TAXI pinball machine

 

                         Rules for TAXI

                         --------------

TAXI is copyright Williams 1988. This rulesheet is released to 

the public domain by Mark Valentine (markv@cix.compulink.co.uk).

It's my first shot at a rulesheet, so picking a simple game 

seemed like a good idea...

The rules specified here assume 'medium' difficulty settings 

(the default).

Playfield Description

---------------------

TAXI comes in a standard-sized cabinet painted New York taxi 

yellow. As with just about every table, the art is great if you 

actually take the time to inspect it in detail.

Plunger: A manual plunger feeds the ball into the SPINOUT 

saucer. The strength of the plunge will affect how many times 

the ball spins around. Point awards, based on the number of 

revolutions are: 1k, 5k, 10k, 25k + pickup passenger, 50k, 75k, 

100k. Beyond that it wraps around and starts at 1k again. This 

value is multiplied by the number of the ball in play (not on 

hard settings [or on my machine]). I find this an unbalancing 

feature, particularly on 5-ball play where it's possible to 

score most of a replay just on this skill shot.

Rollovers: There are 3 rollover lanes at the top centre, 

labelled C A B. Lighting all 3 letters advances bonus multiplier 

(up to max. 5x, after which C A B awards 50k 'CAB Bonus') and 

also lights 'Raise Jackpot' for 10 seconds.

JOYRIDE eject hole: To the left of the rollover lanes is the 

JOYRIDE hole. It is accessible from both above and below. Above 

by a right 'semi-orbit' shot, below directly from the flippers. 

>From above it counts as GORBY pickup and 'collect jackpot'; from 

below it's SANTA pickup and collects JOYRIDE when lit (by right 

inlane). Finally it collects the AIRPORT MILLION when lit.

Carry Passengers target: Immediately to the right of the JOYRIDE 

hole. Lit for about 10 seconds by making all three LOLA or the 

PINBOT drop banks (whether lit or not). Available from both 

flippers, but much easier from a left backhand.

Left Ramp: The entrance is halfway down the playfield. If lit 

(done by right inlane), scores current AIRPORT value and 

advances it. Also starts multiball if a ball is locked. A weak 

shot may roll back and drain.

Right Ramp: The entrance is halfway down the playfield. If lit 

(done by left inlane), scores current AIRPORT value and advances 

it.

LOLA drop targets: Bank of three located centre of the 

playfield. All three have to be hit within 10 seconds or they 

reset. Pickup LOLA when lit. Lights 'Carry Passengers'.

PINBOT drop targets: Bank of three located centre right. All 

three have to be hit within 15 seconds or they reset. Pickup 

PINBOT when lit. Lights 'Carry Passengers'.

DRAC hole: Located centre left at the end of a U-loop. Pickup 

DRAC when lit. Collect extra ball when lit (by 3 x C A B). 

Catapult shoots the ball to the right ramp> This will score the 

AIRPORT value if lit, but if DRAC is lit (and collected) the 

AIRPORT award will time out before the eject.

Lock hole: Centre right, above the PINBOT bank. A simple shot to 

lock a ball. After the first multiball, any passenger must be 

collected to relight it for lock.

OBJECTIVE

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Pickup all 5 passengers to light JACKPOT. Collect JACKPOT. Drop 

off all 5 passengers to light outlanes for SPECIAL.

At the start of the game PINBOT and GORBY are lit for pickup. 

When a passenger is picked up, the next one lights. The order is 

GORBY, PINBOT, DRAC, LOLA, SANTA. Each pickup awards a tip of 

20k and also gives an end of ball bonus of 20k.

JACKPOT starts at 500k. Each time C A B is scored, 'Raise 

Jackpot' lights for 10 seconds, during which time every switch 

adds 2k to the jackpot value. The jackpot value is held over 

from player to player, ball to ball and game to game until 

collected. Maximum value is 4M. The jackpot must be collected 

within 15 seconds or LOLA get out and has to be picked up again 

to relight the jackpot.

