V12

> "Engine ignited!"
>
> - Announcer

***V12*** is one of the first four pinball tables available in *Zen Pinball* when it first released for the PlayStation 3. It is based on the V12 engine structure and system found in luxury performance cars.

## Table overview

### The upper half of the table and manifold mini-playfield

The entire table is designed to resemble the innards of a performance car engine. At the back of the table is a pair of large cooling fans, caged by a protective grill. A moderately-long exit habitrail emerges from above these fans and sharply snakes over to a long, narrow mini-playfield resembling the 12-cylinder manifold that's behind the name of the engine system, V12. This mini-playfield has 12 sinkholes arranged in six pairs, and it can be tilted to drop the ball down into any of them that will take the ball to a crankshaft mini-playfield further down the table, although any ball that fails to drain into any of the 12 holes will eventually roll to a protruding dropdown at the front left corner that deposits the ball on a left habitrail leading to the left inlane. This habitrail is part of a very, long left ramp that wraps around the mini-playfield and whose entrance is placed to the right of it. An alternator belt is installed directly above the left ramp entrance, with its left pulley containing a smaller cooling fan that can also spin and rotate the belt when struck. Beneath the mini-playfield is a left orbit and an engine sinkhole marked with the license plates MLTBAL or ENGINE, depending on modes.

Behind the left ramp entrance is a miniloop called the nitro mini-loop. It wraps around a turntable that can be rotated to open up an additional spiral path inside it that connects to a one-way entry habitrail that snakes down to a nitro tank locker on the right side of the table. At the left end of the miniloop is a left mini-flipper that makes cross-shots into a short crossramp leading inside a turbocharger that takes the ball down a right habitrail leading to the rightmost inlane. Right along the left side of this turbocharger is a short exhaust pipe that can be shot to quickly take the ball down a right orbit that's nearly impossible to access.

In front of the turbocharger is a target bank that spells N2O, the chemical symbol for nitrous oxide, the substance used to power nitro boosters. In front of this target bank are a series of 3 orange bumpers gating the entrance to a pipe ramp leading up to and around the turbocharger, leading to the same exit habitrail as the turbocharger crossramp.

### The bottom half of the table and crankshaft mini-playfield

On the left wall of the table, in front of the left orbit, is a target bank spelling SUSPENSION, with each target representing roughly one-third of the word. A much smaller left mini-flipper is installed in front of these targets, desiged to make cross shots to hit a target bank on the other side of the table.

In front of the right pulley of the alternator belt and the leftmost bumper is another bank of 3 drop targets that spell GAS, fuel for the car to run. Right next to the gas drop targets is another sinkhole marked with XTRBL or UPGRDE, as well as a checkered spinner flag that's installed in front of the bumpers and the turbo ramp. This flag is placed next to the abovementioned right target bank. The exit of the plunger shaft is also near the rightmost bumper.

The right target bank activates ball protection mechanisms and is accessed with cross-shots from the tiny mini-left flipper on the other side. There are 5 return lanes, two on the left and three on the right, that spell DRIVE. There are 2 rebounds and 2 flippers, with score multiplier lights near the two flippers, as well as a low-power spring-loaded kickback in each outlane.

In the dead space above the flippers is another mini-playfield dedicated to the crankshaft. It contains a hidden orbit, and two targets, one for each of the two back corners, that will turn the crankshaft underneath this mini-playfield. There are also two mini-flippers that are used to hit the targets. Two exit sinkholes that drop the ball into the mini-playfield are placed at the middle of the mini-playfield's back wall, inside the space that the orbit wraps around.

### The suspension VUK mini-playfield and plunger

There is also a third mini-playfield that can be accessed when the ball is drained the left outlane after the suspension target bank is lit. It takes the ball to a vertical upkicker (VUK) on the front left corner of the table, which is at a far corner of a trapezoid-ish mini-playfield, whose exit is its shorter side, dropping the ball back into the left inlane. Blocking the way to the exit are a column of madly-behaving drop targets that pop up and sink back down, and there is a suspension shock absorber with a slanted end, installed at the back end of this mini-playfield. It can expand and contract, blocking part of the mini-playfield, deflecting the ball towards the exit when it is launched from the VUK (and into the drop targets to bounce back into the VUK, if timed properly).

A simple spring-loaded plunger launches the ball up a straight shaft in the front right corner of the table that takes a slanted, diagonal turn, passing through a one-way exit gate that is slanted to drop the ball down into the rightmost inlane. Stronger shots will take the ball behind the right target bank and towards the bumper area and finish flag spinner. To perform a skill shot, the player must shoot the ball with just enough force so that it drops into a hidden sinkhole behind the right target bank. It must not be too strong so as to go to the bumper area, or too weak to fall back down and slide on the plunger exit gate and into the right inlane.

