Star Wars: Fall of the Empire Rulesheet

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Quick Links:

Official Rulesheet

Game Information & Overview:

  • Lead Designer: John Borg
  • Code/Rules: Raymond Davidson
  • Lead Mechanical Engineer: Harrison Drake
  • Artwork:
  • Display and Animations:
  • Sound Design: Jerry Thompson
  • Release Date: September 2025
  • Wiki Rulesheet based on Code Rev: 0.84
    • Edit the Code revision, if applicable, when you make changes
  • Original Wiki Rulesheet hosted on Tilt Forums

Star Wars: Fall of the Empire marks John Borg’s return to the Star Wars license after over 30 years, bringing his pinball career full circle as the 1992 Data East machine was his first ever pinball design. Based on the Original Trilogy, the table is primarily targeted towards novice pinball players and covers aspects of the trilogy that were given less attention in prior releases with the theme.

Layout:

Skill Shots:

Plunge the ball and hit any flashing shot to score a Skill Shot. If the shot is made within only 5 switch hits, a Super Skill Shot worth 2x the value will be scored. At 10 switch hits, the skill shot turns off.

Players cannot score Skill Shots at the same shot more than once in a game.

Main Modes:

Luke Skywalker, a farmboy from the planet Tatooine, has recently learned of the construction of the Death Star - a massive structure with the capability to destroy planets - from the closest person he has to a father, Obi-Wan Kenobi. On a mission to destroy the Death Star, Luke meets a ragtag team of rebels with similar motives. Luke and his crew have a long road ahead of them if they want to prove the strength of the Rebel Alliance and thwart the destructive plans of the Empire.

Star Wars: Fall of the Empire features four sets of main modes. Only one mode from each set can run at a time, but they can all be brought into multiball modes as described below if a mode is started before the multiball.

Rebel Missions (FORCE Targets):

Shoot the FORCE targets to light the character shots for Rebel missions (all six of the center shots, excluding the left and right orbits). The game starts on the easiest settings for lighting FORCE but as more and more missions are played, the difficulty will appropriately increase.

All of the missions play very similarly: hit four blue shots to progress through the mission, with the final shot at the Luke VUK completing the mode. Hitting white shots increases the scoring from each mission shot but don’t count toward completion, allowing the player to maximize scoring from each mission.

Each character has three missions: a level 1 yellow mission with the easiest array of shots but lowest starting value (2M), a level 2 green mission with a medium-difficulty set of shots and medium value (2.5M), and a level 3 cyan mission that lights the fewest shots for the highest value (3M). The lit missions change as the pop bumpers are hit or with Stormtrooper target hits. If another mission is started at a character who has already completed a mission, the starting value will be multiplied by 2x.

The characters also provide different perks, giving each mission some more unique attributes:

  • Luke: The Luke VUK and Droids target will always be available as possible blue or white shots and score 2x their normal value.
  • Droids: Slingshots and bumpers move which shot is lit for 2x value. The Droids target always scores 2x.
  • Lando: All blue shots start at 2x, but if enough slingshots or bumpers are hit, they will reduce back to 1x.
  • Han: All shots are on hurry-up timers that start slightly higher than the normal starting value but decrease over time.
  • Chewie: Sarlacc Pit spins build the shot values by (?) per spin. If the Han center ramp is lit during a mode, it will score 2x.
  • Leia: Prioritizes the Luke VUK and Han center ramp as build shots. All shots to Leia’s right ramp score 2x.

Falcon Features (including Lightspeed Multiball):

Shoot the center ramp when the engines under the Millennium Falcon are lit to start Falcon Features. For the first mode, Lightspeed Escape, the center ramp will always give progress towards starting the mode, but afterwards, the player must shoot the right ramp to qualify the center ramp for progress, or hit the target under the center ramp to raise it and enable progress (Prem / LE only).

There are four Falcon Features that can be started and are always played in the following order:

  • Lightspeed Escape / Lightspeed Multiball: The center ramp will start Lightspeed Multiball, or other shots can be made to increase the jackpot before shooting it. During the multiball, hit all flashing shots to score jackpots and eventually light a looping super jackpot that can be scored with repeated shots to the center jump ramp on a time limit. Completing all seven lit shots will relight the jackpots.
  • That’s No Moon: Search for Alderaan by shooting the lit shots, lit 3 at a time in close proximity to each other. Certain shots will be lit to score 2x during this mode. The final shot of the mode is always at the Death Star ramp.
  • Dogfight: This mode is about alternating the center and right ramp shots. Shoot the center ramp to start the dogfight and then hit the right ramp to score a TIE fighter award. Keep comboing the two ramps before time runs out for more and more points, with combos into the right ramp scoring 2x the TIE fighter award.
  • Welcome to Cloud City: An orbit looping mode. The left and right orbits are lit to start timers where the orbits can be shot again for multiplied values. After hitting lit shots at both orbits, the center ramp will light to collect their combined totals and complete the mode.

Jabba Events:

Salacious Crumb is represented by the drop target blocking the Sarlacc Pit. Shoot the drop target twice to get him out of the way and open up access to the Sarlacc Pit ramp. As the ball spins around, each spin will move the display selection between one of three modes; the selected mode starts when the ball exits the pit, and can be locked in if the player presses the action button while the ball is spinning around in the pit. Every subsequent Jabba Event requires one additional Salacious Crumb target hit to light.

The three Jabba Events are:

  • Luke’s Gift: Shoot the flashing shots to help the droids journey to Jabba’s palace. Eventually only one shot will be lit and the Sarlacc Pit will change which shot is lit. The final shot of the mode is always at the Sarlacc Pit ramp.
  • Jabba’s Palace: Drop target mode. Shoot the flashing shots to light the Salacious Crumb drop target for more and more points.
  • The Rancor: This is an untimed mode where the player must complete a sequence of lit shots to fend off the Rancor. The mode only ends if the player drains or completes all the shots that were required.

