General Description

It's a big hunk of wood, and parts, with some lights here and there. Oh, it has buttons on the side, and a spot to put your money in, and even a little silver ball that you can hit around with flippers. Cool, Huh? (Ok, So that wasn't the description you were looking for .. )

Cyclone was made by Williams in 1988. It has 2 flippers, and no multiball. Despite it having no multiball, it is still a very fun game, if it works right. Starting from the lower playfield, kinda- sorta working up, here's the description.

Flippers
There are 2 of them, "Normal" size, located just above the outhole. There is a small post (T2/Pinbot size) in between the flippers.

Return lanes
They are normal size, for games of that time period. The right return lane lights the Ferris Wheel. Either return lane will re-light the "Advance X" light on the boomerang hole.

Outlanes
Pretty fair. There are posts on the inside of them, to keep balls from rolling up the inlane, and out the outlane. Both outlanes have "Extra Ball" lights on them, which are toggled (Left/ Right) by the flippers, slingshots, jet bumpers .. etc.

Duck targets
Just above the right outlane, 3 stand-up targets, that re-light the Cyclone ramp. First completion will score 25k, Second 50k, and the third completion lights Extra Ball on the outlanes. Completing these also lights "Bonus" of "Hold Bonus"

Boomerang kickout
Small kickout, from under the playfield, kicks the ball generally towards the left flipper, but I have seen it go to the right flipper, and even gasp SDTM. You can hit the ball in here, when the "Adv. X" light is on. This will advance your bonus multiplier. More on that later.

Comet ramp
Smack dab in the middle of the playfield (Ok, Just a tad to the left) is a ramp. This is the Comet ramp, it returns the ball to the right return lane. More on it's scoring later. You can re-light it by hitting the stand-up targets to the left of it. If you don't hit the ball hard enough, to make it all the way around, it will fall into the jet bumpers, through a second hole. It's a whole lot better than having the ball come speeding down towards the flippers, isn't it? :-)

Spook-House
Just to the right of the Comet ramp, there is a small sinkhole behind a single drop target. Kickout is from the boomerang hole. Hitting the ball in here spins the Mystery Wheel .. More on that later.

Cat Targets
Just to the left of the Comet ramp. These re-light the comet. You can spot one of them, via the target that is to the right of the spook house (Kinda hidden). These award 20k, and light "Hold" of "Hold Bonus".

Cyclone ramp
To the right of the Spook-House, and back a little more on the playfield. Shooting this ramp 3 times when lit scores the jackpot .. More on that later. This ramp returns the ball to the right return lane.

Jet Bumpers
3 of them, Just below the top rollover lanes.

Ferris Wheel
A cute "toy" that is in the back left corner of the machine. This scores the "Ferris Bonus" when lit (Via the right return lane). The Ferris Wheel returns the ball to the left return lane. If you get a chance, look at the different expressions on the people's faces. :-)

1-2-3 rollovers
3 lanes at the top, when completed, start the double scoring feature, which lasts for x seconds. Double score doubles all the point values on the playfield, including the million shot on the Comet ramp. It does not however double the jackpot, should you get it during "Double Score". As with most games, you can change the position of the top lanes with the left, or right flipper. (x is operator adjustable, from 0 (off) to 99 seconds. Factory = 20)

Skill shot
There is a skill-shot, that I didn't really know how to put it in up there. It requires a soft shot, and you want to get the ball in the middle of the 5 holes. The middle of the 5 holes is worth 100k. There is a multiplier on the skill shot, which is the value that you get, multiplied by what ball this is (Maxes out at 5 X). (Note: It will increment the multiplier for extra balls, so it is possible to have a 4 X skill shot on ball 3, for example).

Skill shot values are (From bottom to top) 10k, 25k, 100k, 25k, and 5k.

Other
There are several switches behind rubbers, that score points, and make sounds. The points aren't very much, but they're points. :-)

Mystery Wheel
This is on the backglass, and has values ranging from "Zilch" to 200k, Extra Ball, and Special. More on this later.

Backglass
Superb artwork. There is a roller coaster (The Cyclone) with Ronald, and Nancy Reagan in the front seat. [Former USA president, and his wife].

Sound
This game had very good, cool sound effects, for it's time. You may notice that they used the sound from when you get "Double Score"; in Fun House, it is used as the "Shoot Again" when Rudy is asleep. They also used one of the (many) whistles; in WhiteWater, it is the No Way Out kickout warning sound. There are many cool "Bells and whistles", as well as amusing buzzers. The game has a lot of good speech too. The attract mode is very well synchronized, in terms of sound, and lights.

Displays
Cyclone was back in the time of alpha-numeric displays. The highest score that the high score table will hold is 9,999,999.

Cyclone has many options that can be adjusted by the operator, including the length of certain timers. With that in mind, the settings on the machine you choose to play may vary, and just for that reason, I didn't put alot of the timer values in here. Most of the features time out in 15 seconds.

Start out with the skill shot, which shoots the ball into the area above the rollover lanes. From there, the ball goes into the jet bumpers, and can come out either side. The jet bumpers increase the Ferris Bonus, which is collected on the Ferris Wheel (when lit).

