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            Professional and Amateur Pinball Association's Guide to

                                Sega's Maverick

                        Version as of January 11, 1995

DISCLAIMER: This rule sheet is meant as a guideline only, and is
not an official documentation. To the best of our knowledge, the
information contained in this rule sheet is accurate. However, due to
various ROM editions, operator setup options, and tournament
modes, the rules of any particular game may deviate from those
listed below. The rules of the game are always final, and any dis-
crepancies between this rule sheet and the actual game rules cannot
be used as a basis for protest.

This rule sheet was written by Dave Stewart <dstewart@eng.umd.
edu> for distribution at PAPA-5.

1. Playfield Description

Drop Targets: The main feature on Maverick are the four banks of
drop targets, plus the two stand-up targets on either side of the
ramp. Each of these score cards, which are used for playing poker.
See Section 2 for details on the different drop target banks and for
scoring.

Lauren Bell: A model of the Lauren Bell riverboat is on the play-
field. It is used to store locked balls, and to collect awards during
the Lauren Bell mode. Balls are diverted into the Lauren Bell
from the left and right orbits.

Left and Right Orbits: The orbits can either loop around to the other
orbit, feed the Lauren Bell, or feed the rollovers. Several orbit
shots (as shown in the Status Display) will light the right ramp for
a mystery award. Each orbit is also a dollar shot for some of the
modes.

Vertical Up-Kicker (VUK): Just to the right of Lauren Bell, this shot
is used to raise or fold a hand (see Section 2), play blackjack to
relight the kickback, collect extra balls when lit, and is a dollar
shot for some of the modes.

Ramp (Stagecoach): The ramp is used to light lock, collect mystery
awards, collect jackpots during multiball, and it is a dollar shot for
some of the modes.

Rollovers/Advance Bonus Multiplier: At the top center of the play-
field are four rollovers, representing the four card suits. Shoot all
for to advance the end-of-ball bonus multiplier (to 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x,
to 10x). Note that a mystery award can set the multiplier to 20x.

Pop Bumpers: Start at 250K per hit, and resets each ball. Increased
by 250K after every 10 hits up to a maximum of 1M. The super-
pops skill shot can set the pop bumper value to 2M per hit for the
rest of the ball, and the mega-pops mystery award set it to 3M for
the rest of the ball.

Plunger Skill Shot: The plunger can shoot the ball to one of five
places. The first three holes score the award indicated on the dis-
play if that hole is lit. The award for the first hole is always light
lock, for the second hole it is always start mode, and the third hole
is usually super-pops, but can be extra ball or lite special on ball 2
or 3 if the player has a low score. Each of these three awards can
only be scored once each, until all 3 have been awarded. Shooting
the ball in an un-lit hole scores 5M. The fourth hole feeds the
upper right flipper for a shot at the captive ball. Hit the captive
ball to start drop poker, where every drop target is worth 2M for
20 seconds. The fifth is to shoot the ball all the way around the
habitrail to the left inlane. This scores whatever is lit on the ramp.

Captive ball: The captive ball is under the Lauren Bell and behind
the upper-left drop targets. When not lit, it scores 10M. It can be
lit for Super Jackpot during multiball, and is lit during Bank Heist
mode.

2. Playing Poker

In normal 1-ball play, the object of the game is to beat the playfield's
hand by completing all drop targets in the flashing drop target bank.
The possible hands that may be flashing are the following:

Royal Flush: The lower left bank with 5 drop targets.

Straight: The upper-left bank under Lauren Bell, and also has 5 drop
targets.

Four of a kind: The right bank with 4 drop targets.

Three of a kind: The center bank with 3 drop targets.

Two of a kind: The two stand-up targets on either side of the ramp.

Full House: In some cases, both the three-of-a-kind and two-of-a-
kind banks are flashing, which forms the full house.

The game deals the cards by resetting all the drop targets, and lighting
one of the above hands. You must hit all the drop targets in the lit bank
to win a poker chip. However, if you hit any drop target not in the lit
bank, it counts as a discard. If your total number of discards hits 0,
you lose the hand. Your current number of discards is shown on the
display. At the beginning of the game you start with 11 or 12, but as
the game progresses the number of discards is decreased (thus making
it more difficult to win a hand, as you are at higher risk of losing a
hand.)

