Addams Family video game

                    Quick Take of The Addams Family

                   ===============================

This Quick Take was written by Keefer (Keith Johnson).  It is the first

in what will hopefully be a long series of different articles giving

brief explanations and descriptions of games for posterity.

This Quick Take is freely distributable.  You may take it and change it

and redistribute it and copy it and do whatever you want to it as long

as it always remains freely distributable.  Otherwise, write your own

guide.  :)

The Addams Family game was produced by Bally/Williams, but being that

it is a licensed theme most of the legal stuff is probably owned by a

Higher Authority.

                               Goals

                               -----

Explore the rooms of the Addams Family's mansion by shooting the

electric chair and collecting their rewards.  Work your way up to the

attic to score the wizard bonus!  Also, earn 3-ball Multiball by

shooting the Bookcase to open the Vault and locking the balls inside.

Collect the Jackpot and/or an unlimited number of Super Jackpots while

in Multiball.

                              Cabinet

                              -------

Generally black with the game name on the side as well as Thing

"flicking" a pinball away.  The backglass features the mansion with the

family standing out front with some pretty funny pictures in each of

the rooms.  There is also a plastic contraption on top which lights up

during Multiball and various other times which produces some strange

and neat lighting effects on the ceiling.

                             Playfield

                             ---------

There are 4 flippers in the game:  The 2 normal-sized ones at the

bottom; a normal-sized one at the upper right which can shoot a slot

near the top of the game (the Train Wreck), the left ramp, or It (a

group of standup targets facing to the right at an angle slightly away

from the player); and a small flipper on the left (the "Thing flipper")

just above the left inlanes/outlane which can shoot the ball into the

"Swamp," a hole on the right side of the playfield next to the plunger

lane.

There is a ramp located in the middle of the back of the playfield (the

"Bear Kick" ramp).  It can feed to the lower right flipper or the Thing

flipper.  The left ramp makes a U-turn at its topmost point where it

joins the middle ramp.  It always feeds to the Thing flipper.  To the

right of the middle ramp is the Bookcase which is a 3-inch (or so) wide

target that spots letters for Multiball.  When it opens, it reveals a

passage to hole behind it (the Vault).

Just to the left of the middle ramp is a very short, small ramp which

is just tall enough to keep the ball in a little passage in the back of

the game.  (This is the Thing ramp.)  Balls get fed to the saucer at

the upper right of the game (which is just beyond the plunger lane).

An orbit goes around the back of the game, shootable from either of the

bottom flippers.  On the bottom left of the orbit are 5 pop bumpers

(the Graveyard).  When the ball is in the Graveyard, it can dribble out

the orbit entrance or to the left to the Thing flipper.

To the right of the left orbit entrance lies the electric chair, where

you shoot to get mansion rooms when it is lit.  Either ramp relights it

(as does the right inlane for a few seconds).

                         Special Features

                         ----------------

Perhaps the most obvious feature is the red box in the upper right of

the playfield, which houses "Thing."  When THING is spelled or you can

lock a ball on the Thing ramp, the box will open and a hand will come

out and grab your ball from the saucer with a magnet.  Thing will

either put it back into the saucer or let it go through an under-

playfield passage to the Swamp.

Also, there is an AI mechanism for the Thing flipper.  When THING FLIPS

is lit on the middle ramp (lit by one of the left inlanes), the ball

will continue down to the flipper and the game will attempt to shoot

the Swamp for you (and will usually make it).  There is an optical

sensor that the game uses to try to time when it should shoot.  The

targets above and below the Swamp entrance tell the game how far off it

was in trying to make the shot.

The mansion awards include 3 frenzy modes, 2 progressive-scoring modes,

2 Quick Multiballs (one is a hurry-up shot), 3 different point awards,

an extra ball, and a light pop bumpers award.  And of course, there's

the attic...

                            Misc. Notes

                            -----------

This game was designed by Pat Lawlor (among others) who has previously

designed Banzai Run, Earthshaker, Whirlwind, FunHouse, and Twilight

Zone (which came after TAF).  TAF currently holds the record for number

of pinball games produced (as of 6/93), though rumor has it that this

record will probably be broken by Twilight Zone.

This is by far the most popular game in years.  It is still a very good

earner in arcades, though quite a few of them are starting to show

their age.

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Comments are welcomed.  Direct them to:

                                         keefer@rahul.net

And visit the Pinball Archive!  ftp.rahul.net:/pub/sigma/pinball

The Pinball Archive features these other files related to TAF:

 - a Rules Sheet: "Rules/addamsfamily"

 - a Quotes List: "Misc/addams.quotes"