                                 
                           Independence Day Pinball Rule Sheet
                                   Version 2.1  1/14/97
                               Compiled By  Robert Macauley
                          ---------------------------------------

     The following is an attempt at a rule sheet for Sega’s  (alias Data East’s) latest
  creation Independence Day. First the legal stuff. Independence Day, ID4 and
  any other reference to the movie is copyright 20th Century Fox and I don’t need
  any hassles from them so just imagine tm after each mention of their name. 
  Sega are licensed to release the ID4 pinball. Multiball and I guess several other
  features mentioned here are copyrighted by somebody out there. This is of no
  interest to me (I just play the games, I don’t own em).
     This rule sheet is released as freeware and as such may be used in any manner
  you wish, just as long as no profit is made from it’s use and we still get some    
  credit for it’s existence. And now on with the show.


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                                     The Story So Far
                                   --------------------                                                                           
       In the beginning it was a dark and cold night when something caught my
   eye as I was driving home. In the front window of a local machine operator’s
   showroom I saw it: the Independence Day pinball. After drooling on the 
   window for a while (not a good look I admit)  I didn’t give it much more
   thought at that stage.

      The scene now shifts to mid September while playing Theatre of Magic.
   I was told that ID4 was on site at an indoor sports Centre and I decided to 
   check it out. It wasn’t there when I arrived but was back on site 3 days 
   later. After 2 hours playing the idea for this sheet was born.

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                      Changes to This Version
                      -------------------------

      Section on League Mode and Wizard Mode added. All text moved to the
   left a fair way to allow all words to appear when printed. Sorry to anyone
   who printed copies of version 1.0 and found it hard to read. I’m new to all
   this. Bragging section added. Hurry up strategy added.



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                                          The Movie 
                                         ------------

       Saw it, liked it but thought it was a little over the top in the realism 
   department but entertaining none the less. At least now some modes in the
   game make more sense.
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                       Playfield Layout 
                                       ----------------

     Starting at the drain and going around clockwise:

              
  Outlanes- Normal. They seem reasonably forgiving. Can be lit for Special.

  Inlanes- Normal. Always lit for Light Combo. 

  Flippers- 2 lower and 1 upper on the right like Getaway. All normal length.

  Slingshots- Normal size and shape.

  Area 51 targets- 3 targets in the same spot as the relight kickback on Getaway.
     Lighting all 3 lights Alien Scan.

  Left Orbit- Standard orbit shot. When lit for combo the ball loops right around.
     Unlit shots feed to the bumpers. Orbits advance the bumper value. Also
     awards Hurry up and jackpot.

  Left Ramp- Awards 5 mil, 10 mil and 20 mil towards Red Alert and awards
     jackpots. Weak shots fall back into a sinkhole behind the lock. Feeds
     to the right flipper.

  F-18 targets- 3 targets in the same spot as the Itt targets on Addams Family.
     Light all 3 to start Hurry-up. 

  Upper Orbit- A loop shot like on Getaway, shot from the upper flipper. Awards
     Rockwell 1947 which is 5 mil + 5mil per loop. Also starts Area 51
     Multiball and awards Area 51 jackpots in this mode.
 
  Yellow Target- Spots an ID4 lane. 

  Combo Target- A smaller version of the train wreck on Addams Family.   
     Awards combo jackpot when lit. When not lit spots one of 5 or 6
     Aliens. Spotting them all awards 50 mil.

  Lock- An Alien head which opens when hit to reveal a sinkhole. Shoot the hole
      to lock the ball. Also awards the first jackpot.

  Centre Ramp- Feeds the ball to above the upper flipper. Lights Extra Ball at
      5 ramps and awards it at 6. Also awards 10 mil at 10 ramps, 15 mil at
      15 ramps and I assume continues on in this manner. Also awards 
      jackpots.

   ID4 Lanes- 3 lanes set at a slight angle which are hard to see at times. Light
      all 3 to advance bonus X to a max. of 10X.

  Green Alien Targets- 3 targets spaced between the lock and the ramps. Hit
       all 3 for 10 mil. 

   Right Ramp- Spots 5 mil, 10 mil and 20 mil towards Red Alert. Also awards
        jackpot. Feeds to the right flipper.

  Jet Bumpers- 3 bumpers in the usual triangle formation. Each hit advances
      the hurry-up value.