There are many factors to computing your score for winning a poker
hand. Your base value for each poker hand is 5M times your current
winning streak, which is the number of poker chips you have won in a
row without losing a hand. Your winning streak is also increased by
one when you win a hand. This value can be increased in several
ways, as follows.

Raise/Fold: If you shoot the VUK before completing the drop target
bank, you are given a choice to raise or fold. If you raise, then the
value of that hand is doubled. If you subsequently win the hand by
hitting the flashing drop target bank before discards hits 0, then
you score 10M times your current winning streak, and your win-
ning streak is incremented by 2. If you fold, the game re-deals,
resets the drop targets, and selects a different hand for you to com-
plete. Note that if you fold, your winning streak count is not
affected, and therefore it is advantageous to fold than to lose a
hand.

Perfect: If you complete the flashing drop target bank without dis-
carding (that is, without hitting any other drop target), you score a
perfect hand, and the score for that hand is tripled. Therefore, if
you did not raise, you score 15M times your current winning
streak, and increase winning streak by one, and if you did raise,
you score 30M times your current winning streak, and increase
your winning streak by two.

Close Call: If you complete the flashing drop target bank with only
one discard remaining, you get a close call, and the score for that
hand is doubled. Therefore, if you did not raise, you score 10M
times your current winning streak, and increase winning streak by
one, and if you did raise, you score 20M times your current win-
ning streak, and increase your winning streak by two.

Note that hitting a drop target on a non-flashing bank is not considered
a discard if it is "not your fault". That is, if hit as a ricochet off a suc-
cessful hit (which the game detects as hitting within 2 seconds of a hit
of a drop target on a flashing bank) or if the ball is hit immediately
after a pop-bumper hit, it is not counted as a discard.

Each drop target can only be a discard once, since the target stays
down until a new hand is dealt. However, the stand-up targets on
either side of the ramp can continually count as discards. Shooting
either of these targets when the other one is lit and the pair is flashing
will score the other.

You can spot cards in your drop target bank by hitting the VUK within
2 seconds of the ball going down either inlane. The dollar chip on the
VUK will flash for these 2 seconds. That card that is spotted is always
the lowest target not yet hit (based on the physical locations on the
playfield).

Completing five poker chips awards the flashing 25M poker chip and
starts the corresponding mode, as described in the next section.

The Start Mode skill shot will award as many poker chips as neces-
sary to complete all five poker chips, and increase the winning streak
by that number of poker chips.

3. Modes

Earning five poker chips awards the flashing 25M poker chip and
starts the corresponding mode, which is one of the following:

Coop's Cash: All four dollar shots are lit, and the timer is set to 30
seconds. Within this time, shoot each one for 10M a piece, which
lights a roving shot for 50M. Collect the 50M and the mode re-
starts, the timer is reset to 30 seconds, and this time each shot is
20M, and completing those lights a 100M roving shot. Collecting
the roving shot again re-starts the mode and resets the timer, but
the values of the shots do not increase anymore.

Lauren Bell: Shoot the riverboat through either orbit to score
10M+10M to 100M and a mystery value. The mode lasts 30 sec-
onds. The mystery value can be one of the following:

7	Infinite Discard

7	20x Bonus

7	Mega Pops

7	Laser Kickback

7	Light Extra Ball

7	Extra Ball

7	50M

7	Lite Special

7	Special

7	10M to 100M random point award

	In tournament settings, the mystery value is always scored in the
above order, with extra balls worth 50M and specials worth
100M.

Bank Heist: Shoot the captive ball for 100M, 200M+Lite Extra Ball,
and 300M. Mode ends after 30 seconds or if the captive ball is hit
three times.

Angel's Revenge: A frenzy mode with every switch worth 250K, and
increases by 250K after every 10 hits. In addition to scoring these
points, a bounty value is also maintained of equal value. Shoot the
VUK to score this bounty value. The mode ends after 30 seconds.

Stagecoach: The right ramp is lit for a progressive jackpot, which is
initially 10M and increases by 1M for each drop target hit, and by
10M for each successful ramp shot. Mode ends after 30 seconds.

After completing each of the above modes, win five more poker chips
to start the Poker Championship.

4. Poker Championship

A 4-ball multiball mode, with a ball saver enabled for 30-seconds.
You must manually plunge the balls, or the game will not serve up
new balls.

