Barn loop
Stern · 2014 · LE / Premium
The
Walking
Dead
Gather supplies. Fight through the modes. Survive to Last Man Standing.
Objective
White crosshair shots kill walkers. Five timed scenes, called Dead Features, build scoring. Reach 115 walker kills to light Last Man Standing, the survival finale.
Begin with one scene and a multiball plan. Read the shot lights after each successful shot: the same physical target can serve several different jobs.
Shots
Real render of your installed night table. Select the playfield to enlarge it. Shot approaches are starting points for practice; returns depend on your cabinet.
CDC ramp
Riot inner loop
Prison
Central red doors and the head behind them. Try a settled left-flipper forehand. The magnet can change the return abruptly.
Supplies drops
Three drop targets on the lower-left side beside the supply inserts. Aim across from the right flipper and prepare for a fast rebound.
Bicycle Girl target
Tower and top lanes
Well Walker
Large walker toy right of center. Start with a controlled left-flipper attempt and expect a direct rebound from its base.
Tunnel
Railroad lane through the right-side bumpers, above TUNNEL. Try a left-flipper forehand; distinguish this opening from Arena ramp farther right.
Arena ramp
Woodbury
Right-side lane behind its single drop target, above EXTRA BALL. Try a controlled left-flipper forehand; read which award is lit before shooting.
Stab targets
Launch
Time the plunge for flashing shooter-lane rollovers. Move the flashing top lane with the flippers to catch the returning ball and collect the skill shot.
Watch where your first plunge lands. Adjust from that result; no fixed pullback strength has been verified on this cabinet.
First game
- Attempt the Supplies drops while the opening ball save is active.
- Start Riot, the scene scored at the inner loop, before adding multiball.
- Prepare Blood Bath, a two-ball switch frenzy, then use its protection to work toward Well Walker or Prison multiball.
- Once the balls settle, follow the lit jackpot instructions below. If Riot is still running, return to its inner loop between those attempts.
Bowen’s opening example uses code 1.41; its physical feeds and award settings may differ.
Supplies
The first drop freezes the flashing supply. Complete the bank to collect First Aid, Weapons, or Food. Collect all three, then clear another bank to start Blood Bath.
Wait from a controlled ball for a missing supply to flash before attempting the bank. Repeating an already-collected supply delays your start.
First Aid raises Prison yard value; Food increases the next Well hit’s multiplier. Weapons lights Crossbow, the Arena-ramp launcher feature.
Dead Features
Clear one Supplies bank initially, two later; shoot a flashing scene. Only one runs at a time. Its normal forty-second timer gains ten seconds per completed bank. Timeout or drain ends scenes; played status remains.
Competition mode uses one bank each time.
Playing all five opens Escape Terminus; only afterward can scenes repeat.
Barn
Start at Barn loop and repeat that loop for increasing points.
Try a deliberate right-flipper forehand. The entrance is beside CDC ramp; watch for the bumper return after a successful loop.
CDC
Repeat CDC ramp to build value and light other arrows. Collect those arrows, then two CDC ramps finish; the second repays other-shot scoring. Clearing other arrows relights them for more scoring before the finish.
Choose your finish while time remains. A final ramp that you can line up is more useful than a larger award left uncollected.
Riot
Start at Riot inner loop. Other switch activity builds its value; shoot Riot repeatedly to collect. Extra balls can keep that value growing during multiball.
Try the inner loop from the left flipper. Distinguish its narrow entrance from the Prison doors immediately beside it.
Tunnel
Repeat Tunnel to build value before another arrow. Then collect other arrows; all four relight them. Returning to Tunnel ends the mode.
Arena
Start at Arena ramp; consecutive ramp combos raise scoring. After a ramp, briefly lit Woodbury offers a finishing award. Taking it ends Arena.
Prepare the next left-flipper attempt as the ramp returns. If the return is awkward, regain control instead of forcing the combo.
Multiball
Prison
Hit Prison to spell PRISON. Clear the lit yard shots, using the exposed head as an alternative; hit the head when ready to start three balls.
During multiball, alternate lit major shots with Prison. Six jackpots light the super at Riot. After collecting it, ramps build awards collected at Prison.
Twelve Prison Multiball yard kills qualify Siege. Follow the remaining count; jackpots do not always count.
Try Prison from the left flipper with time to react to the magnet release. Do not follow a captured ball with an automatic second flip.
Well Walker
Spell WELL by hitting Well Walker, then finish the displayed remaining hits to start two-ball multiball.
Switch hits build and light jackpots at Well Walker. Complete the WELL jackpot letters and collect the lit super. Afterwards, ramps build more jackpots for collection at the walker.
Try a controlled left-flipper forehand. Watch the rebound before repeating: the toy is a stopping point, not a through-shot.
Blood Bath
Switch activity builds its jackpot; completing the drop bank collects it. The first two bank completions add balls. Collecting another full supply set gives a super and another add-a-ball; supply-set adds remain available.
Use Blood Bath to prepare the other multiball that is closest to starting. Its extra balls give you a chance to make the otherwise risky setup shots.
These ordinary multiballs end at one ball after protection expires. Prison and Well have no dedicated add-a-ball or documented restart. Their progress carryover is adjustable; read the next attempt’s lights.
