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| Average Fun Rating: | No ratings on file [ Be first to rate this game! ]
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| Manufacturer: | Daval Manufacturing Co., of Chicago, Illinois, USA (1934-1939) |
| Date Of Manufacture: | January, 1935 |
| Type: | Electro-mechanical (EM) ![[?]](/graphic/question.gif) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | American Places - Railroads - Trains |
| Notable Features: | Ten balls for 5 cents. Actually, nine white china marbles and one green china marble that scores double. A marble on the elevated track simulates Chicago's elevated train, moved along the track by two Vertical Up Kickers (VUKs). Lights turn on briefly when the VUKs fire. A bell rings when the ball is shot to the high score area. No outhole on this game: two kickback lanes, in lower left and lower right of playfield, propel wayward balls back into scoring areas until they land in score pockets.
This italicized information was taken from an advertisement: Chicago Express is the zipping, thrilling, most fascinating game in pin game history. Read carefully the ACTION the ball creates for the player:
1. Player aims at and shoots ball into 1st top electric elevator, lighting up green go-ahead signal.
2. Ball is elevated instantly and switched onto upper level tracks towards and into the 2nd or bottom electric elevator.
3. As the ball in the 2nd elevator is being lifted and switched to next track, the whole train lights up and all the balls in the bottom Express Stations are automatically and simultaneously advanced into the next higher score stations.
4. When a ball reaches the last Express Station, it is automatically shunted up the board and into the enclosed high score depot.
Just imagine the novelty of seeing the balls elevated and sent down the tracks for a fast, thrilling ride. The flashing lights. The simultaneous advance and the speediest shooting ever incorporated into one pin game. That's the CHICAGO EXPRESS -- America's Newest Pin Game Thrill! |
| Notes: | An improved version was released in April, 1935.
Compare the elevated track on this game to the habitrails of modern Solid State games.
For an in-depth review of this game, see The Sands Mechanical Museum. |
| Marketing Slogans: |
"Don't Hesitate! the train won't wait..."
"Buy a ONE WAY ticket to SUCCESS..."
|
| Photos in: |
Pinball Ad Catalog Volume 2, 1934-1935 , page 163
Encyclopedia of Pinball Volume 2, page 89
Pinball! (Sharpe) page 30
Drop Coin Here, page 91
The Billboard, Mar-30-1935, page 81
Pinball Trader, No. 24, July 1990, pages 34-35
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| Additional Media: | Example of Play (at YouTube) [01:16] (External site) |
Images:
(click to zoom) |
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| Source: |
RS p31 |
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| Average Fun Rating: | Needs More Ratings! 8.6 / 10 (1 ratings) [ Add Your Rating! ]
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| Manufacturer: | Zaccaria, of Bologna, Italy (1974-1987) |
| Type: | Electro-mechanical (EM) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | Movie Stars |
| Specialty: | Add-A-Ball
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| Notable Features: | Flippers (2), Pop bumpers (2), Slingshots (2), Standup targets (13), Spinning target (1). An extra ball is awarded by achieving point thresholds and/or by hitting all standup targets and/or hitting the spinning target after all standup targets have been hit. The spinning target must be hit with the ball at high speed to award the extra ball or otherwise it will award only points. End-of-ball bonus.
Maximum displayed point score is 9,999,990 points.
Sound: biri-biri, knocker |
| Art by: | Lorenzo Rimondini |
| Notes: | The backglass has a small clear window in the area of the director's chair, suggesting a replay unit. However, in the few games we have seen, there is no replay unit on the backbox insert or even a hole to allow for one. There is an adjustment plug in the backbox to select mode for either Add-a-ball or Novelty play. |
Images:
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| Source: |
ebay Mar 2005 |
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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: | 7.5/10 (44 ratings/28 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: | April, 1986 |
| Model Number: | 523 |
| Common Abbreviations: | GL |
| MPU: | Williams System 11 |
| Type: | Solid State Electronic (SS) |
| Production: | 2,750 units (confirmed) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | Fantasy |
| Notable Features: | Flippers (4), Player controlled Magna-Save, 2 or 3 ball Multiball, timed drop targets, mystery bonus ramp scoring. No pop bumpers. |
| Toys: | Plastic lizard/dragon head on top of plastic ramps. Creature roars and eyes flash when ball enters. Ball returns to playfield from lizards tongue. |
| Design by: | Barry Oursler, Python Anghelo |
| Art by: | Python Anghelo, Paul Faris |
| Sound by: | Bill Parod |
| Software by: | Ed Suchocki |
| Notes: | Originally, the backglass was to have the standard numeric-only display windows. When the game went into production, the backglass was redesigned to incorporate new alphanumeric displays, and its artwork was changed.
