I have to agree with you, that artwork is a little disturbing. My Demo Man pin is also in the corner and blocked on the other side by my Dredd machine.

Waterworld, Big Guns, JM, LAH, WPT, BDK are some of my votes though BDK would be good if they took off all those supporting actors. But I think Shaq has to take the all time worst award.

Gilligan's

Gottlieb Genesis

Do horribly disturbing photographs count as artwork? If so, no bad artwork thread would be complete without mentioning Raven:

Raven.jpg

A lot of the 80s era pins look horrible to me
must have been a transition time for pinball?
Like the old guard retiring and new guys just getting started.....
or something like that
1989 - Bad Cats
88 - Time Machine
86 - Gold Wings
84- Fire Power 2
83 - Q bert Quest
82 - Me & Mrs Pac Man
82 - Spectrum
80 - Skate Ball

Wow.... I actually like the artwork for two of those titles on your list (Qbert, Spectrum)!

I think A LOT of the Premier series can qualify for horrible artwork... Some of those mentioned already, but I'll put Victory on there as well! We have a Indy 500 them, yet we have machine guns on the side of the cars!

Yeah it's always a personal thing when it comes to artwork/taste

I actually like the art on Big Guns its one of my favourites actually. I like Python's style of the cartoon/comic style overhead artwork eg. cyclone, Jokerz, Taxi, Pinbot among others. You can tell his definately from other designers. Thats what I feel makes it good, it is a destinct style. Pinball Circus's side art, heck even the playfield toys are all him, and you can tell.

But I think that Gottlieb/Premier really took a dive in the art dept in the mid 80's. I can't think of one that looks good. Raven, Spring Break, Hollywood Heat, etc. (but they do play good)

And recently Stern Rolling stones, looking at it makes Raven look beautiful. And stern has recently taken a cue from Premier on their photo backglass's/playfields.
It wasn't a good idea then, and isn't now.

I have the luxury or having this beauty lingering around my garage from a game I made into a coffee table. I cringe every time I see it.

image-1.jpg

I think Stargate is the only good looking Gottlieb I've seen. Haven't personally played many Gottliebs. Gold Wings is one I played the crap out of as a teen. Was local and extremely easy to pop due to the long ball times. I think it wouldn't be so horrible if it weren't for the purple/pink.

Future Spa, can't stand that backglass.

Nothing can be more ugly than LOTR cabinet atwork

I think almost all 80's gottlieb pins have terrible artwork. Mostly because of the non licenced ripoffs of movie/TV themes.

Bonebusters= Ghostbusters
Gold Wings= Top gun
Hollywood Heat= Miami Vice
Raven = Rambo
Genesis= Metropolis
TX sector= THX
Spring Break= ??? Any 80's teen movie, you pick.
Tag Team= WWF wrestling
Touchdown= NFL football
Victory= F1 racing?
And many more.

Seems like only Nightmare on Elm street, Super Mario, and Stargate are their only licenced pins in the 80's -90's -shutdown.

Actually, all now that I look at it all Premier pins are ripoffs and cheap imitations.
I guess they wanted to save money on not buying licences and thought no one would notice.

oh wow I remember THK now

I thought Skateball was OK...but Future Spa is down right sad. Always reminds me of Buck Rogers. When I see the artwork from bad pins of the 80s, I always start to recall how the "good ol days" really did suck at the time. But then I see a Tron arcade unit and I am reminded how great it all was! Ha.

I was at a club Friday night and they showed the 82 Tron movie on the wall,
a scene at an arcade had me trying to ID all the pins -

I'd add TFTC to the list...great game but the artwork turns my stomach a little.

I agree Rollergames has me split. The guys are odd, but the ladies are worth a look.

I have Police Force and I think it is least favorite of my machines along the lines of artwork.

