Enough preamble, on with playfield layout, clockwise from the flippers: 


Flippers
Standard Sega flippers, with green and red lightsaber stickers (the first prototype's were reportedly gold plated!). 

Slingshots
The usual. Hitting a slingshot will move the Light Saber Saver light to the opposite outlane (this is adjustable). Also, slingshots rotate lit FORCE letters during single ball play. 

Inlanes
Lights Landspeeder at opposite orbit. 

Outlane
Light Saber Saver when lit, which activates a virtual kickback. 

Special Lane
A tiny lane just below the swivelling X-Wing. Normally advances bonus X, is sometimes lit for special. 

X-Wing
A rotating turret aimed towards 4 drop targets on the opposite end of the playfield. Can be loaded via the ramp or the Mode Start VUK. 

Light Saber Saver Targets
3 targets on the left side of the game. Hit any on the bank 3 times for Light Saber Saver, the virtual kickback. 

Magnet
A small magnet in the left-side ramp return, which diverts balls into the X-Wing when active. 

Left Orbit
Collect Landspeeder when lit. 

'F' Target
One of 5 F-O-R-C-E targets. Used to light a Hurry-Up or other mode at the Han Hole. 

Ramp
Shoot to spell FALCON and start Falcon Multiball. Also used to load the X-Wing. 

Cannon Turret
Cool toy above the ramp with guns that move when the ball touches them. It also is a diverter which send ramp shots either to a left or right return lane. 

'O' Target
See 'F' Target. 

Bumpers
4 pop/jet bumpers with the Imperial Signia on them. 

'R' Target
See 'F' Target. 

'C' Target
See 'F' Target. 

Mode Start
Used to light and start Heroic modes, and also collects Extra Ball. Can be used to load X-Wing. 

'E' Target
See 'F' Target. 

Luke Jackpot Lane
A small lane above the drop targets, only useful during one mode. A tight shot, it can only be hit directly from the X-Wing. 

Drop targets
4 targets used to light multiball, and also used to block shots from the X-Wing(!) 

Tie Fighter
Another cool toy that won't harm anything if it breaks. It rocks when you hit drop targets, and sometimes when you shoot the ramp. 

Right Orbit
Remarkably similar in purpose to the Left Orbit. 

Carbonite Han
Toy #4 with 8 blinking LED's that tell you how many more Han Hole lights you need to Thaw Han. 

Han Hole
A gigantic hole on the right end of the playfield which starts Hurry-Ups, Probe Multiball, Bounty Hunter, and Thaw Han (trivia question). Don't be misled by its size, more shots than you might expect will skip over, cup out, or just plain miss, especially with brand new flippers. 

Backglass
Okay, so it's not part of the playfield, but it bears mentioning. Operators have a choice of buying a normal (cheaper) backglass, or a cool 3-D version. In addition to the convex shape introduced with Space Jam, the 3-D backglass has a nifty effect where an X-Wing fighter appears to come out of the backglass, and the Tie-Fighter appears to shoot when you move your head side to side. I'm told this is done with a lenticular lens, whatever that is. It's well worth the cost, for all you collectors/operators out there reading this. 
Skill Shot
Darth Vader scans his head from side to side, and when you press the Fire button / both flippers, the escape pod (and your ball) is launched. 

The "shot" part was finished by production time, but not the "skill" portion. I half-recall something about gameplay being affected in some unannounced way depending on where Darth was looking when you plunged, but I don't remember if this was a random theory or substantiated fact. 

Star Wars Multiball
Let's cut right to the chase; Star Wars Multiball is a major part of the game. 

How to Light
A 4 x 4 matrix of Tie Fighter lights sits beside the 4 drop targets. At the start of the game, a solid row of lights will cycle among the 4 drops. Hitting the target next to the lit row will immediately light multiball, ala Pin/Jack*bot. If not, you have to shoot each target 4 times (16 Tie Fighters) to light multiball. After your first multiball, you always have to do it the long way. 

If you have yet to start multiball, Tie Fighters will be spotted for you when you drain. I don't recall if multiball is a gimme on Ball 3 even if you didn't work for it, like with many Sega games of late. 

How to Start
Shoot the ramp (or the Mode Start VUK if not lit) to load the X-Wing. At your first multiball, the middle 2 drop targets will be down and the outside 2 will be up. You have to shoot the ball through the gap and into the heretofore unmentioned hole under the Tie Fighter toy in order to start multiball. If you miss, you have to reload the X-Wing and try again. 

Sometimes it gets confused if you make a partial ramp shot, and it thinks that the ball is in the X-Wing when it's not (at least on our machine). Also, our X-Wing malfunctioned briefly during a game, an "Operator Alert" message appeared, and the X-Wing was considered disabled. In this situation, ramp shots feed the left flipper, and you have to shoot the gap from there (much harder). 

How to Play
Once multiball (3-ball?) starts, the ramp is lit for Jackpot (500K, plus 2K/switch). After collecting the ramp, the F-O-R-C-E targets are flashing. They are worth the Jackpot value, which continues to increase by 2K/switch. Drops increase jackpot by 10K each. Shoot all 5 F-O-R-C-E targets to light Super Jackpot. 

