FREE PLAY Pinball Arcade

RULES &
STRATEGY GUIDES

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JUDGE DREDD (Bally 1993)

Chain Links

A chain link is like a Door Panel / Mansion Room / Mode / Computer Screen etc. To start a Link you simply need to shoot the Left ramp, or Sniper Tower when lit ('Build Up Chain Feature'), they alternate; the Left Ramp is lit first. Note that when lock is lit, only the Sniper Tower will start Links. Total score from each Link is added in Fun With Bonus. Most of the Chain Links last 30 seconds, and you get 3 million just for starting them! I found an adjustment in the menus, Shots for Mode: 2; so maybe more shots to 'Build Up Chain Feature' will be necessary on some machines. Perhaps it's self-adjusting?

Actually, all modes are 20 seconds long, unless noted.

There are nine (9) chain links. It's good to see that they didn't go balistic on JD like they did on Indi. The modes are less repetitive, and only three involve shooting the ramps (and only one of those involve shooting both ramps - but there's a twist so it's ok).

The modes are 30 seconds each, unless stated otherwise:
Pursuit -> Black Out -> Sniper -> Battle Tank -> Bad Impression -> Melt Down -> Safe Cracker -> Manhunt Millions -> Stake Out => Ultimate Challenge.

(I listed them in the order they cycle through. I'm unsure as to which one is lit at the start of a game.)

Seems to be random.

Pursuit: This, I believe, is a nice marriage between a video mode, and a pinball game. The display shows a car speeding along (similar to The Getaway's Video Mode, except that the animation is better) with a police car following. The 'Pursuit' lights will flash at the entrance to the right and left ramps. By shooting either ramp, the police car will shoot a missile at the car. The car swerves all over the road so you have to time the ramp shot so that the missile will hit the car. If you hit the car you get 35 million - But I'm not sure where 35 came from.

I believe you also get some small amount of points for each shot you make that misses. Still, the only way to score well is to get lucky and actually HIT the thing.
Black Out: Two ball multiball, and all playfield scores are doubled. The centre ramp is lit for as many 10 Million shots as you like, until 1 or both balls drain. But don't fool yourself, it's not an easy shot.

I like to use this mode after the first multiball to just shoot JUDGE. Another strategy is to hold a ball on the left flipper and shoot the left ramp over and over for doubles points (effectviely 1M+1M). Perhaps after you've spelled JUDGE all you need to.
Sniper: Display shows someone looking down from the tower on people below. Occasionally you see a person get shot! Meanwhile 20 Million is counting down. Shoot the Sniper Tower to collect the lit value. The guy on the tower will fall (gets shot!). Shoot the Sniper Tower again to re-collect the same value. You have 11 seconds while he falls. For more info on the amuzing quotes (if you really want it), see the spoilers!
Battle Tank: The display shows a VERY mean and destructive looking device. You have to destroy it, but it's far too big to get rid of with one hit, so you need three. The Left Orbit, Centre Ramp, and Advance Crime Level are lit; shoot all three for 33 million. (I don't know where they got 33 from, I think it's 10 million per shot + the 3 million for starting the link.) There is a great feminine/computer sounding voice giving a rundown on how much is destroyed.

Yes, 3M+10M/shot.
Bad Impersonator: This is great. The display shows a guy dancing on a stage. The drop targets are lit two at a time in a T2-like manner, (J+U, then U+D etc). You have to hit the lit targets to through things at the guy on the stage. After the the 3 million for starting the round, it's 5 Million for every target hit. If the two lit targets are hit , 10 Million is awarded.
Melt Down: Hit The captive balls to stabilize the three reactors. Three hits are necessary - That is, three switch closures; so if you smack the first captive ball so hard that it hits the second and third, then you stabilize all three reactors. Alternatively, you can just hit the first captive ball three times. The total is 33 Million. Again I think it's 10 million for each reactor, and 3 million for starting it.

Yup, this also is 3M+10M/shot.
Safe Cracker: It's good to see they continued the humor displayed in CFBL's 'Move Your Car'! The display shows a guy sleeping by a safe, while someone yells "Open that safe!". You have to get the ball into the Subway enough times to wake the guy up, and open the safe. After four attempts the guy wakes up and opens the safe. See the spoilers if you really want to know what happens, but you really should wait! The scoring works like Move Your Car in CFBL, it starts at 8 Million and counts down to 3 Million; the second and later shots award that value again. The maximum amount for this is 8 Mill * 4 Shots = 32 Million.

