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Tag Archives: Elvira and the Party Monsters


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REVIEW: Pop Bumper Showdown, Part 2: Comet Pinball

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(Part one of this series can be found by following this link…)

It is no secret that Comet Pinball is a friend of Credit Dot. The Comet Pinball logo adorns the front page of this site as a partner for crying out loud! I’ve been buying from Art Rubin at Comet since he started the company a few years back. When talking about doing this series of articles on pop bumper lighting, Mr. Rubin, being the stand up, honest and right-down-the-middle-type guy he is, made it clear he wanted an honest and fair review of his products. And that’s what he’ll get. The Comet Pinball approach to pop bumper lighting follows the philosophy of the company as a whole: lighting comes down to personal tastes, and Comet offers a plethora of solutions to try and please those tastes. In Mr. Rubin’s own words:

“Personal preferences start with the player. It is not hard to learn what brightness and lighting effects please an individual. The joy of doing this, and the unique result, is as personal as decorating a Christmas tree. I would like to think that most people would enjoy tweaking the look of their game immensely [with different lighting solutions] and having a completely unique result!”

Thus, instead of offering just one pop bumper lighting choice, Comet Pinball offers many. I was able to get my hands on a few of Comet’s solutions to lighting the pops, and put them through the motions in a hands-on test.

Background:

Mr. Rubin has been providing the pinball community with LED solutions since September 2013 and is a very active member of the pinball community as a whole (he can be found posting quite frequently on Pinside as “OLDPINGUY”). For a more complete look at Comet, you can read the interview Credit Dot conducted with Mr. Rubin in October of 2014. As you wade through the Comet Pinball catalog, you are bound to notice Comet’s newest pop bumper lighting option comes in the form of a disc, and adds to an already robust lineup of bumper lighting options. This review format will differ from that of the BriteCaps EVO review that appeared last week, for organization sake. Five different Comet products were procured for test.

Traditional 555 Options:

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Traditional 555 Options from Comet (L to R): the 4+1SMD Tower, the 2SMD Faceted bulb and the 6LED Crystal Fan.

Some folks may not be satisfied with the look that an SMD insert gives to their bumpers, so Comet offers a few options with a traditional 555 wedge base. For purposes of testing, I was able to play with three selections: the 6 LED Crystal Fan, 4+1 SMD Tower and the 2 SMD Faceted Lens Supreme Brightness No Ghosting bulb. Knowing that Pin*Bot would be the Guinea pig, I colour-matched all the options available to red. These options, while giving a more traditional centre-lit look to the bumpers, really do pack some power. If you are on a budget, or simply rally against non-traditional forms of pop bumper lighting, there are some options here for you. For less than five bucks you can bring brightness back to your pops. Of the three options I tested, I would absolutely recommend the 6LED Crystal Fan. It has a look that can’t be beat, while not being too harsh on the eyes. Despite being the only LED in the bunch, the LED “crystals” are arranged in such a way that it appears as the brightest option and disperses the light in both an even and far reaching manner. The 2SMD bulb really didn’t stand out in testing. The faceted lens worked to even out the brightness of the traditionally harsh SMD, but the light had to fight through that lens AND the pop bumper cap, thus appearing a bit tired as well negatively focussing the light source to a single area. The 4+1 tower, frankly, didn’t fit within the confines of the Pin*Bot pop bumper. Having restored the Pin*Bot, I had switched the socket with the flat wire leads out for the more reliable socket with insulated leads. The insulated lead socket doesn’t sit flush with the bottom of the bumper base, thus taking away a few millimeters, which the 4+1 Tower absolutely needs to sit properly within the base. The accompanying photo shows that the Tower had to sit at a 45 degree angle in order for the cap to fit. I tried the tower in a different game that had a socket with insulated leads, and the tower did fit, but the top SMD is so close to the clear bumper cap, that it prevents the light from throwing in a meaningful manner. The 6LED Fan is the clear winner here.

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The top pop bumper contains the crooked 4+1SMD Tower, the middle contains the 6LED Fan and the bottom contains the 2SMD lamp.

Price: 2SMD Faceted Non-Ghosting bulb, $0.89USD each; 6 LED Crystal Fan, $1.39USD each; 4+1SMD Tower, $1.39USD each (bulk discounts available)

Colour Palate: Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, Purple, Natural White, Warm White across all options. 2SMD Faceted and 6LED Fan adds Pink and Orange to the palate.

