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Without doubt one of my favorite machines made.

The thing is truly a joy. There are so many beautiful little touches, things that one person in a hundred would never notice, but that add up to a great experience.

For example, take a look at the backglass artwork. You can see that all of the windows (which are individually lit by bulbs behind them) have little scenes in them. Except the top-left one looks dark and empty. But really, it has a bulb that comes on occasionally to show the silhouette of Cousin It. How does it work? On the back of the backglass art, which is normally blank, they did another printing run with just the Cousin It silhouette in an opaque metallic ink.

The same care extends into the software. One of the objects of the game is to open a bookcase so you can shoot the ball into the Vault, a hole behind the bookcase. But maybe one game in a hundred, you'll hit the ball in some weird way where it flies through the air, bounces off the glass, and ends up in the vault even when the bookcase is closed. Most games would just decide that it was an error and spit the ball back out. But Addams Family has Gomez say, "Dirty pool, old man. I like it!" Then it skips you ahead in the game, opening the bookcase and locking the ball for multiball.

Just from playing it, it's clear that the makers of it were masters of their craft, and that they loved what they did. The Addams Family pinball machine has always been an inspiration to me in the stuff I make, even when it's something much less sexy, like business software.

Yeah, it appears my numbers were a bit inflated. IPD says The Addams Family production run was 20,270 machines plus an extra 1,000 for the gold edition.

Twilight Zone was around 15,000..

In any case, the ratio was about right since current titles like Lord of the Rings had 4,017 machines made.

Yeah, it appears my numbers were a bit inflated. IPD says The Addams Family production run was 20,270 machines plus an extra 1,000 for the gold edition.

Twilight Zone was around 15,000..

In any case, the ratio was about right since current titles like Lord of the Rings had 4,017 machines made.

Wrong! The best pinball game ever is Whirlwind. It had a fucking cool fan that blew on you, and these awesome magnetic things that blew your pinball around. ingenious!

Nearly new ones? They are way way expensive. Older ones, though, can be had for much less.

We have a Galahad and a Friendship 7, from 1969 and 1962, respectively. The first we bought at an auction in Tennessee for $75 in 2000; the second I paid $150 for in Texas last year. (The market seems to be cheapest on the East Coast; auctions around here from places like Super Auctions are too expensive.

Nearly new ones? They are way way expensive. Older ones, though, can be had for much less.

We have a Galahad and a Friendship 7, from 1969 and 1962, respectively. The first we bought at an auction in Tennessee for $75 in 2000; the second I paid $150 for in Texas last year. (The market seems to be cheapest on the East Coast; auctions around here from places like Super Auctions are too expensive.

Jurassic Park - DataEast
Star Wars - DataEast

The best machines, from DataEast, were the movie machines because they had all of your favorite lines.

"Shoot the Death Star", "Ian Freeze!", ah that was fun. It was like being part of the movie (not really, but fun!)

Internet Pinball Database:
http://www.ipdb.org/

Jurassic Park - DataEast
Star Wars - DataEast

The best machines, from DataEast, were the movie machines because they had all of your favorite lines.

"Shoot the Death Star", "Ian Freeze!", ah that was fun. It was like being part of the movie (not really, but fun!)

Internet Pinball Database:
http://www.ipdb.org/

Jurassic Park - DataEast
Star Wars - DataEast

The best machines, from DataEast, were the movie machines because they had all of your favorite lines.

"Shoot the Death Star", "Ian Freeze!", ah that was fun. It was like being part of the movie (not really, but fun!)

Internet Pinball Database:
http://www.ipdb.org/

with the exception of the coloration and the stone paddles, these "new" primates seem to resemble the grey gorillas in Michael Crichton's (sp?) Congo quite well.

Guess that means we're due for an updated version of This hardware soon. :-)

TERMINATOR 2

TERMINATOR 3

Last Action Hero

TERMINATOR 2

TERMINATOR 3

Last Action Hero

TERMINATOR 2

TERMINATOR 3

Last Action Hero

Take a look at advertising used on pinball machines sporting images from major movies, music groups, and TV shows.

