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| Average Fun Rating: | ![[ 7 stars - Click for comments ]](stars/7stars.png) 6.6/10 (28 ratings/25 comments) [ Add Your Rating! ]
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| Manufacturer: | Bally Manufacturing Corporation (1931-1983) [Trade Name: Bally] |
| Project Date: | May 16, 1974 |
| Date Of Manufacture: | February, 1975 |
| Model Number: | 1021 |
| Type: | Electro-mechanical (EM) ![[?]](/graphic/question.gif) |
| Production: | 3,085 units (confirmed) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | Adventure - Aviation - Combat - Military - Warfare |
| Notable Features: | Flippers (4), Pop bumpers (2), Slingshots (2), Kick-out holes (2), 9-bank drop targets (1). End-of-ball bonus.
Maximum displayed point score is 99,990 points per player.
Sound: 3 chimes, knocker |
| Design by: | Jim Patla |
| Art by: | Dave Christensen |
| Notes: | First game from this manufacturer to use drop targets.
The game in the manufacturer's flyer appears to have the so-called "inverted backbox" where the front frame is wider at the bottom than at the top, as if "upside-down" from typical Bally backboxes, leaving a small ledge at the base of the backglass.
Pictured in this listing is an Early Production backbox with serial number 1032 and showing the inverted backbox. Also shown is a comparison picture where this backbox is placed next to one from later in production. |
| Photos in: |
Mike Pacak's Pinball Flyer Reference Book A-F
Pinball! (Sharpe) page 87
Pinball Art , page 76
Pinball Portfolio, page 82
Pinball An Illustrated History, pages 58 and 77
Pinball Snapshots, pages 15, 17-20
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| Owners List URL: | http://www.pinballowners.com/owners/28 (External site) |
| Documentation: | 509 KB | PDF | Playfield Chart from 1976 Parts Catalog | [Bally Manufacturing Corp.] |
| | 8 MB | PDF | Schematic Diagram (continuous) | [Bally Manufacturing Corp.] |
Images:
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| Average Fun Rating: | No ratings on file [ Be first to rate this game! ]
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| Manufacturer: | Eusebio Martinez Garcia, of Spain [Trade Name: EMAGAR] |
| Type: | Electro-mechanical (EM) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | Aircraft - Aviation - Historical - Travel |
| Notable Features: | Flippers (2), Pop bumpers (2), Slingshots (2), Drop targets (5), Spinning targets (2). End-of-ball bonus. Center plastic is shaped like an airplane. Plastic playfield surface. Wedge head. |
| Notes: | Circa 1970s.
The supersonic airliner depicted on the backglass is not a Concorde but is a Soviet Tupolev TU-144. Among the differences it has from the Concorde are its engine nacelles, its canard surfaces on the top of the cockpit (not needed on the Concorde), the clear sections of the drooping nose (fixed on the Tupolev; mobile on the Concorde), and the number of wheels on the main landing gear that also retract inside the engine nacelles. The backglass aircraft was drawn remarkably similar to the photograph shown here. The artist even included the red soviet flag seen on the tail rudder.
The first Concorde, the 001, flew its maiden flight on March 2, 1969 over France. The first commercial passenger flights took place on January 21, 1976 when a British Airways flight traveled from Heathrow to Bahrain at the same time that an Air France jet flew from Paris to Rio de Janeiro. The last supersonic flight occurred October 24, 2003 when British Airways flew from New York to Heathrow. Air France had already grounded its supersonic fleet the previous May.