Comet Rings:

00-compops16Following in the footsteps of BriteMods BriteCaps, Comet Pinball began to offer their own pop bumper rings with the value you’ve come to expect from the Comet brand. While the BriteCap shipped with its own pop bumper cap, the Comet ring came bare, needing to be used in conjunction with your existing cap. The BriteCap and Comet Ring both carry 20 colour SMDs on the top of the ring to light the perimeter of the cap, one SMD in the centre at the base, and ten SMDs on the bottom of the ring to illuminate the playfield. The original BriteCap and Comet Ring vary in three ways: the inclusion of the bumper cap (as stated above), colour selection, and price. The colour selection allows the consumer to choose the colour of the ten bottom SMDs, either natural white or matched with the colour of the SMDs on the top. The Comet Ring comes in at $7.95USD per unit compared to $14.95USD per unit for a BriteCap that will produce a similar, if not identical, look. It is no surprise that BriteMods has moved away from the BriteCap design given Comet’s price point that comes in at half the cost (and have since focused on promotion and production of the BriteCaps EVO line).

The 555 base is attached to the ring with two insulated wire leads.  It is a traditional LED base with the dinky wires that need to be bent and shaped to make a decent connection.  The construction of the ring is slight, but for good reason–when installed it gives a clean, dare I say “sharp”, look.  I really like the results the Comet Ring brought in test. I had red colour-matched rings with natural white bottom lights for the Pin*Bot test, and a set of yellow colour-matched rings with natural white bottoms to test on Mousin’ Around. Given that the BriteCaps EVO, reviewed last week, adds 5 millimeters of height to the bumpers, I believe the rings are a suitable option for those games where clearance would be an issue. The ring nests neatly inside the pop bumper cap adding no height to the pop bumper whatsoever. The light design, while static and non-traditional, is an eye-catcher, especially for those who are used to the traditional, centre-lit incandescent look.  I can remember seeing these in person on a game for the very first time, a Williams Diner, and I was completely taken by the pattern created on the bumper’s perimeter as well as the brightness it brought to the playfield from the bottom lights. The brightness control, adjusted with a Phillips-head screwdriver, works well to dial down the harshness for those with sensitivity to SMD lighting.  I tested the rings at their brightest, with great results.

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A set of Comet Rings installed in Mousin’ Around.

One caveat, and perhaps a major drawback of the rings, is important to mention. Seeing as the Comet rings ship as a stand-alone unit, with no pop bumper cap, it is important that you follow the instructions that Comet sends along with each ring order for successful installation. The rings can be very easily shorted on the metal ring and rod assembly of the bumper. If the ring is shorted, in some cases it will still light, but only at a fraction of its original capabilities. The rings absolutely need to be affixed to the inside of the cap before installation. I’m sure this was a problem for BriteMods, and that is why they ship their BriteCap with a pop bumper cap already attached. I’ll admit, one ring did short during test on Pin*Bot. I had used two dabs of hot glue to keep the rings in place, however it proved to be not enough on one of the caps I installed. I upped the points of glue contact to four for future applications, and have not had a problem since. I used hot glue so that the ring could be removed and replaced with other lighting solutions for testing purposes. It worked well and was fairly innocuous when used sparingly to the underside of the cap, but those that know Comet rings will be their permanent lighting solution may want to use a more permanent adhesive, making sure the selected product will not cloud the clear bumper cap (Krazy Glue or Gorilla Glue will most likely create that unwanted clouding effect, so be careful). Each Comet ring appears to be tested before it leaves company headquarters to make sure all rings are functioning properly upon shipment. There isn’t much that can be done to solve the shorting problem (short of shipping it pre-glued in a bumper cap), but it is completely preventable if consumers carefully follow the installation instructions.

Price: $7.95USD each.

Colour Options: Blue, Amber, Cyan, Green, Red, Purple, Yellow, Warm White, Natural White. Bottom lights come in either natural white, or matched to the colour of the top lights.

Comet Discs:

00-compops17To be clear, the term “disc” is a term I ‘ve coined for the article. Comet offers the product by the name of “11 SMD Pop Bumper Light” but for clarity sake, I’ll call it the Comet Disc as a way to distinguish it from the other options. This is the newest pop bumper lighting option from Comet, and appears to be a cousin of CoinTaker LED’s AfterBurner line of pop bumper lights. The Comet disc is available in either a 555 wedge or a 44/47 bayonet base, making this option versatile for older machines that had 44 incandescent bulbs in the pops. The disc’s small diameter also makes it a viable option for Bally/Williams “Jumper Bumpers”, as found on games like Elvira and the Party Monsters. The disc has an outer diameter of 1 1/2 inches giving it enough surface area for the hardware mounted on it, but small enough to work with older or non-traditional style pop caps.

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The Comet Disc fitting perfectly in a non-traditional bumper cap: the Bally Jumper Bumper.

