Time Warp Playing Tips and Rule Sheet

Time Warp is a 4 player early electronic pinball machine designed by Barry Oursler and released in 1979 by Williams Electronics. The playfield is described in 3 distinct sections, top, middle and bottom.

Top:

To the left is an eject hole with rotating values of: advance bonus step, light bullseye lane for 30k, advance bonus multiplier, and light inlanes for 5000. At the start of each ball, the eject hole cycles through its values relatively quickly. It will stop on one value once any scoring switch is made. The eject hole is also where the extra ball is collected after completing the 3 bank drop targets sequence in the lower playfield.

To the right of the eject hole are 3 rollover lanes A-B-C which each add 1000 when not lit, and 3000 when lit. Completing A-B-C the first time starts the lanes flashing; completing them a second time lights special on the right bullseye lane shot.

There are 2 10 point rubbers at the ends of the top arch.

Middle:

Dominated by five pop bumpers. Each pop corresponds to one of the 5 bank drop targets in the bottom section of the playfield; when the corresponding drop is hit, the pop bumper lights.

There is a standup target in the upper left of this area that adds a bonus step as well as scores 500 points.

A right lane leads to a bullseye standup target that awards 10,000 points and 1 bonus advance. This shot can be lit for 30,000 and 3 bonus advances via the top saucer. A one way gate is utilized to feed the ball into an eject saucer that scores your current bonus plus any multiplier; this is a very lucrative shot. The collect bonus saucer can be accessed from the center playfield as well through a lucky carom off a pop bumper.

Bottom:

To the left is a single 3 drop target bank with advancing values for completion. Each drop target completion awards the value indicated by the lit 1-5 lamps; often lamps 1 and 2 are tied together making the game slightly easier. Once you complete the bank for the 5th time, extra ball lights at the top eject saucer. Each completion of the drop bank awards one bonus step.

To the right is a 5 drop target bank. Each drop target awards 500 points and each completion of the target bank increases the bonus multiplier as well as awarding one bonus advance. The first completion lights the left outlane for 30,000. The second completion lights the right outlane for 30,000. The third completion lights the special on the 5 bank. Subsequent completions alternate a special on the 5 bank for every other completion. (These settings are all adjustable through the menus, so the game played may vary)

There are 2 standard slingshots as well as a 10 point rubber on the right, and behind each of the 2 drop banks. The 2 inlanes are worth 2000 each unless the top eject has been made to light them for 5000 each. The outlanes score 1000 and a bonus advance unless they are lit for 30,000 from the 5 bank completion(s).

The bonus ladder starts at zero rather than one and can advance to a maximum of 12,000 (12 steps). The machine is relatively stingy with bonus advances. The bonus multiplier advances to 2x, 3x, 5x, and 10x. When collecting the on playfield bonus collect in the right saucer with 10x lit, the 10x will be stepped back to 5x.

The flippers on the first 5-6000 games are of the curved banana type. It is harder to aim your shots with this type of flipper but with practice you can control the ball effectively. The last couple thousand machines were fitted with conventional straight flippers making for a more controlled game.

Gameplay on Time Warp concentrates a lot on the lower playfield, making for very dangerous shots that could carom out the outlanes easily. There is a lot of side to side action and you can get a good shot sweep going from the 3 bank to the 5 bank or the reverse.

There is no rubber on the inlane/outlane divider and it is relatively low to the slingshot back making this area tough to recover from. Both outlanes are lined with metal dividers making it even more difficult to bounce the ball out of the outlane area. Also, both slingshots have a slight inward bend at their outside tops; any ball hitting here will head for the outlanes.