From: sigma@degas.ipl.rpi.edu (Kevin Martin)
Subject: High Speed II rules sheet
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 07:09:52 GMT

OK, so it's a little old... all the other good games were taken already or
I don't know well enough (YET).  Since I'm awfully tired, there are some
omissions (exact point values for dippy little things) and probably some
errors too, not the least of which will be spellig mistakes.

Enjoy.


               Sigma's Guide to High Speed II: The Getaway
               ===========================================

This rule compilation is public domain.  It is my first attempt at a rules
sheet, and it will doubtlessly have errors and be in need of revision and
supplementation.  However, I am lucky to be able to follow the guidelines
set by the authors of other rules sheets.  On the other hand, I am unlucky
to be writing a rules sheet for a game I know very well but don't actually
like very much.  That is to say, I love the theme and style of High Speed
II, but I feel that it has too many instances of designs which, if not
setup properly, make the game extremely unfair... and there's absolutely no
excuse for that gaping left outlane.

There are significant differences between earlier and later High Speed II
machines.  To the extent I can sort these out, I've tried to point them out
in this guide.  I'm not sure, however, which differences are operator-
settable options, and which depend on the ROM revision.

"High Speed II: The Getaway" is certainly a trademark phrase of some sort
for Williams, its manufacturer.  But then, so is "Multiball".

                             Important Things
                             ----------------

This is a glossary of the shots and features that will be referred to
during the discussion of the game.  If you haven't seen the machine, this
will probably only confuse you.  Just take it on faith.  But then, if you
haven't seen High Speed II by now, you truly live in Pinball Hell.

Flippers - There are three flippers, the usual two lower ones, and an upper
  right flipper which is really only useful for shooting the left loop.
  The right flipper button flips both right flippers at the same time -
  there is not a two-stage mechanism to allow for holding one ball on the
  bottom flipper while shooting a Jackpot with the upper flipper.  This is
  a disappointment compared to almost every other three flipper Williams
  game (Whirlwind, for example).
Plunger/Shifter - This is an up/down shifter in place of the usual spring
  plunger.  It's an autolauncher, and where the ball lands in play depends
  entirely on its strength and the angle of the playfield.  It *should*
  go around the Left Loop and come to the upper right flipper.  All too
  often, though, it doesn't make the loop and ends up screaming towards
  the Right Outlane.
Left Loop - This is a loop hit from the upper right flipper.  It loops
  around to the same flipper.  There is a Loop Champion for this shot.
Jets - There are three jet bumpers at the top center of the playfield,
  above which the two "orbit" shots and the left loop pass.  The jet
  bumpers always increase the Helicopter Bonus value, cumulative across
  all balls of all simultaneous players.
Stoplights - There are three rows of sensors, representing traffic lights.
  Each has three targets: red, yellow, and green.  Each target has a light
  in front of it.  One row runs vertically to the right of the jet bumpers.
  The other two rows lie along the entrance to the left loop.
Supercharger - This is a large triangular loop mounted above the jet
  bumpers.  There is a steep ramp on the lower left portion of the
  playfield which leads into the Supercharger.  Whenever the Supercharger
  is "active", optical sensors and electromagnets inside a faux engine
  part accelerate the ball through the loop repeatedly.  There is a
  diverter in the far upper left corner of the Supercharger which will
  feed the ball to the left inlane.
Left Orbit - This is the long shot up the left side of the machine and
  around to the upper right flipper.
Right Orbit - This is the long shot up the right side of the machine and
  around and down the left side.  It is essentially the reverse of the
  Left Orbit, and the same non-directional sensors are used to detect both
  shots.
Tunnel - This is the saucer in a short lane just to the left of the Right
  Orbit shot.  It has a one-way gate in front of it, leading only inwards,
  and a one-way gate to the right of it, leading only outwards.  Still, a
  powerful shot may bounce out of the saucer without registering.  The
  saucer kicks out to the right and feeds to the upper right flipper.
1-2-3 Targets - there are two rows of sensors, one row above each outlane,
  turned inward at roughly a 30 degree angle.  Hitting the 1, 2, or 3
  target on either side lights that target on both sides, and targets
  which haven't been hit will flash.  Hitting all three before they
  time out (about eight seconds?) will relight the Kickback, whether or
  not it is already lit (no stacking them, though).  On Prototype rules,
  the 1-2-3 Targets will also increase the Supercharger Boost value by 1M
  for each hit.
Left Outlane - There is no rubber on the lane divider on this side.  There
  is a gaping metallic scoop on this outlane, and a Kickback which should
  kick the ball into the Tunnel.  There is a Special light here.
Kickback - This is just an excuse to have a gaping left drain.  Normal
  machine settings do not relight the kickback at the beginning of each
  ball.  Hit the 1-2-3 targets to do this.
Left Inlane - Going through this lane lights the Freeway on the Right
  Orbit.  If the 2X RPM light is lit (as it is at the beginning of each
  gear until collected), the Right Orbit will award two RPM increments
  if hit while the Freeway is still lit (in fact, the grace period may be
  even longer).
Slingshots - There are the usual two above the flippers.
Right Inlane - Going through this lane lights the Freeway on the Left
  Orbit.  If the 2X Freeway light is lit (same as 2X RPM), the Left Orbit
  will award two Freeway increments if hit in time.
Right Outlane - There is a thin metal lane divider on this side.  There is
  a Special light here.
Back Ramp - This is in the far back right corner of the game, and it comes
  down only when a Lock or Jackpot is lit.  A firm and dead-on shot around
  the Left Orbit or Left Loop will go up this ramp and down to the Hideout
  on the right side of the machine.
Hideout - This is the small house on the right side of the game, above the
  playfield, where locked balls are stored.  When Multiball begins, any
  balls here are fed into the right inlane.
Free Ride - There isn't really a playfield feature for this, except the
  large flashing light at the center drain.  If it's lit or has just gone
  out, you should get the ball back, autolaunched from the plunger lane.
  The length of time this is lit varies widely according to machine
  configuration.  Balls which are launched after making a Lock are NOT
  subject to Free Ride!

