 | |
| Manufacturer | Bally |
|---|---|
| Release date | April, 1981 |
| Design | George Christian |
| Artwork | Margaret Hudson |
| Production run | 8,250 |
Eight Ball Deluxe is a pinball machine designed by George Christian and released by Bally in 1981. The game features a cue sports theme and was so popular that it was produced again in 1984. [1]
The game is the successor of the popular Eight Ball pinball machine from 1977. In Eight Ball Deluxe, Bally added more rules, complicated shot combinations, and speech synthesis. The pinball machine is still very popular today [2] and was followed by the pinball machine Eight Ball Champ in 1985. [3]
Eight Ball Deluxe has two sets of drop targets, one set for the billiard balls 1-7 and 9-15, and four in line drop targets for bonus multiplier. Behind the 1-7 drop targets are stand up targets that spells out 'Deluxe'. Completing these will light one letter in a different 'Deluxe' spelled out on the backglass. If the player spells the last letter of 'Deluxe' on the backglass, the game gives three free games. This feature stays in memory even when the machine is turned off. [4]
Eight Ball Deluxe was released as digital version in 1993 for MS-DOS and Macintosh, co-developed by Amtex and LittleWing and published by the former. [5] The game was a best seller in Macintosh gaming world and was a 1993 Best Simulation Game Finalist of the Software Publishers Association (USA) awards. [6] Computer Gaming World in 1993 stated that Eight Ball Deluxe "accurately recreates the art, sounds and digitized speech of the original ... gorgeous, playable and realistic", and was the "connoisseur's choice" among four reviewed games. [5]
Eight Ball Deluxe was also available as a licensed table of The Pinball Arcade for PC, iOS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Android from August 2016 to June 30, 2018. After this date, this table for any platform was removed due to WMS license expiration.
Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails called 'pins' and had hollows or pockets which scored points if the ball came to rest in them. Today, pinball is most commonly an arcade game in which the ball is fired into a specially designed cabinet known as a pinball machine, hitting various lights, bumpers, ramps, and other targets depending on its design. The game's object is generally to score as many points as possible by hitting these targets and making various shots with flippers before the ball is lost. Most pinball machines use one ball per turn, and the game ends when the ball(s) from the last turn are lost. The biggest pinball machine manufacturers historically include Bally Manufacturing, Gottlieb, Williams Electronics and Stern Pinball.
A glossary of terms, commonly used in discussing pinball machines.
Safe Cracker is a pinball machine with a safecracking theme, designed by Pat Lawlor, and distributed by Midway. It was created in 1996. About 1148 were manufactured.
Black Hole is a pinball game released in 1981 by Gottlieb. It is notable for having two playfields: one on top with a conventional slope, and one mounted underneath, sloping away from the player. It has no connection with the 1979 film of the same name.
Haunted House is a pinball game released in October 31 1982 by Gottlieb. It was the first game with three playfields that the ball can move between, including one below the main playing surface. Haunted House was designed by John Osborne, with artwork by Terry Doerzaph. It is part of Gottlieb’s “System 80” series of pinball machines.
Checkpoint is a 1991 pinball machine released by Data East. It featured the first dot matrix display (DMD) ever incorporated into a pinball game. For Checkpoint, Data East used a "half-height" DMD. By way of comparison, Williams later produced machines with standard DMDs that were twice the height. Checkpoint also features video mode minigames on its display.
Big Shot is a pinball machine designed by Ed Krynski and produced by Gottlieb in 1973. It was created as a two-player version of their 1973 game, Hot Shot. The table has a pool theme and is highly regarded among skilled players and collectors due to the level of skill required to hit all 14 drop targets in the game. A total of 2,900 units were manufactured.
The Party Zone is a crossover solid-state pinball machine released in 1991 by Midway designed by Dennis Nordman and programmed by Jim Strompolis. It is in a single playfield format and collaborates characters from previous pinball machines. It is the second pinball machine released after the Bally-Midway division was sold, yet still operated under the "Bally" name.
Judge Dredd is a four-player pinball game produced by Bally Manufacturing in 1993, based on the British comic strip Judge Dredd in 2000 AD. Nearly 7,000 were made.
The Pinball Arcade is a pinball video game developed by FarSight Studios. The game is a simulated collection of 100 real pinball tables licensed by Gottlieb, Alvin G. and Company, and Stern Pinball, a company which also owns the rights of machines from Data East and Sega Pinball. Williams and Bally games are no longer available since June 30, 2018, as FarSight had lost the license to WMS properties, which has since passed to Zen Studios.
Tee'd Off is a pinball machine designed by Ray Tanzer and Jon Norris and released by Gottlieb in May 1993.
Mata Hari is a pinball machine created by Bally Manufacturing in 1977 and released in 1978. The theme of the game is based on Dutch exotic dancer, Mata Hari. It was mainly produced using solid-state electronics but also 170 electro-mechanical versions were released. It was the last model manufactured by Bally in two such versions. Approximately 20 sample games were produced with a plastic playfield, instead of the traditional wooden playfield.
Taito of Brazil was a pinball and arcade manufacturer located in São Paulo, Brazil. The company originally started out as Clover Electronic Amusement in 1968, then became Taito of Brazil in 1972 by Abraham "Abba" Kogan, the son of the founder of the parent company Taito located in Japan. This subsidiary was originally an importer of existing U.S. and Japanese machine components to be assembled within the country. However, the taxation on imports had been growing steadily, and the government's belief that pinball is a game of chance and considered a gambling machine, led to strict import rules. By 1976, within rules created by the Electronic Processing Activities Coordinating Committee (CAPRE), it became illegal to import pinball machines. This created a problem, since the popularity of arcade games in Brazil had been growing exponentially for many years.
Genie is a widebody pinball machine designed by Ed Krynski and released in 1979 by Gottlieb. It features a jinn theme and was advertised with the slogans "Gottlieb's WIDE and Beautiful BODY" and "A Wide-Body Pinball absolutely bulging with player appeal and proven massive profit earning capacity!".
Flight 2000 is a 1980 Stern widebody pinball machine. It was the first table by this company with speech. The theme of the game revolves around futuristic space flight.
Cue Ball Wizard is a pinball machine designed by Jon Norris and released in December 18 1992 by Gottlieb. It features a cue sports theme and was advertised with the slogan "Gottlieb Presents CUE BALL WIZARD!".
El Dorado City of Gold is a pinball machine designed by Ed Krynski and released in 1984 by Gottlieb. The game features an El Dorado adventure theme.
The Phantom of the Opera is a pinball machine released by Data East in 1990. The game is based on the 1910 French novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, but not based on the 1986 musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber or movie of the same name, although released around the same time. The game was designed by Joe Kaminkow and Ed Cebula.
Cyclone is a pinball machine released by Williams Electronics in 1988. It features an amusement park theme, Coney Island, and was advertised with the slogan "It'll blow you away!". Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan both appear in the backglass shown riding the rollercoaster.
Ace High is a woodrail pinball machine released by Gottlieb in 1957. It features a card gambling theme. It should not be confused with Aces High by Bally.