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GUEST EDITORIAL
''No Business Like Show Business''
By Louis Boasberg
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On the first day of the AMOA Show last October,
we noticed many players and spectators very interested
in a certain game at the Williams booth. Each time we
passed the Williams booth, we noticed the crowds were
even larger.
What attracted the attention of all these people?
Believe it or not, a flipper game called Space Shuttle. No
pinball game, that we can remember, has caused as
much excitement at a coin machine show since the early
30s, when Dave Rockola showed two big hits- Jig Saw
and World Series.
These two great games were not flipper games, but
amusement pinball games. I believe World Series holds
the record for pin games sold- approximately 45,000.
I managed to get through the crowds for a good look
at Space Shuttle. With its slick, appealing playfield, it was
beautiful, and different. But knowing the hit of the show,
usually proved to be the lemon of tomorrow, we decided
the proof was in the testing.
I am happy to report that testing by distributors has
proven the show jinx broken. Joe Dillon has a hit on his
hands, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
If anything ever approached being 100 percent
American like apple pie, Yankee Doodle, and the Fourth
of July, it's the flipper pinball. Gottlieb's motto was , "As
American as hot dogs and baseball." Although other
countries have out-researched and out-developed us on
video games, no country has beaten the U.S .A in the
development and manufacturing of flipper games.
The flipper pinball will be with us forever. By using
proven past features and initiating new features , manu-
facturers will be able to make better flipper pin balls in the
future.
There have been thousands of good flippers made,
but only a few have been superlative. Bally's Eight Ball
Deluxe, and its sequels, is a flipper game that will be good
'til the end of time. We wonder why Bally, and other
manufacturers, does not employ technicians, psycholo-
gist, psychiatrists, and survey experts to find out what
makes Eight Ball Deluxe a great game; then make similar
games.
It could be balance, sound, playfield configuration,
graphics, theme or some mysterious attraction pinball
aficionados cannot resist. We would venture a guess that
it's a combination that makes Eight Ball Deluxe the best
flipper of all time.
Manufacturers, distributors , and operators should
remember that good percentaging is an essential part of
the appeal of any flipper game . It's tough to reach the
happy medium , presenting the player with enough free
play, extra balls, match plays, and other things to keep
him satisfied, yet ensure a profit for the operator and
location .
Manufacturers should remember that any deviation
in the size of a pinball game, larger or smaller, is an
instant novelty. However, deviation in size should not be
overdone, as it was when wide-bodied games were intro-
duced in the late '70s and early '80s. Once in a while, a
large, luxurious game would be a great novelty and
collections would justify its higher price . But, as a steady
diet , such games would no longer be novelties.
We think there is a need for a cocktail table type
pinball. No game lends itself to a cocktail table like a
flipper, because of its simplicity . A flipper pinball, with its
built-in minimum of skill and maximum luck features , can
ensure that a female can compete with a male, and either
one can emerge the winner.
This writer feels that flippers are show business ,
more so than video games. A good flipper game brings to
mind a Broadway musical with its bright lights, fast
action , and the sounds of the thumper bumpers reviving
memories of the tap dancing in 42nd Street and A
Chorus Line. It is no wonder that Roger Sharpe, the
world's greatest authority on flippers , has such an affec -
tion for pinball games. Roger, living in New York City,
close to the Broadway scene, recognizes a similarity
between a hit flipper pinball game and a hit Broadway
show.
Let us hope that some day we will have a Flipper Hall
ofF arne. We shall enshrine in this Hall ofF arne such con-
tributors to flipper history as Dave Gottlieb, Judd Wein-
berg, Harry Williams, Lynn Durant , Norm Clark, Steve
Kordek, Paul Calamari, Cliff Strain and, last but not
least, Harry Mabs, designer of the first flipper game,
Humpty Dumpty.
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PLAY METER. February 15. 1985