How to play
STARLANE PINBALL is one full pinball table in bright neon, seen from above. You get three balls. Each one starts in the shooter lane on the right. Hold Space (or Down or Enter) to pull the plunger back, then let go to launch. The gauge in the lane shows how hard you are pulling. Each ball has its own green sweet spot, and letting go inside it gives you a SKILL SHOT worth 50,000.
The left flipper is Z, Left Shift or the left arrow. The right flipper is M, /, Right Shift or the right arrow. You can also click the left or right half of the screen. Hold a flipper up and the ball settles on it, so you can stop, take aim and pick your shot. Tip shots are hard, base shots soft.
You can nudge the table with X (from the left), . (from the right) and Up (from the front). Each nudge fills the tilt meter, which drains away over a couple of seconds. Nudge twice quickly and the display warns DANGER. A third nudge before the meter drains is a TILT. Your flippers go dead and you lose that ball's bonus. P or Esc pauses and S turns the sound off and back on.
On a phone, hold the left or right half of the screen for each flipper. While a ball is waiting in the shooter lane, hold the right half to pull the plunger and let go to launch. The NUDGE button bumps the table.
Tips and strategy
- Follow the display. The orange display always shows your mission and what to shoot, and blinking arrows on the table point at it.
- Go for multiball early. In the first multiball of each game, LOCK is already lit. Sink the Black Hole in the middle of the table twice and three balls are in play. After that, each lock needs you to drop all three orange targets first.
- Ramps are worth the most in multiball. Every ramp shot during multiball is a JACKPOT worth 250,000, plus 50,000 for every rank you have reached.
- Chain your big shots. Ramp, orbit and Black Hole shots made within four seconds of each other build a combo. Each link pays 5,000 times the combo number.
- Steer the top lanes. Pressing a flipper moves the lit top lanes around. Line the gap up with the ball as it comes down. Lighting all three raises your bonus multiplier, up to 6x.
- Don't panic on the left. When the orange KICK arrow is lit, a ball that falls down the left outlane gets fired straight back up. It is lit at the start of every ball and comes back on whenever you finish a mission.
What's in it
The table has three pop bumpers, two slingshots, a wire ramp, a left orbit with a spinner, a bank of three orange drop targets, three green STAR targets, three top lanes and the Black Hole.
There are eight missions, from easy to hard: Bumper Storm, Star Signal, Target Sweep, Black Hole, Lane Sweep, Spin Cycle, Orbit Run and Ramp Race. Every mission you finish promotes you one rank, from Cadet up to Fleet Admiral. The mission award is 25,000 times your rank number, so later missions pay more. Finish all eight and the list starts again with goals half as big again, and the award doubles.
Light all three STAR targets and the Black Hole gives you an extra ball, once per game. A ball save runs for the first eight seconds of each ball and when multiball starts, so an early drain sends the ball back. When the ball does drain, you are paid the bonus you have built up times your multiplier.
Questions
How do I start multiball?
Shoot the ball into the Black Hole twice. In your first multiball, LOCK is lit from the start. After that, drop all three orange targets to light LOCK again before each lock.
Why did my flippers stop working?
You tilted the table by nudging too much too fast. The flippers come back with your next ball.
Can I play on a phone?
Yes. Hold either half of the screen to flip, hold the right half to launch, and use the NUDGE button. It works upright or sideways.
Does it save?
Yes, in your own browser: your high score, your top five scores, your best rank and your sound setting. Clearing your browser's site data clears the save.