What if during the 90s they themed pinball machines like they do now?

It would have probably been a whole different arcade vibe back then.

Sure TZ and CFTBL would have probably existed, but the entire line of licensed themes made to coincide with the release of movies like like TAF and T-2 certainly wouldn't have.

And all the unlicensed themes like MM, AFM, Fish Tales, Getaway..etc? Sorry, you are lucky to get one or two of those.

And what about GNR, a band less than ten years old? No way!

Yes it would have been a whole different vibe. What do you think pinball would have been like in the 90s if most of the themes were licensed and tuned to aging baby boomers born shortly after WWII trying to relive their youth?

#2 5 years ago

SBS

o-din

Pinside+ Addict

This certainly would have been a popular music pin at the time.
download (resized).jpg

#3 5 years ago

SBS

o-din

Pinside+ Addict

And how The Bridge on the River Kwai would have killed it on location in the early 90s.

1fdf2199-c58c-479d-8722-f814934b5b2b (resized).jpg

#4 5 years ago

DRD

DennisDodel

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St Louis, MO

12y 90,050 2,643

OP
Quoted from o-din:
And how The Bridge on the River Kwai would have killed it on location in the early 90s.

Just watched it on TCM the other night. Great movie.

#5 5 years ago

KAP

kevindrives

Pinside member

Farmington, MN

6y 44,150 124 2

We would have a Planet of the Apes too.
Ah, so much you could do with this theme!

planet-of-the-apes-1968-001-group-against-background-with-rocks (resized).jpg

#6 5 years ago

Darcy

Pinside member

Leduc, AB

11y 124K 6,360 17

Using your suggestion, there would be a Casablanca pin, Gone with The Wind, Abbot and Costello, Duke Ellington, and Glenn Miller Orchestra. Just to name a few.

#7 5 years ago

ALW

Roadmarks

Inactive member

Toledo, OH

5y 21,050 13

My dad was born in '45 & desperately trying to recapture his youth during the '90s. I can't think of a single theme that would have pulled him in.

However he may have let *me* play a MASH, Happy Days, Home Improvement, or Buddy Holly themed machine without telling me to quit wasting time.

#8 5 years ago

SBS

o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Quoted from DennisDodel:
Just watched it on TCM the other night. Great movie.

3 hours to build a bridge just to blow it up- epic!

#9 5 years ago

JEK

rosh

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Quoted from o-din:
And how The Bridge on the River Kwai would have killed it on location in the early 90s.

I think The Great Escape would have worked better as a pin, a lot more going on and you have a great international cast, so great variety of voice calls, Steve McQueen, James Garner, James Coburn, Richard Attenbourough, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasance, David McCallum, James Donald (also in Kwai -- 'madness, madness').

#10 5 years ago

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o-din

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Quoted from rosh:
I think The Great Escape would have worked better as a pin

They certainly should have done that one instead of TOTAN.

#11 5 years ago

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o-din

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Just think- instead of Bram Stokers Dracula, we would have had Christpher Lee as Dracula, or perhaps even Abel Salazar.
download (1) (resized).jpg

6a00d83451d04569e201901e86923f970b (resized).jpg

#12 5 years ago

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o-din

Pinside+ Addict

It just occurred to me Addams Family would have been themed after the original TV series and not the movie and they probably would have sold 40,000 of them instead of just 20,000.

the-addams-family-533x400 (resized).jpg

#13 5 years ago

SMK

TheLaw

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Ann Arbor, MI

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Quoted from o-din:
It just occurred to me Addams Family would have been themed after the original TV series and not the movie and they probably would have sold 40,000 of them instead of just 20,000.

We're apparently going to see how many Munsters sell these days.

#14 5 years ago

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o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Quoted from TheLaw:
We're apparently going to see how many Munsters sell these days.

If pinball was like it should have been in the 90s, both Munsters and Batman would have been done then instead of AFM or MM.

#15 5 years ago

SMK

TheLaw

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Ann Arbor, MI

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Quoted from o-din:
If pinball was like it should have been in the 90s,..

No home market then.

#16 5 years ago

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o-din

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Quoted from TheLaw:
No home market then.

Who cares! They still had a certain demographic to please!

Baby boomers had more cash than anyone in the 90s.