## Objective and missions

The goal of this table is to fully upgrade five individual parts of a powerful performance car so that it can impress a lot of people once it finally goes on its maiden test drive, with each part being a mission. Each mission has a different method of activation, and every successful completion of an upgrade mission will enhance the part it represents, and the player must shoot the upgrade sinkhole and start a mandatory 3-ball test drive multiball (described later in this section) before working on the next upgrade level in sequence for that part. Each part can be upgraded up to 5 times and all parts must be fully upgraded to unlock the wizard mode. Mission and upgrade progress is saved across balls. *(At the start of each ball, the player will need to knock down the GAS targets and refuel the performance car in order to access the upper half of the table and complete most of the upgrades.)*

The following upgrade missions are available and must each be completed successfully 5 times to unlock the wizard mode:

* **Tires**: A performance car needs to have good tires for proper steering and handling to negotiate the toughest curves and turns. To upgrade the tires, the player must shoot the left ramp or exhaust lane 10 times multiplied by the current upgrade's ordinal number (i.e., 10 shots for the first upgrade, 20 times for the second upgrade and so on) while no combo is active.
* **Manifold**: The intake manifold of the V12 engine is designed to inject a mixture of fuel and air into its 12 cylinders, and its performance must be enhanced to make the engine run faster all around. To upgrade the manifold, the player must drop a ball into all 12 unique cylinders below the mainifold. To get a ball there in the first place, however, the player must hit the fan target to allow the nearby engine sinkhole to take the ball there. The player decides which cylinder to drop the ball into by using the flipper buttons to tilt the manifest so that it will drop the ball into a cylinder. To progress, the player must avoid yellow, glowing cylinders, as a ball has already gone through it.
* **Crankshaft**: The crankshaft is an important part of the engine that moves a series of pistons in the V12's internal combustion system that will eventually power the forward wheels of the car. To upgrade the crankshaft, the player must get the ball into its mini-playfield by accessing the manifold in the abovementioned procedure, and drain the ball into any of the 12 cylinders. Then, at the mini-playfield, the player need to hit its back corner targets a certain number of times, depending on the current upgrade level (ten for the first upgrade, twenty for the second upgrade, thirty for the third upgrade, fifty for the fourth upgrade and one hundred for the fifth upgrade).
* **Turbo**: Performance cars also have a powerful turbo booster system that injects a powerful burst of speed for a sense of exhilaration. For a chance to upgrade the turbo system, the player must first inject nitro energy into the ball through this procedure: make a clean, hard shot up the turbo ramp that the finish flag spinner spins fast, then while it is spinning, the player must shoot the right end of the nitro mini-loop and then make a cross-shot into the turbo charger with the left mini-flipper at the opposite end of the mini-loop. A successful nitro injection turns the ball orange, and the player will then have a limited time to shoot lit lanes or targets enough times to complete the upgrade. If the ball turns back to normal before the upgrade is done, the player must repeat the same nitro injection process described above for another chance. The number of lanes or targets to hit will increase after each successful upgrade.
* **Suspension**: A sturdy, suspension can maintain proper connections between the performance car's chassis and its wheels, as well as negotiate unfamiliar and uneven surfaces. To start an suspension upgrade attempt, the player spells SUSPENSION by hitting all 3 target banks on the left side of the table, then drain the ball down the left outlane while a small down arrow is lit above the "D" left outlane rollover. This will start a minigame that takes the ball to the VUK of the suspension mini-playfield. To successfully complete a suspension upgrade, the player must hit the madly behaving drop targets blocking the mini-playfield exit 6 times without allowing the ball to leave the mini-playfield. This is accomplished by activating the VUK (via one tap of the launch button) at opportune moments such that the expanding and contracting shock absorber will deflect the ball into a drop target and bounce back into the VUK.

Once all 5 parts are fully upgraded to the maximum of level 5, the wizard mode, **Peak Performance** will be available, and this is a 3-ball victory multiball that starts with one last shot to the upgrade sinkhole. Any lane will award a jackpot and the player must shoot as many lanes as possible to rack up huge points until two of the three balls are lost. Then, the upgrades will reset.