When Super Jackpot is lit, shoot the ramp to load the X-Wing. Then shoot the gap like you did to start Multiball. You have to do this with all the other balls bouncing around, ala Terminator 2. Collecting Super Jackpot is one of 6 Darth Vader tasks. 

If you fail to shoot at least the Ramp jackpot before draining down to 1 ball, the ramp and Mode Start VUK are lit for 15 seconds to load the X-Wing for another shot at starting Multiball. A restarted multiball will be 2-ball only. 

Heroic Modes
There are 6 Heroic modes which correspond to 7 major characters: Luke, Leia, Han, C3P0/R2D2, Chewie, and Obi Wan. Collect all 6 for, um, something related to Extra Ball I'm guessing :) 

Start a mode by shooting the Mode Start hole. It's lit at the start of each ball, and unlights after a mode. Shoot it to relight it, and shoot it again to start another mode. The next mode up is chosen in order, left to right, top to bottom, and continues between players and even different games. 

All modes are preemted by Multiball, which you can start in any mode. The mode continues when you're done. Modes end at the end of the ball, when you complete them, or if they time out. Modes are worth 100K plus whatever you earn during the mode. Completing any Mode is one of 6 Darth Vader tasks. 

Luke
Shoot the ramp or Mode Start to load the X-Wing, and then shoot the tiny Luke Jackpot Lane above the drop targets to trip an Imperial Walker. You have 20? seconds to make the shot, which is worth 500K. The mode ends on one successful shot. 

Leia
Shoot the ramp to strangle Jabba. 3 shots are needed to finish, which are worth 200K, 300K, and 400K. The ramp shots can be looped, and you have 20? seconds to make them. 

Han
Hurry-up is lit at the Han Hole to escape from the Space Slug. The value starts at 420K, counting down until 100K. You can't reasonably expect to get more than 380K or so. The mode ends on one successful shot, or if it times out (15? seconds or so). 

C3P0/R2D2
Our heros are being crushed in the garbage compactor. Shoot the mode start hole for 50K, 150K, and 250K to end the mode. 

Chewie
C3P0 is in pieces, and you have to make 4 shots to gather up the parts (ala Graveyard from Frankenstein). Shoot the left orbit, ramp, mode start, and right orbit in any order. The first shot is 100K, then 200K, 300K, and 400K. These correspond to an arm, left leg, right leg, and then the head. Also, I don't think there's an animation showing the mode total when you're done, unlike the other 5 Heroic modes. 

Obi Wan
Use the force to get past weak-minded Stormtroopers. Shoot the right orbit for 250K, the left orbit for 300K, and then the ramp for 350K to finish the mode. Move along, move along. 

Falcon Multiball
Loop the ramp to spell FALCON and start Falcon Multiball. This doesn't work during modes. After your first Falcon Multiball the letters start to time out if you don't get another quickly. The pace speeds up the more often you get Falcon Multiball. There's a cool display effect of a banking Millenium Falcom when collecting a letter. 

Falcon Multiball starts with 4 balls, and 40 switches needed to light the ramp for Falcon Jackpot (ala Twister's Chase Multiball). Collecting the first Falcon Jackpot adds a ball (unless you haven't drained one). You need 60 switches to light the next jackpot, then 80, etc. The first jackpot is 200K plus 2K/switch after lighting it, then 600K plus 2K/switch. The third is reportedly worth 800K. Collecting a Falcon Jackpot is one of 6 Darth Vader tasks. 

Hurry-Ups
Shoot the 5 F-O-R-C-E targets in any order to light a Hurry-Up at the Han Hole. Shoot the Han Hole to start it. You can't do either during a mode. They aren't all Hurry-Ups, per se. 

Check the Instant Info (or shoot a FORCE target) to see which hurry-up you're trying to light. I haven't seen a pattern as to which one is up next; it might depend on which target you hit first, or the "skill" shot, or randomness. 


Extra-Ball Hurry-Up
The Mode Start hole is lit for 15 seconds, or else you'll be blown up by a thermal detonator. Ouch. 


Special Hurry-Up
Shoot the very difficult Special Lane just under the X-Wing. You have 15 seconds to shoot Greedo and win a free game (operator adjustable to award EB or points). 


Cantina Hurry-Ups
Shoot the ramp for hurry-up values, counting down from ?K to 100K. You can loop the ramp for multiple awards. 


Bounty Hunter
Boba Fett points to a seemingly random award, which I've never seen be anything but Video Mode. There are rumors of a hidden mode possible here. 


Video Mode
Run over Stormtrooper with your Landspeeder, and avoid everything else. The perspective is similar to Guns'N'Roses' video mode, and the pattern is completely identical! Reportedly, you can get an Extra Ball with a perfect score; you must not only survive, but also run over all the men.


Probe Droid Multiball
A 2-ball multiball, where one drop target is up. Shoot it for 200K, and another will appear. The value goes up by 50K each time. 

