Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

> "I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi, like my father."
>
> Luke Skywalker

***Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope*** is a pinball table based on the 1977 film of the same title, originally released as part of the *Star Wars Pinball: Heroes Within* DLC pack for *Zen Pinball 2* & *Pinball FX 2* in April 2014, and later ported to *Pinball FX 3* in the same pack. This table re-enacts iconic and pivotal scenes in the first *Star Wars* film ever released, in which a brave Rebel Alliance races against time to destroy the tyrannical Galactic Empire's planet-destroying space station, the Death Star.

## Table overview

*Note: This table has a dynamic area that constantly changes depending on the current mode, and the following section below will describe what it would look like when no modes are active.*

### The upper half of the table and mini-playfields

At the back left corner of the table is a micro-playfield comprising of a small seesaw platform that is tipped with flipper operation. It is perpendicular to the table walls and placed in front of a small desert cave with a figure of a Tusken Raider, which can strike the ball with its gaffi stick. The seesaw platform can rise to dump the ball down a short exit habitrail that merges with a longer one that leads to a dropdown aimed for the leftmost inlane.

In front of this micro-playfield is a left lane that does not access it, but leads to another sinkhole at the end that cannot be accessed until a varitarget toy shaped into a landspeeder used by Luke Skywalker to find R2-D2 after he was lost in the desert is pushed ahead of the hole into a smaller cave in front of the micro-playfield. This leftmost lane is just beside a larger table orbit that wraps around all other major table lanes. The left orbit spells TUSKEN, although there is a diverter mechanism that can prevent the ball from going all the way around to down the opposite orbit, instead softly dropping the ball into a hidden sinkhole. The front corners of this left orbit have targets spelling the first two letters of the word FORCE.

The center of the back table wall has a smaller display showing which scenes/missions are completed successfully and clips from the film. Directly in front of it are the criscrossing habitrails of the table's two dueling ramps, which both lead to an inlane on the opposite side of the table. The two dueling ramps are a left ramp spelling ALLIANCE and a right ramp spelling CANTINA. The former's exit habitrail winds right and passes through a toy model of the Great Temple on Yavin 4, a major building in its Rebel base, en route to the right inlane. The latter's exit habitrail passes through a toy model of the Mos Eisley Cantina, a haven for galactic scoundrels, which conceals a dropdown aimed for the leftmost inlane. Both buildings have hidden magnetic locks to hold the ball in place for a minigame, with the former also having three doors for a video mode mini-game. The entrances of both ramps have targets on its front corners that are part of the five targets spelling FORCE and can also lower to divert the ball to the dynamic play area at the center of the table, which normally is a bumper area that rotates when it is hit. It is a dejarik (holo-chess) board with one bumper being an Imperial turbolaser, another being a TIE fighter wing stacked on a TIE fighter windshield and the apex of the miniloop. Rotations of the bumper area can cause the miniloop's apex to disconnect with its ends.

Between the two dueling ramps is a miniloop, with a sinkhole blocked by a force field lodged in between its entrances. The sinkhole leads to an inverted mini-playfield at the center of the table. At its back wall is a target bank flanked by two eject kickers, representing the droids C-3PO and R2-D2. The outhole is guarded by two mini-flippers. The right orbit spells TRAINING and is gated by a transparent orange spinner. A floating scale model of the Death Star usually hovers above the back right corner of the table.

### The lower half of the table

Behind the right return lanes is a single target used to claim extra balls, as well as lower and raise the ramp entrances to divert the ball to the center area. There are five return lanes spelling REBEL, two rebounds and two flippers. The left rebound resembles the tread of a sandcrawler, while the right rebound resembles that of a Rebel X-Wing fighter. The outlanes are guarded by two low-power spring-loaded kickbacks.

