Space Station

> "Condition green!"
>
> - Space Station announcer

***Space Station*** is one of three Williams pinball tables released in the sixth wave of Zen Studios' Williams pinball collection, available in *Pinball FX 3*, the macOS version of *Zen Pinball 2* and the *Williams Pinball* mobile app.  It is set on a futuristic space station where one must oversee the safe docking of two spacecraft, the *Liberty* and the *Defender*.
This table is the sequel to the 1984 pinball table *Space Shuttle*.

## Table overview

### The upper half of the table

A raised platform is at the back left corner of the table. It has a left entry from the plunger habitrail and a right entry from a short habitrail stemming from a vertical upkicker accessed via the center lane. Balls that enter this area pass through one of three 1-2-3 rollovers before dropping down to a bumper area that the left lane wraps around en route to a different VUK at the back of the table. This bumper area can be accessed either through the dropdown exit of the raised platform, or through weak shots of the left lane that drop the ball into three upper rollovers behind the bumpers spelling USA, indicating that this space station is an American one.

A full shot up the left lane will take the ball to a short VUK that will pop the ball into a diverter mechanism, topped with a toy model of a rotating space station. This mechanism diverts the ball to one of two ball lockers: a left ball locker on the left side of the table via a diagonal habitrail that crosses above the bumper area, or a right ball locker at the back right corner of the table, also accessed via a very short exit habitrail.

On the left side of the frontmost bumper, there is a target bank spelling the first three letters of the word STATION. To the right of the bumper area is a center lane leading into the abovementioned VUK that pops the ball onto the raised platform with the 1-2-3 rollovers. To the right of this lane is a series of drop targets, all in a line, that can be knocked down to advance the score multiplier.

On the right side of the table is a ramp that curves and leads up to the abovementioned space station diverter, which will always divert the ball to an empty ball locker to dock a shuttle. Along the left side of this ramp is a side target bank facing outward from the ramp, spelling the last four letters of the word STATION.

### The lower half of the table

Along the left wall of the lower part of the main playfield is a long target bank spelling the word SHUTTLE. On the opposite side of the table, besides the ramp's entrance, is a target that is used to randomize the rewards of spelling SHUTTLE or STATION, indicated by lamps at the center of the table. A drop target blocks the entrance of the ramp.

There are lamps indicating which players have been awarded a timed bonus ball and the current score multiplier level. There are two rebounds, two returns lanes and two flippers. Both return lanes are outlanes; there are no inlanes. The left outlane is guarded by a spring-loaded kickback.

### The plunger

The plunger is a spring-loaded mechanism that launches the ball up an entry habitrail that winds diagonally across the table to drop the ball onto the upper platform on the back left corner of the table. There is no skill shot for this table.

## Objective

The goal of this table is to dock the *Liberty* and *Defender* space shuttles safely by completing the **Docking Sequence**. This is done by locking two balls into the docking ball lockers on this table: one for each of the two shuttles - *Defender* on the left and *Liberty* on the right. Balls can be locked by making a strong shot up either the left lane or the ramp on the right side of the table, although the latter is blocked by a drop target that can be knocked down in a single hit.

Once two balls are loaded into both ball lockers, **Condition Green** multiball will begin immediately. This is a 3-ball multiball in which probes are dispatched to assist in helping the shuttles safely redock after disaster strikes aboard the space station. While juggling multiple balls, the player must make a full shot up either the left lane or the right ramp as before to lock two balls into the ball lockers again to score the rescue jackpot, and this procedure can be repeated as many times as possible until all but one ball is lost. The rescue jackpot starts at 200,000 and increases by 10,000 every time the multiball ends without a jackpot being scored; this value is carried over between games. Once the multiball ends, the table resets and the player must complete the 1-2-3 rollovers with repeated shots up the center lane to start the Docking Sequence again for another attempt at Condition Green.

## Side modes

**Stop 'N' Score** is the table's only side mode. This hurry-up starts when the drop target blocking the ramp on the right side of the table is knocked down, and lasts for 25 seconds. Within this time limit, a bonus score pool will increase from 20,000 to 99,000, before cycling back to 20,000 again and again until the ramp is shot or time runs out, whichever comes first. If the player shoots the ramp within this timeframe, the amount of points in that score pool at that time is immediately collected, multiplied by the **Stop 'N' Score Multiplier** increased by completing the USA lanes.

