Wild Fyre: Reignyted

Wild Fyre Reignyted is a revised ruleset for the 1978 Stern Electronics pinball game “Wild Fyre”. The code runs on an Ardunio board attached to the MPU utilizing RetroPinUpgrade to control the solenoids, lamps, and scoring. Optionally (but highly recommended), you can use a WAVTrigger board in concert with the Arduino for enhanced callouts, sound effects, and music.

The project started in 2022 and evolved through different ideas until August of 2023. Many rulesets were tried, but was settled on keeping the default rules of Wild Fyre mostly as is, but “fixing” two things that irked me:

  • There’s no way to light the spinner under player control (Spinner starts lit and lights at certain bonus values). I wanted there to be a way to skillfully light the spinner for the ball.
  • 5x bonus was only achievable on ball 3, and was alternating between 2x and 5x once qualified. This leads to strategies such as “Light bonus, max bonus, and possibly drain to take the lead/win” which didn’t feel good. I wanted a way for the player to skillfully be able to earn 5x bonus each ball.

That formed the core ruleset, and I tried to only layer things that felt like they may have been part of the game with a more modern/late solid state mindset. I think it’s been successful and it’s been incredibly warmly received at many tournaments here.

Wild Fyre Reignyted is freely available. More information on Github.

Ruleset and Mode Guide

Skill Shot

At the beginning of each ball, one of the top ejects will be pulsing. Hit the flashing eject before any other switches to score the skill shot for 10,000 points.

Ball Save

After the playfield has been validated by hitting a switch, the shoot again light in the middle of the playfield will pulse to indicate ball save is available. If the player drains while the light is illuminated, the ball will be returned to the shooter lane. This effect can only happen one time per ball.

Wild Fyre Drop Bank

Dropping all the targets on the Wild Fyre drop target bank will light the spinner for 500 points per spin instead of the default 100 points.

Completing the target bank twice in one ball will immediately start Wild Fyre scoring. For 30 seconds, all scoring is doubled with the exception of bonus collects. Dropping the bank again while in Wild Fyre Scoring will add an additional 20 seconds to double scoring for each completion.

Wild Fyre scoring can be reachieved after it is extinguished in the same ball by completing an additional 3 drop target banks.

A total of 3 completions of the Wild Fyre bank in a ball will light Extra Ball. A total of 4 completions of the Wild Fyre bank in a ball will light special on the left return.

Wild Fyre Scoring time can be modified in the operator adjustments.

Top Ejects and Sharpshooter

Hitting any of the top ejects awards 3,000 points. The first time that all of the 1-2-3 ejects are made in a single ball, the player will enter Sharpshooter mode. The ball will be immediately and forcibly drained, then returned to the shooter lane. Two ejects at the top will be illuminated for 25,000 points. Shooting any eject or hitting any other switch will return the player to regular play. The top ejects will be worth 4,000 for the rest of the ball.

Entering Sharpshooter mode while in Wild Fyre scoring will temporarily pause Wild Fyre scoring. You will be awarded 30 seconds of Wild Fyre scoring after exiting Sharpshooter.

The value awarded for a successful Sharpshooter plunge can be modified in the operator adjustments.

Bonus and Bonus Multipliers

Bonus is earned by hitting any switch, lane, and target labeled advance bonus. Bonus value is maxed at 30,000 points.

Bonus multipliers can be earned by completing either of two tasks:

  • Completing the top set of 3 targets twice in one ball, or
  • Advancing the bonus arrows on the right loop 3 times by rolling over the left loop rollover switch or hitting the “Advance Arrow” target.

Completing either of these objectives in a single ball will award 2x bonus, while completing both objectives in a single ball will award 5x bonus.

Bonus is collected at the end of a ball provided a player hasn’t tilted. Hitting the Collect Bonus eject at the top of the left loop will also collect bonus, inclusive of multipliers, at any point during the ball.

Arrow Rollover

The arrow rollover in the right loop will award 1,000 points and advance the arrow towards achieving double bonus. Once double bonus has been earned by advancing the arrow 3 times, the rollover is worth 5,000 points.