On the left apron is a scale model of a moisture vaporator machine used to procure water on the hot desert planet of Tatooine, as well as a platform elevator where figures of the film's protagonists may appear during certain modes. On the right orbit are two small display readouts used to gauge the score multiplier, plus a circular table computer used by the Rebel Alliance to track the Death Star's approach on the planet Yavin. Hidden beneath it is an elevator for figures of other protagonists from the film to enter the table.

### The plunger

The plunger is a spring-loaded mechanism, provided by the emanating energy blade of Luke Skywalker's first lightsaber (formerly that of his father, Anakin Skywalker) that launches the ball up a straight shaft that merges into the right orbit. There is a hidden sinkhole underneath the Great Temple off to the left, on the way to the end of the shaft.

The goal of the skill shot is to quickly shoot a designated lane of the player's choice, determined with the flipper buttons and confirmed with the launch button before the ball is launched into play. Once the ball enters the main play area, a hurry-up value starting at 1 million points will appear on the display, which the player can claim by quickly shooting the chosen lane. The hurry-up value increases by 1 million points per successful skill shot.

There is also a hidden skill shot that can be collected if the player plunges the ball with medium strength, and the ball drops into the sinkhole under the Great Temple. Shooting this sinkhole awards a 1 million score reward, increasing by 500,000 points per attempt.

## Objective and missions

The goal of this table is to help the Rebel Alliance destroy the Galactic Empire's powerful Death Star in six missions. To start a mission, the player must spell REBEL on the return lanes to activate the post at the left orbit, then shoot that lane to choose a mission using the flippers and launch button. All missions are timed, and must be completed successfully without losing the ball to qualify the wizard mode. Successfully completed missions cannot be repeated again until the wizard mode is activated. Missions are split into several timed phases, but no checkpoints are given in between failed phases.

The reward for completing a mission starts at 5 million points. Every time REBEL is spelled at the return lanes during a mission, the reward will increase by 5 million points to a max of 50 million. Spelling REBEL once the mission reward is at maximum will score 1 million points.

The following missions must be completed to unlock the wizard mode:

