New to this version: Lots of updates from Keefer, including many scoring corrections and corrected behaviour of Loop extra balls, and some updates for version 1.30.
New to version 1.4: How to disable the jet bumpers. Change in Dock ramp behaviour in 1.10E.
New to version 1.3: Mystery target behavior. Level 6 in Skyscraper mode. New Explosion award.
New to version 1.2: Updates to Reactor and Shuttle modes; number of combos needed for Combo Mania is 12.
New to version 1.1: Behaviour of unlit lock hole; update to Elevator mission; Power awards above level 8. All rules apply to 1.10E.
These are Dave's rules for the computer pinball simulation The Web, from Empire Interactive. This document is copyright 1995, 1996 by David M. Smith. Permission is granted to copy this document verbatim in any medium without charge. Multiball (and probably other terms) is a trademark of Williams/Bally/Midway. The Web is probably a trademark of Empire Interactive. Just imagine a (TM) after every noun and you'll be right.
Thanks to: Ade Barritt, Cad Delworth, Mark Green, Keith Johnson, Mark Sloan.
Contents
Pro Pinball: The Web is the first table released by Pro Pinball and for a first effort, it's a damn fine game. I wrote a review on rec.games.pinball just after I bought the game: I liked it then, and now after may hours of play my opinion hasn't diminished at all. The Web combines the two crucial elements in pinball, one or both of which are lacking in most pinball simulations: it has a great playfield design and sensible, balanced rules. On top of this, it has realistic ball and flipper behaviour, and a nice user interface to boot.
Unlike just about all pinball sims in recent years, The Web has abandoned scrolling and instead gives a three-dimensional players-eye view of the playfield (with a choice of six different viewing angles). The playfield is rendered from a highly detailed 3-d model of the playfield and includes lighting, shadows and reflections (even on the ball!). The design itself is in the Ritchie style with plenty of fun, high-paced shots; it's sort of like a reversed ST:TNG, with touches of HS2 and Rollergames thrown in. The rules, too, are well designed and nicely balanced, with lots of parallel goals leading towards a challenging Wizard mode. There's a great sound package with some cool music and quotes (although the sound effects aren't quite up to WMS standard), and some nifty DMD animations too.
Ob-Brag: My best so far (and given the amount I've played it, it's a fairly disappointing best) is 15.5B regulation (that's with starting, but not completing, the Ultimate Showdown) and 17.5B buy-in. The Combo Champion stands at 10 Combos; the Loop champion is 11 (yes, 11!) loops. I'm sure most can do better. :)
This rulesheet corresponds to Version 1.10E of The Web. Changes in from version 1.00E are listed below. An upgrade from 1.00E is available from the Empire Interactive website.
Playfield description starts, as customary, from the flippers and proceeds clockwise. I include this section mainly to give names to the shots and describe their basic purpose.
These rules correspond to version 1.10E of The Web. See below for rule changes from 1.00E.
On the playfield poster included with the game is a short instruction card as you'd expect to find on a real pinball machine:
Space Station Frenzy Shoot all drop targets to light dock. Dock 3 balls to start Frenzy and score jackpots.That about sums it up really, but if you want more detail, read on...Fast Frenzy Shoot the web ramp repeatedly to light lock. Shoot lock to start Frenzy and score fast jackpots.
Missions Shoot the centre sinkhole to activate missions.
Power Levels Inlanes light spinners. Shoot lit spinners to advance power levels and light awards.
The Arena Shoot consecutive loops to light extra balls and bonus held.
The Ultimate Showdown Complete "missions", "combos", "power", "bonus" and "ultra" to begin the Ultimate Showdown.
Three balls per game, plus extra balls earned. There is a fairly long ball-saver with each ball; if you drain while the red "Ball Saver" light is flashing your ball will be returned to play. (You don't get another shot at the Skill Shot, however.) The ballsaver also lights for a shorter period after balls are launched following a lock, and also at the start of any multiball.
Flippers are activated with the Control or Shift keys; hold one
flipper for the Status Report; press both to make selections (Return
also works for this), cancel Buy-In, and disable the Jets (while
held). Return launches a ball. Press `S' to start a 1-player game.
Pressing 'S' during Ball 1 adds players (to a maximum of 4); 'S'
starts a new game on later balls. Use 'C' to buy in (if credits are
available) at the end of the game. In version 1.30, 'P' may be used
to pause the game.
Ball Rescue
Credits and high scores
Shoot the Dock ramp immediately after launch for a Skill Shot award of 25M on the first ball, increasing by 25M. Alternatively, go for the Super Skill Shot by shooting the Loop followed by the Dock ramp for double the current skill shot value, and advance the skill shot value by 25M (this was 50M before 1.10E).
The skill shot is available at the beginning of all balls (regulation, extra and bought), but not after locked balls.
