SyphonGames

How to play pinball: rules, scoring and tips for both tables

Updated 1 November 2026

Pinball on SyphonGames is two complete tables in one cabinet, ATLAS and ETERNITY, built on the same rules a real machine uses: a skill shot off the plunger, targets that light a saucer, timed modes, ball locks, multiball and a wizard mode at the end. This guide starts with how to play any pinball machine, then goes through what every shot on both tables does and where the big points are.

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The first ball on the ATLAS table, with the bumpers lit and the score still at zero.
Pinball on SyphonGames.

Controls

  • Flippers: Z or ← or left Shift for the left flipper, / or → or right Shift for the right. On a touch screen, tap the left or right half of the screen.
  • Plunger: hold Space to pull it back and let go to fire. The longer you hold, the harder the launch. On a touch screen, hold the bottom-right corner while a ball is waiting in the lane.
  • Nudge: X and . nudge the table sideways, ↓ or N nudges it forward.
  • Pause: P or Esc. M mutes.

The tables are tall, so a phone plays best turned sideways; it will remind you, but upright still works.

Pinball basics

  • Hold the flipper up to catch the ball. A ball rolling down a raised flipper stops at its base. From there you can aim instead of just slapping at it.
  • Where the ball hits the flipper decides where it goes. Hit it near the tip and it goes across the table; near the base and it goes up the near side. Catch, wait, then shoot.
  • Do not flip both flippers at once unless the ball is about to go down the middle. Flailing sends it straight into the gap.
  • Nudge sparingly. A nudge can knock a ball away from an outlane, but every nudge counts as a tilt warning. With the default setting you get three warnings per ball, and the fourth nudge tilts the machine: the flippers go dead, the ball drains and you lose that ball's bonus. The warnings reset with each new ball.
  • Ball save. For 7 seconds after the first launch of a game, and 5 seconds after every launch after that, a drained ball is put back in play, once. Multiball starts with its own 6-second ball save.

How every game works

Each game is three balls per player by default. Up to four players can take turns on one device: press P on the title screen, or tap PLAYERS, to choose. Both tables follow the same pattern:

  1. Launch for the skill shot.
  2. Clear the drop target bank. That lights the saucer for a ball lock.
  3. Shoot the saucer. When the lock is not lit, the saucer starts the next timed mode instead. Each mode has a goal and a clock; finish it before the clock runs out for a big reward. A mode you fail, or lose when the ball drains, comes back later, because the saucer always offers the next mode you have not completed.
  4. Lock enough balls and the saucer starts multiball, where the ramps and loops score jackpots. Every jackpot raises the next one by 14%, and after three jackpots the saucer pays a super jackpot worth three times the jackpot.
  5. Complete all three modes and the saucer starts the wizard mode: a four-ball multiball with much bigger jackpots.

Two different shots made one after the other, each within 3 seconds of the last, score a combo: 2,500 for each shot in the chain, so a 3-way combo pays 7,500.

When a ball drains you get a bonus count for everything you hit on that ball, multiplied by your bonus multiplier. The multiplier goes up by one each time you complete a set of lanes, targets or drop targets, up to 10×, and resets with each ball. This is where the quiet points are, and a tilt throws all of it away.

The game ends with a match, as on older machines. The top five scores on each table are kept with three initials.

ATLAS: The Filing Machine

ATLAS has three pop bumpers, a four-target drop bank that spells F I L E, three T A G targets on the right, an orbit with a spinner on the left, the ARCHIVE ramp on the right, and the VAULT saucer in the middle. It is the gentler of the two tables, because the left outlane has a kickback: a ball that goes down it is fired back into play. The kickback is lit at the start of each ball, fires once, and is relit by rolling through either inlane.

  • Skill shot. One of the three top lanes, O, C or R, is lit when the ball is served. A soft plunge drops the ball into the top lanes; a hard plunge carries it round the orbit. Roll through the lit lane for 50,000 plus 10,000 for each ball number. Any other lane pays 15,000.
  • O C R lanes. Light all three for a bonus of 20,000 times the number of sets you have completed, and one more on the bonus multiplier.
  • F I L E bank. Knocking all four down scores 15,000 plus 5,000 for each time you have done it, adds one to the bonus multiplier and lights the VAULT. The bank pops back up a moment later.
  • T A G targets. Completing T, A and G adds to the bonus multiplier.
  • ARCHIVE ramp. A full lap of the table, worth 12,000 plus 2,500 for each ramp you have made, up to 40,000.
  • Orbit. Every third orbit pays 9,000.
  • The lock. With the VAULT lit, shoot it to lock a ball. Clear F I L E again to relight it and lock a second ball. Clear F I L E a third time, then shoot the VAULT once more to start Vault Multiball with three balls. Jackpots start at 60,000 and are scored on the ARCHIVE ramp.