* *Mission 1* - **Diplomatic Mission**: In an effort to retrieve the plans for the Death Star stolen during the battle of Scarif, the Galactic Empire captures the Rebel blockade runner *Tantive IV*; however, Leia Organa, princess of the planet Alderaan, entrusts the plans along with other Rebel intel to R2-D2 and C-3PO.
	+ In the first phase of this mission, Leia will appear on the right side of the table apron. Leia must first distract the stormtroopers, which the player does by shooting the left orbit, then quickly hitting the force field blocking the center sinkhole within 5 seconds. The player must repeat this sequence three times within 40 seconds for 1, 2, and 3 million per force field hit.
	+ After making three shots to the force field, the unblocked sinkhole will open and a 60 second timer will start. Shooting the ball to the mini-playfield will allow you to help R2-D2 and C-3PO board and launch an escape pod to Tatooine, by hitting all 5 targets in the mini-playfield's target bank in any order (for 100,000 points per hit) and then shooting both of the eject kickers to finish the mission. If the ball drains while in the mini-playfield, the player must shoot the center sinkhole again to return the ball to it.
* *Mission 2 -* **Not the Droids You Are Looking For:** While taking the droids to Mos Eisley to find a way off Tatooine, exiled Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi is stopped by two stormtroopers who are about to seize the droids and find the rebel plans.
	+ Obi-Wan will stand in the bumper area during this mode; he must use a Jedi Mind Trick to convince the stormtroopers to ignore the droids. To do so, the player must shoot the right ramp three times for 1 million points each within 30 seconds, with the first two shots sending the ball around to the lower flippers. After shooting the right ramp three times, the mini-loop will become a set of jump ramps for the second phase of the mode.
	+ The player must shoot the flashing entrance to the miniloop five times to have Obi-Wan slash the ball with his lightsaber, within 40 seconds, and defeat the stormtroopers. Each miniloop entrance is only lit for about 5 seconds before alternating sides; each successful shot adds 10 seconds to the timer, and scores 500,000 points times the ordinal number of the shot up to 2,500,000 for the final shot.
* **It's Too Big to Be A Space Station**: When Han Solo accepts an offer to bring Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, R2-D2 and C-3PO to Alderaan via his *Millennium Falcon*, they arrive too late and are caught in its tractor beam, forcing them to infiltrate the space station.
	+ The Death Star will appear in the center of the playfield during this mode. The player must first shoot both the left and right ramp and both ends of the miniloop once within 30 seconds, with each shot looping around the Death Star and feeding the lower flippers for 1, 2, 3, and 4 million points each. When the fourth shot is made, the ball will be magnetized in front of the force field and be sent to the back of the Death Star, representing the tractor beam pulling our heroes inside the Death Star.
	+ The Death Star with the magnetized ball will lower, and the player must then steal the armor of a stormtrooper sent to investigate the infiltration. To steal his armor, the player must shoot either entrance to the miniloop three times in 30 seconds for 1 million points each to directly hit the stormtrooper.
	+ TK-421 arrives at his post (took him long enough), and the player can defeat him by scoring 25 bumper hits with both ramps' entrances lowered. Each bumper hit scores 100,000 points, and the player has only 40 seconds to make the required bumper hits to finish the mission successfully.
* **Aren't You A Little Short To Be A Stormtrooper**: With their stormtrooper disguises, Luke and Han realize that Leia is held prisoner aboard the Death Star, and must come up with a plan with Chewbacca to rescue her.
	+ The player must first shoot any of the six major lanes within 20 seconds to find Leia's cell until a randomly selected, but unrevealed lane is hit. When three shots are made, 10 seconds will be added to the timer. Each shot scores 500,000 points, and when Leia is found, a bonus worth 100,000 points times the amount of seconds remaining is scored.
	+ The rebels escape through a garbage chute, and the player must help them fend off dianogas in a garbage chute mini-playfield that appears in the dynamic center play area. A central flap ramp will replace the miniloop to jump the ball into the mini-playfield, whose entrance will rise to drop the ball back into the main playfield above the right flipper when the ball drains. The drain on the mini-playfield is guarded by two mini-flippers, which the player must use to quickly hit 10 randomly-popping drop targets of dianoga eyes for 100,000 points each before the trash compactor walls on the mini-playfield completely narrow the play area in 60 seconds.
	+ Once the dianogas are dealt with, the player must disable the trash compactor as R2-D2 by spinning the bumper area 15 times in 40 seconds, with shots to the raised, flashing left or right ramp - each rotation scores 500,000 points. Each shot will usually average around 4 or 5 rotations, so a minimum of 3 shots to the raised ramps are required to finish the mission successfully.
* **Master and Apprentice**: When Obi-Wan goes aboard the Death Star, he senses his former Jedi apprentice Anakin Skywalker - but corrupted by the dark side of the Force, he became the feared Sith Lord, Darth Vader.
	+ Kenobi must first distract the stormtroopers, which the player does by shooting either the left or right orbit with a shot that hits the post diverter for 200,000 points within 40 seconds. Once the shot is made, the timer for the orbit shot will freeze, and the player must turn off the tractor beam by hitting both entrances to the miniloop within 20 seconds for 500,000 points each. If the timer expires, the player must make another orbit shot to attempt to disengage the tractor beam.
	+ Kenobi then battles Vader to help cover the rebels' escape aboard the Death Star, at the cost of his own life. The player shoot the spinner in front of the right orbit a total of 50 times within 60 seconds, with each spin scoring 100,000 points and adding 2% to the "Force Percentage" seen on the scoring display. The timer can be extended by 10 seconds by shooting any flashing shot besides the right orbit, which decrease as more shots are made and can only be done 5 times, for 100,000 points per reset. Reaching 100% will finish the mission successfully.
* **You May Fire When Ready**: The battle of Yavin seems to be on the brink of defeat as the Death Star closes in on the Rebel base. The Rebels must hurry and protect Luke Skywalker as he races to the Death Star's exhaust port, while the Imperials prepare to fire the Death Star's super-laser.
	+ The dynamic center play area and the miniloop will be replaced with a Death Star trench mini-playfield similar in structure to the garbage chute mini-playfield, except with randomly moving drop targets representing TIE fighters. The player must maintain a multiball that starts at 3 balls within 60 seconds and destroy a total of 7 TIE fighters on the mini-playfield for 100,000 points per hit. After five TIE fighters are hit, Darth Vader himself will attack in his TIE x1 Advanced starfighter; his ship can only be defeated with a strong shot up the entrance to the mini-playfield when the ship is directly in the center, and scores 1 million points when defeated.
	+ After defeating the TIE fighters. the Death Star will once again replace the mini-playfield, and the miniloop's entrances will raise. Within 35 seconds and with 2 balls in play, the player must lock one ball into its superlaser satellite dish with a strong shot to either miniloop for 1 million, then hit the locked ball with the other ball to defeat the Death Star for 5 million, finishing the mission successfully.