                                 Gears
                                 -----

There are five gears your car can be in in High Speed II, and your current
RPM value in your current gear determines your speed (displayed on the
score display most of the time).  You begin the game in 1st Gear, and
advance to higher gears by collecting RPMs or through random awards from
Burn Rubber (see section on the Tunnel).  The RPM shots are the right and
left orbits, which are always lit except when you have finished a Gear and
not yet shifted to the next Gear (this includes during Supercharger Mode).
On most machines, the Speed Millions shot (which can be lit on the Left
Loop) will also award an RPM increment, along with Million Plus.

Completing 1st Gear requires one RPM shot.  Completing 2nd requires two.
Completing 3rd requires four?  4th requires six?  5th requires eight?  On
some machines (this is almost certainly operator-settable), going through
the gears on subsequent attempts requires significantly more RPM shots for
each Gear, making it much more difficult to collect Gear Awards.

The Gear Awards are awarded as soon as you make enough RPM shots to finish
a Gear (or when the Gear is spotted by Burn Rubber).  They are:

1st Gear - 3 Million
2nd Gear - Hold Bonus
3rd Gear - Light Video Mode
4th Gear - Supercharger Mode
5th Gear - Light Redline Mania

Before you can collect any RPMs for the next higher gear, you must shift up
(moving the shifter either direction works, and the game doesn't mind if
you shift with your knee).  Shifting up (when lit) relights Burn Rubber.
Note that if Burn Rubber is already lit, relighting it will essentially
waste a Burn Rubber.  See "Tunnel" for details on Burn Rubber.

Shifting up increases your Bonus Multiplier, to 2X, 4X, 6X, and 8X.  The
Multiplier resets if you do not have "Bonus Held" on the current ball.

You cannot shift up from 4th Gear until a couple of seconds after
Supercharger Mode is over.  If you drain during Supercharger Mode, you
cannot shift up (to increase your Bonus Multiplier) until the next ball.

You don't have to shift up from 5th Gear.  After Redline Mania is collected
and over, the game will shift back into 1st Gear for you.

