Gorgar and Firepower

[guidoreina1]

Gorgar will eat you, Gorgar !!!

[MrSilverballmania]

gotta love these old games i have a game room with pinballs,videos,pool table and air hockey people come in freaks out aint seen that many games in years i dont have any william ss systems i have bally, gotlieb ss and em games that are williams great video keep on playing

[ChrisMolyneaux93]

I once heard that there was a patent for a "talking" pinball way back in the 1930s.

[artrock101]

Gorgar! Always one of my favorites... thanks for sharing.

[HiredGoonage]

Hey I actually remember your name from the ProRec site. You had written some articles if I'm not mistaken.

[ertznay]

Gorgar>Firepower

[mantra3000]

You talk about all this so well. "Gorgar is an intellectual pinball" is something I always thought. You should open a pinball museum.

[EthanWiner]

@mantra3000 Well, we only have four pinball machines, so that's not much of a museum. We have room for one more, so maybe some day. In the mean time, you're welcome to visit any time and play the four we have!

[mantra3000]

@EthanWiner Okay, just time to get a plane ticket from Paris and here Iam!

[Galactu5]

What a treat! Debunking audio myths video led me to check out your other videos and I see this video of these two wonderful gems from our past.

The grin on my face just can't get any bigger! Thank you so much!

[EthanWiner]

@Galactu5 Excellent, thanks for the comments. Since I made that video we bought two more pinball machines. Look for my Rescue 911 and Black Knight video. Elli and I play them all every single day for at least an hour.

[Galactu5]

@EthanWiner

Never cease to amaze do you?! Black Knight was a fave as well. California Extreme 2011 was last month but I didn't make it. Thankfully there are games shows like CE to keep the machines available for us all.

Keep on playin', Ethan Winer, you're a winner! *Hides. Ashamed but something compelled me to do it*

[planetgas]

Hey, great video! I was 13 years old in 1980 so I spent half of my teen years in arcades!! Great memories, I was so addicted to pinball and video games. I could talk about them for hours. Paragon, Lost World, Flash, Fireball, Power Play, Lucky 7, Future Spa, were some of the Pinball I'd play. :) I really loved Defender and Joust too. Wow, blast from the past! It's sad that you really can't go play pinball any more, it's becoming a lost art..

[southport97]

The parts for these are getting harder to find.

[EthanWiner]

@southport97 I've had good luck getting parts online from Marco Specialties, Lakeside Pinball, and Pinball Life. A great place for board-level repair is KS Arcade in New Hampshire.

[NEILVANCE]

I played Gorgar in a cafe after school For me Gorgar was the most impressionable pinball machine of all, Perhapes because it spoke, and the scary devilish head & the bass heavy pumping heart, I thought the machine was alive! and us school boys created a gag that the machine said, 'Gorgar .. Eats ... Meat', well at least he looks like he eats meat, human meat!

[mtsn]

In Brazil they were made (pirated copies?) by a company called Taito do Brasil, Firepower was called Fire Action and Gorgar was called Drakkor (I think). Some others from these days were released by this company with different names, and some (few) were still originals from Williams/Gottlieb/Bally after the 80's, when Taito started making them.

[styx4ever1963]

To See those 2 classic pinball machines in that condition brings backs lots of memories thanks for posting!

[styx4ever1963]

How much does a mint condition Gorgar and Firepower go for!

[allankay12]

The sounds of those old games brings back so many memories. Back walking through arcades watching older kids play games that I wanted to try but didn't have any quarters. My aunt had Harlem Globetrotters and a really old non digital game set up for as kids to play in her basement on the holidays. I couldn't wait to go there every Thanksgiving, upstairs the football game on a 25 inch Zeneth console tv and us kids in the basement having a BLAST! What memories.

[trmpthack]

I think Bally made better games than Williams. Strikes and Spares, Harlem Globetrotters, Playboy were my favorites. The arcade was my Jr High school prety much. Also rans were Kiss, Spaceshuttle, Joker Poker. I was playing pinball around 1975/6 when they didnt even have digital displays. The scoring was elctromechanical numbers on a wheel. Wow do I feel old now

[newkillergenius]

Ethan-

nice Gorgar there. Just got the Black Hole MPU replaced last night and everything is good- but occasionally the left flipper triggers 5,000pts. Why can't everything work all the time?

Anyway- awesome.....

[sikfuk48]

I just got hooked up with a Firepower a few days ago, FOR FREE! a guy gave it to me under the condition that I came and hauled it off. Some of the rubbers are broken, but the lights come on and the flippers work. Lookin forward to putting some time and effort into it and havin an awesome pinball game to play whenever I want!

