Ghost Rider

> "The Spirit of Vengeance rides again!"
>
> - Ghost Rider

This article or section is in the process of an expansion or major restructuring.

## Ghost Rider

### Based on

*Ghost Rider*
created by Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich and Mike Ploog

### Achievement

"Stunt Rider" - Make three jump ramp shots in a row.

### Number of multiball modes

2

***Ghost Rider*** is one of the four *Marvel* pinball tables included in the Vengeance & Virtue DLC pack, released in late 2011 for *Zen Pinball 2* and *Pinball FX2*, then ported to *Pinball FX3* in 2017. The table is based on the 2006 *Ghost Rider* comic series, depicting stuntman Johnny Blaze's transformation into Ghost Rider, the "Spirit of Vengeance" who fights against villains alive and undead.

## Table overview

This article or section is in the process of an expansion or major restructuring.

## Main objective

The Ghost Rider must take on four villains in one timed mission each, then fight against former archangel Zadkiel.

### Missions

Depending on the current position of the seesaw, the player must shoot either side of the orbit - depending on which side of the seesaw is lowered - to light the villain sinkhole to start a mission. Missions don't have to be completed to qualify the fight against **Zadkiel**; they just have to be played. After shooting the sinkhole, the player can select a mission using the flippers and launch button. Any mission can be replayed at any time.

Starting either **Multiball** mode pauses the mission, and disables the shots required to progress in it; the mission will continue once the player drains down to single-ball play, or collects the hurry-up super jackpot.

At the end of each mission with a timer (all of them except for **Mephisto**), 10 million points will be awarded, along with a timer bonus worth 100,000 points per second remaining when the final shot was made. 10 seconds will be added to missions for every lit shot made.

* **Scarecrow**: Put up with Scarecrow's army of sentient crows by repeatedly shooting the orbits. A 40-second timer will start, and crows will flock to either the left or right orbit. To get rid of the crows, the player must first shoot the orbit that the crows are flying above for 500,000 points, then shoot the bumpers for 1 million points. After making 3 shots to the bumpers this way, the ball will be magnetized to the center of the playfield and picked up by the crows. A new ball will be sent to the plunger and be diverted to the Hellfire Gun; to win the mission, the player must use the gun by pressing the launch button when the crows are as close as it to possible to knock the ball off. If the player wins the mission, **Stuntman Multiball** will activate until the player returns to single-ball play.
* **The Orb**: Avoid the Orb's deadly laser by setting up a trap at the seesaw. In 30 seconds, the player must shoot for the flashing orbit twice - once to set up the seesaw, and again to directly hit the Orb with the ball for 1 million points. The Orb will then make things a little more challenging by firing his laser, which constantly messes with the physics of the ball if the player doesn't focus on making the required left orbit shot. Making a strong shot to the left orbit will activate the hidden kicker in the seesaw for 5 million points and send the ball flying at the Orb, completing the mission.
* **Mephisto**: The Ghost Rider risks his life as he matches wits against Mephisto. This untimed mission begins with a 10-second phase where the player can shoot either ramp to increase the difficulty of the mode, which starts at "Tricky" and increases with two shots to the right ramp for "Trickiest"; shooting the flashing left ramp will lower the difficulty accordingly. To win against Mephisto, the player must make six flashing ramp shots before Mephisto does. After every few ramp shots, the HANDS OFF! inserts near the flippers will turn on, and Mephisto will use the flippers to shoot ramps himself - the player can still nudge during this time to mess up his flow, however. Making six flashing ramp shots wins the mission for 5 million points. The difficulty settings directly impact the value of the shots (500,000 for Tricky, 1 million for Trickier, 2 million for Trickiest) and determine how many ramp shots Mephisto will make when his turn comes.
* **Death Race**: Don't let Death catch up to the Ghost Rider. Within 30 seconds, the player must make a total of three **skill shots** by sending the ball to the plunger via the diverted right inlane and outlane. The skill shots will be lit in order, from the lowest sinkhole to the highest, each scoring 2 million points. Making all three skill shots wins the mission for 10 million points.

### Zadkiel

Zadkiel is the final mission, and can be accessed the same way as the preceding missions after playing them all - by shooting the flashing orbit, followed by the villain sinkhole. Once Zadkiel has been qualified, all other missions will be disabled until the player wins this mission. As a result, the player has unlimited attempts at this mission if they fail it.

