All I ask for the effort is feed back. Did the guide help? Anything else needed? Would you like another? Thank you
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ROME:
A Guide To ROME - PBFX 2
So ROME is really fun table once you get used to it. It can be daunting at first but hopefully after this guide, you will be leading the empire to greatness it ways never before imagined.
A few thoughts on ROME:
This is not an uber-scoring table, meaning you're not going to rack up 10's of millions quickly. You have to work for the high score, and many of the challenges are quite difficult (much like building an empire) . It's a pretty unforgiving table, many of the larger scoring opportunities are only avaliable per ball, meaning you lose a ball, and alot of hard work is wiped. Also the ball save IMO is one of the hardest to get consistantly. Fortunatly the kick backs are some of the easiest. Another point to mention is the ramp drain, only make it half way up one of the CONQUER ramps and the ball is almost assuredly going to drain. I've tried to work a way around it, but given the speed its coming back, nudging just wont work. Unlike the Janus Hole (middle of table) which you can normally drop stop, miss a CONQUER ramp and it's bye bye ball. For this reason I recomend only going for the ramps from a stopped ball, there are a few exceptions, but as a rule of thumb it will get you far.
So a few terms for the table:
Janus hole: The head in the middle of the table, has extra ball light and garrison light, used to start missions, skill shots, extra balls, start a mini game, increase jack pot, set up ramp shots. Its in the "center" for a reason, most of the table revolves around it, much like ancient Rome revolved around the Gods. Respect the Janus hole centurian
Janus was the Roman god of doors and gates..
Garrison: Although the missions are also called "garrisons" for the purpose of this guide, missions will be called "Missions". The garrison is between the janus whole and the ROMULUS hole. There is a solder on top of it along with 2 solid lights at its entrance.
Scale of Justice: Located behind the Garrson, more on what its for later.
ROMULUS Hole: Furthest Hole to the left, theres letters there, they spell ROMULUS. Romulus was the first roman king. He and his brother Remus where abandoned by their parents and suckeled by wolves in the wild. This made for some hardcore dudes, and a worthy ruler of rome.
Bumper Orbit: This is the far left orbit, if completed the ball with hit a small target, fall through the Vini Vidi Vici slots, into the bumpers.
CONQUER RAMPS: The 2 main ramps, we'll get more into their uses later, for now just know where they are.
Captive ball: To the right of the right CONQUER ramp is a captive ball with 3 targets behind it.
Galley orbit: The right orbit, its mostly used to line up a shot with the top flipper. The galley is the boat.
Jupiter Orbit: The middle orbit accsessed by the top left flipper (there is no top right one)
EMPIRE Targets: Located to the far left and right of the flippers.
VINI VIDI VICI _"We Came We Saw We conquered" Was written on roman money. (Notice the bumbers below are coins. Located at the top center of the table. The torches above show which words are lit, the torches can be changed with the flippers.
Hand Of Jupiter: Located on top of the right CONQUER Ramp. Must be unlocked with 2 consecutive Jupiter Orbit shots.
SCUTUM Letters - not located on the board, but are activated by 4 or more consecutive bumper hits. The dot matrix keeps track of them. A Scutum was a roman astrological device.
ARMA - located in the in and out lanes, letters can be changed with flippers, just like Vini Vidi Vici. Arma roughly translates to "weapon".
Justia wheel - Located at the top most left of the board, can only be accsessed by the Justice mini game, its also the most brutal mini game in PBFX2. Remember in Rome "Justice is swift and unmercifull"
I think this is it as far as "whats on the table".
Ok so now onto the main cource. I've considered alot of ways to do this, I believe the most helpfull is going to be a referential type guide, much like the explination of terms above. So look for the title and an explination will follow.
SKILL SHOT: Launch ball at max speed, janus hole will rote left, knock ball into janus hole from top left flipper. Bonus varies. Up to 1 mil.
Lets start off with the essentials. IMO there are 3 key things that are a must know when approching a PBFX2 table.