[BeatleJaynumber9]

Anybody on thier way to Vegas needs to take a few hours to check out the Pinball Hall Of Fame. Over 200 machines and lots of EMs. Well worth the effort to pinball nut.

There is video of it on YouTube- look it up. They just moved closer to the Strip, and have even more games than before. It's located on Tropicana Blvd.

[BeatleJaynumber9]

Me hurt! I love Gorgar- always been my favorite machine. I couldn't believe when I first saw( and heard!!) it. A machine that talked- WOW! I've owned Gorgar for over six years now. Mine is in really nice condition. It has a bad coil(upper drop targets) and needs some sound board work- but should be up for play within a few weeks. When I polish the playfield and put a new ball in, it is a very fast game.

Would like to get a Black Hole machine too. Late 70s, early 80s, games were my faves.

[walteriox1]

that pinballs games are availables on nintendo wii.

[idjoemama]

i love those old ass video game sounds. when i was a kid i heard the firepower machine, and it scared the crap out of me. oh man..im having an arcade trip here. there aint none left in oklahoma

[Laura041974]

I wish I could have a pinball but there's no room, it's easier for Americans with big houses. Brits need to earn a lot for a big house. My Dad's friend put his pinballs in a shed. I played Firepower round there when I was little. I played Gorgar in an arcade but its gone now and I don't suppose I'll see one again.

[horvath15]

@Laura041974 I saw a Gorgar yesterday.  They are floating all over the place.

[Laura041974]

Do you mean in arcades or private houses? There's a lot of arcades along the seafront in Gt Yarmouth, but few pinballs left. I played Flash Gordon there once when I was little. Gorgar was in a Lowestoft arcade that vanished when the seafront was redeveloped.

[super8man]

Awesome video. I have Gorgar and Mata Hari and love them both. One question...have you installed fuses between the bridge rectifiers and the power supply? It's a safety issue.

Thanks for posting...where's your Gorgar vid? I want to compare (I posted mine - check it out).

[PlayTilTheyBleed]

Cool vid and nice machines. I have both in my collection. Check out my restoration videos of pins from this era.

[pbloo574]

Two great Williams pinball tables

[waverly24]

I remember playing these two games and another talking pinball machine called "Black Knight." Think he said things like "The Black Knight Will Slay You...HA HA HA HA!!!!"

[Laura041974]

I read in a pinball book that when they did the prototype, it sounded like "The Black Knight will LAY you"! Oops!

[b1zook]

Those are some gorgeous machines! Two of the best from way back - especially Firepower - easily my favorite pinball ever. Gorgar used to just piss me off most of the time, but I loved its backglass! :)

[EthanWiner]

Thanks. Both of my pinball machines are almost like new, except for a few small scratches here and there. My wife and I play about an hour every day!

[punchthedrum]

May I suggest installing a RealTraps MicroTrap behind and a MondoTrap under each machine, as well as a Diffusing/Absorbing trap overhead. The acoustic clarity would be greatly improved across the audio spectrum, even in a 4 bit sampling rate recording. ;-)

[EthanWiner]

Don't laugh. I have a big fat batt of fiberglass inside Gorgar to enhance the sound of his heartbeat!

[punchthedrum]

Now, you sound like the Ethan WIner we know!!! When you began speaking of the sound module/sampling rate of these classic pins, I was waiting for you to tell us how to clean up their sound,.... now your secret is ours!!! ;-) Thanks again Ethan.

[Robozgraggi]

Gorgar will eat you!!!

[sirlordwhitman]

Gorgar!! You didn't show how Gorgar played!!

[PlayTilTheyBleed]

I've got both those games! Two of my favorite things to do back in '79 and '80, and for many years to come!

[iconicide]

I used to turn Gorgar over 2 1/2 times on one quarter.

"You... BEAT... ME!!!"

Yoyoyo.

[visceralgristle]

Gorgar.. the only pinball game to have a heavy metal song written about it (by Helloween).

[nightowl8936]

These games used to make me want to design pinball machines when I was just entering my teenage years.

I remember the sound effects. They used to send shivers up my back because they were so incredibly cool sounding.

I also like the themes of the Williams pinball machines. Gorgar with its hellish scenes of skulls impaled on spikes and the hot girl who needs rescuing. And Firepower with its space battle sounds.

I don't think the today's videogames have sound fx as good as Williams in '79

[peewee2627]

very nice machines!

[TyphoidHippo]

This is awesome! I want one...

[blackwatchstudio]

I love your video posts Ethan...You are incredibly charming

[BadYahweh]

Very cool! That must be an expensive hobby.

[Phrennie]

Thank you, Mr. Winer.