| The Addams Family | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Midway |
| Release date | March 1992 |
| System | Midway WPC (Fliptronics I) |
| Design | Pat Lawlor, Larry DeMar |
| Programming | Larry DeMar, Mike Boon |
| Artwork | John Youssi |
| Mechanics | John Krutsch |
| Music | Chris Granner |
| Sound | Chris Granner |
| Voices | Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston |
| Production Run | 20,270 |
The Addams Family is the best selling pinball machine since the 1930's, having sold 20,270 units. Manufactured by Midway (under the Bally name), it is a solid state electronic game. It was based on the 1991 movie of the same name, and features custom speech (mostly drawn from the movie) by the movie's stars, Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston.
Contents |
The machine's game card describes the game objective as being to "Explore the strange world of the Addams Family." With that in mind there is no single player goal, though there are two central objectives:
Other lesser objectives include:
A number of simultaneous factors came together to give The Addams Family its record-setting sales figures.
Around the time of the game's release, video arcade games were declining in popularity, due largely to the technological ascent of home systems. Meanwhile, pinball in the recent years prior had witnessed a strong wave of technological innovation. The dot-matrix display, for example, had just been added to the first pinball machine (Data East's Checkpoint) about a year before, and CPU advances allowed machines to perform simultaneous video, audio and gameplay functions more smoothly.
The Addams Family added to this a number of game-specific "toys" that proved popular with players:
The game also made extensive use of the film it was based upon, arguably the most of any game at that time. Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston both contributed many re-recordings of quotes from the film, along with a number of extra quotes exclusive to the machine ("Jackpot!", "Extra Ball!", etc.). Much of the game's humor was also well-received, such as the mode "Hit Cousin Itt", where successful hits to the Cousin Itt target resulted in display animations of Itt getting hit with a large pinball, Gomez's (Julia's) response to the player upon tilting, "Hee hee hee, you're a funny guy!," and the machine occasionally flipping both of its lower flippers in tune to the finger snapping in the Addams Family theme song.
From a player's perspective the game received positive reviews for its good use of the playfield, its audio and video effects, "flow" (the way the game's shots and objectives lead naturally from one to another) appeal to both beginner and expert players, and general replayability.
Mansion rooms are awarded from the lit electric chair shot in the center of the playing field. Once a mansion room is awarded, the electric chair light goes out until it is relit by a Bear Kick (some other switches will relight it temporarily). A player can have more than one mansion room scoring mode activated simultaneously, something which is often considered good strategy. The rooms/modes are:
If the player manages to start all of the above scoring modes (regardless of whether or not they complete them), the attic room marked with a "?" awards the game's "wizard mode":
The player can add letters to the word "GREED" by hitting the bookcase in front of the vault. Spelling "GREED" opens the bookcase, revealing a shot into the vault that can be used to "lock" (hold) balls for multiball; for the first multiball, the swamp can also be used to lock balls. The Power turns on for the player's attempt to lock the third and final ball. Multiball can be started from the vault or, for the first multiball, the electric chair.
Once multiball begins the Train Wreck shot lights up for a Jackpot, and the Staircase Ramp for a Double Jackpot or, from the 2nd multiball onward, Triple Jackpot. The Jackpot starts out at 10 million, and increases by one million for every Bear Kicks shot or shot to a closed vault during the multiball. Upon receiving either, the vault re-opens, and a successful shot to it re-lights only the Staircase Ramp. The player may continue to do this as long as there are two balls on the playing field.
If a player does not get any jackpot, a last-chance "Thing Multiball" lights up for 20 seconds. If the player shoots it in time, he gets to launch a second ball and continue the multiball per the rules above, except with no more last chances given.
Scores on The Addams Family tend to have an average in the low 8-digit range. Among machines found in public locations, the score necessary to obtain a replay is usually between 35 million and 80 million, with high scores dispersed mostly among the full 9-digit spectrum. The world's best players will occasionally score in the billions.
Without tilting, the lowest possible score is theoretically 300,000, by shooting each ball through the graveyard without hitting anything and letting it drain (the ball will roll over a trigger that gives no points but disables the replay that is normally given when a ball hits no trigger). Then each ball is given a bonus of 100,000 for the starting one bear kick. However, getting that score may be difficult to do, as it is difficult to shoot the ball through the graveyard without hitting any of the graveyard bumpers. A score of 750,000 is easily attainable by launching each ball weakly so that it drops directly into the swamp and then drops down the center drain, gaining 150,000 points plus 100,000 bonus points each.
In October 1994, Bally produced a "Special Collectors Edition", often referred to as The Addams Family Gold. In the original run of The Addams Family a few machines had been produced with golden features to celebrate the machine's sales record. The Collector's Edition similarly featured specially designed accents such as golden siderails, a golden lockbar, golden legs and a slightly enhanced software program.
The game also included a number of gameplay enhancements. New scoring rules were added, most notably to the Mansion. Some rooms randomly awarded players items from Cousin Itt, such as a hair dryer or brush, with an accompanying number of points. Wednesday and Pugsley also made their first in-game appearance in the form of a "trap door", that would sometimes let a player move from one room to another, awarding them both. Numerous new quotes and dot-matrix effects were also added.
Only one thousand Collector's Edition units were produced.
The Addams Family pinball contains two known Easter eggs -- plus a third egg in the Special Collector's Edition -- each of which can be accessed using a flipper and Start button code sequence specific to each egg. The results produced are cosmetic in nature only; they do not modify actual game play in any way.
The codes work only under the following conditions: The machine must be in its Attract or "game over" mode (no game currently in progress). There must also be no credits on the machine. (The Start button cannot be flashing to begin a new game; consequently, the codes will never work if the machine is set for free play.)
The codes may also temporarily stop working if they are done too many times in a row. Allowing the Attract mode display screens to cycle all the way through (at least 1 or 2 minutes) before trying a code again should rectify this.
The available Easter eggs and how to activate them:
Some aftermarket modifications may be found in some machines:
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