Kiss (Bally, 1978)

Popularity and ranking

This machine has been rated by 42 users and currently ranks #106 (not in Top 100)

Backbox & Videomode

None

This machine has no dot matrix display thus it has no videmode.

Noteworthy features

• None

Trivia

• The idea for a KISS-themed game was in January 1978. The president of the KISS licensing and merchandising firm invited the members of Bally corporation to see KISS in concert at the Chicago Stadium, with the thought in mind that Bally might be interested in theming a flipper game on the band.
• The Bally Corporation all agreed after seeing KISS in concert, that they were on their way towards a 'KISS' pinball game.
• It took over year and a half to put it all together. The Bally's Pinball Division marketing director called on the expertise of every department for the ultimate design production, performance and promotion of their newest celebrity-themed electronic flipper "KISS". There's no question that this machine marked a significant event in Bally's history. It was the first regulation sized soild state flipper game released since the announcement of the Bally's new Pinball Division.
• Like the production of any major Broadway show in a Hollywood movie, the public only sees the finished piece. The planning, thought, negotiations, timing, shipping and all the rest of the 'Behind Scenes" is a story all to itself.
• Every piece of artwork had to be approved by the KISS marketing division and by each member of KISS. Because the KISS makeup and costuming is letter-perfect each time they appear, they justifiably demanded the same perfection on "their" pinball game. This approval covered the length of hair on each member, the fullness of lips, the sizes of body muscles, down to one really interesting problem. The group's head are depicted on the two sides of the cabinet. Normally Bally cuts a paint stencil that's used to spray the art on one cabinet side, then they turn it over for the other side effecting a reverse impression of the other. However, Paul Stanley's makeup required a star painted over his right eye, so the reverse art wasn't accepted. Bally had to create a whole new set of stencils to put the star over the proper eye on each side of the cabinet.
• The KISS pinball machine was the first 4-player pinball. A "Strobe light effect" was used for the first time to display the letters K-I-S-S on the backplate realistically resembling the KISS logo used on stage.
• A special version of the game was produced for the German market, with rounded S’s in all artwork, due to concerns that it too closely resembled the Nazi “SS” security service.
• Despite the large number of KISS machines that were produced, it is one of the most sought after machines, due in large part to the intense marketability of the band initiated in the late 1990’s.