Once the jackpot is collected, drop off passengers in the order 

SANTA, PINBOT, DRAC, LOLA, GORBY. This will relight the jackpot 

(although it probably won't have been raised much over 600k) and 

one (alternating) outlane for SPECIAL.

After collecting the drop-off jackpot, it starts over with GORBY 

(only one passenger lit at once for second and subsequent 

times). A second complete pickup/drop off sequence does *not* 

light the second outlane for special.

AIRPORT

-------

Left inlane lights right ramp, right inlane lights left ramp for 

AIRPORT. Shooting a lit ramp awards the current airport value 

and advances it. Values are 20k, 40k, 60k, 80k and finally 100k 

+ light airport million (collected at JOYRIDE hole). No time 

limit to collect the million (20 seconds on 'hard', 15 seconds 

on 'extra hard').

JOYRIDE

-------

Right inlane lights the JOYRIDE hole for about 10 seconds. 

Shooting it awards one of the awards shown on the backglass: 10k 

(bleah!); Spot Passenger; Mystery (points between 60k and 290k); 

Extra Ball (awarded immediately); Special.

Multiball

---------

Achieved by locking one ball in the right lock hole and shooting 

the left ramp with a subsequent ball. This carries over from 

player to player, so it is possible to steal someone else's 

locked ball! When multiball starts, the objective is to relock 

both balls in the 'Express' lanes. First lock must be back into 

the right lock hole (Express lane 1). Second ball must be shot 

into DRAC (Express lane 2). Locking the second ball scores 300k. 

Both balls are then ejected and both ramps are lit for 100k 

'Airport Ride'.

Extra Ball

----------

2 possibilities; JOYRIDE extra ball or C A B extra ball. C A B 

extra ball requires 3 C A B's during the same ball (2 on 'extra 

easy, 6 on 'hard', 7 on 'extra hard'). Collected at DRAC. If the 

ball is lost before collecting it, tough!

CARRY PASSANGERS

----------------

Hitting this small target (lit by LOLA or PINBOT banks) holds 

any passengers for the next ball. Subsequent 'carry passenger' 

shots on the same ball award 20k, 30k, 50k (max.) 'Carry Bonus'.

If you 'carry passengers' on the final ball, you get a extra end 

of ball bonus ('Passenger Payoff') of 20k per passenger.

End of Ball Bonus

-----------------

The ball bonus is displayed on the backglass. Most shots (ramps, 

holes, inlanes) add a few k to the bonus. Maximum is 99k. E-O-B 

bonus is calculated as bonus * bonus multiplier + 20k per 

passenger. Therefore the maximum possible bonus is 99k * 5 + 20k 

* 5 = 595k. Note that if you are not credited for passengers 

picked up in a previous sequence; if you pickup all 5, collect 

the jackpot, drop off Santa and drain you are credited with one 

passenger (SANTA), not 6 passengers. This seems a bit mean, 

considering the passenger bonus isn't huge anyway.

TACTICS

-------

Get the jackpot. Nothing else scores anything like as many 

points. Always aim for Carry Passengers to make life easier.

Multiball is easy to get, but difficult to milk for many points 

as the ramps are quite difficult; anything less than a perfect 

shot will roll back down dangerously. Multiball is a good time 

to pickup PINBOT (and LOLA) with two balls flying around.

If you can master the ramps, the airport million is well worth 

going for. If the left ramp is difficult, shoot DRAC instead as 

that awards a left ramp airport advance.

Bragging

--------

This section seems obligatory in rulesheets, although I don't 

have much to brag about. I have covered the high score board on 

my, hem, local Taxi, #1 being a scrappy 6.6M. I suppose I should 

admit that the main reason for this is because the machine is in 

my living room ;-) Well, I don't play it that much. I decided to 

do this sheet mainly because someone asked for one and also 

because I will be bidding it a fond farewell soon. The proceeds 

will *just* cover the sales tax on the TAF and TZ I have on 

order...