 | |
| Manufacturer | Bally Manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Release date | November 1980 |
| System | Bally AS-2518-35 |
| Design | Greg Kmiec |
| Artwork | Paul Faris |
| Music | Suzanne Ciani |
| Sound | Suzanne Ciani |
| Voices | Suzanne Ciani |
| Production run | 11,000 |
Xenon is a 1980 pinball machine designed by Greg Kmiec and released by Bally. The game was not only the first talking pinball table by Bally, but also the first with a female voice. [1]
The voice for the female robot theme [2] was provided by Suzanne Ciani who also composed the music of the game. [1] The seductive voice is for example saying "Try Xeeeeenon" in attraction mode [3] or responds to bumper hits with some "Oooh" and "Aaah" moaning sound effects. [2]
Xenon consists of dominant blue artwork e.g. blue bumper caps, plastic posts and bluish light that gives the game a futuristic xenon theme. [4]
The tube shot is the most prominent playfield feature and transports the ball from the upper-right side of the playfield to the middle-left side of the playfield. It consists of a clear acrylic tube with a string of small lights. [4]
An episode of Omni: The New Frontier has a segment that talks about the creation of the game's audio. [5]
Xenon was among twelve titles included in the 2006 digital arcade game UltraPin by UltraCade Technologies. [6] It was chosen in a poll for inclusion in FarSight Studios' 2012 release The Pinball Arcade , and was available for purchase on several platforms until the developer's license to include Williams and Bally tables expired in July 2018.
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.
Visual Pinball ("VP") is a freeware and source available video game engine for pinball tables and similar games such as pachinko machines. It includes a table editor as well as the simulator itself, and runs on Microsoft Windows. It can be used with Visual PinMAME, an emulator for ROM images from real pinball machines.
Chicago Coin was one of the early major manufacturers of pinball tables founded in Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded in 1932 by Samuel H. Gensburg to operate in the coin-operated amusement industry. In 1977, Gary Stern and Sam Stern purchased the assets of the Chicago Coin Machine Division as it was then called to found Stern Electronics, Inc. They also produced various arcade games during the 1960s to 1970s.
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 1999, is a manufacturer of pinball machines in North America.
A glossary of terms, commonly used in discussing pinball machines.
Pin-Bot is a pinball machine released by Williams in October 1986. It was designed by Python Anghelo and Barry Oursler.
Suzanne Ciani is an American musician, sound designer, composer, and record label executive who found early success in the 1970s with her electronic music and sound effects for films and television commercials. Her career has included works with quadraphonic sound. She has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album five times. Her success with electronic music has her dubbed "Diva of the Diode" and "America's first female synth hero".
Attack from Mars is a 1995 pinball game designed by Brian Eddy, and released by Midway.
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.
Red & Ted's Road Show is a 1994 widebody pinball game designed by Pat Lawlor and released by Williams. It is part of WMS' SuperPin line of widebody games.
FunHouse is a pinball machine designed by Pat Lawlor and released in November 1990 by Williams Electronics. Starring a talking ventriloquist dummy named Rudy, the game is themed after the concept of an amusement park funhouse. FunHouse is one of the last Williams games to use an alphanumeric display; the company switched to dot matrix the following year.
The Machine: Bride of Pin-Bot is a 1991 pinball game designed by Python Anghelo and John Trudeau, and released by Williams. It is the second game in the Pin-Bot series, and is the last game produced by Williams to use a segmented score display rather than a dot-matrix screen. It is also one of the few pinball games produced that uses a variable-brightness segmented display.
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.
Tee'd Off is a pinball machine designed by Ray Tanzer and Jon Norris and released by Gottlieb in May 1993.
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.
Dr. Dude and His Excellent Ray is a pinball machine designed by Dennis Nordman and released in 1990 by Midway. The theme of the game revolves around gaining coolness.
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.
Knock Out is a pinball machine designed by Harry Mabs and released by Gottlieb on March 19, 1950. The game was marketed with the slogan: "Uproarious Slam-Bang Animation in a Real Ring on the Playfield". It should not 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.
Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball is a 1990 pinball game designed by John Trudeau and Python Anghelo and released by Midway. It is based on Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. This is the first of only two licensed pinball tables ever to feature the Looney Tunes characters.