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Silver Ball Century ep. 68 - Late 1993 - Alvinball

In this episode: Mystery Castle, Wipe Out, Star Trek TNG, Pistol Poker, Tales from the Crypt, Gladiators.

Alvin G. was a short-lived pinball company, but the world of '90s pinball was richer from the fact that they gave it a try. They first released their head-to-head pinball game A.G. Soccer-Ball in 1991, then the more standard Al's Garage Band Goes on a World Tour in December 1992, and now in late 1993 we see their last two releases: Mystery Castle, a game that is simplistic but beloved and has very clear goals, and Pistol Poker, a game that I think is the opposite on most of those axes.

There is heart in Mystery Castle, in its low-budget callouts and animations. Its dancing skeleton is a candidate for the best dot animation made by someone who isn't that good at dot animations. It's iconic enough that I've seen it as an animated emote in pinball streams.

Remember, the "G." is for Gottlieb, but they can't use that trademark. Meanwhile, the elder Gottlieb brings us the sassy skiing game Wipe Out, which is everything you'd hope for from a '90s Gottlieb, and Gladiators, a game with a genuinely unique layout that leads to interesting shots.

The story behind Gladiators is that it was once meant to have a Legend of Zelda theme, which would have once again been a tricky Nintendo license to work with, and then they decided "you know what's better than Zelda? American Gladiators!", and then American Gladiators kinda flopped in its original run, and they decided "you know what's better than American Gladiators? Any other kind of gladiators!"

Bally/Williams' Star Trek: The Next Generation is another classic, a widebody with a lot to do and some wonderful animations and vibes, a game that introduces the "Picard Maneuver" as a pinball term for a satisfying orbit-to-upper-ramp combo. And then Data East brings us Tales from the Crypt, which, I'm sorry, is a stupid game, even if you're more into the theme than I am.

Silver Ball Century goes live at 8:30pm Eastern, on Thursday, September 3, on twitch.tv/arborelia. The next proper episode after that is in two weeks, but next week we'll see another Video Mode, covering the wealth of video game pinball we see in 1993.

Tables in this episode

#pinball #silver ball century