Backglass – Page 4 – kirabug's idea files

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.

October 17, 2023October 28, 2023

Chicago Cubs Triple Play

Pinball

Chicago Cubs Triple Play by Premier, 1985.

The bottom third of the backglass is an illustration of Wrigley Field’s outside gates, with their famous red sign, and lots of people heading toward the box offices.

The top two thirds of the backglass are two drawings of pictures. Illustrations of photos are always cool, right? On the left, the view from up in the nosebleed seats of the grounds, with home plate closest to the camera. On the right, a zoomed in view of the famous and old scoreboard in Wrigley field.

Across the top is the name Chicago Cubs (where the word “Cubs” is embedded in the o of Chicago, like their logo at the time) and the words “triple play” in scare quotes. As a baseball fan, I do fear the triple play when my team is up, but I don’t think I fear it enough to put it in scare quote.

October 16, 2023October 28, 2023

Slick Chick

Pinball

Slick Chick, 1963, another goddamned Gottleib.

This backglass hearkens back to a simpler era, one where printing could only really cover about six colors. One where men sang in barbershop quartets while women wore bunny suits that actually covered their hips. Since this machine is a single player, the score reels are in the center. A stage fills the foreground and behind the stage, or I guess in front of it, four men sing in a barbershop quartet surrounded by tables where people are sitting and potentially eating. Think of any 1940s era musical where someone is singing in a night club.

On the left, a blonde wears a pink sleeveless one piece with deep cleavage that ends in a fur-lined skirt. She also wears a pink hat with bunny ears, and pink heels.

On the right, a woman sitting on a bar stool (on the stage) is wearing a blue sleeveless one piece with almost no cleavage. Hers also ends in a fur-lined skirt. She wears blue heels and blue bunny ears.

The pink bunny girl is carrying a very old camera. The blue bunny girl is holding nothing. Both seem oblivious to the quartet, who are singing in front of the stage instead of on it. I guess they didn’t want to hit their head on the score reels.

October 15, 2023August 21, 2023

Xenon

Pinball

Xenon, Bally, 1980.

For as boring as the 2010s backglasses are, I live for the 80s whackadoo shit.

Dead center we see the torso and head of a giant female robot. Her eyeballs are hearts. Her neck collar has a very large X shining in the center of her throat. Metal bars appear to be running from the camera location to the collar.

The woman standing in front of the giant robot, almost at the position of the camera, faces away from us. She’s wearing a green sci-fi outfit. Based on how perspective works she’s about 1/10 the height of the giant robot.

Pipes encircle the robot as if she’s at the end of a Jeffries tube. One would be excused for missing the two women that appear to be flying/floating toward the robot since they blend in with the pipes.

In each corner a skeleton with a robot head (or conversely a robot with a skeleton body) is slumped against the corner or staring at the events.

October 14, 2023August 21, 2023

Wrestlemania

Pinball

So I guess John Cena didn’t get his start in acting, then?

Wrestlemania, 2015, Stern Pinball.

The 2010s really had a thing for branded machines and boring backglass. John Cena stands front and center without a shirt. A bunch of other wrestlers, shirtless, though at least one has a hat, stand behind him in various poses.