Rumours indicate that it is possible to get the machine into 0th or 6th
Gear or something like that, and it requires an enormous number of RPM
shots to get back to 1st Gear.  Obviously, I can't recommend trying to do
this.  It's never happened to me.

                               Left Loop
                               ---------

The Left Loop is normally not lit for anything.  If you light a Lock, you
can shoot this Loop to make the Back Ramp for the Lock.  If you go around
this Loop once, the Speed Millions will be lit.  It will also be lit after
any Tunnel Shot.  Speed Millions starts at 1M, and remains lit for about
six seconds (not counting grace period?) for 2M, and so on.  The Loop
Champion is the person who has obtained the highest value on this award.
Note that the game does NOT suspend Speed Millions when it autolaunches a
ball into play, although it does momentarily lift the ramp and suspend the
Lock, if lit.  This means that with a liberal Free Ride setting, you can
get a couple of free Speed Millions if you dare let the ball drain quickly.

On most machines, Speed Millions also count as RPM shots, unless RPMs
aren't currently available (we're at the top of a Gear).  If they don't,
they become considerably less appealing to me.  This is a very difficult
shot on most machines, especially for repeated shots - the sweet spot is
very narrow.

High Speed II machines can develop a strange neurosis.  During Multiball,
they may award an indefinite Free Ride, usually three or four minutes
worth.  It seems like you would want to shoot for Jackpots and Super
Jackpots during this time, but the better choice (on a machine which
properly launches balls around the Left Loop) is to let all balls drain as
quickly as possible.  Free Ride will autolaunch them, and they will count
as Speed Millions and towards the Loop Champion.  You can probably get
about thirty consecutive Loops this way before the game tires of it, which
will almost certainly get you Loop Champion (I'm certain it's how someone
got 32, by far the highest I've seen - I've only done seven), and it's
worth about 450M.

                                Freeway
                                -------

Going through either inlane at any time lights the Freeway on the
appropriate Orbit (Right for Left Inlane, and vice versa).  The Freeway
Value starts at some value from 1M to 4M, depending on the game's settings
and the percentage of Extra Balls recently awarded.  If you complete the
Freeway values (the fifth value is 5M+light Extra Ball), the Freeway will
restart at 1M on subsequent balls; otherwise, it restarts at the original
value.  In order to collect the 5M+light Extra Ball award, you must
increase the Freeway value during a single ball.  You can do this on every
ball and collect an Extra Ball on every ball (theoretically).

Making either RPM shot lights the Freeway shot on that side, encouraging
repeated Orbit shots.  This is much easier on the Right Orbit than on the
Left.  Note that the 2X Freeway light on the Right Inlane will award two
increments if you hit the Left Orbit in time.

After collecting 5M+light Extra Ball, the Freeway is worth 5M whenever it
is lit through the rest of that ball.

Redline Mania lights an Extra Ball and sets the Freeway to 5M.  If you do
this before lighting an Extra Ball via the Freeway on that ball, you cannot
do it afterwards.

                               Stoplights
                               ----------

The Stoplights are a holdover from High Speed (well, surely more than just
the stoplights, but I haven't seen High Speed in quite a while).  At the
beginning of the game, the green lights are flashing.  You must hit or spot
all three of these before you can receive credit for hitting any yellow or
red lights.  Lighting the green lights will light one Lock (on the Back
Ramp via the Left Orbit or Left Loop), as will lighting all yellow lights
and all red lights.  You can light more than one Lock before collecting any
of them.

For the first multiball, hitting either the Tunnel or the Supercharger (lit
or unlit) will spot one of the current unlit Stoplights (starting with the
topmost bank, I believe).  This doesn't happen on any subsequent Multiballs,
although there may be an operator-settable option for it.

During Secret Mania, Supercharger Mode, and any variety of Multiball, all
nine stoplight targets will be flashing.  Hitting all nine will normally
light the Extra Ball, and they will be flashing again.  I believe there's
some sort of limit, here - once recently I hit all nine and there were only
vague explosion noises and the lights reset without lighting the Extra
Ball.