The traditional base is affixed to the disc via insulated wires, much like the ring. The top of the disc features a large central SMD surrounded by six smaller SMDs available in a wide variety of colours, while the bottom has four natural white SMDs to light the pop bumper body. The discs do a good job of throwing light, looking akin to a disco ball when installed. I used colour-matched red discs in Pin*Bot for testing purposes. I’m not quite sold on the fact that the bottom SMDs “light up” the opaque pop bumper base with any real benefit. It is kind of a waste to have them on the bottom, expecially if your pop bumpers are tucked away in a back corner. I much prefer the bottom lighting on the Comet Rings that light up the playfield rather than the four bottom SMDs which end up being internal. The bottom SMDs may be a feature more beneficial for older games with stand-alone pop bumpers placed in plain view rather than nested under ramps or behind a maze of wireforms. Again, Comet has included a brightness dimmer with this product to reign in the harshness of the SMDs. I found the colour to be more rich when dimmed a bit, rather than leaving it at full brightness. The disc wins in terms of value, lighting your pop bumpers with an SMD flare for less than $15USD for a set of three. However, for an extra five bucks you can get yourself into a set of Comet rings that will really catch your eye.

Price: $4.95USD each.

Colour Options: Blue, Red, Green, Orange, Yellow, Purple, Cyan, Warm White, Natural White. Bottom colour is natural white across all colours, except natural white which comes with a natural white bottom colour.

Bottom Line:

Out of all of the options, I liked the look of the 6LED Fan lights in Pin*Bot the best, and will probably stick with them going forward after I’ve tested all the products in this series (bolster them with the Pinball Life-supplied “Nordman’s Sparkly Pop Bumper Enhancement Thingy” and it will really make them pop). The rings and the discs both took too much away from the plexi Bride playfield that sits atop the pops.  For me, a more traditional look (while taking advantage of modern technology) was necessary. Those looking to light their pops on a budget, I’d highly suggest the fan option from Comet.

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A 2SMD in the top pop bumper, a Comet Ring in the middle, and a Comet Disc in the bottom.

When it comes to a showdown of Ring against Disc, I’d have to choose the Comet Ring on looks alone. I’ve shown the photo of the rings installed on my Mousin’ Around to a few people in my local pinball community and they’ve given nothing but positive feedback. It’s a completely different look than traditional lighting options, and gives a splash of light onto the playfield from the ten bottom SMDs that you don’t get with the disc. If you can look past the fact that you’ll have to install the rings with the utmost of care, it is an option that offers a lot of value as compared to other upscale pop bumper lighting options on the market. The ring is a bit of a non-traditional choice, as it lights the perimeter of the pop bumper and leaves the middle somewhat bare (save for a single SMD at the base). The disc is the opposite, lighting the middle and leaving the perimeter unlit.  In the end, while costing less in the long run, I don’t think the look of the discs are for me.  The Comet Ring offers a “cleaner” overall look. I’d welcome a Comet Pinball product that takes the perimeter lighting of the Ring and the centre lighting of the Disc and fuses them into one lighting solution, much like BriteMods has done with their BriteCaps EVO line. If nothing else, Comet Pinball’s dedication to choice and value really shines through, offering a multitude of pop bumper lighting options to satisfy any pinball enthusiast’s desires at a price that won’t hurt your wallet.

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Credit Dot Pinball/Comet Pinball Contest!

Two Comet Pinball prize packages are up for grabs. The prizes were generously donated by Art from Comet Pinball. Two randomly selected winners will receive some of the products that were tested above, along with some other exclusive Comet Pinball wares. To enter, simply send an e-mail to creditdotpinball@gmail.com with the word “COMET” in the subject line. One entry for the Comet contest per email address please. If you entered the first BriteCaps EVO contest, please enter this contest, too! Two winners will be picked at random (using random.org). Contest closes June 30, 2015 and winners will be announced shortly thereafter. Open to residents of the US and Canada only…I’d love to open it up, I can’t afford to ship stuff overseas!


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HARDWARE: The Elusive “Bally Side Rail”

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Quite a lot of Bally System 11 games have dented side rails.  It’s almost an epidemic.  Read any For Sale description of an Elvira and the Party Monsters, and more often than not, you’ll get a mention of damaged side rails from an errant backbox drop.  They seem be dented and left unfixed in high numbers due of the lack of new (or NOS) replacement rails available in the marketplace.  The rails are an oddball size and only appeared on a handful of games, so parts manufacturers have neglected making them.  Drop the backbox and dent the rails on your WPC machine and it’s a $50 mistake that is easily remedied with an order through Pinball Life.  Dent the rails on your Mousin’ Around? You’re pretty much screwed.  The dents will be a constant reminder of your stupidity.  Might as well get out the hammer and try to bang out the damage, because these rails are pretty hard to source.

The games bearing these rare rails are Truck Stop, Atlantis, Transporter: The Rescue, Elvira and the Party Monsters and Mousin’ Around, and the reference number for the elusive part is A-12359-1 (the parts catalogue mentions that Bally Game Show may also use these rails, however, I cannot find definitive photographic evidence of this–Game Show was the first Bally game to employ the external rounded hinge, which leads me to believe a different shorter rail was used.  If you have leads, or photos, please let me know.)  All of the above mentioned games were manufactured under the “Midway” banner (despite bearing the “Bally” name on the backbox) during a time when Williams had just absorbed the struggling Bally/Midway brand.  The rail length for these games, from end to end, for a System 11 Bally Rail runs 51.5 inches, making it nearly 5 inches longer than the identical looking in every other way WPC side rail (A-12359-3).

