 seconds,
balls are plunged into play as fast as they drain.


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