Pokemon Rulesheet

Games Wiki Rulesheets
1

Quick Links:

[Official Rulesheet]

Game Information & Overview:

  • Lead Designers: George Gomez, Jack Danger
  • Code/Rules: Tanio Klyce, Andrew Wilkening, Joshua Henderson
  • Mechanical Engineers: Mason Dooley, Thomas Malcolm
  • Artwork:
  • Display and Animations:
  • Sound Design: Jerry Thompson
  • Release Date: March 2026
  • Wiki Rulesheet based on Code Rev:
    • Edit the Code revision, if applicable, when you make changes
  • Original Wiki Rulesheet hosted on Tilt Forums

Pokémon marks Nintendo’s first foray into physical pinball in over 30 years and is Stern’s first pinball machine of 2026. Using assets from the anime as a base, players will be able to help Pikachu and the three Kanto region starters on their quest, while catching Pokémon of their own across four different biomes to create teams for use in rival battles.

Layout:

Skill Shots:

Two skill shots are available:

  • Plunge at full strength and hit whatever lane is flashing to increase the bonus multiplier. Starts at 500k
  • Hold the left flipper and full plunge to enable super skill shots worth 2x the skill shot value. Starts at 1M

Main Modes:

Welcome to the world of Pokémon! Pokémon are creatures of many different shapes and sizes that wage battles either with other wild Pokémon, or against those of other Trainers once they have been caught and have the trust of the Trainer responsible. The player enters this new world with Pikachu and the three starters from the Kanto region, but can catch other Pokémon and add them to their team by finding them in the wild. Help the four Pokémon uncover their true potential and fight against rivals for a chance to win an arena battle!

The two main mode types on Pokémon are story modes and battle modes. Story modes can be played at any time but battle modes must be qualified beforehand and can only start by hitting the right scoop.

Story Modes:

The ramps and orbits correspond to, from left to right, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Pikachu, and Charmander. Hitting any of those shots three times during single-ball play will start a story mode based on that character. Boost story modes by completing the training targets - each color boosts a different Pokémon’s mode.

Completing a story mode will qualify a shot multiplier.

  • Bulbasaur:

    • Level 1 - All ramps / orbits start lit to increase the pollen value (400k + 50k per shot). Shoot a berry target to relight the shots and collect the built value as well. Mode ends in success after 6 lit shots.

  • Squirtle:

    • Squirtle Squad - Shoot the left ramp to spin the whirlpool, and increase the value for each whirlpool spin by +1x (up to 3x) by hitting the other lit blue shots. Final shot lights at the captive ball after 3 lit left ramp shots to complete the mode.

  • Pikachu:

    • Pikachu vs. Raichu - 2-ball multiball. All shots are lit yellow to score jackpots (500k + 50k) and unlight once made, until another shot’s jackpot is scored. Scoring 3 jackpots lights the super jackpot at the Pokedex based on their combined value. Nail the captive ball to hit the very back target for a 2x super jackpot and complete the mode.

  • Charmander (work in progress):

    • Level 1 - The right orbit is lit to collect a spinner jackpot, worth 30k/spin. The left orbit and both ramps multiply the jackpot (up to 3x). Final shot lights at the captive ball after 100 spins to complete the mode.

Finding & Catching Pokémon:

(work-in-progress)

The player starts the game in the forest biome. Hitting switches while a mode or multiball isn’t running will fill up the gauge and eventually discover a Pokémon that can be scanned by shooting the captive ball. Scanning the Pokémon starts a hurry-up that starts at 2M. Shoot purple targets to light the Poké Ball shot at the left ramp to catch it. Catching any Pokémon lights the right scoop to start a rival battle.

Rival Battles:

(work-in-progress)

Rival battles put the trainers head-to-head against each other. Defeat the rival’s Pokémon by shooting flashing shots and battlefield targets

Shoot the town scoop, when flashing, to switch out your Pokémon

After defeating all the rivals Pokémon and winning the battle, shoot up the middle for a faint jackpot.

Order of Battles and Rival Pokémon

Forest Battle

  • Herecross
  • Venemoth

Team Rocket Multiball:

Shoot the BATTLE targets to lower the Meowth balloon. Once the balloon is lowered, shoot the balloon 3 times (+2 per multiball) to light Team Rocket multiball at the lane below it. Hitting the lane underneath the balloon as a “sneak-in” will light the multiball instantly.