Blackwater 100, the first appearance of the thin "Bally Rail"

Blackwater 100, the first appearance of the thin “Bally Rail”

The reason for the extra length is that the backbox on these five Bally games sits on a built-up pedestal of sorts, and the side rails run underneath the backbox to the backside of the cabinet.  The hinges on the backboxes are not external, but rather contained within the backbox pedestal, allowing the rail to run undisturbed to the rear of the cabinet.  Bally games that followed Mousin’ Around had their backboxes sit flush with the cabinet and employ a set of external rounded hinges (similar to other late model Williams System 11 games), thus the side rails had to terminate at the backbox.  (It is interesting to note that Bally Midway’s  March ’88 release Blackwater 100, pre-Williams takeover, appears to be the first “modern game” with the thinner and longer 51.5 inch rail incorporated into the design, however, this version of the rail is affixed to the cabinet with a series of nails running its  length, whereas the later version of the rail we are speaking about here is affixed to the cabinet with double-sided tape, a Torx screw on the back end and a bolt on the front near the flipper button.)  To complicate matters more, rails on the games from the same era bearing the Williams logo, such as Fire!, Earthshaker, Jokerz! and Black Knight 2000 to name a few, were wider in height and incorporated the flipper button right into the rail itself.  You could almost cut two thin Bally rails out of the metal used on one of the Williams games.  Less metal meant cost savings: thus, it should come as no surprise that Williams adopted the thinner Bally-style rail when a standard design for all pinball machines was adopted for the WPC platform in the 1990s.

A quick search shows that Bay Area Amusements has the A-12359-1 rail advertised on their page for purchase; however, like many other desperately needed niche parts listed on their site, they are currently out of stock.  I have checked the page for the last five months, and I have never been lucky enough to find the item available for immediate purchase (if in stock, retail price would be $59.00USD+shipping).  The Ministry of Pinball, the Netherlands-based pin retailer, also lists the rails for purchase (retail price: 29.95 Euro), which remains an option for our Euro friends, but those stateside would pay dearly for shipping due to the awkward size of the parts (you’d have to add another 35.00 Euro for shipping to the US or Canada…it gets cost ineffective pretty quick).

In some rare instances, the rails do pop up for sale.  Not two months ago, a set was offered, and quickly purchased, on Pinside for $125USD (shipping included).  A search of the rec.games.pinball newsgroup shows that a few sets have sold over the years with the asking price ranging between $150USD-$200USD.  RGP also mentions the existence of a user named “Timathie” who manufactured the rails for the RGP community years ago.  As per a post from 2011, it appears that the user is no longer making them.

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERAI bought an Elvira and the Party Monsters game late last summer, and wouldn’t you know it, it had dented side rails from an errant backbox drop.  It was disclosed to me in the original description and photos of the game, so I knew I would be (possibly) snookered if I ever wanted to replace them.  The ingenuity of the pinball collector took over.  I was able to locate a set of new, uninstalled Williams System 11 side rails within the community marketplace at a very reasonable price (the wide ones that incorporated the flipper buttons, which turned out to be a set of these: Pinball Life’s Williams Stainless Steel Side Rail Set – Circa 1989-90, pictured right).  I bought them hoping that they could be precision cut to fit my needs.  Unlike the other Williams System 11 wide rails, this 1989-90 version has no extra nail or screw holes that would be left behind once the excess was trimmed off, and they met the length requirements of 51.5 inches.  I contacted a nearby metal fabrication outfit (CIM Metals Inc. , of Burlington, Ontario, Canada) and for $45CDN they were able to cut both rails, using laser technology to replicate the look of a thin Bally rail for my game.  I pulled off an original dented rail for them to use as a template (they only needed one, each Bally rail is interchangeable with no characteristics or markings that require specific left or right side installation).  They were able to match the original tapering and square screw holes faithfully, which made installation a breeze.   For about $85CDN, all told, I had a new set of undented rails on my EATPM, which was a bit cheaper than finding a NOS set, and a bit less frustrating than waiting around for a North American company to stock them.  I had to jump through a few hoops to get it done, but I’m happy with the results.  I’m not one for total perfection on my games but when an opportunity presents itself, I can’t pass it up.  Here’s hoping someone takes the lead on this and starts producing the Bally rails for the community, in sustainable quantities, as they are sorely needed.  Until then, keep those backbox bolts nice and tight…

Further Reading:

Pinside – For Sale: 51-1/2″ side rails (EatPM, Atlantis, Mousin’) – SOLD
Pinside – WTB- set of Side Rails for Eatpm
Bay Area Amusements – Metal Side Rails (pair) – System 11, etc
Ministry of Pinball – Elvira and the Party Monster Side Rails
rec.games.pinball – EATPM side rails


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FEATURE: GRC’s Elvira and the Party Monsters Re-Theme and Issues of Pinball Objectivity

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(The following article contains one video where multiple pairs of cartoon breasts can be seen. Maybe this is not the best article to read at the family dinner table or at the office, however, you can be the judge on its appropriateness given the previous warning. Enjoy.)