The British/French Concorde was not the first supersonic airliner to fly. A Soviet prototype Tupolev TU-144 made its first flight on December 31, 1968 but didn't break the sound barrier until June 5, 1969. |
Images:
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| Source: |
pictures |
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| Average Fun Rating: | ![[ 8 stars - Click for comments ]](stars/8stars.png) 7.7/10 (153 ratings/98 comments) [ Add Your Rating! ]
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| Manufacturer: | Williams Electronics Games, Incorporated, a subsidiary of WMS Ind.,
Incorporated (1985-1999) [Trade Name: Williams] |
| Date Of Manufacture: | March 23, 1987 |
| Model Number: | 554 |
| Common Abbreviations: | F-14, F14 |
| MPU: | Williams System 11A |
| Type: | Solid State Electronic (SS) |
| Production: | 14,502 units (confirmed) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | Adventure - Combat |
| Notable Features: | Flippers (4), Pop bumper (1), Slingshots (2), Standup targets (20), Ball kicker lanes (3), Jagov kicker (kicks ball towards flippers at high speed). Multiball (4 ball), Spinning target (1), Vertical upkicker (1), Left outlane kicker. Three rotating beacon lights on the top of the backbox. Has speech. |
| Concept by: | Steve Ritchie |
| Design by: | Steve Ritchie |
| Art by: | Doug Watson |
| Mechanics by: | Craig Fitpold |
| Music by: | Steve Ritchie, Chris Granner |
| Sound by: | Bill Parod, Chris Granner |
| Software by: | Eugene Jarvis, Ed Boon |
| Notes: | This game has two 7-digit alphanumeric score displays and two 7-digit numeric-only score displays.
Designer Steve Ritchie tells us that there were 10 prototype games made. He also says that, while the X in the serial number means "prototype", this was not used consistently at Williams. One of these games is pictured in this listing with serial number 554-X 94222. The cabinet art design was deemed too plain and was changed for production. The clear flash lamp domes along the back wall of the playfield were too blinding during play, and all were later changed to a red color. The beacons on top of the backbox also were too bright and so their domes were later changed.
Included in this listing is a close-up image of a production game having the clear flash lamp domes that were used on the prototypes. This game has the production cabinet artwork. Its backbox beacons look to be the production ones. Reportedly, Early Production models still used the clear domes, but its later serial number of 554 198595 conflicts with that idea.
Another later serial number of 554 196508 belongs to a game having prototype MPU ROMs labeled 'PROTO5'. For this reason we have marked as a Prototype Game the two images we have of it. The owner states its sound and speech ROMs have red labels/stickers the same as production ROMs of his other games. It has the clear flash lamp domes at the rear of playfield as well as the clear backbox beacons.
Another game pictured here has serial number 554 95836 and has the clear beacons and extra flash lamps like a prototype, but has production cabinet art. The board ROMs are Version 1. The speaker grills have no "W" or any evidence of red paint. The speaker panel itself is attached to the backbox with adhesive instead of being held by an H-shaped support strip. The strip on this game is U-shaped to hold only the backglass above it. Unique to this game is that all the flash lamps have insulation around them. We use the low serial number to classify this example as Early Production. One other such game was discussed on a pinball newsgroup as having the glued speaker panel and the insulated flash lamps, but its speaker grills did have the "W" painted on them.
Based on the above examples and their serial numbers, we do not know how to expect which games in the run would be the 10 prototypes of which Steve Ritchie is aware. Because game owners can easily replace their flash domes and beacons with clear versions, this can further the uncertainty.
Later playfields in the run had their two flashers disabled and removed because bending targets caused electrical shorts which then damaged the switch matrix. The clear flash domes on these playfields were replaced with red ones.
We also note that the playfield layout charts in the manual all depict a third slingshot positioned between the two sets of standup targets at the top of playfield. However, production games do not have this third slingshot. One chart indicated the presence of a 3-inch wireform in apparent conflict with the path of the slingshot kicker (as drawn).
According to Steve Ritchie's website, he and his brother Mark Ritchie were the voice talent for this game.
Comments from designer Steve Ritchie: F-14 had a first-ever kickback device that fired the ball straight back at the flippers at very high speed, called the Jagov Kicker. F-14 was the first game with "Autosave", which meant the player could have the ball back if it drained prematurely [at the start of a ball], was shot down between the flippers by the Jagov Kicker, or drained during the onset of multiball, etc.
