[ Quick Search ] [ Advanced Search ] [ Game Lists ] [ Archives ] [ Pinball Glossary ] [ Playing Skills ] [ FAQ ] [ Settings ] |
| ||||||
Average Fun Rating: | 8.3/10 (545 ratings/325 comments) [ Add Your Rating! ] | |||||
Manufacturer: | Midway Manufacturing Company, a subsidiary of WMS Industries, Incorporated, of Chicago, Illinois, USA (1988-1999) [Trade Name: Bally] | |||||
Date Of Manufacture: | March, 1992 | |||||
Model Number: | 20017 | |||||
Common Abbreviations: | TAF | |||||
MPU: | Williams WPC (Fliptronics 1) | |||||
Type: | Solid State Electronic (SS) | |||||
Production: | 20,270 units (confirmed) | |||||
Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) | |||||
Theme: | Celebrities - Fictional - Licensed Theme | |||||
Notable Features: | Flippers (4), Pop bumpers (5), Slingshots (2), Ramps (2), Kick-out holes (2), Dual left inlanes. One of the four flippers doubles as a game-controlled mini-flipper Actual measured weight: 255 lbs (includes legs). | |||||
Toys: | 'Thing' hand - ball capture device. 'Electric chair' | |||||
Concept by: | Pat Lawlor | |||||
Design by: | Larry DeMar, Pat Lawlor | |||||
Art by: | John Youssi | |||||
Dots/Animation by: | Scott Slomiany | |||||
Mechanics by: | John Krutsch | |||||
Music by: | Chris Granner | |||||
Sound by: | Chris Granner | |||||
Software by: | Larry DeMar, Mike Boon | |||||
Notes: | 'The Addams Family' has a flipper that not only is controlled by the player's flipper button but also is caused by the game programming to flip at certain points in game play. One earlier form of "auto-flipping" appears on Williams' 1953 'Palisades'. This game broke all previous sales records for flipper games. Designer Pat Lawlor wanted to commemorate the actual record-breaking game from the production line and arranged to have it made in a gold cabinet. This change caused a number of games made subsequent in this original run to also have gold cabinets. At least their lower cabinets were gold, even if their backboxes were still made in blue. Included in this listing are pictures of one such example of this "Later Production" version having the mixed gold and blue. The legs, metal trim, and lockdown bar are not gold. Then, in 1994, The Addams Family was put back in production with a special run of 'Gold Edition' machines to further commemorate this machine becoming the best selling flipper game of all time. These machines had many more Gold accents, such as the metal ramps, gold legs and bolts, gold lettering, the vault plastic, the bumper caps and Thing's box. Each "Gold" machine includes a certificate signed by the members of the design team and a gold plate on the lower right front of the machine containing the machine number. Larry Demar talks about how Later Production games could exist with mixed gold and blue cabinet art: The way our line worked, the cabinets and backboxes were created separately then joined later and this created a logistical problem for keeping gold with gold and blue with blue along with the likelihood that we had more spoilage in backboxes than cabinets (or the other way around) meant that a small number of games were mis-matched. Pat Lawlor comments further on these Later Production games: The record breaking game was #20,232. That game is the one we all had our picture taken in front of, and then on the cover of Replay. The inside of the game was signed by every worker on the line that day, and is in the possession of Gene Cunningham. Pictured in this listing is a plastic for the bookcase having text that is not seen on production games. Pat Lawlor explains why: The art for the plastics had to be approved and sent for production 3 weeks before prototype games were built. During early play testing we noticed that people could not figure out how to open the vault. So we changed the art for later plastics, but in order to use the ones already in house we put the sticker on them. It happened all the time with changes from testing to production. It was a normal part of the business. | |||||
Marketing Slogans: |
"A pinball experience for the whole family!" "Now there's some `thing' special in pinball!" | |||||
Photos in: |
Chicago Tribune April 5, 1992, pp. Sect. 5, p.1:2. pp. (Cabinet) Compressed Air December 1995, pp. 14--18. pp. (Game, Backglass) New York Times 143, January 28, 1994, pp. C1(L) col 1, continued on C26(L). Smithsonian 23(10), January 1993, pp. 96-103. pp. (PF-very cool!) Arcade Treasures, page 132 The Pinball Compendium 1982 to Present, page 150 The Complete Pinball Book, page 90 Mike Pacak's Pinball Flyer Reference Book A-F | |||||
Rule Sheets: |
The Addams Family Rulesheet Version 2.0 (Jan/27/1995), by Brian Dominy | |||||
Owners List URL: | http://www.chrisguk.somee.com/pinball/details.asp?table=taf (External site) | |||||
Easter Eggs: | Available at Cows and Easter Eggs (External site) | |||||
Additional Media: | Promotional Video (at YouTube) (External site) | |||||
ROMs: | 204 KB | ZIP | Revision H-4 Game ROM | [Midway Manufacturing Co.] | ||
193 KB | ZIP | Revision L-1 Game ROM | [Midway Manufacturing Co.] | |||
481 KB | ZIP | Revision L-1 Sound ROM | [Midway Manufacturing Co.] | |||
195 KB | ZIP | Revision L-2 Game ROM | [Midway Manufacturing Co.] | |||
194 KB | ZIP | Revision L-3 Game ROM | [Midway Manufacturing Co.] | |||
194 KB | ZIP | Revision L-4 Game ROM | [Midway Manufacturing Co.] | |||
212 KB | ZIP | Revision L-5 Game ROM | [Midway Manufacturing Co.] | |||
209 KB | ZIP | Revision L-6 Game ROM | [Unofficial] | |||
207 KB | ZIP | Revision L-7 Game ROM | [Midway Manufacturing Co.] | |||
187 KB | ZIP | Revision P-2 Game ROM | [Midway Manufacturing Co.] | |||
481 KB | ZIP | Revision P-2 Sound ROM | [Midway Manufacturing Co.] | |||
Documentation: | 4 KB | TXT | Game ROM History | |||
10 MB | Instructions Manual (French, undated) | [Midway Mfg. Co.] | ||||
11 MB | Operations Manual (January 1992, includes schematics, OCR searchable) | [Midway Manufacturing Co.] | ||||
1 MB | Operator's Handbook (January 1991, OCR searchable, has lamp and switch matrices) | [Midway Manufacturing Co.] | ||||
198 KB | TXT | Parts List | ||||
2 MB | Setting and Operating Instructions (German, undated, OCR searchable, pages 1&3 state this is add'l info to original manual) | [NOVA Apparate GMBH & Co.] | ||||
3 MB | WPC Schematic Manual (January 1992, OCR searchable) | [Midway Manufacturing Co.] | ||||
Images: (click to zoom) | ||||||
Source: | Flyer |
[ Support the IPDB ] [ Contact Us ] [ About Us ] | All copyrighted and trademarked Gottlieb® material licensed from Gottlieb Development LLC. Copyrighted and trademarked material from Planetary Pinball Supply, Inc® used with permission. All photographs licensed from original photographers, who retain their copyright. Do not use without permission! Site design, phrasing, and other local content copyright 2004-2024 by The Internet Pinball Database™. Where appropriate, other trademarks & copyrights remain property of their owners. |
[ Database Change Log ] ipdb.org hosted at pair.com |