Initial backglass and playfield artwork by Paul Faris. Final production backglass artwork by Python Anghelo.
Compare the playfield to the two-level playfield of Williams' 1981 'Solar Fire'.
Pictured in this listing is an NOS playfield still in its shipping cabinet from the manufacturer.
'Grand Lizard' is one of three Williams games that went into production using System 11. All three games have incorrect schematics showing the same error by depicting placement of the flipper end-of-stroke switch on the wrong side of the coil. As far as we know, all games left the factory correctly wired for EOS. Only the schematics were incorrect. No Manual Amendments or Service Bulletins have been found that acknowledge or correct this error. For a correct drawing of EOSS placement, consult the schematic for Williams' 1986 'PIN·BOT' or subsequent Williams games.
Programmer Ed Suchocki shares this information about Grand Lizard:Bill Parod was the sound designer on this game. The background drum music was the first time that Williams games used digitized audio samples for music. After Bill worked on Grand Lizard, he improved his technique of digitized music samples on the High Speed pinball game. |
| Marketing Slogans: |
"It's a jungle out there"
|
| Photos in: |
Mike Pacak's Pinball Flyer Reference Book G-R
Arcade Treasures, page 123
Pinball The Lure of the Silverball, pages 10 and 84
The Pinball Compendium 1982 to Present, page 76
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| Owners List URL: | http://www.pinballowners.com/owners/1070 (External site) |
| ROMs: | 22 KB | ZIP | Game ROMs L3 | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 22 KB | ZIP | ROM L3 | |
| Documentation: | 3 MB | PDF | English Instruction Manual dated May 26, 1986 (no schematics) | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 12 MB | PDF | English Preliminary Instruction Manual dated April 11, 1986 (with schematics) | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| Files: | 1 MB | DOC | Drop Target Sticker Sheet | [Alexi Anastasio] |
Images:
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| Average Fun Rating: | 8.0/10 (153 ratings/119 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: | January, 1986 |
| Model Number: | 541 |
| Common Abbreviations: | HS |
| MPU: | Williams System 11 |
| Type: | Solid State Electronic (SS) |
| Production: | 17,080 units (confirmed) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | Cops - Driving - Police - Speeding |
| Notable Features: | Flippers (3), Pop bumpers (3), Slingshots (2), Ramp (1), Kick-out hole (1), 3-bank standup targets (5), Spinning targets (3), Left outlane kickback, Multiball.
First pinball to play a complete song.
First Williams pin game to use alpha-numeric displays.
First use of Auto Percentaging in a solid-state game (for replay scores).
First Jackpot available only during multiball.
First use of broken switch compensation programming.
First SS game with operator report.
Actual measured weight: 256 lbs (includes legs). |
| Toys: | Traffic light on the ramp. Rotating police beacon light on top of the backbox. |
| Concept by: | Steve Ritchie |
| Design by: | Steve Ritchie |
| Art by: | Mark Sprenger, Python Anghelo |
| Music by: | Steve Ritchie, Bill Parod |
| Sound by: | Larry DeMar, Eugene Jarvis, Bill Parod |
| Software by: | Larry DeMar |
| Notes: | "High Speed" was the first solid-state pin game to use automatic replay percentaging. An earlier electro-mechanical pin game with this feature was Williams' 1949 'St. Louis'.
This game was the first to have a multiball jackpot that would carry-over from game to game.
Williams' 1981 'Hyperball' used alpha-numeric displays before High Speed but is a flipperless arcade game, not a pin game.
Regarding the theme of this game, Steve Ritchie has said: "It was based on a true story. I was actually chased by the cops at 146 mph in my 1979 Porsche 928."