I get it…the whole philosophy of pinball was based on capitalism: getting the maximum amount of quarters out of the pockets of impressionable young boys and into the coin box. The easiest way to do this, short of making a fantastic machine whose layout and gameplay scream for repeat plays, is by filling the backglass and playfield with barely clad women to attract the target teenage demographic. Roy Parker was the grandfather of the sexy pinball lady, illustrating babes in bikinis beginning in the 1950s for Gottlieb, followed closely a decade-and-a-half later by Dave Christensen, who perfected the art of the well endowed woman well into the 80s. Grown-up pinball enthusiasts far and wide, who are probably complete gentlemen outside of the hobby, have kept up the tradition of talking like horny, sex-starved teenage boys when it comes to the subject of women in pinball art. Now that we children of the 80s are “all growed up”, we are seeing objectification rear its ugly head in some very extreme forms. Far be it for me to bellyache about passive objectification of women in pinball art, but one particular instance has been weighing on my mind for quite some time. I’m not the one to carry the feminist rally flag into the pinball arena–others are doing it much better than I ever could–however, the appearance of an Elvira and the Party Monsters re-theme courtesy of Downington, PA-based retailer Gameroom Collectibles really rubbed me the wrong way…so to speak.

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Parker’s 4-Belles (Gottlieb, 1954) and Christensen’s Strikes and Spares (Bally, 1977)

00-elvb02I was introduced to the game via a YouTube video released by the Gameroom Collectibles guys that appeared about seven months ago. The video chronicled the modifications and restoration work done by the GRC team to a 1989 Bally Elvira and the Party Monsters pinball machine. The seductively-dressed Elvira had what little modesty she possessed completely removed: the game features a bare-breasted Mistress of the Dark on the backglass and throughout the playfield. One change on a playfield insert goes as far as to add a tuft of pubic hair to the kneeling illustrated Elvira. Further, the jelly-plastic Boogie Men that danced near the Party Monsters pop bumpers were replaced with a giant set of moulded plastic boobs that shake and dance just as Boogie Men did. This whole re-theme has been dubbed “Elvira and the Boobie Monsters” or “Elvira and the Party Boobs”. Elvira’s breasts on the backglass and near the flippers are cartoonishly large and ill-proportioned, but the effect is clear. Jim from Gameroom Collectibles, your host of the video, is quick to point out that the playfield art was not created in-house, but rather acquired from Robert Winter, a macabre enthusiast and all-around good guy in the pinball hobby. In a Pinside thread, it is revealed that Burlington, WI user “CaptainNeo” was the artist who fleshed out the breasts and applied the clearcoat. They also state that Party Monsters designer Dennis Nordman gave his “thumb of approval” (a mixed metaphor of thumbs up and seal of approval, I’m assuming?) by way of a Facebook post. No word on how original Party Monsters artist Greg Freres feels about the changes to his original artwork.

00-elvb05I’m a huge Elvira fan. A signed picture of her graces my wall of autographs (the wall happens to be in my bathroom, but that’s besides the point). I’ve been a fan of her over-the-top innuendo-laden comedy since I was very young, thanks to some very liberal parents who let me consume such media at a young age. The key to Cassandra Petersen’s classic character is that she was naughty and overtly sexual without actually being lewd or explicitly obscene. It was sex-based comedy for the whole family, relying on double entendre and knee-slapping one-liners to drive home, with a knowing wink, that the whole performance of the Elvira character was a self-reflexive farce. The character was the embodiment of excess without excessive sexuality. Much of her popularity stemmed from from horndog teens in the 80s dreaming of what Elvira looked like without her clothes on. The Elvira and the Party Monsters retheme completely removes this key mystique. Those familiar with Ms. Peterson’s oeuvre will know that nude pictures of her did surface in High Society magazine and on the cover of a Tom Waits album, but this was long before the Elvira character was ever created. The Elvira character proper, to my knowledge, has never bared it all, leaving everything to the imagination. The whole basis of her 1988 movie was to rally against the conservative extremists of small-town America who labelled her a bad influence and a cheap slut, and throughout the film she works to prove to them that her appearance and mannerisms were a sign of expression and freedom, and not a raunchy display of ill-morals. Stand-up comics would be booed off any stage in North America using the corny sexual innuendo Ms. Petersen employed in her act, but it worked in the context of the Elvira character given her extreme appearance. Both Elvira pin-games worked in the same manner: they walked the fine line between suggestive and lewd, never crossing into vulgar territory. Therein lied the charm. Heck, the games even added a failsafe of “clean” versions of audio and, in the case of Party Monsters, offered a “modesty sticker” operators could place over Elvira’s cleavage on the backglass to allow the games to be placed within more conservative environments. The Gameroom Collectibles machine destroys that delectate balance both machines strove for and pulls the game, kicking and screaming, into lewd territory. I don’t think anyone would argue that Elvira’s character embodied the term “classy”, but any class she tried to inject into the character is completely removed by the Gameroom Collectibles re-theme.

