Related Research Articles
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.
WMS Industries, Inc. was an American electronic gaming and amusement manufacturer in Enterprise, Nevada. It was merged into Scientific Games in 2016. WMS's predecessor was the Williams Manufacturing Company, founded in 1943 by Harry E. Williams. However, the company that became WMS Industries was formally founded in 1974 as Williams Electronics, Inc.
Stern is the name of two different but related arcade gaming companies. Stern Electronics, Inc. manufactured arcade video games and pinball machines from 1977 until 1985, and was best known for Berzerk. Stern Pinball, Inc., founded in 1986 as Data East Pinball, is a manufacturer of pinball machines in North America.
The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man is a character from the Ghostbusters franchise, who sometimes appears as a giant, lumbering and paranormal monster. He first appears in the 1984 Ghostbusters film as a logo on a bag of marshmallows in Dana Barrett's apartment, on an advertisement on a building near the Ghostbusters' headquarters, and finally as the physical manifestation and form of the apocalyptic Sumerian deity Gozer.
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. As of April 3, 2022, the Pinside pinball community lists it as the #2 highest-ranked pinball machine ; many adherents consider it the greatest of all time.
Patrick M. Lawlor is a video game and pinball machine designer.
Johnny Mnemonic is a 4 player pinball machine from August 1995, manufactured by Williams Electronic Games, Inc. A total of 2,756 units were produced.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a 1991 pinball machine designed by Joe Kaminkow and Ed Cebula. It is based on the comic book characters of the same name, and was preceded by a related TV series and feature film. The game uses the action figures made by Playmates Toys as decoration for the table. A second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pinball machine was released by Stern Pinball in June 2020.
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.
Monster Bash is a pinball machine produced by Williams. The game features some Universal Monsters including The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein's monster, the Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy.
There have been four pinball adaptations of the film Jurassic Park franchise: a physical table released by Data East the same year the film came out, Sega's 1997 The Lost World which is based on the second movie of the series, a virtual table developed by Zen Studios on the franchise's 25th anniversary and a new physical table released by Stern Pinball a year after. All four tables behave differently.
Kiss-themed pinball machines were produced by Bally in 1979 and Stern in 2015. There are also some pinball machine conversion kits, a Kiss pinball machine prototype and a Kiss pinball video game.
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.
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.
Harley-Davidson is a Sega Pinball pinball machine released in September 1999 and was the last machine released by this company. It was designed by Jon Borg and Lonnie D. Ropp.
AC/DC is a pinball machine manufactured by Stern Pinball based on the Australian band of the same name. Designed by Steve Ritchie, it was released on March 1, 2012.
Deadpool is a pinball machine designed by George Gomez and released by Stern Pinball in August 2018 based on the comic books of the same name. Nolan North provided voicework as the voice of Deadpool. Brian Huskey provided the voice of Lil' Deadpool and Jennifer Lafleur provided the voice of Dazzler.
The Hobbit is a pinball machine designed by Joe Balcer and released by Jersey Jack Pinball in March 2016. It is based on The Hobbit films of the same name which is based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s 1937 novel The Hobbit.
Lyman F. Sheats Jr. was an American pinball champion, game designer and coin-operated game operating system software engineer who had worked for Bally, Williams, and Stern Pinball, among other companies.
