Guest Editorial
Give us more thrills,
more gimmicks
By Louis Boasberg
I kn ow flipper manufacturers will hate me for saying so
but in mv opinion they will have to instruct their designers
and engineers to do just a little bit more in the future than
rearrange rollovers , drop targets , pop bumpers , spinning
targets and other time tested and "safe" features .
If players are going to pay the price now demanded for
playing flippers , and if operators are going to pay the
price that manufacturers are asking for flippers , these
manufacturers have got to give both operators ,
distributors and the public different thrills and different
gimmicks and different features .
The designers and engineers in the future have to be a
little bit more daring and ingenious. Solid state has been a
great shot in the arm for the flipper industry , but even
solid state will not carry the load forever especially when
all games are solid state .
Up to this point most manufacturers take the idea that
all they have to do to have a successful game is to cleverly
rearrange playfields, but this rearranging , no matter how
clever, may not be enough for the future .
There have been several manufacturers who have
dared to be "different ." The first daring step was made by
Atari when it engineered a larger, more beautiful flipper
game . A game that caught the eye almost immediately;
unfortunately , Atari ran into engineering problems on its
early models .
We look for many new features in the future such as
lower playfields ; that is , the distance between the glass
and playfield extended to permit some new features such
as balls rolling on tracks, loop-the-loop , and even
perhaps a multi-level playfield .
Any deviation from the standard size of a flipper game
whether it be larger or smaller always brings momentary
novelty play , as witnessed by the giant pingame
engineered by Bally for a television show . Everyone at
the AMOA Show wanted to see this giant game
manufactured by Bally , but Bally declined with regrets
because the price would have been prohibitive . Perhaps a
smaller flipper game will be made in the future by some
PLAY METER, June, 1978
manufacturer. This game would be a novelty, and if the
game were approximately 40 to 42 inches long and 19 to
21 inches wide , it could be operated in locations where
space is a premium , and it also would be a novelty in
arcades and game rooms .
I look to see double playfield games with one large
backboard enabling two players to play the game at the
same time . Perhaps this is a one-shot idea but,
nevertheless, a novelty which could get a big play. The
two playfield feature was used very successfully on games
forty years ago , and the idea was tried without success in
the past few years by several manufacturers who tried
making a longer game with the backboard in the center
and the players at each end of the game . If the two
playfields were right next to each other where boy meets
girl and boy challenges girl , or friend beats friend, to my
way of thinking it would make for an excellent novelty
game , at least something that could be built at
intermittent periods.
I look for a revival of the illuminated, three-dimension -
al mirror image playfield first used by Chicago Coin on
one of its guns and later used by Allied on a flipper game .
Bv usinQ this illuminated mirror imaQe plavfield feature, it
would enable a manufacturer to make a game
one-and-a-half to two feet shorter than the usual pinball
game ; allOWing a flipper game not only to be operated in
locations that do not have the space for an ordinary
flipper game , but would disguise the usual flipper game
making it almost an upright game .
Beautiful , animated backboards with plenty of action
may be something to try in the future . Spectator appeal is
always enticing in a game as it induces a spectator to try
the game himself. There is no doubt that the age of solid
state flippers will bring many innovations in sounds to the
game industry .
Ours is a wonderful, resourceful, ingenious industry
that overcomes all obstacles, including depression,
inflation , and eventually all hypocritical laws and
ordinances.
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