Another Pat Lawlor machine that's sky high in the Pinside top 100 rankings and rightfully so. The most beloved family in history in the creative hands of one of the most gifted pinball designers of all time could have come nothing short of a classic. So much of a classic that this game went on to become the best selling pinball machine of all time with more than 21.000 games sold.

The game managed to capture the imagine of thousands of people and is evidence of the fact that the creative pinball talent in the early 90's was booming. One of the main reasons for this success, besides the popularity of the theme, is the wonderful adaptation of the movie this theme was based on. It illustrates the thing that Pat Lawlor does best: take a popular theme and make a great pinball game out of it.


A helpful thing.The game itself features a helpful 'thing' that will lock balls for you (literally by taking them of the playfield and putting them into a box) and make shots for you (a computer-controlled mini-flipper that 'learns' how to hit the 'swamp shot' - a first in history). The game also uses magnets during multiball and some of the modes, a feature named 'the power' that can cause some nasty surprises at times. But the best thing of this machine must be starting its multiball. This moment really gives you goosebumps when the machine is slowly 'sounding up' and starts the action while screaming 'SHOWTIME' at you.

Talking about goosebumps, another high point of the machine is reaching its 'wizard mode': Tour the Mansion. The reward for reaching this mode is to simply re-award almost everything and in the process of this re-awarding some loud sound effects are there to bring you in the right mood again. But to reach 'wizard mode', you will first have to visit 12 out of the 13 rooms of the mansion, after which room 13 (the question mark) will flash and the 'wizard mode' can be started. The 12 rooms all reward a game mode or another reward (mostly in the form of points).

An overview of the modes.

A minor drawback of the game is that during tournament play the game can become a bit repetitive because there is a sequence of shots that can be made over and over again which allows you to skip all of the 12 modes and makes you reach the 'wizard mode' rather easily. But when played recreationally this game offers a lot of challenge and fun and should be able to keep you entertained for many hours to come.