The scoring is almost like Move Your Car. In Move Your Car, you actually GOT 2x, 3x, and 4x the values (for a maximum of 80M). In this mode, you only get the same points for each shot.
There's also something weird about this mode. If you hit it during the opening animation, your score will be 8M. If you wait just a little bit, when it starts counting down, the value will be over 8M, like it started at 9M or something. Weird.
Manhunt Millions: A very disappointing round. The left ramp is lit for 6 million a shot. You can hit for as long as you like for the amount of time (20 seconds). Once you get in the rhythm, this can lead up to huge scores.
Stake Out: Display shows Judge Dredd using binoculars to look into an apartment window (see the spoilers for what he sees/says!). Shoot the right ramp for 5 million a shot. This was also a little disappointing, but the animation was so good that the simplicity of the round didn't bother me.
Ultimate Challenge: See the spoilers.

I've already mentioned the Bonus ('?') target. During each mode this is lit, and once it's hit, it's no longer lit. Hitting it is in the players best interest, I'll describe the effects below: [Note: A * means that there is more info in the Spoilers]

Pursuit - Shoots two missiles at the car.

Black Out - Gives you a once off 10 million.

Sniper - The display says 'Hang up on fence, use red buttons'.*

Battle Tank - Extends the timer *** (by 10 seconds) ***

Impersonator - Three drop targets will be lit at a time instead of two

Melt Down - Secures all reactors, and awards the points too

Safe Cracker - Another message: 'When you're hungry press red buttons'.*

Millions - Extends timer *** (by 10 seconds) ***

Stake Out - Increases ramp value from 5 to 10 Million.

Crime Scenes

There are 5 Crime Scenes scattered around the playfield. The only analogy I can think of is that they're like Hazards in While Water. Crime Scenes are the left Orbit, Small Loop, Sniper Tower, Large Loop, and right Ramp.

Shooting a crime scene will sentance a criminal..

Warning for Smoking
Warning for Spitting
1 year for Littering
1 year for Flatulism (!)
2 years for Speeding
15 years for Assult
23 years for Extortion
25 years for Arms Dealing (it's the girl from CFBL!)
35 years for Armed Robbery (the 'snackbar' guy from CFBL)
85 years for Kidnapping
Life for Murder
Life for Terrorism
Life for Treason
Life for Cannibilism (mmmm donuts!)

Most of this section is rather wrong, so I'm rewriting most of it (and deleting the old stuff).
At the start of the game, there are usually 4 Crime Scenes lit. The crime level associated with them is random, AFAIK, but is usually either Warning or Misdemeanor. Different scenes can be at different levels.
The levels are:

Level Name Colour Millions of points per scene
Warning Green 1
Misdemeanor Yellow 2
Felony Red 3
Class X Felony White 4

Hitting the Advance Crime Level target advances all scenes one level up from what they were, to a maximum of Class X Felony. It also scores 1M. After ALL lit Crime Scenes are at Class X, the Advance Crime Level target unlights.
The Crime Scenes stay lit until you shoot them. After you've shot them all, another 3 or 4 will randomly light up at random levels.
That's all there is to it! The bottom lights depicting the Crime Levels are actually mostly useless. They only light up when a scene is at that level. Since scenes can start at different levels, that's why more than one can be lit at a time. The only real useful use of these lights are during SuperGame.

On our machine, extra ball was lit at both targets after 7 crime scenes, and the next at 22.

And every 15 Scenes after that, pretty much forever. I've gotten the 82 Crime Scene extra ball before, and the next one was indeed lit at 97. Didn't light the 97 one, though. Drained with like 95. :(

The actual crimes get worse at the higher levels, e.g.: "Life for Cannibalism". The animation is nice, and the quotes make it clear that a Crime Scene has been hit. Be careful of burned out globes, and remember to check the Small loop, as it tends to hide a bit under the planet. Perhaps the next software release could include a list of lit Crime Scenes, and the current level, in the status report.

Multiball

Knock down the 'JUDGE' drop targets to light lock. This is an unmistakable event, as flashers start flashing (not as bad as CFBL) and the planet starts to rotate. Shoot the left ramp, and the ball will be diverted to the planet. Check out the ball locked animation. A new ball is served to the plunger before the other-one is even in the planet, so there are no delays there. [Note: a soft shot up the ramp when lock isn't lit, can cause the ball to end up at the planet. The problem with this is that the timers for a Link don't stop, and it takes a while for the ball to be unlocked.]