The leftmost left inlane and the right inlane briefly light the right and left spinners to increase the Power level. The first award is Power Level 1, then Power Level 2, up to Power Level 8. Note that although the award lamps are split between the left (odd) and right (even) orbits, you don't need to alternate shots to collect power awards. The awards, in order, are:
Any of the non-sinkhole Spider shots (left and right orbits, Dock ramp, Bike ramp and Loop) shot in succession count as a Combo. (After you shoot one of these shots, the Spider light on the next shot(s) in sequence for a combo flashes.) Two shots in a row is a Combo; three shots in a row is a Double Combo, four shots in a row is a Triple Combo and any further shots score a Super Combo, all for increasing amounts of points. Note that the Loop only advances the Combo one level (the Right Orbit lights both the Loop and the Dock ramp for the next combo, but the Loop only lights the Dock ramp); repeated shots don't score further shots but subsequently shooting the Dock ramp continues the Combo sequence where you left off.
Combos scored are counted, and count towards bonus. In addition, Combo Mania is lit every 12 combos (the number required to light it is displayed when a combo is scored).
The person to shoot the most shots in succession gets to enter his or her initials as the Combo Champion.
The Mission Start hole is normally lit for Start Mission at the beginning of each ball (although lit Modes take precedence). When lit, shoot the Mission Start hole to start the currently flashing mission. In general, missions last about 45 seconds and require a certain number of shots to be completed within the time limit to complete the mission. The Spider lights indicate which shots need to be hit (except for the Ammo Dump mission). If a Mission is successfully completed, a Showdown Sphere is awarded (as well as maximum points for the mission). After a Mission ends, the mission total is displayed, and either Ramp must be shot before Mission Start will be lit again.
The lit mission is advanced with the Jet Bumpers or with the Mystery target.
The mission descriptions proceed in the order of the playfield lights,
from the top down and right to left.
Reactor Critical Biker Race Hunt Down Shuttle Skyscraper Ammo Dump All Missions Completed
After relighting Mission Start with a ramp shot (as usual) you can then replay all the missions as before. Each time through the missions increases their value (2x the original value, then 3x, etc.), including the completion award. So the 2nd time through, every target is worth double what it was before, all modes will be about 200M for finishing, and the completion bonus is 500M.
In addition to Missions, there are Modes may be lit at various points
in the game. Modes are started at the Mission Start hole when the red
arrow is flashing. Modes take priority over the missions, and are
started in the order they are lit. Lit modes carry between balls.
Quick Shot Super Launcher Combo Mania
Multiball: Space Station Frenzy
Shoot all six drop targets to light Dock at the Dock ramp. The yellow lights indicate which drops remain to be hit. The Reactor hole, and re-completing an already completed 3-bank spots a target in the other bank. (These rules don't seem to change for subsequent multiballs, so starting multiball never gets any more difficult.) When lock is lit, shoot the Dock ramp to lock three balls to start Multiball.
Multiball (Space Station Frenzy) starts immediately when the third ball is locked. It is normally a three-ball multiball, but there's a secret way of increasing the number to four.
The goal of Multiball is to score the Ultra jackpot, which proceeds as follows:
The base Jackpot value is 10M, and can be increased during normal play by shooting the Jet Bumpers or the unlit Dock ramp. The Jackpot value accumulates during the game; it never decreases.
The Bike ramp lights Lock at the Lock Hole every five ramp shots. Shoot the Lock Hole when lit to select your award. `2', `3' and `4' are the number of balls in the Frenzy; the first is locked now, and the remainder must be locked before the current ball ends to start the Fast Frenzy. Although lock will remain lit between balls if no balls have been locked yet (i.e. you haven't made a selection), it will unlight at the end of the ball if you haven't locked the requisite number of balls, and you will have to re-light Lock at the ramp and start again.
Fast Frenzy is a fairly simple multiball: shoot Mission Start when lit to score a Jackpot, and shoot the drops to light or build the jackpot value. When scored, the jackpot must be re-lit before it can be scored again. The base Jackpots value is balls-in-play * (balls-at-start-of-frenzy + 1M * Frenzies started), and is multiplied by the number of drop targets down except when all 6 are down when a 10x Jackpot is awarded. The drops reset when a jackpot is collected. Clearly, a 4-ball multiball is much more lucrative than a 2-ball (but correspondingly difficult to start). While not a always a particularly high-scoring round (especially for early 2 or 3-ball Frenzies), the quotes are great. ("I'm impressed!")
For a description of the `?' option, and how to get a 6-ball Fast Frenzy, see Easter Eggs below.
Fast Frenzy ends when there are less than two balls in play.
Video Mode is lit at by collecting Power Level 5 (or possibly from an Explosion award). Start it by shooting the Lock Hole when lit.
This is a fast and surprisingly exciting video mode. The idea is to shoot the approaching mines, but avoid shooting awards (and let them hit you instead). The objects appear to the left or right of centre, and you have to use the corresponding flipper button to shoot them down. You begin with five lives; letting a mine hit you, or shooting the funny atom-shaped object loses you a life. The awards are spheres with `5' written on them; let them hit you (don't shoot 'em!) for 5M. There's also an extra ball (EB) towards the end of the wave, and shooting it is a Bad Idea ('Oh Dear...').
