Pinball is a type of arcade game, in which points are scored by a player manipulating one or more metallic balls on a play field inside a glass-covered cabinet called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible, often within a limited time. Many modern pinball machines include a "storyline" where the player must complete certain objectives in a certain fashion to complete the story, usually earning high scores for different methods of completing the game. Different amount of points are earned when the ball strikes different targets on the play field. A drain is situated at the bottom of the play field, partially protected by player-controlled paddles called flippers. A game ends after all the balls fall into the drain a certain number of times. Secondary objectives are to maximize the time spent playing and to earn bonus games.
Rollerball is a video game produced by HAL Laboratory, Inc. in 1988 for the Nintendo Entertainment System four years after its initial release on the MSX. It is designed to be played by one to four players, in turn. It is an emulation of a pinball machine.
A glossary of terms, commonly used in discussing pinball machines.
Medieval Madness is a Williams pinball machine released in June 1997. Designed by Brian Eddy and programmed by Lyman Sheats, it had a production run of 4,016 units. It is often regarded by many to be the greatest pinball machine of all time.
The Addams Family, released in March 1992, is the best selling pinball machine of all time. Designed by Pat Lawlor and Larry DeMar and manufactured by Midway, it is a solid state electronic pinball arcade game. It was based on the 1991 film of the same name, and features custom speech by the stars of the film, Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston. More than 20,000 units have been sold thus far.
Star Trek: The Next Generation is a widebody pinball game, designed by Steve Ritchie and released in November 1993 by Williams Electronics. It was part of WMS' SuperPin series, and was based on the TV series. It is the only pinball machine that features three separate highscore-lists. Apart from the regular highscore-list and the buy-in-list, it also features a reminiscence to The Machine: Bride of Pin*Bot billionaires club. It is also the third pinball game overall based on the Star Trek franchise, following the 1979 pinball game by Bally, and the 1991 game by Data East, and preceding the 2013 pinball game by Stern.
Twilight Zone is a widebody pinball machine, designed by Pat Lawlor and based on the TV series of the same name. It was first released in 1993 by Midway. This game is part of WMS' SuperPin line of widebody games alongside Star Trek: The Next Generation and Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure.
Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure is a 1993 widebody pinball game designed by Mark Ritchie and released by Williams. It was based on the Indiana Jones movies. It was also part of WMS' SuperPin series of widebody games.
Doctor Who is a pinball machine designed by Bill Pfutzenreuter (Pfutz) and Barry Oursler, and released by Midway in September 1992. It is based on the television series Doctor Who. As stated in the Gameplay section, the rulesheet is rather different from other pinball machines released at the time, which didn't help popularity as casual players did not understand the complex rule changes that occur during the game.
Star Wars Episode I is a 1999 pinball game designed by John Popadiuk and released by Williams and the second machine to use the Pinball 2000 hardware platform. It is based in the Star Wars film The Phantom Menace.
Revenge from Mars is a pinball machine designed by George Gomez and manufactured by Williams Electronics Games in 1999. It is the sequel to the similarly themed Attack from Mars.
Pin Bot is a pinball video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in North America in April 1990. It is a conversion of the pinball machine by the same name. The NES version of the game accurately reproduces some of the game-play and aesthetics of the pinball machine, while introducing new features and added challenges.
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 is pool themed and is very popular among skilled players and collectors, because of the skill required to hit all 14 drop targets in the game. 2,900 units were manufactured.
Comet is a pinball machine released by Williams in June 1985. It was designed by Barry Oursler and was the first in an amusement park themed pinball trilogy followed by Cyclone in 1988 and Hurricane in 1991.
Harley-Davidson is a Midway pinball machine released under the Bally label in February 1991. It was designed by Barry Oursler and Mark Sprenger. It was the first game by Bally to use the Williams WPC (Alphanumeric) board and also the last Bally pinball game to use an Alphanumeric Display.
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.
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!”.
Class of 1812 is a pinball machine designed by Ray Tanzer and Joe Kaminkow and released in 1991 by Gottlieb. It features a supernatural monster theme and was advertised with the slogan "Frightful fun for all ages!".
Knock Out is a pinball machine designed by Harry Mabs and released by Gottlieb in 1950. The game was marketed with the slogan: "Uproarious Slam-Bang Animation in a Real Ring on the Playfield". It should not to be confused with Knockout by Bally from 1974.
Hurricane is a pinball machine released by Williams Electronics in August 1991. It was designed by Barry Oursler as the third game in Oursler's amusement park themed pinball trilogy. The first being Comet, released in 1985, and the second being Cyclone, released in 1988.