Because of the Deadworld changes, release ROMs do the locking differently. Now, "locks" 1 and 2 just sail around the the ramp. The 3rd ball will indeed be diverted to the Deadworld, and if the Claw can't get the ball out, it falls onto the playfield rather ungracefully. After starting Multiball with the 3rd shot, 3 more balls are autoplunged into play.
The jackpot value starts at either 20 or 25M (not sure). Each drop target hit adds 1M to the jackpot. Shoot the left ramp to light the jackpot, and hit the Subway (scoop behind the "D" target) to collect.
Collecting a jackpot does NOT reset the value; it just keeps growing and growing.

There are 4 jackpots, each 5 million more than the previous. The current jackpot is indicated on the playfield, as either Mortis, Fire, Fear or Death will flash. The order on the playfield is wrong, and the jackpots occur in the order given above. The quotes are good, taunting the player to score the jackpot; although the feminine computer voice keeps saying "Shoot left Ramp to light Jackpot" all the time . grrr.

I don't think collecting the jackpot adds anything to the value, but I'm not sure.

The jackpot animations are really nice.

After the Death Jackpot, Ultimate Challenge starts. Any balls that you lost up until that point are re-launched. Ie: If you only have 2 balls left in play when you score the Death Jackpot, 2 more will be launched.

Multiball/Ultimate Challenge end when less that 2 balls remain in play.

When starting a second multiball, 'JUDGE' must be completed for each lock. Although for the second and third locks, the machine gives you a few letters for free. Unlike FishTales/Indiana Jones, Jackpots are not held between multiballs. So if you just missed getting Death, you need to start from the beginning again. Personally, I think this is a bit rough!

Misc. Things

Skill Shot: The ball is launched into the Large loop, so when it gets around to the upper left flipper, go for another large loop. The skill shot scores 5 Million, and the quote 'Great Shot', (even though it sounds like Great Scott!).
Two way combo: Left orbit -> Small loop for 6 million.

I think it's only 3M for the 2-way combo.
Three Way Combo: Left orbit -> Small loop -> Centre ramp for 6 Million. Shooting unlit ramps will award 500k * number of ramp shots that ball. So any ramp is worth 500k 1 Million, 1.5 Million, 2 Million etc..

I guess this is the part you're all waiting for:

Rules:

The player is greated politely by Annita Mann at the start of a Super Game, and is told that they have the Drain Shield active for 10 seconds. The machine waits for a ball to be launched, and then launches a second one.

There are four different, and seemingly unrelated Super Games. All of them are two ball, but draining 1 reverts to normal play for the remainder of that ball. One game is played per ball.

However, if you hit the JUDGE drop targets within 15 seconds, you start a 6 ball frenzied multiball. Confused yet?...

There's no time limit on the JUDGE thing, AFAIK. All you need to do is get JUDGE before you have <2 balls in play.

Game 1: The player is given a quick story of what has happened, (in this case a jail break). Some Crime Scenes are lit, shoot them for a 'Super Jackpot' of 52.5 million (There are seven Crime Scenes) and a really nice animation. After a jackpot, some more Crime Scenes will be lit for another Super Jackpot. This continues until less than 2 balls remain.
Game 2: A mad bomber has escaped and you need to stop him from the Sniper Tower. Ramps build the Super Jackpot (7.5 Million each) from (I think) 7 Million; shoot the Sniper Tower to collect it. This continues until less than 2 balls remain.

I think this game just scores 7.5M/ramp, no base. If there IS a base, it is 7.5M. You have to collect it of course.
Game 3: There is a terrible traffic-jam. Shot the Subway for 25 Million, Perhaps it's 10 Million + 5 Million per down target the 'Move Your Car' quote, and some brilliantly violent animation; (See the spoilers). There is no Super Jackpot in this game. This continues until less than 2 balls remain. The drop targets reset between jackpots.

The scoring for this game is simply 5M*targets, for a maximum of 25M. The drop targets only reset when you've made a Subway shot.
Game 4: The object is to try and destroy Dead World. Locking 2 balls causes the shields to come down, and locking the third blows up the planet for a Super Jackpot of 45 Million. This repeats. As soon as a ball is locked, it get's unlocked by the crane, so when I say 'locking the third' I mean virtual locks, OK?