How to Play Heaven's Gates Pinball

Step through the pearly gates and see how high you can climb. Up to four players take turns, three balls each, and the highest score wins. The best scores are kept on the Top 10 board.

Starting a game if you are signed in

1. Choose how many players will take part, from 1 to 4. You never type any names: every player is shown under the name on their own account.
2. Pick a starting level. New players should start at Level 1.
3. For a 1 player game, press Start game and play right away.
4. For 2 to 4 players, press Create match. Your match opens in a lobby and appears in the Open matches list for every other signed-in player.
5. Each friend opens this page, signs in, finds your match under Open matches and presses Join Match. They play on their own phone or computer.
6. The game starts by itself as soon as every seat is filled. If some people do not turn up, the player who created the match can press Start now to begin with whoever has joined (at least two players).

Players take turns, one ball at a time. While it is not your turn you can watch the scoreboard at the top of the machine, and the screen tells you whose ball is in play. When it is your turn you will hear a chime and see YOUR TURN.

• Keep the page open while you wait in a lobby. An open match is cancelled after 15 minutes, and a player who closes the page loses their seat.
• If a player's page is closed or goes quiet for about 90 seconds during their turn, their remaining balls are forfeited and the game moves on.
• If you reload the page you are taken straight back to your match. Reloading in the middle of your own ball counts that ball as lost.
• To quit, press Leave match under the controls. Your remaining balls are forfeited, but the points you already scored still count.
• You can only be in one match at a time.

Starting a game if you are not signed in

Guests share one screen. Choose how many players will take part (1 to 4), type each person's name, pick a starting level and press Start game. The turn passes to the next player after every ball. To play online against other people, sign in first.

Controls

The longer you hold Launch, the harder the plunger pulls back and the faster the ball shoots up the right-hand lane. If the ball falls back into the lane, simply launch it again. Use the speaker button to turn sound on or off.

No Shift keys needed. The Shift keys are not used for the flippers, because tapping Shift five times quickly makes Windows offer to turn on Sticky Keys. If you ever see that box, choose No or close it. The game will keep working. Several keys can be held together, and letting go of one flipper key never lets go of another that is still down.

Scoring

The G-A-T-E-S lamps only count once the ball has dropped into play, so you need to shoot the ball back up the arch with a flipper to light them. Every score is also multiplied by your level bonus (see below).

The twelve levels

Each player climbs one level for every 4,000 points they score. As the levels rise, the ball falls faster, the flippers get shorter, the bumpers kick harder, and cherub guards float into the playfield. Points are worth more too: Level 12 pays 2.65 times the base score.

The Top 10 board

When the last ball is played, every player's score is saved automatically. Signed-in players are recorded under their account name, with one best score each. Guests are recorded under the name they typed, so use the same name every time to build your record. Only the ten highest scores are shown.

Tips

• Tap a flipper just as the ball reaches it. If you hold a flipper up the ball can rest on it, so let go and it rolls off.
• Use the bumpers to keep the ball bouncing near the top of the machine, away from the drain.
• Aim for the arch to light G-A-T-E-S and raise your multiplier.
• Playing on a phone? Turn it upright. The machine resizes itself to fit your screen.