During Team Rocket multiball, the ramps and balloon are lit to score jackpots. Score 6 jackpots at any shot to light the lane under the balloon for super jackpot. Once the super jackpot is scored, the outer ramps and orbits will light for 15 seconds to score unlimited super jackpots before the multiball process resets.

Other Scoring:

Shot Multipliers:

Qualify shot multipliers by completing story modes or scoring a super jackpot during Team Rocket multiball. The next shot made once either task is achieved will enable 2x scoring at that shot for the rest of the ball.

Training Targets (Story Mode Boosting):

Berries (2x Playfield):

Complete berry targets to start 2x playfield for 20 seconds.

Poké Balls (Combos):

Each combo shot made awards 1 Poké Ball. Making a 2-way combo or greater lights the Pokédex captive ball to finish the combo and award bonus Poké Balls based on the length of the combo. Poke Balls can also be awarded from mystery.

Eevee Evolution Combos:

There are 8 secret combo sequences which, when completed, will collect an Eevee Evolution.

(work-in-progress)

  • Espeon: Right Ramp - Left Ramp - Captive Ball
  • Glaceon: Left Ramp - Right Orbit - Town Scoop
  • Vaporeon: Left Ramp - Right Ramp - Battlefield

Mystery Award:

(work-in-progress)

Complete TEAM bottom lanes to light mystery at the town scoop.

Possible mystery awards:

  • Poké Balls
  • Advance Discover
  • …

Outlane Ball Save:

Complete the town targets to light ball save. Ball save alternates between outlanes with hits to the slings.

Extra Balls:

Extra balls can be lit by…

  • …

And can be collected at the town scoop

End-of-Ball Bonus:

Bonus is determined by the following:

  • 500k x Pokémon caught
  • 25k x Berry targets hit
  • 12.5k x Poké Balls collected

All multiplied by Bonus X, built by completing the top lanes.

Wizard Modes:

Charizard Battle:

Lucario Battle:

Arena Battle:

2

That was quick. :smiley: Wikified, thanks!

4

Kind of a shame it only covers the early parts of the anime though, not any of the video games or anything past Generation I (besides Lucario, according to the above rules). It is one of the fastest-moving franchises around–there are over a thousand unique species (and this video is outdated because it’s from about two years ago, and a couple dozen more species have been introduced since), so covering only the first couple years of the franchise feels limiting to me:

I understand it is not feasible to cover that many species in a single pinball machine (let alone the alternate forms some of them have, with guys like Furfrou and Minior having several, and Unown and Alcremie having dozens, that, not counting Spinda’s modular forms, puts the total Pokémon count at over 1,500), though I would’ve preferred what other Pokémon side media do and mix around the generations, taking a little bit from each generation, albeit with the ones popular among fans like Lucario and Greninja turning up more often.

Pikachu isn’t voiced by Ikue Ohtani this time around, is it? The Pokémon Company tends to make a big deal about ensuring she always voices Pikachu in anything, from the anime to the games (until Pokémon Legends: Arceus anyway, when they went back to synthesized animal-like cries) to the plastic toys to the Pokémon Detective Pikachu movie.

5

they can add more with DLC packs if they want to.

6

Yeah, that’s what Pokémon GO did (such that they are nearly caught up on Pokémon available, including alternate forms, though it’s taken about 10 years to do this). But the look of the pinball machine would not change and would be stuck in the early parts of the franchise history. (It also has a red-and-white color scheme the franchise hasn’t had in over 25 years.)

If you ask me, if you want to appeal to the current fans of the anime, you theme it on Pokémon Horizons instead. Ash Ketchum has become the world champion and retired, and they have moved on. (Trust me, I am one of those fans who wanted to see his adventures continue, but most of the fans were done with him and wanted a new face.) An update to it, though, would be weird with this look and seeing Liko, Roy, and Dot on the screen and in the voice clips. And the Team Rocket Meowth balloon, which is not used at all in Horizons (due to Jessie, James, and the talking Meowth not being in it).

7

Updated the ruleset based on gameplay footage.

  • All ruleset headings complete
  • Charmander 1 added
  • Finding and catching Pokémon
  • 2x playfield
  • Mystery Award
  • Outlane Save
  • End-of-Ball Bonus

Quick update: rival battles might be buggy in the early stages of code. I was only able to provide general info so far

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