### Wizard mode

Once all six missions are completed successfully, **Escape from the Death Star**, will be available to start with one last shot to the left orbit. This is a final, 4-ball multiball mission in which the player escapes the Death Star once and for all and witnesses its destruction. The mission lasts 2 minutes, and will continue into single-ball play until either the timer expires or the ball drains.

* The Death Star at the top right of the table will activate at the start of the mission, firing its superlaser and quickly sending four balls towards the lower flippers. All major lanes, from the landspeeder target to the right orbit, will be lit, and the player must shoot all 7 lit lanes to score 5 million points per shot and escape the superlaser's line of fire.
* The player must then defeat the Death Star by making 10 shots to either ramp or miniloop, with a shot that loops around the Death Star. Each shot scores an increasing value starting at 1,400,000 and increasing by 400,000 per shot, to a maximum of 5 million points. When the final shot is made or the timer runs out, the wizard mode will end, the Death Star will finally explode, and the table progress will be reset. The player is only allowed one attempt at this wizard mode, and it will fail if time runs out or the player drains the ball. (*If the wizard mode ends with multiple balls in play, the flippers will be briefly disabled to allow all balls to drain before a new ball is launched into play.*)

## Side modes

The following side modes can be activated during single-ball play, though **Tatooine Multiball** can be started during any non-video mode, and **Luke's Training** can be started during Tatooine Multiball:

* **Tusken Raider Attack**: The Tusken Raiders, known to Luke as "sand people", are a dangerous threat to citizens of Tatooine. If the player spells TUSKEN with 6 shots to the left orbit when a **mission** isn't lit, the ball will be diverted to a micro-playfield at the back left corner of the table. The player must watch and avoid the Tusken Raider's gaff stick by using the flipper buttons to tilt a small seesaw platform the ball lies on. The Tusken Raider will almost always move between positions three times before attempting to strike the ball. The player must avoid 5 attacks within 30 seconds to win the side mode for 5 million points and light an **extra ball**; if the ball is struck even once by the gaff stick, the side mode will fail.
* **Alliance Mode**: Luke must man his X-Wing and prepare to race to the Death Star. If the player spells ALLIANCE with 8 lowered left ramp shots and then shoots the left ramp again, a video mode will begin where the player navigates around a grid-shaped area to find Luke's X-Wing within 60 seconds. The player can move left, right or straight in the Rebel Hangar by pressing the flipper buttons or launch button, respectively - each guess scores 20,000 times the ordinal number. One grid square will randomly contain a lurking Imperial spy that ends the mode for 1 million, while another random grid square contains Luke's X-Wing, which finishes the mode for 5 million and awards a **bonus multiplier hold** if it isn't already lit. An **extra ball** will also be available to light at a random grid square until it has been collected. Every time the side mode is completed, the scoring is multiplied.
* **Luke's Training**: Luke Skywalker must know the ways of the Force to survive, and uses a probe droid to train. If the player spells TRAINING at the right orbit with a total of 8 shots, a side mode will begin where the player must shoot a certain number of lit lanes (2 + 1 per level) within 20 seconds + 10 seconds per level, for 100,000 points each. There are 10 levels to this side mode, each scoring 1 million times the level number for each completion. The number of completed training levels contributes to end-of-ball bonus, and completing 5 levels in a session will light an **extra ball**.
* **Cantina Mode**: Shortly before Han prepares his *Millennium Falcon* for a ride out of Tatooine, he is accosted by the bounty hunter Greedo and is forced to fight him in a shootout. If the player spells CANTINA with 7 shots to the lowered right ramp and then shoots the right ramp again, a video mode minigame will start where the flipper buttons are used to aim Han Solo's blaster at one of three doors, and shoot Greedo by pointing it at the door he appears in before he changes positions. The blaster fires automatically, and the player must shoot him as many times as possible within 30 seconds for 100,000 + 25,000 per shot. Once the mode total reaches 5 million, an **extra ball** icon will appear in one of the doors; shooting it will light one for collection.
* **Death Star Escape**: After the rebels manage to escape the Death Star with its tractor beam disabled, they are chased down by TIE fighters. This side mode begins when the player hits the TIE fighter bumper through either miniloop entrance a total of six times to spell ESCAPE. The bumper area and miniloop will be replaced with the TIE fighter mini-playfield described in the sixth **mission** and the player must hit as many TIE fighters as possible until time runs out. Each TIE fighter defeated scores 100,000 points times the ordinal number of the shot, and contributes to end-of-ball bonus.

