Enter the tomb — Bally’s 1984 Black Pyramid is a supernatural adventure four-player designed by George Christian with art by the great Greg Freres, and it’s a sleek, fast mid-’80s machine built around a clever inline-drop-and-orbit bonus engine. With a confirmed run of 2,500, it has a swinging target, a right-outlane detour gate, and that satisfying combination of inline drops in the right orbit that gives the game its distinctive rhythm.
The strategy is a focused, rewarding climb. Hit the inline drops in the right orbit to increase your bonus multiplier, then keep driving that right orbit to collect the B-L-A-C-K and P-Y-R-A-M-I-D letters, each spelling pumping your bonus higher. Because the bonus carries over from ball to ball, a player who builds a big bonus on ball one can shift focus to simply hitting those inline drop targets afterward, compounding the advantage. Landing in the saucer while the “A” insert is lit opens the detour gate to prevent a right-outlane drain — a handy bit of self-preservation — and spelling BLACK PYRAMID three times rewards you with a free game, a tangible prize for sustained accuracy.
Black Pyramid is one of those tidy, well-balanced mid-’80s Bally machines that rewards a player who commits to its central loop and builds that carryover bonus patiently. Freres’s moody pyramid art gives it real atmosphere, and the inline-drops-and-orbit structure makes for a clean, repeatable groove that’s deeply satisfying to master. Drive the right orbit, spell the words, protect your bonus with that gate, and chase the free game. The pharaoh’s treasure goes to the player with the steadiest right-orbit shot in the room.