### Multiball

After one upgrade is successfully completed, the upgrade sinkhole at the right of the table will be lit. The player must shoot it to start a mandatory 3-ball multiball called **Test Drive Multiball**, where the owner of the performance car takes the car on a test drive to experience the extra effects of the new upgrade put in place. Any lane will award a jackpot, which is 100,000 points times the ordinal number of the most recent upgrade for a part. (For example, after upgrading the tires twice, the jackpots are worth 200,000 because the tires are now at level 2.)

## Side modes

At any time, there is a chance that any of three side modes will begin if the upgrade sinkhole is shot while it is unlit: *(All side modes have a time limit and award 2 million points when completed successfully.)*

* **Dynamo Challenge**: The dynamo is a great power converter for the V12 engine. The player is tasked in locking a ball in the nitro canister within a limited time by shooting the nitro miniloop counter-clockwise twice, then shooting it counter-clockwise again to fully charge the dynamo.
* **Burst Tire**: A flat tire can be an unfortunate inconvenience for a performance car. The player can fix it by shooting the left ramp twice and the left orbit twice within a time limit.
* **Boiling Coolant**: A V12 engine can come under great stress trying to milk out great performance and may overheat if not properly maintained, causing the coolant to boil! The player must cool down the dangerously hot engine within a time limit by hitting the fan target several times.

### Multiball

There is one optional multiball mode called the **Nitro Multiball**. This is a multiball dedicated to the nitrous oxide used to provide a powerful speed boost to performance cars. One ball can be locked for it when the player spells its chemical symbol, N20, on the target bank behind the rear bumper, which will rotate a turntable in the nitro mini-loop that will take the ball down a one-way habitrail into a ball locker at the nitro canister on the right side of the table, accessed by shooting the right end of the mini-loop. Two or three balls can be locked for this multiball, which begins when the ball is shot into the lit engine sinkhole on the left side of the table. If the player started the mode with 2 balls, then the turbocharger ramp will award a super jackpot while all other lanes award normal jackpots. If the player started the mode with 3 balls, then any lane will award a super jackpot.

## Perks

The following perks can be activated during play:

* **Ball Saver**: A 30-second ball saver is available at the start of a ball and multiball modes. Once it expires, the player can reactivate it by hitting all 3 targets in the right target bank in the order indicated.
* **Kickback**: There are 2 low-power spring-loaded kickbacks available, with one for each outlane. The right kickback is first activated by hitting the first lit target on the right target bank. Then, while one kickback is on, the player must hit the second lit target on that target bank to turn on the other one. Once turned on, kickbacks will stay on until they are used.
* **Drive Score Multiplier**: Spelling DRIVE on the rollovers will increase the score multiplier, which is only good for the current ball.
* **Upgrade Bonus**: If the player shoots the upgrade sinkhole while no successful upgrade has been recently completed, there is also a chance that instead of any of the 3 side modes starting, a random score bonus is awarded instead.
* **Speed Combo**: A powerful performance car calls for a very skilled driver to master it. The player can execute combos for extra points and eventually an extra ball. After any lane is shot, the player must shoot a lane marked with a combo symbol to continue the combo within a brief amount of time, and is challenged to extend the combo as long as possible for more points. An extra ball is awarded for every combo that goes to 6-way or longer. *(Combos will block progress on Tire upgrades as noted above.)*
* **Extra Balls**: Extra balls are awarded by executing a 6-way combo, and are claimed by shooting the upgrade sinkhole.

## Tips

* In general, this is one of the most difficult tables that is meant to test a pinball wizard's stamina to a brutal, grueling degree. Be prepared for a very long session if you are planning to aim for the wizard mode, and take occasional breaks by pausing the game if you need to.
* While the wizard mode is very difficult to reach, you can best optimize your chances of making it there by extending ball survivability in any way you can. This means mastering the ability to make long combos to stock up on as many extra balls as you need, as well as getting the kickbacks turned on and frequently activating the ball saver to make it harder to lose the ball. The latter can be accomplished by making use of the left mini-flipper near the suspension mini-playfield to make cross shots towards the right target bank and hitting the correct targets in order to turn on the kickbacks and eventually the ball saver. Also, try to remove the GAS targets quickly at the start of a ball before the complementary ball saver expires.
* Every effort to progress through a Manifold upgrade is also a chance to progress through a Crankshaft upgrade because each of the 12 cylinders in the manifold will divert the ball to the Crankshaft mini-playfield. Once there, you can keep the ball alive in the mini-playfield with careful flipper-trapping, as the small flippers can make it easy for the ball to slip off of one, then meticulously work your way into hitting the corner targets to move the crankshaft.

## External links

* Table walkthrough by ShoryukenToTheChin (PDF)
* Official table theme on Bandcamp