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1972 pinball machine From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fireball is a historically notable pinball machine designed by Ted Zale and released by Bally in 1972. The table was one of the first to have a modern sci-fi/fantasy type of outer space theme and featured elaborate, painted artwork on the sides of the table, painted by Dave Christensen.
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| Manufacturer | Bally |
|---|---|
| Release date | February, 1972 |
| Design | Ted Zale |
| Artwork | Dave Christensen |
| Production run | 3,815 |
The game itself is notable as it featured several pinball innovations, including a spinning disc, moveable "zipper" flippers, and trapped ball bonuses. Fireball was also an early table to have the multi-ball (three balls, in this case) feature. Fireball's main surface and raised surface also featured elaborate artwork of a flaming "fire man", flames, and stars in space.
Partly due to the success of the original Fireball pinball machine, Bally released a "Professional Home Model" available to the regular consumer beginning in 1978. The layout was different from the arcade Fireball; it was a slight modification of the Bally's Hocus Pocus playfield with the subtraction of a ball diverter gate.[1]
In February 1985, Bally released Fireball Classic. While the field closely resembled the original this version was electronic and had no zipper-flippers.[2]
Richard Linklater plays a rotoscoped Fireball in his 2001 film Waking Life, in the penultimate scene where he expounds Dickian gnosticism to the protagonist.
Also, Linkater's 1993 film Dazed and Confused features a scene that shows extreme close-ups of a game being played on a Fireball.
During the episode "Pinball" (Original air date: November 29, 1985) of the television series Mr. Belvedere, the title character becomes obsessed with a "Firebomb" pinball machine, a slightly altered Fireball.
Fireball is a licensed table of The Pinball Arcade and comes with El Dorado (1975) as a single DLC.
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