We received from a collector in the UK some observations about apparent production run changes. This information has not been confirmed by us:
1) The early games had the audio PCB of the time, '-11298'. This was changed during the run to '-11581' which continued in use until the WPC system came out.
2) There seem to have been three different display PCB's used during the run. The earliest is as used on Millionaire with lamp matrix connections and holes for lamp twist bases but omitting the credit display and its drive components. The second type omitted the unused PCB traces, but remained the same size. These two are larger than the final type, which became the standard used until the 16-digit displays were introduced with Taxi.
Production Run Records for F-14 Tomcat:
Production Start Date: Mar-23-1987
Production End Date: Jul-17-1987
Production Run Quantity: 14502
First ship date: Mar-24-1987
Last ship date: Nov-2-1987
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| Marketing Slogans: |
"It's fast. It's furious. AND IT FIGHTS BACK!"
"Williams Pinball #1 in the world (from the display panel: see also Space Station's display panel)"
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| Photos in: |
Arcade Treasures, page 156
The Complete Pinball Book, pages 32 and 233
The Pinball Compendium 1982 to Present, page 83
Mike Pacak's Pinball Flyer Reference Book A-F
Pinball Trader, Vol 1 No. 6, July-August 1987, page 7
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| Rule Sheets: |
F-14 TomCat Rulesheet Version 0.9 (Feb/23/1997), by Damon Beals
F-14 Tomcat Rulesheet, by Chris Lopez
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| Easter Eggs: | Available at Cows and Easter Eggs (External site) |
| ROMs: | 173 KB | ZIP | Game ROM L-1 | [Williams Electronic Games] |
| | 76 KB | ZIP | Prototype ROMs | |
| Documentation: | 7 MB | PDF | Instruction Manual (May 1987, schematics pages 51a to 60a are cut in half) | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 634 KB | PDF | Preliminary manual for prototype machines | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 37 MB | PDF | Schematic Diagrams (manual pages 51a to 60a) | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| Service Bulletins: | 64 KB | PDF | Service Bulletin #41 | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 690 KB | PDF | Service Bulletin (no number, undated, to resolve binding diverter gate assembly) | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| Files: | 528 KB | PDF | F-14 TOMCAT Typical A/C Solenoid Circuit (undated) | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 332 KB | PDF | Instruction card | |
| | 157 KB | PDF | Instruction Card 16-554-1 (bleached copy) | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 20 KB | PDF | Price Cards - 3 ball and 5 ball | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
Images:
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| Average Fun Rating: | Needs More Ratings! 8.1 / 10 (3 ratings) [ Add Your Rating! ]
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| Manufacturer: | Genco Manufacturing Company, of Chicago, Illinois, USA (1931-1958) |
| Date Of Manufacture: | March 10, 1958 |
| Model Number: | S |
| Type: | Electro-mechanical (EM) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | Carnival - Shooting Gallery |
| Notable Features: | Flippers (2), Pop bumpers (3), Passive bumpers (4), Slingshots (2), Kick-out holes (2), Gobble hole (1). Backbox light animation (ducks and rabbits light up as they are scored on playfield). |
| Design by: | H. Berninger |
| Notes: | We previously stated that 'Fun Fair' was the last machine produced by Genco. However, the production date of March 10, 1958 was given to us by Steve Kordek and, according to his list, places this game as the third-from-last Genco game produced. The penultimate Genco game was an arcade machine called "Space Age". The last Genco game produced was Genco's 1958 'Flying Aces'.
We note that the schematic diagram has a date of 3-10-58 and refers to this game as Model "S".