Ghost Rider will tear off a part of the left ramp after a failed attempt to kill Zadkiel, and the player must get rid of this false god by using the power of hellfire. Every shot into the Pit will put the ball on fire; once the ball exits the Pit, the player must shoot the left ramp with a strong shot within 5 seconds to hit Zadkiel for 5 million points. To win the mission, the player must shoot Zadkiel 3 times within a 90-second timer that doesn't reset for each shot. Making the third shot to Zadkiel will kill the archangel for 50 million points + 100,000 points per second of time remaining, and reset the mission inserts so the player can play through them all again.

## Side objectives

Four side objectives are available, in the loosest sense of the term. These are simply opportunities for higher scoring that can be activated by making certain shots enough times.

* **Heavy Traffic Video Mode**: Every three shots to the lowered seesaw will light the video mode at the right outlane if it isn't already lit, which can be started by sending a ball into the diverted outlane. During the video mode, the player must use the flippers to successfully overtake 20 rows of vehicles, while collecting the "1M" icons for additional million point bonuses and the "EB" icon to light an **extra ball**. Once the video mode has been played once, it must be relit with three more seesaw orbit shots. 1 million points are awarded for a successful video mode completion.
* **Super Skill Shot**: If **video mode** is already lit at the right outlane, every three shots to the lowered seesaw will divert the right return lane area into the plunger for 10 seconds; if the player sends the ball to the area during this time, they will get a chance to make a Super Skill Shot. Plunging into the lowest sinkhole will hold the **bonus multiplier** for the next ball or light an **extra ball** if the multiplier has already been held, while the middle sinkhole will award 1 million points (or reset the FIRE standups if one is already lit), and the highest sinkhole will score 2 million points. If extra balls have been maxed out, the lowest sinkhole will award 3 million points instead.
* **Hellfire Gun**: Spelling FIRE at the right bank of standup targets will divert balls sent to the left return lane area into the Hellfire Gun, where the player can use the launch button to fire the ball at one of the flashing FIRE targets for 100,000 points within 10 seconds; if the player misses the shot or shoots an already lit target from the gun, the FIRE targets will reset and must be shot again to relight the gun. Progress towards spelling FIRE from the gun is carried across multiple attempts on the same ball; once the player has made all four FIRE targets from the gun, a chance at a 3 million point Hellfire Jackpot will be given if the player shoots the constantly moving FIRE target.
* **Fireball**: Shooting the moving target in front of the villain sinkhole 5 times without shooting the sinkhole behind it will enrage Lucifer, and start a 10-second period where the player can choose the reward for winning the mode using the flippers and launch button; the player can either choose 500,000 points and save the ball if they fail, or 5 million points and risk losing the ball if they fail. Lucifer will send the ball flying between the flippers a second after the decision is made, and the player must nudge the table to save the ball and score the reward.

## Multiball modes

There are two types of multiballs on *Ghost Rider* - a 2-ball **Stuntman Multiball**, and the 3-ball **Helluva Multiball**. Balls for both multiballs are locked in the same way - the player must first shoot balls into the Pit, then shoot the lock to lock a ball, which becomes a captive ball that can be hit from either lower flipper. If 1 ball has been locked in the Pit, Stuntman Multiball will start; if 2 have been locked, Helluva Multiball will start.

Both multiballs have the same jackpot rules; jackpots are lit at both orbits and ramps, their values increase by 200,000 points + 200,000 points per Damned Soul target for every successful shot out of the Pit, and are multiplied by +1x for every consecutive shot up the jump ramp. Both multiballs have different ways of obtaining the super jackpot. The jackpot value resets to its base value after every jackpot collected, although the super jackpot value for Helluva Multiball doesn't reset until the player has shot all active balls from the gun.

* **Stuntman Multiball**: In this 2-ball multiball, the player must shoot all four shots for jackpots worth 1 million, then shoot the jump ramp for a 2 million point super jackpot. The super jackpot value is multiplied by +1x for every consecutive shot to the jump ramp. This mode also activates after a successful attempt at the **Scarecrow** mission.
* **Helluva Multiball**: This lucrative 3-ball multiball lights jackpots at all four major shots worth 1 million points. To collect 2 million point super jackpots, the player must load balls into the Hellfire Gun, then shoot the flashing FIRE targets from the gun using the launch button. If the player manages to shoot all 4 FIRE targets in a single attempt, a mega jackpot worth 2x the super jackpot value will be awarded, and another ball will be launched into play. If the player drains down to single-ball play while the super jackpot is lit, they will have 10 seconds to load the gun and fire it using the launch button for a super jackpot before play returns to normal.

