The Pinball Arcade: No Good Gofers

A detailed rulesheet for the No Good Gofers Pinball on The Pinball Arcade.

"If balls were meant to fly, they'd have wings!" ~Buzz

Introduction

No Good Gofers is a very entertaining pinball machine, with a unique playfield style containing many features. Features include a mini-upper-playfield, two gofers that pop up and can be hit (similar to the trolls on MM) three flippers and a machine maximum of five balls. The game is designed around a theme of golfing, but things get crazy when gofers start wreaking havoc on the course. Things can get really wacky on this game!

I am referring to the actual machine in this guide (especially the images), so things may not apply to the emulated version of the game, but everything, more or less, should be spot-on.

The Gofers

There are two gophers gofers that pop up occasionally named Bud and Buzz (Bud is on the left) underneath the two ramps in the middle. While they are raised, they will comment on the action, normally to discourage or taunt you. You can bash them with the ball, too, if you react quickly enough!

The Driving Range

There is also a raising-lowering slam ramp in the very center of the playfield. It will lower if the left inlanes are lit for a few seconds, and you can launch the ball into a plastic upper playfield near the top of the game.

The center of the upper playfield contains a loop that returns the ball to the left flipper. This will score a “range award” that will increase with either middle ramp shot. This will also spot a drive if you still need drives (See Playing Golf for more details about drives). To the left of this loop is a golf cart, which can activate multiple features based on how many times you hit it.
The awards and how many hits to activate are (more details on these later):

3 hits: Cart Attack
8 hits: Pop-a-Gofer
13 hits: Speed Golf

To the right of the center loop is the Hole-in-One. This is what to aim for on the upper playfield. Successfully scoring a hole-in-one will end the current hole with 1 stroke (See Playing Golf for more details). You will also score a bonus for shooting a hole-in-one that starts at 900,000 and increases by 100,000 every time the side ramp is shot. There is no noticeable limit to this bonus.
Normally, the slam ramp inlanes can be lit with every shot to the side ramp (unless something specific is running). This can also be lit by shooting the captive ball enough times to light the driving range, and you can light the driving range with every five hits to the captive ball.

Skill Shot

Plunge the ball lightly to hit the targets below the side ramp to score a skill shot which scores 750,000 and will increase by 250,000 with each subsequent skill shot. Completing a skill shot will also instantly light the Putt-out. (See Playing Golf below for details)

Playing Golf

Playing golf is the main objective in the game. At the start of each game, the Putt-out is already lit at the putting green, which is in the upper-middle of the game (quite hard to miss, it’s essentially a large trough). Shooting this will complete the hole at however many strokes you had. This number can be as high as seven, and as low as two. Shooting the Hole-in-one at any time will end the hole at 1 stroke. However many strokes it took you to complete a hole will affect the end-of-ball bonus.

Each time you complete a hole, you need to shoot drives to re-light the putt-out. The drives can be at any of the three ramps, or either of the two loops and spinners. Each hole starts at seven strokes, but each drive and gofer hit will reduce this stroke count by one each time. Putting out will also decrease the stroke count by one. Hitting the sand trap eject (just above the left inlanes) will increase the stroke count by one. Hitting either outlane will also increase the stroke count by one (unless the kickback is lit). For the first nine holes, you will need to shoot two drives to light the Putt-out. For the second nine holes, you will need to shoot three.

Each time you complete a hole, you will receive an award on the spinning whirlwheel near the slam ramp. Each hit on the jet bumpers (far center left), or each spin on either spinner, will spin the whirlwheel accordingly. Shooting the captive ball will spin the whirlwheel randomly. The wheel will also spin randomly when the slam ramp is lowered. While the wheel is spinning, it can also spin the ball in erratic directions, which can be good or bad, so be mindful of the wheel!

Here are the wheel awards you can get from the whirlwheel (in no particular order):

Hole-in-one: Replaces the stroke count with a Hole-in-one and gives the bonus as if you achieved one. If you scored this WITH a hole-in-one, it will award a hole-in-one for the NEXT hole!

