Ever since I was a young boy I played the silver ball. And needless to say I was very excited when I found out they were making a movie rendition of the Who's classic rock opera Tommy. I was even more excited that Elton John (pinball wizard) would be squaring off against Roger Daltry (Tommy) during Pinball Wizard to determine who would be "The Bally Table King"

Much to my surprise when that scene came, these weren't Ballys at all, but two ten year old classic Gottlieb wedge heads. Tommy was playing Kings and Queens and Elton a modified Buckaroo.

Now most of us know the makers of this movie partnered with Bally to make the highly successful first licensed game Wizard! that sold over 10.000 units and the even more successful sequel Captain Fantastic, but it has never been explained to me why Ken Russell and the Who went with Gottliebs during that pivotal scene.

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Breakshot's cool man. I've been thinking about bringing in another.

What we really need is MrBally to give us the lowdown on what happened with this movie.

Sure, but "Bally Table King" was penned in 1968 and is included in the lyrics of both versions of Pinball Wizard.

I am yet to hear any version that says "Gottlieb Table King" or even Williams or Chicago Coin Table King.

Thank you! Now I can sleep tonite!

When that movie came out they modified the Cinedome theatre in Orange, which at the time was the premier place to go see a movie with it's curved seating arrangement, by adding four huge speakers, and when we pulled up and the last show was letting out, you could hear the music blasting all the way to the street. Quite an experience. They left that sound system in there, and when Song Remains the Same came out, we saw that there too.

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So far Monkey Bash is leading the poll with two votes.

I get this feeling we might be seeing MBR before you know it!

I've been pondering this for a while.

In today's world, would you rather take a chance infringing on the Bally trademark or the Gottlieb trademark, and thus go up against the license holders of each.

Might be better off going with Chicago Coin.

I forgot to mention, you can vote for two.