1) How do I get a Kick back Lit: This is super important, if a ball heads down the left outlane theres nothing you can do, if it heads down the right you can try a deathsave but this is far from 100% assured. For that reason I consider kickbacks the most important thing to know.
In ROME the kick backs are activated with the ARMA letters. Light all once for the left, and all twice for the right. The torch behind the kickback will be lit when active. It's not timed, one of the few forgiving elements of this table. Captive ball hits can give a nice bounce into the left inlane.
2) How do I activate the Ball Saver. Again this is important to know how to do, as its best to have a saftey net before attempting difficult shots, or shots that can lead to a drain. The ball save is activated for 45 seconds, to get it you must light all the SCUTUM letters, this is done by 4 consecutive bumper hits per letter. Basicly shoot the left orbit alot, as a bonus you should rack up some Vini Vidi Vici's.
3) How do I get an extra ball: Again this is huge, if you want to score big you're going to need as many balls as possible. ROME is a little weird on this one. There are methods to activate the free ball light (below the Janus Hole) But they dont always work. Though they always work the first time. This leads me to believe it's eaither timed, or its a 1 time thing, (after you get the free ball via one method thats it) Any additional info would be appreciated.
EDIT:
The first and eaisest way to get a free bal is via the "Mock Warfare" mini game (see "Mock Warfare") During the stage where you shoot the ball into the ship (red light) Random bonus' will be listed on the DMD. They range from different score amounts to ball saver and score multiplier. One of them is a free ball. Given you only have 5 seconds to launch the ball, gaining a free ball this way is a bit random. I dont reccomend waiting for it as you may lose the mini game and have to go through hitting the captive ball all over again.
The second way is via 6 shot combo. After hitting an orbit or ramp there is a timer for a few seconds, (shown with a blue light for conquer ramps and flashing lights for orbits) By hitting the ramps and outer orbits you will gain combos, accomponied by a female voice telling you how awsum you are. After 6 shots, (the max combo) The free ball hole will light.
Ok so thats the 3 main objectives, moving on.
How Do I Activate the Score Multiplier: The next most important thing to know on any given table is the multiplier. This one is rather easy for ROME, accomplshed by lighting all three words vini vidi vici. (see up top) This multiplier like most in PBFX 2 does not multiply your entire score, only target shots. Its still worth it though as at 6x or higher all those little target shots start really adding up, if you really want to see how this affects your score, go into opperater mode and turn on the detailed scoring, this shows the bonus being applied.
The is another small multiplier that as far as I know acts as a blanket 2x except for missions and minigames. Its the Hand Of Jupiter, Hit the Jupiter orbit 2x , then quickly (while the blue light below the right CONQUER ramp is on) hit the right CONQUER ramp. This will give you the hand of Jupiter bonus (Jupiter was the king of the gods, in greek he was Zeus)
The Scale of Justice: An easy way to get this bonus is with the garrison hole, or more specificly, the Scale of justice. By landing the ball in the garrison hole, your ball will activate the scale of justice, this does 2 things , 1) it drops the ball through the "Vini" slot of the vini vidi vici slots. 2) It brings across a bridge for the left CONQUER ramp. Ok so this bridge, it also does 2 things. 1) It allows a left CONQUER ramp shot drop the ball right on the upper left flipper (to line up a jupiter ramp shot) 2) After making this shot the Janus head will rotate to the left. You have one chance to make it in his mouth. Its a brutal shot (same as the skill shot) but it makes for good practice on another mini game well get into later. What happens when you get it in? Sorry you're gona have to find out for yourself. Considering all it takes to activate is a garrison shot and a ramp shot, it's definaltly worth it. Alot of times if you miss you'll end up making the Jupiter orbit anyway, which isnt a bad thing in itself. All I can reccomend for this is a hard shot. Lightly tap the flipper while ball is about dead center. Light shots (pulling the flipper all the way down quickly) don't fare well on this top flipper.
