Ashbo
Site Supporter
Well I don't think there is a thread dedicated to Williams Sorcerer, a Mark Ritchie classic from 1985, so I thought I'd start one. Why not 
From chatter this year I think there may be only three in the UK, given they were never released following distributor challenges at the time. For that reason, there won't be many members of an owners club, however it's worth thread space, given it's such an overlooked, yet brilliant game.
Why is it brilliant? Well, marmite dragon and wizard art aside (I think it's stunning), the rules are extremely balanced for your average player. Objectives are simple to understand and individually quite easy to achieve, however the game lights up as you collect these objectives, rewarding higher bonus, higher scores and more visible, audible and haptic knocker encouragement as you go.
Beware, most achievements do not pass to the next ball, so drain and start again. It's quite often you will get one good ball in three, but two or three is, for me, rare.
Draining is easy in this game, and it's easy to see why. We all should know that pinball is safe when the ball is under control. Horizontal movement across the table should be avoided, but every post and target in this game will send you across the table at speed.
To progress, you will need to light all sorcerer letters which should be left to accidental hits. Attempt these shots and direct hits fire straight back at you or to an outlane. Lighting this will light the two spinners, either side of the playfield, at 2.5k each and scoring really begins.
Collecting bonus happens 1k at a time on hitting targets when flashing. This basically gets higher the longer you keep the ball going.
Bonus is multiplied by lighting the a,b,c,d lanes at the top. These can be switched with the left flipper, but there is a switch top right which also progresses the lit selections so this keeps you on your toes. Infact, it drives you crazy. 2x, 4x, 6x and 8x are possible.
Bonus hold is achieved by knocking down three drop targets when sorcerer is achieved.
Extra ball is also achieved this way, depending on difficulty setting, but on my machine at the same time as bonus hold. Extra ball starts a bell ringing loudly, time to cover your ears.
There is a single ramp which locks a ball. This can be stolen by other players. Two locks starts a multiball with 2x playfield scores whilst in multiball, hitting the ramp again sets 3x play field and again for 5x playfield.
Back to the three drop targets, hitting these within the time limit will score the lit value 10k,20k and 50k. You have a 3rd flipper to achieve these targets, it's on the right side of center, but uses the left flipper button. (This is a staged flipper too, meaning lower left operates on a half press, upper on a full press). Scoring all drop targets once will light an inlane for 3k bonus each time it's triggered. The inlane is swapped by hitting the pop bumpers. A second completed set of drops will light both outlanes.
Get all these things going and maxing bonus on a single ball is awesome.
Anyway, the one more game thing, this table has it. I'd say it's firm but fair, but the more you play, the more you'd love it.
From chatter this year I think there may be only three in the UK, given they were never released following distributor challenges at the time. For that reason, there won't be many members of an owners club, however it's worth thread space, given it's such an overlooked, yet brilliant game.
Why is it brilliant? Well, marmite dragon and wizard art aside (I think it's stunning), the rules are extremely balanced for your average player. Objectives are simple to understand and individually quite easy to achieve, however the game lights up as you collect these objectives, rewarding higher bonus, higher scores and more visible, audible and haptic knocker encouragement as you go.
Beware, most achievements do not pass to the next ball, so drain and start again. It's quite often you will get one good ball in three, but two or three is, for me, rare.
Draining is easy in this game, and it's easy to see why. We all should know that pinball is safe when the ball is under control. Horizontal movement across the table should be avoided, but every post and target in this game will send you across the table at speed.
To progress, you will need to light all sorcerer letters which should be left to accidental hits. Attempt these shots and direct hits fire straight back at you or to an outlane. Lighting this will light the two spinners, either side of the playfield, at 2.5k each and scoring really begins.
Collecting bonus happens 1k at a time on hitting targets when flashing. This basically gets higher the longer you keep the ball going.
Bonus is multiplied by lighting the a,b,c,d lanes at the top. These can be switched with the left flipper, but there is a switch top right which also progresses the lit selections so this keeps you on your toes. Infact, it drives you crazy. 2x, 4x, 6x and 8x are possible.
Bonus hold is achieved by knocking down three drop targets when sorcerer is achieved.
Extra ball is also achieved this way, depending on difficulty setting, but on my machine at the same time as bonus hold. Extra ball starts a bell ringing loudly, time to cover your ears.
There is a single ramp which locks a ball. This can be stolen by other players
. Two locks starts a multiball with 2x playfield scores whilst in multiball, hitting the ramp again sets 3x play field and again for 5x playfield.Back to the three drop targets, hitting these within the time limit will score the lit value 10k,20k and 50k. You have a 3rd flipper to achieve these targets, it's on the right side of center, but uses the left flipper button. (This is a staged flipper too, meaning lower left operates on a half press, upper on a full press). Scoring all drop targets once will light an inlane for 3k bonus each time it's triggered. The inlane is swapped by hitting the pop bumpers. A second completed set of drops will light both outlanes.
Get all these things going and maxing bonus on a single ball is awesome.
Anyway, the one more game thing, this table has it. I'd say it's firm but fair, but the more you play, the more you'd love it.
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