#17 5 years ago

SMK

TheLaw

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Ann Arbor, MI

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Quoted from o-din:
Who cares! They still had a certain demographic to please!

That makes no sense but of course you knewm that.

#18 5 years ago

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o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Instead of GNR, we would have also got those Elvis and Rolling Stones pins well ahead of schedule.

#19 5 years ago

EMC

Pinstein

Pinball Alterniverse

Ft Lupton, CO

10y 83,550 1,739 13 1

Stupid question, so what was the first movie themed or licensed pin?

#20 5 years ago

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o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Quoted from Pinstein:
Stupid question, so what was the first movie themed or licensed pin?

Wizard! by Bally to coincide with the release of the movie Tommy in 1975.

However there were many unlicensed ventures going way back- Bonanza, Wagon Train, etc..

#21 5 years ago

JIG

jwilson

Pinball Art Prints

Toronto, ON

9y 106K 5,051 6 7

The people buying games now were the ones putting quarters in then, so the themes of the 90s actually fit the same demographic.

#22 5 years ago

SBS

o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Quoted from jwilson:
The people buying games now were the ones putting quarters in then, so the themes of the 90s actually fit the same demographic.

Problem with that statement is there are no 90s themes to be bought now except the ones made back then. You can get just about every other decade going back to the 60s though, but no 90s.

#23 5 years ago

JAY

Phat_Jay

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7y 111K 2,309

A bridge too far pin...you play it for three hrs straight finishing modes, then it just shuts off right before multiball.

4947BAD1-A857-4DAE-89CD-C05DC6A0A799 (resized).jpeg

#24 5 years ago

ALF

trunchbull

Inactive member

Toronto, ON

8y 51,900 1,200

Collect all the angry men for a twelve-ball multiball!

#25 5 years ago

SBS

o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Quoted from Phat_Jay:
A bridge too far pin...you play it for three hrs straight finishing modes, then it just shuts off right before multiball.

What's cool about that is in the 90s I was in my 30s and unemployed most of the time (by choice), so I did have time for this.

#26 5 years ago

SBS

o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Quoted from trunchbull:
Collect all the angry men for a twelve-ball multiball!

That would have been cool next to the Doris Day pin sometime around 1995.

12_Angry_Men (resized).jpg

#27 5 years ago

INK

Inkochnito

Pinside member

Piershil

12y 91,650 3,167 12

OP
Quoted from o-din:
It just occurred to me Addams Family would have been themed after the original TV series and not the movie and they probably would have sold 40,000 of them instead of just 20,000.

That is the exact same picture I found on a plastic of Bally - Vector.
https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2723&picno=50392&zoom=1

image-2 (resized).jpg

#28 5 years ago

SBS

o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Quoted from Inkochnito:
That is the exact same picture I found on a plastic of Bally - Vector.
https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2723&picno=50392&zoom=1

Wow! So in the early 80s they were actually thinking ahead. Way cool!

#29 5 years ago

SBS

o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Instead of Back to The Future, 1990 would have given us George Pals' adaptation of HG Wells The Time Machine which would have been alright by me.
rod-taylor-time-machine (resized).jpeg

#30 5 years ago

DRD

DennisDodel

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St Louis, MO

12y 90,050 2,643

OP
Quoted from o-din:
Instead of Back to The Future, 1990 would have given us George Pals' adaptation of HG Wells The Time Machine which would have been alright by me.

I think you could still get away with this theme. But it would have to have the Time Machine with a spinning disc on the playfield. And Morlocks in the lower playfield of course.

#31 5 years ago

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o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Indiana Jones Pinball Adventure? Pfffttttt...

Poster - Treasure Island (1950)_02 (resized).jpg

#32 5 years ago

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o-din

Pinside+ Addict

There would have been no Baywatch game in 1995, instead it would have surely been Flipper or Sea Hunt.
568a651123df7cc187b95a548f47700c (resized).jpgf261c63e260fed5ba433f1a8da508525 (resized).jpg 4e1f6673e930e38efe405e29869e46e5 (resized).jpg

#33 5 years ago

Darcy

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Leduc, AB

11y 124K 6,360 17

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Quoted from o-din:
Flipper or Sea Hunt

Even "Lassie", woof woof.

#34 5 years ago

DRM

iceman44

Pinside+ Pro!

