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Pinball Rule Sheets

A repository of rulesheets for pinball machines

Airborne

Game Information & Overview:

Airborne is a 1996 pinball machine released by the short-lived Capcom Coin-Op pinball company. The machine was the first in almost a decade to be designed by Claude Fernandez, whose previous work included several early 80s Bally machines. The game places the player in the role of a pilot, who participates in six different international air shows, performing stunts and just showing off. This game is notable for its confusing ramp layout in the center and some difficult rules, which I intend to clear up a bit here… over 20 years since the machine first hit arcades.

Rules Overview:

Layout:

Skill Shot:

Plunge a ball to the top of the playfield, then use the Injector to send the ball down one of the jet entrances. The left or right entrances will award 1 or 4 million respectively, which alternate at the start of each ball. The pilot’s seat will lock a ball. Locking 2 balls in the pilot’s seat through a Skill Shot will begin Dogfight Mayhem, so technically, you could start Multiball in 2 flips on this game! :stuck_out_tongue:

Airshows & Stunts:

Throughout the game, the player will constantly be participating in airshows across the world. The order of the airshows is the same every time. Once either all of the stunts required for an airshow have been finished or the hurry-up timer has run out, the player will automatically move onto the next country. Performing stunts will advance the player’s status from Sergeant to Ace, along with awarding some points. Each country has its own set of stunts to complete (in the specific order listed here):

Airshow Timer: Each airshow has a certain amount of time allotted for the player to complete the assigned stunts. This will usually be around 75 seconds. The timer can be extended either by activating Night Flying (which stops the timer for as long as the mode is active) or collecting the Jet Refueling upgrade (which will add 20 seconds to the current airshow and 5 seconds to every later airshow). After completing any airshow, a bonus will be awarded dependent on the amount of time remaining.

Night Flying: Completing the AIR targets at any time during normal play qualifies the SHOW targets to start Night Flying the next time they’re completed. Night Flying is a 30 second timed mode that interrupts the timer for the current country and lights all shots for 500,000 points each. Starting Night Flying early on, and then going exclusively for stunts can be a great way to maximize the timer bonus for completing a set of stunts. The mode becomes tougher the more times it is activated, as the SHOW targets are on a timer and after a certain amount of time has passed, you will have to complete the AIR targets to requalify them.

Upgrades: Completing all three of the jet entrances will collect an upgrade for your jet. These upgrades are awarded in a specific order and remain intact for the entire game (with the exception of two of them).

Bonus Multipliers: Completing the JET rollover lanes advances the bonus multipliers up to a maximum of 10x. For whatever reason the multipliers don’t go in order on this game, 4x, 6x, and 9x are skipped due to there only being three inserts. The bonus multiplier is displayed above the flippers.

Airborne Mystery: Hitting the green standup target at any time during single ball play will collect letters in “AIRBORNE”. Completing the word will give the player a random Mystery award (with a cool animation to go along with it!). Some Mystery awards include:

Formation Awards: Completing the Blue Angels formation at the center of the playfield will light the center standup target to collect an award that becomes more valuable for every formation completed. These awards are, in order:

Left Scoop Awards: Completing the SHOW drop targets will increment the award given to the player by the left scoop. Once an award is collected, it will reset until the drop targets are completed to increment it again. These awards are, in order:

Mach Spinner: Shooting the spinner enough times will increase the Mach Speed of the jet and increase the spinner value from 200k (Mach 1) to 350k (Mach 2) to 500k (Mach 3). Reaching certain levels of Mach Speeds is also required as a stunt at certain points in the game. If the Engine Upgrade has been collected, the spinner values will be multiplied by 3, meaning you could obtain 1.5 million from a single spin!

Fly-Bys: Shooting the tower ramp or right ramp when it isn’t lit for a stunt (or, in the case of the right ramp, if the injector isn’t used) will qualify the ramp for successive Fly-By shots. These shots start out at 3 million and increase by 1 million per shot, up to a maximum of 6 million. The player who collects the highest amount of successive Fly-Bys is recognized by the game as the “Fly-By King” and can enter his or her initials at the end of the game.

Multiball Modes: There are two Multiball rounds that can be activated in Airborne. Both of these are separate from each other and can’t be stacked. Airshows will still be active during Multiball rounds.

World Frenzy: World Frenzy is the wizard mode of this table, which lights after finishing off the stunts in Spain. Shooting a ball into any of the locks on the playfield will start the mode and award you a payoff for each time Ace status was reached. These payoffs are:

After the payoffs have been awarded, a 4-ball Multiball will begin with Jackpots lit on the ramps. A shot to the tower ramp will score a 5 million Jackpot, while a shot to the right ramp that goes all the way around to the left flipper will score a 15 million Jackpot. A weak shot to the right ramp that falls into one of the jet entrances will score a 10 million Jackpot. This Multiball has a long ball saver at the start. The mode ends once the player returns to single ball play; then, the player can return to completing sets of stunts in hopes of reaching World Frenzy again.

End of Ball Bonus: Bonus is calculated using several statistics:

all multiplied by the current bonus multiplier. If the bonus multiplier is high enough on a good ball, the bonus can be huge on this game!

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