The Stoplight targets can sometimes become confused after Secret Mania, and
sometimes after Redline Mania.  The worst case is when all nine lights are
lit and the Lock is lit, but the Back Ramp refuses to come down so you can
shoot the Lock.

                                Supercharger
                                ------------

During normal play, the behavior of the Supercharger is very different for
different ROM revisions.  Early machines (generally P-1 ROMs, I think) will
increase the Supercharger Boost value by 1M for every 1-2-3 target that
gets hit, and completing 1-2-3 will relight the Supercharger (as well as
the Kickback).  The Supercharger Boost value in this case maxes at 10M.

On newer machines, the 1-2-3 targets have nothing to do with the
Supercharger (they're important enough already for the Kickback).  The
Supercharger is lit with a 3M Boost value initially, and nothing changes
that value.  Once collected, hitting the inactive Supercharger (just the
left ramp to feed to the left inlane) twice will relight the Boost.  The
Boost values are 3M, 5M, 7M, 9M, 10M, and 13M indefinitely, cumulative
over the course of one player's game.  Yes, these values are a bit unusual.
During Multiball or other times when the Supercharger does not offer Boost
values, hitting it counts for the ramps needed to relight the Boost.  I
believe you can stack these - if you need three ramps to relight the Boost,
and you hit eight, it will remain lit after the next time you collect it.

There is a Supercharger Mode at the end of 4th Gear.  This is 20 seconds
during which all flashing shots (loops, orbits, Tunnel, banks of targets)
score 5M, and the Supercharger scores 5M-PLUS.  That is, the first time
through the Supercharger is 5M, the next 10M, and so on, apparently without
limit (I've done 25M).  These values are counted in your Supercharger Mode
total, and the next Supercharger Mode restarts the Supercharger at 5M.

Hitting an inactive Supercharger (ie, the left ramp by itself) awards the
Speed Bonus, which is your current speed x 1K points.  If you've just
finished 5th Gear, you may receive 0,000 points for this, which is rather
amusing but harmless.

During Multiball, the Supercharger behaves very differently.  See the
section on Multiball for details.

Strange behavior from the Supercharger... depending on the tuning of the
optical sensors and electromagnets in your game, the Supercharger may
either be a bit slow (no big deal) or a bit fast.  If it's a bit fast, a
ball that loops many times may come around to the upper left before the
diverter can open the left return ramp.  This will send the ball back down
the ramp, either towards the center drain or towards the top of the right
slingshot.

During Multiball, you can get more than one ball into the Supercharger at a
time.  This easily causes collisions which can send balls flying across the
playfield.  On some (older) machines, this can send balls flying into the
back of the playfield, where there's a nice hole which lets them land in
the bottom of the cabinet with a thoroughly depressing "thud".

                               Tunnel
                               ------

The Tunnel is where Burn Rubber is collected, the Helicopter Bonus is
collected, Video Mode is collected, the Extra Ball is collected, Tunnel
Shots are counted, and balls can be held for roughly eight seconds during
Multiball.

You begin the game with zero Tunnel Shots.  Every time you hit the Tunnel,
for whatever award, you are credited with a Tunnel Shot, cumulative over
the course of one player's game.  Collecting some adjustable number of
Tunnel Shots (usually 8, but sometimes as high as 10) will light the
Special lights on the outlanes.  Both outlanes light and they remain lit
until your game ends or either one is collected.  Another Special will be
lit at an additional FIFTY Tunnel Shots beyond the first Special.  On most
older machines, lighting the Special in a multiplayer game will make it
unavailable to the other players.  This may or may not also be true for the
second Special (probably is).

Burn Rubber is a random award like those found on many Bally and Williams
games.  It is lit at the beginning of the game, and every time you shift up
after completing a Gear, it is relit.  The first time you hit it, you will
see an animation of a map, with a marked path headed towards your random
award.  The map includes such stops as "Chicago" and "Smallville", but
you'll never collect these awards - they're just window dressing.
Subsequent Burn Rubber awards will simply be displayed without a map.
Awards include:

Relight Kickback
Bonus Held
1M, 3M, 5M, 10M
Lite Lock
RPM
2X RPM
Freeway
Spot Gear
Multiball
Extra Ball
Special

Some of these awards become "invisible" if hitting the Tunnel also
completes the current Stoplight color and lights a Lock for you; the
machine will display the stoplight status and "LOCK IS LIT" instead of the
award.  Luckily, most of the awards obscured in this fashion are RPMs and
Spot Gear.

