I am diving head first into this amazing hobby and would love to learn about the history of pinball as much as I can.
I understand there is a ton of literature but I find that the human anecdote is the best way to get information sometimes.
Can you give me your favorite or most random pinball trivia fact?
It can be as something as simple as the first machine with callouts or that a pin designer worked in an unrelated industry before taking the silver ball world by storm.
Thanks!
The first 3 Gottlieb System One pins ( Cleopatra, Sinbad, and Joker) came with a factory chime box as used in their EM pins. After that, the rest of the System One pins came with the suck ass sounds of "Beep" " Boop" sound cards. BUT, all System One pins are downward compatible for you to remove that sound card and install a chime box.
Biggest issue with this procedure is to find an original Gottlieb chime box for sale.
Kim Carter was FAR more responsible for the success of Big Bang Bar than I knew. I've talked to her for hours and hours (if you've ever called IPB you know how gregarious she is) and I never realized it.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/artifacts-of-gene-cunningham-illinois-pinball
you may have read : https://www.polygon.com/features/2017/3/21/14937540/history-of-big-bang-bar-pinball
As pinball evolved, each design built on the previous innovations. You might like:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinsiders-christmas-quiz-on-pinball-history
Quoted from Jamesays:The Black Knight was the 1st 2 level playfield.
And I believe Gottliebs "Haunted House" was the first 3 level pin.
When playing Bram Stokers Dracula, hit the "launch" button when Drac's eyes cross for an awesome 20 points
Hit the gun trigger when going into Shadow modes and upper playfield for quacking and Peking Duck references
You can pick your modes on Jack*Bot with either your left or right flipper (I don't remember which).
You can also sneak another Jackbot if you shoot the right eye then the left. When they kick out you can reshoot the right before having to shoot it into the Casino shot
I won't mention the ways to "cheat", presuming you already know that the BUY-IN button does that.
If you want to read a good book on the history and development of pinball pick up a copy of "All about Pinball" by Natkin and Steve Kirk. It out of print but copies are on eBay. There is one listed now for $33 shipped which is a good price for it.
Pinbot had a female speech call that occupied an entire chip in prototype. Never made it to production.
Quoted from gjm:Gottliebs 1971 "Roller Coaster" pinball machine was the first to have "Habitrails wire forms".
[quoted image]
Williams made playfield in the 50's that had a wireform habittrail.
https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=616&picno=591
Not the one I was thinking of but still looking!
Playfield (resized).jpgHere is the one I was thinking of!
https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2206&picno=2100
Compare the elevated wireform track on this game to the habitrails of modern solid-state games. In fact, Harry Williams himself reused the same upper playfield wireform design from this game for another game he designed, Stern's 1981 'Freefall'.
image-3 (resized).jpgWilliams Police Force was originally planned to be Batman in 1989. This was before Williams had properly secured the license from Warner Bros. Unfortunately for them, the deal fell through and Data East secured it instead which brought us Data Easts's Batman in 1991. The jail in Police Force was supposed to be the Batcave, and the police car was supposed to be the Batmobile.
Similarly, Data East's Hook pin was originally supposed to be Universal Studios Theme Park. But when the movie was released they decided to go a different direction. The Windcoaster ramp was going to be a roller coaster.
Quoted from gdonovan:Here is the one I was thinking of!
https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2206&picno=2100
Compare the elevated wireform track on this game to the habitrails of modern solid-state games. In fact, Harry Williams himself reused the same upper playfield wireform design from this game for another game he designed, Stern's 1981 'Freefall'.
[quoted image]
Great information, thanks for correcting my previous post 
How about: Roller Coaster was the first pin to have "two" wire forms on the playfield.
Quoted from gjm:Great information, thanks for correcting my previous post
How about: Roller Coaster was the first pin to have "two" wire forms on the playfield.
Just might be! Interesting design at any rate.
William's came up with some fairly interesting designs during the 50s, the man had some vision.
Quoted from Spitfiren8:Tina Fey voiced the princess in Medieval Madness
Say whattttt?
Quoted from friscopinball:Say whattttt?
Fellow Second City and 30 Rock alum Scott Adsit wrote a lot of the speech and voiced a few characters as well.
Steve Ritchie was designing the game "Under Siege" based on the battleship movie starring Steven Seagal. When Williams got the license for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Steve wanted to do that title! So the Battleship gun turrets turned into space cannons out of necessity.
Williams Firepower was the first game with lane change and the first solid state to feature multiball.
Quoted from DennisDodel:Chicago Coin Rapid Transit from 1935 with two habitrails.[quoted image]
This looks amazing.
Quoted from gjm:And I believe Gottliebs "Haunted House" was the first 3 level pin.
I believe it was Elektra
Quoted from collecticus:I believe it was Elektra
HH was first where ball moved level to level, Elektra does not.
Pinball really took off during the great depression. 5 balls for a penny was good cheap thrills. Also, pinball was racist AF during WWII.
https://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?mfgid=331&sortby=name&searchtype=advanced
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