Vader Modes:

(not implemented on 0.84)

Multiballs:

Multiballs can be started alongside any main mode, if the multiball is started while the mode is running. The only multiballs that can be stacked are Lightspeed Multiball with Battle of Hoth Multiball; they otherwise must be played on their own. Multiballs also disable progress from being made on shot multipliers and rebel combos.

Rebel Assistance: During these two multiballs, if the characters were leveled up via Rebel Combos, their shots will give more progress. A pulsing character shot will score a 2x jackpot worth 2 jackpots worth of progress, and a lit character shot will score a 3x jackpot worth 3 jackpots worth of progress.

Add-A-Ball: During any multiball, collect 10 spins in the Sarlacc Pit to light the action button for a one-use add-a-ball. If the stack above is performed, the player will still only be able to obtain one add-a-ball.

Battle of Hoth Multiball:

Light virtual locks at the Luke VUK by shooting the droids target in front of the AT-AT. Once the third ball is locked, Battle of Hoth multiball will begin.

The main goal of Battle of Hoth is to spell AT-AT to light the super jackpot. This is done by first scoring a jackpot (lit at any shot), and then shooting the droids target to score a 2x jackpot, which relights all the jackpots and advances a letter in AT-AT. Every 2x jackpot takes more jackpots to relight, up to four for the final 2x jackpot. Once AT-AT is spelled, all jackpots will turn off and shooting the Luke shot will award a super jackpot worth the total of all the 2x jackpots that were scored. Scoring the super jackpot resets the jackpot progress but also adds a ball and increases the base jackpot value.

Once the player exits Battle of Hoth multiball, they will have one last chance to shoot the Luke VUK to take down the AT-AT and score a final super jackpot determined the same way as the normal one.

Death Star & Death Star II Multiballs:

Shoot the Death Star ramp to open up the lock at the toy, then shoot the ramp again to lock a ball there. Once three balls are locked, Death Star Multiball will begin by releasing the locked balls towards the flippers.

  • Death Star Multiball: All shots are lit to score jackpots; if a jackpot is made, the shot where it was scored will unlight until a different shot is made. After scoring 14 jackpots, all jackpots will turn off and the Death Star ramp will be the only shot lit. Shoot the ramp to open up the toy, lighting it for super jackpot. Before scoring the super jackpot, the other jackpots will relight for 30 seconds when the ramp shot is made: hitting 3 of these jackpots increases the super jackpot multiplier to 2x, 3x if all 7 jackpots were made. After scoring the super jackpot, a ball will be added and victory laps will start.
  • Death Star II Multiball: not implemented on 0.84

Other Scoring:

Ion Cannons (Shot Multipliers)

Shots to the left and right pop bumpers in single-ball play charge up the ion cannons and eventually light the Rebel Alliance icons at all major shots. The next time one of these shots is made, it will be worth 2x for the rest of the ball in play.

Rebel Combos:

While in single-ball play, shoot any shot to light natural combo opportunities from that shot, then make the flashing shot to complete the combo. The first combo completed at a character starts its insert pulsing, and the second combo completed at a character solidly lights its insert. Points are awarded for Rebel Combos based on the number of unique combos made this game.

During the Battle of Hoth and Death Star multiballs, jackpot progress is doubled or tripled on shots with pulsing or solidly lit character inserts respectively.

Dark Side Mystery:

Complete the return lanes, which cycle via the flippers, to light the left scoop for Dark Side Mystery. If the mystery award is already lit, the lanes will increases the bonus multiplier.

Mystery can give any of the following:

  • 5M points (during any multiball)
  • Light rebel missions
  • Advance Falcon
  • Advance Hoth
  • Advance Death Star
  • Add charges to ion cannons
  • Mynock Multiball (Prem / LE exclusive: shoot the lowered ramp 10 times to light an extra ball. This is made available after scoring two mystery awards, and only if a multiball isn’t running)

TIE Fighter Ramps / Hyperspace Loops:

Shoot the right ramp to collect TIE Fighters: 1 per ramp shot, 2 if made as a combo from the center ramp on Prem / LE models. Awards are given at thresholds of TIE Fighters:

  • 5, 15, 45: starts Hyperspace Loops. Shoot the center ramp as many times as possible to build a hyperspace jackpot that can be scored at the right ramp, and cash out the jackpot before time runs out. The jackpot can be multiplied by the 2x right ramp perk during Leia’s rebel missions and by shot multipliers.
  • 10, 30, 60: lights extra ball, defaulting to the Luke VUK shot but alternating with slingshot hits between that shot and the right ramp.

JEDI Ball Save:

Rip the spinners to add letters to JEDI and light the outlanes for ball save.

  • Pro: The ball save only lights when JEDI is fully spelled. Once a lit outlane is rolled over, the player must press the action button before a drain is registered to save their ball and continue play.
  • Prem / LE: Once 2 / 4 letters in JEDI are lit, the button will be lit to quickly pulse the magnet below the flippers once per letter after an outlane is rolled over. If all of JEDI is spelled, pressing the action button will cause the magnet will toss the ball back into play from between the flippers, with 3 pulses left if the player still needs them to save the ball.

Extra Balls:

Extra balls can be lit by…

There are two extra ball shots - the Luke VUK and the right ramp. The slingshots alternate which shot is lit for extra ball.

End-of-Ball Bonus:

Bonus is determined by the following:

All multiplied by the bonus multiplier which increases as return lanes are completed, while mystery is already lit.

Wizard Modes:

Jedi Master (Wizard Mode):