I know a lot of people say Gottlieb is the king of EM games, but to me mid to late 70's pins that were most sought after to play were Bally's.
I wonder how much influence Tommy had on players during that era. It seemed like Gottlieb had some great card games, but in general it seemed that Bally dominated the parlors.
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I wish I could comment on that myself. But i was born late 70 but if you give me the choice today of a gotlieb or a bally from the 70s i would go for bally myself.
Life is like Pinball!! You never know where you will bounce or where your going but sometimes you have that one amazing shot But on the other hand you have those darn gutter ball where you just get frustrated.
From the EM's I've played, which have mostly been limited to Gottlieb's and Bally's, I have to agree that Bally machines seem to have much better flow and layout than the Gottlieb titles I've played.
Seems that the Bally's had less "dead" spots, and more action, but that could just be me.
Later, on the vid side, no contest...other than Q-Bert, I'm not sure I can name more than five successful titles from Gottlieb.
Later, on the vid side, no contest...other than Q-Bert, I'm not sure I can name more than five successful titles from Gottlieb.
Q*Bert, Q*Bert's Qubes, Reactor, Juno First (although licensed from Konami...), Mad Planets, and the 2 awesome Laserdisc games that I popped hundreds of quartes in... M.A.C.H.3 and Us Vs Them.
I wish I could comment on that myself. But i was born late 70 but if you give me the choice today of a gotlieb or a bally from the 70s i would go for bally myself.
At the risk of having baby face Mark chime in. It is really a shame to have missed that era. This was when pinball was really commercially viable, no vids, and there were litterly lines of machines to be played.
I do like my DMD machines better, but given what was available to play out there at the time, it was really exciting to see so many machines to choose from. I also found that serviceability issues were not as prevalent. Either they were more rugged or they got turned over at a faster rate.
As for Bally they did tend to have more variety. The flippers to me had the best action and the themes were interesting. They also had a more robust appearance to their cabs and standardized the sizes of the cabs which was more like choosing what flavour of pinball you wanted to play as opposed to it looking like a hodge podge of machines.
I'd have to agree with Necro .. a number of titles come to mind Eight Ball Deluxe, Mati Hari, Powerplay, the orignal Playboy plus a bunch of others were all great titles.
Squid
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I'd have to agree with Necro .. a number of titles come to mind Eight Ball Deluxe, Mati Hari, Powerplay, the orignal Playboy plus a bunch of others were all great titles.
Squid
Reading Necro's post, I'm not sure if he is referring to the early 70s Bally EMs or the 70s in general. All the games you mention were early solid state, although Mati Hari was available in both.
I believe most collectors recognize Gottlieb as the king of EMs in the 60s and prior. It's universally accepted that Bally ruled the 70s which is clearly evidenced by their record breaking games: Wizard, Captain Fantastic, Eight Ball, Eight Ball Deluxe, etc.
I think they lost it in the 80s at some point to Williams. Probably about the time Gorgar came out.
At the risk of having baby face Mark chime in. It is really a shame to have missed that era.
I think every generation feels that way. For me, I feel for today's kids missed out on the arcade experience. My father-in-law probably thinks of the soda foundation and jukeboxes. .
That said, arcades were truely cool in the 80s. It seemed every week or two there was a new game. And I was lucky. There were a few arcades on eight ave that were HUGE. They would often have 6 of the same game side by side. Imagine walking in and seeing a game you never saw AND there were 6 of them side by side. Cool!
They ALL lost it in the 80's to vids and consoles later on. Williams did get back up with High Speed, Space Shuttle and Pinbot, but Bally never recovered and Willy bought them out. Gottlieb on the other hand kept on going pretty much like they did in the late 70's - early 80's (other than Hoaunted House and Black Hole...). They pumped out a few modest titles up until their demise in 96.
I think every generation feels that way. For me, I feel for today's kids missed out on the arcade experience. My father-in-law probably thinks of the soda foundation and jukeboxes.
Well it's been an interesting ride, going from pinball, to video games and computers and onto consoles. I consider myself a product of the gaming generation. I don't know what people did in the past for entertainment but I sure as hell am happy that I was born when I was with all sorts of neat stuff to play around with.
Well it's been an interesting ride, going from pinball, to video games and computers and onto consoles. I consider myself a product of the gaming generation. I don't know what people did in the past for entertainment but I sure as hell am happy that I was born when I was with all sorts of neat stuff to play around with.
...which, interestingly enough, can also be called "bored" games ....
As for my take on Pins, being a true 80's teen, I can only say that the very first time I saw Firepower, it was the COOLEST thing I have even seen in my whole life !
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