"Sky Kings" is a pinball machine produced by Bally in 1973. The game features an aviation theme, with vibrant backglass artwork depicting airplanes soaring through the skies. It’s an electro-mechanical pinball machine, which was typical of the era, offering players a classic gameplay experience with features such as bumpers, slingshots, and a variety of targets.
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Quickie Version:
UTAD, with option for captive balls once lit.
Go-to Flipper:
Balanced
Risk Index:
Very High; watch what rebounds off both the captive balls and the targets next to them do!
Skillshot(s):
Top saucer, which lights both side captive ball lanes and bumpers. Either side is next best, lighting one color or the other. Dribbling through the center without landing in the saucer is bad news, you light nothing.
Full Rules:
Sky Kings is a mostly-UTAD game, but with an alternate strategy available. If you don’t make the saucer Skill Shot, UTAD until you get both captive lanes lit. You can also light the captive ball lanes individually by hitting the mushroom bumpers next to them. Once you have both lanes lit, you have to choose between two primary alternatives: continue UTAD to score 3000 point saucers plus whatever random points you get while the ball is up there, or shoot the lit captive ball lanes to get 1000 to 4000 per shot, depending upon how far up the captive ball goes. There’s rebound drain risk from either strategy, plus brick drain risk, so you need to figure out a few things to help decide: When you hit each captive ball squarely, where does the rebound go? How many points does a square hit get you, i.e. does the captive ball regularly go all the way up and down for the maximum value of 4K? What happens if you miss or hit the captive ball a glancing blow? When the ball comes down from up top, how likely is it to drain vs. come to a flipper or through a return lane? How readily does the ball go in the saucer when put up top? If you miss the top shot, what happens? Essentially, you’re doing a risk-reward calculation on the two. If the top is pretty safe and the saucer friendly, I tend to take that route. If hits to the captive ball fall cleanly into the return lanes, that makes these a good [or better] choice. YMMV; choose wisely. The EB lights come on once you max the bonus [15K]; only one side is lit at a time. Take it if they’re on and you can play them! Double bonus is last ball only.
via Bob's Guide