## Perks

* **Ball Save**: 15 seconds of ball save time are given at the start of each new ball and multiball mode. Balls that hit the target in front of the center ramp and drain down the middle will also be saved.
* **Kickback**: Shooting the left standup target twice will activate the kickback at the left outlane, which can be stacked an unlimited amount of times and carries over across balls. If the right outlane is lit for **video mode**, the ball will be diverted into the skill shot VUK and saved.
* **Bonus Multiplier**: Spelling VROOM at the return lanes, which cycle with the flippers, increases the bonus multiplier by +1x to a maximum of 99x. Reaching 99x bonus will light an **extra ball**. The bonus multiplier can be held by making the first skill shot hole during a **Super Skill Shot** attempt.
* **Combos**: Repeatedly making alternating shots to the left and right ramp within 10 seconds of each other will score combo points. The first three shots in the combo sequence award 100,000, 200,000, then 300,000 points; then all subsequent shots in the sequence will award Super Combos worth 400,000 points each. Making a weak shot to the left ramp that falls onto the jump ramp will cancel out the combo sequence.
* **Random Award**: Shooting the villain sinkhole when a mission isn't lit will award a random award from the following list: **super jets**, light **extra ball**, FIRE lit (lights the **Hellfire Gun**), -1 **Damned Soul**, +1x **bonus multiplier**, 100,000 points (+100,000 per collection).
* **Jump Ramp Scoring**: Shooting the target in front of the center ramp will cause it to lower and start a wheel with various point values (between 40,000 and 500,000) under the figure of Ghost Rider to start spinning, and allow the player to access the upper left flipper. Repeatedly shooting the jump ramp without draining from the area multiplies the points per shot, which are added to **end-of-ball bonus**. Making four consecutive shots to the jump ramp will light an **extra ball**, once per game.
* **Damned Souls**: Every time a ball drains into the kicker that ejects balls out of the Pit, a Damned Soul will escape. Each escaped Damned Soul decreases the **end-of-ball bonus** by 10%. The player can capture escaped Damned Souls by either shooting both standup targets in the Pit, or from a **random award**.
* **Extra Ball**: Extra balls can be lit at the villain sinkhole from the **Super Skill Shot**, by making four shots to the **jump ramp** in a row, by collecting the "EB" icon during **video mode**, as a **random award**, or by maxing out the **bonus multiplier** at 99x.

## Tips

* *Ghost Rider* is an easy table to learn for more casual Pinball FX players, as you don't need to complete missions to get to the worthwhile Zadkiel fight - you just have to start them. The easiest way to access the villain sinkhole is to shoot the target once, then either backhand the sinkhole from the left flipper or shoot it directly from the right flipper depending on the position of the target.
* Helluva Multiball is relatively easy to start and can be immensely valuable, especially if you can repeatedly shoot the jump ramp to multiply the super jackpot value. Just be sure to avoid shooting the left ramp if the super jackpot is lit, as this will cancel out the chance for multipliers.
* The jump ramp might be fun to shoot, but can generally be ignored unless you've already had a long ball and the bonus multipliers have been held - in which case, keep shooting for it. End-of-ball bonus can be huge on this game with a decent multiplier.
* Super skill shots are the most reliable way to get extra balls, and can be activated by shooting the lit orbits three times while video mode is already lit. Shooting the right ramp as soon as the diverter activates will always send the ball into the plunger area.

## References & Easter Eggs

* The Heavy Traffic video mode strongly resembles the video mode from *The Getaway: High Speed II*.
* An inverted playfield, similar to the Pit, was attempted on Bally's 1991 *Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball*. The two inverted playfields behave similarly, and reward players for shooting the exit out of the playfield using the flipper rather than relying on the kicker.

## External links

* Official table trailer
* Table walkthrough by ShoryukenToTheChin (PDF)
* Official table soundtrack on Bandcamp (tracks 1 - 7)