If Multiball is awarded, Multiball begins immediately, launching any Locked
balls you or any other player may have, and autolaunching the other balls
(for a total of three) from the plunger lane.  See Multiball.

Spot Gear is an especially nice award when you've just gotten into 5th
Gear.  It saves you quite a few RPM shots.  On the down side, if you
haven't lit the Extra Ball on the Freeway values yet, you'll now have to go
to a special effort to light it, while avoiding the reasonable temptation
to just go ahead with Redline Mania.

The Extra Ball can be lit on the Tunnel by completing the Freeway Values,
hitting all nine Stoplights during any Mania or Multiball, or by collecting
Redline Mania.  No more than TWO Extra Balls can be lit here at once!  If
you light three, you can only collect two (one at a time).

The Extra Ball takes precedence over other awards.  Next is Video Mode,
followed by Burn Rubber, if lit.  If nothing is lit and there is nothing
else to be displayed at the time, you will see an animation of your car
driving into a tunnel, followed by a display of current number of Tunnel
Shots and number needed to light Special.

For information on the Helicopter Bonus, see the section on Multiball.

                               Video Mode
                               ----------

Video Mode is lit by completing 3rd Gear.  It remains lit until you collect
it.  If you go all the way through to the end of 3rd Gear again without
collecting it, it does not "stack".

In Video Mode, you steer your car across three lanes filled with
slow-moving Volkswagen Bugs.  Your current Gear determines the speed at
which this happens.  If you shift up to 5th Gear immediately and complete
Video Mode, you will collect roughly 26.5-27.5M points.  Easy points.
Completing Video Mode in 4th Gear is worth roughly 16M points.  It's worth
the trouble to improve your reflexes enough to do Video Mode in 5th Gear.

The best and most common strategy is to straddle the line between the
leftmost pair of lanes.  You can steer by holding the flipper buttons in
(pressing more than one will give precedence to the most recently pressed
button); there is no need to tap them repeatedly.  If the machine is setup
for it or has been giving out very few Extra Balls recently, there will
often be an Extra Ball target in the far lane, instead of one of the Bugs.
It's more or less impossible to see this target and head for it; if you
expect it will come up, you may wish to anticipate its appearance (usually
about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way through the Video Mode).  Just drive through it
to collect it.

                               Multiball
                               ---------

Multiball is mostly the point of High Speed II.  Although you can do very
well simply by hitting RPMs, Freeways, collecting Gears and Burn Rubbers,
you'll find that it's hard to avoid lighting Locks, and they can get in the
way if you don't collect them.  With a well-setup machine and careful play,
Multiball can be very lucrative.  Besides, it's extremely cool.

There are three ways to start Multiball.  The "normal" way is to light all
three Locks and lock all three balls.  Another way is through a random
award from Burn Rubber, which I believe is much more likely if the machine
has been having very few "normal" Multiballs during recent games.  The
third way is to collect Redline Mania after completing 5th Gear.  See the
section on Redline Mania for information on what makes it different from
other Multiballs.

The first lock provides an animation of your car pulling up to a scantily
clad female (presumably a hitchhiker) on the highway.  She usually says,
"Nice wheels" or "Nice car" and you say "Hop in".

The second lock provides an animation of your car screeching to a halt in
front of Donut Heaven, where one to four police cars are parked.  If there
are three... read the section on Secret Mania.

The second "normal" Multiball is slightly different.  On the first lock,
your car pulls up in front of Donut Heaven, and Car 504 says, "This time
I'm gonna nail that scumbag."  Functionally, everything's the same, but
this gives you twice as many chances to start Secret Mania.

When you have the red light completed and two balls already locked
(virtually or actually), the game will repeatedly flash "RUN THE RED LIGHT".
When you lock this third ball, there is an animation of your car tearing
through a red light at which Car 504 is parked.

