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JLP Pinball Cards

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Gottlieb 1978 EM SS
Strategy updated: August 23, 2026

Strategy

From left flipper, shoot drop targets unless there is a star to hit on rotowheel. From right flipper, hit lower left standup target to light spinner, then rip spinner on repeat.

Skill Shot

Go for lane B on plunge to get bumper action and a lucky 2nd top lane

Key Rules

Top lanes score 5K, advances bonus, and spins the rotowheel

Rolling through a lit top lane lights the corresponding lane on the rotowheel for 10x value and one of the yellow targets in the right drop bank for 5K

  • Complete all A B C top lanes to qualify the EB, then collect by hitting the star when it is in the left position on the rotowheel

Completing the 3 drop target bank on right is worth 5K, 5 bonus advances, and increases bonus multiplier

  • On solid state machine (more common) max bonus X is 5X, on electro-mechanical version it is 3X

Hit stars on rotowheel for 500 pts and raise bonus multiplier

Lit spinner is worth 1K/spin

Stand up targets and A B C lanes add to bonus

Max base bonus is 20K and does not carry over

55307547604_bea9e7caa7_k.jpg playfield
Playfield image by Ken (scottamus)