Nugent pinball tournament strategy: multiplier first, then spin, then collect

Nugent is a 1978 Stern with three flippers, two banks of drop targets, a spinner and a saucer. Every one of its 684 tracked games was played at Blainbrook, where it has been in the tournament lineup since 2021.

Two numbers describe it. The typical game takes 9:44, the shortest of any machine in our top 25. And the lower-rated player wins 41.8% of pairings, the highest upset rate in that group. Balls end quickly here, and a game can be decided by one good ball. Knowing the right order of operations is worth more than it is on almost any other machine in the room.

The short version

1. Plunge for the rollover button at the top, then a lit outer lane.
2. From the left flipper, knock down the upper right drop targets. Three completed banks light 5x.
3. Shoot the spinner until your bonus passes 10,000, which makes every spin worth 1,000.
4. Get the ball into the upper left saucer to collect bonus times multiplier.
5. Build the bonus back up and collect again.

Why the order matters

Nothing carries over on Nugent. The bonus, the multiplier, the lit lanes and your progress on the targets all reset when the ball drains. Each ball is its own small game, and the plan is the same all three times.

The bonus runs from 1,000 to 19,000 and the multiplier tops out at 5x, so the biggest single collect is 95,000. You can collect it twice: once at the saucer during play and again when the ball drains. The saucer collect resets the base bonus to 1,000 and leaves the multiplier alone for the rest of the ball.

That is why the multiplier comes first. Bonus you build at 1x and collect is gone. Bonus you build at 5x is paid five times over, and you can build it again.

The shots

Upper right drop targets. Shoot them from the lower left flipper, or send the ball around the left orbit from the lower right flipper. Each target is 500 and a completed bank is 6,000. The first three completions set the multiplier to 2x, 3x and 5x.

Spinner. On the right, and it sends the ball back to the top. It pays 100 a spin, and every fourth spin adds a step to the bonus. Once your base bonus reaches 10,000 it pays 1,000 a spin for the rest of the ball. Wait for that mark before you collect at the saucer, so the spinner is already lit when you start rebuilding.

Saucer. Upper left, next to a standup target. The guides disagree on whether a flipper can hit it directly, and it varies by machine. Bob's Guides says it cannot and suggests three routes: flip toward the gap below it and nudge, take a bounce off the left pop bumper, or bank the ball off the upper right drops.

Standup target. 5,000 and one bonus step, and it lights both return lanes. A lit return lane is worth 5,000 and three bonus steps, against 500 and one step unlit. Hit it early in the ball.

Left orbit. From the lower right flipper. The rollover in the lane pays 3,000 and three bonus steps, and Bob's Guides counts it, with the spinner, among the two safest shots on the game.

What to skip

The right gate, the shot under the upper flipper that returns the ball to the shooter lane, is risky to miss and pays little. Leave it.

The left drop targets are a question for the tournament director. The second and third completions light the extra ball and the special. If the special is set to pay 100,000, which competition setups often use, that bank may be the biggest award on the game. If it pays nothing, the bank is not worth the risk. Ask before you play.

The plunge

There is no skill shot award. The goal of the plunge is the rollover button above the top lanes, which raises the two outer lanes from 3,000 to 9,000. A lit lane goes dark when you collect it. Bob's Guides prefers the right lane, because the ball leaves the right bumper heading toward the upper right drops.

Where the ball drains

• Rebounds off every target are live. A glancing hit on a drop target can send the ball straight down the middle.
• The pop bumpers can drain the ball on the way out, sometimes right after the plunge.
• A ball that falls back through the spinner comes down fast.
• Shots from the upper flipper can end in the left outlane.
• There is a post between the flippers. Check that it is there and has rubber on it, and then do not count on it.

Nudging is part of the game at the top lanes and at the saucer. A tilt ends the ball and takes the bonus with it, and on Nugent the bonus is most of the ball.

What the tracked games say

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

The upset rate is how often the lower-rated player in a pairing finishes ahead. Nugent's 41.8% is the highest of the 25 machines in this series and six points above the average for every machine we can compare. A player rated well below the rest of the group has a better chance here than on anything else in the building. If that is you and the pick is yours, take it. If you are the favorite, pick something longer. The full ranking is in upset rates by machine.

Even the best records on Nugent are modest. Adam Turgeson has played it 116 times and won 45 of those games outright. Bryan Moen has 39 wins in 97. Luke Nahorniak, who is ranked in the top 20 in the world, has 9 wins in 22. On Iron Maiden he has won 23 of 40. The Blainbrook arena report shows the ten best and ten worst records on every machine in the room.

Where to play it

Blainbrook in Blaine is the only venue in our data with a Nugent. The Blainbrook guide covers the schedule and the rest of the lineup, which leans toward games of this age.

Before your next game

The Nugent playbook has the rulesheet links and any player tips on file, and the scores tab shows what a good game looks like. For the full rules we leaned on the Pinball Primer guide and Bob's Guides.

Nugent's neighbors at Blainbrook follow the same logic of building a bonus and then multiplying it: Eight Ball Deluxe, Silverball Mania and Hot Tip. How to play classic games in a tournament covers the shared habits, and the whole series is in the machine strategy guides.