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Original Bally flyer for EATPM. The text relies heavily on double entendre and “the tease”.

 

00-elvb04I think the ultimate irony of the video appears when Jim from Gameroom Collectibles dramatically points out that there was a penis carved into the side of the cabinet when it first arrived as a restoration candidate. For some, the addition of a topless Elvira is just as disgraceful as the crudely carved penis. One is expertly crafted with an airbrush and sealed under a glossy clear-coat, and one is barbarically done with a jackknife. I ask: which degrades the game more?

Despite the addition of the nudity, the restoration looks absolutely stellar, as most Gameroom Collectibles restorations do. The machine is spotless, and obviously a lot of care was taken to restore it to its original lustre. Tracking down ramps for this machine back in late-2013 was quite a feat unto itself, as it predates Pinball Inc’s reproductions that appeared in April of this year. A new Classic Playfield Reproductions plastic set and a skull for the lock area round out the playfield work, while new cabinet decals erased the offensive penis. The latter half of the video highlights gameplay, and it looks to play fantastic atop the game’s glass-like clearcoat.

00-elvb01The host of the video tries to keep it as professional as possible…as professional as one can keep it when talking about a game whose main feature is “boobies”. However, there is an air of discomfort. He seems to be almost bashful when talking about the game, and averts his eyes when looking at the backglass–as if looking directly at the spherical masses of cartoon flesh will stimulate blindness. Nerves, perhaps, but the coyness appears genuine, as if there was a tinge of trepidation in the presentation of the overly erotic project. It sounds as if Jim from Gameroom Collectibles spearheaded the project to place in his own collection, yet has a difficult time talking about breasts in any sort of direct manner.

At the risk of alienating my (perceived) predominately male audience, I’d argue that this re-themed Elvira is just another instance of chauvinism within the male dominated world of pinball, and aligns itself with other sexist phenomena that have recently popped up to objectify the female form in cases where no objectivity was present: the nude (or nearly nude) backglasses for Monopoly and Wheel of Fortume (available on eBay) or the Luci/Helen “sexy devil” themes available for AC/DC come to mind. Collectors who grew up playing games with less overt forms of objectification are now employing modifications that take female objectification to the nth degree. There has been a steady increase in the number of women players in recent years and it is great to see that they have embraced the pastime, however these “mods”, as described above, work to toe the historical party line of sexism, to extreme ends, and further push the hobby deeper into the realm of the male collector/player.

00-elvb03Really, my opinion doesn’t matter in the grande scheme of things. Bare breasts wouldn’t work in my gameroom, but they may work in someone else’s. Jim from Gameroom Collectibles is adamant to let his audience know that the custom machine is “Girlfriend Approved”, meaning that his partner doesn’t mind the bare breasts appearing in his collection (a form of the quoted term was used on Pinside as well as in YouTube comments). In discussing this article with my wife, she chuckled when I described the dancing plastic boobies, shooting my theory of sexism straight to hell. She said that as a woman, she didn’t find it THAT offensive, and that my stance may be a little uptight. She then reasoned that my problem with this particular Elvira machine lies in two areas, neither of which mark me as a complete prude. The first being the total short circuiting of the Elvira character’s approach to comedy (discussed above), and the second being that of a pinball purist, seeing a machine being modded in such a way that adds little to the overall game and removing it from its place within pinball history. My wife went on to state: “You guys love to modify your games. From what I’ve seen, mods either make the game look prettier or play better. The boobs don’t make the game play better, but maybe that guy thinks boobs make his game prettier.” Maybe she’s right. When placing the game in the greater context of pinball history, it becomes problematic. However, when taking the machine at face value, secluded from the underlying sexism in pinball, it is just a game made by a guy who wants to have some fun by objectifying Elvira’s bare breasts while enjoying his machine. I’m not sure if the game CAN be divorced from the greater context in my mind, but for some, it absolutely can. To me, if I want to look at boobs, I have other options of seeing them. My wife has a matching set and the internet is full of them, too. I don’t need to go out of my way to add them to my pinball machines.

The response in the community has been somewhat mixed. Some YouTube comments applaud the “fucking awesome[ness]” of what Gameroom Collectibles has done with their machine, while others find it problematic for a variety of reasons, with early Pinside responders describing it as “tacky” and “embarrassingly bad”. Whichever camp you are in, the discussion is good for pinball: drawing attention to the machines themselves and the attitudes of those who play them. I personally can’t bring myself to look at the machine divorced from the greater context, and further, I view it as just another barrier to keep the opposite sex away from the hobby. I wonder how Cassandra Peterson feels about all this?