Stacking
Blood Bath can overlap Prison or Well. Prison and Well cannot overlap or advance each other. Start your scene before the multiball.
In competition play, scenes already lit can start during multiball, but new ones cannot be lit.
Horde cannot start during Blood Bath.
Last Man Standing cannot start during Prison, Well, Blood Bath, or Horde. Crossbow cannot start during Horde or Last Man Standing.
Crossbow
Collect Weapons, then shoot Arena ramp to load Crossbow. Fire toward a lit shot using the action button.
Three Crossbow successes qualify Frenzy. Start at flashing Arena; repeat ramp-to-lit-shot combinations to refresh thirty seconds. Timeout ends it.
In single-ball play, certain missed-shot switches cancel Crossbow after firing.
Stored Crossbow scores survive balls and build Frenzy value.
Fire is mapped to Right MagnaSave or Lockbar. The plunger button also fires when the shooter lane is empty. The physical cabinet controls and launcher timing have not been play-tested.
Bombs
LE bombs are earned in their matching state: First Aid during Prison yard, Prison Multiball, or Siege; Food during Well play; Weapons during Horde. Press Fire to spend one for feature progress or an award.
Prison bombs open closed doors or collect when open. In victory laps, bombs advance ramps; collect at Prison.
Well bombs count as a Well hit; Horde bombs kill a walker.
Check the bomb indication before pressing. A bomb does not add another ball.
Side features
- Bicycle Girl: walker kills light CDC. Start there; the raised LE ramp exposes its hurry-up target underneath. Three target hits finish and qualify Multi-Kill.
- Fish Tank / Woodbury: Arena advances Fish Tank and lights Woodbury. Enter Woodbury to return to the shooter lane, use the flippers to select the displayed skill-shot award before plunging for it.
- Flamethrower: lowering the Woodbury drop enables spinner scoring. Spin to build the jackpot; collect at Woodbury.
- Pop jackpot: bumper activity lights the railroad insert. Shoot Tunnel to collect.
- Bonus / BIT: top-lane completions build bonus multiplier and BIT. A lit BIT outlane pays points on a drain; it does not save the ball.
- Combos: quickly follow a main shot with its indicated red arrow. These combinations can also qualify Multi-Kill.
At Woodbury, read the display before plunging: a ready finale or extra ball can share that entrance.
Scoring
Every two kills light or grow inlane X. Move it with the flippers; entering it multiplies the next qualifying shot. Save it for a valuable collect.
Complete both Stab targets, then shoot Riot through to Tower for timed 2X playfield scoring.
Before starting 2X, more Stab completions extend its duration. Once running, its timer cannot reset and is not displayed.
Bowen’s 39:55 Multi-Kill attempt shows the risk of missing a planned high-multiplier collection.
Choose the intended collection before taking X. Learn the inlane return before trying to carry a large multiplier into a narrow shot.
Multi-Kills
Good feature play earns weapon inserts and yellow-shot scoring.
Earn six weapons for Horde. Yellow collections do not earn weapons.
Examples: Barn requires three shots and Riot three. Competition settings often require scene completion; Barn requires five there.
Other default routes: CDC three shots, Tunnel two, Arena three; Prison four jackpots, Well three, Blood Bath three. Yellow scoring ends with the ball; weapons remain.
Finales
Horde
After six weapons, start at lit Woodbury. Defend the approaching lit shots. Each cleared wave gives a super and adds a ball.
Horde continues at one ball. After three waves by default, one-ball Woodbury offers Fight or Escape. Right flipper escapes with the award; left continues. Plunging without choosing means Fight. A bite ends Horde and normally returns a ball; competition instead ends the ball.
Siege
After multiball, lit Prison starts Siege. Clear Barn/Arena then Prison, the expanded shots, and a final relit shot. Prison replaces lit shots; progress survives drains.
Escape Terminus
Play all five scenes, relight modes through Supplies, then shoot a flashing feature. Collect the five different hurry-ups. Earlier scene scores determine their values. After this round, the five scenes become available again.
Last Man Standing
Lit Woodbury starts four balls and another 115-kill countdown. Alternate lit walker shots; the last shot darkens. Read the display’s add-ball progress. Finishing all 115 wins 100 million.
It remains active at one ball.
After the round, the walker count resets, allowing the associated awards to be earned again.
Exact add-ball checkpoints and final-drain recovery remain unverified. Keep shooting lit walkers; do not assume losing all balls grants another attempt.
Extra balls
Walker milestones light Woodbury Extra Ball. Thresholds adjust; collect after ball save ends.
Lit Tower hits offer another extra-ball route. Check the status display for the requirement; operator settings can change awards.
An extra ball provides another turn; a multiball add-a-ball joins the current play. Read the award before assuming you earned another turn.
Stay alive
Practice the return from one shot at a time. Watch Prison’s magnet release, ramp rollbacks, and rebounds from Supplies and Well Walker. If a shot repeatedly drains, use another available route until you can recognize its return.
Your table
Stern’s original 2014 LE/Premium, installed VPX night version 1.1 and ROM twd_160h. Operator adjustments and live gameplay remain untested. This guide excludes Zen’s game and Walking Dead Remastered.
Rules reference · Strategy · Detailed rules discussion · PinPal · Layout review.
Version corrections: Stern 1.41 readme, 1.53 release, 1.60 release, and earlier code history.