At a certain point in the history of pinball, the most creative designers looked for ways to bring elements of a pinball theme to life in the physical pinball hardware itself - this is Mechanical Theme Integration (MTI).

A good example of MTI is the spinning house in WOZ which spins like in the movie while incorporating the goal of continuing to shoot the pinball around the house in a tornado-like fashion. Going even further, the house landing on the wicked witch of the East is further put into hardware by having her legs actually pop out right before our eyes. MM and AFM are also good examples from the 90's.

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Now there are many different ways that a theme can come to life in a pinball machine, for example, it can be done in very simplified ways (object on spring) or on digital displays. But sadly, in recent years it seems like there is less attention given for actual mechanical theme integration.

However, some of us still yearn for more mechanical theme integration in our new games and are waiting to see what the future will bring.

Question 1: What do you think are the best examples of mechanical theme integration in pinball? (please attach a picture to your post if you can)

Question 2: When it comes to mechanical theme integration, do you think the best days are behind us or are you optimistic about the future?

Mechanical theme integration in Medieval Madness: Mechanical drawbridge over moat, mechanical gate, cannon shot bashing wall on left and finishing off with exploding castle.

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Attack from Mars:

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Monster Bash

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Twilight Zone gumball machine

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The Simpsons Pinball Party: you enter the house through garage door and then lock balls on couch (and more!)

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Funhouse (hah I was just posting)

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World Cup Soccer

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I'll agree that mechanical theme integration is better if there is direct interaction with the ball so I'll give MM the nod here too. The interaction in WOZ is not as direct but there was thought put into it going around the house like a tornado. But for sure, smashing the castle with cannonballs is much more direct for sure.

Maybe the future will have less moving parts and I know it's easier for operators but I'm looking at it from my perspective, from the pinball collector and hobbiest perspective, and I like more mechanical innovation and not less. There is no argument that removing all moving parts from a machine will make it more reliable, I'm just saying what the hell fun is that? For those of us (not all of us) that like mechanical innovation, this is a loss not a gain.

I’m thankful for all the posts because I have not yet played all these games so keep them coming!

FYI, I was listening to Episode 81 of Head to Head Pinball and this topic was being discussed as well - recommend listening! I know I'm not the only one noticing the lack of innovation in some recent titles.

Why I created this thread...

My point was to first clarify what "mechanical theme integration" is since I'm finding that people often use "theme integration" in the most general sense which leads to discussions that go around in circles. For example, Munsters has a very high level of theme integration yet has very little if any mechanical theme integration.

Second, although I hear some grumblings from some, I fear that many collectors don't give a sh*t about or don't even know the difference (perhaps for lack of exposure to other titles). Certainly Stern is getting the message that less is more is fine with most collectors so why should they even try to innovate more. So if you feel there is something lacking, then why not say something about it? If you don't care and are fine without any novel hardware in all your new titles, then share that here as well. I'm not saying one is better than the other, I'm just saying I miss it and I'm wondering if others miss it too.

Third, what is your opinion on whether this trend will continue or will we see some real hardware love given to future titles. In the nineties, almost every title's design started with a search for really novel and compelling hardware that would complement the theme of the game. Today almost nothing of the sort. At the very least it's something interesting to discuss isn't it? Will Deeproot change this? Will JJP finally hit a home run again when the theme and game design planets finally align? Will today's games from Stern be sought after by collectors 10 years from now because of their cool and unique innovation?

I have not played The Munsters yet, what are you thoughts on Mechanical Theme Integration on this title? Should a lower playfield count for something or not really?

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Yes, let's give a point to Aerosmith for the Jack in the box: +1
As well another +1 for balls that are loaded into the box by being thrown in the air (they didn't have to do this).

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And a +1 for the Aerosmith elevator - this represents some real effort made here. Now whether this is really fun or effective is another matter but let's give credit where credit is due.

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Yes, agree the trunk in TOM definitely deserves credit!

