Playfield Multipliers

A playfield multiplier (2X, 3X, …) scales a swath of scoring at once. The trick is to keep the multiplier in a single variable and have every affected rule reference it, so raising the multiplier instantly boosts all of them.

A shared multiplier

Give several scoring rules the same multiplier variable. Each rule’s points are scaled by whatever that variable currently holds:

score "hardware" "ramps_multiplied" {
  devices    = ["left_ramp_entry", "right_ramp_entry"]
  transition = "active"
  points     = 100
  multiplier = "playfield_multiplier"
}

score "hardware" "bumpers_multiplied" {
  tags       = ["pop_bumpers"]
  transition = "active"
  points     = 10
  multiplier = "playfield_multiplier"
}

Raising and resetting it

Drive the multiplier from gameplay — light it on a qualifying shot, drop it back at ball end:

event_handler "raise_multiplier" {
  when      = shot.multiplier_lane.complete
  condition = var.playfield_multiplier < 3
  actions {
    increment = "playfield_multiplier"
  }
}

event_handler "reset_multiplier" {
  when = system.ball.end
  actions {
    set_variable {
      name  = "playfield_multiplier"
      value = 1
    }
  }
}

How it works

Because every rule reads the same variable, you change the multiplier in one place and the whole group follows. This pairs naturally with modes — a mode can raise the multiplier while it’s active and a score "modifier" can gate other bonuses on mode.<name>.active. See Organizing Modes into Modules.