Later waves are the same, except you start with one less life each time you play (to a minimum of one life, i.e. 2 hits), but are worth correspondingly more as all awards are multiplied by the wave number (number of times you started video mode), except the 5M spheres. Mines score 1M*wave; score 2M*wave for collecting atoms. Completion awards a Showdown Sphere plus 100M*wave, or 250M*wave (!) for a perfect completion (by shooting all mines, but no spheres or atoms). This is pretty difficult, as the video mode speeds up a lot as you progress.
There is an under-playfield magnet just in front of the tip of the upper flipper which is used to grab the ball for a clean shot at the Dock ramp. The idea is to shoot the Explosion Hole when the Magnet is lit (the small magnet-shaped light). The magnet activates and the ball is dropped near the magnet which grabs it. You wait a bit for the ball to settle and at the "Fire!" cue, you flip, hitting the ball and neatly sending it up the Dock ramp. Pressing the left flipper button cancels the magnet.
The magnet is lit at the start the game and by completing the 6 reactor drop targets during normal play (lights Light Magnet at the Reactor Hole) and then shooting the Reactor Hole itself. During multiball play, you only need to complete a single 3-bank to light Light Magnet.
The Magnet is also momentarily lit at the Explosion Hole after the ball travels through the rightmost left inlane. Shooting the Explosion Hole immediately lights the Magnet as usual, but also lights Dock for a very short period. Shooting Dock before it times out scores one Dock, but leaves Dock unlit.
The Explosion Hole also gives Explosion Awards when lit (at Power Level 2). Some of the awards I've seen include:
When Super Jets is active, the jet bumpers are worth 1M, 2M or 3M a pop (the amount corresponds to the number of bumpers that are flashing). The Super Jets value is advanced with a Super Jets award from the Explosion Hole or at Power Level 3. It can also be advanced by shooting the small lane below the jet bumpers when the red light ("Super Jets") is flashing; you do this by shooting the same lane when it's unlit. In short, shooting the lane twice in fairly short order advances the Super Jets value.
Normally, the Super Jets value resets to zero (off) at the start of each ball. However, a Super Jets Held award (from Explosions or the Loop) maintains the value to the next ball. In this case the bumpers will be solidly lit, instead of flashing.
Repeated shots to the Loop are possible, and quite valuable as well!
Firstly, complete shots around the Loop are counted and accumulated during the game, and are each worth 400K at Fun With Bonus.
Secondly, consecutive shots around the Loop are counted, and the person to score the most is the Loop Champion. Three consecutive shots awards Bonus Held and four consecutive shots awards Super Jets Held.
Best of all, Extra Balls can be lit from the Loop as well. The number of Loops required is listed in the Status Report. It starts at 2 Loops, and increases by 1 Loop every time an Extra Ball is collected (by whatever method). It is obviously very good strategy, then, to get the extra ball for 2 loops, then 3 loops, then 4 loops. After that, then you can get the rest of the extra balls. If you get an extra ball from Bonus X, for example, before the 2-loop one, then it will still go up to 3 loops. Extra Balls lit from the Loop are hurry-up Extra Balls; you must shoot the Mission Start while the EB light is still flashing to collect it. Unfortunately, the hurry-up timer decreases with the number of loops required to light it, so it's just about impossible to collect a 5-loop extra ball.
Shots to the Bike Ramp are counted, much like for the Shuttle ramp in ST:TNG. Ordinarily, shots to the Bike Ramp add one ramp shot to the total, but if one (both) of the 2x lights are flashing or lit the shot counts for 2 (4) ramp shots. Shooting one of the 2x targets makes it flash for a while; shooting the Lock hole when it's not lit for Lock or Video Mode and when no mode or mission is running lights one of the 2x targets until the ramp is shot.
Lock is lit at the Lock hole at 1 ramp and every multiple of 5 ramp shots. In addition, Extra Ball is lit at 20, 50, 100 and 150 ramp shots.
Bonus is awarded at the end of each ball (provided you don't tilt). Bonus is calculated as follows: (400K per loop + 500K per power level collected + 600K per combo) * Bonus Multiplier.
The bonus multiplier is advanced (1x - 2x - 4x - 6x - 8x - 10x) by completing the rollover lanes above the jet bumpers. (It may also be advanced by a random Explosion award.) Completing the rollovers when the bonus is already at 10x award Bonus Maxed for 10M+5M, apparently without limit. Bonus Maxed (not 10x bonus) also lights the "Bonus" light for Ultimate Showdown.
The bonus resets to 1x at the end of the ball, unless Bonus Held is scored (from Loops or from an Explosion Award) during the current ball. If you have 10x Bonus Held, the Bonus Maxed value will reset to 10M for the next ball, however.
Once per game, the Extra Ball is lit by scoring 10x bonus.
This game is littered with extra balls:
Like any good pinball machine, The Web contains several secret modes and special surprises (even a cow!). But of course, it's more fun to find them out for yourself.
The following changes were introduced between version 1.00E and version 1.10E of The Web: