World Cup Soccer

***World Cup Soccer*** was a Williams table originally released to commemorate the 1994 World Cup, digitally converted for *Pinball FX* in 2022. As a member of the US team, the player must conquer soccer matches against rival countries before taking on the Final Match in Los Angeles.

There are four main ways to play the game for score: reaching the Final Match, playing for Ultra Modes and TV Awards by scoring goals, and playing Multiball and defeating Germany.

## Cities

To qualify the **Final Match**, the player must collect cities at the left orbit, which will always send the ball past the bumpers if lit to award a city. Cities can be qualified or awarded in four different ways:

* Making all three rollovers on the coin toss **skill shot** awards the next city.
* The “Advance Three Cities” **Striker Award** awards the next three cities.
* Lighting both rollovers above the bumpers, which cycle with the flippers, lights the next city.
* Making a shot to both ramps collects a ticket and lights the next city.

Each city scores a point value, lights the Tackle target to the left of the goal for 10M, and, rarely, awards an associated mode:

* Chicago – 10M
* Dallas – 10M
* Boston – 10M and lights the left orbit for Boston Tea Party hurry-up starting at 40M and decreasing to 10M.
* New York / New Jersey – 15M
* Orlando – 15M
* Washington DC – 15M and lights **extra ball** at the hideout.
* San Francisco – 20M
* Detroit – 20M
* Los Angeles – 20M and lights the **Final Match**.

### Final Match

Upon reaching LA, all behavior relating to **multiball** will be postponed and the scoop will be lit to begin the Final Match against Germany, essentially the game’s wizard mode.

The goal of the Final Match is to score more goals than Germany does within 45 seconds, with unlimited 5-ball multiball; though each ball must be manually plunged into play. Germany scores a goal occasionally, usually every 10 seconds or so, but this time fluctuates depending on the number of goals the player has scored. Each goal scored during the Final Match scores 75M, and if the player beats Germany by scoring more goals than them, a 500M bonus is awarded. If the 45-second timer expires and both countries are tied, overtime will start and the country that scores the next goal will win.

After the Final Match ends, regardless of success or failure, the cities will reset, and the player can attempt to play a second Final Match. The difficulty for subsequent Final Matches played in a single game increases with each match won.

## Ultra Modes

Ultra Modes are started by shooting the ball past the goalie and into the goal, when lit. The goal is lit at the start of each ball and can be relit by rolling over all four of the star inserts leading up to the goal. There are four randomly selected Ultra Modes, each with a cap of 30M (a 10M bonus is scored for reaching the cap, resulting in a 40M total):

* **Ultra Ramps** – Each ramp shot scores 5M.
* **Ultra Spinner** – Each spin of the spinner scores 1M.
* **Ultra Jets** – Each bumper hit scores 2M.
* **Ultra Goalie** – Each goalie target hit scores 5M.

Ultra Modes can be stacked with each other and are untimed, only ending once the 30M cap has been reached, though they can be started again after they have been completed. The points scored during Ultra Modes are only awarded in end-of-ball bonus (and won’t be scored if the player tilts).

## TV Awards

There are four TV Award modes, all of which are started at the scoop and last 20 seconds. TV Award is lit at the start of the game and can be relit by scoring 4 goals (through the process described in **Ultra Modes**). After playing all four TV Awards, subsequent awards continue to cycle through them. TV Awards are scored in the following order, and can be stacked:

* **Big Goal Round** – Shoot the goal three times to score 15M, 15M, and 30M for each shot. The goal can be lit as normal during this TV Award.
* **Extra Ball Round** – **Extra ball** is lit at the hideout for 20 seconds. If the player has scored the extra ball, or if the maximum number of extra balls has been reached, each hideout shot instead awards 50M.
* **Hit the Goalie** – The goalie target is lit to score a value starting at 10M and increasing by 10M for each shot into the goal. The value only resets when the mode ends.
* **Where’s Striker** – Shoot the standup targets to find Striker (and some other cameos) for 10M, 20M, and unlimited 30Ms until time runs out.

## Multiball

Shoot the flashing “BUILD” shots to collect one of the five inserts on the center soccer ball – “Strength”, “Stamina”, “Skill”, “Speed”, and “Spirit”. Once all five inserts have been collected, lock will light at either ramp shot. The first multiball can be advanced to at any shot, but subsequent multiballs restrict the “BUILD” shots, most frequently to the right ramp and hideout. Locking a ball also advances the player 4 “ranks”, which determine the jackpot value as described below.

Once the ball has been locked, shoot the scoop to make the Final Draw and send a new ball to the plunger before multiball begins. To score the jackpot, the player must shoot the goal while avoiding the goalie, or shoot the assist saucer, which will always send the ball into the goal during multiball. After scoring a jackpot, either ramp must be shot to relight the jackpot, or it can be instantly relit if the ball falls into the assist saucer.

The player’s starting position is rank 15, which advances by 4 ranks if the player locked a ball before starting multiball, and by 1 rank for every 2 lit goal shots (as described in Ultra Modes). The jackpot value, and the initial team the player competes against, is determined below:

* Rank 15 – USA – 20M
* Rank 14 – Russia – 20M
* Rank 13 – South Korea – 25M
* Rank 12 – Saudi Arabia – 30M
* Rank 11 – Morocco – 35M
* Rank 10 – Austria – 40M
* Rank 9 – Canada – 45M
* Rank 8 – Holland – 50M
* Rank 7 – Italy – 55M
* Rank 6 – Great Britain – 60M
* Rank 5 – Sweden – 65M
* Rank 4 – Spain – 70M
* Rank 3 – Australia – 75M
* Rank 2 – France – 100M
* Rank 1 – Germany – 250M

If the player defeats Germany, **special** will light at the right outlane, and victory laps will start. For the rest of the multiball, all shots to the goal, left ramp, or right ramp score 50M. After five victory laps, they alternate between the goal and the left ramp.

If multiball ends before the player scores even a single jackpot, they can shoot either ramp or the scoop within 10 seconds to restart multiball and advance 2 ranks. The multiball restart is played with only 2 balls.

## Other scoring / perks

* **Skill Shot**: Plunge the ball into any of the flashing dividers off the U-turn. Each divider can only be scored once until all three have been scored. The first divider scores 5M, the second scores 10M, and the third spots a **city** and scores 30M.
* **Ball Save**: Active for the first 10 seconds of any ball, and for the entirety of the **Final Match**. Saved balls must be manually plunged into play, with no skill shot opportunity.
* **Kickback**: Also known as the “corner kick”, the kickback is lit at the start of the game and can be relit by rolling through the right inlane and quickly shooting the far left standup target. One of the **Striker Awards**, Unlimited Kickback, enables the kickback for the rest of the ball without having to relight it.
* **Magna-Goal Save**: Lit at the start of the game with a yellow arrow above the left flipper, the magna-goal save is activated by pressing the secondary right flipper button (launch button on *Pinball FX*) and saves balls that might otherwise drain straight down the middle. Magna-goal save relights after rolling through the left inlane and quickly shooting the far right standup target.
* **Tackle**: This target below and to the left of the goal scores 10M when lit, either at the start of the game or by travelling to a new **city**.
* **Assist Saucer**: If the ball happens to fall into this saucer by chance, the goal will automatically light and the player can time the saucer kickout to score the lit goal. Press either flipper button with the right timing to send the ball past the goalie. During **multiball**, the assist saucer will light and award the next jackpot instantly, and scores the goal without the player having to time their shot.
* **Striker Awards**: At the start of the game, the hideout is lit for a Striker Award. It can be relit by shooting the standup targets 7 times to spell STRIKER, which also awards a 10M bonus. Progress can be made towards the next Striker Award even if one is already lit and will be automatically lit after the current one is collected. Striker Awards include:
	+ 20M
	+ Advance three **cities** (awarding points and associated perks for each)
	+ 3 **goals** (along with **Ultra Mode** and **TV Award** progression)
	+ **Multiball** (at rank 15, only awarded if the player hasn’t reached multiball by ball 3)
	+ Unlimited **Kickback** (for the rest of the ball)
	+ Penalty Kick (shoot the goal within 5 seconds, and without the goalie moving, for 30M)
	+ Super Free Kick (for 20 seconds, each shot to the Free Kick target scores 10M + 5M per hit)
	+ **Extra Ball** (percentage-based)
* **Free Kick**: This target to the left of the scoop scores 10M when lit via either saucer.
* **Bumper scoring**: If **Ultra Jets** isn’t running, all bumper hits score 100k and add 1k fans. At 25k fans, the stadium is packed, and all bumper hits score 1M for the rest of the ball.
* **Combos**: Shooting at least two ramp shots lit for “BUILD”, then quickly shooting the right ramp when lock is lit, awards a combo bonus, and locks the ball. 3-way combo scores 15M, 4-way combo scores 25M.
* **Extra Ball**: In *Pinball FX*, a maximum of 2 extra balls can be scored per ball in play, replaced with 50M for subsequent extra balls. They can be lit at the hideout by:
	+ Advancing to **Washington DC** (the 6th **city**)
	+ Starting the **"Extra Ball Round” TV Award**
	+ Instantly awarded as a **Striker Award**
* **Special**: Special is lit at the right outlane after defeating Germany during **multiball**. In *Pinball FX*, special scores an **extra ball** and is subject to the extra ball cap rule.
* **End-of-ball bonus**: 5M per **city** + 5M per **goal** + the total points from every **Ultra Mode** started this ball.

## Tips

* Scoring goals is not only fun, but is very beneficial for scoring. Each goal starts an Ultra Mode and advances towards TV Awards, both of which score decent points and the latter of which can lead to an extra ball.
* As the Final Match increases in difficulty in the late game, it might be more strategic to play for multiball instead. The 250M from defeating Germany can be repeatedly scored every Multiball when the player reaches it, and victory laps can be quite lucrative.
* Make sure to practice shooting for the scoop, as this tight shot gates off TV Awards and the Final Draw required to start multiball. The magna-goal save can help out with this shot - flip the ball right when the magnet releases it, or try aiming for the insert.
* If the kickback isn't lit, light it right away by shooting the lit far left target. Even better, try shooting for Striker Awards in hopes of activating the unlimited kickback.