Quick Fyre Shots

Quick Fyre shots are enabled by rolling through the innermost left and right inlanes. A fire effect is played and unique scoring opportunities are available for a short time.

After rolling through the right inlane:

  • Shots to the spinner for the next 3 seconds are worth double the indicated value. This is indicated by the pulsing of the spinner light.

After rolling through the left inlane:

  • Hitting the “Advance Arrow” target for the next 3 seconds will award 2 arrow advances instead of one.
  • Rolling over the Arrow Rollover target for the next 3 seconds will award the current number of points in the bonus, exclusive of the current bonus multiplier. This is only an award, and does not collect the bonus. This is indicated by the arrow lights pulsing.

Tournament Scoring

If the game is in tournament scoring, the following awards will award the following points:

  • Extra Ball: 25,000 points
  • Special: 35,000 points These values can be overridden in the Operator menu.

Stallball Mode

Wild Fyre Reignyted contains a mode to facilitate the play of Stallball. Stallball is a fun format for large groups of players. Start by lining up the group of players in such a way that one player can easily leave the machine quickly and the next player can get to the machine quickly. Players must “stall” the ball by shooting it into an eject. Once the ball has been stalled, the player runs to the end of the line of players and the next player must hurry to the machine to play before the ball is ejected and drains. Whenever a player drains, they are eliminated from the round. Play continues until only one player remains.

Wild Fyre Reignyted contains the following software support for stallball in the stallball mode:

  • Any time a ball is stalled into an eject, the machine will yell “STALL” loudly to help players identify stalls.
  • Other sound effects on the ejects are eliminated so the “STALL” sound can be heard clearly.
  • Ball save is disabled during Stallball mode.
  • Entering Wild Fyre scoring and Sharpshooter mode are not possible.
  • A cheeky soundclip is played upon draining to humiliate/remind your players that they aren’t playing anymore this round.

To enter Stallball Mode:

  • From attract, quickly push the start/credit button 10 times.
  • If done correctly, a sound effect will indicate the game is in Stallball Mode.

To exit Stallball Mode:

  • Drain 12 times, or
  • Power cycle the machine
Credits and Acknowledgements

Wild Fyre Reignyted

  • Playfield Design: Harry Williams
  • Wild Fyre Regignyted Design and Code: Derek Correia
  • Wild Fyre Reignyted uses RetroPinUpgrade by Dick Hamill
  • Sounds and Effects: Derek Correia
  • Music:
    • 5 Ghosts I by Nine Inch Nails (Reznor/Ross)
    • 12 Ghosts II by Nine Inch Nails (Reznor/Ross)
    • 22 Ghosts III by Nine Inch Nails (Reznor/Ross/Cortini/Viglione)
    • 33 Ghosts IV by Nine Inch Nails (Reznor/Ross/Cortini)

Thanks and Acknowledgements

This project is really the culmination of conversations with many folks to make the ruleset better. What started as a simple “Make it possible to light 5x on any ball” and “Lighting the Spinner via player control” grew to a ruleset that adds some great ideas but keeps the overall scoring features of the game intact. I hope you enjoy it.

Ultimate thanks to Jordan Knights, who puts up with many pinball machines appearing at home and long nights of screaming at them.

  • Allison O’Neill
  • Brian O’Neill
  • Dick Hamill
  • Jonathan Coulton
  • Michael Murphy
  • Mitch Curtis
  • Ryan O’Donnell
  • Scott Danesi
  • Wifijt, from the RPU Discord
  • And a very special thanks to all of the players at The Lower Playfield, who tested and provided feedback on many builds of this. It wouldn’t have been possible without you.

License

The code of Wild Fyre Reignyted is based on RetroPinUpgrade and Trident2020, modified from October 2022 to present, and as such, is distributed under the same license.

Ghosts I-IV is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license. You are free to share and remix the work provided you attribute the author and do not use the work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

RetroPinUpgrade (“RPU”) is licensed under GPLv3.