Thinking about what you wrote, I have to say this is one of the elements of pinball I enjoy the most as well, when the mechanical theme integration hits the bulls eye. Back to MM as a great example, look at all the elements here and how they interact with each other in interesting ways:

1. Castle has moat so shots initially have to jump moat to count.
2. A hit to left of castle goes through wall and damages castle just like a catapult hit would.
3. Initial hits to center of castle lower drawbridge
4. Then hits to castle gate eventually raise gate
5. After gate is raised, pinball goes inside castle and blows up castle
6. Interaction of trolls which, when raised, blocks shots to castle (just like on backglass and giving troll bombs)

Why MM is one of the best pinball machines ever made is simply in all the interesting ways that all these mechanical theme integrations INTERACT TOGETHER (not to mention how they are all tied into the rest of the game like dots and sounds etc.) It's just simply fun to watch the drawbridge lower, see the gate raise and to watch the castle blow and all these elements form a progression of hardware accomplishments that are just really satisfying to progress through. This progression aspect with multiple layers of accomplishment toward a singular goal is another thing we don't see as much of anymore.

This mechanical theme integration juiciness is what I personally want to see a lot more of in new games released these days. If they could do it in the '90s, it can be done today!
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These days we often hear that we can't have innovation like we see in MM because it's just too complicated and it will break down etc. We're told that surely it's best for us (whether operator or home buyer) to have little or no moving parts at all because they will just break down right?

I call bullsh*t on this line of thinking and argue that if it can be done in MM, it can be done today. It's not like the rules of physics have changed in the last 20 years!

The difference is that it requires laborious and expensive iterations in engineering these more complex systems to get them to work reliably. But it's not the space shuttle for heaven's sake! Instead of companies admitting that it's just too expensive or too hard for them to pull off (or requires too much time = money), they try to sell to us the line that we're better off without innovation at all.

In any case, just stating here for the record that there is nothing wrong with us wanting more hardware innovation in new pinball games, the onus is rather on the manufacturers to engineer these systems to be robust enough. Again, they did it in the 90s and it can be done again today. May the future spoils go to those who can pull this off and not those who try to cop out and try to convince us we're wrong for wanting more.

I agree that it's very similar to Adams family Thing so not really something spectacularly innovative from a hardware standpoint. However, it is a bit different in that the tongue comes out to get it.

I also agree that I heard that many malfunctioned so this is just an example of it not going through enough engineering before release. There is nothing intrinsically complicated about this, it just was not designed well enough.

Now, a separate topic really is that of Mechanical Theme Integration and if they pulled it off here. I would say yes. The reason is that someone took an element from the Movie and tried to make it come alive in the game itself. If it was something really novel I would say great but the main goal was to make the multiple head-opening-tongue-shooting-out element from Alien come alive I think they accomplished that (at least in principle).

Mechanical Theme Integration is about making something from the theme come to life in pinball hardware and not necessarily about that hardware being something we have never seen before (but bonus points if it is novel of course).

Yes, innovative hardware and fun, but does this take something from the Shadow world, something from the theme and try to bring into physical hardware? I haven't seen the movie so have no idea.

OK, so you're referring to Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle by Spooky. Can anyone elaborate on what it has and doesn't have with regard to mechanical theme integration?

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Sorry not up on the latest with Nightmare Castle - haven't read thread. Anyway, question still stands if someone knows the answer.

Yeah, good point - Rudy is asking a bit too much today but I'm so glad that he exists!

Thanks for your post. Yes, a good example where someone thought about how to take elements of an amusement park and create pinball machine hardware that represented them (roller coaster, Ferris wheel and juggler). Visually appealing too I think to watch balls go through the Ferris wheels and juggler is neat as well.

Here's the promo video for Hurricane:

Just to complete discussion of WOZ, the witch's castle is another good example: hit targets, bash down door and then enter to rescue Dorothy. And don't forget that before you can rescue Dorothy, the player must have her physically captured by the flying monkey and taken to this castle. The elements of the story are put directly into hardware.

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