Ritchie credits Larry DeMar with parts of the design, but DeMar isn't credited for design on the playfield, just software.
Python Anghelo did the backglass art and Mark Sprenger did all other art.
The artwork near the upper right flipper shows insignia on the roofs of the squad cars as A8, W11, and S81. Mark Sprenger told us that this represented the initials and birthdate of his son, as a little gift to him. He also told us that the designer did not want the color green used anywhere on the playfield, calling it bad luck. Mark used green anyway and included for good luck a small four-leaf clover near the top traffic light. With the success of this game, he believes the clover was responsible for "finally breaking the dreaded green curse."
Artist Tim Elliott told us that he is the voice of Dispatch (for example, "Roger, 504. Apprehend him!")
'High Speed' is the first of three Williams games that went into production using System 11. All three games have incorrect schematics showing the same error by depicting placement of the flipper end-of-stroke switch on the wrong side of the coil. As far as we know, all games left the factory correctly wired for EOS. Only the schematics were incorrect. No Manual Amendments or Service Bulletins have been found that acknowledge or correct this error. For a correct drawing of EOSS placement, consult the schematic for Williams' 1986 'PIN·BOT' or subsequent Williams games. |
| Marketing Slogans: |
"Everything else is left behind!"
"Hot Action Pinball!"
"Run the light--and get away-at High Speed."
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| Photos in: |
Arcade Treasures, page 124
Pinball Machines (Eiden-Lukas), page 131
The Pinball Compendium 1982 to Present, page 63
The Complete Pinball Book, pages 144-145
Mike Pacak's Pinball Flyer Reference Book G-R
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| Rule Sheets: |
High Speed Rulesheet Version 1.10, by Bill Ung
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| ROMs: | 151 KB | ZIP | Game ROM L-4 | [Williams Electronic Games] |
| Documentation: | 159 KB | PDF | Amendments and Additions to the Instruction Manual (probable date Apr 2, 1986) | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 16 MB | PDF | English Manual | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 601 KB | PDF | German Instruction Manual | [Nova Apparate GMBH & Co.] |
Images:
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| Average Fun Rating: | ![[ 7 stars - Click for comments ]](stars/7stars.png) 6.9/10 (26 ratings/20 comments) [ Add Your Rating! ]
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| Manufacturer: | Williams Electronics, Incorporated (1967-1985) [Trade Name: Williams] |
| Date Of Manufacture: | December 30, 1981 |
| Model Number: | 509 |
| MPU: | Williams System 7 |
| Type: | Solid State Electronic (SS) |
| Production: | 5,000 units (confirmed) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | Outer Space - Fantasy |
| Specialty: | Not A Pinball
Flipperless
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| Notable Features: | Hypercannon fires up to 250 3/4" balls per minute at targets located around the outer edge of the playfield. No flippers. An alpha-numeric display in the lower playfield. |
| Design by: | Steve Ritchie |
| Art by: | Seamus McLaughlin |
| Sound by: | Tim Murphy |
| Software by: | Ed Suchocki |
| Notes: | The alternate art found on the front of the cabinet has been attributed to the idea of stencils going to two different cabinet makers.
According to Williams production records, the initial sales forecast for Hyperball was 50,000 units. However, it was not long before that number had to be scaled back drastically, because the game was not selling as predicted. By this time, more cabinets (and backboxes) had already been made than what would be required for the final production run quantity. The backbox for this game was unique and required a short backglass. The excess backboxes would later be used for the production runs of Defender, Time Fantasy, and Firepower II.
This 1981 arcade game has an alpha-numeric display in the lower playfield. These displays did not appear in production pinball machines until Wico's 1984 'Af-Tor' followed by Premier's 1985 'Chicago Cubs "Triple Play"'. The first Williams pin game to use alpha-numeric displays is Williams' 1986 'High Speed'.
Programmer Ed Suchocki shares the following information about Hyperball:Steve Ritchie created the original logo for Hyperball. The backglass was re-designed several times and was originally to be screened upon Plexiglas. This was the first Williams games to have an alpha-numeric display. We used the drivers of Player 3 and 4 displays to drive the alpha-numeric. This is why it was a two-player machine. The system was modified to add more lamps to the display matrix. The original matrix could drive 64 lamps while the Hyperball lamp matrix was able to drive 96 lamps.
