Bally Skateball...

[Jeff Strong]

...has perhaps the creepiest backglass of all time:

 

[Jeff Strong]

It's got it all...a creeper van, a 40 year-old weirdo with a porn stache on a skateboard trying to lure in underage girls, a chick wearing a wet t-shirt that's so tight you can see every centimeter of cleavage while she gets seduced by the shirtless dude. Not sure how it could possibly be any creepier.

 

[karl]

It might be creepy but it is kinda cool creepy (in a strange 70' kinda way) The pin is really awesome, though

I just had the opportunity to buy a nice Skateball a couple of weeks ago but the buyer wanted too much for it. I am hoping he will change his mind because I am in the mood for more Bally games from 80/81 and this one is right up there.

So much to do on the playfield for a game from 1980

 

[switch3flip]

Lol yeah that's creepy!
I think this is the same skater dude, and yes he can be even creepier, at least they didn't put his blow up doll on the backglass

I think the shirtless guy on the backglass must be Pierce Brosnan.

 

[Jeff Strong]

[MENTION=2036]switch3flip[/MENTION] hahahaha

[MENTION=465]karl[/MENTION] yeah man, the playfield layout is really good. I got a chance to play one last year at the Arcade Expo in SoCal. Everyone was taking pics of the "unique" backglass, heh.

 

[karl]

Now... If that backglass had been made today it would have been really really creepy

Here's the backstory (it was actually made a couple of years earlier in the 70' and it was the reason he got his job at Bally, even )

We asked artist Greg Freres to tell us about his prototype backglass for this game, called 'Summertime'. He responds:

Summertime was a piece of art I did as part of my interview at Bally. Paul Faris asked me to take one week and create a painting that I thought was a good theme and style for pinball. I worked every night until 3 a.m. while still attending my regular job, but I got it done in the allotted time and it was well received by not only Paul but by the sales and marketing group as well. I got the job and the idea sparked the skateboard theme, and some elements stayed for the final art. However, the art was shelved for a few years until we made the game in the early eighties.

 

[Jeff Strong]

I actually read that earlier tonight on IPDB and it got me wondering if the protoype art is available anywhere?

You're totally right about it not being quite so creepy in the context of its time, but the fact that they went with a middle-aged, mustached dude on the skateboard is pretty weird instead of a kid or teenager, haha.

Vans like that were considered really cool back then. It's a shame they're associated with "creepers" these days. There was a guy with an 80’s van in our last apartment building and my wife and I always joked about the "creeper van". Thankfully this backglass' van doesn't have a "free candy" sign on it.

The busty chick getting seduced by shirtless Pierce Brosnan isn't that creepy in of itself, but the creepiness of the skateboard dude carries over and adds extra creepiness to everything else. That section would be far less creepy if it were just a hot chick, minus the creeper whispering sweet nothings into her ear while putting the moves on her, lol.

 

[soundwave106]

You're totally right about it not being quite so creepy in the context of its time, but the fact that they went with a middle-aged, mustached dude on the skateboard is pretty weird instead of a kid or teenager, haha.

That backglass just screams 1970s to me (technically it was made in 1980, but there's enough crossover at that point).

And yes, there was a lot of things made in the 1970s that could flat out not be made today.

 

[Crawley]

Yeah the table itself is pretty decent. Played it for the first time earlier this year and went back to it a few times.

 

[invitro]

It's got it all...a creeper van, a 40 year-old weirdo with a porn stache on a skateboard trying to lure in underage girls, a chick wearing a wet t-shirt that's so tight you can see every centimeter of cleavage while she gets seduced by the shirtless dude. Not sure how it could possibly be any creepier.

I can't believe how prudish/Victorian/Puritan society has become .

 

[Kolchak357]

Future Spa is still creepier to me. But this does have van abduction written all over it.

 

[Jeff Strong]

I can't believe how prudish/Victorian/Puritan society has become .

You realize this thread is 75% a joke, right? Anyone who knows me would say I'm far from a Puritan, especially since I kinda look like the guy on the skateboard, lmao

 

[Spork98765]

It's got it all...a creeper van, a 40 year-old weirdo with a porn stache on a skateboard trying to lure in underage girls, a chick wearing a wet t-shirt that's so tight you can see every centimeter of cleavage while she gets seduced by the shirtless dude. Not sure how it could possibly be any creepier.

 

[xray23]

In all seriousness, I used to play this pin when it was brand new all the time. I was a little kid back then and my babysitter had one in the basement. It was kick ass! Real fun too. I'd love to see FS do this one; again, simpler is better. Not Jive Time simple, but early 80's style. Pins like Sorcerer, Firepower, Flash, Fathom, Centaur, Algar, Gorgar...you get the picture.

 

[invitro]

I was a little kid back then and my babysitter had one in the basement.

Uh oh. Did he have a porn 'stache or a van?

 

[xray23]

The pinball machine...gosh.

 

[Dedpop]

Playfield's nice IMO.

 

[wolfson]

thanks Jeff,brought back some funny memories of the 1970s,flared jeans,long hair and those stupid mutton chops !!! haha !!! nice table !!!

 

[David T. Melnick]

thanks Jeff,brought back some funny memories of the 1970s,flared jeans,long hair and those stupid mutton chops !!! haha !!! nice table !!!

-----
Yes! Anything dealing with Trucks...Cbs, convoys & all eh.

 

[Jeff Strong]

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Yes! Anything dealing with Trucks...Cbs, convoys & all eh.

Yes, my old man was a trucker, heh. I used to go on the road with him as a tiny tot until I had to start school. Still remember rolling down the interstate listening to ZZ Top 8 tracks and playing around on the CB.