Play Meter

Issue: 1977 March - Vol 3 Num 5

" I was just envisioning the
artwork, Mord. I said, 'Hair, hair.' I
see a backglass of oily black hair
flowing down onto the playboard in
a continuation type of presentation
brooded over by the scowling figure
of Arthur Fonzarelli resplendent in a
black leather jacket which lights up
100,000 points in the padded
shoulders when the player turns the
machine over." Princeton fondled
his headband nervously.
" Good, good, shows you ' re
thinking , taking the ball and running
with it; I like initiative on my team,
Princeton . Can 't stand 'yes-men'.
. Sonny? "
" Yes, Mord .. . ?"
" It's time for some big decisions,
Sonny. Pop bumpers and playing
surfaces - any new approaches for
Oa Fonz? "
Sonny paused reflectively . " Mord ,
you know how we ' re always getting
criticized because the finish on our
playfield gets cracks in it?"
"Yes," Mord responded, "have
you solved that problem?" .
" No, but I think if we paint The
Fonz's motorcycle on the playfield
the cracks will blend right into the
tires and lend a real authentic ' used'
appearance . Ought to be a smash
feature. "
"Innovative . .. I like it, Sonny ..
. shows .. . flexibility. Anything in
pop bumpers? "
"Well, I have been experimenting
with a new type where the bulbs
don't burn out for long periods,
sometimes weeks, but I'm not sure
the operators could stand the
transition yet.
They're used to
changing lamps every two days .
We may have to introduce this
concept gradually, like maybe one
pop bumper in a cluster will be wired
properly so the lamp burns at the
correct rating ."
Mord frowned and chewed on the
" You ' re a warm
end of his tie.
human being, Sonny ." He shifted
his gaze. "Hod, flippers? "
" Yeah, M ord, gotcha.
We
haven't been standing around pick-
ing our noses down in the flipper
department either, ya know . We've
come up with something never tried
before - one flipper ."
"One flipper! " Mord screamed
increduously .
" One flipper, 16 inches long, and
it takes two hands to press the
button . Oa Fonz will be the first
game in America to take this
direction in flippers ."
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" But are you sure it'll catch on,
Hod?"
" Replacement coils'li sell for
$9 .95 each ."
"Let's try it, what the Hey . .. can
you supply us with those coils,
Link?"
" There'll be the usual two to three
week delay on those parts, Mord,
but yeah , we'll be getting them in."
" Howaboutthewiring problems?"
Link stared at the solder gun
burns that qualified his hands for
Hiroshima survivor benefits. "We're
gettin' better, we're gettin' better.
Last month our Unguentine con-
sumption decreased by one full
can ."
"Colonel Armsby, what can you
contribute to this session?"
The Colonel puffed militantly on a
corn-cob pipe . " Um-puff-um-puff-
Sir, we in the Credit and Replay
section have a splendid idea . You
know that little window that shows
the player how many games credit
he has up - puff-puff - we' re going
to put that little window right in The
Fonz' s left eye so every time the
player wins a game - puff - The
Fonz will throw him or her a big
wink - puff-puff."
" Colonel, you've out-done your-
self. "
" Thank - puff-puff - YO ll, Mord,
sir . "
" How about those coin micro-
switches that fail to give th e player
proper credit for a quarter? Has
your department remedied that?"
The Colonel mumbled somethi nn
unintelligible, obscene, and negd
tive .
" Da Fonz is taking shape, men,"
Mord beamed , basking his com-
rades in a fatherly grin , " and I, for
my part , will be out signing our star,
Henry Winkler , to be a personal
endorsement and appearance con-
tract .
This pinball machine, I
predict, will be the biggest seller
since The Wizard . About the only
thing that co uld go wrong is if Henry
Winkler would co me out in the
middle of our promotion campaign
and co nfess to being a bi-sexual or
something .
" And how likely is that? . . .
Dismissed , men ."
YOU HA VE INPUT. " Mailbox" is
the part of Play Meter that is most
truly yours . If you like something , let
us know . If you don 't , let us know . '
If you don ' t talk . We can't listen.
Critic's Corner
(continued from page 34 )
that if you ' re good at something ,
keep doing it because you'll only get
better and better . Well , welcome to
yet another drop target heaven (or
should I say haven?) with this
one-player entry that should cause
quite a 'racket' if you 're ' courting '
some 'net' gains in play . (Don't
mind the previous line, it's a
throwback to an era when I was an
advertising copywriter filled with
punishing remarks.) Anyway back
to the matter at hand, Volley, wh ich
does serve up a great deal of action .
Fifteen, count 'eml Fifteen drop
targets in a splendid array of blue,
green and yellow dot the center of
the playfield . And this is the action
of the game although everything
here pulls together nicely. The most
important aspect of the game is that
Gottlieb hasn' t forgotten the single-
player. And this I think is important
only because the play action can be
different than what it is for
mUlti-player games . Plus Gottlieb
has a way with feeling very
comfortable with this type of game;
they've proven it in the past and
show no sign of letting up . (I've
seen three other single-player
models yet to be released which are
truly good games for their own
genre .)
The top of Volley is difficult, but
the challenge to beat it may rest
more with how the location has
'tightened' or ' loosened' the lanes .
There's three of them, interestingly
(from left to right) colored blue,
yellow and green . Three thumper
bumpers spread the top for some
good upward mobility although the
placement makes for a hard return-
to-the-top shot from the flippers .
Skill. Remember that word for this
game, because a player can 't get by
on good looks alone . (I know .)
The drop targets, which I men-
tioned earlier, are placed at the
center in such a way that the blue
targets (five in all) are placed at the
left at a rather perpendicular angle
to the flippers . The same holds true
for the green drop targets at the
right . While at the top middle facing
head on are the yellow targets .
Side lanes at either edge behind
the plastic of the drop targets can
be dead man' s land if the ball drains
down the side. The Gottlieb bottom
harkens back to Bank Shot and
Sure Shot with those annoying little

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