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This massive baseball “pitch and bat” game is considered one of the best baseball games of its era. One or two players could play this behemoth at once, with each player alternating for three innings of play for a nickel or dime. The pitcher may randomly press one of three pitch buttons to pick a weak-to-strong pitch to the batter. The open play field allows one to try and score a home run in one of three bleachers. If you can achieve getting a homer in all three bleachers during your three outs, 30 extra runs are awarded. Then, of course, the ultimate tag of the ball would land the ball in the super home run hole, a rare achievement. This would also award 30 extra runs. Another unique feature of United baseball machines is the scoring of three singles if the ball drops in front of the ramps. These games are also notorious for having a slew of “out” holes. Batter up!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 (see also The Twilight Zone and Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure), 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 (both based on the original series). Launch options When a new ball is launched into the plunger, the player is given one of five launch awards, which is selected when the ball is fired. Unless otherwise noted, the ball is launched through the spiral ramp and into the lock hole (above the pop bumpers). Another ball is popped from the left scoop and onto the left inlanes. Start Mission: Starts lit mission. Flipper Skill Shot: The player has to shoot the ball up the right ramp (the Beta Quadrant) for a random award. Launch Probe: The ball will be loaded into one of the two cannons, located on top of the slings. Shoot the lit target for a random award. If the player misses, Data will say, “The probe has discovered nothing, sir”. Light Lock / Light Holodeck: Lights the ball lock, and the ball gets locked for multiball. When this option is selected twice, “Light Lock” changes to “Light Holodeck”. Warp Factor: Starts the ball at Warp Factor 4. After the player reaches Warp 9, (depending on the ROM version), the award changes to Warp 9.1, up to 9.9 (the player has only a limited amount of time to make either the left circle or Delta ramp for each point), then changes to “Warp Factor 2″. The ball is sent to the pop bumpers. Scoring and Game Modes There are several ways to score points outside of the missions as well as unlocking certain game modes. The following modes are available: Explosive Millions – Shooting the Alpha Quadrant or Beta Quadrant ramps unlocks Explosive Millions. Shooting the same or opposite ramp awards 5 million points, followed by 10 million for another shot, which cumuliates by 10 million every shot. The player has ten seconds to hit the ramp to score or the mode ends. Bonus Multipliers – Hitting all three rollover lanes above the bumpers will increase the bonus multiplier for that ball. The first completion raises it to 2X, and subsequent steps raise it 2X at a time to a maximum of 10X. When the 8X is achieved, the Extra Ball light is lit in the “Start Mission” pocket. When the multiplier is maxed, completing the rollovers again awards 10 million, with the value increasing by 10 million every time afterward Holodeck – The player has two choices. Score 25 million points, or play the “video mode” shuttle cavern. If the player selects the video mode, the player has to go through the caverns in a shuttle, picking up 10 million point cards while avoiding mines and cavern walls. There is an extra ball card somewhere in the caverns, as well as artifact (see below). Reaching the Extra Ball is achieved by alternating Left, Left, Right, Right turns until cavern 7. Depending on how many Extra Balls have already been earned and the games Extra Ball probability configuration it may end up either an Extra Ball or a 10 million point card. Once an Extra Ball has been earned in the Holodeck all subsequent Holodeck runs will not award any Extra Balls, regardless of the path chosen. Collecting the artifact, clearing all caverns, or crashing into a mine or wall immediately ends the video mode scoring the points collected in the mode. A maximum score of 159 million points is possible for a flawless run. At the start of the Holodeck mode, pressing a flipper button along with pulling the launch trigger starts a “Riker’s Poker Night” video mode. Kickback – Shooting the three left yellow targets lights Kickback, which saves the ball from draining from the left outlane. If the game is in tournament mode this must initially be earned. Otherwise the game starts out with the Kickback lit. The Kickback can be recharged unlimited times by hitting the appropriate targets after it had been depleted. Shuttle Ramp – Each shot at the Beta Quadrant Ramp launches a shuttle which a certain number of launched shuttles can reward a player. Rewards could be Light Holodeck, Command Decision, or Extra Balls. Between the ramps are two small targets when hit, adds two times the shuttle to the counter.Here’s a 1977 Stern ‘Pinball’. This was Stern’s first solid state machine and marked the beginning of a long and interesting history for the company. Designed by Mike Kubin, it’s a fast game that has some wicked out-lanes and very quick ball times. There are no mini-posts above the out-lane guides which make controlling the ball near the out-lanes very difficult. Stingray, the game made by Stern following ‘Pinball’ also lacked these posts, but games made thereafter had the posts which dramatically improve the player’s ability to control the ball and avoid the out-lane. This game has a basic rule-set. Knock down the 5 drop targets twice in one ball to score the special. The saucer on the right side of the playfield awards a somewhat random award and the spinner shot on the left is a very satisfying shot to hit.Gottlieb Subway arrived in October ’66. It was designed by the classic team of Ed Krynski and art by Gordon Morison. This add-a-ball version of the game closely resembled the replay version by the name of Crosstown. This wedgehead Gottlieb has an animated backglass. Every time 100 points are scored, the door of the subway opens, revealing passengers jammed together in a comical pose. The center target is where all the action is in the game. If you happened to match the two columns horizontally by advancing the columns by hitting various spots on the game and hit the center target, the award indicated would be given. Otherwise 10 points were awarded. This game was a tough game to play, as the opening between the flippers