Further Reading:
Pinside – Elvira Boobie Monsters??? One of a kind restoration featured! Beware – Boobs!
YouTube – Comments for Elvira & The Party (BOOBS!) Monsters (Custom) Pinball Machine
Gameroom Collectibles – Homepage
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark – Official Webpage


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NEWS: Vintage Flipper World Showcase In Review

Vintage Flipper World is situated inside of an unassuming white panelled building, along a country dirt road on the outskirts of Brighton, Michigan. If you are not looking for it, you’ll miss it. If you didn’t have prior knowledge of what the building looked like, you’ll probably drive right past it. Therein lies the charm of the VFW, brainchild of Clay Harrell and his merry band of pinheads. The location makes sense–serene, unobtrusive, subdued–given that Mr. Harrell has a long and arduous history with disparagers, detractors and backbiters in the pinball community at large. The VFW literally puts space between those people and Mr. Harrell’s dream of a pinball oasis–acres and acres worth of space.

Inside the hall is much less serene, as you’d expect an old Veterans-hall-cum-arcade filled with around 200 pinball machines to sound like. Not to mention the ever present sound of classic rock emitting from the hall’s public jukebox. I walked the aisles and let the sounds of the different decades wash over me. From the soft clamour of Electromechanical chimes, to the electronic squawk of early Solid State technology, to unforgettable call-outs you’d recognize anywhere (“Move your car!”, “The Ma-Mush-Ka!”, “Ooh, nice organ!”). This is an arcade on steroids, with no stand-up video games in sight. In short, it is what many of us picture the afterlife to look like.

I attended the Saturday of the three day event. I had a ticket pre-purchased and with good reason–a crudely written sign hung above the door: “Sold Out”. Selling a limited amount of tickets in advance gets the thumbs up from this reviewer. It kept crowds extremely manageable. I had to wait to play a game once (Big Bang Bar). All other games I wanted to play were free at one point or another during the seven hours I spent there and in every case, I had the option of having a couple games in a row on any given machine (there was never anyone standing by waiting for their turn). Free posters were given away so everyone could leave with a small souvenir to pin up in their gameroom. Other, more traditional concert style posters, were sold for $3USD each.

The area immediately to the left and right of the entrance is filled with woodrail pinball games, and to be honest, I didn’t spend much time there. I played a few games on a woodrail called Niagara, but that was it. The rest of the facility held too many other treasures that kept my attention for the entire day. The main hall has games lining each wall and three rows of games lined up back to back, creating four aisle ways that run the length of the building–thus games flank you on either side when walking down a desired row. The game selection is organized very well, for example all of the Bally Solid State games and Williams DMD games are grouped together in the same aisle. The Williams DMD aisle was rocking the entire time I was there, and with players shoulder to shoulder playing (sometimes two-player) games, it got very crowded, so much so that it was hard for someone to walk the length of the aisle without elbowing someone. If you have a wide leaning stance while playing, like me, be prepared to be nudged, bumped into, and stepped on in this area. The other aisles were much more airy and easy to navigate. There is also a back room of games, containing more high-profile WPCs (Twilight Zone, Monster Bash) and other oddities (Safecracker, Joust), as well as the aforementioned Big Bang Bar. The playfield “art” that lines the hallway to this back room, I’d like to add, are probably in better condition than some of the playfields in my games currently. This is only one aspect of decor. Everywhere you look in the entire facility there is neon…it’s a stark contrast to the vintage dark-stained exposed wood beams and plaster of the aging hall, but it helps create the arcade mood.

Game selection was overwhelming. The line of ealry-Solid State Stern games is unbelievable, and probably the most complete on display in the entire world. The row of Electromechanical Gottlieb games ran the length of the building, in nearly chronological order and ran from early offerings like Slick Chick and the “Flipper” series all the way through later wedgeheads like Neptune and Golden Arrow. The classic Bally solid state games were an impressive sight to behold lined up next to one another. The obvious draw was the Williams WPC area, as I stated above, and I would be hard pressed to name a game that was glaring from its exclusion (they didn’t have a Popeye, but I don’t think anyone was hollering for a refund because of its exclusion).

All games were exceptionally clean and fully functioning. Outlanes opened to the max, pitch set high, and playfields waxed to a high gloss…all making for very fast, very punishing games. The games included looked to be choice examples from their respective runs: no lifting mylar, no broken ramps, and every bulb shining bright. There may have been one feature that wasn’t working on one game that I played, but that was on a Strange Science, and I’m not at all familiar with the rules of the game, so it could have been my ignorance, not a mechanical glitch. Techs wandered about and had playfields lifted amongst the players flipping away, themselves fixing on the fly. One minute a Whirlwind is out of order with two VFW staff pulling the glass off…ten minutes later, I’m playing the game, fully operational. I actually witnessed staff pulling a Demolition Man out of the lineup on a pin dolly, and brought back to the workshop for further diagnosis and repair, as the problem looked to be much more severe than a lame flipper or disconnected wire. No “Out of Order” sign needed here.

