"The world's first Pinball-Video game!
"It will Amaze you!"
|
Caveman was the world's first hybrid pinball-video game, and being the first is an important honour, as there were only 2 others; both from Bally. Caveman was featured in a Playmeter magazine article entitled "The Missing Link", and both Gottlieb and Bally had the idea that these hybrid games would be a big hit and win over all the video-game players.....wrong! Video-pinball games, just like cavemen, soon became a thing of the past. Even from a distance, it is obvious that there is something different about this pinball machine! The back-box is definitely not the usual upright box one is used to seeing, and the backglass (right) is very small. Once the playfield is in sight though, one sees the monitor mounted where the top arch of the playfield would be on a regular pinball game. Then there is the matter of the extra deep lockdown bar which sports an off-centre bright red joystick. Very bizarre! The combination of the extended lock-down bar and monitor insert with the mid-size width of the cabinet, indeed makes for a very squat looking playfield. The playfield art looks features a cartoon caveman doing everyday caveman things in gaudy colours and it looks simple enough. Terry Doerzaph's illustrations deserve closer attention though because there is really a lot of humour involved.
| 
Each ball of a game begins with the pinball being shot into play, via the necessarily short shooter lane. Shooting either of the Vari-targets which flank the left and right edges of the video-monitor scores time units for the player to play the video-game (see right). The ball is held in a kick-out hole during the video-game mode and either released back into play if you survive the time in the video-game's maze, or drained if you are eaten by a predatory T-Rex. The video-game (see screen-shot, below right) is a typical maze game with a Caveman chasing dinosaurs for food, and simultaneously trying to avoid the T-Rex hungry for some Caveman. Dinosaurs killed by the Caveman change into other dinosaurs worth more points......easy. Gottlieb patented the pinball-video game concept (US Patent # 4'375'286) and also the design of the backbox (US Patent # D273'597). The playfield layout of Caveman is apparent in the submitted drawings, however the video-game concept presented revolves around a video-ball and dragons to be slayed or avoided. The inventors of the pinball-video game concept on the patent certificate are John Buras and Adolf Seitz Jr. They also are the named inventors for the backbox design, along with Algimantis Gabrius. | ||
PROMOTIONAL FLYERSCAVEMAN PAGES:TECH.INFO.
| 
  |
Return to STORK's NEST PINBALL
