The Pinball ArchiveJudge Dredd at IPDB
Rule Sheet at Pinball.org
Please leave tips, suggestions for strategy, and rule considerations in the comment section below. If you have questions regarding gameplay, PLEASE ASK! Someone out there is bound to know the answer.
If you have advice for other players, please share!
Great video, I’ve recently picked up a JD and wondering what strategy tips people have for getting really big scores?
The best strategy would be to shoot 1 ramp (probably left ramp) over and over and over again for 500K+ per ball (no known limit).
Another good strategy is double bonus on a ball where you have a lot of mode points (including ultimate challenge). You only get one shot at double bonus, so pick it wisely.
Thanks Keith, how do you hit double bonus? Is it just the captive ball target at the back of the 3?
On my JD, there is definitely a limit on the left ramp. You can build its value up until it’s 6m and if you then shoot it again, the diverter kicks the ball into the planet and the value of the ramp is reset to 500K. According to me, this limit makes the scoring on this machine pretty balanced.
I must admit that I’m running the modified prototype ROM (L1AT) to be able to use the deadworld mod, so that could also be the cause of this. I don’t know about the behavior of other software revisions.
I’m just saying: if you walk up to a JD in competition, don’t always assume that there’s no cap on the left ramp.
Yes, the 2nd hit on that target will double your bonus for that ball. Every 2 hits after that it awards 5M.
Thanks Keith, I’ve only ever gone for the captive balls as part of the Meltdown mode. Good to know they have other uses.
hello!
thank you very much for what are you doing with this site! it is amazing and please keep it going! honestly, amazing!
now, concerning Judge Dredd, I love that game.
it’s unfortunate that the game in the video ended with the Ultimate Challenge flashing. hitting ramps might work (I once found a machine with the sensors broken — has optical sensors on ramps — and it kept on rising ramp scores, up into the millions), but I don’t find it much fun. more fun would be to actually complete the modes (Chain Links), unlike the guy in the video.
they are diverse and fun. start with Balckout (2-ball) to get the JUDGE targets, use the extra buttons to cycle trough missions.
after you complete them all, Ultimate Challenge will start with lots of ball and big jackpots (10 million for each Crime Scene). another way to get to UC is to get all 4 jackpots in multiball — also feasible. best I did was 3 Ultimate Challenges in a game. that was cool!
thanks for the double bonus trick!
@chris – ironically, you shouldn’t be shooting the captive balls during meltdown… For that, you should shoot the ? target, which completes the mode instantly.
@alexandru – of course shooting one ramp over and over and over again isn’t any fun, but it can easily be where most of the points are in the game, and in a tournament, that’s what you care about.
DREDD! What an underrated game, in terms of how cheap you can get this pin for compared to the more well known superpins (TZ, IJ, STTNG) that go for 3x more at minimum. Hopefully that is changing, but until then this is always a great game I recommend to ppl on a budget. You can get a $3.5k quality game for often 1/3rd that price. I got my JD for $1100. That sounds about right, but it had the proper deadworld mod installed, topper, & is mint near mint condition, really about as nice a JD as you’ll ever see. I consider that a great find, I may never get more bang for my buck than I did with this one.
You get a lot of pinball action packed into a wider body, great art package, great sound (1st Bally with DCS), great layout & design, neat “supergame” option, 6 ball multiball. Thus, how did this pin get so underrated & undervalued? I think I know why but I won’t get into all of the reasons other than to say that it wasn’t because it wasn’t a good game, but a part of the reason is the scrapping of the games main feature, the deadworld locks. Take away any games main toy/feature & its gonna take a hit. Yeah the deadworld still functioned somewhat, but players/operators had to of been wondering what the deal was with that.
Was disappointed to not see the deadworld mod on this vid, you absolutely want the DEADWORLD MOD if you own this game. Why does PAPA not have this installed? As long as you got clean & aligned switches it should really be no worry, & the parts to make the deadworld mod are pretty cheap (really just need the new ring & rom). After all, this is not even really a mod considering this is how the game was originally designed. &, IMHO, this is why the game perhaps wasn’t as highly regarded when in arcades, I think it would of made a big difference.
When I watch this video & play this game at the warehouse (I believe there are usually 2, both without the mod), it just seems odd without the mod being there. Weird shooting the ball lock & seeing the ball just fly past it. By habit I shoot that shot & relax, thinking I’m getting a break after locking the ball, then its too late when I see the ball draining!
Still a solid game, mod or not, just because there is so much else going on with plenty of different shots & features. Truly a great game to own. If you are on a budget & can only have a couple pins & want re-playability, I think you can’t do much better than JD.
I owned the game for a while now, but even I learned a thing or two between the video & the comments above, good stuff.
I end by saying I’d like to see a vid of JD with the deadworld mod, & hopefully that happens, but this one gets the job done.
The reason why PAPA hasn’t installed the deadworld mod is probably because it’s not really suitable for competition play.
To be able to use the deadworld mod, you have to run the prototype software L1(AT), which still contains quite a few bugs that can mess up an entire game.
For example: suppose you have 2 balls locked in the deadworld and the third lock isn’t lit. If you then shoot up the ramp softly and the ball drops in the ring, this doesn’t get registered. Then the machine starts a ball search and releases all balls from the ring. This confuses the entire multiball / locking mechanism making it impossible to start multiball again for any player.