## Perks

The following perks can be activated during play:

* **Ball Saver**: There is no ball saver whatsoever on this table. However, a permanent ball saver takes effect during the entirety of a timed Bonus Ball at the end of the game.
* **Kickback**: At the start of each ball, a spring-loaded kickback is available at the left outlane. Once it is used up, it can be reactivated on the same ball by collecting "50,000 + Light Outlanes" from completing either SHUTTLE or STATION.
* **Stop 'N' Score Multiplier**: Spelling USA on the bumper rollovers via incomplete left lane shots or bounce-ins from the bumpers (with the lit rollover positions cycling with flipper operation) will advance a multiplier for points earned from the Stop 'N' Score side mode. The multiplier starts at 1x and can be maxed out at 5x. Advancing the multiplier to 4x will qualify a special that can be collected at the standup target to the right of the ramp.
* **Bumper Scoring**: Completing the 1-2-3 rollovers on the upper platform (with the lit rollover positions cycling with flipper operation) will increase the score of bumper hits. The initial value of the bumpers starts at 500 and can be advanced up to 3,000 in 500-point increments.
* **Lit Right Outlane**: Once per ball, a 100,000 score reward will be granted when the ball drains down the right outlane. This can be relit along with the kickback as a particular SHUTTLE or STATION reward.
* **Bonus Multiplier**: Knocking down the three drop targets to the right of the center lane's VUK will advance the bonus multiplier, which is only good for the current ball, unless bonus hold is earned from the "150,000 + Bonus Hold" SHUTTLE or STATION reward. Advancing the bonus multiplier to 4X will light an extra ball that can be collected the next time the drop targets are completed. Bonus is switch-based, maxing out at 99,000 points, while the multiplier maxes out at 7x. Collecting bonus hold will hold both the bonus value and the multiplier for the next ball.
* **SHUTTLE / STATION Targets**: At the start of each ball, and whenever the target to the right of the ramp is struck, the awards collected by completing SHUTTLE or STATION are randomized, with the reward being one of seven possible outcomes: a special, an extra ball, 25,000 points, 75,000 points, 50,000 points + Light Outlanes, 50,000 points + Bonus Ball, or 150,000 points + bonus hold. The selected Shuttle reward is collected when SHUTTLE is spelled on the left side of the table and the selected Station reward is collected when STATION is spelled on the right target banks. Pressing the right flipper will alternate which set of rewards the right standup target will randomize.
* **Bonus Ball**: If the player collected a Bonus Ball from a SHUTTLE or STATION reward, the player will be awarded one final time-limited ball once the traditional supply of three balls is exhausted. Within a 25 second time limit (increased to 45 seconds if a Rescue Jackpot was scored), the player can play with a single ball and score some more points before time runs out. An unlimited ball saver is in effect for the duration of the Bonus Ball; once it expires, the flippers will be disabled and the ball will drain to end the game proper. Only one Bonus Ball can be collected per game.
* **Extra Ball**: An extra ball can be earned instantly by scoring the "Extra Ball" SHUTTLE or STATION reward, or lit at the drop targets by advancing the bonus multiplier to 4X. The extra ball at the drop targets requires them to be completed again to collect the extra ball.

## Tips

* It is safer to use strong shots up the left lane to dock and redock the shuttles. The ramp can be risky, as its drop target and design may result in difficult-to-avoid drains. Only go for the ramp if the Stop ‘n Score multiplier is at a high value, or if you're in Condition Green as the drop target will be permanently lowered during the multiball.
* Condition Green is the highest scoring feature in the game, and easy to start by just completing the top lanes and locking balls, so take advantage of it if you're going for a high score. If a particularly valuable SHUTTLE or STATION reward is lit, try locking a ball during Condition Green, then shoot for the targets with the other ball. The locked ball will be kicked out if you drain down to single-ball play, and while multiball will end, it's certainly better than draining otherwise and it's easy to get back into multiball.
* The bonus multiplier is key to earning and claiming extra balls, but you might not want to go for them thanks to their position making them only possible to shoot as a backhand or as a lucky bounce off the right set of STATION targets. The simplistic design and rules of the table don't require extra balls.

## External links

* Table walkthrough by ShoryukenToTheChin (PDF)