Bad Shot: Increases the stroke count of the just-finished hole by one. It will not affect anything if scored with a hole-in-one or Player’s choice.

Player’s Choice: Allows the player to stop the wheel as it spins by pressing both flippers at the same time to select the award they get. The wheel, however, will be spinning too fast for you to actually be in control of the award, though, so don’t expect to get what you want.
Lite Kickback: Lights the kickback (See Kickback)

Pop-a-Gofer: A timed mode where the gofers pop up alternatively. Hitting either of them will score a million points each. They will also taunt you during this. The music kinda encourages this, so it’s very funny.

Lite Extra: Lights an Extra Ball (See Extra Balls and Specials)

Warp: Warps 1-3 holes forward. The stroke count for those holes will be if you shot the drives and putt-out, without hitting anything to modify the stroke count. (i.e. If you shot two drives and putt-out, the count would be four strokes.)

Cart Attack: A timed mode where all drives (all ramps and loops) will score 250,000 plus 100,000 for each subsequent shot. Shooting the golf cart will award a good chunk of points based on the shots you made. This value carries over throughout the entire game, so you can score a lot of points for each shot if your game has lasted long.

Lite Q Jackpot: Lights the side ramp for a jackpot that can be worth between one and nine million, based on how many holes you completed. If you drain before you collect it, it will disappear. (See Bugs and Annoyances) If you plunge the side ramp after locking a ball, you will get full credit for it.

Gofer’s Choice: One of the gofers (usually Bud) will select a random award that is not on the whirlwheel. Here are the choices that they can select:

Super Jets: Maxes out the jet bumpers, and you’ll get some cool lightning effects with each hit!

Dance Party: A timed mode where all loop shots are worth 500,000. You also get a nice flasher light show and some really good music.

Big Points: Awards one to three million points

Double Skill: Feeds a new ball into the plunger. Try to score a skill shot and receive double the points that the regular skill shot would award. This will also instantly light the Putt-out.

Super Drive: Instantly lights the Putt-out. The stroke count will NOT be reduced!

Awards that are seen in the animation, but are not awarded:
Turtle Wax
Extra Ball
Special
Video Mode

Ripoff: Shoot the captive ball and receive a two-ball multiball. (See Multiballs)

Speed Golf: Instantly starts the Speed Golf multiball. (See Multiballs)

Free Lock: Awards a lock towards the next multiball. (See Multiballs)

Big Spinners: Both spinners will be worth 7,500 per spin (normally 2,500 per spin)

Attack: A hurry-up called Gofer Attack that starts at a million and counts down. Shoot the captive ball to collect the hurry-up value.

Outlanes: Lights one of the two outlanes. The left one awards an Extra Ball, the right awards a Special. (See Extra Balls and Specials)

If you complete the fourth hole, you will receive the award and an extra ball will be lit. At the seventh hole, you will get a mode called “Short Circuit” instead of the wheel award. In this mode, you must shoot the kick targets (See Kickback) and hit Buzz to collect a value that starts at 2 million and increases with every switch hit.

Multiballs

The main multiball can be achieved the raising the gofers and then locking balls. To do this:

1. Shoot the center ramp. This will raise Bud.
2. Shoot Bud to lower him. He will return back down if you take too long. (About 20 seconds)
3. The center ramp will remain lifted. Shoot underneath the ramp to lock the ball.
4. After receiving another ball, shoot the center ramp again. This will raise Buzz.
5. Shoot Buzz to lower him. Same timer as with Bud.
6. The right ramp will remain lifted. Shoot underneath the ramp to lock the ball.
7. Shoot the putting green to start the multiball. The hole-in-one will also start it.

The multiball will start with the three balls kicking from just about everywhere. One will shoot directly at the flippers, another will be kicked into the jet bumpers, and another will be kicked to the upper flipper.

