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PINBALL MACHINES
Humpty Dumpty (1947)
Released in October of 1947 by Gottlieb, Humpty Dumpty is the oldest machine in the collection and perhaps, one of the most significant to the history of pinball.
Humpty Dumpty was the first ever pinball machine to feature ''flippers''.
Designed by Harry Mabs, these player actuated bats revolutionised pinball and made it the game we know it as today.
One of the oddities of this game is its flipper layout, rather than the typical pair of flippers at the bottom-centre of the playfield, Humpty Dumpty features 3 pairs of backwards flippers placed up the entire length of the playfield.
This rare machine is the only one publicly available to play in the UK and one of the very few in the world.
Heat Wave (1964)
Released in July of 1964 by Williams Electronic, Heat Wave is the earliest in our trio of 1960's machines. Themed around a hot summers day at the beach, this machine features an animated back glass with a thermometer display which will rise in temperature as you hit the 'advance' bumpers on the playfield. As the heat rises, the games drop target will increase in score value until you 'blow your top'.
This machine can be seen in the the 1982 horror thriller 'The Thing' directed by John Carpenter.
Central Park (1966)
Released in April of 1966 by Gottlieb, Central Park is themed around the famous urban park in Manhattan, New York City. This machine features Gottlieb's iconic 'wedge head' style backbox. The machines animated back glass houses a monkey that will strike a bell upon each 100 points scored. This machine had an alternative version named 'Hurdy Gurdy' that was near identical in terms of gameplay except it had different artwork and granted additional balls rather than free games. Pinball machines were often split into these two types (referred to as 'add-a-ball' and 'replay' respectively) due to gambling prohibition.
(Learn more about pinball and its relationship to gambling in our 'History of Pinball' page - Coming Soon!)
Apollo (1967)
Released in June of 1967 by Williams, Apollo along with its add-a-ball counterpart 'Blast Off' is themed around a space rocket launch. This theme is well incorporated into machines gameplay, with a line of rollover targets counting down from 10. Once you get the countdown all the way to 1, the target at the very top of the playfield will light, at which point hitting it will significantly increase the value of a pair of targets on the playfield. This machine also had an 'add-a-ball' variant that was named 'Blast Off'.
This is also the first machine in our collection to have an automatic ball lift.
This machine was made to commemorate the beginning of the Apollo Space Program launches.
Triple Strike (1975)
Released in August of 1975 by Williams, Triple Strike is the first of our 1970's machines. This bowling themed machine is adorned with 10 rollover targets in the classic bowling pin formation. When a player manages to roll over all ten targets, one of the three 'Strike' lights will illuminate, which will award 10,000 points and reset once the ball drains. Activating the 'Hold Bonus' light will allow to keep your strike bonus and any progress made towards hitting all 10 rollover targets.
Triple Strike was the first ever machine owner Rye ever bought. They sold their original many years ago but by a stroke of luck, managed to acquire another one which now lives in the arcade for everyone to enjoy.
Captain Fantastic (1976)
Released in June of 1976 by Bally, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (affectionately shortened to just 'Captain') is something of a Blast from the Past mascot. Themed around the legendary musical artist Elton John, Captain Fantastic is the first of our machines that allow for 4 person multi-player games. Captain is the last electro-mechanical machine in our line up and arguably represents the pinnacle of EM pinball design with its varied and engaging gameplay and utterly stunning and detailed artwork.
The Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy machine is named after the Elton John album of the same name, however the artwork actually depicts a scene from the 1975 film adaptation of The Who's 1969 rock opera album 'Tommy' in which Elton John's character faces off against the films titular character in a pinball competition.
Gorgar (1979)
Released in December of 1979 by Williams, Gorgar is the first 'solid-state' pinball machine in our line up. This machine is themed around a monstrous creature of the same which the player must fight by achieving certain playfield objectives. Gorgar will speak to the player by mixing and matching its seven available words to create phrases.
Gorgar was the first ever commercially released ''talking'' pinball machine which was a large aspect of its marketing. The speech feature was an optional extra, however it is uncommon to find them without it as it was incredibly popular.
Blackout (1980)
Released in June of 1980 by Williams, Blackout is a solid-state machine themed around being lost in space. The game features an engaging challenge as players must knock down three different sets of targets which will light one of three respective 'conditions': Condition Green, Red and Yellow. Once all three conditions are lit, the player can aim for a kicker hole which will activate the 'Blackout Sequence', a light show in which the entire machine will go dark for brief moments and score massive amounts of points.
Blackout is the first Williams machine to use computer controlled general illumination, which it used to achieve the Blackout Sequence.
Black Knight (1980)
Released in November of 1980, Black Knight is the most recent machine in our collection. This revolutionary machine can be credited with many firsts such as being the first machine to have 'magna-save', a feature in which a player with quick reflexes can press a button to activate electro-magnets underneath the playfield to catch the ball before it enters an out-lane, potentially saving the ball from draining. Black Knight is also the first electronic pinball machine to feature a multi-tiered playfield.
The actor that provided the voices for the commentator in Mortal Kombat designed and provided the voice lines for this machine.
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