### Multiball

The following multiball modes are available to start:

* **Jawa Multiball**: C-3PO and R2-D2 are captured by Jawas, eventually leading them to Luke Skywalker. This is a quick 2-ball multiball that is played in the droid mini-playfield. The player opens the droid mini-playfield by spelling SANDCRAWLER with 11 hits to the force field blocking the center sinkhole, then shoots the opened center sinkhole to bring the ball there. On the mini-playfield, the player is given 30 seconds to start the multiball by completing the target bank and shooting the two eject kickers inside to launch a second ball. During multiball, the eject kickers score jackpots starting at 1 million points, and the targets will raise the jackpot by 10,000 points each. This multiball mode only lasts for 30 seconds; once time expires, the flippers will be temporarily disabled to allow both balls to drain before a new ball is served. Progress towards starting Jawa Multiball carries over during the current session if it hasn't been started yet, and the jackpot values also carry over between attempts.
* **Tatooine Multiball**: Tatooine is the perfect planet for aspiring landspeeder riders - and Luke will need all the practice he can get to find R2-D2 and figure out what its "mission" is. The player locks 3 balls by shooting the sinkhole behind the landspeeder target, which acts as a vari-target for the locks; about three shots to the target will reveal the sinkhole and reset the process for the next lock. Once 3 balls are locked, a 3-ball multiball will start with jackpots available at the right ramp. The jackpot value is determined by the current position of the landspeeder target, which starts at its default position and slowly returns to its default position with each shot; at maximum value, a jackpot can score 10 million points, and at minimum, it is worth 100,000 points. The multiball ends once the player drains down to a single ball.
* **Turbolaser Multiball**: The Empire has powerful rapid-fire turbolasers at its disposal to deal with the daring Rebel Alliance. If the player spells TURBOLASER with direct hits to the turbolaser bumper through the miniloop entrances (a total of 10 shots), a quick 3-ball multiball will start where jackpots can be scored by shooting the raised ramp entrances to bring the ball to the bumper area, with each bumper hit scoring 20,000 points and adding 20,000 points to the super jackpot value that starts at 1 million points. Once 15 bumper hits are made, an X-Wing will arrive and disable the turbolaser, lighting the miniloop entrances to score unlimited super jackpots worth the value built up by bumper hits for 20 seconds. When the timer runs out, the process of lighting the super jackpot will reset. This multiball ends once the player drains down to a single ball.
* **Yavin Multiball**: The Empire finally finds the Rebel base on Yavin 4. After 50 bumper hits are scored (+100 for each time the multiball is started during a game), a quick 4-ball multiball will begin where the Death Star will replace the bumper area and the player can score jackpots by shooting either ramp or miniloop entrance with a shot that loops around the Death Star. The jackpot value starts at 200,000 points, and can increase up to a maximum of 1 million with shots to the spinner in front of the right orbit at any time during play. After 10 jackpots have been scored, the player can earn a super jackpot worth double the jackpot value by shooting the miniloop within 10 seconds to feed the front of the Death Star. This multiball ends, and the jackpot value resets, once the player drains down to a single ball.