You start by trying to collect a jackpot at the side ramp. The jackpot starts at 3,500,000 and increases by a million if you collect it. After you collect a jackpot, the left inlanes will lower the slam ramp (take as many tries as you need) and shoot the hole-in-one to collect a super jackpot, worth double the regular jackpot value! During this time, you can also re-light the regular jackpot by shooting the right ramp. A second super jackpot will award a regular jackpot value and an extra ball! Every 3rd super jackpot collect after that (3rd, 6th, 9th, etc.) will award and regular jackpot value and a special!

If you do not collect a jackpot when the multiball ends, you will get a chance at a restart. Shoot the Putting Green within 10 seconds to restart multiball with all three balls.
Once the multiball is over, you need more center ramp shots to raise the gofers again. The second multiball will be three shots, third will be seven, and fourth and later will be nine. Additionally, if you shoot the center ramp three consecutive times (if the third doesn’t raise a gofer), Bud will pop out and block the center ramp, until either a long enough period of time has passed, or you hit him enough times. He will also lower at the start of a new ball.


Ripoff multiball can be started by shooting the captive ball enough times. Once you light the driving range, the display will tell you how many more completions of the captive ball lights to light Ripoff. Instead of Light Driving Range, shoot the captive ball to start Ripoff. You’ll know when it’s ready for Ripoff, because the music will change, you’ll hear a sort of alarm, and the game will urge you to shoot the captive ball.

Once you start Ripoff, shooting either middle ramp (not the side ramp), will award a small amount of points that will increase with each shot (not sure of the exact scoring). Shooting both ramps will award double the value of shooting just one of the ramps. You can also shoot the captive ball to complete the array of lights and add another ball. You can add a maximum of two balls, meaning you can have up to a four-ball Ripoff.


Speed Golf multiball can be started by a wheel award or by hitting the golf cart 13 times. When this is active, you will receive a three-ball multiball, where the objective is to shoot anything in the driving range as much as you can. The value for shooting anything in the driving range will increase with each switch hit. Shooting the hole-in-one will award this value twice.

Hole-in-One Challenge - Wizard Mode

Once you complete the ninth hole, you will start Hole-in-One Challenge instead of a wheel award. This is a four-ball multiball where you get the following features and awards:

1 million times the number of Holes-in-one you made up until the challenge (resets after 18 holes)
If you completed 18 holes, you will get a course completion bonus worth 10 million, AND every ball from then on (provided you don't tilt), you will recieve 2.5M in bonus!
Super Jets
Big Spinners
Million plus for each side ramp made
Ripoff multiball (essentially, each middle ramp and captive ball lit)

During the challenge, the Hole-in-one will be lit for a special, so generally, shoot for that! If you collect the special, you must shoot the side ramp to re-light the Hole-in-one for another special. If you can keep the multiball running, you can earn unlimited specials!

Kickback

Kickback, by default, will be lit at the start of each game at the left outlane. The ball will be kicked back into play if it goes down the left outlane if it’s lit.


To re-light the kickback, you will need to complete an array if targets to the lower-right of the playfield. There are four targets corresponding to four lights that spell “Kick”. If the light is off, that means it hasn’t been hit. If it’s flashing, it’s been hit once. If it’s solid, it’s been hit twice. Essentially, shoot each target twice to light the kickback. It’s not as hard as it sounds, because there is a fifth target that will spot target hits that facing the flippers to make it easier to light the kickback.

You can also light the kickback as a wheel award. The kickback will also be lit if it isn’t for free at the start of the regular multiball.

You can also stack kickbacks (in other words, have a backup kickback). By default, you can only stack one kickback if one is already lit.

Cart Paths - Bonus Multipliers

Triggering the leftmost inlane or the right inlane will light the opposite loop for a cart path. The awards are as follows:

1. 2X Bonus
2. Increase Cart Path (scores 100,000 for rest of the ball)
3. 3X Bonus
4. Increase Cart Path (scores 150,000 for rest of the ball)
5. 4X Bonus
6. 5X Bonus and Light Extra Ball (if this is your first time acquiring this)

Cart Paths reset at the start of each new ball. You can only light the EB from 5X Bonus once per game.

