Star Wars (Stern, 2017: Ritchie’s) Tactics Page

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

v2.0 Rule Cards Now Available! For Both Original and Comic Art!

Table of Contents

Links
v2 Card Notes
Newbie Strategy
Videos: Tutorial
Videos: Strategy
Pinball Skills
Intermediate Strategy (under construction)
Swipe-A-Ball (to come)
Videos: Gameplay
Advanced Strategy (to come)
Tech Videos
Videos: Extra
…more to come

Links

Rules:
Tiltforums Rulesheet (in-depth, open source guide)

Info:
Pinside: Pro – Prem. – LE – Pro (Comic) – Prem (Comic) – Owners Group
Kineticist: Info
IPDB: Pro – Prem – LE – Pro (Comic) – Prem (Comic)

v2 Cards Pages: Original Art Version — Comic Art Version

Special Note on Game Version

This page is dedicated to Stern Star Wars from 2017 Pro, Premium and LE only as well as the re-release with the comic art package. It does not include any info on the Stern Home Version (easily recognizable from the small LCD, different playfield layout and the lack of coin mechs on the front), the Fall of the Empire (from 2026) and any other manufactures Star Wars titles.

Star Wars (2017) v2 RULE cards

Star Wars (2017) Comic Art — v2 RULE cards

v2 Card Notes:
(Info that couldn’t fit and other clarifications.)

The v2 cards on this game are not quite as high as my others. This was due to the right card slot on IC aprons being smaller (for some strange reason). I usually like to maximize the size for the cards, but due to efficiency and adaptability I decided to make all the cards the same, slightly smaller size.

Intro Sides:
Left Card:

–Tie Fighter shots are red shots. Not to be confused with unlocked shot multipliers; Tie Fighter shots will never have an “X” on the insert.
–Hyperspace shots are usually yellow, denoted on the card with the yellow arrow.
-All 3 Skill Shots can be claimed on each ball.

-Escape: “Escape” turns on an out-lane ball save. (Not to be confused with “Escape from Boba Fett”, which is a single-ball mode).

-Video Mode: The video mode is lights at the HOTH shot and is also HOTH mission 1 for Han and Leia. The multiplier applies to the score. Navigate the asteroids with the flippers and the action button increases your speed. Points are decided from how many asteroids you pass.

-Green Arrows: There are 2 different type of green arrows. The ones with an “X” in them are the Multiplier shots. The ones without are usually mode shots related to Endor Missions.

-Red Arrows: Similarly, the red arrows with the “X”‘s are Multiplier shots. The red shots without the X’s are usually related to TIE Fighters & TIE Fighters jackpots.

-Jedi Levels “Points”: Raising levels gives an initial points boost, but more importantly, raises the value of Jedi Targets (can be lucrative in long playing games).

Right Card:

Advanced Sides:
Left Card:

-The advanced side of the left card has more quick references for advanced players (than I usually do) and is truly for players who are already very comfortable with the SW rules.
-PICT-O-POPS: Pop Bumper Mystery. Match 3 icons (shown on the LCD (not always shown)). There are 22 possible awards. I’ve only selected a few that I thought would be the most useful for quick reference.

All the Pict-o-pop (from Pop Bumpers) Awards

Shot Multipliers: The values under the arrows denote how many arrows are lit and the values denote the range of multipliers values that the denoted # of arrows are lit.

System-J ‘Then Hit’ arrow.

On the System-J cards, this arrow, when between wording is used to denote “then” or “, then hit”.
Eg. Hit lit shot (, then hit) right ramp.

Right Card:
Planet Stages and roman numerals: The I, II, III is direct reference to the mode stages. I used IV for the forth stage (aka, final battle) for space and design reasons only. None of these are meant to directly reference the movie “Episodes”, not intentionally by me anyways.

Character Legend (for ADV right card):

Newbie Strategy

The Code:
Star Wars is one of the most complicated rulesets in Pinball (imo, as of 2026). There is so much going on all at the same time that it can feel overwhelming to get the hang of it. Personally, I love a deep game with lots of things going on, so I’d suggest enjoy playing it, choose small parts of the code to focus on at a time, and learn little bits at a time.

The Shots:
Not only is Star Wars deep with code, it’s got a lot of tight, tough shots. I find the left ramp is a good shot to master first, especially from the left flipper. You can even hit this shot on the fly (while the ball is moving), and can repeat it as well (hit it again after just hitting it from the left flipper and repeat. This is a great intro to backhanding shots in pinball.
Imo, the orbit are the toughest shots. I especially find the left spinner/orbit tough where the spinner can seem to “brick” the shot and prevent it from going around.

