Bally

Creature from the Black Lagoon

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This page provides an overview of all that's in Creature from the Black Lagoon pinball machine (and all that's not)!

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Manufacturer

Manufactured by

Bally Manufacturing Co.

Released on

December 1st, 1992

Number produced

7841 units

Serial numbers

Creature from the Black Lagoon on the IPSND.

Main details

Generation Williams WPC (Fliptronics 2)

Max. Players 4 player game

Display Type

Dot Matrix

Cabinet Type

normal

Plunger type

manual

Multileveled playfield

No

Custom speech

Yes

Buyin button

No

Machine shakes

No

Popularity and ranking

This machine has been rated by 849 users and currently ranks #52 in the Top 100

Playfield details

Multiball 2

Flippers 2

Ramps 2

Bumpers 3

Captive Balls 0

Magnets 0

Cannons 0

Drop Targets 0

Spinner(s) No

Kickback No

Spinning disc(s) No

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Design team

Game Design: John Trudeau

Mechanics: Ernie Pizarro

Software: Jeff Johnson

Artwork: Kevin O'Connor

Animation: Scott Slomiany

Sound: Paul Heitsch

Music: Paul Heitsch

Callouts: Rich Karstens

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Noteworthy features

3D backlit hologram under playfield

Trivia

Upon designing the art for Creature from the Black Lagoon, the team was told they couldn't portray a likeness of actor Richard Carlson. John Trudeau has revealed, that in order to get around the legal matter, John had artist Kevin O'Connor take a picture of his then-teenage son and draw his face onto the translite as the leading man.
Creature from the Black Lagoon introduced pinball fans to the "Move Your Car" motorist. The impatient dot-matrix character also appears, and is referred to, by other Williams games like Judge Dredd , Scared Stiff, Theatre of Magic , Tales of the Arabian Nights ( Move your Carpet) and Revenge From Mars ( Move your Saucer).

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Backbox ornament(s)

It is unknown wether any backbox ornaments were available for this machine.

Video mode

Use the flippers to throw punches and fight a peeping tom who is spying on you with your date at the drive in.

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Latest software version

V5.0 - November 1, 2020

Click here to view the changelog.

Creature From The Black Lagoon
Revision 5.0
1 November 2020

Credits

Changes designed and implemented by Soren Worre.

Based on the revision L-4 software released in 1992 by Williams Electronics Games Inc.

The author would like to thank the designers of this pinball machine.

Special thanks to Jesper Graver.

Summary

Broken features within the modes Multiball, Big millions, Snack attack and Move your car are fixed.
Random elements within the modes Multiball, Snack bar and Playground can now be set to run in patterns.
Two new feature adjustments.
The never used left inlane scoring indicators now have a purpose.
Upgraded lamp procedure.

Improvements

Fully suitable for competition play.
Supports LED lamps.
No playfield indicators left for incomplete usage.

Detailed changes description

Reference to the L-4 revision.

New feature adjustment A.2 19 "Girl search".
Options:
- "Random": As rev. L-4. The girl is located at a randomly chosen Search target.
- "Pattern": The girl is always at the second Search target made. And third Search target after a jackpot (rest of game, player individual).
- "T-play": When tournament play selected: As the "Pattern" option. Else as the "Random" option.

Default: "T-play".

New feature adjustment A.2 20 "Tournament play Snack bar Unlimited millions".
Options:
- "No": When tournament play selected: The Snack bar will never award the Unlimited millions mode.
- "Yes": When tournament play selected: The Snack bar will award the Unlimited millions mode (see awards pattern).

Default: "No".

The 10B Snack attack bug, fixed.
Snack attack count down lands nicely on 10M.

255 bumper hits to light Super jackpot bug, fixed.
Bumper hits to light Super jackpot not resetting on a next multiball bug, fixed.

1x "maxed" playfield multiplier bug, fixed.

Bonus-x calculation corrected to be as indicated by the game. 1x/2x/4x/6x/8x/10x.
Bonus base value raised by a factor-3.

A bug where Move your car was not running properly after a multiball, fixed.

A bug where Snack attack was incorrectly promoted on the right ramp count-up display, fixed.

When tournament play selected: Playground award is following a fixed pattern. Player individual.
Playground award order: Unlimited millions, Jet bumpers, Intermission time and then start over.

When tournament play selected: Snack bar awards follow a fixed pattern. Player individual.

When adj. A.2 20 "Tournament play Snack bar Unlimited millions" is set to "No":
Before a multiball has been played: F, L or M letter once (if needed and in that order). Then random points ones.
After a multiball has been played: Random points ones only.

When adj. A.2 20 "Tournament play Snack bar Unlimited millions" is set to "Yes":
Before a multiball has been played: F, L or M letter once (if needed and in that order). Then random points ones.
After a multiball has been played: Unlimited millions once. Then random points ones.

When tournament play selected: Tap a button in attract mode to show the latest game scores.

The 10M, 20M and 30M indicators are brought to life.
The Big millions mode offers a one time only award on the left inlane.
10M, 20M or 30M based on timing.

A bug where the European region installs the hard pre-set on a factory reset, fixed.

The lamp matrix procedure is upgraded to better prevent "ghosting" when LED lamps are used.

Adjustment A.1 21 "Language" is limited to "English".

Adjustment A.1 28 "Min. vol override" defaults to "Yes".

Note

The Snack bar Unlimited millions, after a multiball played, is any multiball played.
When selected, the Unlimited millions mode is victory laps for the multiball.

Snack Bar random points ones are: Popcorn (1M), Hot dog (2M), Hot pretzel (4M), Ice cold pop (4M) and Hamburger (5M).

The incremented bonus base value is to compensate that the max bonus-x is reduced from the incorrect 32x to 10x.
High X bonus is by this a similar payoff. Low X bonus will get a boost.

Feature adjustment A.2 3 "Multiball" is of no use.
At least as of rev. L-4, the game is not awarding multiball at the Snack bar mystery.

The Big millions mode left inlane award is also given when the inlane is made on a ramp shot return.
In L-4, the indicators were used for light show only.
The Big millions mode is also running during Super scoring. But will end (time out) before the Super scoring umbrella mode is ending.

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