No Production Floor Records available for Hyperball.
From Steve Kordek Lists #3 and #11:
Production Start Date: Dec-30-1981
Production End Date: May-28-1982
Total quantity produced: 5,000
Product History Record for Hyperball:
Quantity produced for USA/Canada: 3514*
Quantity produced for export: 956*
Total quantity produced: 4470*
Price to Distributor: $2150.00
*These quantities may be sales estimates.
Audited Sales History Accounting Record:
Quantity sold: 4,444 |
| Photos in: |
Arcade Treasures, page 133
The Pinball Compendium 1970-1981, page 208
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| Rule Sheets: |
Hyperball: What was it? Version 3.23
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| ROMs: | 16 KB | ZIP | Game ROM L-2 | [Williams Electronics, Inc.] |
| | 7 KB | ZIP | Game ROM L-3 | |
| | 61 KB | ZIP | Game ROM L-4 | [Williams Electronics, Inc.] |
| | 49 KB | ZIP | Game ROM L-5 | [Williams Electronics, Inc.] |
| Documentation: | 3 MB | PDF | Instruction Manual and Drawing Set | [Williams Electronics, Inc.] |
| | 6 MB | PDF | Parts Supplement | [Williams Electronics, Inc.] |
| Files: | 692 KB | PDF | Control Board Assembly Drawing (unofficial user contribution) | [Michael Tsigoudis] |
| | 2 MB | PDF | Control Board Logic Diagram (unofficial user contribution) | [Michael Tsigoudis] |
| | 465 KB | PDF | Original Playfield Sketch | [Steve Ritchie] |
| | 6 KB | HTM | Switch Matrix | |
Images:
(click to zoom) |
Backbox
1000x867
[Mark Gibson] |
Backglass
1000x617
[Mark Gibson] |
Playfield
988x1500
[Mark Gibson] |
Flyer, Front
810x1081
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Flyer, Page 2
810x1081
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Flyer, Page 3
810x1081
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Flyer, Back
810x1081
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Tactics, Page 1
801x612
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Tactics, Page 2
801x612
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Tactics, Page 3
801x612
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Tactics, Page 4
801x612
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Tactics, Page 5
801x612
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Tactics, Page 6
801x612
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Flyer
592x784
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Playfield
1024x1292
[Philippe Thibault] |
Game Active
600x800
[Brian Baniewicz] |
Game Over
600x800
[Brian Baniewicz] |
Lockdown Bar
800x600
[Brian Baniewicz] |
Initials of Designer and Programmer
1024x1365
[John Yates] |
Illuminated Playfield
960x1280
[John Yates] |
Playfield - Detail
1024x768
[John Yates] |
Cabinet - Left
1024x768
[John Yates] |
Cabinet - Right
1024x768
[John Yates] |
Cabinet - Front
1024x768
[John Yates] |
Inside Front Door
1024x768
[John Yates] |
Inside Backbox
1024x768
[John Yates] |
Backglass - Reverse
1024x768
[John Yates] |
Cabinet - Front View
1024x1365
[John Yates] |
Alternate Front Cabinet Art*
640x480
[Jay Stafford] |
Instructions*
480x640
[Jay Stafford] |
Score Card*
480x640
[Jay Stafford] |
Z-Bomb Button*
640x480
[Jay Stafford] |
Underneath Lockdown Bar*
1024x768
[Jay Stafford] |
Inside Front Door*
554x478
[Jay Stafford] |
Backglass
982x724
[Ben Barchik] |
Illuminated Playfield
1024x1365
[Ben Barchik] |
Illuminated Playfield
1024x1365
[Ben Barchik] |
Prototype Backglass
449x436
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Alternate Front Cabinet Art*
1126x900
[Jay Stafford] |
Alternate Front Cabinet Art - Full View*
1032x1592
[Jay Stafford] |
Prototype Backglass
1200x898
[Mario Van Cleave] |
Promotional Poster*
596x857
[Harold Balde] |
Promotional Poster*
477x912
[Harold Balde] |
Backbox Insert
1200x1036
[Sylvain Gregoire] |
Under Playfield
955x1575
[Sylvain Gregoire] |
Inside Cabinet - Drain Board*
1200x1600
[Sylvain Gregoire] |
Inside Cabinet - Rear
1200x900
[Sylvain Gregoire] |
Corkscrew Elevator
760x1463
[Sylvain Gregoire] |
Test Game Report - Front
1200x1600
[Federico Croci] |
Test Game Report - Back
1200x1531
[Federico Croci] |
Playfield - Apron Removed
1200x742
[Larry Le Feuvre] |
Hypercannon*
1200x692
[Larry Le Feuvre] |
Ball Lift Mechanism*
1200x900
[Larry Le Feuvre] |
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| Average Fun Rating: | No ratings on file [ Be first to rate this game! ]