Each drop target bank begins flashing. Knock down all drop targets in
a bank to make it solid. Make all four drop target banks solid to light
the VUK. Shoot the VUK to collect the Championship Pot.

Each drop target adds 1M times number of balls in play to this pot,
and completing a bank adds 10M times number of balls in play to the
pot. The captive ball adds 100M to the pot.

After collecting the pot, all drop target banks go back to flashing, and
you can repeat to collect another championship pot. The pot continues
to increase even after collecting it; it does not reset after winning it,
and therefore can grow to be quite large.

5. Blackjack

The VUK is lit for Blackjack whenever the kickback is not lit. Shoot
the VUK to play blackjack. Use the right flipper to hit, and the left
flipper to stand. The machine then deals itself a hand. If you are the
winner, you score 1M for each point of your hand (so if you have 19,
you score 19M), and you relight the kickback. The dealer always hits
on 16 and lower, and stands on 17 and higher.

During a mode or in multiball, you do not play blackjack. Instead, the
machine randomly lights the kickback, on average for every second
shot to the VUK.

In tournament mode, playing blackjack is not random. You will win
the 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc. if you always hit on 16 and lower and stand on 17
and higher. Similarly, when in a mode or multiball, it will always
relight the kickback every second shot.

6. Multiball

Lite multiball by shooting the right ramp to light the lock. The number
of ramp shots required is variable based on game settings. After each
ramp shot, the display tells you how many more are needed to light
the lock. The lock can also be lit by a skill shot.

Once a lock is lit, shoot the right orbit to lock the ball. After locking
ball 1, you get a plunger skill shot. Shoot the first hole to increase
jackpot by 10M, or the second or third hole to increase by 5M. The
jackpot does not increase if you hit the 4th hole or send the ball
around on the ramp.

After locking the second ball, you have a plunger skill shot, where the
second hole immediately gives you a 4-ball multiball, and the first and
third holes double the jackpot value, but don't yet give you multiball.
If you don't get the 4-ball multiball, you must lock a third ball. If you
do get 4-ball multiball, then you have another skill shot, to increase
the base jackpot value by 2x or 3x.

Once multiball starts, shoot the ramp to collect the jackpot. Every
switch increases the jackpot value by 200K. Scoring three jackpots
lites the captive ball for a super jackpots, which is initially 250M, and
increased by 200K with every switch closure. If you collect the super
jackpot, the ramp is again lit for 3 more jackpots.

If all but 1 ball drains ending multiball, you have 12 seconds to restart
it by shooting the right orbit. This time you are given a plunger skill
shot for a 3-ball multiball. If you don't get that, you get a 2-ball multi-
ball. If you do get it, you have a chance to 2x or 3x the jackpot value
as before.

The Coop's Cash and Bank Heist modes continue to run during multi-
ball. You cannot start multiball while in one of the other modes.

Note in multiplayer games: Maverick does not do a very good job in
adjusting the lock/skill shots for multiplayer games. If you lock ball 1
and there are already two balls in the lock from a previous player, you
do not get the plunger skill shot to add 10M to the jackpot value. If
you lock ball 2 with two balls already in the lock, then you do not get
a chance at a 4-ball multiball, and you must lite and lock a third ball.

7. Tournament Settings

Lauren Bell and mystery always gives awards in the same order.

Blackjack programmed to win every second time.

No extra balls, no specials. Score 50M instead of an extra ball, and
100M instead of a special.

8. Scoring Level

Grand Champion scores on Maverick typically range between 3B and
6B. In tournament mode, it is expected that the top A division player
may score about 2B, and the average game be on the order of 500M-
1B. In the B and lower divisions, top scores will probably be about
700M.

9. Strategy Summary

The Lauren Bell mode is by far the most lucrative mode. Just keep
shooting the orbits for 30 seconds, and you will wind up with 600+M
plus extra balls and specials (or even more points in tournament
mode).

The captive ball mode is worth a lot, but the captive ball is almost
impossible to hit, so you may be better off ignoring this mode.

Winning poker hands can be worth a lot of points, especially once you
have a significant winning streak. Try to score perfect, because this
triples your score value. As an example, suppose winning streak is 10,
you raise, and you complete the bank perfect. That is worth 300M!

Shoot start mode on ball one, as this immediately wins you 5 poker
chips and gives you an initial winning streak of 5.