Under construction … more to come.

[ Notes
– many choices to start, but they are important.
– character
– character: start with Han?

– path
– multiplier location
– skill shot
– Multipliers are very important for a big score, but worth simplifying until you get comfortable with the game.
– most valuable shots
– video mode (hoth shot)
– focus on Tie Fighter Multiball (but not a lot of points on its own)
– after comfortable with with Tie-Fighter MB, a good challenge is to stack a Planet Mode with Tie-Fighter (also learn to watch Tie Fighter count)
– Starting Planet Modes
– Some characters get you closer to a Planet Mode Multiball.

Premium Specific: If you don’t know already, the Hyperloop Death Star shot is a really hard shot that isn’t consistent. It’s often worth going for, but always be ready for a rejected shot.

]

Star Wars (2017) v2 RULE cards

Star Wars (2017) Comic Art — v2 RULE cards

General Pinball Skills

If you want to reach a new level of pinball play: Watch Abe’s videos on pinball techniques and practice them:
Abe Flips Mastering Pinball Series (YouTube)

Videos: Tutorials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF0n_vbFaGw

Tutorial from The Canadian Arcade Gameplay @35:10 using R2D2.

Tutorial and gameplay from Gonzo

From Level Up Entertainment. Good tutorial, especially clear with the important Planet Multiball add-a-ball. And some great beginner explanations like where the multipliers start at the beginning of each ball.

SW Tutorial on a PRO on very early code. From Tim Sexton.

Intro to Multipliers

[ notes:
– a must for high scores.
– get clip of adv. multiplier table

]

…more to come…

Intermediate Strategy

[ Notes:
– Multipliers
– Adv. Skill shots.
– Finding a favorite Character Strategy
– Using different strategies based on Character
– Stacking
]

Videos: Strategy

…more to come…

Strategy: Luke

Strengths:
– Getting to Lightsaber Dual faster (via Jedi Training paths)
– Lightsaber Dual double scoring
– Has more chances Tie Fighter (+5) paths than R2 or Leia
– (working theory): Faster Jedi advancements can lead to higher points from targets (therefore multiballs and ‘bricked shots’ can lead to higher scores).

Luke seems to be the lest loved character to choose, which also seems to be even more magnified in competition. He doesn’t seem to really get you closer to any multiballs and his ability to get to Lightsaber Dual can be a drawback since it locks you out of multiballs when active. If you can survive though, Luke can be quite lucrative in long playing games. It’s hard to tell why this exactly is, but I think it’s partly due to Jedi training advancing the (passive) stand-up target values and being closer to multiplier doublers. This though, only seems to pay off (in my experience) after getting extra balls (and getting to play them, unlike in competition rules).

Strategy: R2D2

Strengths:
– Multipliers last longer (before needing to hit 3 bank to extend) [how much more time??, I need to check]
– Multipliers spread stays wider (the spread stays

…more to come

Strategy: Han Solo

Han is a character I recommend for beginners. Mostly because he’s the easiest character to get to Tie-Fighter Multiball (TFMB) (tied with Luke) and a Planet Multiball: Hoth. For beginners I find the good feels coming from getting a multiball (MB), so if someone gets to it on their own, it’s a win. Unfortunately it’s a low scoring MB that you won’t want to depend on for beating someone with points. It’s better to use it as a utility multiball. I usually like to take it into 2 modes, use it in a Planet MB, or if I have a video mode lit (including Hoth 1), starting it in hopes that I can get the Multiplier maxed AND hope that I have it still active while I go down to 1 ball again.

My Han strategy is short: Focus on lighting Hoth and make some Tie-Fighter Progress. From there, depending on how much progress you’ve got, I’ll try to get the multiplier up (always risky) for Hoth 1 video mode, and taking note of how close you are to either TFMB or Hyperspace MB and when in Hoth 4, focus on whichever you are closer to stack into the mode.
If you really like Han, try memorizing the Hoth 4 shots too, even with the advanced cards on the right of my personal Star Wars, I am constantly forgetting the shot progression. But it’s too hard (for me anyways), to watch what shots are lit while in MB, unless I know what I’m looking for.

Strategy: Leia

…check back soon

Videos: Character Strategies

Luke Strat from The Pinball Company. Starts with basic and general tutorial. Luke Strat starts at 5:30.

R2 Gameplay from Slapsave. Good use of maximizing video mode with the multiplier (although, not the best video mode play). Not the best use of multiplier locations otherwise though, but still a useful video to watch what is happening and when and where you would move the multiplier to on different modes.