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| Manufacturer: | Scientific Machine Corporation, of Brooklyn, New York, USA (1932-1950) |
| Date Of Manufacture: | January, 1948 |
| Type: | Electro-mechanical (EM) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | Sports - Baseball |
| Specialty: | Bat Game
|
| Notable Features: | Instruction decal on playfield glass. |
| Notes: | The bat is angled to give the ball elevation, making this a game that is played vertically instead of horizontally like other pitch & bats.
Each player get 15 pitches. The object is to score as many runs as possible by hitting the balls in the air and over the fence. Games can be played in one- or two-player mode. In one-player mode the machine pitches automatically. In two-player mode, one player selects from one of three styles of pitches (fastball, curveball, and knuckleball) while the other player bats. Reportedly, the ball is pitched at a high speed.
The bat lever is entirely mechanical thus there is no delay in operation as there is with electromechanical bats where after pressing the bat button one must wait a second for a switch to tell a coil to fire. The speed of the bat depends only on how fast and how hard the player depresses the bat handle.
According to a Billboard article dated Feb-28-1948 page 97, this game was introduced to the trade at the Coin Machine Industries show in Chicago, in January 1948. The article discusses the manufacturer's move to their Brooklyn factory location, a building built in 1939 and which serves as an apartment building today.
Pictured here is a Cash Box article from 1977 showing a different version of the backglass, one that we have not seen elsewhere.
If anyone has seen or owns this "alternate" backglass, please contact us. |
| Photos in: |
Mike Munves Corp. 1956 Catalog, page 22
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Images:
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| Average Fun Rating: | Needs More Ratings! 8.9 / 10 (4 ratings) [ Add Your Rating! ]
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| Manufacturer: | Rally a.k.a. Rally Play Company, of Nice, France (1961-1969) |
| Date Of Manufacture: | July, 1968 |
| Type: | Electro-mechanical (EM) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | Sports - Snow Skiing |
| Notable Features: | Flippers (4), Pop bumpers (3), Slingshots (2), Standup targets (4), Star rollovers (11), Center up-post between bottom flippers. Nixie tube electronic scoring. Electronic sounds. Relays all on circuit boards. Microswitches. No electronic logic in game features. At game over, instead of a number match feature, a replay is awarded on a random basis, and the word "Chance" lights up on the backglass when this happens. |
| Notes: | The domestic version awards replays.
Also produced in add-a-ball version for Italy.
In alpine skiing, 'schuss' or 'schussboom' is a straight high speed downhill run. |
| Documentation: | 5 MB | PDF | Schematic Diagram (French, continuous) | [Rally Play Safare] |
| | 4 MB | PDF | Schematic Diagram (Italian, continuous) | [Rally Play Safare] |
Images:
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| Average Fun Rating: | Needs More Ratings! 6.8 / 10 (2 ratings) [ Add Your Rating! ]
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| Manufacturer: | Williams Manufacturing Company (1944-1958) [Trade Name: Williams] |
| Date Of Manufacture: | February 18, 1949 |
| Model Number: | 27 |
| Type: | Electro-mechanical (EM) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | American Places |
| Notable Features: | 5 balls for 5 cents. Flippers (2), Pop bumpers (2), Passive bumpers 5), Kick-out holes (4), The kick-out hole between the flippers functions as an end-of-ball bonus. Handicap Scoring feature (Automatic Replay Percentaging). |
| Design by: | Harry Williams |
| Art by: | George Molentin |
| Notes: | The manufacturer's flyer indicates this game introduced "Handicap Scoring". When this feature is enabled by the operator, getting a certain number of replays causes the score needed for the first replay to increase for the next game. After a number of games are played without earning more replays, the score needed for a replay decreases. The score needed for the first replay, called the "lited skill score" on the score card, lights up in one of five colored areas in the lower left portion of the backglass.
