If you can make it to the top field and knock out the clown’s teeth, you have achieved a weird sort of Nirvana. It’s a pinball machine that stands taller than it does long, and features ramps, pulleys and elevators that pull the ball up and up into higher and high paying fields. Its rarity only makes it more exotic.Ī legend on the machine (which takes a full dollar to play) explains to museum visitors that Bally created only two such machines back in 1994, one of which is perhaps currently in the hands of a wealthy German pinball collector. I, dear readers, have been lucky enough to play The Pinball Circus and I can say that it is perhaps the most innovative and exciting pinball machine I have encountered. Let’s hope you live in Las Vegas, because the greatest pinball machine of all time – Bally’s Pinball Circus – is perhaps the rarest pinball machine of all time, and isonly available to the public at the Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame Museum. And, wouldn’t you know it, it produced the best pinball machine of all the movie and TV tie-ins. The mid-1990s allowed for a horror satire that was not only a hit at theaters, but such a hit that it spawned its own pinball game. These days, The Addams Family would be ultra-dark, and there wouldn’t be a hint of irony. The 1990s allowed for a kind of tongue-in-cheek, poking-fun-at-ourselves quality from just about anything. It’s also weird to ponder the odd era that The Addams Family movie arrived during. The Addams Family often tops lists of the best pinball machines of all time, and it’s no wonder. The first time pinball went from being something dusty and clunky (but still fun) into something slick, complex and modern. This was the first time I recalled seeing a small video screen on a pinball machine, the first time I heard voice commands from recognizable actors. Dude and his Excellent Ray (1990)Īlthough I said that Funhouse was a watershed moment for the pinball boom of the 1990s, I still see Midway’s The Addams Family as the pinnacle. As such, I have delved through the rumpled card catalogue that is my memory, and come up with the following list of the ten best pinball machines of all time.ġ0. I’m no pinball expert, but I am a frothing enthusiast. ![]() Like all industries, the pinball world has experienced growth and retractions, booms and busts, possesses its own unique lingo, its own online database, and has all the while produced some of the most wonderful amusements ever to grace a noisy, noisy room. Pinball, the gloriously retroactive, deceptively uncomplicated cousin of the gaming world is perhaps the medium’s most fascinating arm. ![]() My more vivid and cherished video game memories come from playing upright cabinets, using joysticks, and, yes, celebrating the magic that is pinball. ![]() If it’s old, coin-operated, and can only be found in dubiously savory venues, then I’m all about it. A friend once told me that I am not a gamer, but I can be described as an “arcader.” And I certainly accept the moniker. My video game enthusiasm has not diminished in one capacity, however: Video arcades.
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