## Perks

The following perks can be activated during play:

* **Ball Saver**: At the start of all balls and multiball modes, a 30-second ball saver is activated. Once it expires, it cannot be reactivated normally.
* **Kickbacks**: The Force is a powerful energy field that binds all living things. If the player spells FORCE at the five standup targets in between the ramps and orbits, a kickback will activate at the left outlane. Spelling FORCE again before while the left kickback is lit will activate the right kickback, and completions of FORCE while both kickbacks are lit will add 10,000 points to end-of-ball bonus. Kickbacks persist across balls until they are used.
* **Bonus Multiplier**: Every time the player shoots the miniloop in its default U-turn position, the bonus multiplier will increase by +1x to a maximum of 10x. It is only good for the current ball, unless a **bonus multiplier hold** is earned by winning the **Alliance Mode**.
* **Combos**: If the ramps are lowered and the miniloop is in its default U-turn position, the combo sequence will be activated at the ramps and orbits. All shots can be repeatedly made for combo values, which start at 100,000 points and increase to a maximum of 1 million points. Raising the ramps by hitting either of the side targets, or starting a main mission, will prematurely end the combo sequence.
* **Extra Balls**: Extra Ball can be lit at the right standup target by finishing 3 **missions** successfully, hitting the "extra ball" target in **Cantina Mode** after scoring at least 5 million points from it, landing on a random grid square in the **Alliance Mode**, winning the **Tusken Raider Attack** mini-game for the first time, or finishing level 5 of **Luke's Training**. Extra balls can only be collected once per method, and will be replaced with a flat bonus of 5 million points if one is lit and has already been collected.

## Tips

* With no way to reactivate the ball saver, turn on the kickbacks as soon as possible by spelling FORCE. Also, watch out for potential straight-down the middle ball drains when hitting the force field blocking the center sinkhole - you can avoid these by dead bouncing the ball, and not flipping after shooting the force field. Extra balls are also fairly easy to come by if you play for the side modes, which also add up to a potentially large end-of-ball bonus.
* The fastest way to start missions is to shoot the ramps when their entrances are lowered. The missions themselves are the highest scoring features in the game, maxing out at 50 million points per completion, so you might want to purposely fail some missions early on and focus on spelling REBEL to increase the mission completion value.
* Turbolaser Multiball can be a very high scoring multiball, despite being a bumper mode and being rather difficult to start at first. A well-played Turbolaser Multiball with lots of bumper shots can result in super jackpots being worth over 7 million points.

## Changes from original release

* In the original *Pinball FX 2* release, the Yavin Multiball jackpot value maxed out at 4 million points and carried over between attempts; the multiball itself never became more difficult to start like it does in current versions, either. This was nerfed in *Pinball FX 3* so the value maxes out at a more reasonable 1 million points, resets between attempts, and requires more bumper hits to start each time.

## External links

* Official table trailer
* Table walkthrough by ShoryukenToTheChin (PDF)
* Official table soundtrack on Bandcamp (tracks 6 - 11 of *Star Wars Pinball: Heroes Within Soundtrack*)

## Notes

1. ↑ As depicted in the 2016 film, *Rogue One: A Star Wars Story*, according to the canonical timeline established by the Walt Disney Company in 2014.