This feature is controlled by a separate step unit in the backbox that increments in step with the replay unit and decrements a step each time a replay is played off. If the feature is disabled by the operator, the five colored areas will not light and the first replay will always occur at some fixed score. A different score card will then be used, one that does not make reference to a "lited skill score".
Handicap Scoring is an unusual feature for an electromechanical pin game. A more sophisticated version appeared in solid state games starting with Williams' 1986 'High Speed' and was referred to as Auto-percentaging.
If anyone has internal access to this game, please contact us with your photographs. We hope to document the operational details of this feature. |
| Photos in: |
The Pinball Compendium 1930s - 1960s, page 64
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| Files: | 2 MB | PDF | Promotional Photo - Retouched - Large Size | [Williams Manufacturing Co.] |
| | 2 MB | PDF | Promotional Photo - Unretouched - Large Size | [Williams Manufacturing Co.] |
| | 201 KB | PDF | Score Cards | [Williams Manufacturing Co.] |
Images:
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| Average Fun Rating: | 8.0/10 (292 ratings/199 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: | February 02, 1992 |
| Model Number: | 50004 |
| Common Abbreviations: | HS2, HSII |
| MPU: | Williams WPC (Fliptronics 2) |
| Type: | Solid State Electronic (SS) |
| Production: | 13,259 units (confirmed) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | Cops - Driving - Police - Speeding |
| Notable Features: | Flippers (3), Pop bumpers (3), 3-bank standup targets (5), Left ramp with a diverter (which diverts the ball either to the Supercharger ball accelerator or to the left habitrail), Diverter on the upper right side of the playfield (which diverts the ball either to the right orbit or to the ball lock on the right side of the playfield), Left outlane kickback, Kick-out hole (1), 3-ball Multiball, Autoplunger, Video mode, "Supercharger" Magnetic ball accelerator. Gear shift (for launching the ball and for shifting gears during main gameplay, as well as the video mode). |
| Toys: | Red police light on top of the backbox. Traffic light on the upper-right side of the playfield. |
| Design by: | Steve Ritchie |
| Art by: | Doug Watson, Mark Sprenger |
| Dots/Animation by: | Scott Slomiany |
| Mechanics by: | Carl Biagi, Greg Tastad |
| Music by: | Dan Forden |
| Sound by: | Dan Forden |
| Software by: | Dwight Sullivan |
| Notes: | Doug Watson did the backglass art and Mark Sprenger did all other art.
According to Doug Watson, it is Steve Ritchie in the driver's seat of the getaway car.
This game uses the song, "La Grange" (by ZZ Top), as its theme song.
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There are two versions of this game. The manufacturer's flyer shows the 1st version. In this listing, all photographic images are of the 2nd version unless marked '1st version". Notable differences between the versions are as follows:
1) 1st version was not diamond coated.
2) 1st version's five gear inserts do not have curved text above them saying "Redline RPM to Collect Gear Value" and the numbering below then is 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, without the word "Gear" appearing with each one. The 2nd version has the curved text and the ordinal numbering includes the word "Gear" such as 1st Gear, 2nd Gear, etc.
3) 1st version has the word "Supercharger" in front of the supercharger ramp entrance. The 2nd version does not.
4) Added ball deflector to rear glass channel on later versions to prevent air balls from falling into cabinet (top left corner).
5) Bar code added to left return lane under diamond coat on later version.
6) 1st version used a standard 23/850 coil and bell armature assembly for the ball launcher. Later version used a much larger, more powerful assembly.