The bonus multipliers multiply the points you recieve off of stroke counts, but not of course completion bonuses.

Extra Balls and Specials

Extra balls are collected at the putting green when lit. Extra balls can also be collected at the left outlane. Lit extra balls will remain lit from ball to ball if not collected UNLESS you lit it through a wheel award. In that case, the extra ball will disappear.

Completing the fourth hole lights an extra ball. Collecting the second super jackpot also awards an extra ball.

Every Hole-in-one made during Hole-in-one challenge awards a special IF you made a side ramp before or the challenge just started. Every third super jackpot collected will award a special. Specials can also be collected at the right outlane if lit.

Programming Miracles - Perks that are awesome to have

If the ball has hit either any jet bumper and then drained out the left outlane, the kickback will fire even if it isn’t lit! The same thing also happens whenever the slam ramp has been lowered, and if the ball bounces in the kickback from the sand trap eject.

If the ball drains out the right outlane from a weak kick from the sand trap eject, the game will re-serve another ball to the plunger.

If you have a ball saver in single-ball play from a fresh plunge, if you drain when it’s lit, if serves another ball to the plunger, but you get to plunge it, instead of the game auto-plunging it. Use this to your advantage if you want to make more shots at the driving range.

Bugs and Annoyances

During any time when Ripoff is active, more often than not, one or both of the gofers will remain up when they’re not supposed to, even after the multiball ends! Ending the ball usually fixes this.

Starting Ripoff multiball during regular multiball may not add balls as expected to, or activate a ball saver. If this happens, you also cannot add additional balls by shooting the captive ball.

Shooting the golf cart before anything else during Cart Attack will display “0” then the award. Whether you get the actual award or not, I’m not entirely certain.

Sometimes, when shooting under the center ramp, the game will award a Putt-out, instead of a lock. This can happen if a switch didn’t register when it did, therefore, confusing the game.

Likewise, when shooting the Putt-out, the game will not complete the hole, and instead, kick the ball out into the jets, like normal.

Additionally, the game may not award a hole-in-one when you shoot it. It awards a regular putt-out instead.

The programming miracles listed above will not occur in any multiball.

Shooting the left inlanes directly from a plunge will not lower the slam ramp, even though those inlanes were lit.

The multiball restart ball saver is too short. If the ball kicking out the middle went straight down the middle, by the time the other balls are plunged, the ball saver has shut off, so you may have lost that first ball.

Unlike various features in the game, the multiball restart has no grace period. Either get it in before or at zero, or just forget about it.

Credits and Wrap-up

So, that is all of No Good Gofers, a truly fantastic and exciting pinball game. Here’s the design team which we all should give many thanks to for creating a masterpiece:

Concept and Design: Pat Lawlor and Louis Koziarz
Artist: John Youssi
DMD Animations: Adam Rhine
Mechanical Engineer: John Krutsch
Music and Sounds: Vince Pontarelli
Software: Louis Koziarz

Rulesheet by: Nemesis 041

Images referenced from NGG's IPDB entry[ipdb.org]
Credit given where due.

If you have anything to add, mention it in the comments and I'll edit it in (and give you contribution credit if you like).

Thanks for reading!
Get out there and play some more pinball!!!

[kellerkind31]

Bischen Verrückt, aber voll OK!!

[cheesebUrger]

You should also put the fact that the ball sometimes gets stuck in the bug list

[Ronnydee]

Hole In One

[Nemesis 1941]

Yeah, I remember that. Don't ask me what happened, I haven't a clue.

[touch grass]

Remember that time you were playing the one at Blake's when your score randomly jumped a hundred million?

[Nemesis 1941]

It ain't ALL bugs. Mostly annoyances. There's just a lot of them. :P

[touch grass]

Wow, you really managed to condense the bugs section there.