arborelia

Silver Ball Century ep. 17 - early 1975

List of tables on the next two episodes. Episode 17, on Tuesday, Feb. 25, has: Atlantis, Air Aces, El Dorado, Criterium 75, Fast Draw, Wizard, Pat Hand, Lucky Fruit. The next episode will have: Spin Out, Triple Strike, Tiger, 300, Big Horse, Bow and Arrow, Abra Ca Dabra, and Red Show.

We can no longer cover a whole year of pinball in an episode! Tonight's episode, at 8:30pm Eastern on https://twitch.tv/arborelia, covers the first half of 1975, and next episode will cover the second half. We don't have release months for the European tables so I'm placing them arbitrarily.

In 1975, the film version of "Tommy" came out, featuring Roger Daltrey as Tommy and Elton John as the (former) Pinball Wizard.

Keep in mind that "Tommy" is mostly not about pinball, it's mostly about childhood trauma and drugs, but you need to see the Pinball Wizard scene with Elton John. It is a wild cinematic moment, and it's essential cultural context as we experience the 70s in pinball.

Which brings us to...

Licensing!

It is extremely rare today to see a pinball table whose theme isn't licensed from some major media property, and this got its start in 1975. The first licensed theme was Bally's "Wizard", depicting Roger Daltrey and Ann-Margret as Tommy and Nora in the "Tommy" film.

I don't know why there are two other sexy women emerging from pinball saucers and one of them is saying "FREE... AT LAST". It may just be Dave Christensen free-associating hornily, as he does.

The backglass of Bally's "Tommy". Bomber planes fly above a fiery, hellish scene where Roger Daltrey embraces Ann-Margret. Two other sexy women emerge from pinball saucers, one of them saying "FREE AT LAST".

(Backglass photo by Michael Tokarski on IPDB)

Tables in this episode

As usual, you will need free accounts on VPUniverse and VPForums to download most of these.

Pinball Primer has guides to all the Gottlieb, Bally, and Williams tables.

#pinball #silver ball century