7) 1st version has a single playfield hinge, not allowing playfield to be pulled forward for servicing. Switches and brackets were also moved on later versions to suit later style playfield hinge system. The early version also has 2 extra GE lights on the right side of the playfield, but they were removed to fit the new hinge system.
8) 1st version cabinet front decal art shows the headlights of the car from the backglass and no wording. The 2nd version does not have the headlights and the name "The Getaway" was added under the coin door.
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This game is renowned for blowing U20 on the MPU board. This is caused by balls getting stuck under slingshots, which can smash the bulb, shorting the bulb filament to the sling switch and instantly blowing U20. If you have a switch matrix problem that says "Ground Short" check under your slings for a lodged ball.
If checking for voltage to "Mars Lamp" Red rotating light, the manual states 48VAC but the correct voltage is 20VAC.
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Included in this listing are pictures of a prototype "mountain" that was not installed on production games. Reportedly, there were only twenty formed, with six of them cut and fitted for the game. Steve Ritchie comments:"The vacuform "mountain / tunnel" was deleted from the design as a cost reduction. Only a few were painted, and that was where the big cost savings came in. [The reported] quantity numbers sound right, but it was a long time ago." |
| Marketing Slogans: |
"Shift into High Gear!"
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| Photos in: |
The Complete Pinball Book, pages 145 and 163
The Pinball Compendium 1982 to Present, page 156
Mike Pacak's Pinball Flyer Reference Book G-R
Pinball Perspectives, pages 10, 97-101
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| Rule Sheets: |
High Speed II: The Getaway Guide (Mar/03/1994), by Sigma
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| Easter Eggs: | Available at Cows and Easter Eggs (External site) |
| Additional Media: | Promotional Video (at YouTube) (External site) |
| ROMs: | 512 KB | BIN | Game ROM - Prototype P-7 | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc] |
| | 223 KB | ZIP | Game ROM - Prototype P-C | |
| | 223 KB | ZIP | Game ROM L-1 | |
| | 225 KB | ZIP | Game ROM L-2 | |
| | 232 KB | ZIP | Game ROM L-3 | [Williams Electronic Games] |
| | 288 KB | ZIP | Game ROM L-5 | [Williams Electronic Games] |
| Documentation: | 4 MB | PDF | English Manual (OCR searchable) | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 200 KB | TXT | Parts List | |
| | 2 MB | PDF | WPC Schematic Manual (Revised May 17, 1993) | [Williams Electronic Games Inc.] |
| Files: | 5 MB | PDF | Graphic Rule Sheet (French language) | [Jacques Detroyat] |
Images:
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| Date Of Manufacture: | 1984 |
| MPU: | Stern M-100 MPU |
| Type: | Solid State Electronic (SS) |
| Production: | Never Produced |
| Theme: | Sports - Bicycling |
| Specialty: | Mechanical Backbox Animation
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| Notable Features: | Flippers (4), Pop bumpers (2), Spinning target (1). This game contained both EM relays and SS circuitry.
Sound: 4 chimes. Whenever the flippers were active, a cassette player (in a boom box inside the cabinet) would play the Kraftwerk song "Tour de France" as background music. |
| Design by: | Jon Norris |
| Notes: | According to an interview published in the Pinball Trader, designer Jon Norris printed fifteen promotional flyers for this game and naturally gave them all away.
We previously identified this game as 4-player but then asked Jon about it. He comments:Tour de France was indeed a 2-player game, made in 1984. The backglass had a bagatelle unit that took up a lot of space, so I had the dip switch on the CPU board set to 2-player mode. There were only two displays, plus the ball-in-play display. The game also featured full background music (prior to High Speed and Hollywood Heat) using a boom box with an endless cassette tape that was activated using the flipper-enable relay. The game was a hybrid solid state (using Stern 'Stars') and electro-mechanical (using Gottlieb step units that lit a special). |
| Photos in: |
Pinball Trader, Vol 2 No. 4, March-April 1988, pages 12-13
The Pinball Compendium 1982 to Present, page 67
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Images:
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![Image # 17488: Chicago Express Billboard Ad
(The Billboard, [date unknown])](https://www.ipdb.org/images/503/tn_image-1.jpg)