  Right Orbit- Same as the left except it doesn’t award Hurry-up.

  Computer Virus- A sinkhole similar to the altar on Dracula but in a lower 
       position. Each shot advances the virus by 20%. Reaching 100% lights
       the right orbit for 100 mil.

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                                            Rules and Modes
                                            ------------------

   Not really much in the way of modes thankfully:

   Red Alert- 3 shots up the left an right ramps starts Red Alert. This is a 
      Payback Time type of mode where each shot up the 2 ramps is worth
      50 mil for 30 seconds. This can be worth a lot.

   Hurry Up- Light the upper 3 bank to start hurry-up. The bumpers advance
      the hurry-up value from a minimum of 20 mil. Each hit increases the 
      value by 250k and each orbit shot increases this by 50k. After lighting
      hurry-up you have 30 seconds to shoot the left orbit to freeze the value.
      After you hit the first shot, each shot to the left orbit awards that value
      again until the timer expires. Each hurry-up requires you to complete 
      the 3 bank an additional time.

   Area 51- Light the lower 3 bank to light Alien Scan. Hit the bank again to
      collect. Alien Scan awards include: Light Area 51 Multiball, Alien 
      Frenzy and Hold Bonus. There must be other awards.

   Area 51 Multiball- The Centre orbit starts the mode. Each shot to the loop
      awards a jackpot which starts at 50 mil. Hitting any flashing target 
      advances the jackpot value to a maximum of 90 mil. The green targets
      add a ball the first time they are hit. Ends when 1 ball remains.

    Combos- The left and right return lanes light the orbits for combos. A 
      combo is worth 5 mil and increases by 1 mil per shot. This also lights
      the combo target for a combo jackpot of 15 mil.

    Multiball- Hit the alien to open the lock. Shoot the sinkhole to lock the ball.
       Locked balls are fed to the right flipper from a vuk like the one on 
       Jurassic Park. Each lock must be lit individually but Multiball is lit at
       the start of ball 3 if you haven’t had it. Lock 3 balls to start Multiball.
       The aim is to score as many jackpots as you can. The first jackpot
       is a shot to the lock worth 40 mil. This lights the orbits for double
       jackpot 80 mil. The 3rd wave of jackpots are the 3 ramps for triple
 
       jackpot 80 mil. During the triple jackpot wave hitting the Area 51
       targets adds a ball once for each target. Getting all 3 triple jackpots
       lights the combo target for super jackpot 160 mil. After collecting
       the super jackpot the values reset to 40 mil and the cycle starts again,
       however balls can’t be added in wave 3. For subsequent Multiballs
       the Alien must be hit an additional time to open the lock. There may
       be a limit but it is at least 5 hits for each lock.

   Rear Sinkhole- Weak shots up the left ramp fall back into a hole. This 
       advances the date starting at July 2 and gives a quote from the movie.
       I can’t work out if there is any significance to this. The dates advance
       one day at a time up to July 4, then shows July 4 (later) before going
       on to July 5 and awarding 25 mil (I think).

   Bonus Count- As far as I can tell the end of ball bonus is worked out like
       this:
      Area 51-- 1 mil per hit
      Alien Bonus-- 1 mil per Alien ramp
      ID4 Bonus-- 1 mil per rollover hit??
      Alien Frenzy (1 mil jets) if started
      All X bonus X value (max. 10X)
      I could be wrong as it all happens so quickly.

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                                      Random Notes
                                      ---------------

     All modes pause during Multiballs. Therefore it is not possible to have 
  more than one thing going at a time. 
     The Extra Ball and Replay animations are good. EB shows the White
  House exploding while Replay shows the building in L A where the party
  was happening in the movie. Most animation is OK but I’m not sure about
   the word Multiball appearing on the Alien ship.
      The double jackpot plays a very bad Elvis impersonation from the movie.
      Below the bottom flippers are a pair of Alien eyes which light up when
   you flip. White lights for a flip and green lights if you hold the flipper. this 
   is a nice touch.
      The ball can be launched by pressing both flippers which is not very nice.
   I hope this can be disabled.
      Sometimes on an outlane drain you get the animation of a fat lady with
   pigtails hitting a high note. This is a reference to the movie and a saying “It’s
   not over until the fat lady sings”. Not a bad touch.
      Most games these days display the anti drug message “just say no to drugs”
   . ID4 displays the message “Just say no to Alien Invasion”. 
      The last person to get super jackpot gets their name on the high score
   table as the ID4 Super Jackpot. It feeds the ego but thats about all.
      Is it my imagination or does the 20th Century Fox logo in attract mode  
    look like Pox not Fox. No legal action please.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                Wizard Mode and League Mode
                                ---------------------------------