Ok so thats the multipliers, and the justice mini game practice shot, as well as the the use of the justice scale. Onto the missions and Minigames.
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ROME:
A Guide To ROME - PBFX 2
So ROME is really fun table once you get used to it. It can be daunting at first but hopefully after this guide, you will be leading the empire to greatness it ways never before imagined.
A few thoughts on ROME:
This is not an uber-scoring table, meaning you're not going to rack up 10's of millions quickly. You have to work for the high score, and many of the challenges are quite difficult (much like building an empire) . It's a pretty unforgiving table, many of the larger scoring opportunities are only avaliable per ball, meaning you lose a ball, and alot of hard work is wiped. Also the ball save IMO is one of the hardest to get consistantly. Fortunatly the kick backs are some of the easiest. Another point to mention is the ramp drain, only make it half way up one of the CONQUER ramps and the ball is almost assuredly going to drain. I've tried to work a way around it, but given the speed its coming back, nudging just wont work. Unlike the Janus Hole (middle of table) which you can normally drop stop, miss a CONQUER ramp and it's bye bye ball. For this reason I recomend only going for the ramps from a stopped ball, there are a few exceptions, but as a rule of thumb it will get you far.
So a few terms for the table:
Janus hole: The head in the middle of the table, has extra ball light and garrison light, used to start missions, skill shots, extra balls, start a mini game, increase jack pot, set up ramp shots. Its in the "center" for a reason, most of the table revolves around it, much like ancient Rome revolved around the Gods. Respect the Janus hole centurian

Garrison: Although the missions are also called "garrisons" for the purpose of this guide, missions will be called "Missions". The garrison is between the janus whole and the ROMULUS hole. There is a solder on top of it along with 2 solid lights at its entrance.
Scale of Justice: Located behind the Garrson, more on what its for later.
ROMULUS Hole: Furthest Hole to the left, theres letters there, they spell ROMULUS. Romulus was the first roman king. He and his brother Remus where abandoned by their parents and suckeled by wolves in the wild. This made for some hardcore dudes, and a worthy ruler of rome.
Bumper Orbit: This is the far left orbit, if completed the ball with hit a small target, fall through the Vini Vidi Vici slots, into the bumpers.
CONQUER RAMPS: The 2 main ramps, we'll get more into their uses later, for now just know where they are.
Captive ball: To the right of the right CONQUER ramp is a captive ball with 3 targets behind it.
Galley orbit: The right orbit, its mostly used to line up a shot with the top flipper. The galley is the boat.
Jupiter Orbit: The middle orbit accsessed by the top left flipper (there is no top right one)
EMPIRE Targets: Located to the far left and right of the flippers.
VINI VIDI VICI _"We Came We Saw We conquered" Was written on roman money. (Notice the bumbers below are coins. Located at the top center of the table. The torches above show which words are lit, the torches can be changed with the flippers.
Hand Of Jupiter: Located on top of the right CONQUER Ramp. Must be unlocked with 2 consecutive Jupiter Orbit shots.
SCUTUM Letters - not located on the board, but are activated by 4 or more consecutive bumper hits. The dot matrix keeps track of them. A Scutum was a roman astrological device.
ARMA - located in the in and out lanes, letters can be changed with flippers, just like Vini Vidi Vici. Arma roughly translates to "weapon".
Justia wheel - Located at the top most left of the board, can only be accsessed by the Justice mini game, its also the most brutal mini game in PBFX2. Remember in Rome "Justice is swift and unmercifull"
I think this is it as far as "whats on the table".
Ok so now onto the main cource. I've considered alot of ways to do this, I believe the most helpfull is going to be a referential type guide, much like the explination of terms above. So look for the title and an explination will follow.
SKILL SHOT: Launch ball at max speed, janus hole will rote left, knock ball into janus hole from top left flipper. Bonus varies. Up to 1 mil.
Lets start off with the essentials. IMO there are 3 key things that are a must know when approching a PBFX2 table.