Completing a Hurry-Up is a Darth Vader task. In Cantina, you need to make at least one shot. In Probe Droid Multiball, you need to make at least one drop target. I'm not sure if you need a perfect score in Bounty Hunter, or merely to survive completely through it. 

Landspeeder
Shoot orbits when lit for 50K, with a 300K award on your fourth shot. On your fifth shot after that, you collect extra ball. On you sixth shot after that, you get another 300K bonus. 

Orbits are lit by the inlanes, or by making an orbit. They may be other ways too. Getting the first 300K bonus is a Darth Vader task. 

Thaw Han Solo
You need 3 Han Hole shots (not during a Heroic mode) to Thaw Han the first time. You need 1 additional shot to get your next Thaw each time you do it. Shots which don't Thaw Solo are worth 50K, and those that do are worth 300K. 

When you Thaw Solo, you are asked a trivia question about Star Wars. See Appendix A for a list of questions, and the Spoilers for answers. 

Thawing Han Solo is a Darth Vader task. 

Light Saber Saver
Shoot the Light Saber Saver bank a number of times to light an outlane for the Light Saber Saver virtual kickback. Only one outlane can be lit at a time. The lit outlane can be changed by the slingshots; the opposite outlane from the slingshot hit will become lit. The number of hits required to light the Saver goes up the more times you get it, and is percentaged. You typically need about 3 hits the first time. 

Extra Balls
9 lit orbits, 6X bonus, and/or complete all 6 Heroic Modes. You may only need to start the 6th mode; I've heard conflicting stories on this. Bozo ball lit on Ball 3 of less than exemplary performances. 

So what are all these Darth Vader tasks good for?
Check Spoilers if you're insufficiently patient to do it on your own. 

Bonus
Bonus is multiplied by the Special Lane, at any point in the game. Getting bonus X up to 6X is worth an Extra Ball. Not that this is easy. 

Still working on how bonus works (composed of Ramps, Loops, Puzzle, and Heroic components), but a good multiplied bonus can be worth several million, which is quite a lot of points. Replay on our machine is about 10M, and goes up 3M each time. 

Wizard/Tournament Mode
Wizard mode stops spotting of Tie Fighters upon draining before your first multiball. One or both of these likely disables Bozo ball. You start the game in one of these modes by holding a flipper button while pressing Start. 

More Work Needed
This is still a work in progress. If you know more about something I'm missing, or wrong about, please contact me at hehman @ vnet.net and get your name in the Credits list. I'm likely to see followups in rec.games.pinball, but not always guaranteed due to flaky access. 

Credits
Chris Hehman, primary author Lea Ann Armentrout, secondary author Orin Day (thanks again!) Andy and Cindy Mercier Brian MacLean (TaZBoy) Michael J. Lewis And other r.g.p'ers for their helpful comments. If I missed your name, please let me know! 

Brags
Not much to brag about yet, but I got 24.5M on my first game ever. Local high scores in the 30's-40's; surely someone out there has heard of a better score? 

Appendix A: Trivia Questions
32 questions, in a repeating cycle, answers taken from a kind of encyclopedia about the Star Wars universe. There are two choices for each question, left flipper vs. right flipper. Choose wisely. 

I haven't mustered the patience to catalogue the questions and answers yet, nor am I likely to. Someone else can if they wish, but be sure to keep the answers in a Spoiler form if you post them to r.g.p. 

Spoilers:
Contains information about the Redemption of Darth Vader wizard mode, and general strategy hints. Proceed at your own risk. 

[insert Yoda quote about not having any patience here] 

The Redemption of Darth Vader
(courtesy Michael J. Lewis): 

It's lit at the Heroic VUK after you get the last award. It's a two-ball multiball, 50 seconds long, ball-saver on the whole time. Load the cannon, shoot into the Tie Fighter. When the cannon is loaded, though, no drop targets go down automatically. You have to knock down some of the drop targets with the other ball just before the cannon starts rotating and fire through the hole you make (so it's not really possible to sight the shot by putting your head over the gun). Shots are worth between 3M and 4M; I don't know if the mode ends if you make enough of them, but (a) I assume that it does end eventually because the intro seems to imply it, and (b) it takes more than four successful shots to score it. 

Strategy
Getting Super Jackpot is by far the most difficult task needed to start the lucrative Darth Vader mode, and it's not too shabby for point value on its own. 

As you will soon/have already discovered, the 'C' and 'E' force targets are the biggest obstacles to getting SJ, notably the 'C' target. Both are all the way in the back of the game near the VUK, and the 'C' target is angled pecularly and partially blocked by a piece of rubber or something. Direct shots are hard but not impossible; aim a bit to the left to avoid the rubber. You sometimes get a free hit from the bumpers, if you can manage to keep a ball there. 

Once you've lit SJ, catch a ball on the left flipper and shoot the ramp with the other ball (you're probably down to 2 by this point). When the target drops, there's nothing that says that you have to use the ball in the X-Wing to shoot the gap; you could decide to shoot it with the caught ball if you want. 

More strategy to come later I hope. 

Trivia Question Answers
None yet. Answers to the 32 2-choice questions may at some point be presented as an 8 digit hex string for spoiler purposes :) 