Reportedly, production of this game was continued after purchase by Chicago Dynamic Industries, Inc. but we have no supporting information for this. |
| Photos in: |
The Billboard, Mar-17-1958, page 76
Arcade Treasures, page 47
The Pinball Compendium 1930s - 1960s, page 99
Mike Pacak's Pinball Flyer Reference Book A-F
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| Documentation: | 5 MB | PDF | Schematic Diagram (continuous) | [Genco Mfg. Co.] |
Images:
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| Source: |
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| Average Fun Rating: | Needs More Ratings! 6.6 / 10 (1 ratings) [ Add Your Rating! ]
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| Manufacturer: | Playmatic, of Barcelona, Spain (1968-1987) |
| Date Of Manufacture: | 1984 |
| Type: | Solid State Electronic (SS) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | Aviation - Combat - Warfare - Spaceships - Aliens |
| Notable Features: | Flippers (3), Pop bumpers (3), Slingshot (1), 4-bank drop targets (1), 3-bank drop targets (1), Standup targets (3), Kick-out hole (1), Ball kicker (1), Horseshoe (1). Wireform diverter prevents ball re-entry to shooter lane. The lower two flippers are offset. |
| Notes: | The aircraft depicted in the artwork cover several generations of technology at the least, ranging from biplanes of the past to futuristic alien spaceships.
Attract Mode instrumental music can be enabled by the operator, a choice between "The River Kwai Marsch" and Lili Marleen.
The schematic diagrams are marked E.F.O. which stands for "Electrónica Funcional Operativa" (Functional Operative Electronic). It was the company who designed the entire electronics of most (if not all) Playmatic machines. |
| Documentation: | 10 MB | PDF | German Manual (schematics in English/Spanish) | [NSM/Löwen] |
| | 3 MB | PDF | Operations and Maintenance Manual (Spanish, undated) | [Playmatic] |
Images:
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| Average Fun Rating: | No ratings on file [ Be first to rate this game! ]
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| Manufacturer: | Bally Manufacturing Corporation (1931-1983) [Trade Name: Bally] |
| Project Date: | December 15, 1941 |
| Date Of Manufacture: | March, 1942 |
| Model Number: | 450 |
| Type: | Electro-mechanical (EM) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | Aircraft - Combat - Military - Naval - Warfare - Wartime |
| Specialty: | Not A Pinball
Gun Game
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| Notable Features: | 125 shots for 5 cents. The flat playfield has nothing attached to it but is entirely artwork depicting a battle at sea as seen from the air, with battleships and fighter planes. At top end of playfield, three targets inside a single housing move simultaneously along the playfield's edge, diving out of player's view and re-surfacing to simulate a submarine. The targets have caricatures of the faces of Hitler, Hirohito, and Mussolini. No manufacturer name is present on the backglass which has the name TORPEDO in the very center and also depicts a battle at sea.
A pistol is mounted into the front of cabinet to aim and shoot pellets at the moving submarine, simulating torpedoes. The goal is to shoot and hit the three targets to increase score. The targets light when hit. Each scores 100 points when unlit. When all three targets are lit, each scores 1000 points. Target lights turn off when submarine dives.
There is an access door on the front end of each side of cabinet. Above the right-side access door, a large torpedo design can be unscrewed from the cabinet to reveal a long open slot in the wood through which the flat playfield can be slid in order to access the mechanisms beneath it.
Sound: 1 bell. |
| Notes: | This is not a pinball but appears on a Bally pinball list. It is a pellet gun game. We are aware of two examples of this game having cabinet serial numbers 1544 and 1557. From the pictures we saw, a bell is in the backbox. A bell housing is on the inside of the right-side access door but we don't know if that is an actual bell for game play, a bell timer, or the protective housing for a soundless time clock.
This game started production on 12-15-1941 per Bally documentation. The earliest ads we could find for this game were from two distributors, both in The Billboard, Mar-21-1942, pages 81 and 82, where one of them advertised this game on its list of "New Games For Immediate Shipment" and the other indicated, "Ready for Immediate Delivery". We found other ads from distributors through May but found no ads placed by the manufacturer throughout 1942. |
| Additional Media: | Explanation of Features and Game play (at YouTube) [03:00] (External site) |
Images:
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| Source: |
Bally documentation, pictures |