1) How do I get a Kick back Lit: This is super important, if a ball heads down the left outlane theres nothing you can do, if it heads down the right you can try a deathsave but this is far from 100% assured. For that reason I consider kickbacks the most important thing to know.
In ROME the kick backs are activated with the ARMA letters. Light all once for the left, and all twice for the right. The torch behind the kickback will be lit when active. It's not timed, one of the few forgiving elements of this table. Captive ball hits can give a nice bounce into the left inlane.
2) How do I activate the Ball Saver. Again this is important to know how to do, as its best to have a saftey net before attempting difficult shots, or shots that can lead to a drain. The ball save is activated for 45 seconds, to get it you must light all the SCUTUM letters, this is done by 4 consecutive bumper hits per letter. Basicly shoot the left orbit alot, as a bonus you should rack up some Vini Vidi Vici's.
3) How do I get an extra ball: Again this is huge, if you want to score big you're going to need as many balls as possible. ROME is a little weird on this one. There are methods to activate the free ball light (below the Janus Hole) But they dont always work. Though they always work the first time. This leads me to believe it's eaither timed, or its a 1 time thing, (after you get the free ball via one method thats it) Any additional info would be appreciated.
EDIT:
The first and eaisest way to get a free bal is via the "Mock Warfare" mini game (see "Mock Warfare") During the stage where you shoot the ball into the ship (red light) Random bonus' will be listed on the DMD. They range from different score amounts to ball saver and score multiplier. One of them is a free ball. Given you only have 5 seconds to launch the ball, gaining a free ball this way is a bit random. I dont reccomend waiting for it as you may lose the mini game and have to go through hitting the captive ball all over again.
The second way is via 6 shot combo. After hitting an orbit or ramp there is a timer for a few seconds, (shown with a blue light for conquer ramps and flashing lights for orbits) By hitting the ramps and outer orbits you will gain combos, accomponied by a female voice telling you how awsum you are. After 6 shots, (the max combo) The free ball hole will light.
Ok so thats the 3 main objectives, moving on.
How Do I Activate the Score Multiplier: The next most important thing to know on any given table is the multiplier. This one is rather easy for ROME, accomplshed by lighting all three words vini vidi vici. (see up top) This multiplier like most in PBFX 2 does not multiply your entire score, only target shots. Its still worth it though as at 6x or higher all those little target shots start really adding up, if you really want to see how this affects your score, go into opperater mode and turn on the detailed scoring, this shows the bonus being applied.
The is another small multiplier that as far as I know acts as a blanket 2x except for missions and minigames. Its the Hand Of Jupiter, Hit the Jupiter orbit 2x , then quickly (while the blue light below the right CONQUER ramp is on) hit the right CONQUER ramp. This will give you the hand of Jupiter bonus (Jupiter was the king of the gods, in greek he was Zeus)
The Scale of Justice: An easy way to get this bonus is with the garrison hole, or more specificly, the Scale of justice. By landing the ball in the garrison hole, your ball will activate the scale of justice, this does 2 things , 1) it drops the ball through the "Vini" slot of the vini vidi vici slots. 2) It brings across a bridge for the left CONQUER ramp. Ok so this bridge, it also does 2 things. 1) It allows a left CONQUER ramp shot drop the ball right on the upper left flipper (to line up a jupiter ramp shot) 2) After making this shot the Janus head will rotate to the left. You have one chance to make it in his mouth. Its a brutal shot (same as the skill shot) but it makes for good practice on another mini game well get into later. What happens when you get it in? Sorry you're gona have to find out for yourself. Considering all it takes to activate is a garrison shot and a ramp shot, it's definaltly worth it. Alot of times if you miss you'll end up making the Jupiter orbit anyway, which isnt a bad thing in itself. All I can reccomend for this is a hard shot. Lightly tap the flipper while ball is about dead center. Light shots (pulling the flipper all the way down quickly) don't fare well on this top flipper.
Ok so thats the multipliers, and the justice mini game practice shot, as well as the the use of the justice scale. Onto the missions and Minigames.
Comment