From: gt2807a@prism.gatech.EDU (Benjamin H. Cowan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: New Pin:  CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (Bally)
Date: 23 Dec 92 07:49:56 GMT
Reply-To: gt2807a@prism.gatech.edu
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology


  A new pin was installed in the Galleria mall (Atlanta) arcade on Tuesday and
I had the fortunate privilege of being the very first person to get to play
it.  The game is Bally's "Creature from the Black Lagoon".  Unlike Williams'
"Fish Tales" and "White Water", which I found only somewhat entertaining
after my first few games, CFTBL definitely gets my vote as the best game to
come along since TAF.  The only thing I didn't like about it was that I
had to pay $.50 a game.  However, I matched my very first game.  Which is
good since the replay value was at the factory setting of 500M.  I assume
it will come down in the next few days as *nobody* will be able to get that
without some serious practice.  
  As a sidenote, I think I got my $3 worth of pinball, though.  After my
first game, I told the attendant that the game had a slight tilt to the
left.  He said that it was less than two hours old and he hadn't had a chance
to level it yet.  He went back to the office and came back with a bubble
level.  He took the time to level the field, test all the switches, and gave
me a credit for waiting.  Why can't all attendants be so eager to make their
pins as enjoyable as possible?!?

  Anyway, the pin does NOT have a swamp or monstrous theme as you might think.
Instead, it is based on a 1950's drive-in with the feature flick being, you
guessed it, "Creature from the Black Lagoon".  The game starts out with the
Unviversal logo on the display (the planet spinning with "Universal" written
across it).  The ball comes out of the hopper waiting for you to pull the
plunger.  I might add that I was very happy to see a plunger game.  After
LW3, HSII, and "Fish Tales", I was getting very tired of "automatic" plungers.

  The playfield is *LOADED* with stuff to shoot at.  In fact, there are so
many ramps, it's hard to see the upper parts of the playfield.  Of course,
the object of the game is to start multiball and get the jackpot.  Spelling
F-I-L-M starts multiball.  Each letter in "film" is lit by a different event:
the F is lit by spelling K-I-S-S by going in the left hole which puts the ball
in the right return lane; the I is made by making a series of targets
to "open the snackbar"; the L is lit by spelling P-A-I-D at the top lanes
(which also increases the bonus X); and the M is lit by shooting in the right
eject hole called the "slide".  You start multiball by either making the
K-I-S-S hole or riding the slide with FILM completely lit.

  The game also has something I've never seen before on a pin.  The center
of the playfield is transparent, and after doing certain things, it lights
up to show a 3-D hologram of the creature.  The game also has a quality that
I haven't seen (actually heard) on a pin since BK2K -- the music and sound
effects are *wonderful*.  It's not the same ol' monotonous stuff over and over.
I know I heard at least 4 different songs while I was playing.  I got tired of
the sounds on "Fish Tales" and "White Water" quickly because they were just
so repetitive.  The _sound_ of this machine actually kept me interested and
that may have been why I kept going back for more.  By the way, I can 
definitely pick some of the sounds to be from older pins like "Jokerz".

  Anyway, I just thought I'd make y'all aware of the newest game if you didn't
already know.  It's fun blowing away other cars in the drive-in and chasing
hot dogs during the "snack attack".  I expect the novelty of the game to
wear soon for me, but it's definitely a very entertaining machine.  By the
way, the back glass has a "Universal Monsters" logo on it with pictures of
all of their movie monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein, Werewolf, etc).  I hope
this is an indication of a series of Universal Monster pins to come.  If
anybody hears anything more definite, please update us.

Thumbs up,
Ben...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benjamin H. Cowan                       || Reply to: gt2807a@prism.gatech.edu
Georgia Tech... Atlanta, Georgia  30332 || **********************************
================================================================================

           "I don't believe there is a man, woman, or child alive
                   that doesn't enjoy a lovely beverage."
                                                        --Dave