![]() ![]() As was usual, the game would follow a testing process to gather feedback from players out in the marketplace. All the artwork, software, playfield features and rule sets were complete – the game was done. You can view the whole document hereīased on Anghelo’s designs, just two finished cabinets were produced. Once the jackpot is scored, the ball is returned to the first lower playfield to try again. Using two small flippers, the player drops three targets to reveal a jackpot behind. If the shot is successfully made, the elephant raises its head, rolling the ball to a third level, and here another key shot can be made to a magnetic ball lifter, which raises the ball to the goal area – a clown’s playfield. The second level is made up of a series of metal rings with a single flipper – here the player has to fire the ball up another ramp towards an elephant’s trunk (of all things). The player starts on the lower playfield, where the aim is to deliver the ball to the second level via a ramp to the centre left area. ![]() The game is played on a series of levels – and getting to each level brings bigger rewards, but doing so presents an increasing amount of risk and difficulty. Note the traditional flipper button still visible on the right As you can see, The Pinball Circus bears little resemblance to a traditional pinball table. Rather than having a horizontal playfield stretching out in front of the player, why not have one that plays vertically as well? Working to that idea, The Pinball Circus was developed. He worked on the premise of changing the traditional flat play axis of pinball, and literally turned it on its head. Starting with a blank sheet of paper, Anghelo got to work, and let his imagination run riot. We’ve looked at some of Anghelo’s ground-breaking work here on the blog before. Angelo was responsible for some of the greatest legendary pinball tables releases, including Bad Cats, Big Guns, Comet, Cyclone, Pin-Bot and Taxi. This mammoth task (and a healthy budget of $1.5 million) was given to designer Python Anghelo on account of his stellar design work on tables up to that point. The challenge was to totally rethink that standard ‘table’ layout, and try something new. The licences, artwork, rule sets and playfield layouts might differ from table to table, but at its core, pinball is a constant. Put simply, you have a large playfield flat in front of you, two flippers to keep the ball in play and make shots, and a vertical backglass.īut back in 1993, Midway Manufacturing Company (then a subsidiary of Williams – famous for its pinball and video game releases) wanted to completely change players’ perceptions of what pinball should be. The 80s and 90s saw what is regarded as the Golden Age of pinball, with designers stretching their creativity to give the player more to do and a bigger bang for their buck.īut ultimately, pinball is pinball – and this remains true to this day. This moved pinball away from the clunky nature of electromechanical design, and opened up the possibilities of entertaining players with new toys, ramps, sound effects, speech and multi-level play fields. There’s been advances over the years of course – the most fundamental being the appearance of electronic components, PCBs and microchips in the 80s. I’m guessing that if you picture the phrase ‘pinball machine’ in your mind, we all create the same basic image. If you want to relive the days of the arcades, or share the past with your kids or grandkids, this is the place to go and is well worth the stop.In terms of their design and construction build, pinball machines have fundamentally remained the same throughout the years. Ther is a good restaurant/pub next door so you can grab a bite to eat. They have a great mix of machines including mechanical and electronic pinballs as well as a mix of video games. The added bonus is that the owner actually runs the place and is an arcade enthusiast. The prices on the games are very reasonable, most of them are working 100%, and are well maintained. Its well lit, clean, and not a teen pot dealing hangout. MSA has some key differences from the arcades you may remember. Even though its in an older part of town I still felt safe being there after dark. Also check to make sure they are open since they aren't open all the time. The location is great with the only challenge sometimes being finding a parking place. But Main Street Amusements captures those days and you can take a step back in time. But for the most part those old school arcades disappeared. If you are older than 30 you probably remember hanging out at the arcade playing pinball and video games. ![]()
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