Here's my vote....Last Action Hero
I own it because it plays great. But i don't know how much longer I can look at it.

http://mirror1.ipdb.org/images/1416/image-15.jpg

Unfortunately I have to vote for the only pin I own Street Fighter II. Man, I hate to even look at the backglass. I'm just glad I have so much fun playing it.

Hey, I own a laser War!! Yes the back glass leaves something to be desired, but it is a an underrated game for game play. It is fun to play, and the multi-ball keeps your eyes off of the Back Glass.

I actually find the art work funny. If you look at the girl on the right, she's shooting the guy in the head!!! LMAO

I also want to list TX-Sector with its oddball sci-fi [?] 1950's art, and blatantly ripped-off Superman movie font for the title, but the game is so "80's-cheesy" on top of being really fun maybe its fitting the translite be equally cheeseball.

Sadly no leg warmers, headbands, or leopard pants on the space people from TX-Sector.

Damn DB!!!! Another one I liked, but I'm partial to it since I have one.....

Here is some for you viewing pleasure....

Backglass.gif image-1.jpg image-2.jpg

Hey, I own a laser War!! Yes the back glass leaves something to be desired, but it is a an underrated game for game play. It is fun to play, and the multi-ball keeps your eyes off of the Back Glass.

I never said it wasn't a good machine, I think it's way underrated like most DE machines. The one I received the cabinet and BB were un-saveable but everything worked perfectly. I had fun for the two months I played it till it came to the point I was afraid it would collapse and hit one of my cars...

I love the art for Spectrum, and enjoy the artwork of Rollergames, but Torpedo Alley is the by far the worst I have ever seen. Why couldn't Christ Williams have turned that awful art into his Ramones machine (http://www.pinballnews.com/learn/ramones/index.html) instead of ruining my personal favourite artwork of Gottlieb's Genie.

Are those machine guns on a formula 1 car?

SWEET!

The Pinball Compendium has an interesting write up by Doug Watson explaining why Wesley Snipes' and Sandra Bullock's mugs are so huge on Demo Man. You'd never guess that Wesley Snipes massive ego is involved.

I've taken heat for stating this on RGP, but I think Spanish Eyes' artwork is terrible. Not terrible as in campy and cheesy like Torpedo Alley and Hollywood Heat. But just plain ugly and unappealing.

Torpedo Alley takes the prize HANDILY! Awful!

Ding Ding Ding!!! We have a winner, folks. I don't know what they were smoking when they came up with that Torpedo Alley backglass. Just hideous!

What I find interesting is that it says the game is in "Digital Stereo". Did it actually have separate left and right channels? If so, that's pretty impressive given the fact that it came out in the 80's. Heck, I don't even think modern Sterns are in stereo.

Never seen Torpedo Alley before. That is really bad.
There is a Spanish Eyes for sale locally. I don't much like the artwork either.

Never seen Torpedo Alley before. That is really bad.
There is a Spanish Eyes for sale locally. I don't much like the artwork either.

It's actually a rare Data East pin.... It came out after Laser War. If you look at the playfield and Laser War's playfield; they're very similar!

I've never played a *real* T.A., just through pinmame...

Torpedo alley is the winner so far. WOW!

"$%#@ in digital stereo!!!!"

What do they need that periscope for, if they have that giant window with cartoon boats and sharks? LOL

Stellar Wars backglass, looks like a 3 year old did the lettering.

What do they need that periscope for, if they have that giant window with cartoon boats and sharks? LOL

So I guess they must put periscopes in ships, or windows in submarines.

Bally Hardbody has got to be added on the list too! I see that one and want to throw up a little...

Okay, that Torpedo Alley photo is bad, but I'm digging the classic pumps on the sailorettes there. I'm all over that! heh.

The artwork for Lights Camera Action! was pretty laughable.

I thought everybody always agreed Genesis was the worst...

genesis_pinball_2.jpg gottlieb_gen.jpg

I've never seen Topedo Alley either, it is pretty bad. Are those the same girls from the Hot Shots backglass?

Bad Girls deserves a mention

image-1.jpg