"Dispatch, this is Car 504.  Suspect ran a red light, over."
"Roger, 504, apprehend 'em."

During Multiball (slightly different for Redline Mania), ten loops through
the Supercharger are required to light the Jackpot, which is always worth
25M.  Putting a ball into the Supercharger will make it loop ten times.  If
you put another ball in far enough to hit the lower optical sensor, the
game will think there are two balls, and will loop the ball(s) for twenty
loops.  If you actually have two in there, this usually registers
twenty-one loops.  If you send the ball past the first optical sensor and
then it trips it on the way down as well (assuming any running balls don't
get in the way), the game will think that all three balls are in there, and
you will receive thirty loops before the ball(s) are returned.  If you hit
the Supercharger during Multiball and the diverter fails to operate
properly, the ball will return to the Left Inlane, and you will be
immediately credited with having made ten loops.

On subsequent Multiballs, lighting the regular Jackpot will require ten
more loops for each time you have collected it previously.  The maximum
number of loops required to light any Jackpot or Super Jackpot is forty.

When you light the Jackpot, the back ramp comes down and is worth 25M.
Collecting the Jackpot will enable you to shoot the Supercharger to light
the Super Jackpot.  This will always require at least twenty loops.  The
Super Jackpot is (or should be) 50M, followed by 75M, 100M, and so on
without limit (I know of 200M, and have personally collected 175M).  Note
that you must keep at least two balls in play while lighting and collecting
Super Jackpot.

"Dispatch, this is 504.  Suspect got away."
"He WHAT?!"
"HE GOT AWAY!!"

"504, you are authorized to use lethal force."
"Damn, they're shooting at us!"

If all but one ball drain while you are still shooting to light or collect
the regular Jackpot, you will have 20 seconds (configurable?) of Getaway
Time, during which you can light and collect the Jackpot as normal.  There
is an extremely brief grace period for the Super Jackpot - if a ball is
found in the Hideout just after the other balls have drained, you will be
awarded a Super Jackpot of 50M, regardless of the value for which the Super
Jackpot was lit.

There may be strange cases on some machines where the number of loops
needed to light any sort of Jackpot, or the starting value of the Super
Jackpot, are dependent on previous Multiballs.  I haven't figured these
out, or they haven't happened to me.

Hitting a ball into the Tunnel during Multiball will credit you with a
Tunnel Shot, and the ball will sit there for roughly eight seconds.  When
it does kick out, you have a relatively clean shot at the Jackpot on the
Left Loop (top flipper).  If you are in Getaway Time, the ball will kick
out immediately so that you can shoot for the Jackpot (well, if it isn't
lit right then, you can't really shoot for it...).

Hitting all nine Stoplight targets during Multiball, as in Secret Mania,
will light the Extra Ball.

There is a Free Ride on Multiball on most machines, although it is usually
very short.

After you have collected the regular "Getaway" Jackpot and while you still
have at least two balls in play, shooting a ball into the Tunnel will award
the Helicopter Bonus.  This is when a police helicopter tries to follow you
into the tunnel, and crashes into the mountain.  I've gotten the Helicopter
Bonus up to 46M, so this can be significantly more valuable than the
Getaway Jackpot itself.  Yes, points for blowing up police helicopters.  I
guess it's "OK" because they shoot at you first, right?

"Where'd he go?"
"He went in the tunnel--"
"HEY!  LOOK OUT!!"
<<crash>>
"Chopper, you alright?"

                             Redline Mania
                             -------------

Redline Mania is lit by completing 5th Gear.  It's the red light on the
Supercharger entrance.  Hit the Supercharger to collect it.  It awards the
following (not necessarily in order... I usually take a sip when I get
this, look around the arcade a bit, act casual...) :

10M
All Targets worth 500K
Kickback is Lit
Extra Ball is Lit
Freeway at 5M
Jackpot is Lit
Super Jackpot at 100M
Multiball

Redline Mania is a normal Multiball, except that no loops are required to
light the initial Jackpot, all targets are worth 500K, and the Super
Jackpot begins at 100M (with no corresponding increase in the number of
loops required to light it).  It's generally best to collect Redline Mania
after lighting the Extra Ball on the Freeway, because you cannot light it
after collecting Redline Mania.  Because the Super Jackpot is so much more
valuable in Redline Mania, it's very important to get the regular Jackpot
out of the way, preferably on one of the two free shots you'll get (either
from the Hideout or the auto-plunger, depending on whether or not any balls
were actually locked), and then shoot for lighting and collecting the 100M
Super Jackpot as if it were the regular Jackpot.

                              Secret Mania
                              ------------

Secret Mania is essentially a Frenzy mode that was thrown into the game,
and it isn't integrated very well (IMHO).  Any time you see the animation
of your car in front of Donut Heaven and there are three police cars parked
there (the number seems to have some pattern, and it also seems to be
random - go figure), shift Up and Down a couple of times quickly.  This
will give you 20 seconds of Secret Mania, during which all targets are
worth 500K, as in Redline Mania.

There are several problems with Secret Mania.  First of all, the lighting
scheme is extremely tricky for twenty seconds - all lights flash in
alternating pairs.  You may find it difficult to even survive Secret Mania.
Second, it's not especially point rich.  The most I've heard of is about
21M, and that's still less than a simple Video Mode, and Video Modes have
no risk associated with them at all.

Worst of all, the game becomes confused about the state of the locks for
Multiball after Secret Mania, especially in a multiplayer game.  Typically,
the machine completely resets the Stoplights to flashing green, although it
remembers where you were on locks.  It's not uncommon to see the game
saying "RUN THE RED LIGHT" while the green Stoplights are flashing.  Run
the green light, I'd say.

It's possible to get the game into a state where Locks are lit but the Back
Ramp won't come down to accept the balls.  This is frustrating, to say the
least.  Another glitch is that after one player has a Multiball, other
players may find that balls they lock, although counted, are always fed to
them out of the Hideout, whether that is appropriate or not.  This can be a
bit startling if you've turned away to sign autographs or whatever ;)

                        Strategies, Tips, Tricks
                        ------------------------

My basic strategy is to go through Gears, unless the Locks are especially
easy on the machine (ie, the Left Orbit and Left Loop are easy shots to
make solidly).  It's not unwise to collect Burn Rubber in between Gears,
but don't fret if you miss a couple - the biggest points are in the top end
of the Gears, and if you get in a rhythm shooting Freeways, those are
usually more important than one Burn Rubber (they light the Extra Ball).

The biggest cause of ball drains in High Speed II, without question
(assuming you don't just flail around and let them go out everywhere), is
the gaping left drain.  It's even worse on machines which have been
thoughtfully set up with a left lean (I think that if operators want to
make a game harder, they should fiddle with software settings, and to a
certain degree, the Tilt sensitivity).  The worst thing about a left drain
is that once it happens, you're in immediate danger of having another on
the next ball.  A game that is going fantastically well, with, say, five
Extra Balls waiting, can be over in sixty seconds if you start having
problems on the Left Outlane.

Therefore, you should concentrate on shooting the 1-2-3 targets to relight
the Kickback, right?  Well, sort of.  If you're close to Redline Mania,
shoot for that instead (it relights the Kickback), because aiming for the
1-2-3 targets tends to put the ball into the most dangerous areas for
outlane drains - a ball which heads towards the 3 target on the left is
pretty much a goner.  Also, Burn Rubber can relight the Kickback sometimes.
It's probably intended as an insult, but I've come to be very appreciative
of this award recently.

My Video Mode strategy is described above, under Video Mode.

My Supercharger Mode strategy mostly depends on what I'm doing when I
happen to complete 4th Gear.  Preferably, I have the ball on the lower
right flipper.  Shoot the Supercharger for 5M.  Hold the left flipper up,
push the machine forward as the ball comes down, bouncing it over to the
right flipper.  Shoot the Supercharger for 10M.  Repeat until you miss and
have to do something desperate, or until Supercharger Mode ends.  It
doesn't truly end until you see the "Supercharger Total" message on the
screen.  (The Supercharger Total is usually very, very wrong; ignore it.)
If this isn't possible, try to do repeated Right Orbits - they're still
worth the Freeway value plus the 5M per Orbit.  If you light the Extra Ball
during Supercharger Mode, there is no message.  If you shoot the Tunnel for
a lit Extra Ball during Supercharger Mode, it does pause and award the
Extra Ball.  A third alternative for Supercharger Mode is to shoot Speed
Millions on the Left Loop, although on some machines it will not track them
for Loop Champion in this mode!

I always try to light the Extra Ball before collecting Redline Mania, in
order to get two Extra Balls for the price of one ball in play.  In Redline
Mania or Multiball, try to get balls to whichever right flipper you have an
easier time shooting Jackpots with.  If the flippers come up steeply on
your machine, you can probably backhand balls into the Supercharger.  This
can be extremely useful during Multiball (or for collecting Redline Mania).

One somewhat tricky shot worth perfecting is the Right Orbit, repeatedly.
I've managed as many as nine of these in a row - it's a slightly easier
shot than the Left Loop for Speed Millions, it awards the same RPMs, and it
awards and increases the Freeway value.  Plus, it's the shot to make for
the 2X RPM during each gear.  The safest way to roll through the Left
Inlane is to hit the Supercharger - it feeds to that inlane.  With enough
practice, you should be able to slap balls around the Right Orbit until it
takes a funny bounce on the way down.  Don't forget to shift while you're
doing this at an insane speed ;)

The problem with Speed Millions is that the "sweet spot" on the upper right
flipper is extremely small.  Worse yet, a missed shot will usually dribble
about on the lower stoplight targets and head towards the right outlane.
Although there's enough rubber over there to help you out, and Death Saves
aren't impossible, it's still dangerous.  If Speed Millions don't interest
you or aren't lit or you don't want to shoot a lit Lock, just let the ball
fall when it passes the upper right flipper.  It should go past the right
slingshot (without triggering it) and come to the lower right flipper in a
good position for shooting the Supercharger or Left Orbit.  A dead catch is
workable here, but be careful - with the ball headed towards the left
already, the ball will tend to spin towards the center drain.  Just holding
the flipper up may lob it up towards the right outlane you were trying to
avoid in the first place.  In short, it's best to master an on-the-run slap
shot up the Supercharger or around the Left Orbit (harder).

On newer machines, Speed Millions and RPMs on the Left Orbit are NOT
awarded when the Lock is lit.  Neither is the left Freeway value, but if
you roll over the lit 2X Freeway target in the right inlane first, it will
award ONE Freeway value when you make the Lock.  There's actually a very
good reason not to award RPMs when locking a ball - on older machines, it
was possible to start Supercharger Mode (at the end of 4th Gear) at the
same time you ran the red light to start Multiball.  This would result in a
mode where you couldn't light the Jackpot, ever!  Or at least, that's what
happened on the P-B ROM machine I discovered this problem on.  You still
had twenty seconds of Supercharger Mode, but the Supercharger never did any
loops after that.  Eventually, Multiball comes to an end, nothing gained.

On some older machines, Redline Mania counts as a "normal" Multiball in the
sense that it "erases" any locks you had previously.  On newer machines, it
doesn't do this.  This may be what is leading to unusual situations where
the Lock is lit but the Back Ramp won't come down.

                                 Quotes
                                 ------

"Dispatch, run a make on license plate KINGPIN."
"Chopper, can you see the suspect?"
"Choppers, head to 504's location."
"What kind of car IS that?!"
"You have the right to remain silent, you have the right to an attorney,
anything you say may be used against you in a court of law."


High Speed II is a more complex game than I had thought.  After playing it
so much, it seems simple, but some of it is hard to explain.  I hope this
guide is useful even though it's a bit wordy and obtuse and doesn't have
any truly magic strategies revealed in it (hey, I ain't got none).  Please
send any comments, suggestions, corrections, additions, or large checks to:

Kevin Martin, sigma@ipl.rpi.edu

...and be sure to visit the Pinball Archive, ftp.ipl.rpi.edu:/sigma/pinball

-- 
Kevin Martin
sigma@ipl.rpi.edu
"I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY didn't you BELIEVE me?!"