Tag: Backglass

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Quicksilver

Pinball

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.

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Monster Bash

Pinball

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.

 

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Meteor

Pinball

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.

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Medieval Madness

Pinball

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.

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Mata Hari

Pinball

Photo of the Mata Hari backglass as described in the post.

Mata Hari, Bally, 1977. Your eye probably get s drawn to the woman in the jewel bikini handing a map to a man in a top hat and tails. Which, I mean, Mata Hari was a German spy in World War I, soooo….

Mine goes to the bend at the waist which is either anatomically accurate and I just don’t pay attention to half naked women’s waists, or has way more folds than a human should have.

And then there’s the sheer volume of snakes in the room. It’s concerning.

But the big thing is the expression on the tiger’s head. Y’all? I don’t think that tiger is dead. I think it’s stoned, and happy about it.