There were two. Captain Fantastic and one other that I just can’t remember right now. It wasn’t called Tommy. Both of them were damn good machines, and probably my all time favorite. IIRC Captain Fantastic was pretty easy to get the special but damn hard to beat on points.
Anyone remember the Simpson’s machine? Homer Simpson shouting “1 million smackers?”
Nah, mine was in an arcade in an old Pizza Hut in New Orleans. It had about 20 games and about 800 (I stretch the truth) pinball machines. The games stayed the same. The pinball machines constantly rotated. And I last played Addams Family about a year ago. There’s still one (or was) in the arcade in Esplanade Mall in New Orleans.
“Gomez, daaarling.”
Wasn’t that one officially called “Wizard”? It was by Bally, featured a “Tommy” theme, and if I recall correctly, had a picture of Roger Daltrey on the backglass.
Wait, I found a reference (and thank you, eunoia for reminding me that I have the Flower and Kurtz book on my shelf):
(from Gary Flower and Bill Kurtz, Pinball: The Lure of the Silver Ball, London: Quintet Publishing Ltd., 1988, p. 68.)
And since I have my references out, I thought I check this statement made by Foolonthehill out:
I was unaware that Gottlieb made a “Royal Flush” in the 1950s–when I originally spoke about wanting one, I menat the 1976 Gottlieb version. But here, in Pinball! by Roger C. Sharpe (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1977), it says that there was also a Gottlieb “Royal Flush” made in 1957!
Thanks for the info, Foolonthehill. I learned something new about pinball today!
I loved that one! If I remember right Homer went “Whoo-hoo!” when you pulled the plunger and shot your ball. When you lost it Nelson went “HA-ha!”
Wow, you guys sure have dredged up some memories! I love pinball, too. My favorites have been Twilight Zone and Addams Family, and another one I think was called Pay Day. It had two talking heads of construction workers, one male and one female, that you would shoot the ball into for multiball. It also had a “construction zone” feature that would vibrate the machine like a jackhammer would. Very cool.
I much prefer any pinball game to the stupid shoot-em-up video games.
I started playing pinball when I was a kid but never really got into it until after highschool. Around '88, I got tired of the video games and started going to arcades just to play pinball. At least until I found one arcade that had not just pinball but a bunch of older games like Dig Dug & Ms. Pac-Man. Sadly, that place (Wilson Blvd. at Courthouse Metro) went out of business in '95 or so. I haven’t been in an arcade in years, simply because all the ones I know about have no pinball.
I absolutely rocked at two games that were in the arcade at Ballston Common. They had both Star Wars and some soccer-themed game, the name of which I have forgotten. Any time I was in the mall, I’d stop by the food court and go drop a few quarters. Until the games stopped being friendly toward me. One day I was in there and my techniques didn’t work anymore! What’s worse is that the soccer game became virtually unplayable. When the ball was shot into the goal, it was supposed to go down a channel and returned to the playing field but it stopped doing that, it would just stay in the goal area and not go anywhere.
I can buy the Star Wars table being adjusted so it wouldn’t be as friendly but whatever happened to the soccer table was just plain low.
oh wow – a forgotten chapter of my past.
when i was in grade school, my family had a boat. we’d cross the Potomac to the Maryland side, where my folks would entertain themselves with steamed crabs, drinks and slot machines.
i got to fish off the pier.
until i finally discovered their pinball and shooting gallery machines. ah yes, the days of 3 games for a quarter.
:: happy sigh ::
i eventually got a buddy whose parents joined our boating group. we whaled the living tar out of that pinball machine. got to the point we could play all night on a dime. i remember at least one night when the 'rents were dragging us out of the clubhouse, there were so many free games left on the machine we were just tilting them off. (stingy little snots, weren’t we?)
[ and i was pretty darn good at the shooting gallery, too. ]
to our dismay, the management must have started getting pissed with their lack of revenue on the pinball after a while. (cheap bastards! they had a ton of slots and a couple pool tables, plus one of those hockey-puck fake bowling games.) eventually our pride and joy disappeared.
college was great, since the cafeteria/lounge had pool, foozball and pinball. i managed to pull a passing grade for the English class i’d been busy skipping by writing a paper on the psychology of pinball games. (so much for misspent youth.) 
after becoming a member of the workforce, one great job was located right next to a bar that featured pinball and those new-fangled video games like Space Invaders. :
: i couldn’t seem to muster the right eye-hand coordination for video, but i was still respectable on the pins.
new job, new location. and for a little while, the happiness of a Time Out section in the mall area there, complete with all manner of games. and meeting the game i Love To Hate – Black Knight. (i’m not sure if this is the same one everyone else admires. did yours laugh at you derisively when the ball would go down the side gutter?)
alas, landlord desire for incoming eventually saw these spaces developed into offices. i’ve been pinball deprived for many a year now.
i’ve tried the electronic pinball on my home PC once or twice. it’s…okay. but it’s Just. Not. The. Same.
Out in my wonder-palace (aka the huge-ass garage) I have Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Indiana Jones: The pinball adventure (both by Williams), Maverick and an original Black Knight. Black Knight is in the process of restoration and sits idle.
Dracula and Indiana Jones are the best games I’ve ever played! I hear Dr. Who is pretty good too, but have never played it. Indy has all the latest upgrades and is near perfect. Only lacking the “lost plastic” option to make it 100%. Outstanding game, especially the “Well of Souls” mode.
Find it and play it if you have the chance.
My garage rocks!
Never kiss an animal that can lick its own butt.