Industry | Interactive entertainment |
---|---|
Founded | 2012 |
Founder | Andrew Heighway |
Defunct | 2018 |
Fate | Liquidation |
Headquarters | Ebbw Vale, UK |
Products | Pinball |
Website | heighwaypinball.com is no longer online. |
Heighway Pinball was a British company, established in 2012, that manufactured pinball machines. It was founded by Andrew Heighway in Merthyr Tydfil. [1] The first table by the company, Full Throttle, was released in 2015. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] The racing-themed game features, as a speciality, a LCD screen for scores, info and animations on the playfield surface at player's eye view. [7]
The company's second machine Alien is based on the movie of the same name and its first sequel Aliens . Production shipment began on 14 February 2017. [8] [9] In 2016, the company opened a new production line, increasing their manufacturing capacity to 250 games per month. They had 26 employees. [10]
As of 26 April 2018, Heighway Pinball had closed the doors on its factory, [11] laid off its employees, and was liquidated soon afterward. [12] [13] The rights to the Alien machine were acquired by Pinball Brothers, a company founded by some of Heighway pinball's investors, who began manufacturing as second run of the game in 2021. [14]
Taito Corporation is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the Taito Trading Company, importing vodka, vending machines, and jukeboxes into Japan. It began production of video games in 1973. In 2005, Taito was purchased by Square Enix, becoming a wholly owned subsidiary by 2006.
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.
Laura Ashley was a Welsh fashion designer and businesswoman. She originally made furnishing materials in the 1950s, expanding the business into clothing design and manufacture in the 1960s. The Laura Ashley style is characterised by Romantic designs – often with a 19th-century rural feel – and the use of natural fabrics.
Merthyr Tydfil is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about 23 miles (37 km) north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, who according to legend was slain at Merthyr by pagans about 480 CE. Merthyr generally means "martyr" in modern Welsh, but here closer to the Latin martyrium: a place of worship built over a martyr's relics. Similar place names in south Wales are Merthyr Cynog, Merthyr Dyfan and Merthyr Mawr.
GameTek was an American video game publisher based in North Miami Beach, Florida known for publishing video game adaptations of game shows in the late 1980s and early 1990s. GameTek was a trade name for IJE, the owner of electronic publishing rights to Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. Originally, IJE licensed these titles to ShareData of Chandler, Arizona; however, when IJE saw ShareData's success with the titles, IJE decided to publish the titles themselves, resulting in the founding of GameTek.
Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It was established for the 1983 general election.
Huw Lewis is a Welsh Labour Co-operative politician who served as Minister for Education and Skills from 2013 to 2016. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Lewis represented the Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney constituency in the National Assembly for Wales from 1999 to 2016.
Alien is a science fiction horror and action media franchise centered on the original film series which depicts warrant officer Ellen Ripley and her battles with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as the Alien ("Xenomorph"), and the prequel series following the exploits of the David 8 android and the aliens referred to as the "Engineers".
Lynn Mittell MBE, better known by the stage name Owen Money is a British musician, actor, comedian, and radio presenter from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
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Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council is the governing body for Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, one of the Principal Areas of Wales.
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.
Abercynon railway station serves the village of Abercynon in the Cynon Valley, Wales. It is located on the Merthyr Line, 15.5 miles (25 km) north of Cardiff Central. Passenger services are provided by Transport for Wales.
Bally Manufacturing, later renamed Bally Entertainment, was an American company that began as a pinball and slot machine manufacturer, and later expanded into casinos, video games, health clubs, and theme parks. It was acquired by Hilton Hotels in 1996.
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. In 2022, it had an estimated population of 58,883, making it the smallest local authority in Wales by population. It is located in the historic county of Glamorgan and takes its name from the town with the same name. The county borough consists of the northern part of the Taff Valley and the smaller neighbouring Taff Bargoed Valley. It borders the counties of Rhondda Cynon Taf to the west, Caerphilly County Borough to the east, and Powys to the north.
The Wizard of Oz is a Jersey Jack Pinball, Inc. pinball machine designed by Joe Balcer and released in April 2013. It is the first US pinball machine with an LCD in the back box as well as the first one to have color on the monitor produced in the US since the Pinball 2000 games. Although it is not the first pinball machine with a LCD worldwide because MarsaPlay in Spain manufactured a remake of Inder's original Canasta titled New Canasta, with an LCD screen in the backbox in 2010.
Gerald Jones is a Welsh Labour Party politician, serving as Assistant Government Whip who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare, previously Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney since 2015. He was Shadow Minister for Scotland from 2023-2024 and previously served as a Shadow Wales Office minister.
The Hoover Factory, situated in Pentrebach, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, opened on 19 October 1948 in order to manufacture Hoover washing machines. The initial workforce consisted of only 350 people but throughout the years, the growth of the company saw this figure rise to 5,000 in the 1960s and 70s.
The South Wales Scorpions, known as the South Wales Ironmen in 2017, were a semi-professional rugby league club based in South Wales. They played in the third tier of the British rugby league system between 2010 and 2017. The team initially played at The Gnoll in Neath, before spells at Caerphilly, Mountain Ash, Maesteg, and Merthyr Tydfil.