The three ATLAS modes, started from the VAULT in this order:

  • Packet Rush, 32 seconds: bumpers, slingshots, lanes and drop targets all score 5,000. To complete it you need 16 points of progress: each pop bumper hit counts one, and each ARCHIVE ramp counts three and pays 40,000. Completing it pays 150,000.
  • Firewall, 28 seconds: hit T, A and G. The first pays 40,000 and each one after pays half as much again. Completing it pays 180,000.
  • Data Harvest, 34 seconds: make the orbit eight times, with the spinner paying extra while it runs. Completing it pays 200,000.

Complete all three and the VAULT starts the wizard mode, Total Archive: four balls with jackpots starting at 120,000.

Extra balls on ATLAS: one for clearing F I L E three times, and one for the sixth ARCHIVE ramp of the game. Get the F I L E one first: if the sixth ramp comes before the third bank, it is the only extra ball you will get.

ETERNITY: The Keeping Machine

ETERNITY is the harder table, and it is built to be. It has a third flipper up on the left, a top LOOP that returns the ball to that flipper, a five-target bank across the centre that spells V O I C E, the memory WELL behind it with a magnet, a captive ball on the right called the KEEPSAKE, and the LEGACY ramp. There is no kickback: what goes down an outlane is gone.

  • The loop. The loop drops the ball back onto the upper flipper, so a good player can shoot it again and again without the ball coming down. Each loop in a chain pays 8,000 times the length of the chain, up to 70,000. A chain lasts six seconds from its first loop, and ends early if you lose a ball, so loop quickly.
  • Skill shot. The first loop you make on each ball pays 60,000 plus 12,000 for each ball number.
  • V O I C E bank. Nothing behind it can be reached until all five are down. Clearing it scores 25,000 plus 8,000 for each time you have done it, adds to the bonus multiplier and opens the WELL. The bank resets after about two and a half seconds, so go for the WELL while it is open.
  • The magnet. While the WELL is lit, during the Voice mode and in multiball, a pulsing magnet round the WELL grabs the ball, so it does not always come back the way you expect.
  • The lock. Shoot the open WELL to lock a ball, clear V O I C E again, then shoot the WELL once more to start Legacy Multiball with three balls. Jackpots start at 75,000, and the loop, the LEGACY ramp and the KEEPSAKE all score them.
  • E T E targets. Completing all three adds to the bonus multiplier.
  • The KEEPSAKE. Hitting the captive ball pays more each time you do it.

The three ETERNITY modes, started from the WELL:

  • The Voice, 30 seconds: shoot the WELL four times. 50,000 for the first, rising with each. Completing it pays 180,000.
  • Remembrance, 30 seconds: make the loop six times, starting at 20,000. Completing it pays 220,000.
  • The Keepsake, 26 seconds: hit the captive ball four times, starting at 60,000. Completing it pays 200,000.

Complete all three for the wizard mode, Eternity: four balls with jackpots starting at 150,000.

Extra balls on ETERNITY: one for clearing V O I C E three times, and one for a loop chain of five. As on ATLAS, earn the bank's first: a five-loop chain before the third bank is the only extra ball you will get.

Tips for a higher score

  • Learn one shot first. On ATLAS, the ARCHIVE ramp is worth more every time you make it, all game long. On ETERNITY, the loop is everything: catch on the upper flipper and keep looping.
  • Modes before multiball. A lit lock takes priority at the saucer, so if you want a mode, start it before you light the lock. Modes run alongside your progress towards the next lock.
  • Build the multiplier early in a ball. Every set you complete raises the bonus for the rest of that ball, up to 10×.
  • Use the ball save. In the first few seconds after a launch, and at the start of multiball, you can take risks you otherwise would not.
  • Options let you change the number of balls per game (1 to 9), switch ball save off, and set from one to six tilt warnings.

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