Black Hole (pinball)

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For other uses, see Black hole (disambiguation).
Black Hole

Manufacturer Gottlieb
Release date October 1981
System Gottlieb System 80
Designer(s) Jed Yingst, Joe Cicak, John Buras, Adolf Seitz Jr.
Artwork: Terry Doerzaph
Production run 8,774

Black Hole is a pinball game released in 1981 by Gottlieb. It is notable for having two playfields: one on top with a conventional slope, and one mounted underneath, sloping away from the player. It has no connection with the 1979 film of the same name.

Description

Black Hole was the first machine to feature a lower playfield viewed through a window in the upper playfield. It was touted as the highest-grossing pinball game of all time shortly after its release, partly due to (or despite) the fact that it was the first pinball game which cost 50 cents to play (Although, many argue that Williams Black Knight, and Firepower were already at 50¢ before the release of Black Hole).[1]

Features

  • 2 playfields[2]
  • 6 flippers[2]
  • 6 pop bumpers[2]
  • 4 drop target banks[2]
  • 1 spinner[2]
  • Rotating disc animated backglass[2]
  • Infinity backglass lighting
  • Multiball[2]
  • Speech[2]

Sound

Black Hole's robotic speech is generated by a Votrax SC-01.[3]

Appearances in pop culture

Black Hole can be seen in the background of the 1983 movie Les Compères[4]
Black Hole can be seen in the background of the 1983 movie Strange Brew [4]
Black Hole can be seen in the background of the 1989 movie ''Next Of Kin[4]
The Phrase "Do You Dare To Enter The Black Hole?" which the machine says during attract mode was etched in the vinyl runout grooves on LP versions of the band Hovercraft's 1997 album, Akathisia.

Digital versions

Black Hole is available as licensed table of The Pinball Arcade for several platforms. The game is also a included in the Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection. Unlicensed recreations of the table are available for Visual Pinball that runs on Windows.

References

  1. ↑ Black Hole by Gottlieb
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "The Internet Pinball Database: Gottlieb "Black Hole"". Retrieved 2008-06-25. 
  3. ↑ "Gottlieb System 80 Pinball Speech and Sound Repair". Retrieved 2008-07-07. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Black Hole by Gottlieb

External links

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