Oktoberfest

A photo of the Oktoberfest backglass as described in the post

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.

Transporter: The Rescue

The backglass to Transporter: The Rescue as described in the rest of the post

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.

Genesis

Genesis backglass as described in the post

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.

Spider-Man

Spider-Man backglass as described in the post.

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.

Ultraman Kaiju Rumble

Photo of the backglass for Ultraman Kaiju Rumble as described in the post

Ultraman Kaiju Rumble, by Spooky Pinball, 2021.

I know nothing about Ultraman except that the main character is Ultraman. He’s dead center of the backglass, shooting some kind of white beam at a Godzilla-like monster who is mostly off-camera left. Behind him to the left is another Godzilla-like monster.

Behind him to the right is a jet, a bug-like monster, a monster spouting yellow rays toward the center of the backglass, and the snout of a monster that could be a rhino if his horn wasn’t on backwards and he didn’t look like he was wearing a helmet.

In the bottom right corner some humans in orange jumpsuits and helmets comfort a strange looking fuzzy monster and menace everyone else with ray guns.

This probably makes sense if you have any idea who anyone is, but i do not.