Metallica pinball tournament strategy: load one shot, start a multiball, light 2x

Metallica came out in 2013 and is still in heavy tournament use. It has 559 tracked games in our data, split mostly between Northstar Pinball Collective and Blainbrook.

The rules are built around four things you collect: electric chairs, grave markers, snakes and coffins. Collect enough of all four and the game opens its big modes. Along the way, each of the four has its own multiball. The players who score well are the ones who arrange for one shot to pay for several things at once.

This guide covers the original game. Metallica Remastered, released in 2024, has its own machine page and changed rules.

The short version

1. Plunge all the way to the top lanes and steer the flashing lane with the flippers.
2. Trap the ball on the left flipper and shoot Sparky, the electric chair in the center, until multiball starts.
3. In multiball, hit the four pick targets, then shoot the Snake to add a ball and turn on 2x.
4. In single-ball play, favor the ramps.
5. When Crank It Up lights, shoot the scoop, hit each of the four items once, and cash out.

Two skill shots

The regular skill shot is a full plunge to the top lanes. The flippers move the flashing lane, and the right lane pays double.

The super skill shot starts by holding the left flipper while you plunge. The post at the top drops and the ball comes around the orbit to the flippers. Any shot you make next pays twice the skill shot value, and some shots add more: the scoop gives a Mystery award, and the Fuel lane target lights or starts 2x scoring, depending on the code version. The catch is a shorter ball save, so take the regular one on a machine you do not trust.

The spider

This is the rule that separates good Metallica players from everyone else, and it is simple once you have seen it.

The five major shots are the two orbits, the two ramps and the grave lane. A spider arrow marks whichever of them you made last. When you then hit Sparky, the grave lane target or the Snake, that item's insert lights at the marked shot. From then on, every time you make the marked shot you collect every item lit there.

So the order is: make a shot you can repeat, such as a ramp. Then hit an item. Then go back to the ramp, which now counts as a ramp and as that item. Load a second and third item onto the same shot and one ramp advances you toward three multiballs at once.

Coffins work differently. They come only from the captive ball, and a hit right after a left inlane counts double.

A shot with all three inserts lit starts a Coffin hurry-up, collected at the captive ball. Collect it and that shot keeps its inserts for the next ball.

Which multiball first

Kineticist's tutorial recommends starting with Electric Chair or Grave Marker. Sparky is a left flipper shot, and the center of the target counts as two hits. The grave lane can be shot from either flipper and is safer as a backhand from the left.

Every multiball shares one rule. Hitting the four pick targets lights the Snake for 20 seconds of 2x scoring, and the first Snake shot of each multiball adds a ball and restarts the ball save. Pick target progress carries in from single-ball play, so arriving with three of the four already lit puts the add-a-ball one target away.

Fuel

Four hits on the FUEL targets light the target at the end of the Fuel lane, on the far left. Hit it for 20 seconds of 2x playfield scoring. Hitting it again resets the timer. In multiball it stacks with the Snake's 2x for 4x.

The Fuel lane is a right flipper shot and a risky one, since the ball can bounce out toward the left outlane. Use it when there is something large to double.

Crank It Up

Collect 12 of each item, the number on current code, and the scoop lights for Crank It Up during single-ball play. Each mode lasts as long as its song, and a drain ends it.

Choosing a mode:

• For Whom the Bell Tolls asks for the major shots, three times each. It is the usual choice on a Pro.
• Fade to Black scores on switch hits, and is a good choice on a Premium or LE.
• Battery needs 12 Sparky hits and pays the least.
• Enter Sandman has moving inserts.

The cash-out is where the points are. During the mode, one direct hit on each of the four items lights the scoop. Shooting it offers a choice to collect or continue, and collecting pays the mode total a second time. With Fuel 2x running, that payment is doubled. Light 2x, then shoot the scoop.

Two mistakes are common. One is taking the points offered at mode select instead of playing a mode. The other is never hitting all four items during the mode, which leaves nothing to cash out.

Where the ball drains

• The left inlane and outlane area is the worst spot on the game. Keep the ball away from the slingshots.
• Returns from Sparky come back down the middle, and the magnet there can throw the ball. A small nudge saves most of them.
• The pop bumpers can exit left and drain.
• A slow ball coming out of an orbit lands on the slingshot. Nudge as it leaves the orbit.
• The Snake scoop often rejects the ball.

The ramps are the safe shots. The default is two tilt warnings.

What the tracked games say

Numbers are from late September 2026. The Metallica machine page has the live ones.

The upset rate is how often the lower-rated player in a pairing finishes ahead. Metallica's 34.6% is a point under the average of 35.5%, which makes it more open than most games of its generation. Newer Sterns such as JAWS and Jurassic Park sit near 30%. The full ranking is in upset rates by machine.

At 16:05 for a typical game it is also several minutes shorter than those two, which helps in a timed round.

Among players with at least 20 games on it, Luke Nahorniak has the best record, finishing ahead of 74% of the opponents he has faced across 47 games. Adam Turgeson and Bryan Moen are close behind at the same win rate over about 30 games each. The scouting report shows how you compare with your own group.

Where to play it

• Northstar Pinball Collective in Savage, 318 tracked games. See the Northstar guide.
• Blainbrook in Blaine, 221 tracked games. See the Blainbrook guide.
• Julie's Pinball in Farmington has one on the floor. Its first tracked tournament games on it came in late September 2026.

Check which model you are playing. The Premium and LE have spinners on the orbits, physical locks in the coffin, and a hammer that blocks part of the view up the middle. On a Pro the coffin locks are virtual.

Before your next game

The Metallica playbook has rulesheet links and videos, and the scores tab includes Insider Connected scores from local venues. For the full rules we leaned on the Pinball Primer guide and the Pinball Rulesheets wiki.

The Walking Dead came from the same designer a year later and punishes the same mistakes. The whole series is in the machine strategy guides.