The staff was friendly, courteous and altogether welcoming. You could see the club members beaming with pride to have a world class facility like this and witnessing so many visitors enjoying themselves within the confines of their stomping grounds. I swear, at one point over the course of the day, there looked to be more staff members in their orange shirts than there were paying patrons at the facility. It must have been an “all hands on deck scenario”, knowing a full week in advance that the VFW would be at prescribed capacity. I saw Mr. Harrell briefly out in the furthest reaches of the parking area, but never again over the course of my visit. However, as much as I wanted to shake his hand and say thanks, I was having a banner day playing some games I had not played, or had played only once or twice before.

Just as I did in Allentown this year, I spent a minuscule amount of time with DMD era games, as most of them can be found in private collections close to home. I ventured down the aisle with classic Bally and Stern games first, and I couldn’t pull myself away, spending nearly half the day awash in Solid State bliss. I have very little experience with older solid-state Sterns, and was able to get schooled in a clinic of what the company was doing back then with an almost complete oeuvre to choose from. Iron Maiden was absolutely punishing as was Viper, I laughed off Split Second on first glance, but it ended up being the Stern machine I played most. I had my first go at Orbitor 1, and I’ll echo the sentiment that it’s the pinball equivalent of the morning after a wedding with an open bar. I had some pretty decent scores on Harlem Globetrotters On Tour, Centaur and Nitro Groundshaker, and I now want to own them all. A game that I had not played all that much, Vector, also stood out as a deep, well designed game with a seemingly endless amount of shots and gimmicks. I played EM games Neptune and Lucky Hand for an insane amount of time, as they are add-a-ball Gottleib classics and the “Wow’s” just kept on ringing up. I didn’t fare so well on the System 11 games I love so much. I drained my pants off on Fire! and Elvira and the Party Monsters, which didn’t give me too much hope as I currently own one that I am restoring and the other is at the top of my want list. I’ll have to chalk it up to the games being setup on “extra unforgiving”. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I got to play the super-rare, super-wide Williams Algar, but as I expected, it played much like all the other Williams games of the era. I had a go at my childhood “sweetheart” that is no longer in my collection, Solar Fire, and followed it up by playing its other three siblings in the Williams dual-level game series (Jungle Lord, Pharaoh and Black Knight). Jesus, these are all basically the same game. No wonder pinball was in such trouble back then!

Not having the velvet rope of “THE TOURNAMENT” at the facility was a nice change of pace. All games were accessible to all paying customers. Two games–Bally Strikes and Spares and Williams Fun Fest–were the “tournament” options. Drop a quarter in the coin slot, and if you beat the previous score posted on a sticky-note on the backglass and have it stand all day, you win the money in the cash box. Honour system applied, and the games were on free-play, so if you just wanted to play and didn’t want to “enter” the tournament with a quarter, you didn’t have to. Scores, early in the day, were quite modest, and I forgot to return to check their status before I departed. Mr. Harrell’s insistence that the focus be on playing games and having fun rather than competing rubbed some from the “It’s More Fun To Compete” community the wrong way, but I don’t think that was the type of crowd he was looking for anyhow. This was a showcase for collectors and folks who wanted to pay a small amount of money with nothing to take away except the fun and excitement of playing amongst a well-kept collection of vintage machines. Egos and holier-than-thou attitudes were checked at the door. I say this being a world-class flop at playing pinball. Maybe if I were a ranked player, I’d have my panties in a bunch, too. But it didn’t look like the club needed the support of the tournament players. Everyone had a smile on their face, and there were WOMEN! GLORIOUS WOMEN! More women than I’ve ever seen before at a pinball event! If they key to getting women to come out to these events is to axe the tournament characters, I say it is a path we should follow to pinball equality!

In all, it was well worth the 7-hour, round trip drive. It is nice to have a facility such as this within driving distance, however, the frequency of the facility being open to the public remains unknown. The VFW collection rivals that of the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. Yet, the VFW collection wins hands down in the category of organization, atmosphere, and general game maintenance. The tech area the club has organized looked to be world class, and stocked every pinball part imaginable. The club members donating their time to making the show run in a smooth fashion, from those parking the cars to those soldering loose wires, should be proud to have a hand in such a project. After years of floundering in pinball flux for a viable location to house his immense collection, Clay Harrell now has the VFW. He has shared it with the community for one weekend, and hopefully he chooses to do so on a regular basis. It felt like being at a town hall meeting in small town America, and pinball machines forever held the floor. If you didn’t experience it for yourself, I guarantee you would have been in awe of the passion and excitement that exuded from this unassuming pinball Mecca on the outskirts of Brighton.