Quicksilver

A photo of the Quicksilver backglass as described in the post.

Quicksilver, Stern, 1980.

Ah yes, here we go back to the “was the artist on coke?” era.

A woman with an extremely extended (squid-like) cranium, dressed in an orange jumpsuit that matches her orange skin tone, runs through a very large pile of animated-looking green blobs. Some basketball-sized pinballs appear to be caught in the blobs. The blobs appear to be trying to capture the woman.

Behind them all, the game title displays in illustration-style neon lighting.

The drugs must have been really good back then.

Night Moves

Photo of the Night Moves playfield since it doesn't have backglass

Night Moves, International, 1989. This damn thing is a cocktail table pin and is designed to play sitting down but is uncomfortable no matter how you try to play it. It’s a back-killer. And it has no backglass.

A little Art Deco? But with zebra stripes? And TBH this is the first time I’ve really looked at the illustrations because I’m usually worried about hitting the lit things.

Monster Bash

Photo of the Monster Bash backglass as described in the post

Monster Bash, Stern. The original Williams make was from 1998 but they decided to make more of them in 2018. The concept (conceit? Plot?) behind the game is that you activate each of the monsters and then they play musical instruments in a “monster bash”.

So we’ve got Frankenstein as the DJ, Bride of Frankenstein singing, Mummy on base guitar, Werewold on drums, Creature (presumably from the black lagoon) on saxophone and Dracula on guitar. Very loose drawing style. I like it.

 

Meteor

Photo of the Meteor backglass as described in the post

Meteor, 1979, Stern. A “hit drops, bash spinner” game, and one of the pinball machines I learned first. Probably not the inspiration for the movie Armageddon but you wouldn’t know it from the backGlass, where some shiny chrome has been painted over so that every word has a chrome outline. Admittedly the backglass does show a sizable meteor and its friends do appear to be punching holes in Earth’s surface in the background. No clue where the chrome missiles aimed at the meteor are coming from though.

Medieval Madness

Photo of the Medieval Madness backglass and topper  as described in the post

Medieval Madness, Williams, 1997.

This is one of my favorite games. Great sounds, great play, great toys.

An evil king holding a snake above his head in his right hand and a falcon perched on his left arm stands on the drawbridge of his castle.

Two trolls (each coming up to his knees, which, I mean, mini-trolls maybe?) stand beside him. One looks smug. The other is menacing the camera with a pike.

The castle is on fire and under siege.

To the left a wizard stands on a parapet. A woman hangs incredibly long hair out the window below him.

To the right a dragon is wrapped around the other parapet. A dragon hangs from his tail.

Someone is graffitiing “House of Payne” and “The King Is A Queen” on the right wall. A cannonball flies past the wall on the left.