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Middle Earth


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Middle Earth / IPD No. 1590 / February, 1978 / 4 Players
 
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Average Fun Rating: [ 6 stars - Click for comments ]    6.4/10  (21 ratings/18 comments)        [ Add Your Rating! ]
Manufacturer: Atari, Incorporated (1976-1983)
Date Of Manufacture: February, 1978
MPU: Atari Generation/System 1
Type: Solid State Electronic (SS) [?]
Serial Number Database:View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net)  (External site)
Theme: Fantasy
Specialty: Widebody [?]
Notable Features: Flippers (4), Pop bumpers (2), Slingshots (2), 5-bank drop targets (2), Standup targets (5), Spinning targets (2), Horseshoe lane (1). Both sets of flippers are slightly offset. Score displays are on playfield card holder and not in backbox. Backglass is lit by standard (household) 7-watt nightlight bulbs. All playfield components are wired with slide connectors, apparently to ease assembly and repair by avoiding soldering of wires to components.
Design by: Gary Slater
Art by: George Opperman
Notes: More than one playfield variation has been identified. The most consequential difference between them is the position of the upper left flipper, a change that also caused the adjacent playfield plastic to be resized. This flipper was moved from being offset lower than the right flipper to being offset higher. This design change also seemed to be an opportunity to make some artwork changes. One notable change is the placement of the words "Same Player Shoots Again" in the gap between the lower flippers, repositioned from being left-justified in that gap to being right-justified. For each type of playfield, we have itemized the characteristics that are different from the other playfields, if read from top to bottom.

Pre-production playfield (shown here)
Same Player Shoots Again is left-justified.
Upper left flipper is offset lower than upper right flipper.
The center plastic (immediate left of upper left flipper) is larger, not smaller.
The animal on this center plastic is facing left, not right.
Perimeter around pop bumpers are painted rings, not a wide band of unpainted wood.
The animal next to the left pop bumper is brown, not green.
The playfield color in front of the upper drop target bank is blue, not red.
Top plastics have sky color of light purple, not blue and dark purple.
Left slingshot plastic background colors are orange and purple, not solid purple.
Yellow art trim not yet added.
The unpainted playfield areas are brown, not white.
The cardholder trim is a lighter color, not darker, than the major color.
The inserts for the standup targets are white, not green.

Flyer playfield, small image, bottom of page 3 (shown here)
No noticeable changes from pre-production playfield except the unpainted areas look white, not brown.
The upper left flipper is still offset lower than upper right flipper.
The adjacent center plastic is still large and the animal is still facing left.

Flyer playfield, large image, pages 2-3 (shown here)
The upper left flipper has been moved to be offset higher than the right one.
The adjacent center plastic is now smaller and the animal is still facing left.
The unpainted areas are still white, not brown.

Production playfields (shown here)
Same Player Shoots Again is now right-justified.
Upper left flipper is offset higher than upper right flipper.
The adjacent plastic is still the smaller size than before.
The animal on this smaller center plastic is now facing right, not left.
Perimeter around pop bumpers are still the painted rings, not a wide band of unpainted wood.
The animal next to the left pop bumper is now green, not brown.
The playfield color in front of the upper drop target bank is now red, not blue.
Top plastics have sky color that are now blue and dark purple, no longer just light purple.
Left slingshot plastic background color is now solid purple, no longer orange and purple.
Yellow lines of art trim have now been added (left outlane, right inlane, 500 w/l near left slingshot, 100 w/l and 1000 w/l near bottom drop targets).
The unpainted playfield areas are once again brown, not white.
The cardholder trim is now a darker color, not lighter, than the major color.
The inserts for the standup targets still are white, not green.

Production variation (shown here)
This playfield has two differences that are unique from the other production ones:
The inserts for the standup targets are green, not white.
The pop bumper areas are unpainted white wood, not brown, and this unpainted area extends outward beyond the pop bumper platter approximately one inch all the way around. This game is one of two such games that the owner had during 2000-2002 The owner, who last had this game around 2002, placed translucent red ring protectors to protect this unpainted wood. In the pictures shown here, we can see that the red rings do not quite have the diameter of the unpainted area and a very thin outer circle of white wood can still be seen. The owner reports he has seen two games having this unique playfield many years ago and wonders if they were Later Production changes, perhaps in response to excessive pop bumper wear. For these two games, he did not notice any differences in cabinet or backglass art. No cabinet serial numbers were recorded.