There is no multiball on this game, but once you get to playing it, you probably won't notice that there isn't multiball. The game doesn't really need it, otherwise, it would be a little on the easy side.

Jackpot

Shooting the right ramp 3 times before the timer expires will award the current jackpot, which is displayed in lights, to the left of the mystery wheel on the backglass. After you get the jackpot, it resets to 500k. After you run out of credits, it will add 1 million to the jackpot, if you got it.

After you score a jackpot, the "Millions" digit in your score will flash, unless of course, your score is under a million, in which case, it will begin flashing when there is a digit there .. :-) I believe this is also true if you get the "Million" shot on the Comet ramp.

The jackpot increases 5k for each time you hit one of the 1-2-3 rollover switches at the top of the playfield.

After you get the jackpot, (or get it lit, and let the timer run out) you will need to re-light the Cyclone ramp. Hit the 3 duck targets, just above the right outlane. There is no maximum on the number of jackpots you can get per game, however, it resets back to 500k after you get the jackpot.

Comet Million

On the back panel of the playfield, just behind the Ferris Wheel, there is a set of lights, which indicates the value of the next shot on the Comet ramp. Each shot increases this, one step at a time, towards the million shot. Note: You can get the million shot during double score, and it will award 2 million, as well as different sound effects. :-)

You can get as many "Millions" as you want, as long as you keep re-lighting the Comet, and building it up. It's kinda more work than it's worth, unless you like shooting the same shot over and over again. :-)

Values go up in 20k increments, lowest being 20k, and the highest being 100k. Starting values will vary, depending on settings. After you get the 100k shot, the million shot is lit, on the Comet ramp. It will probably start you out with the 40k lit, and the 60k flashing.

After you get up to a certain point on the Comet ramp, and the timer expires before you can get another shot at it, then you will have to re-light the Comet ramp. To do this, you need to complete the 3 stand-up targets to the left of the Comet ramp. There is also a small target on the right side of the Spook-House island that will spot one of these targets for you.

Ferris Wheel

The right return lane lights the Ferris Wheel. When you shoot the lit Ferris Wheel, you collect the current value, usually anywhere from 100k to 250k or so. Ball is returned to the left return lane. Ferris Bonus = 50K + 3K per bumper.

Spook-House

To gain access to the Spook-House, you need to knock down the drop target in front of the sinkhole. Hitting the ball in the sinkhole behind the target will spin the mystery wheel on the backglass. Quite an interesting toy, as the machine knows *Exactly* what position the wheel is in at all times, if it works right. Same concept that is used to work the clock in Diner, but that's a different game :-).

The worst award you can get is "Zilch", which awards 0 points. The lowest point value you can get off the wheel is 5,000 (5k) The highest point value you can get off the wheel is 200,000 (200k) There are also "Extra Ball" and "Special" awards on the wheel. The drop target is on a timer, may be short, may be long. (adjustable) The kickout is from the boomerang hole, Just above the left slingshot.

Special/Bonus X

To advance your Bonus X, shoot the boomerang hole. This is where the ball gets kicked out from the Spook-House. It will only advance your Bonus X when it's lit, and you can re-light it by the return lanes. Or, even simpler, shoot a ramp, or the Ferris Wheel. :-)

Special -- You can get a special by getting your Bonus X up to the flashing light, on the Bonus X light wheel, just above the flippers. I've seen the flashing light as low as 3, and as high as 7. It's usually a good indication of how polite the boomerang kickout is.

Game Quotes

* "Hurry, Hurry, Step right up" -- Game start
* "We have a winner!!" -- When you get the 100k on the skill shot, When you get a good score on the mystery wheel, When you get a match at the end of the game.
* "Round and round she goes" -- Mystery wheel spinning
* "Ya paid your money, Ya take your chances." -- Zilch on Mystery Wheel.
* "Won't you come in" -- When you knock down the Spook-House target.
* "Welcome to my house" -- Same as above. Alternates between the 2
* "Ride the Comet" -- When you light/re-light the Comet
* "Ride the Cyclone" -- When you light/re-light the Cyclone
* "Ride the Ferris Wheel" -- When you light/re-light the Ferris Wheel
* "Hey You! With the face" -- During gameplay/attract mode.
* "Hey You! Step right up" -- Same as above
* "Hey You!" -- Same as above (Do we see a trend here? :-))
* "Quaaaaaaack" -- Close to a cow .. :-) -- Duck targets/Match
* "Million" -- When the million is lit
* Lots of whistles, and buzzes.
* There's probably more speech too.

The game makes alot of noise in Attract Mode, which is cool. It can be scarry in a quiet house, while watching TV, and the machine yells "Hey You!" .. Needless to say, I turned it off for the night. :-)

Easter Eggs

There aren't any cows in this game .. Sorry guys. Use your immagination. :-)

There are however, other animals, in the artwork, just above the flippers. How many can you name? :-)

-TJ

Ferris Wheel added by Steve Paradis (aka simplyus / polygame) with the permission of the original authors!