Rock N’ Roll Pinball

The majority of times I tell someone new about my pinball enthusiasm they either sing parts of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” or at least mention it. Occasionally someone will reference the rock opera “Tommy” directly, which helped solidify a connection between pinball and rock and roll. However there are few machines that cater to audiophiles and even fewer non-music themed tables that incorporate rock music. Here are a few you can still find touring around town. – Kayla Greet

Beat Time – 1967 Williams EM with an obvious Beatles theme with out directly saying so, the back glass features 4 men with black bob cuts being fawned over by 3 girls.

Wizard! – 1975 Bally EM, This was the first of three pins themed after The Who’s “Tommy” and includes a rendering of Roger Daltry and Anne Margaret on the backglass.

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy – 1976 Bally EM, Also “Tommy” themed but features Elton John’s character playing pinball on the back glass and playfield.

Nugent – 1978 Stern, If you’ve got a case of “Cat Scratch Fever,” grab a copy of “Kill it and Grill it” and rock out with the Ted Nugent. Backglass features the cover of Weekend Warriors.

Dolly Parton – 1979 Bally, The table is covered in butterflies, vinyl, music notes and the country singer herself though no reference to her musical catalog.

KISS – 1979 Bally, One of the most metal looking playfields ever complete with fire breathing dragons, babes and guys in make up. Complete KISS targets 4 times for a COLOSSAL BONUS.

Rolling Stones – 1980 Bally, This has a target that when hit plays the hit “Satisfaction” and there are references to other songs throughout the playfield.

The Who’s Tommy – 1994 Data East, debuted at the Dallas Hard Rock Cafe and has many tie-ins to the classic rock opera. Also features one of the most difficult Skill Shots into the parachute at the top of the playfield to be made off of the plunge.

Guns and Roses – 1994 Data East, Has both a gun and rose plunger, 9 GnR tunes including “Ain’t Goin Down” which was only released for this machine, and a 6 ball Riot Mode multi-ball.

Monster Bash – 1998 Williams SS DMD, The six classic Universal Monsters in a rock band! Fans of horror and music alike flock to this game’s theme. Frankenstein on keyboard, Bride on vocals, Mummy on bass, Dracula on guitar, Creature on sax, and Wolfman on drums. Activate all six modes for the Monster Bash to start. Or if you’re really good, get Monsters of Rock going by collecting all the instruments. And there’s always the Monster Mosh Pit to jump into!

Elvis – 2004 Stern, Includes 8 memorable tunes from the King as well as tie in toys such as a hound dog, the Heart Break Hotel and a hip shaking Presley.

The Rolling Stones -2011 Stern, Depicts an older version of the band members, many toys including a standup Mic Jagger target that prances around the playfield and plays many of the Stones’ classics.

AC/DC – 2012 Stern, A well designed music tie in with tons of toys including a “Rock ‘n’ Roll Train” and “Hell’s Bell.” Player can toggle through a jukebox like list of songs to select which mode to start with. Excellent sound quality, lower mini playfield and a cannon!

Metallica – 2013 Stern, This new pin has excellent sound quality and song choices plus incredible original artwork. Sparky appears in an electric chair on the  playfield as one of the 3 or 4 multiball modes. The 3 in line stand up targets progress you to Grave Marker Multiball, the Snake scoop advances you to Snake Multiball and on the Premium edition you get Coffin Multiball as a fourth.Other Tables with Rock music:

Twilight Zone (Bally) – theme song is “Twilight Zone” by Golden Earring. 
High Speed II: the Getaway (Williams) – Plays “La Grange” by ZZ Top as the main song.
Back to the Future (Data East) – theme song by Huey Lewis and the News.
Creature from the Black Lagoon (Williams) – has 50’s Chuck Berry sounding rock.
Dale Jr. (Stern) – plays “Can’t Drive 55” by Sammy Hagar.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (Sega) – Edgar Winters Group “Frankenstein” is a song option.