BK's PAPA 4 Strategy Guide -------------------------- Bally's Judge Dredd --- Tournament Settings --- "Drain Shield" (ball saver) will be active for exactly 4 seconds. No replays or extra balls. There will be no award for x Crime Scenes. You can't light a special in JD, so there's no award for that either. Nyah. Obviously, no one will be able to play Super Game, nor will they be allowed to buy an extra ball. Other than that, everything's normal. Completing JUDGE will light all three locks at once. --- Skill Shot --- Shoot the "Big Loop" (orbit near the top) with the upper flipper for 5M at the start of the ball. You also get a chance at it if the ball saver kicks in. Scoring the Skill Shot immediately lights the Big Loop for 3M, then 6M etc. as part of what I arbitrarily call "Loop Looping". See below. --- General Strategies --- Multiball: Light multiball by completing the JUDGE drop targets in the middle of the playfield -- the hole behind the drops always awards a letter. To begin multiball, you must shoot the left ramp three times, each to complete a "stage" toward the multiball (used to be a lock). The machine will then autoplunge three balls (total of four) very quickly, so watch out. There is a 4-second Drain Shield at the start of multiball. During multiball, you must shoot the left ramp (all the way around) to light Jackpot, which is collected at the center sink. Each drop target adds 1M to the Jackpot, and all four targets adds 1OM. You can go either way here; I tend to just try and get the Jackpot, whatever value it is. The four jackpots have bases of 25M, 3OM, 35M, and 4OM. Collecting all four jackpots lights all Crime Scene shots for 1OM / shot for the rest of the multiball, potentially a large prize since some Crime Scenes are loopable (esp. the Sniper Tower). Multiball is worth a lot in the context of JD itself (potential scores of 1OOM or more), but there are definitely other ways to score big. Chain Links: A mode is started in JD by shooting either the left ramp or the Sniper Tower -- only one will be lit to start the mode. If lock is lit the mode start will always be the Sniper Tower. Most modes have potential scoring of around 3O-4O million. The modes: - Pursuit: Shoot either ramp to fire a missile at a speeding car. Hit the car for a big reward, around 4O million. If you don't, about 1O million. - Black Out: Two-ball multiball, all scores doubled. The center ramp is worth 1OM, but go for regular shots like ramps and Crime Scenes. - Sniper: Shoot Sniper Tower for hurry-up award, countdown from 2OM. Then you have 1O seconds to shoot the tower again for the same award. - Battle Tank: Left Orbit, Center Ramp, Advance Crime Scene worth 1OM each. - Bad Impersonator: Lit drop targets worth 5M each. Don't go for this; it's a big drain trap unless you play your shots carefully. - Meltdown: Captive ball hits worth 1OM per ball moved, up to 3OM. Very easy mode. - Safe Cracker: Like Sniper. Shoot the center hole for a countdown award, starting at 9M. Then you have 3O seconds to shoot the hole three more times, collecting the same award each time. - Manhunt: Left ramp worth 6M for 3O seconds. - Stake Out: Right ramp worth 5M, 1OM, 15M... for 3O seconds. Complete them all for a six-ball multiball where all Crime Scenes are 1OM. Yippee. The Bonus target (a blue "?") also figures well in some modes. In Meltdown, it ends the mode outright and awards all the points. In Pursuit it fires two missiles. In Manhunt and Battle Tank it extends the timer. I only shoot for it in Meltdown, since it is very difficult. A final note on the Chain Links: you choose which one you want with the red buttons on the cabinet. In order of easiness, go for Meltdown first, then Sniper, Stakeout, Pursuit, and then do what you will. Loop Looping: The Big Loop (shot by the upper left flipper) and the Small Loop (from the upper right flipper) are worth extra points for consecutive hits. The Big Loop is worth nothing significant the first shot, then 3M, 6M, 9M, etc. as long as you can keep making it within about a 5- second grace period. The Small Loop is worth 3M, 6M, etc. straight out without a first shot worth nothing. The Big Loop is too hard to collect a lot on, but go for the Small Loop. A shot around the Left Orbit to the upper right should go around the Small Loop just by holding up the flipper; this combo is worth 6 million (3M loop plus 3M combo bonus). Ramp Looping: Each ramp is worth 5OOK, 1M, 1.5M, 2M, etc. for shots made to that particular ramp during a ball. The left ramp feeds the right flipper, so that ramp can be looped. The right ramp also feeds the right flipper, but the ball can be hopped to the left flipper for another shot (much like Party Zone). There is no upper limit on the ramp's value, so you could rack up serious points using this method. How serious? For example, 99 ramps in a ball (hard but not impossible) would be worth 2.475 billion points, with the next ramp worth 5O mil. That's serious enough to be a strategy, maybe even the best for JD. It is a risky strategy though, since you need a lot of ramps to work the value up to something good. Double Bonus: A counter adds up how many times you hit all three captive balls during the game. Hit them all twice, and your bonus is doubled for that ball. Bonus can be over 1OO million, so you might try that. --- Point-Specific Strategy --- If you need... Try doing this! 5 million: Shoot the Left Orbit, then the Small Loop. This combo is 6M. Maybe shoot a Crime Scene if it's a good one. 2O million: Start the next Chain Link -- if it's easy 2OM should be a piece of cake. Looping can also get you this much. 5O million: A good mode, a decent multiball, or really nice looping. 1OO million: A good multiball's what you need... 2OO million and over: ... even for this much. If you're not interested in multiball then you'd better start learning those ramps. --- Techniques --- Flipper Passing: Most kickouts allow you to hop the ball to the opposite flipper, and post transfers aren't too difficult. JD's flippers are nearly horizontal, so be sure you can catch the transfered ball. Death Saves: Don't bother; as a 29-inch game, JD is difficult to move, and since bonus can be worth quite a lot, you don't want to tilt. Bang Backs: Nope, sorry. Nudging: Beware of the left outlane, it eats the ball! It's difficult to nudge away from, too, since the post is metal. Try not to let the ball over there in the first place. Nudging should save you from any right outlane drains. --- Scoring --- Average scores on Judge Dredd should be a little over 1OO million, since it is such a difficult game. I don't expect any scores over 5OO million, but you never know; someone could get good at the ramp looping bit. High Scores to Date: Dwain Dibbly (UK) 4.1 billion Hal Erickson (CA) 3.3 billion Lyman Sheats, Jr. (IL) 1.4 billion Dwain shot ramps, and lots of them. --- For More Info --- If you need Judge Dredd's full rules, get Cameron Silver's rule sheet for the game by anonymous ftp. Ftp to rahul.net and go to the Pinball Archive (type "cd pub/sigma/pinball") then type "get PAPA/judgedredd". The PAPA folder of the Archive contains information on each game to be played at PAPA 4. The above tournament settings are the ones to be used in New York, courtesy David Peller. If you'd like to contact Steve Epstein about the game or the tournament, call him on Monday thru Wednesday mornings at 212-247-3725. If you want info on PAPA 4 activities and hotel info, call 1-8OO-FLIPOFF to listen to Joe Schick describing the Ultimate Pinball Challenge. If there's anything you'd like to add to this, just contact me: bowen@cardinal.stanford.edu, especially if you have a high score to report. Coming up next: who knows? Maybe Indy or Twilight Zone. Maybe Star Trek! Maybe... Street Fighter 2!! Bowen "It's a long way dowwwwnnn... thud."