       Holding in the left flipper button when you press start enables League Mode.
   I don’t know what the difference is to regular play but I can’t see anything yet.
   Holding in the right flipper enables Wizard Mode. The only difference I can see
   here is that it takes 4 hits to open each lock the first time and I think 6 hits the 
   second time. There must be other changes but I wasn’t playing too well at the 
   time so I haven’t found any.
   
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------



                                            Quotes
                                            -------

     Just a few from memory:

     Hurry-up-- Kick the tires and light the fires big daddy.
     Start of Multiball-- All right Mr President here we go.
     Double jackpot-- Thank you very much. (Done in an Elvis voice)
     Destroy Alien ship-- In the words of our generation..UP YOURS!!
     Red Alert-- I have GOT to get me one of these.
     100 mil in a mode-- You da man big daddy.
     July 2-- They’re gonna kill us all.
     July 4-- Today, we celebrate our Independence Day.
     Match-- Look at you. Ship all banged up.
     Game over-- Now thats what I call a close encounter.
     Start of Extra Ball--Enjoy this Extra Ball it may be your last.
     
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                             Tips
                                             ----

     Not much to think of really. Red Alert is the only really high scoring mode,
 although the game is fairly big on points. If you can master the left ramp and
 the machine allows you to pass the ball to the right flipper, keep shooting the 
 left ramp for 20 mil per shot. This ramp is as narrow as the one on Indy
 so be careful.
      Bang Backs are definitely possible especially on a right outlane drain. The
 ball seems to jump back half an inch, in fact this is the only machine that 
 I’ve ever successfully pulled off a bang back on.
 

     Milk the hurry up value for all it's worth. This tip was observed by Koi
 Morris at the Flip Out '96 tournament. His discription is as follows.
 1. Shoot the left orbit when combo shot is not lit on that orbit.
 2. This feeds the ball to the bumpers and increases the bumper advance value
    by 50k. You may want to shake the machine a bit to keep the ball in the
    bumper area.
 3. When the ball eventually leaves the bumpers, hold the right flipper up and
    the ball should roll along the raised flipper and go to the left flipper.
 4. Raise the left flipper and the ball should roll off the left flipper and 
    go to the right flipper for a trap or a catch.
 5. Shoot the orbit again over and over as much as possible.
    Koi suggests collecting the hurry up at 500mil+. Light the hurry up and 
    collect it as often as possible within the time limit.
    I've also been able to let the ball bounce from the left flipper to the right
    or do a drop catch and shoot either the right orbit or the alien ramp from
    the left flipper. Balls coming off the alien ramp can also be passed to the
    left flipper this way as the ball is travelling at the same speed as if it 
    had come out of the bumpers. So far I haven't built the value up to 500mil
    but I'm working on it. The only problems with trick is that at first it 
    takes a while to build the value up and it is annoying if you start hurry
    up after all that work and drain without collecting all the points.

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                                     Bragging
                                     --------


      My best so far is 5.2 Billion. My best Red Alert total is 750 Mil.
      So far I've collected hurry ups at 220mil and lost hurry ups at 268mil.


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                                  Shameless Plug
                                  --------------

   A Hypertext version of this sheet can be found a Chris' pinball page 
             http://people.enternet.com.au/~chrisb/pinball.htm

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    If you have any corrections or additions please e-mail them to me
 via chrisb@enternet.com.au and I may include them in a later version.
 Any contributors will be credited and receive their name in lights.

    Thanks to:

   Chris Bonney  chrisb@enternet.com.au  for the use of the computer.
   Koi Morris    KMorrisww@aol.com   for the hurry up tip.
   Sean Hoffman  for revealing the location of the machine.
                

   End Of Line (OK. A shameless rip off from the movie Tron. Couldn’t help
   myself.)
                                         
        

            
          
            
               