Take a look at advertising used on pinball machines sporting images from major movies, music groups, and TV shows.

Take a look at advertising used on pinball machines sporting images from major movies, music groups, and TV shows.

Take a look at advertising used on pinball machines sporting images from major movies, music groups, and TV shows.

Take a look at advertising used on pinball machines sporting images from major movies, music groups, and TV shows.

Take a look at advertising used on pinball machines sporting images from major movies, music groups, and TV shows.

some of the best pinball games ever
-mars attacks
-the machine: bride of pinbot
-indiana jones
-dracula
-earthshaker

the top three were designed by Brian Eddy check out the internet pinball database

I'm not a pinball aficionado, but among those who are, Steve Ritchie is revered as one of the world's great pinball designers. He designed the first two-level layout, Black Knight (1980), and holds several important patents. Some call him "The Master of Flow."

This interview with Ritchie isn't perhaps gripping in itself for the non-hobbyist, but it does show the veneration fans hold for him.

Yes, I think you're on to something there. Not only do I brew beer, but we also sell homebrew supplies in my hardware store. My informal observations of the customers who shop for home brew supplies leads me to the conclusion that most hombrewers are geeks (That's a compliment!).

Getting back to my subject, I've also discovered that my passion for pinball (started at MIT in 1977) is shared with numerous folks on the net and around the world, and there is definitely a connection between the lost art of pinball (face it, pinball is dying, especially electromechanical machines) and geeks. I own an old Faces EM pinball machine myself which I've been restoring to it's former glory, in between brewing batches of homebrew and playing Asheron's Call. :-)

Yes, I think you're on to something there. Not only do I brew beer, but we also sell homebrew supplies in my hardware store. My informal observations of the customers who shop for home brew supplies leads me to the conclusion that most hombrewers are geeks (That's a compliment!).

Getting back to my subject, I've also discovered that my passion for pinball (started at MIT in 1977) is shared with numerous folks on the net and around the world, and there is definitely a connection between the lost art of pinball (face it, pinball is dying, especially electromechanical machines) and geeks. I own an old Faces EM pinball machine myself which I've been restoring to it's former glory, in between brewing batches of homebrew and playing Asheron's Call. :-)

I love the death of pinball. At least to a point. All of the great games were made, in my opinion, between 1990 and 1999. Bally/Williams games are the only things worth buying, period. And by buying, I mean for my house. I've got around a dozen.

Here is how the death of pinball works:

1. Operators used to make a lot of money off their pinball machines. Buckets and buckets of it.

2. In the 90's, kids decided video games were cool.

3. Operators make less and less money on pinball machines.

4. Bally/Williams, the biggest pinball producer decides they can't financially justify manufacturing pinball machines. They close their pinball division.

5. Operators start pulling games from locations when they break down, or are worn out.

That's where I come in. Calling all of my local operators. Calling all of the old-school operators from the 60's. Just hoping that somebody has a warehouse full of pinball machines that I can buy, repair, restore, and resell. It's a hobby that I have really grown to love in the past year.

There is an amazing amount of pinball information on the internet, which has allowed me to do this.

Like the Marvin 3m Repair Guides or the rec.games.pinball newsgroup (try groups.google.com). If you are looking to buy a pinball machine, try the Mr. Pinball Classifieds. You can also have a look at most of the pinball machines manufactured in the past decade at the Internet Pinball Database

Or you can email me, I can set you up ;-)

And don't worry... if you want a game bad enough, and don't live close enough to go pick one up... most sellers of pinball games ship them these days.

Oh, and here is a list of my games:

Medieval Madness - Williams Funhouse - Williams Whitewater - Williams No Good Gofers - Williams Star Trek: The Next Generation World Cup Soccer 94 - Bally Hook - Data East

They are lots of fun :-)

-S