Quoted from TheLaw:
No home market then.

And a huge difference today

Stern, JJP, Spooky etc all say they have to sell licensed games that people will buy

The goal is not to sell less games. You re theme DI to a popular license and it sells twice as many at least

Maybe Deeproot will make a special $50k pin just for you Odiner

#35 5 years ago

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o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Quoted from iceman44:
Maybe Deeproot will make a special $50k pin just for you Odiner

This is a fun thread seeing what it would have been like if old farts longing for the past had fueled the pinball industry in the 90s like they do today.

But thanks for already putting the down payment on that one for me.

#36 5 years ago

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iceman44

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OP
Quoted from o-din:
This is a fun thread seeing what it would have been like if old farts longing for the past had fueled the pinball industry in the 90s like they do today.
But thanks for already putting the down payment on that one for me.

You got it.

What is a "fun pin" in your mind?

I'd say TAF, BM66, Mustang, Alice Cooper, Ac/dc, Willy Wonka, Woz, Beatles etc.

#37 5 years ago

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o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Quoted from iceman44:
What is a "fun pin" in your mind?

Best one I got from the last few years is TNA.

I not only enjoy playing it, but it doesn't remind me I'm an old fart every time I look at it.

#38 5 years ago

DRM

iceman44

Pinside+ Pro!

OP
Quoted from o-din:
Best one I got from the last few years is TNA.
I not only enjoy playing it, but it doesn't remind me I'm an old fart every time I look at it.

Well you are an old fart, just accept it

How about DI, def not an old fart game.

#39 5 years ago

DRM

iceman44

Pinside+ Pro!

Quoted from iceman44:
You got it.
What is a "fun pin" in your mind?
I'd say TAF, BM66, Mustang, Alice Cooper, Ac/dc, Willy Wonka, Woz, Beatles etc.

What would have been less "old fartish" in the 90's but still old.

#40 5 years ago

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o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Quoted from iceman44:
Well you are an old fart, just accept it

How about DI, def not an old fart game.

I might be an old fart but definitely young at heart.

DI was a good shooting game, but not the kind of cutting edge theme I'm looking for.

Quoted from iceman44:
What would have been less "old fartish" in the 90's but still old.

Iron Maiden

#41 5 years ago

DRM

iceman44

Pinside+ Pro!

I'm loving Munsters coming out as an old fart but would also like to see a James Bond, Cool Hand Luke and Dirty Dozen pin too!

#42 5 years ago

MAF

Kiwipinhead

Pinside member

12y 78,800 2,213

90's missed this one

mad max (resized).jpg

#43 5 years ago

MAF

Kiwipinhead

Pinside member

12y 78,800 2,213

this also.

childs play (resized).jpg

#44 5 years ago

SBS

o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Quoted from iceman44:
would also like to see a James Bond, Cool Hand Luke and Dirty Dozen pin too!

You're gonna have to go back to the 90s for those and they can replace Shadow, Johnny Pneumatic, and Barb Wire.

#45 5 years ago

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iceman44

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OP
Quoted from o-din:
I might be an old fart but definitely young at heart.

You and me both.

That's why we still like to play with toys!

#46 5 years ago

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o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Quoted from iceman44:
That's why we still like to play with toys!

And younger women!

#47 5 years ago

RWH

Pinside member

Norwood, OH

13y 132K 9,924 2 10

Quest for Fire

#48 5 years ago

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o-din

Pinside+ Addict

Quoted from RWH:
Quest for Fire

Since there would be almost no original themes in the 90s, that could have easily replaced Cirqus Voltaire and we never would have missed it.

#49 5 years ago

LEV

CrazyLevi

Crazy Levi's Pinball

New York, NY

10y 148K 33,527

Odin, you did this exact same thread a couple years ago, and my answer was the same then:

The 90s approach to licensing was actually pretty similar. Plenty of OLD ass nostalgia stuff (creature, TZ, Addams family, Star Wars, doctor who, Dirty Harry, bugs bunny, popeye) as well as “current” movies and other pop culture stuff.

It’s really not that much different from the current model employed by Stern and JJP. The only
Difference was the sprinkling of cool, unlicensed themes.

I’d like to see more of that too, maybe the success of TNA will help spur more of that.

#50 5 years ago

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o-din

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