was rather large and a hit to the center target would regularly cost you a lost ball.Move a paddle back and forth at the bottom of the screen to rebound a ball back into a brick wall, knocking bricks out one by one. There are three separate games: double — same as Breakout, knock down bricks and when they are all gone a new wall forms cavity — two other balls are inside the wall, when they have an escape route you can hit them as well progressive — as the wall is destroyed, new bricks are added and the entire wall shifts down toward your paddle. The sound effects are just simple beeps. This video game is a typical late ’70s machine which has been reproduced in many variations as well as downloaded apps on smartphones today. No complicated rules here, which is why it was so popular in its glory days. You control the horizontal paddle at the bottom of the playfield and, through the use of the spin controller, try to prevent losing the “ball” below the paddle. By aiming at the bricks, you try to hit all of them and then “break through” to the next layer of bricks. This accomplishment is rewarded with a period of high scoring and ricocheting video bounces of the “ball” until it escapes the brick layer and comes into your paddle again. These brick layers then start to drop toward your paddle. By the way, the TV is black and white!The player controls Mario throughout the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario’s abilities can be changed by picking up certain items; for example, Mario is able to shoot fireballs if he picks up a Fire Flower. The player takes on the role of the main protagonist of the series, Mario. Mario’s slightly younger brother, Luigi, is only playable by the second player in the game’s multiplayer mode, and assumes the same plot role as Mario. The objective is to race through the Mushroom Kingdom, survive the main antagonist Bowser?s forces and save Princess Toadstool. The player moves from the left side of the screen to the right side in order to reach the flag pole at the end of each level. A prevalent rumor that it is possible to jump over the flag pole was later confirmed by GameTrailers. The game world has coins scattered around it for Mario to collect, and special bricks marked with a question mark (“?”), which when hit from below by Mario, may reveal more coins or a special item. Other “secret” (often invisible) bricks may contain more coins or rare items. If the player gains a red and yellow Super Mushroom, Mario grows to double his size and can take one extra hit from most enemies and obstacles, in addition to being able to break bricks above him. Players are given a certain number of lives (and may gain additional lives by picking up green and orange ‘1-Up’ mushrooms, collecting 100 coins, or defeating several enemies in a row with a Koopa shell), which are lost when Mario takes too much damage, falls in a pit, or runs out of time; the game ends when all lives are lost. Mario’s primary attack is jumping on top of enemies, though many enemies have differing responses to this. For example, a Goomba will flatten and be defeated, while a Koopa Troopa will temporarily retract into its shell, allowing Mario to use it as a projectile. These shells may be deflected off a wall to destroy other enemies, though they can also bounce back against Mario, which will hurt or kill him. An alternate way to damage enemies is with the Fire Flower, an item which, when picked up, changes the color of Mario’s outfit (or only increases his size if a red and yellow mushroom had not been used previously) and allows him to shoot fireballs. A less common item is the Starman, which often appears from concealed or otherwise invisible blocks. This makes Mario temporarily invincible to most hazards and capable of defeating enemies on contact. The game consists of eight worlds with four sub-levels called “stages” in each world. The final stage of each world takes place in a castle where Bowser or one of his decoys are fought. The game also includes some stages taking place underwater, which contain different enemies. In addition, there are bonuses and secret areas in the game. Most secret areas contain more coins for Mario to collect, but others may contain “warp pipes” which allow Mario to advance to later worlds in the game, skipping over earlier ones.This pinball had a run of 1750 units. Designed by Ed Krynski with artwork by Art Stenholm, this 2 player four flipper game has no specials. The object of the game is to score a lot of points by advancing the yellow and red multipliers up to 100x where up to 500 points could be hit. Hitting the 100x level resets the hit column back to 1x. Extra balls are awarded if the roto spin target is hit when the star is in position. The use of the four flippers in the game makes one feels that the machine has two playfields in one. The new design pop bumpers, and auto ball lift are in early use here as well as the ball count meter. A challenging game that’s hard to beat!!!The table is the first Williams WPC machine designed to feature a dot-matrix display. But due to the long design phase, Gilligan’s Island was the first manufactured with a DMD. Terminator 2: Judgment Day was the first game to feature an autoplunger (replacing the traditional plunger), as well as a ball-firing cannon (dubbed, “Gun Grip Ball Launcher”). Finally, T2 was the first game to feature a video mode, a mini video game featured on the DMD. Arnold Schwarzenegger provided voices for the game. Some playfield design elements were based on Ritchie’s 1980 classic, Firepower. T-1000 was not included in the artwork of the table, with the exception of a small image of actor Robert Patrick because of pre-release secrecy of the movie. The character was only included in the display animation because when the DMD programming was finalizing the liquid metal character was already public knowledge.
- Release date: July 1991
- System: Williams WPC (Dot Matrix)
- Design: Steve Ritchie
- Programming: Dwight Sullivan
- Artwork: Doug Watson
- Mechanics: Carl Biagi
- Music: Chris Granner
- Sound: Chris Granner
- Production run: 15,202
•27” HD LCD Display featuring full color custom animation, movie clips, scoring, attract mode, back glass artwork and more.. •Standard stainless steel spring-loaded metal lockdown bar and side armor •RGB-LED Playfield Lighting •Super-White LED GI Lighting •Full color digitally printed cabinet and back box artwork •7 Speaker 2.1 Digital Audio system. •Each game will have a number affixed to the game apron to be seen under the playfield glass… •Premium Clear Coated Playfield