Photos in: Mike Pacak's Pinball Flyer Reference Book G-R
Owners List URL:http://www.pinballowners.com/owners/1590  (External site)
ROMs: 4 KB ZIP Game ROMs [Atari, Inc.]
  4 KB ZIP PinMAME Romset
Documentation: 10 MB PDF English Manual [Atari Inc.]
  4 MB PDF Operation, Maintenance, and Service Manual (page 28 blank; with paginated schema [Atari, Inc.]
  7 MB PDF Pinball Troubleshooting Guide (1st Printing, includes parts list for PBS-1) [Atari Inc.]
Service Bulletins: 102 KB PDF Customer Service Bulletin B-A010 (dated Sept. 25, 1978) [Atari, Inc.]
Files: 6 MB PDF Interconnect And Wiring Diagram (Sheet 1 of 2) [Atari, Inc.]
  900 KB PDF Self-Test Procedure (1st Printing, undated) [Atari Inc.]
  6 KB TXT Switch Settings
Images:
(click to zoom)
Image # 1536: Middle Earth Backglass
Backglass

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Image # 1538: Middle Earth Cabinet - Front View
Cabinet - Front View

345x384
[Daina Petit]
Image # 1539: Middle Earth Playfield
Playfield

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Image # 1540: Middle Earth Playfield
Playfield

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Image # 3450: Middle Earth Flyer, Front
Flyer, Front

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Image # 3451: Middle Earth Flyer, Page 2
Flyer, Page 2

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Image # 3452: Middle Earth Flyer, Page 3
Flyer, Page 3

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Image # 3453: Middle Earth Flyer, Back
Flyer, Back

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Image # 15065: Middle Earth Pre-Production Backglass 
(This is from Pre-Production Game #4 having a serial number of 0084 and a white cabinet.)
Pre-Production Backglass*

572x402
[David Vnuk]
Image # 15066: Middle Earth Pre-Production Upper Playfield 
(This is from Pre-Production Game #4 having a serial number of 0084 and a white cabinet.)
Pre-Production Upper Playfield*

640x480
[David Vnuk]
Image # 15067: Middle Earth Pre-Production Lower Playfield 
(This is from Pre-Production Game #4 having a serial number of 0084 and a white cabinet.)
Pre-Production Lower Playfield*

640x480
[David Vnuk]
Image # 15068: Middle Earth Pre-Production Cabinet 
(This is from Pre-Production Game #4 having a serial number of 0084 and a white cabinet.)
Pre-Production Cabinet*

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[David Vnuk]
Image # 15069: Middle Earth Pre-Production Model Number 
(This game has a white cabinet and has this aluminum plate affixed to the back.)
Pre-Production Model Number*

640x480
[David Vnuk]
Image # 19093: Middle Earth Backglass - Reverse
Backglass - Reverse

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Image # 21008: Middle Earth Backglass
Backglass

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[Michael Tokarski]
Image # 21009: Middle Earth Playfield
Playfield

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[Michael Tokarski]
Image # 21010: Middle Earth Cabinet - Left
Cabinet - Left

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[Michael Tokarski]
Image # 21011: Middle Earth Cabinet - Right
Cabinet - Right

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[Michael Tokarski]
Image # 21012: Middle Earth Cabinet - Front View
Cabinet - Front View

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[Michael Tokarski]
Image # 21809: Middle Earth Upper Playfield
Upper Playfield

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Image # 21810: Middle Earth Lower Playfield
Lower Playfield

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Image # 28235: Middle Earth Upper Playfield
Upper Playfield

1024x768
[Matty Kluge]
Image # 28236: Middle Earth Lower Playfield
Lower Playfield

1024x768
[Matty Kluge]
Image # 28237: Middle Earth Backbox - Left
Backbox - Left

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[Matty Kluge]
Image # 28238: Middle Earth Backbox - Right
Backbox - Right

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[Matty Kluge]
Image # 28239: Middle Earth Cabinet - Front
Cabinet - Front

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[Matty Kluge]
Image # 28240: Middle Earth Under Playfield
Under Playfield

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[Matty Kluge]
Image # 28241: Middle Earth Inside Cabinet
Inside Cabinet

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[Matty Kluge]
Image # 28242: Middle Earth Illuminated Front View
Illuminated Front View

576x768
[Matty Kluge]
Image # 48248: Middle Earth Promotional Poster 
(Measures 24 by 31 inches.)
Promotional Poster*

1024x1313
 
Image # 49090: Middle Earth Backglass
Backglass

1024x832
[Denis Fueglistaler]
Image # 52787: Middle Earth Playfield
Playfield

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[Mark Steinman]
Image # 52788: Middle Earth Upper Playfield
Upper Playfield

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[Mark Steinman]
Image # 52789: Middle Earth Middle Playfield
Middle Playfield

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[Mark Steinman]
Image # 52790: Middle Earth Playfield - Detail
Playfield - Detail

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[Mark Steinman]
Image # 65973: Middle Earth Illuminated Playfield - Green Inserts 
(The inserts for each standup target are green, not white.)
Illuminated Playfield - Green Inserts*

960x1280
[Frank Zivkovich]
Image # 65974: Middle Earth Upper Playfield - Green Inserts 
(The inserts for each standup target are green, not white.)
Upper Playfield - Green Inserts*

1200x900
[Frank Zivkovich]
 
Source: Service Manual [?]

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