Pinball that has been featured on TV and in movies

[Tony C]

Thanks Tony for posting about machines that have not been seen in movies or TV

Nip It was actually used on Happy Days Which is anachronistic because the show was set in the 50's and Nip-it was made in '74.

I also have a Gottlieb Grand Slam. That same model made appearances on 'All in the Family' and on 'Rhoda'.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

I have two Nip-it machines in my garage. Is your garage a TV or Movie set?

 

[Tony C]

I thought this was about instances where pinball machines appeared on the screen so I added what I thought was a meaningful part of that discussion. I wasn't aware it was a pissing contest / scavenger hunt to see who could actually see the most glimpses of machines during their regularly scheduled TV time. Excuse me for interrupting.

 

[gooche77]

Got a quick glimpse of a table during the new Walking Dead episode.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

There is a website dedicated to pinball in movies and TV wich pretty much covers everything except these short glimpses on new TV shows, hell I seen Nipit on auction kings but I didnt get a pic so I didnt bother.

 

[infernogott]

Happy Days was infamous for having a 70s pinball machine, Nip-it, in a 50s setting. I like how it even shows Fonzie opening the coin box of the machine and working on it. One of the later episodes of Columbo has Columbo playing a pinball machine he sees in a suspect's house.

I have that episode on DVD. It's the episode "The Conspirators" from Season 7 of Columbo.

The murderer has 3 machines.

I don't know which one the one in the background is. The other 2 show their titles and Columbo and Devrin are playing them.

Here are some pictures:

2 Tables being played (left Columbo - right Devrin)

Columbos Score

Devrins Score

By the way it's a great episode, not only because of the pinball

 

[infernogott]

The table in the background - does anyone know which one that is? (new post because maximum of 3 pictures per post)

 

[Kolchak357]

That's a Bally Monte Carlo in yellow with the roulette wheel on the side.

 

[atari2600]

Funny you should start this thread as just a couple of days ago I was wondering if the Rocky pin from Rocky III was a real table. A quick look on ipdb and it was indeed real, produced by Gottlieb. This isn't just a machine in the background, but takes centre stage near the start of the movie when a bitter, resentful, drunk Paulie hurls a whiskey bottle through the backglass.

Interestingly though, the table didn't exist yet at the time of the movie, they used a custom backglass over another table. From ipdb:

When seen in the movie "Rocky III", this machine had a prop backglass used only for the movie. Only three of the prop backglasses were made, and one was destroyed in the film when Paulie, Rocky's brother-in-law, threw a bottle of Scotch through it. The remaining two are in possession of collectors.

And the table designer John Trudeau on why the production backglass was not used in the movie:

'The coordination with the Rocky III movie was already in process when I started at Gottlieb in '81. Ed Krynski had a whitewood in development for the license tie-in. I guess it didn't play very well, because it never made it to production. The backglasses that were made for the movie were made to fit an existing game - not Rocky (I was told that it was a Force II, but the displays would have to have been moved). The produced game didn't even exist at that time, nor did any artwork. I believe we were pretty close to NOT using the Rocky license at all. I came up with the design that was produced pretty much at the last minute.

Later, Stallone was in Chicago promoting the movie's opening. We were told that he might stop by to see the game, but he never showed. I still have my Rocky backglass. The only one I have left that's survived the years.

Stallone also did have final approval over the painting for the backglass. Dave Moore had to repaint the facial area twice before it was approved. Sly didn't want the beat-up face for the glass (who can blame him?).

Dave Moore did manage to paint himself and me into the crowd. At the foreground right ring post there is a fella with glasses that has his arms crossed (Dave) and another guy next to him with a black moustache and graying temple hair (Me).'

In rocky III to the right of the rocky pinball machine is Flash Gordon and to the left is Playboy. im going on memory here

 

[canuck]

I haven't read this whole thread so this might have been mentioned....in Star Trek Original series, there are several pinball machines in the background in the episode, A Piece of the Action......how they ended up on a alien planet, hundreds of light years in the future is anyone's guess.

 

[Extrema22]

Here are some music videos featuring pinball, good old 90s cheesy dance music

Red 5 - Da Beat Goes (anyone who can id the table? Some parts look like Pin-Bot but there might be another one in it too)

 

[Extrema22]

2 Unlimited - No Limit (also no idea which one they show here)

Man I wish we could go back to the 90s

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

jack*bot and airborne in the first video

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

the second video I seen TEN STARS this is a zaccaria table Im guessing that purple one is to it looked like zaccaria artwork. I'll keep looking.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

I don't know what that purple'ish table is with 3 pop bumpers.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

Was watching STORAGE WARS today thinking i might see a pinball machine.....Bingo!

AE CHECKPOINT was the firs DMD ever used in a pinball but it was a tiny one about half of a williams DMD.

 

[Heretic]

Well you know that feelin

I had one for the cleveland show xmas ep

 

[neilpinbot]

Was watching STORAGE WARS today thinking i might see a pinball machine.....Bingo!

AE CHECKPOINT was the firs DMD ever used in a pinball but it was a tiny one about half of a williams DMD.

I saw this episode a bit back and if I remember correctly the person that got the storage unit was not allowed to have the pinball machine...what a bummer.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

Yeah because of some legalities. Maybe a different persons stuff.

 

[grashopper]

Pretty sure this wasn't posted yet.

Was watching a TV show on Animal Planet called Tanked. They ended up going making that thing. They took a trip to the Pinball Hall of Fame in the episode too.
Wonder how the fish are going to like that...