kirabug

Black Knight 2000, Williams, 1989.

Yes it’s named “2000” even though it was made in the late ’90s. That’s what the ’90s were like, folks. Everyone just waiting around for the next big round number to come up and see if we all make it to the other side.

Anyway… this is the sequel to Black Knight, only “modern”. The art looks like a fancy crest of sorts, with the Black Knight riding a black horse through a big circle in the center of the screen.

The horse is wearing chair armor on its neck and your typical renaissance faire blanket like drape in bright red with fancy blue triangles on it. The horse for some reason has a blonde main and tail, which, I mean, those are some interesting genetics right there.

The Black Knight is, of course, wearing black armor, but it’s highlighted in pink and blue at the edges — as is the armor on the horse. The knight is also wearing a red sash and a big bulky gold necklace of some sort. Oh and of course a red cape. The knight is wielding a lighting bolt, which is no easy trick when one is wearing metal armor.

The circle the knight and horse are jumping through is lined with lightning bolds around its rim, and oh hey coincidentally that same circle and ring of lightning bolts is on the playfield (not shown) where it does fancy things during the game.

To the left is a set of towers that look like they are actually chromed-up truck pistons that have been stretched a bit. To the right is a castle that resembles an angry robot only with sharp spikes around all the edges of the parapets.

Everything else is a mixture of red shapes with chrome borders. Because the future is about shiny spiky things, the color red, and chrome.

October 22, 2023September 9, 2023

Oktoberfest

Pinball

Oktoberfest, American Pinball, 2019.

This is one of the most modern machines, and as such it has a big monitor in the middle where video features display.

Above the screen one can see roller coaster tracks and a ferris wheel, balloons, notes of music, and other amusements. We also see the end of a beer barrel with Oktoberfest Pinball on Tap written across it. Between that and the screen we see orange peaked roofs on what appear to be white buildings, possibly German castles.

To the left, a heavyset man wearing a green checked shirt and lederhosen is holding a beer stein that probably contains a two liter of beer. He’s got a long thick white beard and an unnaturally large grin. He’s also wearing a green hat we can assume is in the same style as the lederhosen.

To the right, a woman in a green and pink dress with green corset, long blonde braided hair, and stockings that come up to her knees is holding a roll of tickets of the raffle or amusement park ride variety. Let’s just call her a beer maid, because that’s the look they’re going for.

All told it’s a tasteful illustration design, playing heavily on German tropes (if not outright stereotypes) but without making the beer maid overly busty or making the old man overly leering.

October 21, 2023September 2, 2023

Transporter: The Rescue

Pinball

Transporter: The Rescue, Bally, 1989.

If you were thinking Jason Statham, no. Very no.

This is another pin based on a science fiction theme, but what exactly that theme is I’m not sure. From left to right, we have:

A woman in a space suit trapped in a reddish-yellow cone (possibly a pyramid). There’s a tentacle from a monster wrapped around the cone possessively.
A monster. Quinti-laterally symmetrical? Five eyes, five mouths, a big scary opening at the top of its head that could be some other kind of mouth, tentacles, some kind of crab claws or maybe the end of one of the tentacles menacing the camera. The monster is the same orange-red as the cone with the woman in it.
A man in a space suit coming in from offstage right, carrying a gun. The patch on his shoulder says UN Orion and has a bunch of patches on it indicating lots of service. The gun looks suspiciously like a Colt revolver, which, my dude, won’t fire if there’s no oxygen and you are wearing a space suit.
The presumed-backpack the man is wearing has the Jackpot lights built into it.

The background has what is either a green dome or a very large green moon rising on what is otherwise a barren plane. Something ominous is glowing in the leftmost corner.

Yeah, absolutely no Jason Statham.

October 20, 2023October 28, 2023

Genesis

Pinball

Genesis, Gottleib, 1986.

One would think looking at this backglass that it was based on a science fiction movie, and it sort-of is, but nothing you’ve probably heard of. According to the Internet Pinball Database (IPD) entry for Genesis, designer John Gottleib based the concept on a 1927 German film called Metropolis.

Anyway, the backglass is eye-catching in how different it is from most designs of its era. It’s a photo of three people, an old man dressed like a mad scientist, a younger woman with big 80s hair and lots of fishnets, and a younger man possibly with dwarfism dressed in a black leather vest but no shirt.

Behind them one can see a wall of devices, all painted the same matte grey, a weird looking machine to the left and a screen of some sort to the right. Definitely hearkens back to the age of b-movie science fiction, even if the exact plot is known only to the designer.

October 19, 2023October 28, 2023

Spider-Man

Pinball

Spider-Man, Stern, 2007.

Spider-man as a movie has been rebooted so many times even Marvel can’t keep track of the retcons. I’m pretty sure this one is referring to the Tobey Maguire one from 2002, and possible some of its sequels.

Spider-man in his trademark blue and red suite is dead center of this backglass, mid-swing between two buildings that are both out of view. Behind him a bunch of other characters from the movie(s) — Green Goblin, Sandman, Venom, Doc Oc, and a few I don’t recognize, are all in a darker palette. There are some explosions behind them, and behind the explosions is a cityscape.

Less boring than the Iron Man backglass, for sure, but Hollywood just isn’t great at this whole “interesting image” thing.